July 30th 2017
Rome, Italy
The streets of Rome were buzzing with tourists, Steve pulled down his cap further, adjusting his sunglasses. He had come too far on this mission to be caught now.
"He just passed the Marcello Theatre, turning right." Bucky said through his earpiece. Sam was tailing him, whereas Steve stayed a few blocks away, just incase he tried to make a move.
"Copy that." Steve replied, heading in that direction.
He just wanted to catch the guy and go home to finish binging modern family.
It was a good show.
Steve liked the dog.
He had information on a new drug ring that had come up on the Avengers radar. They didn't think he was the man in charge, but they were pretty sure that he was in their inner circle.
"He's speeding up, Cap. Want me to chase?"
Steve thought about it for a minute. If they chased him, and caught him. They were done, they could go back to the jet and get the hell out of here, out of the blazing Italian sun and back to the compound where there was air conditioning... And Netflix.
"Yeah, go after him. Don't hold back on the sedative if he tries to fight. We need him alive in the Quinjet." Steve replied. "I'll make my way up to the other end of the street, so if you don't manage to get him I'll catch him at the other side."
"Are you sure? Waiting till night—"
"I'm sure, Buck."
This wasn't the original plan. The original plan was to find his hideout, and infiltrate it after dark.
"He's getting away, Stevie," Sam said, followed by the sound of what Steve assumed were several trash cans, "Shit, I'm loosing him."
Steve gulped. This was going awfully.
"I'm en route right now, I'll get him at the end of the alley." Steve replied.
He pushed his way through the crowds forming at the market, apologising to the various people he crashed into.
"Are you interested in these cherry tomatoes?" An older woman stepped out in front of him, a bunch of tomatoes in her hand, offering them to him with her thick Italian accent.
"Sorry, no thanks." Steve replied, stepping to the side to get around her.
The woman followed his footsteps, also stepping to the side so that Steve couldn't get away.
"Only 2 euro." She said again, holding her hands out.
"No thank you." Steve said, this time having to physically push her (as lightly as he could) out of the way to clear a space for him to run to catch the man at the end of the alleyway.
"Fuck." Steve heard through his earpiece, followed by gunshots.
Then silence.
"Buck?" Steve panicked, "Bucky? Do you copy, I repeat, do you copy?"
"Yeah, Cap. Yeah. I copy." Bucky panted on the other side, "But he's got a gun, and I just blew my cover. It's down to you, now."
He began to sprint. Steve wasn't carrying a gun. He hasn't even touched one since the incident with Ember. At this rate, he was going to have to tackle the guy until the gun was well out of reach for either of them.
He caught sight of him when Steve reached the alleyway. The criminal looked at him, direct eye contact held for only a second, and began to sprint down the road.
Steve followed him, his sneakers squeaking off of the tarmac. His runs with Sam paid off in times like these. He was really regretting not waiting until nightfall, when he could've come with full tactical gear and his suit.
The market came into view again. Steve chased him towards it, the guy knocking someone's market stall over in the process.
Civilians began to freak out as a gunshot was heard, this time being shot in Steve's direction. It distracted Steve only for a split second.
"Steve, you good?"
But it was enough to loose him in the crowd.
They had lost their only lead to this drug ring, and blown their cover.
"I lost him." Steve said into his comms, panting heavily.
He heard Bucky sigh at the other end of the line.
July 30th 2017
Avengers Quinjet
Bucky sat on a bench in the Quinjet with an ice pack against his ribs. Steve sat next to him, the jet on autopilot,
"That was a disaster."
"Sure as hell it was." Bucky muttered a reply. "I think I broke every single one of my ribs."
"You're a super soldier. You'll be fully healed in three days."
"I was supposed to be taking Addy out tonight," Bucky groaned, "And post mission sex is no good when all your damn ribs are broken."
Steve rolled his eyes.
"What?"
"There's such a thing as oversharing."
"Uh, coming from the person who told me about the dream you had about fucking Ember against the bathroom sink while you—"
"Stop. Just stop."
Bucky hung his head. He shouldn't have mentioned Ember, it always made Steve grouchy. And annoying.
"Sorry."
Bucky swallowed. The tension in the air suddenly becoming thick.
"What?" Steve asked. He knew his best friend well enough to know when he was hiding something.
"Nothing."
"James what have you done?"
"Ewwwww not the full name."
"James Buchanan Barnes—"
"Okay okay, shut up I'll talk." Bucky agreed, "I just uh— I looked at the files backed up on Tony's hard drive on Ember... I just needed to know if she—"
"Was brainwashed." Steve finished for him.
"You've thought about it too?" Bucky asked.
"Yeah. But it doesn't make any sense. I saw the video of her talking to John Garrett—"
"And I saw a video of her asking to leave."
"The videos have sound?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." Bucky replied, "The spider kid showed me how to turn the volume up. There were more videos I never got the chance to watch. Doesn't even look like Tony has watched them. They need a password to get into, the rest he's moved to his desktop for easy access."
"The password is I am Iron Man." Steve replied with a sigh. Tony was a dumbass sometimes.
"How'd you know that?"
"Used the same computer when I was looking for information on how to find you." Steve said. A small smile on Bucky's face.
"I think Ember was manipulated— I know it's not the same as brainwashing, but... Something had to have happened. There's no way any human could last that long, pretending to show that kind of emotion."
Steve had hung onto the tiny piece of hope that something like this would happen and they'd find a way to get Ember back. There was a tiny slither of him that knew in his heart she was innocent.
The small amount grew a little more everyday.
"Next time Tony leaves we'll watch them. We need to know the truth."
Steve's phone began to ring, cutting off their conversation as he pulled the device out of his pocket.
"Tony?"
"Where are you?"
Tony's voice sounded panicked, scared.
"About an hour out, why?" Steve asked, the tone of Tony's voice causing him to become instantly concerned.
"There was a security breach on the raft. 3 escaped."
Steve's mouth went dry.
"She's one of them, Cap."