The next morning was strange, the atmosphere of the small Brooklyn apartment was stuffy and uncomfortable as Sam and Bucky sat at the kitchen counter, mugs of coffee slowly going cold in their hands. YN had yet to leave her room, and Sam watched Bucky's gaze continue to flick back to it with every small noise that could mean she would appear.
"How are you doing, man?" Sam eventually said, pushing the stone-cold coffee away from himself. Bucky looked up, slightly shocked at Sam's concern. "C'mon, give me some credit, he was my friend too."
Bucky sighed, rubbing his hand over his short brown tuffs. "I'm worried about her..." He shook his head, getting to his feet to place their mugs in the sink. "She doesn't always handle herself well in these circumstances."
Sam frowned, pursing his lips in confusion. "She always seemed pretty stable to me?" He commented, crossing his arms as he watched Bucky lean against the sink.
"I am stable, thank you, Sam." The two men jumped at the feminine voice, Sam and Bucky quickly turning to see YN exiting her room with a ruck sack over her shoulder. "What are you two doing, just standing around? We have a job to do."
Bucky sent Sam a look and the shorter man took it as an 'I told you so.' "YN?" Bucky asked, stepping closer to the woman as she bent over to tie the laces on her boots. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like, James?" YN sighed out, standing back up and placing her hands on her hips. "I'm getting my ass back into gear to get this super soldier problem under control."
Bucky shook his head, a defeated sigh leaving his mouth as he, yet again, ran a hand over his head. "YN-"
"She's right." Sam interrupted, earning a heated glare from the brunette man. "I got a call from Torres..." He shrugged, turning away from the angered scowl.
"Alright, I've got my sack sorted, you?" Sam nodded, having not even unpacked it. "Great, meet you in the car." The door to the apartment swung shut and before Sam could blink, Bucky had a finger in his face, a very unimpressed expression directed at him.
"What the hell was that? You know she should be dealing with what happened yesterday." Sam nodded, lightly shoving Bucky from his personal space.
"I know."
"Then what the hell, Sam?"
Sam sighed as he moved down the hall to collect his belongings, Bucky hot on his tail. "She needs a distraction," Bucky scoffed but Sam continued, stepping away from his bed, shouldering his bag. "If she wants to do this, then that's her decision, if she decides half way there, she'd rather lock herself in her room, she can do that too."
Bucky was silent as they both left the apartment with their things, but before they could step out of the building, he grabbed Sam's shoulder. "She's going to break at some point."
Sam nodded, smacking the side of Bucky's flesh arm. "We all will, man."
---------------------------------
"Hey, it's Black Falcon." A kid called as YN trailed behind the two men. "What's up?"
Sam chuckled, raising his brows slightly. "It's just Falcon, kid."
"No, no." The kid shook his head. "My daddy told me it's Black Falcon."
"Is it because I'm Black and I'm the Falcon?" YN sighed, crossing her arms as she leant against a power pole, earning a glance of concern from the other super soldier.
"Well, technically... I mean, yeah."
"So, are you like... Black kid?" Sam pressed his lips together in fight of a smile before he chuckled and smacked the kid's shoulder, fisting another's knuckles. "I got him, right?"
YN loved watching Sam laugh, she always had. When they had met in 2014, she was being dragged behind Steve and Natasha, blood gushing from a wound on her stomach that he had stitched in the bathroom of his one-bedroom unit. She had been deathly quiet, not saying anything in fear of this man being unreliable, however within a few minutes he'd cracked her up and she was being chastised by Steve for laughing so loud while having a pretty serious wound stitched up.
Even now, having just lost the one family member she had left, Sam's smile was warming YN's stomach and chest, and she had to look away before her cheeks grew red. "What are we doing here?" She eventually asked Bucky as they continued down the street.
"You'll see." YN rolled her eyes as she kicked a stone. They stopped outside of a well lived in home, the plants outside practically glowing against the dark exterior of the house. YN stood at the bottom of the steps, picking her nails while Bucky knocked, Sam hovering by his right flank. "We're here to see Isaiah." The name made Sam turn to YN with a raised brow, the woman shaking her head in response, not having heard it before.
"No Isaiah that lives here." The kid stood behind the security screen, his arms crossed defiantly.
"Look, we just want to talk with him-"
"You must not hear what I just said. You ain't getting in this house." His eyes drifted down to YN, flashing in recognition of the female Avenger. "Y'all can leave now."
"Tell him the guy from the bar in Goyang is here. He's gonna know what that means." The kid eyed Bucky for a moment before closing the door with a short 'wait here.'
"Nice kid." YN scoffed, kicking another small stone from under her boot.
"How do you know this guy?" Sam questioned, glancing at YN who looked away quickly.
