Leipzig, Germany

Spring 2016

As with a great deal the past couple days, things were certainly not going as Nadine had hoped. Though, she did have to admit, they were also going just about as expected.

Stark was not interested in bending. Though, from her read of him through the scope of her rifle up on the roof of the airport's brick administration building and what Steve's mic was picking up of their conversation?

It wasn't exactly his choice, either.

Stark was under a lot of pressure and he was getting desperate. Undoubtedly thanks to the one and only Secretary Ross, she mused, her nose inadvertently wrinkling with irritation. He was the one who'd imposed the time limit on Tony's directive to bring them in, after all, so it seemed pretty clear that, a much as Stark was trying to moderate the former General's hard-line stance, he was quickly realizing Ross was simply far too hostile toward Enhanced persons to be influenced.

She really didn't like that man...

And that was why she honestly felt a modicum of sympathy for Stark despite the position he'd put them in.

Because unlike Ross, Stark respected his conscience...mostly because he actually had one. She'd seen him falter when Steve mentioned the existence of the other Winter Soldiers. She'd seen the flicker of doubt. And she was fairly certain Steve had too.

He knew Stark a whole lot better than she did, after all.

Of course, Stark had doubled down then, pushing the flicker of doubt aside; doubt and insecurity were things she knew the billionaire did not handle well. Just as they'd been afraid of.

What was even more concerning even if it wasn't entirely surprising? Stark had two new recruits of his own.

One of which was the new King of Wakanda.

Nadine had nearly winced when T'Challa had leapt into view down on the tarmac where Steve was facing off with Stark, Rhodes and Nat.

While she was wary about 'Spider-Man,' as he'd introduced himself, and the slick way he'd simultaneously disarmed and bound Steve's hands with what looked unsettlingly like spiderwebs, she was far more genuinely worried about T'Challa. Though they hadn't spoken about him much in the interim between Berlin and Leipzig, Barnes and Steve had said enough.

T'Challa was dangerous.

Especially since the Wakandan was intent on seeking his revenge on Barnes.

"So we've got Stark, Rhodes, these two new guys and Nat," Barton listed lowly through the earpieces as Stark, Steve and the kid—he sounded troublingly young to Nadine—went back and forth, "any sign of Vision?"

"Maybe he didn't come?" Pietro offered with a faint tone of optimism, "maybe whatever Wanda did to him kept him benched?" Nadine hummed, unconvinced. She shifted once more in the course of her sweep of the airport. Redwing glinted through her scope, heading toward the North runway, but that was the only movement she caught.

"Good news for us as it would be not to have him on the field, we can't count on it," Nadine murmured back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pietro deflate.

Down below, Stark's temper was rising, the thread of desperation Nadine had detected earlier becoming even more pronounced in his voice.

And it was quickly clear why.

"You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, now!" Stark snapped angrily, sounding distant, relayed as his voice was through the earpieces Clint had brought, "because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys, with no compunction about being impolite." Nadine stiffened before forcing herself to relax once more. She could read between the lines easily enough even without the trace of anxious dread in Stark's voice. Ross was contemplating a kill order.

For all of them.

At least, that was what Stark was genuinely afraid was coming next. And from what she knew of Ross and his blatant animosity toward Enhanced persons?

He had good reason to fear.

"Stay sharp," she murmured, shifting once more to refocus on the confrontation down below; she had a feeling if Vision was here, he was going to be kept in reserve, and her instincts were telling her Stark was on the verge of escalating things. They needed to be ready for Steve's signal. "Barton, Rogers?"

"I've got it," Clint assured her. The corner of her lip quirked at how easily he'd known what she'd meant without any further explanation. And she let out a long, slow breath as Sam's voice sounded next.

"We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five: north runway."

And everything happened at once.

The instant Steve lifted his bound hands above his head, Barton's arrow loosed. Immediately Stark's helmet had flipped up and clunked securely into place as he turned, looking to pinpoint where Barton's arrow had come from.

Right as Steve gave Lang his own signal.

A heartbeat and a blink later and Lang had resumed his normal size, knocking back Spider-Man and leaping back toward Steve with the iconic red and blue shield firmly in hand. Nadine nearly started at the abrupt move. She could completely understand both Stark and Rhodes jerking back in shock at Lang's sudden appearance; Nadine had known what he could do and that he was with Steve, lying in wait. But seeing his size-shifting ability in action was another thing altogether.

But she couldn't take the time to marvel over it. Stark and Rhodes hadn't.

