Notes: This takes place just after the end of Secret Avengers, volume 2, and diverges from canon towards the very beginning of volume 3. It helps if you're familiar with the events of volume 2, but I'll be covering all the relevant plot points as part of the story, so it's not a must.
Swimming is supposed to be relaxing.
She didn't sleep well last night, plagued by confusing nightmares and shifting memories, dreams that she's sure are memories, and waking imagery that she suspects are made-up stories. It's been a few weeks since she escaped from A.I.M. island, and she's growing impatient, having expected her brain to have automatically sorted everything out on its own at this point, but Daisy and Bucky keep urging her to do relaxing activities, and, well, swimming is supposed to be relaxing.
Bobbi drapes her towel over a pool chair and snaps her goggles into place. She takes a final survey of her surroundings, lines up her feet at the edge of the pool, and dives in. Her arms cut smoothly through the water as she warms up with a slow breaststroke and settles into a routine—spreading her arms out, pushing air out through her mouth, checking the floor and walls of the pool for shadows, drawing her arms around and in, rising to the surface, taking in a breath, scanning the outside of the pool for shadows, head back in the water, arms out, air out, arms in, air in, shadow check, and repeat.
She continues this pattern, a little faster each time, until half an hour has passed, then decides the others will probably be up by now, so she does a few slow laps without letting her vigilance falter, then heads towards the ladder to return to the house.
As she prepares to climb out of the pool, she looks around and takes in the area more thoroughly, making sure it's safe to emerge completely. She starts when she sees the figure crouching in the shadow of a nearby shrub, and her body prepares for fight, but it's just Bucky. He's holding himself perfectly still, and must have been for the duration of her swim, since otherwise she would have noticed the movement.
"What are you doing here?" she asks as she climbs out. The water sloshes over the edge of the pool, and she pulls off her swim cap and squeezes the excess water out of her ponytail. She leaves a trail of wet footprints on the deck as she walks over, wrapping the towel around her.
"Keeping an eye out," he responds, standing up and brushing off his pants. "You were exposed."
She considers making a joke about her under-dressed state, not that being a superhero and spy leaves a lot of room for modesty, but the truth is that she's touched. "Got my back, Winter Soldier?" she asks with a grin.
He doesn't say anything, but he tweaks her ponytail as she gets closer, and they head back inside together.
After two weeks in Hawaii, she's already half in love with Bucky Barnes. She suspects that Daisy is, too. How could anyone not be? He has that whole broody-intense thing going on, and that gravelly voice, plus his chest is insane and he clearly doesn't care who knows it, the way he walks around in those sleeveless shirts all day. The best part is that he's completely unattainable, so she's not even nervous around him, and she can just enjoy the endorphin rush.
She's finally starting to understand Clint's crush on Natasha (he won't admit it, but come on), living in such close quarters with her male counterpart. The two of them, Winter Soldier and Black Widow, are so competent. Sure, she and Clint can hold their own, but with Bucky and Natasha, they make it all look effortless. It would be nice to be with someone with that much control and confidence, who could take the load off your shoulders.
"Last day," Bucky says. "I was kind of getting used to not killing people."
"That's how vacation goes," Bobbi responds. "The day you start getting used to it is the day you have to go back to the real world. Or so I hear." The last time she was on vacation… she doesn't even remember, honestly. Which isn't saying much, because her mind still kind of feels like Swiss cheese. "I had the weirdest dream last night, about hunting Skrulls in outer space."
"Oh, no, that actually happened," Bucky says. It's become a habit for her to tell her housemates the weird things that pop into her head, and for them to confirm or deny their veracity. "They, uh, kidnapped you and held you for a few years, and you escaped a few times, and…"
"Huh." She rubs the back of her neck. "I was sure that was a dream."
"You'd think."
She'd prefer that this were made-up and that the road-trip-across-America-in-an-ice-cream truck dream had been real, but such is the life of a superhero, she guesses.
When they get inside, Daisy has suitcases open all over the place, with clothing hanging over every surface in sight. She's folding clothing into piles, including their clothing, and she scowls at them as they enter. "Are you done with playtime yet? Our flight is in a matter of hours."
They're flying commercial, incognito, because it's easier to blend in than flying privately, and if anyone's looking for them, it's just as likely to be the good guys as the bad ones these days. One disadvantage, though, is that they have to stick to the schedule. Still, as far as Bobbi knows, their flight is scheduled for tonight, which should leave them plenty of time.
"What's going on?" Bobbi asks.
"Change of plans, it turns out. Fury's original safe house turned out to be less than. He's got another place set up for us in Philadelphia, but the flight leaves at noon."
And they need to get to the airport as early as possible, to scope it out and make sure they're not being tailed. That doesn't leave much time to shower, dress, eat, and pack.
"Fine. What's this job he's got set up for us, anyway?"
"Hard to say. It's just wild rumors so far. He's going to want you to get into an undercover A.I.M. lab in Jersey as soon as possible and grab some intel."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Bobbi says. "The way they've been so aggressive in trying to recruit me lately, I could probably just show up at the front door and they'd invite me in."
"Hilarious."
Bobbi takes a towel and a change of clothing from the couch and heads towards the shower.
"Daisy, did you rearrange my suitcase?" Bucky asks in the background.
