I hated being left in the dark. Especially if it was something I was directly involved in. So if the asshole who blew up the SUV and stole my watch was involved, then so was I.
After waking up from that coma, I got out of the hospital as fast as I could. I had no idea what I was doing there or how I got there. The last thing I remembered was standing on the roof.
Anyway, I went to the nearest mall to 'borrow' some clothes when I noticed Steve and Natasha walking past. As hard as they tried to be inconspicuous, I knew it was Steve.
I glared at the two in turn, each look as deadly as the last. Natasha looked me up and down in mild shock. Steve's eyes were as wide as baseballs behind those glasses as he glanced at me in disbelief and confusion. "B-But you were in a coma."
"I woke up," I replied bitterly.
"But you got shot," Natasha added.
I squinted in annoyance. "Healing is handy." I crossed my arms. "You don't want me to ask again. I'm not having the greatest of days."
My eyes flicked to a group of suspicious-looking men clad in black splitting up. And then they lay on a familiar face.
Rumlow.
Natasha turned and saw him. She grasped Steve's and my arm and dragged us forward. I marched with the two on either side of me out of the Apple store. I still had no idea what was going on, but I got the impression that getting away from Rumlow and his men was the priority. But why?
"What is going on?" I growled through gritted teeth.
"We're on the run," Steve hissed back. "We're not safe anymore."
And then I remembered what Fury said before the accident. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s compromised."
"We're going to Wheaton," Steve said.
I whipped my attention to him. Old memories lurked there."What?"
"I know." He looked behind him. "Standard TAC team. Two behind, two across, and two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro."
"Shut up and put your arm around Andi," Natasha ordered. "Laugh at something she said."
"What?" Steve questioned.
"Do it."
He put his arm around me and Natasha did the same. They both chuckled, and I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two men in black with stony expressions walk past.
We headed for the escalator, riding it to the lower floor. Natasha led the way with Steve in tow. I stood behind them, alone with my thoughts.
How long was I out for? I had no idea what was going on! We worked with S.T.R.I.K.E. and now we were fleeing from them. Why? And where was Fury? What were we looking for in Wheaton? What the hell?
My eyes flicked around my surroundings. And they fell on Rumlow coming up the other escalator. Natasha had noticed. She turned to us and looked at me. "Hipster."
With that, I pulled her phone from her pocket and pretended to be engrossed in it.
"Kiss me," she ordered to Steve.
"What?"
What?!
"Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable."
"Yes, they do."
He didn't have a choice. She cupped his face forcefully and pulled him into a kiss. He awkwardly placed a hand on her hip.
As Rumlow went past, I looked down at the phone screen inconspicuously with a bored expression.
I felt something inside me, scratching at the walls and burning my insides. It felt like a knife was piercing my heart, but I wasn't dying, even as the blade twisted deeper and deeper. It...hurt. Why did it hurt? I didn't know what it was. I didn't know why I was feeling that way. Was it jealously? Envy? Resentment? I swallowed. Bitterness?
Natasha pulled away and I put those feelings aside. I handed back her phone with a blank expression, though I was fuming inside (I still didn't know why).
"You still uncomfortable?" she remarked.
"It's not exactly the word I would use," he grumbled in reply.
I walked past him without looking at him. I could feel his eyes on me, glancing at me in confusion before following Natasha and I down the escalator.
We decided to split up. It seemed like the safest thing to do. If we were all caught together then the mission couldn't continue. We needed someone on the outside.
"I'll find a safe place to lay low," Natasha opted. "I'll figure out our next move."
"Andi and I will head to Jersey," I explained. "We'll find out where the signal's coming from." I lay a hand on her shoulder. "Do you know where you can go?"
She smirked. "I know where to go." She handed Andi her phone—a spare she snatched from the Apple store in her pocket—and walked off. Before going too far, she faced us. "I know a guy!"
After I hotwired a pickup truck, we drove to Jersey.
It was quiet for a lot of the ride. Andi sat with her legs crossed, staring out the windshield with a broken expression. I'd never seen her look so...lost. It was like a piece of her was missing.
"Are you okay?" I asked, generally worried.
