A/N: Sorry for the late post. Your girl got a new job this past week and I've been busy trying to situate my schedule. Posting will go back to normal soon. Just not sure what days it will be yet.
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I stood in a small room on the top floor of an apartment building. I looked out the window and down at the busy streets of down town London. Lifting a cup of coffee towards my mouth I watched as People walked the sidewalks quickly unaware of anything. This was my third month in London. Before was Russia. Even before that was Japan. I had been jumping from country to country looking for one thing.
I turned and stared at the files scattered on the table beside me. Each one a different country written on them. I opened the one that read "London". Inside of it were a couple of blurry pictures. Each one of them looked like Bucky. I had been searching for him for almost a year and a half. Each lead came to a dead end.
My phone let out a small "ding". I grabbed my phone and noticed text message with an attachment. I flicked the phone as a holographic picture appeared in front of me. I lifted the cup back up to my mouth as a blue circle swirled in front of me. Before I could take a sip the picture loaded. It was the clearest picture of Bucky I had seen in the past year.
I set the cup down as I looked at it closely. This time he was in normal attire. Black jean jacket. Brown hoodie. Red shirt with a black under shirt. A black cap slightly covered his face. However his blue eyes shined through clearly. He looked a little disheveled. His beard growing though from not shaving in a while.
"Friday connect me to Rogers." I said simply. The grabbed the phone and began texting the image to Steve. The phone rang on speaker before a small click could be heard.
"Whatcha got Layla?" I heard a familiar voice speak from the other end.
"Another photo sent in from my informant." I spoke back, "Just sent it to you." I heard a faint ding from the other end. I listened as Steve shuffle a bit before bringing the phone back to his ear.
"This is the clearest photo I've gotten in the past year." I began talking again. My eyes didn't move away from the photo.
"Where's it at?" Steve asked. I picked up my cup and moved around the room. I scanned the picture slowly as I stared at the background. Simple buildings. All looking the same. Thankfully there was a tall blurry tower with a large clock in the middle.
"Here in London." I gave out a slight sigh.
"Be cautious. We still don't know if Hydra caught up with him." Steve said concerningly.
"Don't worry I have help." I chuckled back. I heard a slight scoff as we both fell silent.
"Did the information I sent you about Rumlow help?" I asked taking a sip of coffee.
"In Lagos now. Waiting for his move." Steve answered. I smiled a sad smile. I knew he was with Natasha, Sam, and the new recruit, Wanda. Steve, Sam and I were originally looking for Bucky together. However, Rumlow had began popping up. So Steve decided to take them, leaving me to look for Bucky. The four of them had been together doing odd jobs and cleaning up loose ends with Hydra. I wanted to be there to help. I'd been away from everyone for too long.
"Is that Layla?" I heard the faint voice of Sam on the other line, "Connect me in." I could hear the small excitement in his tone. Steve chuckled as another click could be heard.
"Hey there Spooky." Sam said. I could see his smirk all the way from here. I leaned against the kitchen counter looked back out the window.
"You miss me yet, Birdie?" I asked a small smile landing on my face. I crossed my hands over my chest. I missed them. I missed both of my friends.
"Not if you keep calling me Birdie." Sam answered back. I chuckled again. Before I could say anything back the door to my apartment opened. I turned around as a tall man walked into the hallway. I turned back before grabbing my phone quickly.
"Hey I have to go." I said quickly.
"Layla," Steve called out to me. I hovered my finger on the end button before he continued, "Be careful." I smiled softly and nodded to myself.
"You too." I answered back and hung up the line. I took a deep breath as the man walked up next to me. He was tall, broad shoulders, short black and and strong brown eyes. Aiden Aki was an Army veteran turned Shield agent before Shield fell. He was the person Hank sent me to go find. One of the top agents when it came to search and rescue. He's been helping me out ever since. He's the main informant I've had this entire time.
"So what do you think?" He asked as he looked up at the picture. I sighed and crossed my arms back over my chest.
"Its him alright." I answered simply, "How long ago was this?"
"Just this morning." He responded. I nodded before turning back to him.
"You got your gear with you?"
"Of course." A small smile fell onto his face.
"Then lets go." I said confidently. I quickly grabbed my phone as the photo disappeared. I walked over to the closet and grabbed my backpack from the floor before we both walked out the door.
We both walked through the busy streets of London. Aiden leading me on where he had seen Bucky. I searched the crowd, staring at each person one by one. Hoping maybe he'd still be here. It was no luck and we began searching the area around it. Walking through every street we could. I scanned around some more as I looked at every detail of every person.
