The package sat on the counter like an unexploded IED. It had been delivered by courier, I'd signed for it and then ignored it for the rest of the afternoon. I had more important things to do than open packages with no return address.

Or maybe I just didn't want to know what lay within.

So after finally getting the program up and running to compare data sets from the dozen plus servers that had been attacked to figure out if there were any commonality, including visitors - getting the security videos had been a bitch, but we'd pulled it off - in the thefts. For theft had been the main goal.

Once the program was running I had no more excuses. Oh, I could have made more. Gone for a run. Checked in with Bucky who'd been working on gear for us. The armour we'd been using adequate, but wanting better, especially for the mere mortal members of our party. We could still be shot too and it hurts, we just didn't suffer as badly and could power through more damage than most.

The specs he'd worked up impressive to say the least, and we'd all given our own opinions and needs and he worked on incorporating them while still making certain we'd be protected. T'Challa's R&D people were having massive amounts of fun playing with the toys he'd come up with. He'd been dangerous back during the war, the additional skills Hydra had given him made him deadly indeed.

Plus, Bucky needed to keep busy. Needed the distraction to keep from brooding over… things. Things which he kept insisting did not include Laurin.

WIth a sigh I went over to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water and picked up the package, just a padded manila envelope reminiscent of the box I'd sent to Tony to make amends. Or at least keep the offer of friendship open. We hadn't heard from him, but I knew it had been a long shot. He would have to forgive first and enough time hadn't passed for the pain of that wound to ease.

And no disaster great enough had occurred for him to back down and ask for help.

I ripped the end open and tipped the contents onto the counter. A cell phone and a sheet of paper.

I opened it the paper and read: If you don't use this I will be forced to far more drastic measures. And trust me when I say you don't want that. - Laurin

I snorted and turned the phone on. Going to the contacts I found only one listing: Agent 13.

Sharon.

I stumbled back over to the sofa and sat down hard.

Rinn, the little smart ass had arranged a way for me to contact Sharon on the sly. Bets she had provided a pair to this phone to her with a similar note attached. The woman was a fricking steamroller and knew how to get her way.

With more than a touch of trepidation I texted, Hey, without expecting an immediate response. She would most likely be at work and unable to take the time for the likes of me.

I had a momentary concern that Sharon or those at the JCTC could use this phone to track me, not that it hadn't been made obvious where the hell I had been hiding thanks to the last few weeks and the videos that had gone from the Net to the nightly news.

T'Challa had been playing it close to the vest, had admitted to nothing to the UN, and diverted my questions about it. He assured me of his continued protection with no strings attached. Perhaps understanding we had the best chance of finding those who had killed his people and hundreds of others. The hunt for the Winter Soldier had gone global, but the hunters varied form the those who wanted to arrest him to those who would only use him. No one wanted the latter.

But then I let the worry go, Rinn had probably modded the hell out of the phones to prevent tracking and hacking to protect both me and Sharon.

Hey, came the response less than five minutes later making me sigh in relief and my heart pound in unexpected excitement. Damn, I still wanted this. Your friend is a pain in the ass.

I laughed aloud. Yeah, she's pretty awesome. And she really was. After all the shit that had gone on as of late, and she still made certain I had what I needed, even if I hadn't realized until this very moment. I needed Sharon in my life and while shutting her out to protect her had been the right, the only choice, it hadn't made me very happy.

I'd sacrificed so much in the last few years that I kind of wanted to be a bit selfish for a few minutes, have something for myself for once. I'd gotten Bucky back, time to see if I could have more in my personal life.

Yeah, she is. Look, I'm at work right now. Can I call you later? 2100 my time?

A call? Hear her voice for the first time in months? Sure. Talk to you then.

Later.

I set the phone down on the coffee table and just stared at it for several minutes. I had a date, of sorts, with Sharon later tonight. I hadn't felt this nervous since sitting in a car talking to Peggy on the way to being injected with the serum.

Sadly, I still had no idea how to talk to women so I could only hope I wouldn't screw this up too badly.

I grabbed my phone and sent a text off to the cause of this new problem. I hate you.

No you don't. Came back seconds later, as if she knew that I had already used the phone to contact my… my girlfriend. At least I hoped she was still my girlfriend. Hoped I might still have a chance with her even though we were technically on opposite sides in this war.

Maybe only a little. Thank you.

Welcome. You better make this work, you idiot.

I chuckled softly. Rinn's fondness for calling me an idiot had not diminished in all the years I had known her. Yes, ma'am. You visiting any time soon?

Probably not. Have a mess to deal with stateside.

Oh, that couldn't be good. Can we help?

Nope. I'm fine, promise. How's the studio working out for you?

