Can you help me be a Yankee Doodle?

Superheroes — assuming that the person in question had decent motivations — were more accustomed to defence than crowd control. Truthfully, Natasha wasn’t sure any of her allies were qualified to attempt to calm the raging crowd. The majority of them carried weapons, and as countless protests had proven, that was no way to begin. They could shout, they could corral, but she highly doubted that anything would work. New York had turned their frustration and confusion on the unlisted heroes, and unfortunately, innocent civilians and every hero was caught in the crossfire. Nadia didn’t seem worried, although Natasha wouldn’t have expected her to. She was trained by the same disturbed group that Natasha was and if they were spooked by escalating situations such as these, they never would have survived the Red Room. “I don’t doubt that,” she replied honestly.

It didn’t surprise Natasha either that Nadia didn’t want to leave. Despite the Red Room’s best attempts at making her someone else, Nadia was an incredible woman. “And how do you want to help?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. The only real way to even grab a portion of the audiences attention was by taking Doom’s microphone for themselves and stating their peace. “I’m sure he wanted to release the list,” Natasha said. “The public’s never been fond of heroes for the most part and it’s an easy way to prove that everything he’s doing is in their best interest. Doing it at an event like this only leads to panic and chaos so I assume so. How do you feel about it, Nadia?”

Whatever Doom had intended, there was no denying what was happening now. The chaos that had broken out the moment he finished his speech was going to be difficult to contain, and it wasn’t going to stop here. People were angry, Nadia knew. They felt unsafe, they felt they’d been denied information they were entitled to. She didn’t think that was the case -- heroes, herself included, were allowed to desire privacy -- but chanigng their minds would be a difficult case. She wasn’t sure it would be possible at all, wasn’t sure it could be done. They would egg one another on, feed into each other’s paranoia, and in the end, there was no way for the city’s heroes to prevent that. Turning back to Natasha, she offered the woman a small smile, calm despite the chaos around them. Natasha would know this was far from the worst thing Nadia had seen, of course. Her heart was calm in her chest, and if she was agitated at all, it was only because she wanted so desperately to help. 

“I can --- I can do something,” she insisted, breaking herself off before she could out her big secret. She could grow to the size of a building in an attempt to calm everyone down, she could shrink to the size of an insect and begin guiding people away from the crowd to keep them from being hurt. She could do something, even if it might let Natasha in on how she’d been spending her free time as of late. “Why? Why don’t they like heroes? If people are trying to fight for them, to protect them, shouldn’t they appreciate that?” It was frustrating to say the least, and even if she hadn’t been a hero herself, Nadia would have thought so. “I feel... angry,” she admitted hesitantly. “That he would do something like this. That he would put his own people at risk. It makes me angry.”

Not every second of the year or so Matt had spent with Stick had been dedicated entirely to training, or pushing Matt off rooftops in an attempt to prove to him that he could improvise (and survive the pain of two shattered ankles). Sometimes, on rare occasions, they would sit on a park bench eating ice cream like that first day all over again, and Stick would ask Matt for his observations. Over the months they became more and more specific, but in the moments when no one was walking past and the world was quiet for once, Matt had turned to Stick and made conversation. He had told the old man that he wanted to be a lawyer, and Stick had laughed for a good five minutes. He hadn’t provided any opinion besides that, having made himself clear, but it didn’t deter Matt in the slightest. Fighting was one way to ensure justice, but it wasn’t enough. His father had proven that. Matt needed to change the system from the inside, too.

His role as Daredevil was absolutely what gave him perspective, a reason to keep his feet firmly on the ground. Clients like Nadia helped as well, reminded him that there were people out there who deserved a strong defence, who needed help, who deserved help. “I’ve had plenty of practice,” Matt said with a small smile, pleased despite himself. “Some people think that, when immigrants come in from other countries, they put stress on America. They take away jobs, or healthcare, or food. They don’t seem to realise that the greater workforce they provide allowed the government to increase the amount of all three.” Matt paused for a brief second. “People are afraid of those who are different. This is just an excuse to get rid of that, but not everyone is the same. We just need to appeal to those who want to help, like this place was built to do.” Matt nodded, thinking back on the small tidbits that he had heard already of Nadia’s past. He didn’t need to know everything to defend her, but he could understand her hesitation. “You’re right,” he said. “We might be safer bringing up some examples of what you went through to show we are being transparent and honest. If we stay quiet on everything, the prosecution will catch onto it.” Matt smiled without holding himself back this time. “There’s no need to thank me,” he said. “You’re the reason I got into law, you know? We’re ensuring justice here, not just the illusion of it. I’m grateful to you for allowing me to help.”

For most of her life, Nadia had been on the wrong side of the law. She had been a prisoner with the Red Room, yes, but the things she’d done were still illegal. The people whose deaths she had contributed to were still dead, regardless of whether or not she’d been an entirely willing participate in her actions. The idea that she was now looking to face the law head on, looking to walk into a court room and have someone argue adamantly for her was jarring. The idea that anyone wanted to argue for her at all was a little odd, and the idea that the person doing it was a good man who wanted to argue her case for free was shocking to say the least. Matt Modok represented the America Nadia had wanted to believe in when she first made her journey into the country. He was the America the girls in the Red Room had spoken of in terrifying whispers, the sanctuary they’d all longed to someday find. 

