There is that. [Natasha has to admit, that one is a mood killer.] I've heard you can man some extra money that way, but can't say I'm convinced it's worth it.
[ peggy isn't shy. it isn't as though she hasn't worked her better angles for the mission in the past. it isn't as though she wouldn't refrain from considering the pay-off in a different situation. but this is steve; it's as near as she's come to true honest-to-goodness love. it's the last thing she wants to cheapen with an audience. ]
It feels like it isn't. [ worth it. ] Until the moment he's gone, again, and I'll start kicking myself once more.
And I figured it would take more than simply being myself to impress you. [ wry, still. ] I'm afraid it can't be helped. Hampstead, born and raised.
[ of course, she can shake the british off when she needs to. one day she might slip into russian for natasha's benefit; she already does so with bucky. ]
Nothing wrong with that. I appreciate your tact. [Which begs the actual question, but Natasha will let it go. She's probably stuck her nose more than far enough into she and Steve's business far enough for one day.]
So tell me about this firing range plan. What did you two have in mind? How did you even end up working on it together?
[ -- it's just as well, as peggy isn't inclined to explain much further. likely, enough can be inferred from between the lines.
instead: ] Truthfully? It was Jim who tied me and -- [ a tilt of her head ] you together on it. Jim...the Barnes from an alternate timeline where he became Captain America in Steve's stead.
[ oh, boy, was that man soft as lights on natasha. ]
She wasn't. But -- she was in the Fleet before I was, and so spent a great deal of time adjusting to the peculiarities of his timeline. Long before any familiar version of Steve himself arrived.
[ peggy possesses the benefit of having met james barnes before the fall -- when he was part of the howling commandos, at that. the transition from commando to captain america had been understandable. expected. and that man -- jim, although hollowed out in his own way, had a spark of the barnes she'd once known in the war. it's harder to see that spark in the winter soldier. harder, still, these days.
peggy offers a stiff shake of her head. ] Now, that was a delicate situation. Steve as the Winter Soldier. He called himself Orion. I won't deny I was unnerved.
Orion, huh. [Natasha does have some trouble picturing that somehow. The details that get to you, huh?] Unnerved seems like a healthy, rational reaction.
[Natasha almost leaves it there. These aren't her people, and she very likely won't ever meet them, or if she does yet another different version of them. But curiosity wins out.]
The latter. The former's a lot harder. [She knows that better than most; she's not sure if Barnes has managed that yet either, at least not in their timelines.]
That's the danger. If the wrong person shows up here—one of his HYDRA handlers?— [She trails off, shaking her head. She would feel genuinely bad for Barnes if it came to that.
She didn't have any sympathy for the HYDRA agent who found himself facing Barnes' friends here.]
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The supposed cameras don't do much for making it simple.
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It feels like it isn't. [ worth it. ] Until the moment he's gone, again, and I'll start kicking myself once more.
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I doubt you'll have to worry about too much exposure too soon, but that'd be something to talk to Steve about.
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[ of course, she can shake the british off when she needs to. one day she might slip into russian for natasha's benefit; she already does so with bucky. ]
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So tell me about this firing range plan. What did you two have in mind? How did you even end up working on it together?
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instead: ] Truthfully? It was Jim who tied me and -- [ a tilt of her head ] you together on it. Jim...the Barnes from an alternate timeline where he became Captain America in Steve's stead.
[ oh, boy, was that man soft as lights on natasha. ]
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[Natasha's brows draw together a little at that, forming a slight frown.]
She wasn't from his timeline, was she?
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[She shakes her head a little.]
I have a hard time picturing it. Somehow it's easier to for me to imagine the other way around—Steve as he Winter Soldier.
[Easier to picture someone whole broken than someone you've only known damaged how he might have been if things had been different, she means.
Both options make her a little uneasy, but one is somehow stranger than the other.]
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peggy offers a stiff shake of her head. ] Now, that was a delicate situation. Steve as the Winter Soldier. He called himself Orion. I won't deny I was unnerved.
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[Natasha almost leaves it there. These aren't her people, and she very likely won't ever meet them, or if she does yet another different version of them. But curiosity wins out.]
Do you know if he eventually got out?
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[ she doesn't hide her disappointment in that fact. ]
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She didn't have any sympathy for the HYDRA agent who found himself facing Barnes' friends here.]