NUMB || MARVEL

12

"The receipt for your gear." A blonde woman walks in and hands a small paper to Sam who raises an eyebrow as he looks at it.

"Bird costume? Come on. " Aileen chuckles and elbows Sam but the blonde simply shrugs.

"I didn't write it."

Aileen had decided to sit with Sam and Steve as the interrogation took place. Tony was with Natasha outside of the glass cube, the first looking back at her every few minutes. It made her feel uneasy though it also felt very familiar. The looks of concern.

"I'll see you in a while." Aileen says as she stands up and Sam places a hand on her arm, making her look at it. His hand was really warm. She liked the warmth.

"Where are you going?" She wanted to say that she was going to the toilet but they both would easily know that she was lying. She wasn't that good at it.

"Tony." She simply says and Sam removes his hand slowly while nodding his head with his lips pursed. He doesn't seem to like that answer.

She leaves the glass cube and joins Tony and Natasha. Short red hair, so it had to be her. She was getting better and better with remembering their names.

"I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

She had not seen the man that they had taken hostage nor the man that was talking to him, the only camera that showed the two was pointed from above on both of them.

Now it was Aileen's turn to look back towards the glass office - cage as Sam called it - and sees the three animatedly talking. As if they were discussing something.

"You okay?" Tony asks and Aileen turns her head back and hums in agreement. She was.

"Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

"You changed your mind?" Aileen looks past Tony towards Natasha and narrows her eyes.

"About what?" She asks her confused.

"The signing." Natasha's voice blatantly obvious.

"I'm not signing for anything that I don't remember." Aileen shrugs.

"Do you?" Aileen looks at her again. "Not remember." Aileen raises her eyebrows at the woman and Tony steps in the middle.

"Friday, get me a source on that outage. Sub-level five, East Wing." Aileen looks towards the screen but all she sees is black.

"What the hell is this?"

"Evac all civilians." Everett tells his people and Aileen looks around the chaos. "Get me a perimeter around the building, and gunships in the air."

"Please tell me you brought a suit." She hears Natasha ask Tony who nods as they walk towards the scene, Aileen following closely behind. She didn't want to be left alone.

"Sure did. It's a lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button. I'm an active-duty non-combatant. Follow me." He pushes a bracelet and Aileen sees how metal covers his hand.

"What should I do?" Aileen asks as she sees the frantic stage everyone is in.

"Help."

"Sit tight." Both Natasha and Tony answer at the same time. She decides to listen to Natasha and follows them closely behind.

"We're in position." Natasha says before shooting at the man. He turns around and they start to fight, Aileen keeping behind the corner the whole time. She didn't know what to do. Would she when she remembered? "You could at least recognise me." Natasha gasps as James Barnes is choking her. Aileen's eyes widen and she runs towards them, kicking him in his head. He falls back and this time it is her turn to grab him by his throat.

She sees his face and he something flashes before his eyes before his face turns dark. She narrows her eyes at him.

"Bucky?" She frowns and she sees Tony's head turn towards her and he frowns while she shakes her head. "I don't know." She quickly says to him. "It's a thought somewhere."

In the time that they have their conversation, Bucky slams her arms down with his metal arm and kicks her in her stomach, letting her fly through the room and crash through a table. She groans and tries to sit up but feels a lot of pain in her side.

•

"James Barnes the suspect in the UN Vienna bombing... escaped custody today. Also missing Avenger Captain Steve Rogers... and Sam Wilson."

Aileen holds the ice pack to her side and listens to Everett Ross and Tony talking. Natasha was close by and watching her like a hawk watches her little birds.

"We will. GSG 9's got the borders covered. Recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit. We'll handle it." Tony tells Secretary Everett Ross.

"You don't get it, Stark. It's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective. I'm putting Special Ops on this." It didn't seem like a discussion and though she did not remember Tony, she knew that he would not take kindly to being said no.

"What happens when the shooting starts? What, do you kill Steve Rogers?" Tony asks Everett who nods.

"If we're provoked. Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math."

"All due respect, you're not gonna solve this with boys and bullets, Ross. You gotta let us bring them in." It was almost as if he was pleading.

"How would that end any differently than last time?"

"Because this time, I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt and we have Aileen."

"Wait what now?"

"72 hours, guaranteed." Tony adds without looking at her.

"36 hours. Barnes. Rogers. Wilson."

"Thank you, sir."