Novi Grad, Sokovia

Spring 2015

Upon reaching Sokovia, the Team split up, each going their own separate ways, each with their own particular tasks.

The Captain's pep-talk, if it could even be called that for how grim it felt, had been followed by a brief discussion and assigning of who was going where and doing what. It was a loose plan—mostly centred on evacuating the city—since, of course, as soon as Ultron realized they were in the city, the fighting was going to begin, making any plans that didn't involve engaging Ultron secondary. But they still went in with a plan anyway. What else could they do?

Getting the ball rolling on evacuating Novi Grad fell to Rogers, Barton and the Maximoff Twins. Wanda especially had stepped up there, suggesting that, with her powers, she could influence people to leave the city, putting them into a trance of sorts like she did with the Avengers to get them moving. Honestly, the notion left Nadine wary—messing with people's minds did in general, really. For rather obvious reasons; it brought up far too many memories. Enough, apparently, to earn her a curious, even worried frown from the Maximoff girl. Nadine merely scowled at the girl. She certainly did not appreciate the brunette getting into her head, intentional or not, even for just a look.

Still, in this instance, she kept her objections to herself. As much as she despised the idea of mind control in any form, she couldn't deny that taking advantage of Wanda's gifts would certainly speed up the evacuation. It was one of the fastest ways to get people moving and they needed to get the city cleared as quickly as possible.

Stark, meanwhile, was heading to confront Ultron, planning on buying them as much time as possible to clear the city. No one knew how successful he was likely to be, but there was no doubt that Ultron was going to want Stark. Not that the billionaire was exactly going to face him alone. Thor's Vision was going to be his backup, shadowing Iron Man before ultimately moving in to confront Ultron himself and hopefully burn the villainous A.I. out of the Internet in the process.

Which left Thor, Banner and Nadine. And there was little doubt where Nadine intended to go whether the rest of the Team liked it or not. She was not about to let anyone keep her from her daughter any longer than necessary, something no one—not even Rogers despite his apparent lingering disapproving anger at her, judging by the unreadable way he kept glancing at her—argued. She hadn't even had to say a word. The Captain had just looked to her and simply asked, his voice serious yet still nearly dispassionate, 'Romanoff and Nina?' It wasn't even really a question, but more a confirmation. She'd merely nodded sedately in response. There'd been no question. Banner had piped up then, offering to go with her, pointing out firmly that him going green was not a good idea, not with so many civilians around, but that he could help find Nat. He was hoping to avoid Hulk coming out until it was absolutely necessary...and even then, he was obviously not keen on the idea.

Distracted or not, though, Nadine didn't miss that there was something the doctor had left unsaid. His demeanor was unusually grim and guarded, more so than even the dire situation demanded. At first she thought it was due to him facing the likelihood that the Hulk was going to have to make an appearance, something he was understandably reluctant about considering what had happened the last time the Other Guy had been set loose. But the more she studied him on the trip to Sokovia, the more Nadine became unsatisfied with that conclusion. It was something more, something the doctor was conflicted about. It was a conclusion she had become more and more convinced of the longer she had observed him, especially given how hard the doctor seemed to be pointedly avoiding meeting her gaze.

He was planning on leaving.

Once the thought came to her, Nadine had to admit it seemed like the most likely reason for the doctor withdrawing the way he had been. It wasn't just her eye and her company he was avoiding, after all, but the rest of his team too. The conviction apparent in his posture and his dark eyes only supported her theory further.

Well? She couldn't exactly blame him for the impulse. She'd been suspecting since the Team's layover at the Barton home that Natasha was considering running again, and considering how close she and Banner seemed to be getting? Especially since she seemed to have the Hulk's trust on top of Bruce's? It wasn't a stretch to think that they might disappear together. Truthfully? Nadine couldn't say she entirely minded the notion. If it made her sister happy? She could see why her sister had grown to care about the mild-mannered doctor; he was different from most of the men people like her and Natasha tended to interact with, with more interest in avoiding the fight than running toward it. Given how precious even the notion of peace was to people like them? And he was a good man. She could see the appeal.

It left Nadine feeling a little less guilty about her own plans.

The only thing that sat wrong with Nadine was the idea that Natasha would leave the rest of her team hanging. That she would leave the mission before it was over. She just couldn't see it. Nadine might have little reason to stay in the fight but Natasha did. This Team had become her sister's family. There was no denying that, no matter that a little part of Nadine wanted to keep her little sister all to herself. But she just couldn't see Natasha abandoning her Team until the fighting was done. Once she might have been able to, but not anymore. She would want to stay until the job was done.

Not like Nadine. Before they'd even left the Tower she'd known what she had to do. She had her own plan and she was set on it: find Nina and disappear. Nothing was more important. That was her mission. The Team's plans were secondary.

A sharp ache tightened in her chest at the thought of leaving the Team just as she suspected Banner and possibly even Natasha were intending. But then the memory of Rogers' face when one of her darkest secrets came to light strengthened her resolve. They weren't going to want her around after this was over anyway, not once the rest of the Team learned her secret. So why prolong the inevitable? She wasn't an Avenger, after all. She wasn't part of their family. Especially when sticking around would only put Nina at further risk.

