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Steve pulled out his phone, his fingers moving gracefully over the keypad as he typed the familiar number. He pulled his hat lower onto his face, though his aviators restricted it from being pulled down too low. He was attempting to remain concealed from the public eye, and as of right now it seemed to be working.
He watched Natasha speak with Wakanda's King T'Challa from afar without her knowledge, though it was not done in a creepy manner. He pressed his phone to his ear, listening as the phone rang and watching as she answered once T'Challa had left.
"Yeah?" she answered.
"You alright?"
"I could ask you the same, but. . .uh. . .yeah, thanks. I got lucky," she replied, surveying the area cautiously before standing up. "I know how much Bucky means to you, Steve—I know how much he means to Marlena—I really do. But please. . .stay out of this one. You'll only make things worse for all of us."
Steve let out a breath and averted his attention elsewhere. "Are you saying you'll arrest us?"
Natasha shook her head. "No," she chuckled lightly. "But someone will if you interfere; that's how it works. I know you don't want that for Marlena, Steve."
"Of course," Steve answered. "I never wanted Mar to get in the middle of this, but now that I think about it, I think she and I should be the ones to bring him in."
"But why?"
"Because we're the least likely to die trying," Steve answered simply before hanging up the phone.
He hurried back down the crowded streets of Vienna and back towards the cafe he had left his two companions in. He spotted Marlena's wavy brown hair, which was covered by a baseball cap, and hurried over, plopping down in his seat beside her.
"She tell you to say out of it?" Sam spoke up.
Marlena looked over at Steve as she awaited an answer, shoving a piece of cake into her mouth as she did.
"Yeah."
"She might have a point," Sam chimed, looking back down at his dessert.
"He'd do it for us," Steve sighed.
Marlena simply reacted by stealing the remnants of Sam's dessert, wasting no time at all in shoving the food into her mouth. She wanted to talk, she did, but talking about Bucky would do nothing but make her upset.
"I just wanna make sure we consider all our options," Sam retorted as he stole a piece of his own dessert from the plate in front of Marlena. "People that shoot at you usually wind up shooting at me, and if we do this they're gonna be shooting at this idiot right here, too," he finished, gesturing to Marlena.
Marlena side-eyed him. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Oh, I've always known that," Sam chuckled. "But Steve here needs a valid reason to reconsider doing something stupid."
Marlena simply fixed her gaze on her plate, unable to respond to Sam's words. Steve shot him a look, though he wasn't allowed a response before Sharon made an appearance.
"Tips have been pouring in since that footage went public," she said immediately, earning the three's attention. "Everybody thinks the Winter Soldier goes to their gym. Most of it's noise, except for this."
She slid a manila folder towards Steve, and Marlena watched as he opened it up.
"My boss expects a briefing pretty much now, so that's all of that story you're gonna get," Sharon told Steve.
"Thank you," Steve told her as he looked over the contents of the folder.
"And you'd better hurry; we have orders to shoot on sight," Sharon finished.
Marlena sucked in a shaky breath as Sharon made her way out of the shop. She pushed her plate away, crossing her arms over her chest. Sam and Steve looked at her, worry settling on their features. They wondered whether or not she would be able to handle the stress of such a mission—they wondered whether or not she would be able to handle the stress of facing Bucky again.
"I'm going to be okay," Marlena reassured the men as their thoughts began flooding themselves into the delicate fabric of her mind. "I refuse to let my emotions compromise this mission for me. We all know how that worked out last time, and I'd prefer a situation like that not occur again."
"Marlena—"
Sam was cut off by the sound of Marlena's phone ringing. She let out a sigh and pulled it from her jacket pocket, looking at the screen to see Wanda's name. She hopped off of her stool and pulled her hat further onto her head.
"Who is it?" Steve questioned her.
"Wanda," she answered. "Look over the info in that folder, please. I wanna be ready to go when I get back."
Sam picked her sunglasses off of the table and held them out to her. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
She gave him a look. "I already told you I'm not wearing them. The hat is enough for me, thank you."
Marlena took off through the shop exit before Sam could respond, pressing her phone to her ear shortly after she had exited the building. Wanda's frantic voice came through the line before she could even answer, eliciting a sigh from Marlena.
"Calm down for a bit, Wan," Marlena spoke, leaning against the brick wall of the shop she had just come out of.
"I will not," Wanda retorted. "I saw the news report about Bucky earlier, so I thought it would be best if I called and asked where the hell you were after not hearing from you for three damn days. So, where are you?"
Marlena looked around at the area, watching as firefighters and multiple rescue units worked diligently on the United Nations' building several blocks away. "I'm in Vienna with Steve and Sam," Marlena said quietly, unsure if she had made a wise decision telling Wanda her location on an open phone line.
"Why the hell are you there? You were supposed to fly back to the states after the funeral," Wanda replied.
Marlena rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware of what I was supposed to do, just as I'm well aware of why Tony wanted me to do so in the first place. The thing is, I have more important business to deal with at the moment, and that business involves getting the love of my life back. I can't sit around and do nothing while he's out here being pursued by government forces that are hellbent on eliminating him from the face of the earth."
Wanda sighed on the other line. "I am glad I can call you my family. You and Steve are going to bring him home, are you not? You better. I made Bucky a promise, and I'm still upset that I wasn't able to keep it."
Wanda mentioning both she and Steve sent Marlena's mind trailing to the incident that had taken place a mere five hours ago back in London. The betrayal she felt grew as she stood there contemplating the incident, and she wondered whether or not she should tell Wanda just to ease her conscience. Aside from Bucky and Steve, Wanda was the one Marlena confided in—Wanda was the one she told everything to. She would find herself feeling guilty if Wanda were to find out about it from someone other than herself, especially Steve.
"We are going to bring him home, Wan," Marlena assured her. "But listen, okay? Something happened between Steve and I, and I need to tell you about it before you hear it from someone else."
There was shuffling on the other line, as well as faint voices, but Marlena simply shrugged them off. She figured it was just Vision or Tony trying to talk to her.
"Hey, Mar," Wanda started. "I'm going to call you back when I can, and then you can tell me all about what happened. Vision is requesting my presence."
Marlena smiled softly. "Okay, Wan."
"Stay safe, please. I love you."
"I love you, too," Marlena replied before hanging up the phone.
She shoved the device back into the pocket of her leather jacket before moving back towards the cafe entrance, the heel of her boots clicking loudly across the cement of the sidewalk. She pushed the door to the cafe open and headed back over towards Sam and Steve, both of who were now turned around in their seats facing her.
"What did little Miss Crazy Pants have to say?" Sam asked as Marlena approached the two of them.
Marlena shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. "She just really wants us to bring Bucky home," she said quietly, glancing over at Steve who was refusing to meet her eyes. "Where are we going, Steve?"
"Bucharest," Sam answered with a sigh before Steve had the chance to open his mouth.
Marlena furrowed her eyebrows at the men's strange behavior, but she didn't allow herself to linger on it for too long. "So, when do we head out?"
"Right about now," Sam smirked, pushing himself off of his seat and heading towards the door.
Steve simply removed himself from his stool, giving Marlena a ghost of a smile before gesturing her towards the door. She complied and headed out the door, more than ready to begin the search for James Buchanan Barnes.