Memories came back in fits and starts. There was nothing that Bucky could find that tied them together, that made it likely others would follow after an epiphany. It was trial and error, and even those memories that did return seemed hazy at the edges, as if they themselves weren’t quite sure whether they should be trusted or not. Bucky remembered violence, torture, training others in their use, and that was about the extent of it. The specifics were lost on him, probably always would be, but he could see them reflected on Nadia’s face. There wasn’t an anger there, at least towards him. Towards their general situation there would always be distaste, hatred, rage, but Bucky liked to think he had never subscribed totally to their whims, even when they scrambled his thoughts and made him forget entirely who he was.

The kids, he reckoned, had it worse. It was the same throughout all of history, in that the youngest and the oldest suffered the most, while the adults in between who were tasked with protecting and defending them got preoccupied with the war. Bucky knew that the Great Wars had been worth fighting, that the world would look very different now if they hadn’t succeeded, but the wars after that … Either way, the younger inhabitants of the Red Room did not deserve what had happened to them. Bucky had a life before, something to look back on when he could. They had nothing.

Nadia didn’t act as if she had nothing, though. She looked as if she was going to burst at the seams from all the something, instead. “Guess I’ve changed since before,” Bucky said, scratching absentmindedly at his neck. “Besides, this place is packed with people who would really like to see me in cuffs. It would get them that promotion they were hoping for, yeah?” That was why it was extremely dangerous to be standing at this party right now, but perhaps a part of him actually wanted to be caught, to atone for what he had done regardless of the consequences. He hadn’t been himself, but he still did it. He did all of it. “Hydra,” he said in a low voice. “They still have agents everywhere, rats that didn’t go down with the ship. Heard a rumour one of the senators is still on their payroll. I haven’t seen him around tonight, though he said he was coming.” Never trust Twitter. “Yeah,” Bucky said softly, looking at her, “you have a lot of lost time to make up for. I’m sorry for my part in that.” He paused, let out a sigh, and took a sip of his drink. “Not so far. Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling me to relax.” Then Doom stepped up to the microphone. The room went into chaos. “Or not.”

In a lot of ways, Nadia had gotten lucky. People were often surprised when she told them that, often thought she was lying to herself or to them, but she wasn’t. There were a lot of girls who’d never made it out of the Red Room at all, girls who’d died under their “care” or had been sold off to other agencies when they reached the right age and the right amount of training. There were probably still Red Room agents out there in deep cover, utterly unaware that the organization itself had been more or less dismantled now, just waiting for orders that would never come. They’d die waiting on those orders, Nadia suspected. Even among those who had escaped the Red Room’s clutches and gone on to make better lives for themselves, Nadia was fortunate. She’d spent more time locked in a lab than on missions, had her energy poured into inventing rather than killing. It was still terrible, of course, and if you counted the damage her creations had done she’d likely killed more than any other Red Room agent in history, but at least there’d been a limit to the terrible things she’d been forced to witness. At last she’d been allowed distance sometimes.

The Winter Soldier, she knew, didn’t have that. She wasn’t sure how many people he’d killed for the Red Room, but she had a lot of memories of him going on missions with different girls, being sent off and coming back bloody. There were whispers throughout the Red Room about him, stories of him having been in service for decades despite looking young. What she did know was that the Soldier had been a weapon for as long as she’d known him, and compared to that, she was lucky. She was so lucky. 

Sue’s life had genuinely reached a point where she was thankful for the simplicity of chasing an alien bug around a dimension-displaced New York City. Whether that was something to be proud of - she had always wanted to amount to something more, even if it hadn’t been a dream that she vocalised, or thought there was any chance of making into reality - or something to roll her eyes at, she couldn’t be entirely sure. All she knew was that she deeply appreciated the people that surrounded her, the ones that she could rely on and trust to the ends of the earth. Nadia was definitely amongst them, and that was why she was the perfect person to recruit to this cause.

“A bell,” Sue repeated, smiling slightly as she did so. It was impossible not to feed off Nadia’s enthusiasm, after all! “It would still make it louder though, wouldn’t it? As long as the pitch isn’t so high only dogs can hear it, we should be all good. That’s Part B of the plan.” Part A, of course, was finding the bug in the first place. “I’ll make it a point for you to be there. Buggy won’t get away without you being there to see him off, and for him to know it was your suggestion. We can’t be here for too much longer, right?” Just as Sue was going to continue with her denial, she heard a loud scream in the background from one of the apartments above them. She formed a floating disc, and looked over at Nadia. “Showtime!” Sue declared, rising up to the window. Sure enough, the bug was bashing around the woman’s living room, and she was in the corner with her cat pressed to her chest, both looking utterly terrified.

Honestly, Nadia hadn’t been sure who to trust when she’d first come to New York. She’d understandably clung to Natasha, not wanting anyone else to so much as come close to her. Despite her extroverted personality, it took her some time to begin making friends of her own, but Sue was one of the first. She was a scientist, something Nadia was drawn to instantly, she was a fighter, something Nadia understood better than anything else on Earth. At this point, she trusted Sue Storm entirely, and coming from Nadia, that was really saying a lot.

When Sue opened up and discussed her childhood, a lot of her friends in college had expressed sympathy on the fact that she hadn’t had much of a chance to be a kid. Sue had never seen it that way. She had never been partial to sympathy when it was directed at herself, assuming that it would only drag her down. What was done was done, and there was no changing that. What had happened to Nadia, though, was something that Sue recognised as deeply unfair. Nadia had absolutely no chance to be a child, was shaped and moulded to be a weapon since the moment she could walk. If Sue could get her hands on the bastards that touched a hair on her head, they would know all about what it felt like to have a bubble lodged in their airway.

