Natalia cursed herself as Darcy started running. The look of fear that had crossed her face just a moment before told Natalia what she wanted to know. Darcy knew she was Natalia. Fuck. Natalia started her chase. She couldn't let Darcy get away. She would go straight for the tower and then the Avengers would be free. She could not let that happen, they would put an end to her plans. She had to get to Darcy before she got to them. James would just have to wait. People became a blur as she ran past them. She saw Darcy keep looking over her shoulder as she ran. Natalia was getting closer.

The moment she saw Natalia look at her, she ran. She had to somehow make it to the gate before she did. There was no way she would make it out of this situation alive if she didn't. The only problem was that the gate wasn't as close as she would have liked it to be. She dodged around people, almost tripping a few times in her panic. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. Darcy had never been this terrified in her life. She had no clue if Natalia had a gun or knife on her. She was an assassin; they are very good at concealing.

Darcy risked another glance over her shoulder. The red head had gained on her. She was still a ways back there, but a lot closer. By glancing over her shoulder, she failed to notice a woman who had walked in her path. She hit the woman at a full run, sending them both sprawling. She shot a quick sorry before grabbing the woman's hat that had fallen, and ran around the corner. She heard the woman curse at her, but she slapped the hat on her head, dropped her jacket, and forced herself to walk calmly. She hoped that Natalia wouldn't recognize her now. She tried to slow her breathing and not look behind her. She could see the gate now. She was almost there, but then she noticed a person crowding her space. She risked a glance to her side, and almost passed out when she saw Natalia walking right beside her, with a smile on her face.

"Where do you think you are going Darcy?"

"Away from you!" she spat.

Natalia then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side, letting other pedestrians pass. "Why do you want to run from me? I've done nothing to you. You're my friend Darce."

"If you are my friend, why are you gripping my arm so hard? And why can't I call anyone at the tower? And why did you need me to find SHIELD?"

"Damn it Darcy, why did you have to figure it out."

The grip on her arm tightened and Darcy saw the malice seep into the red heads eyes.

"Red Room needs me, Ivan needs me. I need to find James first before I go home. And you are going to help me."

"Are you fucking crazy? There is no Red Room, or Ivan! How are you even Natalia? Where is Natasha? Natasha, if you are in there, I need you to give me some kind of signal so I can kick your, her ass."

"Lower your voice Darcy, now come on, we have a flight to Kazakhstan to catch."

"No." Darcy wrenched her arm from Natalia's grasp. She then began yelling. "Help! She has a gun!" She began pointing accusingly at the red head. Security started appearing out of nowhere and the two quickly became separated. Darcy saw her chance and bolted towards her gate. She made it through security since they were distracted at Natalia. She almost threw her ticket at the attendant. She looked back, and saw a flash of red hair running from security, thankfully in the opposite direction. She sighed in relief and made her way onto the plane and then to her seat. She was safe, for now.

Natalia's fist found several noses as she fought her way from the security guards. She had to hand it to Darcy, that was pretty smart, but now she was mad. She ran from security, needing a way to lay low. She had no doubt they had her description and was posted at every gate now. She grabbed a coat, hat, and sunglasses as she passed people. She casually put them on as to not appear suspicious. She pulled a Darcy, and even snatched a plane ticket. She even walked right passed a security guard that looked to be on high alert. This was too easy, but she had to hurry.

She made it to the gate that the ticket showed, and snuck passed security by sticking close to a group of people all traveling together. She made it to the tunnel that connected the plane, and then waited until there was no one around. She then swung under the railing and dropped to the tarmac below. She looked around and seeing no one, took off at a run towards where Darcy's plane would be. She saw it when she rounded the bend, and then saw that the tunnel had been disconnected already and that the door was closed.

She ran for the belly of the plane. She looked around the bottom and found that she could get into the wheel compartment. She did, and then found herself in a small space that would surely crush her when the wheels went up. She glanced around in the dim light and saw a small door. She tried it, and found that it opened. Not wasting any time, she went through and found herself in the cargo hold of the plane. This would do most nicely. The plane then jumped to life. It prepared for takeoff as Natalia made herself comfortable.

Darcy felt so relieved when she heard the plane start up. That meant everything was locked and there was no way Natalia could get onto the plane. She had made it just in time. All the tension she had built up over the last hour suddenly left her body and she relaxed, slightly. She still didn't know how her friends were at the tower, or how to get in for that matter. She thought about it the rest of the way to New York.

The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that Natalia disabled all of the towers systems and in turn triggered a tower wide lockdown. She must have left the one door open for them to leave. She then wondered why they hadn't sent Loki out, and then thought that after the alien invasion, Stark would have made damn well sure even a god couldn't escape. She was completely on her own to get them out. She really didn't want to contact Fury. He would put out a kill order for Natalia almost immediately, not giving them a chance to save Natasha, if she even could be saved. She was in a tight spot, but there was no way Tony would have an internal tower lockdown without there being a kill switch or something on the outside. He was too smart not to, she hoped. She would have to find it, and then...do something. She had no clue what.