The studio, such a misnomer, had turned out to be a server hub she'd set up, with T'Challa's knowledge for me and my team to use when we got off our asses and decided to get back to the job of being heros. Even Bucky had been impressed, Sam had damn near cried tears of joy. The data mining program one of the best he had ever seen and he'd seen his fair share. All the algorithms written or improved by Rinn. Thanks to her family connections she had access to some serious military tech and plus friends in high places like Tony who had chosen to ask no questions when she wanted to upgrade some servers. The system was no JARVIS, but still exceptionally adaptable, with a voice interface that even tech challenged schmucks like me and Bucky could use with ease.

It's perfect.

Of course it is. I've got to go. Say hi to Sharon when she calls.

I could practically hear the laughter bubbling up from her, wherever she might currently be.

I will. Take care.

You too.

I set the phone down wondering how I would kill time until Sharon called tonight.

. . . . .

.

My phone vibrated in my pocket as we packed up the quinjet. I pulled it out, noting the smudge of blood on the screen. Last few days hadn't been much fun, but we'd gotten the job done and looked forward to getting back to Wakanda and pretending to be human beings again for a while.

Before the next disaster happened.

Or the next bit of intel sent us off trying to find out who had stolen the server data.

We needed a break, but I doubted we would get more than a day or two before haring off to play hero again.

I'm en route to your location can you wait an hour?

The text from Laurin, which kinda surprised me as our communication had been limited the last few weeks. I'd been holding a grudge for her leaving even though she'd go to all the effort of making certain. Sharon and I could communicate without risking her career or my freedom.

Why? I sent back, really wanting my bed and a shower. I glanced over at everyone else, who looked even more worn than I felt. Wanda all but asleep on her feet at this point even though I had made certain she and Sam had gotten sleep, no matter how hard they'd fought it. Me and Buck didn't need much sleep, the serum negating the need overall. We didn't need to sleep, but we did as a matter of course.

Old habits die hard.

And sometimes there were just too many hours in a day, the blessed call of Morpheus giving us a respite from the real world.

Not that nightmares, more Bucky than me these days, thankfully, made the draw of sleep one we yearned for.

But even we could only train for so many hours without growing insanely bored.

I need a favor and wanted to ask in person.

I sighed. Laurin rarely asked for anything, so if she chosen to it had to be major.

An hour. No more. We're exhausted.

Thank you.

I tucked the phone back in my pocket, the blood still there, and went back to hoisting equipment while Buck made sure the quinjet hadn't been damaged too badly. Real repairs would need to wait until back in Wakanda, but he had assured me it would get us there.

Rinn arrived with little fanfare. A dark sedan pulled up a few yards away and sat there engine rumbling for several minutes.

"Cap, we expecting somebody?"

I hadn't bothered telling them anyone would be arriving, never mind who, as it didn't seem to be of great importance. I doubted they would care given I didn't seem to.

So when the car door opened and Laurin stepped out I stood frozen in shock when Bucky dropped from the wing of the quinjet with a whoop and rushed past me.

He came to halt in front of Laurin, his hands coming up to cup her cheeks, forehead resting against hers. And she appeared completely unconcerned by it; one of her hands settling on his hip, the other curling about the wrist of his left arm, eyes closing and a tiny smile gracing her lips.

What the hell?

Wanda stepped up beside me, clearly taking note of the confusion probably written all over my face. "They have been… talking, for lack of a better term. Email, texts, mostly; the occasional phone call." She looked up at me. "You did not know?"

"Not a clue," I told her. I mean, Buck practically lived on that damn smart phone these days, headphones Rinn had sent him on, usually with music pounding away as he went through his daily routine. He'd been better, calmer and more centered, but I hadn't thought it through as to why.

"You thought she had abandoned him," Wanda stated.

I shook my head. No, I thought she had abandoned all of us. "You've been talking to her too." Obvious in retrospect and the scene playing out before us.

"Of course. She… there are few I feel comfortable talking to. Rinn listens."

Yes, she did. Without judgement and offering up advice only when asked. She knew what to keep to herself and did it with a grace that had earned her a place at the Tower.

"Get a room you two," Sam grumbled more than loud enough for them to hear.

Bucky shot a glare over his shoulder while Rinn grinned then patted the fearsome Winter Soldier on the cheek, easing his irritation with the simple touch. Then she leaned forward and said something into his ear.

He threw his head back and laughed.

Really laughed.

Something I had only seen maybe a handful of times since he'd been awoken from cryo sleep.

When the hell had this happened?

