Remnants of Time

Chapter 2

His phone vibrated softly in the jacket he'd thrown over before rushing through and out of Wakanda's most expensive hallways. As Sam pulled it out, a text message glowed at him. Annoyed, he scoffed at his screen that was way too bright in the dark. The message read Park the bird in Lyon, meet me at the Gare du Nord in Paris around noon. :).
Shit, he thought after a few seconds. There was no way this message would stay hidden from intelligence agencies. We are fugitives again. On the run. He prayed Natasha had thought this through.
Steve slept without distress this time and Sam made it to Lyon in less time than he had thought realistic.

Crowded. The train station in Paris was crowded and that was the only description Sam could find for this somewhat chaotic place. Of course, he'd been to New York and San Fran before, but this was a different way of crowdedness.
If any more people enter the platforms, he thought, anyone standing too close will fall down onto the rails like lemmings huddled too close to the edge of an iceberg.
Sam wondered if anything special was going on in Paris right now, but the city was the center of the country and probably always terribly busy. Additionally, this was a Friday. All the commuters drove home from work right now.

The train was still moving, slow and smoothly hitting the brakes.
Sam checked his phone quietly, pulled it out of his jacket once to see if Natasha sent him another text with instructions, because he certainly didn't want to spend hours in this place, and pulled it out a second time to see how late it was. Almost 12:30. Come on, Natasha. Where are we supposed to meet you? Give me something.
Steve sat opposite from him, assessing the area with a serious expression on his face that made his jaw look hard and more square than usual.
"Cameras everywhere. Still got the cap?"
Sam pulled it up. Steve wore a hoodie and pulled the hood over his head, although Sam doubted that whoever was looking for them would fail to recognize the big blonde. Not after The Battle of New York, the Disaster of DC, Sokovia's Shaking and his Berlin Bucky Jailbreak.

London

A dozen agents rushed into an office plastered with screens, computers and desks.
"Alright, ladies. This is the CIA, not the kindergarten. We got intel claiming Captain America and The Falcon to be on the way to a rendezvous with The Black Widow. Pull up camera footage from Paris, Gare du Nord. Come on, people, find me both Rogers and Wilson. Run protocols, give me phones, credit cards, travel records, anything. Last week was a disaster and I will not have it repeated."
"Instructions for the local asset?"
"Give order to shoot on sight. For both. If they want revenge, this is the price they'll pay."
Trained fingers typed in codes and directives, streams of people appeared on the office's screens and recognition programs ran to add identities to the many moving faces in the crowd.
"We located the Falcon's phone", an agent threw in the room, "they are on a train, just entered the station."
"Tap it."

The TGV train came to a halt and people exited, fusioning with the masses outside the automatic doors. People pushed from behind and were so close Steve was almost uncomfortable, doubting the big hoodie to conceal his identity to a sufficient degree.
"Don't look up", Steve warned, "and take care of your backpack. More thieves here than at JFK."
After a few seconds, a beeping sounded behind them, a female voice blared through the speakers placed high on green metal pillars and signs up above, announcing the departure of their train.
A phone left behind on an empty seat glinted in the sporadic beams of sun breaking through clouds and the glass ceiling at Paris central station. Sam sighed. It had taken him quite some time to befriend with the plan to leave his phone behind as diversion.
"Bye, Candy Crush Level 153", he whispered. Just when he wanted to divert his eyes, something bright flashed on the display of the phone, just for a second. A text message. Sam's heart skipped a beat. He prayed the text wasn't from Nat, saying that they needed to meet somewhere else.
Maybe it was just an app notification, he tried to reassure himself. Slowly, he turned towards the soldier a whole head taller than him, than almost everyone, who hadn't noticed his sudden unease.