She didn't reply. I watched as she buried her hand into her jacket pocket. From the look I saw, what she was looking for wasn't in there. Her watch.
"He took it, didn't he?" She looked at me. "The Winter Soldier."
She bit her lip. "I'm useless without it."
"No, you're not."
"I am. All my power comes from it. I've got nothing now. I can hardly do a thing."
"You can use your charm. Your personality and humour are deadly."
She tried to hide behind a frown, but couldn't. She chuckled. "I'll destroy them with my charm."
Silence embraced us again. I gripped the steering wheel. There were things I needed to get off my chest. There were things I needed to talk to her about. With Natasha not present, things simplified tenfold.
"I was worried about you, you know," I admitted.
She turned to me. An inquisitive expression graced her face. "What do you mean?"
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I've already lost a best friend." I glanced at her. "I'm not going to lose another."
She smiled warmly in understanding. I had a feeling that she knew what I was feeling. She'd been around for quite a while. She must have lost a lot of people close to her.
I chuckled nervously. "If it weren't for Bucky, I'd be in more scrapes than I could count. He was always there for me. We went to school together. He came to my mother's funeral with me. He helped me train in the boxing ring at the gym to shape up so I could enlist for the war effort."
I watched Andi wring her hands from the corner of my eye. From the expression she wore, she knew exactly what I was talking about, what I was feeling.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I know you two were close."
I swallowed. "Do you, uh...I mean, did you feel the same way about Eilian?"
"Eilian was much harder to get along with." She chuckled. "Very full of himself. He was very much like Tony." She smiled nostalgically. "But he was there for me like Bucky was for you. He taught me everything I know today."
There was another moment of silence. I watched Andi rearrange her position to lean against the car door. "Tell me about her. Your mother."
I was somewhat taken aback by that. But, then again, this time did offer us the opportunity to get to know each other much better than we already did. It allowed us to learn about the little things deeper than our skin.
"She was beautiful," I replied. "She was loving and kind. She was the only family I had left after my father died in the first war. And Bucky." I gripped the wheel tighter. "Things weren't the same when she died."
I shook off the grim feeling of bad memories. "What about you? What was your family like?"
Andi stared out the window in thought. "They're long dead, that's for sure." She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. "I was born into a family of royals; a long line of rulers. I lived in a city with walls so high they touched the clouds. It was wonderful." She threaded her fingers. "My father was the king. He was a wise man who wouldn't hurt a fly unless it hurt his people. My mother was his conscious; his angel on his shoulder." She bit her lip. "She died giving birth to me. I don't remember a lot of her. The only memory I have is her smile. It was like the sun on a freezing winter morning.
"I had two older brothers as well." She chuckled wistfully. "They were like night and day. My elder brother was a warrior. He was undefeatable. He was known as the Tamer of Horses. My other brother..." She sighed. "...well. He was a lover, not a fighter. He tended to follow his heart rather than his head."
I could sense that the story of her family had not ended well. I could tell by the way she fiddled with her hands, the way she frowned gently. And the way she bit her lip contemplatively. I'd spent so many of our conversations studying her actions and expressions that I almost knew what every gesture corresponded to a feeling
"What happened?" I dared.
"His heart led him down a dangerous path." She turned to me. "He started a war. He started a war because of a woman." She peered out the windshield and sighed. "He went down in history. Some called him arrogant. Others selfish. Whatever conclusion historians come up with, my brother proved that love was dangerous."
"What do you think?" I asked. "If you ask me, it doesn't matter what everyone else believes. What do you think, Andi?"
She glanced at me. A small smile graced her lips. "I think he was brave. He travelled a path many would not dare. Love is dangerous, Steve. It destroys and it is deadly, but it is beautiful all the same. My brother followed his heart to find happiness. And I think that that is the bravest thing any man can do." She sighed as she leaned back into her seat. "All the best heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary."
The sincerity in her voice brought a smile to my lips. She'd given me yet another reason to admire her. It made me think: was she willing to walk the same path as her brother? Had she? Will she again?
Beeping echoed, tearing me away from my thoughts. Andi pulled the phone from her jacket pocket. "We're close."
❈Author's Note: Hey, there! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!