The Valentin Series, Book 1: The Valkyrie (Captain America fanfiction)

Chapter 20: Nicknames

When the dog saw James, she immediately ran over and licked his hand.

“Hey, girl,” James petted her, “How you doing, huh?”

“Good afternoon, Cap,” Tony greeted.

“Stark, Doctor,” Steve greeted back, taking off his brown leather jacket, revealing his usual white t-shirt, and hanging it on one of the vacant chairs, “Afternoon,” then turning to Bucky, “Hey, bud, your girl not here?”

“Nope,” Bucky answered, “training.”

“Yeah, we have got to start on your training, too,” Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why don’t you go and train with Romanov and Angel, Barnes?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, why not, Buck?” Steve smiled.

“Get that smile off your face, punk,” Bucky rolled his eyes, “I’ll ask her when she gets back.”

“When is that, exactly?” Steve asked, and Bucky heard the urgency in his voice.

“Soon,” he answered, looking at the wall clock, “What’s happened?”

“Ah, nothing,” Steve lied, “It’s just that I promised Diana I’d let her see her owner.”

“Shut up, Rogers,” Bucky spat, “Stop lying. What happened?” his voice rising.

“Uh,” Banner said from beside him, “If you plan to spaz out, could you do it outside? I don’t like drama.”

“Nothing’s happened,” Steve answered raising his hands in surrender, he heard Stark chuckle, “What?”

“You’re a bad liar, Cap,” Stark pointed out.

“What. Happened.” Bucky asked through gritted teeth, he was never a patient man.

“We found out who the two agents work for,” Steve answered as he sighed.

“HYDRA,” Bucky said matter of factly, everyone knew that.

“No, bud,” Steve shook his head and realized all eyes were on him now, “They’re part of an elite team of mercenaries HYDRA hired. But their leader is the Vanguard.”

“Captain Rogers!” Nick Fury barked from the doorway, “When I said not to breathe a word of this to anyone else, I meant anyone else.”

“You find out who the hired gun is, and you don’t tell the victim? Smooth, Nick,” Tony said, coming to the front of his table to stand beside Cap.

“And what would have happened if we told Miss Valentin about this, hm?” Fury asked, “What do you think she’d do?”

“She’d track him down and kill him,” Banner answered quietly.

“No, Dr. Banner,” Fury shook his head, “She’d be dead.”

He looked at all four men, but his gaze lingered on Bucky and Diana who, like Banner, were still seated, “Our sources say the Vanguard, or Garret Jacques St. Clair, has been after Camilla Valentin for the past eight years. Her disappearance to become HYDRA’s tracker helped to hide her from him. But now that St. Clair is working for HYDRA, he has all the information he needs to find Angel.”

Nick Fury paused, and then heaved a great exasperated sigh, “The Vanguard’s mission was to retrieve Sgt. Barnes, but when Camilla beat him to it, he realized who he was up against. Apparently, he wants to hit two birds with one stone.”

“So?” Tony asked haughtily, “He won’t find them.”

“The last time all of us were so sure of something, we had a Nazi extremist group leeching off of SHIELD,” Fury said in his usual calm voice, “I suggest you all be on your guards.” Turning to Barnes, he said, “I’ll let you do what you want with that restricted information the captain here so generously gave you.” With that he walked out of the lab.