Chapter One

It was out of character for Sam Wilson to miss a morning run. It was even more out of character for him to not answer his phone or let her know why he missed their daily routine of meeting in front of the Lincoln Memorial. For the entire three years that the two had known each other, this was the first time anything even remotely like this happened. Sam was almost annoyingly on time, a remnant of his time in the military, he always said. He was often the more responsible of the two, so when he was nowhere to be found, Eleanor knew it was more than Sam blowing her off or sleeping through his alarm.

After a few hours, the irritation subsided into something more akin to worry. None of her texts had been answered and Eleanor couldn't push away the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that bordered on foreboding. This feeling was the reason she found herself standing in front of Sam's door, hand about to knock on the glass when it opened before her knuckles made contact. Her hand hovered in midair, eyes narrowing at Sam who looked shockingly guilty.

"I know, I know," Sam sighed, "Come on, I'll explain as much as I can, but you have to come inside." He looked over her shoulder, scanning the area for some unknown threat. Before she could turn to see what he was worried about, Sam pulled her in and shut the door, pulling the blinds down with a loud snap.

"I'm glad to see you're alive," Eleanor joked, suddenly self-conscious for worrying over him when he was clearly fine. She spied an overstuffed dufflebag waiting by the door. Next to it, an intimidating metal pack was propped against the wall. "Though how long you might stay that way, I don't know. I didn't know you were back with the military again. I thought you were done with that."

Eleanor knew all about Sam's past with the military and his unit. She had listened to all the tales of his secret experimental group who used mechanical wings to perform high risk operations using stealth and speed. She knew about his friend, Riley, who had been killed during one of their missions; the one that Sam still grieved for years later. It was hard to mask the surprise at the idea that he might be getting involved with that again after what he had been through.

"Not the military," Sam started, "El, you have to promise to never speak about this to anyone. No one can know where I'm going or what I'm doing, do you understand?" The pleading tone was enough to make her worry skyrocket.

"Of course I won't tell anyone. Just tell me what's going on. Are you in trouble? Is this about what happened at the Triskelion a few weeks ago? Those people, Hydra, have they threatened you?" she rambled, tugging at the ends of her dark hair. It was a habit that always snuck out whenever she was especially nervous.

Sam motioned for her to sit at the table. "No, not exactly. This is going to sound completely nuts, but with everything else going on in the world lately, we're all going to have to learn to just roll with it, right? Steve, Captain America, he needs my help."

He had already told her about meeting him and a little of how Sam had helped the super soldier the day that the S.H.I.E.L.D base was destroyed in DC. She had been sworn to secrecy, but Sam knew Eleanor was someone who could be trusted. They had met when Sam had gotten out of the military and had been at his side through his rough transition back to "normal life."

"He needs me to locate a man without drawing a lot of attention. It would be too obvious if Steve was out there looking himself and it would attract too much attention from people who want to hurt this guy," Sam told her.

"Who is it?" He knew she would ask.

"This guy is a friend of Steve's. He knew him back in the forties. They were best friends and everyone thought the man died back in World War Two, but Hydra has had him for all these years. They used him as a weapon," Sam could see the gears turning in Eleanor's mind and braced himself for her reaction.

"No," she blurted out, "No way. You can't mean him. That guy who attacked you on the highway and then pushed you off a helicarrier? The Winter Soldier?"

Sam nodded, "Steve said he recognized him. He pulled him out of the river instead of killing him like he was ordered. There's been no news about the Winter Soldier working with Hydra since then, so Steve thinks he's on the run. He wants me to find him and bring him back so he can get help."

It was just like Sam to want to help someone who had tried to kill him multiple times simply because someone needed him to do it. He was constantly stretching himself thin to fix people's problems. If Steve Rogers had asked him for help, Sam would have never even considered turning him down. He might joke and complain about it, but Steve had been right to think Sam would unquestioningly agree to get involved. Eleanor racked her brain for something, anything, to put forth in an argument to change his mind, but the futility of it won in place of the desperation.

"Sam, you can't do this by yourself," Eleanor's voice was firm, "I can come with you. I can help. There's no way I'm letting you go off looking for someone like that on your own."

Sam sighed, "I knew that's what you would say. Why do you think I tried to sneak out of here? You're like an annoying little sister that I can't stop from following me around." He wore a good natured smile, but his tone was laced with apprehension at the determined look on Eleanor's face. He had hoped he could avoid this conversation all together. He knew she would want to help, always there to have his back when things were tough.

"Get over yourself, Wilson. You need my help and you know it. This used to be my job. The fact that you didn't come to me about this makes me want to slap you, but I'll let it slide for now," Eleanor smirked, knowing Sam couldn't argue with her.

She was right. Before becoming friends with Sam, she had worked as a private investigator. She had often taken cold case jobs from the DC police department. Her high solve rate for even the most difficult of cases had led to interest from other agencies. S.H.I.E.L.D had approached her in the hopes of recruiting her, but she had taken a bullet out in the field on another job shortly after her first interview and her anxiety for that line of work had gotten too much to handle. It was at a meeting for people suffering from post traumatic stress that she met and befriended Sam. Even after a few years away from investigative work, Eleanor knew she was more than qualified to help Sam without being a burden.

