The tarmac was ablaze by the time she and Clint reached it. Both planes and helicopters lay wasted, burning. Wanda was glad she'd come now, seeing Tony Stark floating above her, condescending her, only made her realise how angry she was. 'Wanda, I think you hurt Vision's feelings,' Tony patronised, holding an outstretched palm in her direction.

         'You locked me in my room,' she hissed, 'you invited me into the Avengers promising a home... Instead, you made it my prison.'

         'Okay. First, that's an exaggeration. Second, I did it to protect you,' Tony argued. Wanda gritted her teeth, letting out a small growl of indignation. She changed her stance, the power she'd been granted a year earlier enveloping her hands. Wanda Maximoff wanted to unleash it, she wanted to prove to her captor that she had control over it, that she owned it instead of it owning her.

         The fighting around her had stopped though, even Stark noticed it. Everybody's eyes focused on what was happening above the terminal. The kid Tony had recruited was no longer antagonising Steve. Clint and Natasha had finally given up pretending to fight. Sam and Vision both landed on the ground, curious as to what was going on. Rhodes had stopped fighting Scott, just as the former grew to his normal size. James Barnes discarded of King T'Challa, throwing him to the side. The king of Wakanda had gotten back up, ready to fight once more but ceased to move when he saw what was coming.

A young man was approaching, hovering through the air, his hands clouded in red. His jaw tensing as he breathed through his teeth, his eyes glowing crimson. Suddenly the man dropped, the asphalt quaking, cracking as red veins ran through it haphazardly. Wanda watched him intently. A malnourished twenty-something dressed in blood-stained clothes three sizes too big for him. Something about his presence lit a fire in Wanda's heart.

'Forget about the others!' she heard Tony speak desperately into his comm, 'get the kid, he looks harmless, but...'

Wanda directed her energy at the multi-story carpark behind Tony, pulling cars from their bays and directing them at him, ultimately crushing him beneath them.

***

Steve caught his friend's love-struck grin from the corner of his eye, but he wasn't so excited to see Dr (L/N). He'd seen what (Y/N) was capable of during the war, he didn't want his friends dying. He didn't want them facing the same demise those HYDRA soldiers had. They didn't deserve that. '(Y/N),' he shouted at the man who'd just single-handedly thrown an airbus at James Rhodes. He and Wanda were wreaking havoc. Tony was pulling himself out from a pile of crushed cars, Rhodes was trying his hardest to remove his legs from the airplane that trapped his legs. Even the kid he had just squabbled with was knocked out on the side of the runway.

         'Steve!' Bucky shouted over the noise, 'Steve, come on! He's giving us the distraction we need!'

         'We can't let him kill them,' Steve shook his head, gripping the straps of his shield tightly.

         'He'll burn out Steve, and then he'll follow,' Bucky persuaded him, 'I know he will. He always does.'

          'You two get to the Quinjet,' Sam spoke over the comms, 'we'll handle it!' Reluctantly, Steve agreed to follow Bucky.

         'We got this, Cap!' Scott Lang inputted excitedly.

         'Clint? Wanda?' Steve asked, he didn't want to leave anybody behind who wasn't comfortable.

         'Lost connection with Wanda,' Clint said, 'she seems to have made a new friend, get yourselves gone, the rest of us will handle it.'

Bucky and Steve had almost made it to the hanger, they were only a few hundred yards away from the entrance when a blast from vision collapsed the look-out tower beside it.

A blanket of red held it up mid-air, holding open the way. Steve looked back to see Wanda, focusing all the energy she had into giving him and Bucky the safest passage to the Quinjet as possible. Rhodes shot her with a blast, the sound clearly deafening her. The tower was half-broken, its pieces barely being held together by a struggling Wanda when (Y/N) floated forward, taking over. He held it up and continued following, slamming down the rubble once he was safely in the hanger with Bucky Barnes and Captain America.

***

'Bucky?' (Y/N) sobbed, falling to his knees, 'Bucky?' (Y/N) (L/N)'s crimson eyes were replaced by glossy (E/C) ones. 'Buck?' Natasha watched as James Buchanan Barnes approached him, picking him up under the shoulders, and placing him onto his feet.

         'Are you hurt?' James Barnes asked him. Natasha thought the question a little redundant after what (L/N) had just done to her team. Barnes stroked his cheek, holding him tightly against him, their eyes not breaking contact.

