Author's Note: Thank you much to those who have read the previous chapters and to those who have sent a review. I appreciate everyone who has added me as a favorite or follow! Here is the next chapter!
Hide & Seek – Chapter Three
"…Wait! She said that another pair of the Project Falcon wings exist?" Sam asked.
"That's all you got from that?" Steve replied.
Steve had been back at the motel for almost an hour replaying the conversation he had shared with Sharon Carter.
"I'm sorry, man. But this is big! I'll actually be able to help you if we find the Winter Soldier," he said.
"When…when we find Bucky," Steve corrected him.
"To have been so close and then have it taken away…" Sam said growing quiet. "It's not like they can take your abilities away from you."
Steve shrugged. "I don't know about that, Sam. It could go as easily as it came to me."
"It came easily?" Sam said with a smirk. Sam had seen the re-enactment of the application of the super-soldier serum that played on a loop at the Smithsonian. It was a painful process, but Steve always downplayed it when questioned.
"Anyway…" Steve began. "Sharon is going to meet us…"
"She's going to take us to the SHIELD facility and help get us the wings?" Sam asked.
"That is the current plan, yes."
"Step two: ask her out."
"I'm going to bed," Steve said as he rose from the motel room's chair. "We leave at oh-six-hundred to meet Sharon."
"Where are we headed?"
"First stop is Nebraska," Steve said before he opened the door and left the motel room.
Out in the now-cool night air, Steve finally let himself exhale the breath he hadn't realized that he'd been holding in. Honestly, it had been a relief to finally say goodbye to Peggy properly. And, who knows, it might not be their final goodbye. She'd held on this long, perhaps Stark or another scientist would be able to create some way to help her. Steve wished that there was more of the serum…he'd gladly share it with Peggy right now.
But he was also relieved to have an ally in Peggy's niece, Sharon.
He walked to his own motel room and let himself in. It wasn't anything fancy…bed, TV and a bathroom. But it was all he needed.
Sharon was physically attractive, yes, but she also had an attitude to which he was drawn. She knew she had to protect her aunt Peggy and no one was going to stop her. She dropped everything, including her own safety and security, to go move in with both her great-aunt Peggy and her widowed aunt Lara.
Steve and Sharon only talked a moment more before he left. Sharon said that her uncle Richard, Peggy's youngest son, had been married to Lara and he died about fifteen years ago. Lara moved in…Peggy had insisted…and the two looked after one another until Peggy became bed-ridden.
He'd watched Sharon talk and he occasionally caught a hint of Peggy's English accent as well as the same proud and determined look in her eye. And with her now-dark hair, the family resemblance was really there.
Steve changed and got ready for bed. He needed as much sleep as he could get; they would only be going as far as Nebraska. And he wasn't sure when he'd be sleeping next after they got there. Who knows what they were going to find when they got there.
…
Steve Rogers' alarm on his phone went off far earlier than he would have liked. It was four-thirty and he'd had a restless sleep. At one point, he was simply laying in the bed, staring at the cracks in the ceiling.
But, being the soldier he was, he dutifully rose from the bed and got ready for the day.
And hour later, he was paying for his room at the reception desk. Sam joined him a few minutes later.
"Do we have time for breakfast?" Sam asked. His stomach gave a vicious growl that made the woman at the desk giggle. Sam smiled back at her. "Goldfish from the vending machine won't hold my empty stomach," he explained her.
She giggled again and handed Steve a receipt before processing Sam's bill.
"There's a really great diner just a few miles down the road from here. They have the best hash browns," the woman said as she smiled sweetly at Sam.
"Thanks," he smiled back.
Steve rolled his eyes and carried his duffel out of the stuffy reception office and out into the early morning sun. He popped the trunk on his car and threw the bag in before checking his watch. They had to meet Sharon in fifteen minutes.
No time for breakfast, he thought to himself. On cue, his own stomach grumbled loudly in protest. Maybe they would have some time once they met Sharon.
…
Steve and Sam were to meet Sharon at a busy park and ride lot that was on the outskirts of the city. It was already almost full as they pulled into the lot and it was momentarily difficult to find Sharon amongst the sea of commuter cars.
But after five minutes of circling, Steve spotted her. She finished wiping the door handle of the car and Sam jumped out to grab her bag from her.
"Thanks," Sharon said as she shoved her sunglasses back up her nose. She didn't want anyone, especially these two, to see how bleary-eyed she actually was that morning. A few days of sleeping-in had totally ruined her early morning routine.
She was climbing into the back seat when Sam stopped her. She'd been hoping just to crash in the back until she totally woke up.
"You can have shotgun," Sam said. "I'm going to sleep anyway. At least you can keep Cap company," he said. "I'm Sam…Wilson, by the way," he said as he extended his hand.
She smiled and surveyed the man whose hand she was now shaking.
"Sharon Carter," she said. "Nice to meet you, Sam. And I'm good with the back seat."
"I insist," Sam said.
"No, thanks. I'm really fine," she said firmly as she slid into the back seat.
"Will you get in, Sam?" Steve asked. "I'd prefer to not draw any more attention to us."
Sam complied. He did his best to give Cap and Sharon a chance, but it appeared that she was grouchy in the morning. But he didn't see that Sharon had removed her sunglasses behind him and had met Steve's eyes in the rearview mirror and she smiled at him.
"Good morning, Captain," Sharon said as Steve pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road to the highway.
"Good morning, Agent Carter," he said as he wore a smile. It should probably have felt weird, to talk to someone else as Agent Carter, but it didn't. It felt good. And somehow, it felt right.
But a soon as the greetings and introductions were made, the car fell silent.
That was until Sam couldn't stand the silence after a while.
"So, Sharon," he began as he turned around in his seat. "How long have you been with SHIELD?"
"Almost ten years," she replied, not looking up from what she was reading.
"Whatcha reading?" Sam asked.
She sighed and held it to where he could see it. "It's the hard copy of the blueprints of the facility in Nebraska. It's underground. I'm looking for a weak-entry point."
"Wait…do we know if it's been taken by Hydra?"
"At this point, we assume anything and everything that SHIELD had is now Hydra," Steve told him.
"While we were able to keep some secrets, because Fury is very good at that, any of the main facilities have most likely been hit. And walking in won't be an option," Sharon said.
"You said you knew for sure a couple had been confirmed?" Steve said.
"Yes, SHIELD's facility, called the Fridge, where we were keeping the worst of the worst was opened up…all the ammunitions and tech were taken and the prisoners released back out into the world. And I'm told they weren't able to rehabilitate most of them. So now, they're just pissed off even more than they were."
"That's not good," Steve said. "Did you find anything worth noting on the blueprints?"
Sharon took a breath. "Morally, how do you feel about blowing up part of a SHIELD facility?" Sharon asked Steve.
He caught her gaze in the rearview mirror again.
"Well, technically I've already done that, so…" he trailed off.
"I was still inside it," Sam said with no humor in his voice.
"I wish I could say I was sorry, but you know…" Steve replied.
"You know, you aren't the boy scout I thought you were," Sam laughed finally.
They hadn't known each other that long, but Steve and Sam had become fast friends. It made Sharon happy to maybe, one day, be a part of their group.
Sharon looked down at her store bought GPS unit. She'd needed this new one; it couldn't possibly track her. It showed that they only had 17 more hours left until their destination.
…
A/n: thank you! Please review!
