Chapter Text
PAST
Zola, the head scientist of HYDRA. James flinched slightly. The movement was so minuscule that if Natasha hadn’t spent the last six months consistently with him she probably wouldn’t have caught it. Natasha always made a point to make sure that whenever they revived new missions, they acted as if they knew nothing of each other.
“Soldier.” James stood at attention, he paid no mind to Natasha or his surroundings. James laid his weapons on the ground. Zola nodded as is satisfied, Natasha wondered, is he trying to show he is under HYDRA’s influence completely? What is he doing?
Zola smiled. His teeth on full display, the man looked deranged. “Welcome, the Black Widow. Your reputation precedes you Madame.”
Natasha knew nothing of the sort, but she played into it, “only the good things I suppose.” The black widow, a term given to those worthy of the red room’s goals. She felt pride and disgust at the same time. What was it? She’d always wanted to be the top, for the longest time.
Outwardly, Natasha raised a brow at his actions. James didn’t respond. Not even a twitch. Is it mind games? Was all that happened in the six months a lie? Then we can run?
“Come on, follow.” Zola beckoned her, “your Madame B wants you back but unfortunately we have a long list of enemies, and a lot to lose,” he surely talked a lot, “and you two need to infiltrate a base in Budapest. Information and IDs are in the packet. Kill all leave no survivors. Ablet a long mission but the last.”
After an hour they were in a nearby small town, and had decided to stop by a restaurant. Natasha sat opposite to James. The man hadn't spoken a word since Zola. Natasha kicked him under the table, “Talk.”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
“They erase my memory, I am sure you figured that much out.”
“I did, and I assume it’s that Zola guy.”
“Yes and he’s not just some guy, he’s the one that made the serum you got injected with.”
“Well the shoe fits.”
The waitress dropped off their food, two burgers and a strawberry milkshake ( for James).
Zola wanted to see if the mind control lasted all this time. However James had acted and had made the scientist believe that it had, Natasha took a bite out of her burger, “we need to figure out how to haul ass from Budapest.”
“I’ll drink to that.” James took a sip out of his milkshake.
PRESENT
Harley and the others stood in the training grounds of the tower.
“After a lot of debate and against my vote,” Tony sighs, Natasha gives him a look, “even though the decision which has been made is logical-“
“You guys will be assigned a mission.” Steve cut Tony off.
Harley, Sam, Luke, Ava and Wanda looked at each other and burst into smiles. Sam and Harley high-fived.
“I had an entire buildup.” Tony pouts.
“Aww,” Natasha teases him, “well it sucked.”
Tony rolls his eyes.
“But,” Natasha says loudly enough to stop their celebration, “one of us will be monitoring the situation from afar, not in person. Just in case you require backup and I expect that you all will know when to ask for backup. Right now you are local. Meaning New York is your backyard, protect it.”
“Um, what about the local vigilanties?” Wanda asks.
“I’ll handle them.”
“You mean you’ll talk to Clint.”
“Same thing.” Natasha says and leaves.
Peter stood in front of the remains of the jail (sorta) he had made for Dr. Conners. The man would turn into the Lizard and wreak havoc and then Peter would catch him and then he'd be back in the jail. Spiderman took care of him, and the antidote was so close. Peter sighed. “Here we go again.”
Peter was crouched atop a building, he figured with the small touchscreen on his forearm. He pulled up the tracker he had injected in Dr. Conners last time. Which was a month ago so still time before the tracker is out of his system.
Peter followed the small blinking red dot on the screen.
As Peter followed Conners, he remembered how difficult it had been to get the tracker into the antidote and to then fight with the immune system. The immune system was killing off the nanobots he used to track faster and faster. He needs to cure Conners before that happens. And after every transformation the lizard was gaining intelligence, evolving.
Right now the lizard is setting up in a sewer, and it has plans to attack. Well Peter has plans to crash that. He pulls out the syringe he has, the new antidote he had made some tweaks here and there, he hopes this one works.
Harley is at school the next day, buzzing with excitement. The team might get a mission, which is honestly what he’s been waiting for. He did get a ‘stay safe’ lecture from Tony. Who begrudgingly agreed that on field experience is as important as training.
“Someone is in a good mood.” Ned says as a greeting.
Harley just grins. “Its a beautiful day.”
MJ eyes him. Ned shoots her a look, Harley doesn’t think much of it. He is happy.
Wanda sits with Ava in the tower. She anxiously pulls out threads from the sleeves of her sweater. “You good?” Ava asks her.
“Not really.”
Ava just sits, patiently. “Last time I was on the field I wasn’t prepared, I caused some damage. And I think I could have avoided that only if I paid more attention.”
“You can't beat yourself over that. We all make mistakes, we should learn.”
“Thats wise”
“My dad used to say that, I wish he was here.”
Wanda looks at Ava’s face, sadness visible. She scoots near to her, and takes Ava’s hand in her and squeezes it. Ava looks at her and smiles back.
Traveling in the sewers even though Peter has done that multiple times, he still finds it absolutely gross. Lucky for him he found Conners quite fast, he just stuck to the calling and saw what the lizard was up to. Slowly he lowered himself behind him, and injected him with the antidote. The man turned back to human, Peter sighed.
“Spider-man” Conners said hoarsely.
“Welcome back doc, how do ya feel”
“Tired”
Peter chuckled, “that’s to be expected.”
He helped Conners up, “let’s hope this one sticks.”
“I think it will,” Conners said, lifting his arm that he lost, the stump visible and no longer green as it was before.
“Well let’s not jump to conclusions, let’s monitor. Next time instead of cross genetics, get a prosthetic.”
“I think I’ll do just that.”