"I used to. We had a skirmish during the Korean War." Sam frowned at the mysterious response. The door reopened and the kid allowed the three Avengers inside. YN felt off entering behind the two men, as if she was un-welcome inside the walls that belonged to whoever this man was. "Isaiah?"
"Look at you." YN's shoulders immediately squared at the defensive tone.
"This is uh... Sam and YN." YN nodded her head in respect, eyeing the man who stared at her, another flash of recognition shooting her way. "This is Isaiah, he... he was a hero. One of the ones that HYDRA feared the most. Like YN... like Steve..." YN's gaze immediately hit the floor at the mention of her brother, unable to meet anyone's eye.
Isaiah and Bucky made talk about their history as YN tried to compose her emotions, busying herself by looking around the room, more often than note zoning in and out of the conversation being held only feet from her.
"I'm not a killer anymore." The words caught YN's attention, making the woman glance at Sam quickly before looking back to where Bucky was facing off Isaiah.
"You think you can wake up one day and decide who you wanna be? It doesn't work like that." Isaiah turned up his nose as he looked from YN to Bucky. "Well, maybe it does for folks like you." YN straightened again at the insinuation, not liking what this man was placing on them.
"There's a reason we're here." YN finally spoke up, crossing her arms defensively. "There more of us."
"More of us?" Isaiah questioned, scoffing under his breath as he turned his back to his three guests.
"And we need to know how." Bucky finished, fisting his hands at his sides, which YN noticed as a nervous tick.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore!" Isaiah suddenly shouted, sticking an arm out to knock over some of his belongings. "You know what they did to me for being a hero?" He sneered. "They put my ass in jail for years. People running tests, taking my blood, coming into my cell." YN flinched as he shouted, feeling guilty for even still being here. "Even your people weren't done with me." He directed at Bucky.
"Isaiah..."
"Get out of my house!" YN jumped, stepping back as the kid from earlier started ushering them out of the building, the sounds of crashes following them. Sam stalked down the street, and YN hung back, allowing him to cool off from the obviously confusing situation they'd just walked away from.
"Sam..." Bucky tried, keeping pace with the agitated man.
"Why didn't you tell me about him?" Sam turned, pressing a finger to Bucky's solid chest. "How could nobody mention him?" Bucky remained silent as he glanced between YN and Sam, not really knowing how to answer.
"He asked you a question, James." YN spoke up, crossing her arms.
"I know."
"Steve didn't know about him?" Sam asked, not even looking at YN as she winced again.
"No, he didn't... I didn't tell him." Bucky responded.
"So you're telling me that there was a black Super Soldier decades ago and nobody knew about it?" There wasn't any time for a response as two police cars rolled up, a siren alerting the street to their presence.
"Hey!" An officer called, approaching the three team mates, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What's up, man?" Sam responded, sighing and crossing his arms.
"Is there a problem here?" YN frowned as she cocked her head, looking between herself and Sam and Bucky, unsure where he could have got that interpretation.
"No, we're just talking." YN said, stepping closer to her friends.
"We're fine." Bucky agreed.
"Can I see your I.D?" The officer asked Sam, and YN automatically realized what was happening.
"I don't have an I.D." Sam returned, also knowing what was going on.
"Why?" YN sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"Come on, man." She shook her head as the officer crossed his arms as Sam shook Bucky's hand off of his own arm.
"Okay, sir, just calm down."
"I am calm." Sam retorted. "What do you want? We're just standing here talking."
"Just give him your I.D so we can get the hell out of here." Bucky pleaded, scowling at the officer.
"No, I'm not giving him shit. We're just talking." Sam sighed as he got closer to YN's side, and the officer reacted by placing a hand on his gun.
"Hey, hey!" He called, lifting his other hand. "Look, is this man bothering you?''
"Bothering us?" Bucky frowned.
"No, do you know who this is?" YN asked, feeling the need to step in front of Sam defensively, but knowing this would infuriate the other man. Another officer quickly came up to his colleague's side, whispering something in his ear that made his eyes widen.
"Oh, God, I am so sorry, Mr. Wilson." YN rolled her eyes at the same time as Sam. "I didn't recognize you without the goggles. I'm really, really sorry about this." Another vehicle pulled up and sounded a short siren, making the three Avengers sigh in annoyance. "Guys... Just wait here."
"I didn't say anything because he'd already been through enough." Bucky finally answered Sam's earlier question, taking both Sam and YN off guard.
"Mr. Barnes, there's a warrant out for your arrest." The officer called and YN nearly shouted in frustration, wanting to get back to the job at hand already.
"He was pardoned for that crap." YN groaned, rubbing her eyes.
"Not that..." The officer sighed, looking only slightly embarrassed. "You missed your court-mandated therapy. It's like missing a check-in with your PO." YN frowned, quickly looking to Bucky, unaware he even had a therapist. "I'm sorry, Mr. Barnes, you're under arrest."