Her daughter had been through enough.

And that wasn't even counting what inevitably had to come. She owed her daughter a long, candid chat, after all. No, taking Nina far away from the final confrontation against Ultron was the best play. She needed to keep Nina safe. Her silent desire to stay and help the Avengers—to maybe, just maybe, earn a place as a part of their family...to belong somewhere—had to take a backseat to that.

With an exchange of silent nods conveying a wish of good luck once Thor had punched a hole into the bowels of Strucker's fortress, the Asgardian too was going his separate way, descending deeper into the base. He'd volunteered to investigate the depths of the abandoned fortress to try and get some idea of what Ultron had been working on.

Nadine and Banner, on the other hand, pressed onward and upward in their search for Nina and Natasha. Deeper and deeper into the fortress they went, the air seeming to grow more acrid and metallic as they went. It wasn't a difficult conclusion to come to that the fortress had become more of a factory than strictly a base. The fact that the caverns and passageways smelled strongly like a foundry easily supported that.

Sure enough, as the doctor and the assassin skirted around the huge cavern that dominated the heart of the base, following the tunnel-like corridors to the upper levels, there was no doubting that the facility looked more like a robotics factory than anything else. Even the massive dead Chitauri Leviathan seemed almost lost amid the giant furnaces and multitudes of assembly stations as they peered down toward the bottom of the cavern. But while awed and unsettled by the scope of Ultron's operation, neither of them were interested in investigating further. They had other priorities.

What really bothered Nadine, though, was how quiet the fortress felt. From when they landed the Quinjet in the base's main courtyard to slipping down the secret passage Stark had found when they had taken the base to when Thor had blown an access hole into the main cavern, they hadn't come across a single Ultron sentry. Even the main cavern and all its machinery was eerily silent. A sense of sick anticipation clung to the thick, humid air wending through the rough-cut passageways. It was making Nadine nervous. Surely they should have come across at least a few of his sentries by now. Especially when considering just how much machinery he had hidden away in the bowels of the base. Surely Ultron hadn't left his base and his prisoners unguarded?

But as they pressed further into the base, Nadine couldn't deny it; the base was abandoned. Her stomach churned. If the base had been emptied, it likely meant that Ultron was ready for his endgame.

She could only hope the Avengers were up to the task.

And part of her hoped that Banner and her sister's plans to leave included beating Ultron first.

But just because her instincts told her the base was abandoned didn't mean Nadine was about to take any chances. Her rifle never lowered, the stock pressed securely to her shoulder, and her keen senses were on high alert as she swept ahead clearing the way. Behind her, Banner was equally cautious, his found HYDRA energy rifle held at the ready in his somewhat uncomfortable grip as he kept an eye out behind them lest they were being followed. But for all that he was an Avenger, Banner wasn't a soldier.

It was something Nadine had to keep reminding herself. More than once she nearly left him behind, nearly losing the doctor in the maze of tunnels and corridors when she started moving faster than he could keep up. It did little to ease the impatience pressing sharply against her ribcage. Or the frustration. Or the helpless apprehension.

"Natasha!" Nadine spun at the sound of Banner's shout, her painfully strained nerves wrenching tighter yet as she instinctively sighted down the length of her rifle.

Only for her chest to compress so tight that she couldn't breathe for relief, her vision blurring even as her gun dropped from her shoulder.

"Mom!"

A dry sob ripped from Nadine's chest at the sound of her daughter's voice. Before she'd even realized she was moving, she was in front of the iron-barred door trapping her daughter and her sister, her arms slipping through the bars to pull her daughter close.

All at once she felt whole again.

Her rifle dropped to the floor with a dull clunk.

She didn't even know which language she was speaking as words of love and relief and reassurance poured out against Nina's pale hair as the trembling girl pressed as close to her mother as she could through the bars. All Nadine knew was that Nina was safe and alive and back in her arms. It was all she could do to keep from sobbing with relief.

A gentle hand landing on her shoulder pulled Nadine's gaze to her sister's relieved features. Even when she reached out to grasp Natasha's fingers in what had to be a painfully tight grip, her sister just smiled, squeezing tightly back.

The moment had to end, though. Laying a hand on Natasha's arm where she had threaded it through the bars, Banner caught the attention of the two master spies.

"The Team's in the city, it's about to light up." Natasha grinned roguishly between the two of them.

"I don't suppose you found a key lying around somewhere?" Nadine's hand paused as it instinctively began reaching for the lock-picking kit she had tucked in her boot, shooting her sister a suspicious, faintly reprimanding look.

"Forget how to pick a lock, lisichka?" Natasha quirked an eyebrow at her older sister, her smirk deepening smugly.

