Everest

Chapter Fifteen

The ride back to the compound was taut. Steve, Nat, and Sam hadn't been enlightened by Y/N's findings on why they were really on the mission, so Bucky and Tony were the only ones aware of the tension.

Tony ended up locking himself in a room and didn't come out. Bucky decided to let him sulk in his misery while they worried about Sam.

Lucky for the Avenger, Y/N had come at perfect timing to see him shot out of the sky and was able to lessen the blow through the forest below. She had healed him enough to be able to stay within the coverage until help came but was limited on time to keep everyone else inside safe.

Sam had waved her off, telling her to help the rest of the team as he stayed back. Of course, with the promise that he wouldn't try to find trouble while she came to everyone else's rescue.

Nat was in the infirmary part of the plane, helping tend to Sam's wound after getting fixed up herself. Steve had minor cuts and abrasions with a butterfly stitch on his head, and his arm was wrapped in a sling for the next few days after dislocating it. He had moved out of the infirmary and was already trying to get information on what the hell happened after seeing Y/N fly down the hall.

"Any clue what happened in there?" he asked, coming up behind Bucky, who was looking out the plane's front windshield as it coasted on autopilot. Bucky didn't answer immediately and looked behind Steve to ensure they were alone.

"I don't think we were thoroughly briefed on what we were getting ourselves into," he replied.

"Yeah, I'm catching onto that. Nat and I were cornered, and the agents seemed to never thin out no matter how much we fought off," Steve pocketed his hand from his uninjured arm and looked out the window like his friend had been. "My question is, how did she know we were there? Tony made it sound like he got the information after Y/N left. How'd she know where we would be?"

"It's Y/N. Are you really that surprised?" Bucky answered with a sigh. "But I'm wondering about the logistics of it too. She left urgently like she had to take care of something, but Tony came up with the coordinates after she had already gone."

Steve hung his head before running a hand through his hair. Dirt and grim riddled his face from the fight. "Did she say anything that could have hinted at where she was going? What her intentions were?"

Bucky paused, not sure what to say. As furious as Y/N was with the billionaire, something told him she knew about Tony's plan before he even did. Call it intuition, call it knowing the man for long enough to know where his actions would lead, but something about her showing up at perfect timing and how she treated Tony said that she knew, and that's why she left. He wasn't sure how to tell Steve why or what about since he wasn't certain of the guess himself.

"She never said. She knew how to be discrete in her answers so that I couldn't assume anything. One thing I do know is that Tony has some explaining to do. That's all I can grasp from all of it," he answered eventually. Steve nodded and let out a long sigh. "How's Sam doing?"

"He'll be ok. Nat said he was getting stitched up, and I helped pop a shoulder back in place. May have a minor concussion, but Y/N healed him up enough to be conscious and not in pain as much. Sam said she headed straight inside after making sure he wasn't in the line of fire anymore." He looked over at Bucky, seeing a few scrapes and torn parts of his combat suit. "You ok?"

"Hm?" Bucky noticed him looking at his forehead and tattered sleeve. "Oh, I'm fine. They looked at it and stitched a cut on my arm. There was a girl who had ferrokinesis as her enhancement. Had Tony and I incapacitated until Y/N showed up."

"How many enhanced were there?" Steve scratched his head in exhaustion.

"More than we were prepared for."