Cut It Out and Restart *Daredevil*Damned*Agents of SHIELD*

8) Classified

- Few months ago -

Being a spy meant knowing that intel was everything.

Being a spy meant never dismissing a piece of information as useless.

Being a spy meant not to trust anyone, because there was always an ulterior motive.

Being a spy meant catching a wind of a seemingly random CSI from Central City digging into Matt Murdock's – Daredevil's – murder months after it was supposedly resolved and growing suspicious an instant.

Being a spy meant finding out who exactly Barry Allen was and just how strange Matt Murdock's death was, supposedly carried out by his own loving pregnant wife.

Being a spy meant searching the web, hacking and making connections where others wouldn't, hours spent with a gaze frantically flickering between photos and files and finding out that not one single picture of Veronica Machackova/Murdock was to be found on the Internet.

For Natasha Romanoff, being a spy meant realizing just how shady Vera's suicide was and not leaving the case rest until solved.

-.-.-

Natasha Romanoff didn't have friends; she had convenient acquaintances she might be able to turn to when in need or turn her back to shall she find them of no further use – or should they run further to the darker side than she was willing to reach out to.

Yet, she might go as far and call Steve Rogers an almost friend. He was a colleague, he was a symbol radiating too much of righteousness to stay around for too long, but he was also fun, genuine as much as he could and hid much more behind the shield of vibranium and his blue eyes than an average folk would guess. Natasha was no common folk and try as it might, she would still care for him more than she was willing to admit. And there was something about him that caused her to be more open to the possibility of trusting him, a mistake that spy should never make.

It annoyed the hell out of her. It also felt kind of nice.

So when he came back from a mission and she heard that they – not he, even though he would probably say otherwise – lost a man, she gave him some space before barging in, conveniently lining two things she wanted to do; to wait until he unwind a bit and to wait until it would seem too clingy to go see him with... this issue.

Natasha managed to slip through the door of his office – not bothering with knocking – without Steve noticing until she closed it with a click. And truly, that was tell-tale of him sulking, him losing the proper sense of his surroundings.

There were rumours around SHIELD that he had once been told, by the very scientist who gave him the body needed to become Captain America, that he needed to stay a good man, rather than a soldier. Mostly, Steve managed to balance the two, the good man irritatingly winning over.

What Natasha saw now was a leader, a good leader, but a better man, still mourning the death of his subordinate.

Natasha sighed when he looked up at the noise she made, looking startled almost.

His fighting instinct dropped as quick as it kicked in when he recognized her and his face turned from worried to unimpressed, simply staring her down. Too bad for him; this wasn't a social call (perhaps only a bit?), she sure wasn't about to apologize for interrupting his wallowing.

"Still onto the mission two days ago, huh?" she called out sympathetically, gripping the folder in her hand tighter, only to meet his sigh when she headed to the chair opposite to him without being asked to.

Natasha Romanoff did not get as far as she had got (a bit farther than she was proud of) by being polite and asking for permission.

"Romanoff."