         Dr (L/N) shook his head, placing his hand over the metal one Barnes rested on his cheek, 'I woke up, in hospital, and you – you – you weren't there...'

         'Breathe,' Bucky instructed, 'take a deep breath.' (Y/N) did as he was told, breathing in and out a few times before going to talk again.

         'You weren't there the last time I woke up in hospital,' (L/N) stuttered, sniffing still, 'I didn't think you were going to be alive. I don't want to break my promise. I'm not losing you again...'

         Sergeant Barnes held him tighter now, wrapping his arms around (Y/N) (L/N)'s waist as he rested his face in (Y/N)'s messy (H/C) hair, 'I'm never losing you again,' he agreed, pulling his head back, their eyes meeting, 'ever.'

         'Promise?'

         'Promise.'

Natasha made her presence known now, ducking out of her hiding place behind the landing gear. She was losing time by enjoying the heartwarming scene unfolding before her. 'You're not going to stop,' she stated, walking forward, her eyes focused on the approaching intruder. James Barnes held (L/N) tighter now, tensing his jaw as his brows furrowed.

         'You know I can't,' Steve told her.

'I'm going to regret this,' she sighed, stretching her arm towards King T'Challa and forming a fist before she sent out a bolt of electricity at him. He fell to one knee, spasming as the electricity halted his movement. 'Go.'

         Steve nodded, rushing to the jet, closely followed by James Barnes who was helping a tired Dr (L/N) walk. T'Challa limped forward, and she shot again. The engines of the Quinjet being turned on caused the hanger to shake, resulting in the King of Wakanda to stumble slightly as the last of the electricity in his body dissipated.

Steve had got away. Captain America, the assassin, and the psycho. They'd gotten away. Natasha felt no remorse though, in fact, she felt pride. Why she'd disagreed with him she wasn't sure. Steve was always correct when it came to the matter of what was right and what was wrong, that was why he was Captain America.

         She put her arms down, she wasn't going to hurt King T'Challa again, not when there was no need to. 'I said I'd help you find him, not catch him.' She said hoarsely, as though she believed in the words which left her mouth. 'There's a difference.'

Ten minutes ago, she'd been hellbent on stopping (Y/N) (L/N). He was just a kid at heart, a kid who wanted to be with the man he'd fell in love with seventy-one years ago. Twenty minutes ago, she'd been set on helping Tony arrest Steve. Not just Steve though, Clint, Wanda, and Sam also.

         There was a portion of her that wished she was still able to separate her feelings from the job at hand, but the other part relished in the fact she could do the right thing, instead of what was instructed of her. Natasha Romanoff had been telling herself for years that she'd needed to do the right thing. Now though... Now she could tell herself that she wanted to do the right thing, and that she'd done the right thing.

She'd helped Steve Rogers, and therefore she'd done the right thing, sort of. Tony's plans changed as his perception of right and wrong changed. He wanted Steve arrested. Then he wanted Wanda, Sam, Clint, and Scott Lang arrested also. Then he was only after (Y/N) (L/N). Steve never seemed to have that problem.

He was right from the start.

The black vans pulled up, hauling each of her former teammates away, each in a very different manner. Sam's wings were heaved off of his back and he was mercilessly kicked into a cell. He yelled and cursed, but nobody responded. Wanda probably would have, but she was gagged. Natasha watched on as the men in black uniforms stormed forward and pulled her from Vision's embrace, forcing her tired body into a straitjacket. There were tears in the girls eyes; tears that caused her mascara to run and stain the gag that prevented her from saying so much as a goodbye.

         It was Clint's arrest that hurt her most though. His betrayed, blue, eyes meeting hers as he was walked off into the back of a van in heavy-looking handcuffs. She was supposed to be his children's auntie, and yet she'd helped send their father to prison.

He'd saved her, and she'd been his demise.

Tony walked over, resting an arm on her shoulder, 'Good news is, Rhodey's going to be alright,' he said, referencing the injuries James Rhodes had most likely attained due to having his legs crushed by a plane.

         Natasha shrugged his hand away, turning to face him. Tony had suffered his own injuries: a broken nose, a bruised eye, a fractured jaw. She hoped he'd get better with time. She'd never wish pain on him, not that her words said anything to convey this.

         'Go to Hell Tony.'