Reality in Motion

a thousand unanswered questions

"Sure you don't need an extra hand?" Sam asked over the line. Even though Steve knew he couldn't see him, he still shook his head.

"It's not gonna be a fight." he assured his friend, hearing his scoff from the other end.

"Whatever you say, man." his tone made it clear he didn't believe him. From what he and the other Avengers had come up with plan-wise, it didn't seem like it was going to be too hard to get into the Hydra facility and retrieve the scepter. Their plan was to come from the woods, use the cover of the trees to mount a surprise attack on the facility. No one would see them coming.

"Where'd you say you got the tip from again?" he found himself asking. Sam never did mention how he found out about the scepter being held in the Hydra facility a few weeks prior. Not that it completely mattered since his information had been correct, but for some reason Steve felt that his friend was keeping something from him.

"Just from someone I ran into while chasing down another cold lead." he answered airily, sounding sarcastic enough to tease Steve about the supposed mission he was on: tracking down Bucky while Steve handled Avengers things. But still, Steve pushed for an answer.

"Sam..." he trailed off, adapting his Captain-tone. He heard him pause for a moment before taking in a deep breath.

"Sure you wanna know?" the way he sounded was enough to make Steve's ears perk up. What wasn't he telling him?

"Of course." he responded quickly, a rock of nerves solidifying in his stomach. Who was his source? Was it going to affect the op or make them doubt the solid tip Sam had gotten?

"...It was Q, man." Sam finally spoke, his voice heavy.

At the sound of Q's name, Steve braced himself for the pang of sadness to strike through his heart as it almost always did whenever he was reminded of her. But instead of sadness, it was concern. Worry.

"Q?" he repeated, wanting to make sure he had heard him correctly, "When did you see Q?"

"...A few weeks ago." the pauses kept getting longer before answers, which was understandable. Sam had kept a massive secret from him for a few weeks. He knew where Q was - or had been, for several weeks and instead chose to tell him about Loki's goddamn scepter.

"Sam - what? Why the fuck didn't you tell me this?" Steve pressed the phone against his ear a bit harder as if that would help him hear his friend's explanation better. Sam let out a heavy sigh before going with the truth,

"She asked me not to." he admitted, "I'm sorry, Cap. I should've told you. That was my bad." Although he was grateful for Sam's apology, he had more questions he wanted answers to. Answers Sam could probably (hopefully) give.

"Where was she? Is she okay? What is she doing over there?" he shot off his round of questions like bullets from a chamber. This was the first time he could get anywhere close to a vague update and location on her.

"Somewhere outside of Sokovia." Sam tried to answer them as best as he could, but it just gave him more questions. He certainly didn't expect her to be all the way in Eastern Europe, that's for sure. She had never left the country before, now suddenly she was a world traveler? "I guess she was at the facility for some time trying to take down whatever Hydra operatives were there..." Right, Fury had mentioned something like that to him while they were standing at his grave after SHIELD had collapsed. Steve had said no, so it made sense that he had turned to Q, but why had she taken up the mission? Before he could ask, what Sam said next made him pause, "She looked...bad, Cap. I think Hydra got to her for a few days." His heart began to sink, joining the rock in his stomach. The thought that she had been under the hands of Hydra for even just an hour was enough to make his throat tighten up with worry. He only got a glimpse at what Hydra did to Bucky...if they had done anything remotely similar to Q...he wasn't sure anyone would be able to stop him from doing something in return.