from_the_outside | [Leipzig AU] to do something good

"I know what you're doing, you know," Sharon says, as she and Nat stroll over a bridge, making their way toward the Landungsbrücken. Evening is settling, cool and blue, over Hamburg, and they'd spent the day shopping and gossiping, then decided on a walk by the piers before finding a spot for dinner.

It's a blatant attempt by Nat to cheer her up, and it had worked a treat. She'd needed to get out of her apartment, out of the Center, out of Berlin for a little while; to stop stewing over being barred from Wakanda and trying to manage Ross's annoyance with Steve and Stark.

She feels better than she has since before they first got the news about Lagos, and, judging by Nat's smiles and the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, she thinks her friend is feeling the same way. Which is why Sharon nudges her leg with a shopping bag and grins. "And I love you for it. This was a great idea."

Current Location: Hamburg / Berlin / Budapest

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

marvel_npc

Natasha shakes her head in denial. "You know, I've never been certain. Obviously I didn't know for sure either way when I was a little girl," she says. "But I don't think it's like James. I think they might have tried an early version on him, and it partially worked, but he's also just naturally very strong and highly trained. Gifted."

She smiles, a little wistfully. "Not that I'd ever tell him that. And don't mention James. He's still trying to ignore the fact that he exists. Just like he ignores that Steve wasn't around in the eighties. He's very good at that, too."

From:

from_the_outside

Sharon imagines she looks exactly as dubious as she feels, but she just nods and fishes out the white suit she'd commented on before, handing it over to Nat.

"It might be better if he doesn't know who I am and who I work for," she says. "I can't imagine the 'Red Guardian' would be happy to have an American intelligence agent around, even helping him break out of prison."

From:

marvel_npc

"Probably for the best," Natasha agrees. "He also likes to talk. A lot."

She lays out the suit across her lap, checking it over for rips or tears or flaws, not that she expects to find any. As much as she might tease him, Mason is good at what he does. "What cover do you want to use?"

From:

from_the_outside

"There's always Irma," Sharon says, but with a joking laugh in her voice before she shakes her head and unzips her own bag.

She tugs a short length of white fabric out and waves it at Nat. "Agent Thirteen rides again?"

Shostakov knows Nat was in SHIELD, presumably. They just won't tell him what Sharon's been up to since then.

From:

marvel_npc

Natasha beams at her.

"Perfect."

From:

from_the_outside

Sharon grins right back.

"Just like the good old days."

From:

marvel_npc

"You know it."

Sometimes she misses them fiercely. She wonders if Steve truly knows why she was so adamant about being willing to sign the Accords. Sharon might understand better than anyone else.

"Plus one," she adds, glancing toward the cockpit and Yelena.

From:

from_the_outside

"Pretty damn good addition to the team, honestly."

She can't say anything more because the helicopter engines roar crossly into life at that exact moment, and she has to drop the bag to clap her hands over her ears.

Yelena leans out from the cockpit and tosses a couple of headsets their way, then gives them a thumbs up. Sharon glances at Nat, eyebrows lifting, and picks one headset up to set it on her ears, blissfully muffling the drowning cacophony of the engines.

From:

marvel_npc

"Mm-hm," Nat agrees, once she dons the other headset. "I agree. And she's a good pilot, too. Or used to be, anyway."

She darts a quick, deliberately bright smile toward the cockpit in case Yelena's listening, which she probably is, and in case she has opinions about that, which she probably does.

From:

from_the_outside

Yelena's reply to that, a swift one-fingered salute out the door of the cockpit in Nat's direction, has Sharon laughing as she stands back up.

"Then I won't feel nervous about getting changed once we're in the air," she says. "We should probably strap in."

From:

marvel_npc

"Go ahead," Natasha says, standing. "I'll go take copilot's chair until we're aloft. Just in case this bucket's less reliable than Mason said it would be."

She makes her way forward and slips into the seat beside Yelena. "Ready when you are."

From:

miss_american_pie

Yelena gives her a curt nod and finishes her pre-flight checklist, then begins flipping switches.

"You will need to take over for a little bit once we're in the air," she tells Natasha, as the helicopter begins lifting off. "So I can change. If you still remember how to fly one of these things, that is. I know it's not as fancy as your Quinjet."

Edited Date: 2022-03-20 02:27 am (UTC)

From:

marvel_npc

"As long as it stays in the air, that's what matters," she says, mildly. "I can take a shift whenever you need."

From:

miss_american_pie

"I guess we'll see."

But even her deep skepticism doesn't keep the laws of physics from working; the helicopter does lift into the air and it does stay there. It handles about as well as a bathtub loaded down with rocks, but it works.

From:

marvel_npc

"Well, that's promising." Natasha casts a judicious eye over the instruments on her side, then glances at Yelena.

From:

miss_american_pie

"It's a start," Yelena says, dubious, and points the nose of the helicopter towards the Seventh Circle.

She lets the others change first before handing over the controls to Natasha and retreating to the body of the helicopter herself, digging out first her suit and then the vest she slips on over it. She's still bucking it back up as she returns to the cockpit and gestures to Natasha to let her take back over.

From:

marvel_npc

"Looks good," Nat murmurs, giving her a quick once-over as she switches the primary flight controls back to Yelena. "How does it feel?"

From:

miss_american_pie

"A little baggy."

But fine. Workable. She finishes zipping up her vest and gives the material a stroke, then looks over at Natasha. "You know this is the first piece of clothing I ever bought for myself?"

From:

marvel_npc

She glances back over again, taking in the olive-drab color and utilitarian nature of the vest.

"That?"

From:

miss_american_pie

"Yeah."

She's looking over at Natasha now, aggravated. "You don't like it?"

From:

marvel_npc

"Is that like a--"

She wracks her brain for a second to come up with a better way to say it.

"Is it army surplus, or...?"

From:

miss_american_pie

"Okay, it has a lot of pockets," she says, aggrieved. "But I use them all the time, and I made some of my own modifications – "

She tsks and waves a hand at Natasha's visible amusement. "Whatever."

From:

marvel_npc

She chuckles, looking out through the windows at the air around them. Yelena's aggravation is - well, it's cute. And familiar, too.

"I'm sure it's useful."

From:

miss_american_pie

"Shut up," Yelena grouses. "The point is, I've never... "

Just saying it aloud feels like an impossible dream. "I've never had control over my own life before, and now I do. I want to do things."

Things like pick out her own clothes, or go somewhere just because she wants to, or... who knows? There's so much to choose from.