Recovering quickly, the two metal-suited Avengers were immediately shooting into the sky.

It had started.

"Heads up, Barton, Stark's heading your way," Steve called from the ground. Taking the alert under advisement even as Barton acknowledged the warning, Nadine shifted her focus to Rhodes, who was moving significantly slower, looking to discern what he was intending to do. Next to her, Pietro was nearly vibrating with the urge to move.

"Easy, Maximoff," she murmured, eye still trained on Rhodes. Only to grin as his helmet turned, fixing on the mall of the terminal. "Rhodes has made Barnes and Wilson," she warned.

"Got it," Sam answered back, "we're already moving."

"So is T'Challa," Steve called, the quality of his voice suggesting that he was moving to engage even as he spoke. Only for the blur of his shield to flash into view through Nadine's scope, impacting hard enough against Rhodes' chestplate to knock him back. "Ryker? Keep an eye on Rhodes."

It was near chaos. Everyone was moving. Stark was engaging Wanda and Clint, while it sounded like Spider-Man had moved off toward the Terminal, intercepting Barnes and Sam just as she was fairly certain Steve had gone after the Wakandan king.

The only one not moving was Natasha, her sister having quickly shaken off Lang, by the look of it.

Nadine grit her teeth. The frustrated energy pouring off Pietro was amping up her own energy. And that was something she couldn't afford.

So Nadine made a split-second decision.

"Maximoff," Pietro snapped his attention to Nadine, his runner's frame primed and ready, "tag out Lang; keep Natasha busy."

She could easily picture the wicked grin in the Sokovian boy's face before he'd disappeared in a hazy-blue blur. Nadine took a steadying breath.

And just in time, too. Through her scope, Rhodes was recovering and turning toward where she knew Steve had engaged T'Challa. Exhaling slowly, Nadine's trigger-finger flexed.

Her shot reverberated across the tarmac, the bullet ricocheting off Rhodes' armour with enough force to momentarily distract him, causing him to wobble midair for a brief moment. His helmet twisted, zeroing in on the direction her shot had come from, the HUD in his helmet no doubt scanning the brick building she was hunkered down on. But before he could pinpoint her, she had squeezed the trigger again. Though her rounds purposefully weren't strong enough to pierce the thick plates of the War Machine suit, they still packed enough of a punch to affect his stability during flight. Her second round impacted his far shoulder and Rhodes was rocked around, listing away from her as he fought to reorient.

Only to jerk herself when a series of small explosions lit up the tarmac off to her right, below the sprawling parking structure Barton and Wanda had been stationed within.

She nearly scowled but for her astonishment and concern, twisting to see what was happening. Using live ammo against someone with armour built to withstand it like she had was one thing. Herding them though he might be, what Stark was doing in his pursuit of Clint and Wanda was something else entirely.

Nadine simply acted, instincts flaring. Another shot rang out and Stark jerked, his pursuit faltering as Nadine's bullet knocked him too off-balance.

And then she was leaping to her feet, diving out of the way as one of Stark's low-powered explosives came flying toward her. She only barely missed getting singed, a peculiar, yet familiar lurching sensation seeing her transported a few metres from her position at the roof's edge to safely shielded behind one of the building's massive AC units.

"You okay, Ryker? Pietro?" came Clint's voice over the earpieces as Nadine peered back to where she would've inevitably been thrown by the blast, small as it might've objectively been. It wouldn't have killed her thanks to what little speed advantage and physical durability she had from the Treatments, but she'd have certainly been sore. Inhaling deeply, she fought to calm her suddenly anxiously racing pulse. That had been too close.

This needed to end, fast.

Or someone was going to get hurt.

"We're fine," she replied, sparing Pietro a grateful look, "thanks to Maximoff." Pietro shrugged in what would've been a humble gesture if it weren't for his rather smug grin.

"Yeah, well, Nina wouldn't have talked to me for weeks if I'd let—"

"Pietro," Nadine warned, fixing him with an admonishing glance...ignoring the nervous, guilty flutter that his comment woke in her gut.

"I know, I know," he said with a brash grin, "stay focused." And he was off again, presumably to continue harrying Natasha. Which suited Nadine just fine at the moment.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Nadine shifted her focus back to the fight, resuming her position overlooking the action as she mentally checked off positions and engagements.

As anticipated, Pietro had returned to his task of keeping Natasha busy. But in her momentary distraction in going after Stark, Rhodes had recovered and was diving toward Steve and T'Challa with what looked like his concussive pulse baton at the ready. Right as T'Challa knocked Steve back with a powerful kick to the chest.