"No point in breaking out until now," she quipped back blithely, "not with a couple hundred robots between us and the way out and you all needing to come here anyway." Nadine rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. She supposed there was some merit to the redhead's logic. Bruce, meanwhile, seemed to run out of patience at the mention of picking locks; not that it would've taken either master spy more than a few seconds, picking kit or no—it wasn't a particularly sophisticated lock, after all.

"Yeah, I found one." With a sharp gesture, the three women were pulling back from the door as Banner lifted the HYDRA rifle he'd been toting around and put it to good use blasting away the lock.

With a reluctant groan, the door was heaved aside. At once Nina was burrowing into her mother's embrace. But as much as Nadine would've loved to simply hold her baby girl close, reassuring herself that Nina really was okay, she knew they had to move.

"So what's our play," Natasha was asking Banner softly as Nadine pulled away from Nina, caressing her pale cheek gently before urging the teenager to start moving as the blonde assassin set her sights on the exit, snatching up her rifle along the way.

"We're here to get you two to safety." Nadine glanced back at the pair of them as the doctor spoke. The elusive sense that he was holding something back returned at his tone. Natasha looked up at him, her brow creasing in thought.

"Job's not finished." Bruce visibly held back a sigh, unable to hold her gaze as he shifted uncomfortably before fixing the redhead with a nearly pleading look.

"We could help with the evacuation, but I can't be in a fight near civilians. And you've done plenty. Our fight is over." There it was. Even if he hadn't outright said it, Nadine could hear it in his voice; a plea to leave it all behind. Glancing to Nina, who was eying her and her outfit and her rifle warily, questions and uncertainty clear in her large eyes, Nadine pretended to ignore Natasha's soft reply.

"So we just disappear?" She didn't have to see it to know Bruce was watching Natasha's reaction intently. Silently, Nadine urged Nina onward, giving her sister at least a short moment of privacy. a moment later, Natasha and Bruce were close behind, catching up to them easily. Nadine couldn't help but run an assessing glance over her sister; the tension in Natasha's shoulder had eased fractionally, suggesting that she was pleased with the offer, enough so that she was on the verge of accepting it despite everything else going on. But there was an uncertainty in her green eyes holding her back. It wasn't a simple decision for the redhead, not anymore.

But before Nadine could think on it further, Barton's voice was sounding through their earpieces.

"Banner? Ryker? Have you got them?" Nadine nearly smiled.

"Yeah, we've got them, Barton," she confirmed softly, her hand rising to brush back a lock of Nina's pale hair before gently squeezing her daughter's shoulder as she turned her attention to the corridor ahead, confirming that their route was still clear even as her rifle rose again in readiness.

"Well that's a bit of good news," the archer murmured, just barely speaking loud enough for his earpiece's mic to pick it up. Nadine couldn't help but grin at the undisguised relief there. Natasha glanced between Banner and Nadine, a faint, admonishing frown appearing on her face. Immediately Nadine huffed irritably at herself, shooting her sister an apologetic look before slinging her rifle onto her shoulder and digging into the pouch on her belt for the earpiece Stark had given her to pass on to Natasha once they found her. Levelling her sister with a raised eyebrow of playful rebuke, Natasha was tossing aside her old earpiece in order to replace it with the one Nadine dropped into her outstretched palm.

Only for the redhead to frown in bewilderment at the anxious voices suddenly speaking in her ear.

"You've got Nina?"

"She's okay?" Both Twins spoke almost simultaneously, Pietro's question only just barely trailing his sister's. Nadine actually rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Maximoff. She's fine," she managed to reply patiently, though a hint of exasperation made it through into her voice. Nina started next to Nadine, her suddenly wide-eyed gaze snapping to the blonde assassin.

"Maximoff! Pietro and Wanda? They're here? They're okay?" Nadine blinked at the anxious, eager stream of questions that burst out of Nina's mouth. A slight pang twinged in her chest at the reaction; her daughter really did care about the Twins. On one hand it was reassuring. On the other? Well, Nadine's overly protective side wasn't terribly fond of the development.

"They're fine," she finally managed to assure her, reaching over to squeeze Nina's shoulders in reassurance again as she dropped a light kiss against her daughter's temple. "Your friends are fine, solnyshko." A relieved, shuddering sigh trembled thought the young blonde as she leaned into her mother's side.

Only for Barton's anxious voice to cut in.

"Though, maybe not for much longer." Nadine, Banner and Natasha all exchanged anxious looks as shouts from the rest of the Team began to echo through the earpieces. Ultron had unleashed his sentries on the city.

Without a word of consensus, the small group were immediately heading back toward the dim corridors that lead back to the surface, intent on making it back to the Quinjet.

Only for the base to shudder around them as they made it back out to the main cavern, stopping them all in their tracks.

Nadine met Natasha's eye as they all stumbled to a halt as the ground lurched and spasmed beneath their feet, nearly causing them all to lose their footing. Her gut twisted anxiously at the grim expression in the familiar green eyes. There was no denying what was happening.

Ultron was making his final play.

And the fate of the world hung in the balance.

A/N: Thanks for Reading!

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