Do You Trust Me? // Bucky Barnes

17

Ava

"It's time to talk, Sergeant." The chair scraped loudly against the wooden floor of Steve's spacious study and Sam watched Ava react.

She felt his eyes trail over her face as her eyebrows scrunched and her teeth twisted the corner of her lower lip. She watched as he narrowed his steely gaze and eyed her with closed off suspicion as he finally settled himself in his seat, and she felt herself wishing Bucky Barnes was sitting opposite her instead. 

Just because he remains still, she told herself. No other reason.

"What do you know?" Sam was seeping anger as he crossed his arms and stared her down. 

She squared her shoulders, determined not to let this man shake her down and break her, and fixed her features into a cool mask of calm indifference before speaking. When her voice left her lips it spilled into the room with a confidence she no longer held.

"One," she drawled, "don't call me that. And two, I told you I'd talk American Eagle, you can stand down now."

A bubble of amusement popped beneath her skin, catching slightly in her chest and inviting her to laugh, as Sam's scowl deepened and his eyes rolled. There was something alarmingly fun in eliciting such an immediately irritated response from this man in front of her, and it hit her that in any other circumstance she would like to keep Samuel Wilson around. Possibly just because irritating him brought her so much joy. And part of her thought he would, perhaps, even grow to love her playful teasing if the reality of who she was didn't sit so dangerously between them. 

"Note to self." She let a little laugh tickle her throat before clearing it and blinking several times and making herself take this all a little more seriously. "He still hates the American Eagle thing."

Sam didn't so much as blink as he waited. Watching her.

Ava's eyes shifted slightly, glancing at the figure leaning quietly in the back corner. Torres didn't look at her at all. In fact, since entering this room his whole demeanour had shifted into something pained and uncomfortable and Ava hated it. He had hugged her tightly when he rocked up ready for this meeting, laughing at how she looked all cozy and calm in this new setting, and then Sam sent her away to get Barnes and Torres had changed by the time she'd gotten back.

And what was worse, is that Sam had sent Barnes away anyway. So fetching him was a pointless task in the first place. The realisation that Sam had probably been feeding poisoned ideas about who she really was to the one person who still had hope for the woman she used to be twisted pitifully in her stomach. 

"Okay," she sighed, her eyes slipping to Sam once again. "I guess you've already figured out that I worked for The Power Broker." There was no answer other than a curt nod as Sam remained silent and unmoved. "I don't know who they are." The lie tasted acidic on her tongue and she steadied her breathing. "I just know that they're the reason I got home. They pulled me out when no one else came." Torres shifted left to right and Ava hated herself for that not-so-subtle blow at her comrades. "So, I owe them."

When Sam snorted, Ava practically growled.

"What?" She snarled in his direction. "You don't believe me?"

Sam leant forwards slowly, his voice dropping to a depth and volume so low that it left her skin crawling and the hair on the back of her neck standing. "I don't believe a word you say, Sergeant. I think you know exactly who The Power Broker is. In fact -" The desk between them felt non-existent as the fire of his protective rage seared beneath her skin and left her choking on the words she wanted to say. "- I think they're a lot closer to home than you want to let on. And I think you, Sergeant Ava Hall, are playing a dangerous game. A game you will not win. I think, if you so much as look at one of my friends in the wrong way I will make it my mission to end you."