"Why're you back?"

"No hug?" You teased, only partially hurt, "No, 'You're alive?' or anything? Damn, Maximoff, as my best friend you'd think you'd at least fake some surprise or emotion."

"I'm pissed, does that count?" She snapped and you raised your eyebrows, looking down in shame before mumbling,

"Yeah, that counts."

She let out a huff, glancing away and putting her arms out. You raised your head, looking at her curiously until she wiggled her fingers, gesturing for you to come closer, and you didn't hesitate to charge forward, tackling her in a hug. She let out a small chuckle and you smiled into her hair as you snuggled your face into her neck. She made sure not to spill her coffee on you as you guys swayed back and forth, making her step backwards a bit from the impact.

"You're staying at Bucky's?" She asked with a smile, brushing your hair back when you pulled away to look at her, and you nodded, "Okay, let's go."

She linked her arm with yours and on the ride there, she rested her head on your shoulder. Like Peter, they seemed to need the physical touch to prove to themselves over and over again that this wasn't some dream or an evil trick.

But that just broke your heart over and over again.

The two of you got back to the apartment and she looked around, only ever having been here once a long time ago. She nodded approvingly, knowing this was all your doing, and then looked back to you.

"I'm really, terribly sorry, Wands, I never meant to-"

"I know," She cut you off softly, willing the dark thoughts away, and then smirked when she added, "I bet Steve jumped your bones the second he found you though."

You were a stuttering mess, blushing, and cursing yourself for thinking back to how that's almost exactly what happened, making her start to laugh.

"He uh," You cleared your throat, "He was angry too at first."

"Yeah, but the sex helped." She deadpanned and you widened your eyes again.

"Wanda!"

"I'm not trying to have sex with you," She pretended like she needed to clarify, but the smirk across her face told you she knew she didn't, "But if you leave again, I will kill you."

"Threat?"

"Promise." She scrunched her nose when you nodded with a smile.

"I don't even know what I'm doing here," You plopped down on the end of the bed and she watched you curiously, listening, "I'm just so tired of running."

"Past catch up to you?"

"That obvious?"

"It always does eventually." She shrugged, sitting next to you.

She put her arm around your shoulders, and you rested your head on hers when she tilted it towards you.

"How many more people am I gonna have to kill?" You mumbled more to yourself, but she heard it.

"As many as it takes to get you free."

You glanced over at her with a mischievous smile, wondering if she meant it and when she returned it by raising her eyebrows slightly, you knew she did.

So, you got started.

The next few days were spent hunting down every contact that wasn't silenced in prison and you tracked the center of it all.

Every single lead you had led right back to the same place and none of it made sense, but you knew something was going on there. It always bothered you, the mission you never could complete, but you tried to move on and now with everything pointing in that direction, you knew what you had to do.

Using what contacts you still hadn't burned under different aliases, you gathered a solid armory of weapons, storing it all in the apartment over the next week or two. Your funds still weren't limited, so that didn't slow you down or give you pause, and you knew some of the moves you were making were sloppy, but you didn't stop long enough to care.

But overall, you were careful.

You made sure to limit your internet searches unless it was bouncing your location around the world and anyone you contacted for information or supplies wasn't done in person, but in drop off locations. This basically meant a lot of fishing out of public trash cans for whatever was hidden underneath the bags, like files or a case of guns or even some more high-tech equipment you might need, and a lot of sketchy phone calls on about two dozen different burner phones.

The apartment was an organized mess by the end of those two weeks, and you were going to the gun range every single day to sharpen your skills the best you could.

You wanted to be ready and having gone through this once, you knew at least how to get to a certain checkpoint, after that, it was going to be anyone's guess. They were armed to the teeth, but you did pick up some weak spots they had here and there, so you would exploit what you could to give yourself an advantage.

"You really need these?" Sam raised his eyebrows, handing over the case.

"Can't do it without them." You nodded, taking it and putting it on the chair in the small kitchen.

"Y/n, I think-"

"I appreciate this, Sam," You cut him off with a grateful smile, "And keeping it quiet, I know that's not been easy."

"He'd kill me."

"And hopefully, he won't ever have to know." You offered weakly and he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Will you at least tell me the plan?" He tried and you winced, so he huffed and asked, "Or where you're going?"

"And spoil everything?" You smirked, "Not a chance, Samuel."

"That just means it's crazy dangerous, doesn't it?"

"Lil bit." You cringed with a smile.

"I could help."

"Taking these from SHIELD for me is more than enough help," You told him honestly, "And I'm assuming before you left, you-"

"Disabled the tracker? Yeah, threw it out one of the tower's windows. Forty something floor." He crossed his arms proudly and you nodded, impressed.

"How is he?"

"Stares at that stupid phone every day," He groaned and when he caught the guilt in your eyes, he added, "But he's okay. Keeps busy with missions and annoying Bucky."

"That's good." You chuckled lightly and he eyed you again, asking,

"So, when do you leave?"

"Day after tomorrow."