𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅
The last month had seemed like a blur for the Avengers. Every day they would spend hours trying to track down Alexandria and every time they would get nowhere. Tony, Vision and Steve entered the lab, exhausted and frustrated, where Banner was hard at work with the others.
"No luck" Vision sighed disappointed.
"That's the 15th Hydra base this month! Where could they have possibly taken her?" Bucky said, his voice cracking at the end. Steve put his arm around the broken man.
It hadn't taken the team long to figure out something happened between Alex and Bucky but only Steve truly knew what he was going through. It was hard loosing someone you had only just got.
"We'll find her Buck, don't worry she's strong" Steve consoled his friend. Bucky aggressively shrugged off Steve's arm.
"Not with that collar on her, she can't fight back or heal and who knows what they're doing to her. They could be torturing her Steve and we're just sitting here doing nothing about it!" he yelled clenching his fists.
"We're doing everything we can! You're not the only one who cares about her Barnes, we will find her, and she can handle herself..." Tony put his head in his hands.
"Stark it's clear you and Banner aren't having any luck finding her with your technology and we haven't heard from SHIELD since she went missing" Wanda said. "Why don't we ask Strange? He said he knows all about Alex surely he can help us..."
"About that, he doesn't exactly know she's...missing" Tony admitted.
"WHAT?" Everyone shouted at the same time.
"Look! We promised to keep her under control and take care of her and if she's missing then Strange most likely would have taken her away like I was going to... I don't trust him" Bucky walked towards Stark with a fire in his eyes. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall roughly.
"Listen here Tony, Alex has been going through hell and believe me when I say hell and you haven't told or even mentioned to the one person who could help us that she is in danger and missing?" Bucky said in an all too calm voice making a shiver go down Stark's spine. "We are going to see Strange and we are going to get her back, got it?"
"Yes fine! Get off me!" Tony shoved the soldier off him and straightened out his clothes. Before anyone in the room could move a breeze of air flew past them. "What the fu-"
"Stark!" Strange's voice rang through the sanctum as he floated down the stairs looking enraged. "You lost Alexandria?! And didn't tell me!"
"How did he-" Clint started.
"I admit it's my fault okay! Everything always seems to be my fault now."
"BECAUSE IT IS!" Everyone shouted again.
"Okay, okay! Will you help us or not Strange?" Tony pleaded.
"I can try and get a tracking spell on her; I just need a piece of her hair" Strange said. He waved his arm and a portal appeared. He walked through and came back out with Alex's hairbrush in hand. He went to pluck a hair from it, but it was perfectly clean and looked as good as new.
"Problem?" Natasha asked.
"Is this her hairbrush? There isn't a single hair on it and there's nothing to be found in her room" Strange looked puzzled. Natasha took the brush to examine it and sighed.
"Even after all this time she's still paranoid" Natasha sighs.
"What are you talking about Nat?"
"You can never really leave the assassin life behind. She didn't want to be found here in New York so she left no traces of her existence."
"Well clearly it didn't work..." Bucky grumbled. "So that's it? We can't find her?"
"Barnes-"
"No! Just stop! Alexandria is gone and we can't find her! I can't find her, the woman I love is out there and-" Bucky stopped at the shocked faces of the Avengers. "What now!"
"You love her?" Sam asked softly. Bucky's jaw clenched and his mouth formed into a thin line.
"Y-Yes and we're going to find her, I'm going back to the tower" Bucky stormed out of the sanctum doors leaving the others behind. Had he really just admitted to all his friends that he loved the newest recruit? The woman he had spent all this time hating and slowly falling in love with. "I'll find you Alex, I have to."