Hours later, Darcy felt the wheels of the plane hit the runway. She had made it. The easy part was sitting on the plane thinking, now she had to actually do the hard part. Operation Save the Avengers initiated. She called a taxi after exiting the airport and made her way to the tower. When she was a few blocks away, traffic came to a standstill in the late afternoon.

"Typical New York," she muttered. Becoming frustrated, she jumped out of the cab and immediately headed down an alley. She had no money to pay the cab driver, so she ran. Her bags were still at the airport in Washington waiting by the chairs. She almost made it to the other side of the alley when a human shadow engulfed her from behind. Thinking it was the cab driver, she turned with her hands in the air to surrender, only to find a certain red haired assassin standing before her.

"Thought you could get away?" Natalia's voice dripped with malice. There was something happening in her mind that no one, not even she knew about. The flashbacks she had been having as well as the confusion, had messed her up. Feelings of hatred were seeping through the cracks. This hatred was what Natasha had tried so hard to push back, but Natalia didn't know. Natasha's feelings were towards Ivan, and what he made her do in the Red Room. Since Loki had tried bringing a stolen memory back, those feeling were also coming through, and Natalia embraced them. And right now, they were directed at Darcy.

Natalia pushed Darcy into the wall of the alley and placed her hand on the struggling girl's throat. Darcy's feet were lifted from the ground as the assassin tried choking the life out of her. She kicked out but to no avail. "Natalia...please..." she managed to choke out.

Getting angrier, Natalia released her hold on the girl, only to throw her to the ground. Darcy gasped for air and tried to crawl away on her hands and knees. Natalia grabbed her by the leg and pulled her back. Darcy fell onto her side, and Natalia kicked her in the stomach. She cried out in pain and blocked another kick from coming. As it came, she grabbed the flying leg, and pulled Natalia to the ground. She knew Natalia wouldn't suspect it. Once she was down, Darcy jumped up to try and run for it. She made it a few steps before she was grabbed again, and slammed into a wall. She felt the blood running down her face before she felt the pain. Falling to the ground, she looked up at Natalia in fear. She tried to move away and as she did, her arm brushed against a broken beer bottle. It cut her, but she grabbed it anyways and lunged at Natalia with it. As she drove the broken piece of glass into the red heads stomach, she caught a glimpse of something in her eyes. She knew it was Natasha. She was still in there. She would bet her life on it. She had always heard that the eyes are the window to a person's soul, and she just saw it. The look then vanished, and was replaced by fury. Natalia grabbed the broken glass from her stomach and immediately drove it into Darcy's leg. She was making quick friends with the ground as she found it again. This time though, she didn't get up. She just lay there, waiting for Natalia to kill her. She was in too much pain to fight back anymore. As she gave up, she heard a gunshot. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the pain that followed, but found none. Three more shots rang out and she opened her eyes. Natalia was lying on the ground, and there were three men at the entrance to the alley with guns. They looked like thugs, and she guessed that this was their turf, and she was trespassing. She wasted no more time in laying there then. Natalia was down, for now, and she bit back her pain to rip the bottle out of her leg, and to run away. No more shots rang out as she rounded the corner and headed towards the tower. There were hardly any people on the streets by the time she made it to her destination. She was incredibly tired, but that was most likely due to her head trauma. She guessed concussion. It hadn't stopped bleeding and her jeans were a mess of blood from her leg as well. Her gray shirt was also stained from the gash on her forehead and cheek where blood had dripped and ran down.

She made it to the lobby door, and found that the titanium reinforcements were down and impenetrable. All windows looked blocked as well. She made her way around the building, only stumbling from faintness a few times. She was starting to get dizzy. Darcy then found a control box and thought that she could do something with it. Opening it up, she found a mess of wires. It looked totally foreign to her and she didn't know what to do. She felt her legs getting weak and knew she wouldn't last too much longer.

"Screw it," she said and grabbed a handful of wires. She ripped them out, hoping that something would work. She expected alarms or beeping but she heard nothing. It didn't work. She slunk down onto the ground and rested against the back wall. She had no more energy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How the hell are we going to get out of here Tony," Clint said as he sat next to Steve on the lab couch. They had been all over the tower, looking for a weakness in the walls or weapons to shoot through, but the weapons they did find were connected through JARVIS who was offline. Tony could try and bypass it, but it could take days. Steve was feeling a little better, but was still in some pain. Thor had his hands full with Jane, trying to keep her calm. She was worried for Darcy.

"I don't know Clint, I'm working on it. It's not like I can rewrite a years' worth of programming."

Loki had also tried for weak spots in the wall, and found none. Tony was really good at what he does. He was currently looking over the memory machine. He didn't understand it too much, but he was thinking that they would have to use it again to get Natasha back. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could reach her before they had to resort to it.

"As soon as you can Loki, I want you to get Darcy away from her. I don't care what Natalia is doing, just get her back." Jane was still worrying.

