Red. | marvel [1]

f o u r t y - f i v e

Elana begins pushing James roughly, pulling him away from the action to keep him safe from HYDRA. Steve and Natasha follow and they begin running, Sam being brought down by Elana's powers and beginning to run with them.
"Yo, so he's on our side now?" Sam asks. Elana glares at him and he holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Just saying- one second he's trying to kill us, the next he's with us? It's weird."
"Shut up, Wilson," Natasha says, noticing the tightening of Elana's jaw. They duck down an alley and follow many different twists and turns before finally losing the swat team. They slip into a building that looks a lot like a seedy pub and they immediately look out of place; Steve and his iconic shield, Elana and her weapon-filled catsuit and James and his metal arm and black mask. Natasha and Sam are the only ones who fit in at any level and so they slip off to find them a vacated table.

Despite the early hour, the pub is almost full and as Elana makes her way to the bar, eyes are on her every move. She leans past two men to speak to the bartender.
"Excuse me, but do you have any spare clothes I could use?" she asks politely. She needs to be able to be more discreet than she is right this second. The bartender doesn't reply but gestures to a lost and found box full of jackets and other odd pieces of clothing that Elana finds it hard to believe that people forgot.
"Thanks."
She walks over, the chatter in the pub restarting as the other three sit down. James hovers slightly, waiting for Elana before he gets comfortable with the other people. She picks through the clothes, seeing jeans and shirts that she just doesn't like. She really regrets leaving her civilian clothes behind that car. Eventually she settles on a striped yellow and white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans she found. She slips them on over her catsuit and frowns as she's forced to grab a jacket to cover her utility belt above her jeans. She makes her way back over to the table, meeting James halfway and sparing him a smile.

"What now?" she asks as soon as she sits down. "We can't go back to Sam's at this point, we have no way into Insight and there's no way we can stop it launching now."
James finally takes off his mask, not feeling the need to hide his face anymore and Steve stares at him, mouth open.
"Bucky?" he says incredulously. Elana stands in sync with Natasha seeing the tension rise significantly as James tenses with being called Bucky.
"Nat, come and get some drinks with me. Anyone want anything special?" Elana asks, looking around at the table. Everyone requests their drinks, James doing it so quietly that only Elana can hear.

She shuffles out of the corner she's sat in and walks with Natasha up to the bar.
"Иисус Христос, они напряжены," Elana sighs, tucking some hair behind her ear. Jesus Christ, they're tense.
"Можете ли вы их винить?" Nat asks before ordering the drinks. Can you blame them?
Elana adds a few vodka shots onto the end of the order before producing Tony's card again with a small grin.
"на самом деле, нет," she agrees. Not really.
She balances a few drinks in her hands as they make their way back over to the table.

"Who ordered vodka shots?" Sam asks as they reach the table again. Elana pulls all four towards her and throws it back without wincing. Sam raises an eyebrow. "Wow."
She grins at him softly before taking another one.
"So. Plan?"
"Insight launches in just over half a day," James says quietly. Him and Steve clearly haven't cleared the air yet.
"We need a way in. Can you provide us with that, James?" Natasha asks. Elana turns to him and raises an eyebrow.
"Possibly. I can get up there and try and help," he nods.
Suddenly the door slams open and stood in the doorway is Maria Hill. Elana sits back in her seat as she walks up to their table.
"Agent Hill," she greets coolly.
"Come with me," she says sharply. Everyone else stands but Elana stays in her seat for a moment. She throws back the other two shots in quick succession with an awed look from Maria and Sam and gets up without a stumble in her step. She stands as Natasha and Steve lead the way, Sam trailing behind them and Elana and James taking up the rear.
"Are you okay?" she whispers softly, leaning over to him.
He shrugs. "I know him but I don't know why."
"It'll be hard to regain whatever you've forgotten but once we're out of this HYDRA mess, I'll help you try and figure out who you are. Okay?"
James nods. "Sounds good."

Elana smiles before focusing on where Maria is leading them. She hops into the back of a van, one that is strangely alike the S.H.I.E.L.D. ones that were sent to apprehend them.
"You know, Elana's quick thinking spoilt our plan for getting you guys to the hideout," Maria says.
"I'm not sorry," she scoffs.
"We know."
"Who is we?" Natasha asks.
"Fury and Hill," Elana replies without skipping a beat. Natasha looks at her.
"Fury's dead."
"No, he's not. You just think he is," she contradicts. "Isn't that right, Agent Hill?"
She nods stiffly, her lips pulled right into a purse at the younger girl's observance.
"How... how did you know that?" Steve asks, leaning forward.
"When Natasha was saying her last goodbye's and all that crap, I was looking around. I saw one of the drugs Bruce and I have tried to develop in the lab for slowing heartbeats. Tetrodotoxin B," she explains. "I spotted it and realised that Fury must have used it. He hasn't reached out, so I knew it was just a matter of time before he came to find us."

Maria surveys her with a new respect. She is definitely smarter and more observant than she lets on and she is definitely good at keeping secrets. Natasha looks a little bit hurt at the revaluation and Elana shows a small smile.
"It was a good driving force for you guys. Fury, someone is seen as invincible by so many people, being dead allows you to see the dire need of action. I didn't want to ruin that sense of urgency. It's the only way Steve gets shit done," she jokes.

The group spares a small smile at the joke, a welcome moment of peace in an otherwise hectic day. The end is coming and they aren't prepared for anything yet.