As the summer neared its end, giving way to fall, the atmosphere changed around the Avengers Compound. Reconstruction was finished on the west wing of the building, once again giving the team access to their living quarters, and the leaves on the trees had begun to change colors, bathing upstate New York in the beginning shades of an autumn glow. The team was once again free to move around without the threat of HYDRA looming over them, even if they were still looking over their shoulders, listening for any whisper that might come their way of the organization's movements, in search of anything that might help them one day save an old friend.
As for Elysia, she reached for the alarm clock that had begun to blare in the center of her nightstand, hitting the snooze button before sitting up in bed and pushing the stray strands of hair away from her face. She climbed out of bed and quickly changed into her training gear, a simple t-shirt and leggings with a zip-up jacket before lacing up her sneakers and wandering out the front door of her apartment.
When she reached the hallway, Elysia paused, her gaze moving to the still vacant apartment next to hers, but to her surprise, she didn't let her gaze linger before putting one foot in front of the other, down the stairs and into the kitchen where her friends were already waiting.
"There she is," Sam announced as Elysia waltzed into the kitchen, handing her a protein shake, which she took with a grateful smile. "Look at her, all ready to kick some ass."
"Wilson," she greeted, taking a drink of the shake before taking a seat next to Steve, "Rogers,"
"Sparks," Steve greeted back, though he didn't look up from the files in front of him, and Elysia peered over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of the images in front of him.
An old photograph pinned to the top of the page was dated 1961, and detailed a smiling teenage boy, who, while the super soldier genes he'd inherited had made him appear taller and more muscular than the average teen, the youthful glow about him betrayed his real age as no more than fifteen. A flop of blonde hair threatened to cover the top of his eyes, which were the exact blue of his father's. Below the picture was a stamp reading Project Sentinel- Confidential.
Elysia glanced back up at Sam at the realization of the files Steve was once again looking through, and the two locked eyes, an unspoken understanding passing between the two friends. Sam had been clued into the existence of James Rogers shortly after the HYDRA attack, and while the two of them had successfully managed to keep Steve's secret away from the rest of the team, every now and then they'd still catch him carrying around the old file, as if there was something new to discover within its contents to help him learn more about his son.
Steve finally closed the file, looking back up at Elysia with a small smile. "Beautiful day out today," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the window, where a small stream of sunlight spilled into the kitchen near where Sam still stood. "Fancy a run outside today before we train?"
"Don't expect us to take it easy on you, old man." Elysia jeered, finishing up her protein shake as Steve picked up the file, hurrying up the stairs to return it to his apartment before rejoining them in the kitchen.
Elysia followed Sam and Steve into the elevator, pressing the button to take them down to the main floor. At the ground floor, the Avengers Compound was a hodgepodge of the hustle and bustle of various employees of Stark Industries moving from one lab to the next, clocking in and out for the day and trying to make the most of their mornings. A few stopped to ogle the three Avengers walking through the atrium, but they simply stopped and nodded a quick hello before heading out to the training field outside.
Elysia took a deep breath as the cool morning air hit her face, beginning to stretch her arms as they walked towards the field. In the months since the HYDRA attack, she'd slowly but surely gotten back onto her feet and had begun training again with the team, although this time she refused to hold herself back. Endless nights in the training center and several fried training dummies that Tony needed to replace one right after the other had been the results of her newfound sense of control, but Elysia knew she had to stop at nothing to be ready whenever the opportunity arose to once again have a shot of finding HYDRA, and the Winter Soldier lying in wait beneath the surface.
"Race you both to the streetlight," Steve said, nodding towards the post at the end of the field as he took off running, his super soldier speed already giving him a headstart the other two couldn't dream of catching up to.
"Hey!" Elysia shouted after him, taking off into a sprint as she tried desperately to keep up with Sam, as Steve was already beginning to near the streetlight.
Elysia willed herself to run further, the adrenaline pumping through her body already beginning to charge the electricity inside her body. Her veins crackled in excitement as she ran, the bottoms of her sneakers pounding against the grassy field. She dove forwards towards the light, placing a hand on it mere seconds before Sam could reach it, while Steve watched from behind the light with an amused expression.
"I win!" she panted, taking in huge lungfuls of air as she leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees in an attempt to steady her breathing. "I beat Sam, Steve doesn't count."
"Oh, so we need a rematch, huh?" Sam asked, a mischievous glint in the man's eye.
"I need a nap is more like it," Elysia said as the three continued to walk down the field, moving further and further away from the compound.