He hadn't said a damn thing to me in the weeks she'd been gone. Other than commenting on the music she had sent him. I'd joined in a few times when he'd been blasting it during workout sessions and had to admit it wasn't horrible. Just not what I preferred. Of course what I preferred could be considered more than a touch outdated. I didn't hate today's music, not at all, but when alone I needed a reminder of where I had come from and often listened to the music of my youth.

Which is why Rin had come up with a mix she'd titled "For When Steve's Being a Putz" the music an odd combo of classic I loved and modern dance beats. I don't know who had taken the time to work on it, it could have been her, I hadn't had the courage to ask, especially after hearing the one that had used the song the girls had sung when I'd been hawking bonds and doing USO tours back in the day.

Bucky had laughed then too. So hard he'd ended up sitting on the floor tears running down his cheeks while I had blushed deep red in embarrassment. It had led to an energetic workout session, but I had kind of wanted to kill her.

Yet, at the same time, I got it. She got it. Understood that part of me would never adapt to today, possibly ever. So she gave me a happy medium. A compromise that would let me have my cake and eat it too.

Little wonder Bucky had gone and fallen for her. In another time I could have as well.

Side-effect of the deprogramming or not, it had become clear he needed her to make some part of him feel whole and if she didn't mind that, who was I to get in the way.

That said, I had no way of knowing if she had simply decided to deal with the situation the best she could or actually had feelings for my friend, and now was so not the time to ask.

Rinn and Buck separated, K'Tana exited the car and leaned back against it, waiting patiently.

Rinn strode over to stand before me and without a word pulled me into a hug. After a second of stunned confusion I returned it, my hold firm about her, head tipping down to rest on her shoulder somehow knowing that she not only could but would support my weight for as long as I needed her to.

I let go of the anger and resentment that had been simmering beneath the surface. She hadn't run away from us or the uncomfortable situation that had developed, not really. She had a life and work and had simply gone to do that.

Of course how many times had I told myself that only to end up fuming silently at her lack of presence in the here and now.

She stepped back, brushing nonexistent hair off my forehead and said, "Idiot," softly, causing me to smile.

"Least I'm consistent," I muttered.

"Hey, how about sharing the wealth there, kiddo?" Sam whined, spreading his arms wide for his own hug.

"Dunno, thought I was supposed to get a room," she grumped, the irritation all feigned, "with him." She hooked a thumb over a Bucky, whose cheeks pinked at the commentary this time.

Christ, when the hell had this escalated from fixation to actual interest?

"Aww, c'mon, it was all in good fun, I swear." Sam managed to look appropriately chastised and she relented, granting him a hug at least as needed as my own. She gave Wanda one as well, the quick discussion in Sokovian erasing some of the sadness that had been lingering in Wanda's eyes.

I watched Bucky, whose eyes had not left Rinn for one second. "You okay?"

He glanced over at me an instant of guilt on his face before he ducked his head. "Good, just glad to see her. What's going on anyway? This is kinda of out of her way."

Very true, given she lived outside L.A. still. I knew she traveled a lot, but this seemed a bit off the beaten path even for her. "You said you needed a favor?" I prompted.

She broke off the three way discussion with Wanda and Sam that had been in at least two different languages and turned to face me. "I do. Wanted to offer to a meal and place to crash as well."

"A bribe?" Sam asked and she shrugged.

"You guys look like you need a day or two off, I can provide more than adequate accommodations."

I could see something in her eyes. "What else, Rinn?"

"A job offer."

"Aren't you working enough already," Bucky complained. Apparently he'd been getting an earful of her adventures while I'd been shutting her out.

She laughed. "I'm offering you guys a job."

"Us? Why? What?" I hoped I didn't look as confused as I sounded, but Laurin knew me well enough to see through it either way.

"Quinjet working well enough?"

Bucky nodded. "Most of the damage is superficial. She'll get us home."

"Give me a day. I… I've missed you guys." She looked at me as she said that, but I wouldn't drag them further away from their beds without asking them first.

"Well?" I asked glancing at each in turn.

"Not like we have any place to be and if there's another emergency leaving from wherever she's taking us shouldn't be a problem." Sam summed up, getting nods of agreement from Bucky and Wanda.

"Looks like you've got us for the day."

"Cool." She looked over to K'Tana and nodded. The bodyguard got in the car, which drove off a few moments later leaving Rinn with us. "They're picking up a few things for me and will join us later." She scanned the area, the Red Cross tents nearby and the displaced families gathered around it. "Bad?" she asked softly.

"Could have been worse," Bucky told her.

"Tony?"

"Another no show. Apparently natural disasters do not require superheros according to the council." I did not like that at all. Our help had been welcome, but we we could have used more. A lot more.

"Christ," she muttered then shook the mood off. "Shall we?" she gestured at the quinjet.