My eyes stopped as I spotted a familiar build in front of me. I could see the broad strong back and recognized it immediately. I looked over at Aiden as he nodded. We walked quickly behind him following behind the man. I wasn't one hundred percent sure it was him but if I could just stop him for a second then maybe. Just maybe.
The mans pace picked up as we followed behind. His head would slightly turn every few seconds as if catching on that we were following. It wasn't long before he started running. Aiden and I began to jog behind, making sure we didn't lose him. We weaved in and out of traffic with him. He turned on every street corner he could before running down an alleyway. The man stopped when he realized the alleyway was a dead end.
Aiden and I both jogged up and stared at the man as his back was turned from us. I could see the man squat down as if getting ready to jump.
"Wait!" I yelled. The man paused and slowly stood back up. Aiden stood by me as the man slowly turned. His baseball cap shadowed his face however his steel blue eyes shined through just like the picture.
I breathed heavily. Unsure if it was because of all the running, or the familiar face I had been searching for the past two years. I watched as the man took off the baseball cap and held onto it tightly. Same facial features. Chiseled jawline. Heart breaking blue eyes. It was Bucky.
"Bucky." I called out my voice shaking a bit. It was him. I had waited a year for this moment. His blues locked with mine. He tilted his head a bit as if processing. I couldn't believe it. Finally, I found him. His eyes twitch before he nodded. A small smile grew on his face.
"Layla..." He spoke out softly. He began to move towards me. I just stood there unable to move. I missed him. I took in every single detail of his body. He remembered. He was remembering everything. This time it was different. The smile on his face proved it was different. Before Bucky could get close I felt arms wrap around my waist and pull me away.
A large explosion shook the ground around us. Aiden pulled me to the wall beside us before shifting his arm up. We both shielded our heads from the rubble falling around us the best we could. Aiden breathed heavily as he looked at me concerningly. I quickly stood up as she shifted off of me. Smoke emerged from the alleyway as I walked up to it.
I glared at the smoke as it began to slowly dissipate. I felt my heart drop to my stomach as the smoke cleared. The spot Bucky was standing on was completely destroyed. I looked up the wall that was blocking him to escape and saw a large hole in the middle of it. Bucky had escaped again.
I quickly turned around and looked up at the building behind us. Someone shot that grenade. They had to still be there. I scanned each window trying to figure out which one it came from. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I felt a tear begin to form as I let out a long sigh. Why now did this happen?
Aiden and i arrived back at my apartment. I threw my stuff onto the ground before walking to my bed. I fell to the floor and leaned my back against the bed frame. Aiden just stared at me as I dug my head into my knees. I heard a small jingle as Bucky's dog tags shifted around my neck. I felt my breathing become short as I grabbed onto them. The anger began to boil in my veins. I ripped them from my neck before tossing them across the room.
"Damn it." I muttered as they hit the wall in front of me and slid down to the floor. Aiden and I sat in silence as the sound of the tv filled the room. My mind just kept racing. Why now? Why when I get so close I lose him again?
"Because someone doesn't want me to find him before they do..." I said to myself. I looked up at Aiden as the realization hit. Aiden squinted his eyes at me as he tilted his head confusingly.
"What do you mean?" He asked confusingly. I looked up at the files as they sat scattered on the table.
"You remember losing all the progress we made? Being forced to move to paper because someone wiped our files. Now, when I almost had him something kept us away again." I looked back up to Aiden before standing back up. I walked over to the dog tags and grabbed them. I shifted my thumb over the small engravings of Bucky's numbers. I took a deep breath, "Someone doesn't want me to find Bucky."
I stared at the dog tags once more before shifting my hands up and reattaching the chain around my neck. But why? What do they want with Bucky? Is it Hydra again? Or something else..
"Layla you may want to look at this." I heard Aiden say behind me. I quickly turned around as Aiden grabbed the remote to the tv. Breaking news fell onto the screen as images of a destroyed building filled the screen. Smoke emerged from the windows as people ran away from it.
The video zoomed in on the four Avengers. Steve, Sam, Natasha and a distraught Wanda. I starred at the screen searching for what to think. How did this happen? Something went wrong on their recon to stop Rumlow. I watched as words slid at the bottom of my screen. This was terrible.
My thoughts were broken when my phone vibrated on the table behind me. I turned and stared at it for a second. I walked up as a name began to light up across the screen.
Stark.