"It, um, wasn't organized."
"It was packed!"
"It's packed better now."
"You'd better not have lost my sunglasses."
"I moved your sunglasses to your carry-on."
"God, Johnson."
Bobbi hates being crowded. Tight spaces alone aren't a problem for her, but the jostling, the sounds, the feeling of a stranger's hot breath on her—it's not for her. The flights, first to LAX and then the connection to Philly, are a trial, especially because part of their disguise involves sitting separately, and right now, the guy on her left keeps sneezing, while the woman on her right is doing some work on a laptop and cannot keep her elbows to herself. It's not her fault that the seats are designed without the concept of personal space or breathing room, but ugh.
In order to distract herself, Bobbi closes her eyes and plays a memory game, willing faces into her head and matching them up with what she knows about them.
Daisy Johnson. Sometimes known as Quake. Mutant. No, Inhuman, formerly mistaken for a mutant. Occasionally an Avenger. Teenaged director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for, like, a week. Trained by Fury.
Nick Fury. Eyepatch. Howling commandos. She always has to fight to keep a straight face whenever she hears the word "commando." Has one living son son, also with an eyepatch.
Nick Fury, Jr. Used to be called by a different name. Works with S.H.I.E.L.D. She's doesn't know if he's a player or a pawn. Friends with Coulson.
Phil Coulson. Knows more than he lets on. Secretly a huge Hawkeye fan. Like, huge. She's not sure if this is true or not.
Clint Barton. A grown man with hair the color of straw. Says "howling commandos" more than he needs to, because it amuses him to watch her struggle not to smile.
Steve Rogers. Same hair as Clint. Her childhood hero, along with at least two-thirds of all Americans. She still wants to be him when she grows up.
Bucky Barnes. Somehow simultaneously Captain America's goofy sidekick and America's poster bad boy. A new sex icon for a new age. He and Natasha were deeply, inspiringly in love until recently, when she was brainwashed and her memories of him were erased.
Natasha Romanova. The Black Widow. Sure, there are other Black Widows, but she's The Black Widow. The best there is at what she does, and what she does best is magnificent. Since her memories of Bucky were erased, she's become very close with Clint, which is fine.
It hurts when she thinks about Clint, and she's not sure why, so she avoids it. She knows the basics: arrows, ex-husband, tried dating for a while, now they're just friends. He's moved on. Which is what exes are supposed to do. They get along great, so there's no reason she should feel like fire ants are eating her from the inside out whenever his image pops into her head.
Dominic Fortune. Another member of the Eternal Youth club. Very flirty. Not blond. Never had a chance with her.
Maria Hill.
Her head starts to pound, and she forces herself to fight through it.
Maria Hill. Cares about the big picture. Does what needs to be done.
It wasn't personal.
Ka-Zar. Jungle guy. She was into that, once upon a time.
She continues this game until she's able to block out everything else, and before she knows it, they've started their descent.
They find the key in the locker, and the car in the parking lot, as per the instructions Daisy has written down. On the way to the safe house, they go over tomorrow's plan. She's HQ, as usual. Bobbi and Bucky will drive up in the early hours, she'll sneak in, and he'll be her eyes. She needs to stay out of sight, wait until someone leaves their station unattended, get as much data as she can, then get back to her hiding spot and sneak out without getting noticed. She makes a mental note to pick up a shitload of snacks.
They find a parking spot around the corner from the apartment, which turns out to be a walkup on the second floor, with a few bushes surrounding the building, which will be useful if they need to make any window escapes.
Daisy unlocks the door and they file inside. The entrance leads directly into a living room, with couches, two lounge chairs, and a TV at the far end, and a simple white work desk with bookcases closer to the door, next to the window. She notes the fire escape for possible future reference.
The three of them move further into the apartment and start looking around. After the living room, there's a hallway leading to multiple bedrooms. Daisy walks in and drops her bags in the first room. The next two are another mid-sized one and a large master bedroom, with both a king-sized bed and a couch/daybed with a small table next to it.
"You take the big one," Bucky says to Bobbi. "Large spaces make me nervous."
She notices the sliding door, which leads to a narrow balcony that stretches along the northern edge of the building, connecting the three bedrooms. Easy to get in, easy to get out.
There's another bedroom, smaller, right across from hers. She figures they can set it up as a gym while they're there. Fury's set them up in the lap of luxury, comparatively.
Daisy's voice calls out from down the hall. "Bug check!"
Bobbi sighs. "Can't I take a nap first?"
"No, bug check is the first thing we do."
"But if there are any bugs here, Fury was probably the one who planted them in the first place. Don't you think he'll be mad if we mess them up?"
"On the contrary," Bucky says. "He'll be proud of Daisy for being so disciplined."
They comb the apartment down five times, beginning to end, and when they're satisfied that they've gotten everything, they toss all of the listening equipment into a box which they place in the hall bathroom, under the sink.
"So do we destroy them or just lock them away?" Bobbi asks.
Daisy sticks her hand into her pocket, fishes around and pulls out a small device. "White noise generator." She twists something on it, then drops it into the box with the bugs. "We should be good to go."
"Glad to hear it," Bobbi says. "Wake me up for dinner."
She's asleep before her head hits the pillow.