For now, though, they were not focusing on Sue’s darker leanings. They were focusing on getting Reed’s (literal) pet project back. “We had a bell,” Sue said, resenting the fact that was a sentence she could say with completely seriousness. She glanced over, spotting a pet store on their travels. “Do you think they would have a bell loud enough? I could potentially enhance the sound, create an invisible foghorn or something.” It was just bizarre enough that it might actually work. “‘Communicate’ is a bit of a strong term, as I say,” Sue said. “I’m sure your dad was a lot closer to figuring it out than Reed is right now. Altering it might be interesting, though.” It definitely would be after this adventure, at least, to understand what was happening in its mind. “The second we touch down on earth again, we’re getting in a spaceship and leaving. Done and done.” Story of Sue’s life, but this time, it was something she was looking forward to actively.

“A bell?” Nadia’s face lit up at the revelation, and she looked incredibly excited. “I would love to get a bell! I could make the bell bigger, if you think that would help. It may change the pitch, though. Do you think that would make a difference?” She loved things like this, loved being presented with problems to solve. In the Red Room, it had been something that allowed her a temporary escape, a way to forget where she was and what she was doing. Someone presented her with an issue and ordered her to invent something that would solve it, and Nadia had done so gleefully. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, those solutions had been given to terrible people and were likely used to do terrible things. She tried not to think of that part as much, tried not to consider what the Red Room had done with what she’d given them.

Bucky wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to Nadia. After all, the situation wasn’t exactly one that he had envisioned needing to deal with. Before the war, he had been able to seamlessly handle any kind of social interaction, but that had been when he was more than aware of who he was, what he was. Now, he wasn’t entirely sure that he was even a good person, whether he was worth trusting or not, and that made things just about as complicated as their history did. Nadia was a good person, that much had been obvious even when he was training her (at least from what he could remember) but the elephant in the room remained. He had trained her how to murder, had been part of the machine that had kept her shackled during her childhood, and that meant that any kind of association she had with him couldn’t be entirely positive in any definition of the word.

He also couldn’t ignore the fact that for all of the things that he did remember - bits and pieces of memories, visions of horrors that he had a hand in and those that he had no hope of controlling - there were a hell of a lot of things that were still missing. Nadia could be a part of that, she could provide him with something of an insight, or at the very least, could remind him that there was life after Hydra. In the first few months he had wondered whether that was possible, whether being taken out of commission would’ve been kinder, but Nadia was standing here, enjoying a party, living. If that wasn’t representative of hope, he didn’t know what was.

“I haven’t been to many of them these past few years,” Bucky admitted, “but they’re not all that bad. Easy to float under the radar, at least.” SHIELD had fallen, but he doubted that would erase his record from government files, including the bounty that was sure to be on his head. “Nah, I wouldn’t be angry. I’d get it, you know? I’m not exactly Santa Claus.” Happy childhood memories weren’t what Hydra provided, after all. “It’s not,” he said, figuring honesty was the best policy, especially with someone who didn’t necessarily trust him, and he cared about whether she trusted him. “I’m here to get intel, actually. Figured most of the city would turn up, and they did. Have you made many new friends?” Tonight, in general, Bucky was willing to hear about it either way, if she was willing to divulge.

Truthfully, Nadia didn’t know much about the Winter Soldier. The Red Room had never provided much backstory on its trainers, never told them where they came from. Who they’d been before, of course, was always irrelevant. Once you became an agent of the Red Room, you weren’t allowed to be anything else. You weren’t allowed to have any other identity, weren’t allowed to ask questions about any family you might have had or any friends who might be missing you. Nadia had heard of her father only when it suited her handlers, when they thought it might inspire her to invent bigger and better things, and it had still been more than most agents got.

What she had known about the Soldier had been learned only through interactions with him. She knew he was kinder than other handlers, knew that he never struck out at her in anger when she’d done something the Red Room wouldn’t approve of. She’d known he was quieter than most, speaking little of her grand mission. She’d known, on some level, that he wanted to be there about as much as she had. It had made her feel connected to him, allowed her to invent a world in which he was an ally instead of a fellow prisoner. Maybe now that they were both free, they could form some sort of alliance with one another. It didn’t sound all that bad.

When Matt was a kid first thinking about becoming a lawyer, he had believed that the only thing holding the justice system back from working properly was the lack of good people in it. He thought that by upholding the laws, by being the best lawyer he could possibly be, he could change things from the inside, that bad people would be put behind bars and innocent people would be acquitted. That was the whole point of the law, after all, to uphold justice, to ensure safety for people that were innocent, to keep society at peace. As he grew up, though, as he progressed through law school, he found out that people didn’t use the law for justice anymore. They used it to push their own agendas, to get back some semblance of control in an uncontrollable world. If things were perfect, he could reassure Nadia that no one with a heart would send her back to Russia, but things weren’t perfect, and reassurance wasn’t his area of expertise.

