Wings, Metal, and Frost

Calm Before the Storm

"You here to help with the boat?" 

Bucky blinked at the old, bearded man who peered up at him through round spectacles. 

"Huh?" Bucky asked. 

He was still tired from the flight to Louisiana. Ellie was too. She glanced around the boat dock at the diverse collection of people who had shown up before they had. Bucky and Ellie didn't know what boat the old man was talking about, and Ellie wondered if it was the same boat that Sam's sister was talking about over the phone in Madripoor. Bucky's eyes fell on the run-down boat that the crowd seemed to accumulate around. That must be it. It sure had a lot of work to do and it was a miracle that all those people were there. 

"The Wilson Boat?" The old man repeated. 

Ellie turned her attention back to the old man. "Sam Wilson? We're friends of his." She gestured between her and Bucky. "Do you know where he is?" 

The bearded, old man pointed over by the boat. "He's standing o're by Tommy and Carlos, they brought in that big motor o're on that truck, it's a heavy one..." 

"Thank you," Ellie said to the man and Bucky was already on his way over to Sam. 

As they approached, they overheard Sam's conversation with the men named Tommy and Carlos. 

"We still got a bit of usefulness in us," Carlos said. 

"Well, how do we get it off the truck?" Sam pointed to the motor. 

In the next second, Bucky accepted the challenge and hoisted the large motor off the truck. He held it over one shoulder with ease and set it down on the pier with a grunt. The men all gave amused hums and Sam stared at Bucky in disbelief, not because he was surprised that he could lift the motor, but because he didn't know Bucky would be there. 

"You're welcome," Bucky said. 

"Hi, Sam," Ellie greeted.

Sam turned around wide-eyed to see Ellie standing next to him. Bucky stooped down and picked up the case he had gotten from Ayo the day before. He set it down on the back of the truck and looked at Sam. 

"Just dropping this off," said Bucky. "You can sign for it and I'll go, but Ellie may need some vacation time." Sam looked at the case, then at Bucky, then looked at Ellie. The exhausted look in her eyes told him only half of what he needed to know. "I called in a favor from the Wakandans." 

Before Sam could even voice his thanks, a pipe on the boat behind them popped and began to blow steam. 

"Sam!" A woman called as she went running to the boat. Ellie guessed her to be Sam's sister, Sarah, from the resemblance. 

Sam quickly jumped to action as he got onto the boat, picked up a wrench, and attempted to fix the pipe. Bucky clicked his tongue and Ellie glanced up at him. 

"He's not doing it..." Bucky muttered as he approached the boat. "Hi." He smiled politely at Sarah as he passed her to get on the boat. 

"Hi," Sarah replied with a delayed reaction. 

Ellie walked forward and stood next to Sarah as Bucky took the wrench from Sam and corrected him. Sarah glanced at Ellie with a double-take and gave a thin smile.

"You must be Ellie," she said as she held out her hand. 

"Yes, how could you tell?" Ellie took her hand and shook it. 

"Well, aside from the tall one with the metal arm, your hair is white, so..." Sarah explained. 

"That's a fair point," Ellie chuckled. "You must be Sarah, it's nice to finally meet you."