Loki walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Jane; I will do what I can." Thor gave him a look. He was hoping that Loki wouldn't just leave. He was banking on the fact that he owed Natasha something and that he would stay to help them. Jane though, trusted him more. The group had spent a lot of time together the past few days and had gotten to know each other a little more. Clint would even stand next to him now without giving him a death glare.

After a few more hours of small talk and silence, Tony yelled excitedly. "I...something happened to the system!"

Clint jumped up. "You fixed it?"

"I didn't do it, it's, it's like part of the mainframe failed. I can use that shutdown section as an entry point and get the defenses down from here. Just give me a second." He tapped away as the team looked on in anticipation. After a few minutes, a loud whirring sounded and the lights came back on. There was then a loud mechanical sound as the titanium wall defenses lifted.

"Loki go!" Jane shouted. He apparated out of the room to where he felt Darcy. He expected to appear in some far off country, and was confused when he found himself right outside of the tower. He looked down and found Darcy slumped against the wall and injured.

"Hey dude, fancy meeting you here."

Leave it to Darcy to make fun of a bad situation. "Are you okay Darcy?" He kneeled down to check out the damage. She was a mess.

"Oh youuu know, just seeing twoooo of youuuu, no biggie."

She started slurring her words and it worried him. He gently collected her into his arms and she cried out in pain. He watched with worry as her eyes drooped closed, she had passed out. He then apparated back into the lab with her. As gently as possible, he layed her on the floor since the table was strewn with defense plans.

"Darcy!" Jane yelled as she ran over to her friend. She grabbed onto Thor when she saw the condition she was in.

"Where was she?" Clint asked as he started tending to her wounds to get the bleeding to stop. "Put pressure here," he said to Jane as he directed her to the leg wound.

Loki grabbed the medical kit from by the couch and handed it to Clint as he answered. "She was here, right behind the building slumped against the wall. She was awake and talking when I found her. She only passed out when I picked her up."

"She didn't happen to be next to a big metal box on the wall did she?" Tony asked as he kneeled next to Jane.

"Yes, she was."

"I knew it! She hacked into the system that helped me to fix it. She's gotta teach me how to do that."

"Actually, I just grabbed the wires and yanked the shit out it." Darcy had woken up to her usual snarky self.

"Darcy!" Jane was ecstatic. She helped Darcy to sit up. "What happened?"

"What happened? Oh shit! Lock the room down! Natalia wasn't too far behind me. How long was I out?"

"About 5 minutes," Loki said.

"I left her in the alley after she did this about 15 minutes ago, she could be here by now."

Tony jumped up and started the lockdown that only he could open this time. After the lab was locked down, he went back to the group.

Darcy winced every time Clint put on a new bandage, it was hard not to. He had to stich up her leg and arm from where she was cut by the beer bottle. Her cheek and forehead just required closure tape to pull the cuts together. Her bruised stomach couldn't really be helped. Clint checked her for a concussion but found that she didn't seem to have one.

As she was being taken care of, the team drilled her with questions.

"Where were yall?" Steve asked from the couch.

"Washington state. She needed me to find a part of SHIELD so she could use one of their hackers to find The Winter Soldier."

"Bucky? Why?" Stave asked.

"I actually don't know. I just figured it out this morning when I ran from Natalia."

"Why did you wait until today to run?" Thor asked.

"I just figured it out that it was Natalia this morning when I hacked into the towers cameras to see why you guys wouldn't answer your phones."

"You mean she never told you and you thought it was Natasha all this time?'

"Ummm yes. She's very good at lying."

"Does the SHIELD team know about the situation?" Tony asked.

"Only Skye, the hacker, and partially. I think Natalia played her as well. Agent May and Morse were the ones who found us after HYDRA attacked in Seattle, and I'm beginning to think Natalia set that up too as a way in."

"Agent Melinda May and Bobbi Morse?" Clint asked.

"Yea, why?"

"Are you serious! You met The Calvary? Do you know how lucky you are?"

Jane sighed in relief. "I was convinced that you were going through hell the past few days and that she had kidnapped you. Wait, how did you get away from a super assassin?"

"Long story short, I stole a plane ticket and ran, she caught me, I yelled out in the airport that she had a gun, security tackled her, I ran onto the plane, got here, she somehow made it onto the same plane or something, caught me in an alley, beat me up, then some gang members or something shot her and I ran. Then I ripped the wires from the control box because I didn't know what else to do"

"Holy crap, way to go Darcy!" Clint high fived her. She winced but was glad to be feeling slightly better. Thor picked her up off of the floor once she was all patched up and sat her gently on the couch next to Steve.

"Hey lookie there, were twins!" Steve actually laughed at her.

The group then started to discuss what to do next. They didn't want Loki to go after Natalia just yet, they needed to talk strategy. As they talked, they didn't notice the extra presence in the room. They didn't notice that Natalia was watching them. She was in the air duct above them.

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