The Nova

I

Bucky cursed as his mind went through all the possibilities of where you could be. He knew you'd be long gone by now, so there was no point in searching.

If he starts out in the wrong direction, he'll lose twice as much time. Instead, he decides to make a call. "I need you down here. It's important."

He takes a deep breath as the person on the other end responds, "Your sister needs you."

Truth be told, he half expected her not to show up. But no more than a few hours later, she was standing in the same littered apartment you'd last been seen in.

Bucky stood up as she walked through the door, "I didn't know who else to call."

"Really? There's like five other people off-duty right now that could've come." Natasha retorted.

Bucky scowled, "I thought you might want to be involved given-"

"Given what? That we played pretend for a few years when we were children?" Natasha said emotionlessly. Though she couldn't say it out loud, that wasn't how she truly felt. Of course she was worried about you. Of course she cared. Those few years of playing pretend were the best years of her life.

But Bucky's worry clouded his judgement. He didn't have time for her sarcastic and insensitive remarks. You were gone. You were God knows where and he wasn't there when you needed him.

Something in him snapped as he pushed Natasha up against the peeling plaster of the walls, his hand to her throat. "You're going to help me get her back or I'll show you a side of me I've worked hard to bury," He spat in a menacing tone.

Her eyes went slightly wide. She hadn't expected this level of concern from him. Then again, she hadn't spoken to you since you'd left so she couldn't possibly know how close you and Bucky had become.

She didn't say anything more, so he assumed she received the message and let her go. Natasha cleared her throat and walked around the place to take a closer look. There were bags packed away and tucked into corners.

"This is a safe house," she said as she began digging through one of them. Bucky took another look around and nodded. How did he not see it before? Well...actually, he knew exactly how.

Natasha stopped her search and held something up. A roll of vials that seemed to let off a bright red glow. Tucked inside of it was a photo strip with pictures of the three of you from all those years ago.

Natasha dropped the vials in shock. Suddenly she felt shaky. She couldn't really describe the feeling, but she could hear her roaring thoughts. She was right. Yelena is alive.

She slowly stood up, "It was Yelena." Bucky turned around at the sound of her voice and frowned, "Why would Yelena attack her own sister?"

Natasha shook her head, "Maybe she's not big on family." She joked, but she knew what she had to do.

The widow had connections in all sorts of places. There had to be some way of figuring out where Yelena was going. Or at the very least, where she had been.