It had been 6 months of Steve, Cassie, and sometimes Sam, trying to find the whereabouts of Bucky. Yet they couldn't seem to make any progress in succeeding. Cassie had moved out from her apartment to join the other Avengers at the compound created by Tony Stark.
Her relationship with Steve was slowly but surely evolving into something strong and serious. The entire team knew of the crush Steve has on Cassie and vice versa. They often made jokes about it having the two blush.
SOKOVIA, EASTERN EUROPE {HYDRA RESEARCH BASE}
Currently they were all on a mission to track down and eliminate HYDRA remaining members themselves. Everyone was present on this mission; Steve, Cassie, Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce, and Thor.
"Shit!" Tony called into the comms as he flew into a protective barrier that wrapped around the entire facility they were trying to access.
"Language!" Steve simply said as he and Cassie rode side by side on their own bikes. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?" He asked as he looked over at Cassie who was extremely focused bringing a smile onto his face.
"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other HYDRA base we've taken." Jarvis said into the comms as Cassie rolled her eyes at the upcoming guards.
She brought her Taser gun and sent Taser Disks towards most of them bringing them down without bringing her bike to a stop.
"That was so hot, don't you agree Cap." Tony said from the sky as he circled back and saw Cassie flip her ponytail from her face.
"Oh he's totally turned on." Natasha said, adding on to Tony's teasing.
"Guys, let's just focus." Cassie said with a chuckle as she turned back at a blushing Steve who rode on his own motorbike.
"I agree with Cas." Thor said through grunts as he fought off some guards. "Loki's scepter must be here. Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last." He added as Mjølnir made its way back to his hand.
From the corner of his eye Steve saw a grenade being launched towards Cassie. His eyes widened and he quickly threw his shield towards her.
"Cassie, incoming." Steve called out as she turned around and quickly grabbed the shield to use as a protection.
Yet the impact was still strong enough to send her flying off the bike. She used the shield to ease her landing as she landed on her stomach. With a grunt she turned onto her back and threw her head back into the snow.
"Bummer." She simply said as she heard a motorbike approach her.
"Cassie, are you okay?" Steve asked as he came to a stop beside her.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Now I see why you like this bad boy." She said as she tossed him the shield.
Steve placed the shield in front of him on the motorbike and extended his hand out for Cassie to stand. She reached for it and he quickly pulled her up. Before he could drive away, Cassie hopped on the back of his bike and they drove off to fight more guards.
"'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys. Do me and Cassie have to do all the work?" Natasha said as Cassie saw four guards approaching them on two bikes.
"Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise." Clint said as Cassie quickly took out her gun and aimed it at one of the guards driving the bike before shooting him down. She then turned to her left and aimed at the other driver as Steve continued driving the bike.
"Incoming from the front." Cassie told Steve as he simply sent her a nod.
"Give them hell." Steve said with a smirk as he revved the bike and increased his speed.
"Wait a second. No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said 'Language'?" Tony said through the comms as Cassie started carefully standing on the moving bike.
"I know." Steve said as he tried to keep the bike steady. "Just slipped out." He added as he sent a nod to Cassie and she quickly flipped into the air away from the bike and onto an approaching truck loaded with men.
"Hello gentlemen..." Cassie said as all four guards turned to look at who had landed in the back compartment of the truck. "Goodbye, gentlemen..." She simply said as she quickly pulled out her taser stick with a smirk.
The men quickly launched themselves at her and Cassie quickly defended herself. She easily threw one off the back of the moving vehicle, sending him tumbling into the snow. She used her taser stick to tase the other one and smack her knee into his face. Another guard caught her by surprise and quickly removed the taser stick from her hand and threw it off the moving vehicle.
"That was not nice. My friend gave that to me." She said referring to the taser stick that Tony had made for her.
She quickly sent a punch his way and brought his head to smack against the rail on the truck before throwing him off as well. The last man standing simply shook his head and brought his hands up in surrender.
"Oh come on, I dare you to fight back. Even if it's just a little." She said with a smirk but the man simply shook his head and jumped off the moving vehicle.
She rolled her eyes and made her way over to the driver. She simply sent his head crashing against the steering wheel before she kicked him from the seat and took control of the vehicle.
"We have an Enhanced in the field." Steve said as he had an encounter with some kid with speed.
"Clint's hit!" Natasha called into the comms and Cassie quickly brought her finger up to her ear.
"I'm coming to you right now." Cassie said as she quickly made a huge U turn and made her way over to Natasha who was by an injured Clint.
"Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" Natasha said as Cassie continued driving through the wave of guards. "Thank you." She then responded as Bruce came in and simply rammed into the bunker.
Cassie quickly brought the truck to a park and got out quickly making her way over to the man laying on the ground and Natasha aiding him. Seeing in the state that Clint was in, Cassie quickly brought a small disk from her pocket.
"Here place this on the wound." Cassie said, handing Natasha the disk.
"What is this?" Natasha quickly asked Cassie who was looking down at Clint.
"It's a new tech that Stark worked on with Dr. Helen Cho, it's similar to the regeneration cradle. Should keep him stable until we return to the tower." Cassie said as Natasha simply nodded and placed the disk onto Clint's wound.
"Stark, we really need to get inside." Steve said into the comms as he fought off some guards.
"I'm closing in." Tony responded as Cassie picked up Clint with her super strength and carried him onto the truck she was previously driving.
"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. I'm going to get him to the jet." Cassie said as she made her way over to the driver side of the truck.
"Cas is right, the sooner we're gone, the better." Thor said through the comms as Natasha and Cassie started making their way back to the jet on the truck. "Rogers and Stark secure the scepter." He added as Nat caught sight of Bruce.
"Time for a lullaby." Cassie said as she saw Bruce as well.
"Copy that." Steve simply responded.
"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony said mocking at Steve as Cassie drove closer to Bruce.
"That's not going away any time soon." Steve simply said with a sigh as a smile crept onto Cassie's face.
"Oh it's definitely not, darling." She simply said as she brought the car to a stop for Natasha to work her magic on Bruce.
With Strucker's arrest, HYDRA suffered a great blow and the organization was left in a state of discord. Everyone returned to the Avengers Tower with the Scepter, Steve and Cassie were gathering their used gear about to get off the jet.
"Hey Tony, lost the taser stick by the way." Cassie simply said getting Tony to shake his head.
"Well let's add that to the list of lost and found." He said as he reached down and retrieved the taser stick from its spot on the floor. "Had to fish it out of the snow for you." He added getting Cassie to smirk as he tossed it to her.
"Lab's all set up, boss." Maria Hill said coming onto the quinjet breaking the conversation up between the two.
"Oh, actually, he's the boss and she's the Minnie boss." Tony said as he pointed over at Cassie and Steve. "I just pay for everything and design everything and make everyone look cooler." He added as Cassie gave a simple chuckle.
"We'll let you keep thinking that." Steve said as he and Cassie made their way over to Maria Hill.
"What's the word on Strucker?" Cassie asked as the three started making their way off the jet with Cassie leading them.
"NATO's got him." Maria Hill said as she walked right beside Steve, behind Cassie.
"The two Enhanced?" Steve asked as Cassie stopped and was ready for the information Maria Hill gave them.
"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins. Orphaned at 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building." Maria said as she showed them videos of them on the tablet in hand. "Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special, but it's on the way to everywhere special." She added as Cassie started walking as she took the tablet in hand.
"What are their abilities?" Steve asked as the three made their way into the tower.
"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." Maria Hill responded as the came to the elevator that would lead them to their corresponding floors.
Each Avenger was given its own floor. It served as their own apartment. Yet the common areas like the kitchen were shared by everyone. Luckily, Stark always kept everything stocked up in the pantry.
"English please." Steve said with a slight eye roll as Cassie handed him the tablet.
"Basically he's fast and she's kinda weird." Cassie said explaining to Steve in a way he would understand. "They're 9 times out of 10 going to show up again." She added as Steve handed Maria Hill the tablet and as the elevator came to open in front of them.
"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." Maria said as the two super soldiers got onto the elevator.
"Right." Cassie said with a slight eyebrow raise. She herself had volunteered for an experiment so she could maybe understand, just maybe.
Soon the doors to the elevator came to a close and Cassie sighed as she removed the bands on her wrist.
"You okay there?" Steve asked as he saw frustration in the girl beside him.
"No yeah I'm okay." She simply responded as the elevator started going up.
"How about we go, get out of these battle clothes and talk it out over a nice dinner." He said as Cassie simply squinted her eyes looking at Steve.
"Are you asking me on a date?" She asked, turning her entire body towards him.
"Of course I am, who wouldn't?" Steve said as Cassie started closing the gap between them.
Yet before she could get to close the elevator dinged signaling they had reached Cassie's designated level. She brought her hand up to his chest and got on her tiptoes as she placed a soft kiss on Steve's cheek.
"See you for dinner, Cap." Cassie said as she saluted him with a smile before getting off the elevator.