Cursing inwardly, Nadine set her sights on the Wakandan king, forcing him back with another shot right as he seemed poised to leap at Steve.

He recovered quickly—too quickly for Nadine's comfort—but it was still just enough of a distraction that it let Steve shift his focus to deflecting War Machine's attack.

Another shot ricocheting off his vibranium suit backed off T'Challa further even as Rhodes was thrown back by Steve, the impact of his mace on Steve's shield causing an almost blinding flash. One that caused Nadine to jerk back from her scope, blinking away the spots in her eyes.

Just in time to see a cascade of cars tumbling from the parking complex off on the far side of the strip of tarmac. With half an ear, she'd been listening to Clint and Wanda confronting Stark, one-sided as their conversation about being locked in rooms and what sounded like a golf quip had been given that the opposing team's leader hadn't quite been close enough for the mics to pick up anything he said.

Obviously the talking had been more misdirection than anything else given the vehicles currently careening toward the red and gold armoured Avenger. Nadine couldn't entirely hold back her wince as Stark quickly disappeared beneath a pile of automotive wreckage. She might not be at all happy that Stark was being obstinate enough to force their hand like this, but getting hit by even one car, even with the suit, had to hurt.

Satisfied Clint and Wanda had things well in hand, Nadine turned her attention back to T'Challa, firing off another round to keep him back from Steve just as Rhodes again lunged for the Captain. Only to grimace, a string of curses escaping under her breath as T'Challa managed to evade her shot as he too lunged for Steve; damn, the cat-suited Wakandan was fast... At least in ducking away from her shot, she'd forced him to abort his attack, giving Steve a chance to fend off Rhodes.

Only to find her attention drawn away yet again as Redwing crashed through one of the mall's upper banks of glass dragging a flailing Spider-Man behind it only to unceremoniously drop the slight figure once out in the open air. The kid yelped almost comically, causing Nadine's stomach to lurch before he recovered at the last minute, shooting out more of his web-like substance and swinging away just shy of hitting the tarmac.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" came Barnes' dry voice through the earpieces. Despite herself, Nadine couldn't help but grin at the tone.

Especially when Sam muttered back with "I hate you."

"You can save your declarations of love for later, boys," she retorted, unable to wholly hide her amusement as she fixed her attention back on Steve's fight, and firing off a round at Rhodes this time; it ricocheted off the back of his near shoulder, destabilizing him just enough that Steve was able to send him careening into the pavement with a well-timed flipping kick. "Now's not a good time."

"You've been spending too much time with Nat," Sam grumbled back, "you know that, right?"

"One could say the same about you, Sam," Nadine bit back cheekily. Sam cursed under his breath. "You and Barnes get moving, Wilson," she added wryly, already heading for the roof access herself; there wasn't much more she could do from her position, so it was time to start moving herself.

Especially since they had a location on the Quinjet; who knew what security features Stark had enacted that she was going to have to get through to unlock the thing.

"Working on it," came Sam's response, his effort-strained tone earning a small grin from Nadine.

"Pietro," she called, already starting to think ahead to reaching the Quinjet and getting it warmed up as she shouldered her rifle. "Check in with Barnes and Wilson; I'm on my way down." She nearly laughed at Sam's grumbling through the earpieces followed by Pietro's amused snicker a moment later.

"Stuck, really?" came the speedster's teasing tone, forcing Nadine to bite her lip against a chuckle of her own, admittedly curious about what Pietro run in on.

"Pietro," Nadine chided lightly over Sam's rather choice words in response to Pietro's amusement over whatever they'd managed to get themselves into with the spider-kid.

"Okay, okay," the young Sokovian conceded reluctantly as Nadine began her descent down toward ground-level.

She had barely made it down a level before Pietro appeared next to her, shrugging even as a deeply entertained smirk threatened. "But it was pretty funny, Ms. Ryker." She merely shook her head, gesturing wordlessly for him to get on with it.

A few heartbeats and the brief disconcerting lurching sensation of Pietro whisking her down the Admin building's remaining six floors later and Nadine's feet were once more firmly on the pavement.

Twisting back toward where she knew Steve was still working to get away from Rhodes and T'Challa, she nodded her permission for Pietro to check in with Wanda and Clint before beginning to edge in the direction of the Quinjet herself, finally turning away as she caught sight of Lang running up to Steve.

