VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

POST CREDITS

One Year Later

The apartment was dim, illuminated only by the glow of the desk lamp along with the lights of the television against the wall playing the nightly news, even if it was simply background music to the young pink-haired woman. Stacks of files covered the desk as Elysia Sparks pored over yet another case full of information, detailing an attack in Lisbon from the week before. The assailant had been masked and dark haired, sure, with a similar body type, but it was missing one key detail that had never been left in an attack from the Winter Soldier.

There were too many witnesses.

With a sigh, Elysia closed the file, placing it on top of the pile to her right, with the others that had come close to giving her the answers she still desperately searched for, but in the end had left her back at square one. She hadn't had a real lead on his location since Bucky's initial capture from the compound, although six months spent hunting former S.H.I.E.L.D. employee and HYDRA agent Brock Rumlow had turned out fruitless a month before, after an incident in Lagos, Nigeria.

As she moved the file away from the center of the desk, the contract sitting underneath was once again visible to Elysia's line of sight, the fine print giving way to the blank line still awaiting her signature.

I, Elysia Alessandra Sparks, agree to the following terms and conditions ratified by the Sokovia Accords.

Elysia picked up her pen with a sigh, shaking her head. She hadn't wanted to sign the Accords, knew the haunting reality of just how far she'd be allowed to go to look for Bucky under their control, but at the end of the day, she knew Tony had a point. They needed to be kept in check, if not to look out for the people they'd always sworn to protect.

However, just before her pen hit the paper, the sounds of a news broadcast blared from the other side of the room, pulling her attention to where Breaking News covered the screen in bright lettering.

"We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming with breaking news." the anchor's voice spoke through the screen as Elysia watched intently. "We've just received reports of an attack at the United Nations meeting during the ratification of the Sokovia Accords. A bomb hidden in a news van ripped through the UN building in Vienna."

Elysia rose from her chair, crossing the room to stand closer to the television screen and nervously folding her arms across her chest. While she had elected not to go on the trip to Vienna, she knew Natasha had been present at the signing, and could only hope her friend had made it out of the building okay.

"More than seventy people have been injured. At least twelve are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of the suspect, who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier."

Elysia's blood turned to ice in her veins as a blurry picture of the van covered the television screen, along with the name and face of the man she'd spent the past year trying desperately to find. Before she could think for another moment, she'd reached for her cell phone, dialing the last number in her contacts and pressing her phone to her ear, before the call was answered on the second ring.

"It's me," she spoke into the phone. "I'm on my way."

                  

                      

ELYSIA SPARKS WILL RETURN