Broken But Strong (Bucky Barnes fanfic)

13. It's time

Time was going so slowly for Alice, that she thought these four months in Italy seemed like ages. She was travelling around a lot with Marco and Caro, and doing different assignments. Also girl was still acting that she liked Christian and everything. But he wasn't that bad as a person - he was just continuing his family's 'business' without any complaints. During all that time, Agents had become close to Leoni's. Their plan was going smoothly.
But little did they know, that Anabella, Christian's sister, had become suspicious. She had never really trusted any of Christian's girlfriends, if they were actually worthy to be called like that. Young woman had noticed the way how Agents were always observing their surroundings and people around them. At first she thought that they're doing that just because they're newbies and just curious. But lately it had been bothering her. And also she had become jealous, that Christian wasn't spending so much time with her. He was still Anabella's little brother.
~~~
They were sitting a restaurant, having a dinner after another meeting. Christian was sitting next to Alice and Anabella was on his other side. On Agent's other side was sitting Marco and next to him Caro. They had finished their meals and were having a relaxed talk with a drink. Every now and then Anabella was shooting a glare at Alice. But it was so quick that no one saw that.
Suddenly Alice felt hot and started to sweat. She understood that something is very wrong.
"Excuse me," she stood up, forcing a smile.
Caro saw how pale she had suddenly turned, but Alice shot her a glare and brunette didn't stood up.
Agent tried her hardest to walk straight, inspite that her vision was getting blurry and world was spinning. Walking past one of the tables, she grabbed salt container and empty glass. She stumbled in the restroom and placed things on the counter next to the sink. With shaky hands, Alice removed the lid of the salt container and poured almost all of it in the glass and poured water on it. Trying to stand, girl drank the extremely salty water, causing vomiting. She threw up in the sink. The old, proved methods can never go wrong. She repeated that once again and wiped her face in a towel, turning on the faucet.
"Fuck," Alice quickly texted Caro.
She knew that this only slowed the poisoning process and she had to get antidote or something. Girl made herself look presentable enough and went back to the restaurant farewell.
"This had been a long day. I think I'm going home," girl sighed.
"Okay, I'll drive," Christian stood up.
"No, it's not necessary. I'll take a cab," she reached on her tiptoes and kissed man on the lips.
"You sure?" man raised one eyebrow.
"We'll go home as well," Caro exchanged a look with Marco and they both stood up.
"Oh, okay," Christian smiled and kissed Alice once more.
"Bye," Anbella forced a smile, being confused as hell.
"Tomorrow then," Marco waved and Agents left the restaurant and once they were around the corner, Alice held on Marco for support. Caro grabbed their car's keys and man lead girl to it.
"What is it?" Caro brunette asked, once in a car and grabbing their first aid kit.
"I don't know," Alice uttered, leaning against Marco and trying to stay conscious.
Man grabbed a syringe with an universal antidote, that worked for many venoms, and injected it in her neck. Alice's eyes widened, she felt her pulse calming and blacked out.
"What the fuck just happened?" Marco asked.
"I don't know," Caro shouted back, driving off and trying her hardest to not to go over the speed limit.
It was almost possible to cut the air with kinfe, how tensed it was. After few minutes, Alice slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Marco, who was looking down at her with concern.
"That was crazy," girl uttered, sitting up.
"You almost died. Of course it was crazy," Caro shouted.
She had become really close with Alice and actually sae her as her sister. That incident made her extremely worried about her. But everyone in the car understood, that it's stress' influence. Alice rested her head against the cold window, enjoying the refreshing coolness. She blankly stared out of the window for the rest of the way.
"Hey, we're home," Caro softly said.
"It's not my home," girl whispered getting out of the car.
"Wait," Marco ran to her and supported girl all the way to the apartment, to which she was thankful.
"Do you want coffee or something," Marco asked as they had reached Alice's bedroom.
"Black and strong coffee, please," girl sighed, walking to her closet.
"Oh, and I'll go to the kitchen so yeah."
"Okay," Marco nodded and left.
Alice took a pair of black sweatpants, oversized grey t-shirt, black socks and went to her en-suit.
She took a cold shower, which immediately cleared her mind and gave some energy. Girl got quickly dressed and went to the kitchen, bringing along her phone and tablet.
Both Marco and Caro were sitting at the kitchen table and sipping coffee.
"How do you feel?" brunette asked.
"A lot better," Alice answered sitting down.
"So, what's your version of what happened?" Marco turned to Alice.
"I think they have found out something or become suspicious. Why else they should try to poison me?" girl shrugged.
"But we've been working so carefully!" Caro told.
"I know, but looks like it wasn't enough," Alice shrugged.
"So, what will happen next?" Marco took a sip from his coffee.
"We will prepare for a fight," girl stated.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Do you even know how many of them there will be?" Caro laughed.
Suddenly there was a complete silence. All of the Agents understood that things won't end without a fight. They couldn't understand where they had made a mistake.
"In the morning we're gonna go to Leoni's house just like we usually do. We will act like nothing happened. At night we will return and end this mission," Alice stated, not looking up from her coffee mug.
"But how we're gonna do that?" Marco frowned.
"I think it's time," girl sighed and took her tablet.
"Time for what?" Caro raised one eyebrow.
"To call the Avengers," Alice hit the 'call' button below Tony's photo.
"What the fuck?" man whispered.
"Hey, sweetheart how- What the hell? You look like you had almost died?" Tony picked up and his expression immediately changed.
"Well, I almost did though, but that's not the reason. Get the gang together," Alice bit her bottom lip.
"What's going on?" genius sounded worried and pressed a button on the screen.
"Look, things are gonna get pretty ugly and I... We need your help. I think they have found out something."
"Okay, we can get there in six hours-"
"Tony, slow down. We need you to be here at around 7pm. I'll send you the blueprints, locations and all information I know. Just get the Avengers."
"What's going on, Stark?" Natasha appeared next to Tony.
"We have a job to do."
"Alice, what's wrong?" the spy frowned.
"Tony will explain. I'm sending you the information. If something else happens or changes, I'll notify you. Hi, Sam."
"Hi," Sam waved.
"Okay. Be safe," Tony disconnected and Alice sighed, putting down the tablet and rested her forehead on the table.
"Are we-" Marco started.
"Yep," Alice answered, popping the 'p'.
"Wow," Caro whispered.
It was every SHIELD Agent's dream to work with the Avengers. Everyone looked up at them and even being in the same room with them was unbelievable for them.
"Okay, guys. It's gonna be a long night," Alice finished her coffee and went back to her room to check her equipment and Agents followed her suit.
~~~
"Dad, I think something is wrong," Anabella went in her fathers office.
"What do you mean?" Antonio looked up from his computer's screen.
"Alice, Caro and Marco have been acting really weird lately. I think they have something in mind," woman sat opposite her father.
"What do you mean?"
"I think they're spying us."
"Don't be silly," Antonio chuckled.
"I'm serious. Have you ever noticed how they're always observing everything? And it doesn't seem suspicious to you that they appeared out of the blue? C'mon, dad. I know you've been thinking about that as well," Anabella leaned forward and took father's hand.
"I'll think about that. And don't try to do anything, understood?" Antonio squited his eyes.
"All right, dad," woman nodded and left the office.
The old man drummed his fingers on his oak desk and finally made decided to make a call.
"Привет, Алексей. Кажется у тебя есть работа," Antonio told with a thick accent.
(Hello, Alexey. Looks like you have a job.)
"Слушаю," man answered. (I'm listening.)