"So I hear Arizona State's back in classes today," Steve announced, pulling the attention of the two back to where he walked on their left.
Elysia nodded, pensively. "Syllabus week's a killer," she said nonchalantly. "I hope they're prepared."
Telling Cara and the others that she wasn't coming back in the fall had been a hard blow, both for Elysia and her friends, but in the end, they all agreed it was what was best for her. Although she'd been vague with the details, simply saying her internship had offered her a full time position, Tony had wasted little time before publicly announcing the newest member of the Avengers to a room full of reporters, plastering her face on the front of every national news source that same evening.
It was a life she once considered to be an alternate future she'd escaped in the nick of time, but now she couldn't imagine any other path.
"Do you regret it?" Sam asked. "Not going back?"
"I thought it would be a harder decision to make, especially once classes got closer." Elysia said with a shrug. "I thought I'd regret it once I saw everyone back together, moving on when I was still all the way over here. But there's no place I'd rather be."
"We're glad you're here too, Sparks." Steve assured her, causing her to smile.
"Thanks, Steve," she said. "Besides, we've got work to do."
"That we do," Sam agreed, and Steve nodded.
"We're going to find him one day." Steve assured them. "We've done it before, I know we can do it again. It's going to be tough, but we owe it to him to try."
"Yeah," Elysia said, nodding in agreement. "It's going to work. He's out there somewhere, and once we know where, we'll get him back." Elysia fought the tears that threatened to well up behind her eyes and coughed slightly to clear her throat, changing the subject. "Now come on, gentlemen, we've got laps to do."
By the time Elysia, Steve, and Sam had finished their training for the morning, it was nearly lunchtime. However, she'd opted to take her food back up to her apartment, eager to begin scouring any database she could get her hands on on the darker side of the web, to see if any unfortunate witness had managed to catch a glimpse of the infamous Winter Soldier. Bucky had once told her the assassin never left a witness, but she knew that, somewhere, a slip-up might catch an eye or two.
However, as she reached for her sandwich, she accidentally knocked over the glass of water behind the plate, sending its contents spilling across the surface. Elysia moved fast, hurriedly grabbing a towel and beginning to wipe up the liquid that now covered the desk. As soon as she was satisfied that she'd dried off the desktop, she opened the top drawer, beginning to inspect its contents for any hint of water damage.
As she moved aside the files at the top of the drawer, a flash of blue caught her eye, revealing a folded up piece of paper beneath the pile. Pulling the piece of paper out from under the files, she unfolded it to reveal a letter inside, her heart leaping into her throat as she caught sight of the familiar handwriting inside. Instantly, the other files and any potential damage were forgotten as she began to read.
Ellie,
If you're reading this, it means I'm either terrible at choosing hiding places and you've found this right away, or today's procedure went wrong, and the Winter Soldier won. If he did, I don't want you to blame yourself. I know you did everything you could, and I can't thank you enough for helping me the way you did. You took a lost guy from Brooklyn who doesn't know the first thing about the world he lives in, and you saved him from the monster he became.
When we first met in that observation room, I was terrified. I'd barely remembered who Steve was at that point, but you still chose to come and speak to me, welcome me to the compound. Whether that was because you wanted to get to know me or you just took pity on me I don't know, but I'm grateful for it anyways. You understand me in ways nobody else has, and I'm very thankful for that.
I can't tell you how much I want today's procedure to work, for this code to be gone once and for all. I know a normal life might not be in the cards for a man like me, or either of us really, but if it is, I'd like it to be with you. If the past few days have taught me anything, it's that I've never met anyone quite like you, and it scares me that I might one day be forced to forget. But, no matter what happens, I promise to always find my way back to you. One day we'll be together, even if it's not our time yet.
It's you and me, doll.
Bucky
Elysia's vision blurred as tears began to stream down her cheeks, dropping onto the surface of the letter. She set the piece of paper down on her desk as she collapsed further into the chair, the pain of losing him washing over her in a new wave, one she hadn't let the team see since the day she'd woken up in the infirmary. When she finally managed to catch her breath, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, she simply stared at Bucky's familiar handwriting covering the page, the Brooklyn man so close, but so far away.
Bucky had known the risks of the procedure going wrong, they all had, but what they hadn't anticipated was the time being ripped away from them so quickly. And Elysia knew she didn't have any time to waste, not if she was meant to one day get her dance with her soldier before it was too late.
No matter what, she would find him.