Bloodbound

21. Vulture

"Mr. Rogers is not picking the phone. Stark is out of reach" he announced.

"There is only one other person who could help us, if he wants to" Wanda said. The others looked at her expectantly. Wanda uttered two words, "Bucky Barnes."

Davis face lit up in recognition. He pointed to the granite, "This dead guy."

"Apparently he isn't dead anymore. Things have changed in vampire town."

"Why does he know more about us than us?" Davis looked puzzled.

"Job requirements" Coulson smiled. "I'm going to do one thing my mentor asked me not to" he added with a wince.

Coulson drove them to the outskirts of the city passing the inhabited houses. Even though there were no residents the neighbourhood looked to be a decent place.

"Where are we going?" questioned Howard looking out of the window. He had one hand around Wanda and the other was fidgeting the hem of his shirt.

"I think this is the place" replied Coulson nonchalantly.

Howard and Davis rolled their eyes but decided to keep shut. Finally, Coulson pulled out of a house and got out. The others followed him to the doorstep. Coulson rang the bell. A bald man, wearing an eye patch answered the door. Seeing Coulson, he sighed.

"You had one job" he spat. "What was it?"

"To never contact you again"

"Hey, you remember that" Fury replied with sarcasm dripping with every word. "You not only disobeyed a direct order, you bought five people with you"

"What? There is only-"

Without further explanation, Fury pulled a gun from under his coat and pointed directly at the tree opposite to the house.

"There is no escaping me. Come out" he barked.

*****

Sam had arrived at the terrace opposite to the Rogers Innovative to his spy post. He had expected to meet Bucky who had gone to spy on Steve and hadn't reported back. When Sam tried to reach him, he was out of range. But seeing no struggle or anything out of ordinary at the post he resumed his duty. He hadn't given much thought when Adrian Toomes went into the building. Sam knew he had to intervene when he heard the bullet sound followed by the blonde kid being dragged out. He made an attempt to follow Toomes' car but missed it before he could get down from the roof. Few minutes later, he saw another car racing out of the building. He had decided to follow it.

On his way, Sam conveyed the situation to his friends. He followed the car to the outskirts of the city. Lincoln was the first to respond. He had managed to get hold of Bucky and they went to the Rogers Innovative to inspect the scene.

Everything was going fine, until Sam had got caught. He had thought of running away but the enhanced bullet that Lincoln found inside the skull of Rumlow's men made him think twice. Sam lifted his hand above his head and walked out from behind the tree.

"Who is this dude?" Davis whispered to Howard who shrugged being as lost as Davis was.

Fury spoke, "Are you going to tell me what happened or are we waiting for four bad guys with guns?"

"It's more like bad guys with fangs."

"This guy will take you to him" Fury said tilting his head towards Sam.

"Lower the gun now, man" Sam winced dramatically.

"Now, everyone get out of my property" he said. He bent down and picked up the cat that was brushing against his legs. "Come on goose, we gotta pack now." The cat meowed back in response. "Yeah, yeah I know. Just now we unpacked. Tell this to that knucklehead" with those words the man disappeared into his house.

"Yeah" Coulson shrugged. "That's what he calls me when he gets over fond of me" he said his friends.

"It's time to pay White Wolf a visit" Coulson said looking expectantly at Sam. Sam wouldn't have wanted to associate himself with other's problems but he wasn't able to turn them down. The group drove to outer part of the city and stopped in an abandoned amusement park. Sam parked his bike and walked to the small security building; the others followed. He knocked the door.

A man opened the speakeasy grate, seeing Sam he opened the door. Normally, he wouldn't have opened if anyone was accompanied by outsiders. But Sam is Barnes' right-hand man. It's better to let Barnes deal with it he thought.

Bucky arrived as soon as he heard about the group, waiting to see him. Seeing their state, he took them into his den.

He turned to Sam, "What's going on? Why are they here?"

Coulson filled him on what happened after Steve left for hearing. Bucky pondered over his thoughts for quite some time but finally agreed to help.

.....

The van rolled into the factory which was located outside the city. Rumlow's men dragged them out of the van and took them to the execution room. As they were pushed inside, they noticed that someone was already there. A chair was placed in the centre and a woman was tied to it.

"Natasha" Steve shouted seeing his friend. She lifted her head slowly and look at him. Her eyes looked tired and shallow and it was clear she hadn't fed for long. A fresh cut was on her temple and blood ran down the side of her face dripping from it into her lap. There was a deep cut on her lips which was swollen. A gash ran across her right shoulder till her elbow. Her knuckles were soaked in blood and small bruised littered her arm. Steve mentally scolded himself for not organising a search party for her. She had been here for a day and he felt like it was his fault.

*****

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