"I have to clear it with Rogers first. This is his mission. He doesn't even want S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers to know what we're doing. If he's on board with involving you, then I could use your help," Sam agreed. "I'll give him a call."

Eleanor traced the patterns on the wood of the table while Sam went in the other room to call Steve. She could hear him pacing back and forth, voice low. His conversation was short lived before he came back into the kitchen.

"Well?" she prompted.

Sam shrugged his shoulders, "He's on his way over."

Eleanor almost fell off her seat at that. "What? Why?"

"He wants to meet you before he agrees. He said he wants to be sure he can trust you," Sam explained. "Like I said, this guy was his best friend. He doesn't want him hurt or given over to Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D."

Eleanor couldn't help but be slightly shocked at the idea of Captain America himself hiding something from the rest of the world, especially if it involved a prior enemy. He had a squeaky clean image, even after Hydra had tried to discredit him and fuel rumors that he was a traitor a few weeks ago. It was surprising that he would go so far behind everyone's backs to find and rescue a known murderer.

She had heard of the Winter Soldier. He had been talked about by her classmates back when she was training as a detective, but it had been nothing more than a ghost story told over a few drinks, but nothing more serious than that. When a man was seen by countless witnesses attacking Captain America in broad daylight, people joked at first that it was a man who was convinced he was the Winter Soldier; someone crazy who had heard the story one too many times as a child and was delusional enough to take on the identity himself. After more footage of the attack came out and the Triskelion was attacked days later, the jokes became real. Hydra was not hesitant to fuel the panic that came with the entire world realizing the Winter Soldier was real. They took his betrayal personally and had thrown him under the bus as a scapegoat.

A knock at the door interrupted Eleanor and Sam's silence. Sam jumped forward from his spot leaning against the counter to open the door. Eleanor moved to her feet as the man she had only heard stories about came into Sam's kitchen. His face had been plastered all over the news since it became public that he had returned, but it was still a sight to behold as a living legend stood before her. He towered over her small frame, but his authoritative stance did not invoke fear. His expression was scrunched in worry as he looked over Eleanor with uncertainty.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." He stuck out a hand for her to shake, as if remembering his manners despite the unusual situation in which they were meeting. Her hand was dwarfed by the size of his as she looked him in the eye with confidence. "I'm Steve Rogers."

"Sam's told me a lot about you," Eleanor replied, ignoring the wide eyes and frantic head shaking Sam was doing behind Steve's back. "I'm Eleanor Connington."

The super soldier ran his hands through his hair in a gesture more insecure than would have been expected. The smaller boy from before the serum was easy to see when he was nervous. That man was still there underneath the enhanced exterior.

"Sam said you wanted to go with him." His tone was awkward, almost a question.

"I can help," Eleanor found herself repeating. "My job use to be to track people down and solve cases that people had given up on. Sam has the stealth and the fighting skills, but he needs someone to help him actually figure out where to look. I can do that." Her confidence had Steve looking to Sam for confirmation, which was instantly confirmed by a nod. As much as Sam wanted to keep his friend from harm, he knew he was out of his depth when it came to searching for someone who didn't want to be found.

The captain turned back to Eleanor. "How do I know I can trust you to keep this a secret?"

She shook her head, "I suppose that you don't know for sure. But I know that you do trust Sam. Sam trusts me. That should mean something."

Steve nodded thoughtfully, "It does. I should give you the details before you decide to go with him. I want you to know what you're getting into." He gave a small smile before settling down into a chair at the table, Sam and Eleanor following suit. He paused for a few minutes as if organizing his thoughts.

"His name is James Barnes. He was my best friend," he began, his voice solemn. "We traced Hydra to a train in the mountains. It didn't go as planned. We thought we could get in and out without being noticed, but we were wrong. I couldn't save him."

His voice broke and he had to stop for a moment before continuing, "Bucky fell from the train. It had to have been hundreds of feet down into a rocky valley. There was no way he could have survived. None of us thought he could have survived. If I had, I would have gone back for him. I would have never left him there. I don't know how, but the fall didn't kill him. Hydra found him. They turned him into...that. They used him as a weapon for decades. I'm sure Bucky would never do those things willingly; they must have done something to his mind to make him hurt all those people." His eyes had adopted a haunted look. It was clear that he felt every inch of guilt for what his friend had been put through over the years.

"He remembered me. He said I was his mission. He was sent to kill me and he almost did, but he stopped. Bucky stopped. I know it was him who pulled me out of the river. He's hiding from Hydra, from everyone. He must be putting the pieces together about what happened to him. I need to find him and help him. Will you help me?," Steve turned his eyes towards Eleanor, unable to hide the desperation in his gaze.

Eleanor looked back at the man before her, awestruck at the raw emotion radiating from one look. She had watched the footage of the Winter Soldier and the damage he had inflicted on DC such a short time ago. He was dangerous and lethal to anyone in his path. He had been made into a weapon and had only been perfected over the years into a deadly shadow. By all means, she should be terrified to even consider volunteering to find such a person. The look on the captain's face melted away any apprehension she felt. If this man felt there was any hope for the Winter Soldier, she trusted that he might be right.

"I will find him."

Thanks for reading! This is a new idea for a story that I have been toying around with. Please let me know what you think!