That didn’t mean, though, that he wasn’t going to try. “Yeah,” he said with a small, sad smile. “It didn’t seem right to be either. People lose their way, though, whether they’re in a courtroom or not. What we need to do is remind them why they’re there, and who they’re supposed to be fighting for.” Matt inhaled sharply, and nodded. The truth was something that was important, and he never wanted Nadia to distrust what he was saying, even if it was hard to hear. “I think someone might take the chance if it meant boosting their name. Not everyone is like that, but we should prepare as if they are.” Nadia knew all about cruelty, that much was clear from what he had heard already, and Matt wished she didn’t need to face more. This, at least, was easy compared to what was behind her. “Only if you feel comfortable,” he replied. “The more details, the more of a picture the jury will get from you. You’re a sympathetic defendant, though. You were forced into doing what you did, and you’re making a difference in your life now. It’ll be easy to argue your case, Nadia, and I’ll be happy to do it.” Matt shook his head, biting his tongue to keep from laughing. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was a mispronunciation of his name or not, but he went with it anyway. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” he said, “and you don’t seem like you’re the type to go down easy, either. We have a pretty good shot, all things considered.”

Law had been a subject taught sparingly in the Red Room. It had been important that agents know what officials might expect from them, but the handlers had always looked to avoid poisoning the agents with any sort of morality, not wanting to waste years of training by having their agents suddenly aware that what they were doing was unequivocally wrong. Of all the things she’d learned with them, this was one of the subjects that had interested her the least. Laws did not equal morals, she’d learned, and many of them, when followed without question, did more harm than good. America’s immigration laws seemed to be among those. Deporting her back to Russia would end in her recapture by the Red Room, a fact she was aware of without doubt, but American authorities cared little for that. They didn’t seem to mind that sending her to Russia was, effectively, sending her to her eventual death. They cared for their law above all else and that, more than anything, was definitive evil.

There were countless subjects Felicia absolutely refused to talk about. Her father was one of them, though it was a famed scandal, and her experiences with Kingpin was another. Frankly, most personal topics she avoided, and that was easy due to her bravado. Few people bothered see through it, but it was easy to notice in other people. Nadia was kind, charismatic, and she obviously wanted to avoid the subject of her strange upbringing. Whether that was because she felt similarly to Felicia, hated sharing, was unclear, but what was clear was that Felicia wouldn’t force her. “Right,” she said, offering Nadia a bright smile. It was the easiest way to drop the subject and make it clear that she didn’t mind. When Nadia flirted back, Felicia’s smile grew much more genuine. She had always loved good first dates for exactly this reason: they were light, fun and occasionally they ended very well. “I would love to admire all of it,” she replied. And it was the truth! Nadia was extremely attractive, who wouldn’t love the opportunity to sleep with her? Felicia didn’t expect it, nor was it her intention when she had originally asked her out, but it was a great prospect. “People are disconnected these days,” she offered as a reason. “Rather than ask people out, a lot just seem to want to sext. It’s a nightmare, especially when the unsolicited dick pics come along.” Felicia had had her fair share, Tinder really had been awful. It was difficult to believe that anyone enjoyed that app. “How do you like the wine?” She asked with a smile. It was a good brand, one that she typically drank, but everyone’s tastes were unique. Nadia deserved to enjoy it, and if she didn’t, Felicia would order something else. It was their night. “It can be,” she agreed. “I’ve recently started working as a model and I have a degree in the arts,” she offered. Idly, Felicia wondered how much information was enough to satisfy Nadia’s curiosity. “I grew up here in New York, but I love and miss traveling. My favourite place I’ve ever been is Bali. Your turn,” she suggested.

Felicia allowed the topic of Nadia’s upbringing to drop without question, and Nadia found she adored the woman for that. Many would have pushed, would have demanded details, but Felicia clearly wasn’t that sort of person. Nadia returned the smile brightly, relieved she wouldn’t have to think of some elaborate lie to tell her. She was good at lying -- the Red Room had ensured as much -- but she disliked it. She was free now, allowed to be honest, and she wanted to exercise that right when she could. “Right,” she repeated happily. Felicia seemed to like the flirting, and Nadia made a note of that. Dates were meant to make the other person happy, and Felicia struck Nadia as someone who deserved happiness. “I’d like to admire yours, too.” This was fun! Nadia loved new experiences, and this qualified as that. “Oh, the dick pics! I’ve gotten some of those. I always find it counterproductive!” Typically, her replies didn’t make the senders happy, but Nadia didn’t minid that. People who sent that sort of thing without asking if you might enjoy it beforehand weren’t exactly the sort of people she was looking to impress, anyways. “The wine is good! I’ve never had this kind before, but I’m enjoying it. Are you?” Felicia had ordered the bottle with familiarity, which seemed to imply she’d had it before, but Nadia felt the need to ask regardless. “I think you being a model makes a lot of sense. You’re really very beautiful.” She smiled, nodding as Felicia continued. When the question was turned on her, she shrugged. “I grew up in Moscow, but my father was American. I never met him, but I grew up hearing stories of him. I decided to come here to America to find him, and I ended up liking it and staying. I was having some trouble with my citizenship before all this, but now that New York isn’t in New York, it’s slowed. My lawyer thinks I should continue working on my case, but I don’t really enjoy the legal stuff.”

Foggy glanced at the girl’s plate and immediately felt reassured about the amount on his own. Just because he was trying the cavier didn’t mean he was going to miss out on the more comfort foods available. “What are you, some kind of circus act?” he joked, grinning to show her the teasing was lighthearted. “Seriously, I pass by street performers who don’t have balance that good.”

He laughed at her assertion.“Eating everything is an excellent policy. Ten out of ten would recommend,” he agreed. “But if this winds up giving up food poisoning, we’re going to feel very silly.” Which was an understatement, really. He’d actually mourn losing all this free food to something as dumb as throwing up.