Just in time to see Barnes and Sam burst out from the terminal onto the tarmac. Nadine let out a slow breath, adjusting her course to catch up with them. As she fell into step next to Barnes, Sam spared her a tight grin, silently asking if she was good. A tight nod was all the response she could manage just then, but it served well enough to satisfy both men.

Only for the three of them to flinch, stopping in their tracks to whirl around in time to see a huge billowing explosion rising up behind them, Lang's chastened voice in their ears maintaining he'd thought 'it' was a water truck; evidently not...

But as she turned back to her two companions, mouth opening to suggest they keep moving, Nadine blinked in surprise, sucking in a soft, startled breath as she realized how close Barnes suddenly was. Especially when she realized how he'd angled his body to shield her. He shrugged, expression turning faintly self-conscious when he noticed her attention had shifted to him.

"Instinct," he offered, not sounding entirely certain himself. She didn't know what to say, so Nadine merely offered a small, grateful smile. The corner of his lip tugged as he jerked a nod in the direction of the Quinjet.

"We gotta go," Sam said then, echoing Barnes' gesture. Inhaling deeply as she spared a glance back toward where Steve had been engaged with Rhodes and T'Challa right before the explosion, she nodded her understanding even as Clint's voice in their ears indicated he had eyes on the Quinjet. They needed to move.

Together, the three of them raced around the corner of the terminal, hugging the main building as they too made for the Quinjet, Barnes pulling slightly ahead. At first, Nadine though it was due in part to his Enhanced speed, but then he waved her and Sam after him as he adjusted his course left, darting through an opening between the baggage carts littering the tarmac.

And some of the tension she hadn't entirely realized she'd been carrying eased as Steve came into view, urging them on followed closely by Lang, the Twins and Clint. Easily matching their pace, Nadine fell in behind the Captain along with Barnes and Sam.

Sure enough, as she settled behind their Teams' pair of supersoldiers, she caught sight of the Quinjet nestled in the hanger up ahead.

They might just get out of this.

She opened her mouth, preparing to get Pietro to whisk her ahead to get started on the Quinjet.

Only for the thought to be cut short as a familiar but unwelcome golden beam sliced across the pavement before them, carving a smoldering arc directly across their path. As the sound of the tarmac cracking faded and she and the rest of their Team slowed to a stop, Nadine's optimism faltered. Almost as one, they all looked up to Vision as he glided down toward them. Dread began pooling in her stomach as Vision called down to Steve.

"I know you believe what you're doing is right," Vision said, tone placating but firm. Nadine caught Steve's jaw tightening out of the corner of her eye, her head tilting just enough to exchange a worried glance with Clint as the rest of Stark's team began to congregate below Vision. "But for the collective good you must surrender now." The synthezoid fixed them all with a disappointed look as he fell silent that frankly had Nadine bristling.

Before them, T'Challa was rolling to his feet even as War Machine similarly deposited Natasha gently on the pavement before landing himself with a dull clank. Spider-Man followed close behind, swinging agilely in to land lightly next to Rhodes.

The only one missing was Tony.

But as Vision took his place on the ground among the rest of his Team, Stark flew into sight, soaring in at a much more sedate pace.

And Nadine felt every drop of blood leech from her face, suddenly pooling like a jagged, icy lump of lead in her gut. She couldn't breathe.

Next to her Steve inhaled sharply as, further down their own line, both Clint and Pietro swore, their hissed curses mingling discordantly. Even across the way, Natasha's eyes widened in surprise, her sharp gaze flashing as she looked between her teammate and her sister, her dismay uncharacteristically and plainly visible.

But Nadine barely noticed.

She could only stare in horror as Stark lowered her daughter, dressed in her own pale blue and white uniform, carefully to the pavement next to Natasha.

And, jaw set determinedly even as apology surfaced in her eyes, Nina stared right back as Stark landed heavily next to her.

"Tony, this was not part of the plan." It was only barely audible across the distance between the two Teams, but Natasha's low admonishment snapped Nadine free from her shock. All at once fury was rising to mingle sickeningly with her dread and growing panic. She could feel her features instinctively going blank.

Stark turned to Natasha. "Hey, you were the one who said we needed to convince Ryker to back down if we couldn't get her on our side," he argued back, further stoking Nadine's growing temper. "The only one I know who had a fighting chance of that was Nina. What did you think I was gonna do?"

"So you thought you'd use my daughter to get to me?" Nadine snarled, finally finding her voice. "That's low, even for you, Stark." She was so incensed she didn't even notice Barnes jerk beside her, or the sharply concerned look Clint was suddenly fixing on the two former HYDRA assassins.

