Infatuated with a God

Chapter Seventy-Eight

We called a team meeting in the morning to inform the other team members. It was awkward and uncomfortable to sit around everyone again, especially with Barton being back in town. We never really made any effort with each other, but him knowing I backed Loki made it worse. His suspicion of me only seemed to have increase, the glares more obvious and longer now, meaning he knew of my sleepwalking murder attempt. It didn't bother me too much, he shouldn't even be here. He had a family and a good life, he didn't need to get involved in this anymore. Sam also seemed uncomfortable around me, although we never gelled too well together outside of missions. It happens, we didn't all get on well together personally, but we all did have connections that kept us loyal. Tony went through some admin stuff, updates on cases and areas of concern Fury is keeping an eye on to see if we needed to intervene. I'd expected for us to go next and the meeting to be over with, but it was obvious something else was happening as Tony kept glancing nervously at Steve. Steve crossed his arms across his chest once Tony was done and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"There's been a situation developing. Hydra symbols have been appearing in cities across the Eastern Bloc and there have been rumours of Hydra operations in Lagos. We are monitoring the situation, but it could be Bucky." My breath hitched. This wasn't the news we wanted around Bucky, we wanted him to be far removed from any mention of Hydra. If they had gotten to him again it was going to be bad. That was the worst case scenario.

"Steve I–"

"You can't be on this mission, Kaya. If there is more proof and we do go you will not be there." I immediately turned to Tony, hoping for some sympathy. He avoided eye contact with me, keeping his eyes glued to his hands as he fiddled with something.

"Great the first time you two agree on something in months and it's on this. If Hydra have him I may be the only person who could truly help him." I countered, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to convince him otherwise but trying my best hand. Of course, it didn't matter. Steve already broke through his mind control before so even if Hydra did have him

"And you are also the most likely for them to try to capture. Also if they asked you to kill Bucky once before, they could have asked Bucky to do the same. I put you in danger by pushing for your memories, I won't take that risk again. The answer is no." I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood. There was no arguing with this, they'd made the decision before they even knew Bucky could have been involved. I guess they never planned to actually let me help find him, or if they were going to let me then the past two weeks convinced them otherwise.

"We are just trying to look out for you, kid." Tony spoke up. I nodded quietly, needing more time to make sure I didn't cry. I'd been way too emotional lately, especially this morning. So for the next few minutes I stayed quiet whilst the team planned to monitor the situation and prepare for the possibility of a mission.

It stung. Once again I was brought back to the same position I was months ago. Everyone else working together on something and me stuck in the background. Which is when Nat spoke up.

"Kaya, there is something else we want you on. Fury and I have been monitoring a situation not related to Hydra, which I was meant to be involved in. But because I've been called away to this I was hoping that you would take my place." She slid a paper file over the table, something only she and Steve seemed to use. To say I was surprised that Fury would even allow such a thing is an understatement. As I opened the file I realised why. There wasn't enough time now to go over everything, and I suspected a lot more paperwork was going to be sent my way. So, with a heartfelt thank you I put aside the file to focus on the meeting for now. More specifically what was about to happen. I glanced nervously at Thor and Loki beside me. Loki had his chair pushed away from the table, so it was backed to the glass behind him. It was as if he was prepared to bolt at any second, and the thought unnerved me. He looked uncomfortable and I couldn't understand why. He should be happy about returning home. Asgard was all he usually talked about, I've spent countless hours listening to him talk about his time there. About the people and politics, everything he missed and wished to get back to. So I couldn't understand why he looked as miserable as I felt. I told myself it was because of the meeting because he was uncomfortable with the entire situation. Still, part of me hoped there was another reason.