His eyebrows furrowed. “Just an expression,” he clarified. “God, am I really that old? I’m old aren’t I, I’ve hit that point,” he said, laughing at himself. “If this is Rome, then I have to say, I’ve got some issues with my high school education. I mean, I know history books are heavily edited, but they could’ve mentioned the demons.” He shook his head. “Let’s do it,” he declared, scooping another spoonful of cavier for her plate. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and it tastes like chicken!” 

Following the man’s gaze down to her overstacked plate, Nadia grinned. “No, not a circus act! Do they have circus acts like this? I’ve never been to a circus before. I always thought it looked fun!” It was one of many things she’d missed out on during her time with the Red Room, one of many things she’d put on her list of ‘wants,’ despite Natasha’s husband grumpily assuring her that the circus was overrated. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I love the street performers! They’re one of my favorite parts of  New York.” Most other cities she’d been to had nothing like them, and even if they did, she’d never had much of a chance to admire them. The Red Room did not fund vacations, it arranged assassinations.

When the man laughed, Nadia’s smile only widened. He seemed friendly, and she’d always gotten on well with friendly people. “What? You think someone may have poisoned the food?” Her brow furrowed in concern, and she glanced around the area quickly. Her English was nearly flawless -- the Red Room would have nothing less -- but assassins worried about poison in their food far more often than they concerned themselves with food poisoning. 

@unstoppcblewasp​

Nadia was like family to Natasha and as a result, when the crowd erupted, angry and confused, her immediate reaction was to get Nadia to safety. She was trained to be deadly as Natasha had been, she was more than capable of containing a crowd, but freshly out of the Red Room, Natasha was intimately familiar with how unexpected reactions could be. Surrounded by SHIELD agents, Natasha’s muscles had tightened, her breath had caught, and she had wanted to fight. It was unreasonable, but freedom had been a learning curve. “Are you okay?” She asked Nadia quietly, her hand grasping hers gently.

Before the conversation could go much further, Natasha began leading Nadia out of the crowd, moving alongside the walls so they were not trapped on either side. “Once we’re out, I’ll have to come back in, it’s my responsibility. I promise I’ll meet you back home and we can discuss all of this,” she told Nadia, glancing over her shoulder with a smile. “We knew Doom would do something terrible, we planned for this.” As she spoke, people pushed against them and Natasha’s jaw tightened, obviously tempted to inform them that their blind panic would only worsen tensions between groups.

When chaos broke out, the first thing Nadia wanted to do was help. She longed to duck into an alley and change into her Wasp uniform, to keep the peace in any way she could. It wouldn’t have worked, she knew. People were angry at anyone and everyone who hadn’t listed, and Wasp was among those, but that didn’t change the fact that she wanted to try. She might have attempted it had it not been for Natasha. Natasha, who’d saved her from the Red Room. Natasha, who was the closest thing to family Nadia had now that her search for her father had ended in heartbreak. Natasha, who was gripping her hand and looking her over with a worried expression. Natasha, who had no idea Nadia was the Wasp, who might not approve of it if she did. “I’m okay,” Nadia assured her, eyes darting over the crowd running rampant, concern etched into her features.

Though she wanted nothing more than to stay, Nadia allowed Natasha to lead her away from the crowd. “I don’t --- I don’t want to get out,” she admitted. “I can help, too, Natasha. You know I can.” Even if she didn’t know about the Wasp, she knew where Nadia had come from. She knew about the way the Red Room had trained her, knew she was capable of providing assistance. “What do you think his intentions are? Did he want all this? The chaos, the panic... Is this what he was hoping for?”

The party was a little strange in theory. Cassie understood wanting to calm and reassure the public, but in doing so, Doom was using a lot of their ‘precious resources.’ She wasn’t naturally suspicious of the government — she hadn’t signed or listed with Doom due to the questionable status of her… well, everything — but her father had taught her to be aware. Not everyone in authority had the best intentions, and Cassie had dedicated herself to fighting for the good of everyone. That being said, Doom wasn’t doing anything obviously wrong. This was for the public, a moment for them to relax, and Cassie figured she and Nadia had earned that much.

Spending time with Nadia was a no brainer, too. Cassie rarely liked to be alone since returning from her ‘vacation,’ and thankfully, Nadia never seemed to want to be parted for long. It was a relief, one that she was very grateful for. “I will teach you everything I know, but it’s not a lot,” she promised with a laugh. Unfortunately, her experience dancing was limited. She was a busy young woman! Partying hadn’t been very high on her priority list, and it still wasn’t as long as people needed Stinger. Still, right now Nadia needed Cassie, and she needed her to have fun. “Thank you,” she said with a bright grin. Wrapping an arm around Nadia’s waist gently, she shook her hips, a go to move, and said, “See? It’s easy! We’ll be incredible dancers together, Nadia, no problem.”