Even hidden within his suit, it was clear that Stark bristled at her dig.

"I'm doing what needs to be done," he retorted heatedly, taking an angry step forward as he gestured toward them. "I'm trying to fix the mess you all made by going rogue." But as unmistakably sincere and desperate he was, Nadine wasn't swayed. Not in the slightest.

Not since he dragged her daughter into the mess he was so adamant he was trying to fix. Her coolly impassive mask threatened to crack.

Did he not grasp just how dangerous bringing her into this was?

"Damn you, Stark! She's a child!" Nadine protested furiously...and almost frantically. "You know why I have to keep her out of The Accords!"

"I am not a child anymore, Mom!" Nina objected before Stark could even wind up to counter, pulling away from the protective hold Natasha had on her arm to draw even with the billionaire. "I'm older than Spidey, over here!" she continued with an absent wave toward the slight red and blue-suited teen, "he isn't even finished high school!"

"I—I'm not sure I want to be brought into this," the kid in question piped up tentatively. But Nina paid him little mind, not even pausing in her speech.

"Whether you like it or not, I'm eighteen, Mom—an adult—and I can make my own decisions. If I want to sign when this is all over, that's my choice. If I want to stand up and fight that's my choice! How is it any different than Wanda or Pietro choosing to stand by Steve? I'm trying to help you, Mom!" Nadine blinked in shock at Nina's impassioned outburst, a tiny flare of relief twisting unpleasantly with the nearly overwhelming alarm and dread churning in her gut.

Especially given that she could swear she felt Barnes' gaze settle heavily on her.

Could this get any worse?

At least it sounded like Stark had sense enough to keep Nina from signing those damned Accords...

"Enough," Stark snapped impatiently, cutting off Nadine's response and turning pointedly to Steve. "This is your last chance, Cap," Stark pronounced, his tone betraying that what little patience he'd had was long gone.

"You know we can't, Tony," Steve called back grimly. "This isn't the real fight."

"I don't know, it feels pretty real," Stark retorted irritably with an exaggerated shrug, "though, to be fair, the plan was to talk you down, not fight. You guys made it a fight."

Next to Nadine, Steve tensed, but his voice betrayed very little. "Only because you're giving us no other choice," he said calmly, sounding just as disappointed in his conviction as Vision had. Nadine inhaled deeply, forcibly willing her fingers to loosen from the fists they'd clenched into. In the back of her mind, a plan was beginning to form; a way out.

A way to get Nina out.

"Steve, please," Nina broke in again, her latent accent making a subtle appearance, betraying just how stressed and anxious she was. Nadine sucked in a shaking breath at the earnest plea in her daughter's voice. "Just stand down. Stop fighting!" She turned to Nadine, her eyes imploring, desperate, even. "Mom? Just walk away from this, please!"

Nadine stiffened, her mouth too dry to even attempt replying. Not that the iron band tightening painfully around her chest would've allowed it. Every instinct she had was suddenly warring within her, clawing and clenching at her insides. This was her daughter. Her child, her frightened, anxious child, was begging her not to fight. Yet she knew she had to. She knew without a doubt that their mission was bigger than what Stark was trying to do. Than what Nina was asking her to do...

"Nina, we can't do that." Where his voice had been unwavering in the face of Stark's demand, for Nina Steve sounded genuinely apologetic. Nadine swallowed thickly, her head lowering as she struggled to rein back her already dangerously out-of-control emotions. She needed to be able to think clearly. "Bucky—"

"Is far from innocent, Rogers," Stark interrupted impatiently. "He's a criminal—"

"You know it's not that simple, Stark," Nadine broke in sharply, glaring at him. Stark looked to her, and Nadine could easily imagine the frustrated look hidden beneath his helmet.

"Mom, he killed people," Nina said with an impassioned gesture toward the Wakandan king on Stark's other side. "He killed T'Challa's dad in Vienna!" On Nadine's left, Barnes tensed while on her other side, Steve edged forward, his hand rising unconsciously in the universal gesture to hold as, on his other side, both the twins shifted anxiously.

"Nina—" Steve started, but Nadine's conflicting emotions got the best of her again, cutting him off.

"And I haven't?" she countered sharply. "Nina, you know what I am. You know the things I've done." Nina's face threatened to crumple, but her chin tilted up as she steeled her nerve.