The Red Room had always struggled to teach Nadia logical thinking. It had been important to them that, as one of the organization’s most talented scientific minds, she understand logic above all. They had wanted her to push her emotions to the side -- something Nadia had never been particularly good at -- and look at every situation based only on its facts. From a logistical standpoint, President Doom’s party made little sense. It might ease people’s minds, but that would only ever be a temporary thing. In a matter of days -- maybe less -- the citizens of New York would begin to panic about their situation once more, this time with less resources than they’d had prior to the party.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t fun. Fun was something Nadia had learned to grab where she could get it, something she held onto above everything and anything else. Fun with Cassie was especially enjoyable, seemed more precious since her friend’s return. Grinning as her friend moved her body, Nadia allowed herself to sway along to the music. “It is easy!” She agreed with a laugh, and it was. The Red Room had taught her how to have absolute control of her body, and that translated well into dancing. So focused on Cassie’s lesson, Nadia almost missed Doom taking center stage. Almost. She was still Red Room trained, no matter how much fun she was having, and that meant she didn’t miss much. When Doom’s announcement was over, Nadia glanced to Cassie with an expression of shock on her face. “That wasn’t --- I understood him right, didn’t I?” Language rarely provided a real barrier for her, but it seemed crazy that what she believed had just happened could be the case.

@unstoppcblewasp

The whole point of keeping his head down and staying out of trouble was to do exactly those two things. Walking into one of the biggest parties that the city had seen since it was literally lifted out of earth was definitely not conducive to either of those two things, but here Bucky was, making another reckless decision to add to the almost endless list at this point. His justification was the fact that there was one of the targets on yet another very long list currently guzzling back a thousand and one shots at the bar, getting drunker and drunker by the moment. Eventually, he would let himself open up completely, and Bucky would be there to gather the intel that would then lead him onto more powerful and important people.

Listening to the man’s drunken drivel became tiresome after a relatively short time, though. His patience must have waned since he regained his freedom, because he found himself turning around to the barman himself, even if he knew there was no chance this century of him getting drunk. That was when he spotted a familiar face, and rose his glass to Nadia, who was near the other end of the bar in greeting.

“Guess I should’ve expected to see you here, huh?” Bucky asked with a smile, even if it sat a little uncomfortably on his face. “Glad it’s you and not someone else, though.” For one, Nadia had never attempted to murder him. For another, some residual fondness remained there from a life that he barely remembered, enough that smiling was even an option. “You here to support Doom, or to avoid missing out on anything interesting? Seems the whole city is out in full force.”

Though Nadia had been in New York for some time now, the majority of the city was still full of strangers. It wasn’t exactly possible to be entirely familiar with everyone in a city as big as New York, she knew, but determination and unparalleled friendliness made her certain she could change that, could somehow meet and get to know the majority of the city through willpower alone. A  party such as this one made it far easier. There were more people in one place than she’d seen in some time, all crowded together and in good spirits. They had food in their stomachs and alcohol in their veins, making them far friendlier than they might have been on the streets during rush hour. It was Nadia’s goal to speak to as many of them as possible tonight and, so far, she was doing well. 

She’d already made several new friends, turned more than one strangers into acquaintances before heading over to the bar to get herself a drink. She’d only been sitting a few moments when she caught sight of a face that didn’t belong to a stranger. She still wasn’t entirely sure how to react to the Winter Soldier (or James, or Barnes, or Bucky, Nadia wasn’t entirely sure which he preferred). She knew now that he had no intention of dragging her back to the Red Room, knew that he’d escaped just as she and Natasha had, but that didn’t mean her feelings weren’t complicated. Though she’d been fond of him once, he was still a reminder of what she’d been through, and Nadia preferred to actively avoid those. 

@unstoppcblewasp​

G.I.R.L. wasn’t an organization that Jane entirely understood, but after Nadia Pym, an intelligent young woman with admirable goals, Jane couldn’t help but agree to be a member. It sounded like an excellent idea in theory, but without knowing details, Jane couldn’t easily help Nadia form her dream group. Of course she wanted to, she was honoured to be invited. Expectedly, the space that Nadia had found to create a lab for G.I.R.L. was small, but truthfully, Jane was impressed that she had managed to create her own lab to begin with. It was yet another reason that she wanted to support Nadia, she was tenacious, driven, and it was wonderful to witness.

“What exactly are we going to be doing at G.I.R.L.?” Jane asked with a bright smile, looking around the lab. She touched the equipment gently, checking to see what she could use and supply from her own resources. “I have some extra lab equipment I could give you as well,” she added, turning back towards Nadia. “I can also ask some colleagues of mine, powerful women, of course. I’m so thrilled that you asked me to help, Nadia.” She wasn’t exactly sure whether she was helping with G.I.R.L. or a member, but either way, Jane was thrilled.

As an agent of the Red Room, Nadia had created many scientific advancements that she knew would be used to hurt people. It was tragic but, at the time, it had been unavoidable. Now that she was free to be her own person, she intended to use her mind only for good things. Forming G.I.R.L. had been her first step in that direction. She’d been surprised when she’d arrived in the United States and found that women -- particularly female scientists -- were often overlooked, and almost immediately, she’d made it her mission to rectify that. Women were capable of just as many incredible scientific achievements as men, and Jane Foster served as proof of that. Her work in the medical field and her hobby for astrophysics made her the perfect candidate for Nadia’s first recruitment to her lab as far as she was concerned, and the fact that Jane even agreed to visit the lab was thrilling to say the least.

“Well, right now I’m still recruiting,” Nadia admitted, returning Jane’s smile with one of her own. “The goal is to allow women interested in scientific advancement to do their research and help save the world and change it without having to worry about being looked down on by the people in charge.” At Jane’s offer, Nadia’s smile widened impossibly. “You’d do that? That means so much to me, Jane! I’d love to have more equipment and more members! I’m thrilled you’ve agreed to help. You’re a total genius. You know that, right? You should definitely know that!” 

Foggy was vividly reminded of sneaking into staff and alumni parties during college. The expensive location, the live band, the drinks flowing in every direction. But there were some major differences: one, he wasn’t sneaking in. The party was open to everyone, and he was a high-powered attorney now, thank you very much. He had been to dozens of these things, scouring out potential clients, charming the current ones – social events of the season were a lawyer’s playground. 

Difference number two: he wasn’t wearing whatever he could scrounge up that looked expensive. His suit actually was expensive. Stark wasn’t kidding when he said he paid well. But the biggest difference? He was here alone. 

No Matt. No elaborate plans to try and impress the girls around them. No standing in the corner laughing at everyone they’d fooled. Just Foggy, this glass of champagne, and that table of food. Expensive looking food, by the smell of it. After the papers had been running horror stories for weeks before those resources were found, it seemed like heaven, a heaven he had to immediately check out.

“Does anyone actually eat caviar?” he wondered aloud when he reached the table. “I mean, it’s fish eggs. A couple more years and that would be a fish worth eating, if you ask me.” He shook his head, and spooned a little on his plate anyway, shrugging at the person beside him. “When in Rome, right?” 

So far, the party was an absolute delight. Nadia felt energized surrounded by happy people, and the mixture of expensive food and alcohol was certainly helping to improve her mood even further. She’d danced a little, instructed on moves by Cassie, and gotten fairly good at some of the more popular dances before taking a break to wander through the crowd, picking up more food and drinks as she went.

Hovering by the food table now, Nadia attempted to balance a truly impressive amount of finger foods on a plate in one hand while holding two glasses of champagne in the other. The show of balance and skill probably wasn’t what the Red Room had in mind when they’d worked on training her, but it was certainly impressive all the same. Perhaps even more impressive was the way her head bobbed to the music as she held the towering plate and glasses, the movement having no effect on her balance whatsoever. 

Glancing up as someone joined her at the table, Nadia flashed a grin. “I’m eating everything,” she announced, as if the pile of food on her plate didn’t make that obvious. “I don’t know what caviar tastes like, but I know I’m eating it.” She watched the man spoon the caviar onto his plate, making note of what the food looked like and glancing to her plate to ensure that she hadn’t missed it. She hadn’t; it didn’t seem like she’d missed anything, which was good!

Parties weren’t Cassie’s typical scene, largely because her experiences were a little different from most young adults. Rather than hit the clubs, she preferred to put on the Stature/Stinger suit and save the world. It wasn’t her fault that she just didn’t have the time! That being said, Doom’s party sounded like an important one and obviously she had to attend. This was celebrating their success and the military was handling the demons. Cassie had nothing to worry about.

Plus, she got to attend with Nadia! She was flattered that Nadia had asked her to come along, especially when her friend was so excited to have the opportunity to attend Doom’s crazy soiree. As Nadia tugged on her arm, Cassie couldn’t help but laugh and she smiled brightly at her friend. With Nadia around, it was impossible to brood and pay attention to her doubts. Really, it was amazing. “There are people dancing,” she agreed with a laugh. “I think I probably know how to dance! I do it all the time,” she said with a shrug. It wasn’t in these specific circumstances, but Cassie danced after victories, when she heard a song she liked… she could definitely dance. “I’ll teach you how to dance like that,” she promised, winking at her. Cassie lead her into the crowd and began moving along to the beat, swaying her hips. “How’s this look?”

The party was just as incredible as Nadia had suspected it would be. There was food galore, people all over, and spirits were higher than they had been since the day the Skrulls were defeated. Coming to the party had been an excellent decision, Nadia decided as much the moment they arrived. Asking Cassie to come along with her, too, had been one of the better choices. She always had fun with Cassie at her side, and so soon after her friend’s improbable resurrection, she definitely wasn’t ready to be away from Cassie for any real extended amount of time. It worked out pretty much perfectly!

Cassie’s laugh caused Nadia’s grin to widen, and she returned her smile with one of her own. She wasn’t sure how it felt, coming back from the dead, but she was sure it wasn’t easy. Ever since Cassie’s return, Nadia had been doing everything in her power to keep a smile on her friend’s face. For the moment, at least, she seemed successful. “You have to teach me,” she said seriously, putting on her most convincing desperate expression. It quickly faded back into a grin when Cassie agreed to show her some moves, and she followed her friend through the crowd with excitement clear on her face. As Cassie began to dance, Nadia let out a loud whoop of delight. “That’s incredible,” she announced. “You’re an incredible dancer!”

The breakup Wanda had had with Nadia was absolutely the fault of both parties. Wanda’s panic had gotten Nadia defensive, though she expected her ex-girlfriend to have far more control than she did. Without any knowledge of Wanda’s complex background, she also didn’t understand why Wanda was so averse to doctors going near her. They both could have been more forthcoming about their faults and their history, illuminating their reactions, but unfortunately, it was too late for that. Wanda had made the right decision in breaking up with Nadia, she had never doubted that. It was obvious that Nadia needed time to work on herself and her mental health, and truthfully, Wanda hadn’t been in a position to build a long lasting, healthy relationship as she had with Johnny.