"That's different—" she tried to argue, but Nadine wasn't having it. Her temper was far too close to the surface. As was her fear.

They were caught in the heart of a powder keg. One spark...

"Yes, it is different," Nadine snapped, ignoring Steve's soft warning and levelling Stark with a glare as he made to interrupt before fixing her gaze back on her daughter. She needed Nina to understand. "I chose to kill the people I was sent after where Barnes didn't have that choice. That's a rather critical difference." Next to her, Barnes shifted uncomfortably even as Steve took a half-step forward, similarly fixing Stark with a hard look before turning to Nina.

"There's more going on here, Nina," the Captain tried to explain, "this is bigger than Bucky—"

Nina's features grew conflicted, her natural compassion clear amid her desperation. But she didn't back down, not hesitating to meet Steve's eye. Nadine's resolve strengthened. "I know he's your friend, Steve, but—"

"Nina, it's far more complicated than that," Steve cut her off, struggling to maintain his own patience. Something Nadine understood intimately. They didn't have time for this... "There are things you don't know. Things Stark doesn't know, that he doesn't want to hear." On Nina's left, Natasha glanced between Steve and Stark with wary, veiled eyes. Something Nadine didn't miss.

"Pietro," Nadine murmured as Steve attempted to reason with her daughter. Out of the corner of her eye, Pietro twitched where he stood between Wanda and Steve. The speedster spared her a quick glance, "you know what to do." He nodded briskly, uncertainty flickering amid his usual confidence.

"We'll see if this works," he muttered. Nadine frowned, eyes snapping in his direction, but before she could even open her mouth, he'd darted away. And in a blurred, bluish haze, Nina vanished.

Only to reappear a split-second later amid a shimmering-hazy flash halfway between Stark's line and theirs. With a yelp and a cry, Pietro and Nina tumbled across the pavement. Each and every one of the assembled Teams jerked back, falling into defensive positions no matter what side of the divide they stood on.

A stunned silence blanketed the tarmac for what felt like an eternity.

But it was broken after, what in reality, was barely a moment.

"Did not see that coming," Stark muttered, his astonished voice nevertheless carrying even as Nina rounded on Pietro.

"What the hell, Pietro," Nina bit out as she scrambled to her feet, her blue-grey eyes flashing angrily. Pietro scowled, glaring up at her as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well, you're fighting on the wrong side," he retorted. Nina blinked before a fierce scowl overtook her usually cheerful features.

"Well you shouldn't be fighting at all," she cried, gesturing wildly toward Nadine and the rest of their team, her accent most definitely surfacing now, "you, Wanda, my Mom, any of you! Do you even know what they want to do to you?!" Nadine could only stare, wide-eyed at the two of them, barely even hearing what they were yelling at each other. Almost imperceptibly, the air seemed to waver around them, their voices faintly muffled as though they were standing on the other side of a pane of glass. But Nadine couldn't make any sense of it, glancing with panic to Steve, who met her eye with a startled expression of his own...save for a glimmer of understanding beginning to surface as he looked back to Nina.

It was then that she caught sight of both Clint and Wanda's faces. Faces utterly devoid of bewilderment threatening to overwhelm her. Faces echoing the same the wide-eyed look of concern growing on Natasha's face across the way.

Faces that betrayed they had some idea what was going on.

Nadine's gut twisted painfully as the first thread of suspicion began to grow in the back of her mind.

No...when Nina had approached her months before to talk about being Enhanced... it was because Nina had finally, truly begun to understand the implications that came with the fact that she'd been born Enhanced. It had to be. Not because...

Out between the two lines of Avengers, Pietro's jaw clenched.

And he lurched forward only to stumble, nearly tumbling to the ground once more. He looked sharply to Nina.

"What're you still Inhibiting me for?" he snapped angrily.

"Because I need you to listen," Nina snapped right back. "All of you need to listen! This needs to stop!"

Nadine felt cold, panic prickling like shards of ice across her skin. "No..." This wasn't possible. It couldn't be...

Nina couldn't be...

Nadine looked to Steve once more, hoping beyond hope that she was wrong...

But the expression on his face said it all. He saw precisely what she did, and just as she did, he knew what it meant.

She'd made a monumental mistake. She'd assumed Nina had been talking about...but she'd really come to tell her...

Nadine's voice nearly broke as the words spilled from her lips in a breathless question...a question she knew, deep in her gut, she already knew the answer to.

A question that was truthfully anything but.

"She's Enhanced?"

A/N: Thanks for reading!

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