Unfortunately, the right decision wasn’t always the easy one, and seeing Nadia was uncomfortable and she always wondered ‘what if?’ It was a natural reaction to breaking up with someone you genuinely cared for, and judging by Nadia and her rambling, awkward rather than contended, Wanda wasn’t the only one who had mixed feelings on meeting once again. “People say they’ve been good when it’s true,” Wanda agreed. Idly, she debated whether she should slip into Russian, a familiar language for them both, but she decided it would be far too intimate. “I’ve been fine, thank you,” she replied, choosing a more honest answer than Nadia’s. “It’s difficult to be separated from Earth, isn’t it?” The question was one that she hoped would allow for a less strained conversation. When Nadia mentioned leaving, pretending to care about curfew, it was clear that Wanda’s attempt was in vain. “You don’t have to leave,” she replied. “Exes can be friends. We don’t have to be so… uncomfortable.”

Truthfully, Nadia wasn’t sure she could blame Wanda for deciding she no longer wanted to be with her after her outburst. In that moment, fighting tooth and nail against medical professionals, breaking a man’s arm for putting his hands on Wanda despite her protests, Nadia had been every bit the woman the Red Room had worked tirelessly to turn her into. She’d been violent, she’d been unhinged, she’d been a weapon of mass destruction and she hadn’t cared how much damage she did so long as the end result was the way she wanted it. Wanda deserved far better than someone with such little control, deserved the happy, bubbly person that Nadia was on her best days with none of the cold violence she possessed on her worse. It was something Nadia was still learning how to balance, something she was still figuring out how to ration. She needed a way to be optimistic without ignoring the things she’d been through, and she hadn’t found it yet.

It hurt, knowing she and Wanda could have been happy if she’d found that balance sooner, but Nadia had always been determined to see the brightest side of things. Wanda, at least, seemed happy now. According to the papers, she was dating a very famous man who could light himself on fire. It all seemed very neat! “People say it when it’s not, too. But it’s true for me! I’ve been good.” It was true, even if insisting it made it sound false. Life outside the Red Room was bright, shiny, and exciting. It was hard not to feel good, even talking to someone like Wanda who made her feel a plethora of things she didn’t quite understand. “It is difficult. It’s new, though! I’ve never been lost in space before. Have you?” Now that the initial shock of seeing Wanda had faded, Nadia was a little more relaxed, though she still wasn’t sure she wanted the conversation to last. When Wanda spoke again, Nadia shifted her weight uncertainly. “Do you want to be my friend? I wasn’t sure. I thought I made you... I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to. And that would be okay! If you didn’t want to, that would be fine.” She wouldn’t blame Wanda for not wanting to befriend the girl she’d seen in that hospital, the girl who’d broken arms and lashed out with and efficient brutality for no real reason at all.

It was no secret that Natasha cared deeply for the girls that she had saved in the Red Room. She had worked incessantly to find them safe homes, worked closely with people that could protect them in case the Red Room’s agents managed to find their location, and while the organization would always exist in a small capacity, Natasha had successfully given them a chance to separate themselves entirely from the corruption. She was infinitely proud of their successes, and watching them blossom into content young women, no longer fuelled solely by violence made every ounce of pain Natasha had withstood throughout the years combating brainwashing worth it. Nadia was a constant reminder of that, a constant reminder of how much the world truly had to offer, and why Natasha fought like hell to continue offering freedom to every person within it.

Watching television was never Natasha’s absolute favourite activity, she much preferred reading or working out in nearly any capacity, but Nadia seemed to enjoy it as much as Clint did. For the people she loved, Natasha could be idle for a moment. “It is,” she repeated with a nod. “It makes him very happy, sometimes he watches it for days at a time,” she said with a snort. Natasha didn’t understand how Clint could stare at a screen for that long without his eyes aching, but she imagined his depression factored into it. “We can definitely walk to the diner,” Natasha agreed, rising from the couch and heading towards the door. Once they were outside, beginning their walk, she asked, “What’s new with you? Have you been enjoying New York despite its… dramatics?”

Few people could really understand what the Red Room did to a person. Most of its agents didn’t make it out alive, didn’t escape and fight their way to freedom. Nadia had been born into the Red Room and, for most of her life, she’d assumed she would die there. Instead, she’d gotten a chance to taste freedom, to fly, to be who she wanted to be instead of who they made her. She owed all of it to Natasha. More than that, she owed Natasha for continuing to be there for her after the fact. It would have been far easier -- and perhaps even fair -- for Natasha to abandon the girls she’d saved from the Red Room’s clutches. A woman with her own life and issues, no one could have faulted her for leaving the girls to fend for themselves in Russia after helping them break free of their chains, but Natasha hadn’t. Instead, she continued to help them, to keep an eye on them.

Television had been a treat in the Red Room, though it had been used exclusively to help the agents learn new languages rather than as any sort of entertainment. It had been preferable to the other training exercises they’d been put through, at least, and Nadia had found a way to enjoy it even when she wasn’t meant to. She’d always been good at that, at finding the good in things. Outside the Red Room, when she had the freedom to do or go wherever she wanted, she found flipping through the channels to be a bit dull. There was a world outside that she knew very little of, and she’d much rather explore that than sit on a couch! “Days?” The shock was clear in her voice. She’d struggled to remain entertained in front of the television for minutes. Excited at the idea of getting off the couch (and even more excited to be doing it with Natasha), Nadia bounded to the door with no small amount of spring in her step. As they began their trek, Nadia shrugged, considering the question for a moment. “I love New York,” she replied. Again, she longed to tell Natasha about her time as the Wasp, but she wasn’t quite ready for it yet. “I don’t mind the dramatics at all! I think it makes life more interesting, don’t you? There are aliens and demons and wastelands! Isn’t that neat?”