"Where to? Unless you were planning on flying, of course," Bucky led the way and we all trailed after, wondering what she had up her sleeve this time.

"I could, you know. I did the sim for this model personally." She rattled off the coordinates and settled into the co-pilot's seat next to Bucky, who had us in the air before the rear door had shut completely. She spun the chair about, watching me. "So, I've had to move my business out of the US."

I sighed heavily and shot a look at Bucky, who gave a tiny shake of his head suggesting he had not known about this any more than I had. He'd been the one to pick up on something being off in her life the last time she'd been in Wakanda, but she clearly hadn't shared with the class before now.

"Why?" Wanda asked for all of us.

Rinn's face went curiously blank. "Time for a change."

The quinjet now on autopilot, Bucky turned about and flicked her arm with his left hand, which probably hurt like the dickens.

"Ow," she complained, rubbing the spot. "I do bruise you know."

"I know." He settled deeper into the chair watching her with narrowed eyes. He held up his hand, threatening to flick her again.

She glared at the appendage and muttered something in Russian to which Bucky responded in kind. I caught one word in three, trying not to be amused at the lively discourse taking place before me. I looked across the quinjet at Sam and Wanda who appeared to be both amused and irritated. We all wanted to know why she'd stolen us and, no matter how cute the two of them were behaving, though the tone had begun to turn angry on Rinn's part at least, the time had come to get actual answers.

"Laurin, what is going on?"

She finished her sentence then turned to me with a frown. "The building Cyko lived in was family owned and since they have chosen to discontinue our relationship I've been forced to go elsewhere."

I took a moment to work through her words, the ones that clearly meant something other than what she had actually said. "Wait? Are you saying your family disowned you? Over me?"

That… that would hurt her. Close would not be an adequate adjective to describe her relationship with her family. She'd met Tony because she had wanted to figure out what had killed her father and brother. The creation of the sim for the fighter jet an excuse to recreate the computer glitch that had taken the two of them from her. Tony had flipped his shit afterwards according to the stories I had heard and would have blasted her into the next century except she'd gone in with a plan and a fair idea how to get out of the situation. Recreating the glitch, fixing it and getting it all under sim.

Once he'd gotten over his anger he'd taken her to dinner, which had begun the rather interesting relationship they now had.

But it had all been done for family.

And her decision to back me and mine over the government's insistence on the Accords had torn her away from them. Little wonder she'd been upset last time she'd been to Wakanda. She'd probably been dealing with being disowned as well as disrupting her entire life. She had employees to think about as well. Their lives about to be uprooted at the best, jobs lost at the worst.

And yet the first thing she'd done was hug me. Knowing that I had damn near twisted her life into an unrecognizable shape.

And she wanted my help?

I began to think I wasn't the only idiot. It seemed every time we crossed paths some part of her life fell apart.

She needed to get as far away from us as possible if she wanted any chance of living her life the way she wanted.

"No, not over you. Over my decision to no longer to run sims for the government." She shrugged. "I suspect they were… encouraged to do so, but the end result is the same."

"Shit," Sam muttered with a shake of his head. "Sorry, kid."

"Thanks, but it has put me in a bit of a bind, thus my favor."

We all waited expectantly and she didn't keep us in a holding pattern for long.

"I need help moving my servers."

Okay, not quite what I had expected. "Uh, we're not techs or movers. I'm certain you can hire professionals that'll get the job done a hell of a lot better."

She settled deeper into the seat, but didn't look the least bit comfortable. More troubled than anything. "I have. Three different companies all with top notch reps. Hell, last one Tony recommended to me, and had equipment go missing every single time." She ground her teeth in clear frustration. "Always turned up later, supposedly misplaced en route." She added air quotes for the last three words.

"Maybe that's all it was," Wanda suggested, but even I could tell she didn't believe her own words.

"Once, yes, maybe," Bucky put in, "but three times? No, that's someone working against you."

"Then why'd the stuff reappear?" I asked, finding it suspicious as well. Her tech unique and not something she shared with others. Not even the government could update her sims without her and her proprietary tech. With her telling them no, they're options for training sims became limited. Hammer Tech and Stark Industries, if Tony were even willing to do them again.

"Because they were secondary servers, not my main ones and did not have the data they wanted on them. No point in keeping them, I suppose."

"And now you're needing to transport the real deal and don't want them going AWOL," Sam summed up.

"Yeah. Only times I didn't lose equipment is when I was there with it. Trouble is this time it's too big. I'm looking at co-opting a C-130 cargo plane."

"You can do that?" Wanda asked.

"Throw enough money at something and eventually someone will blink. My military contacts might be cut off, but where there's a checkbook there's a way." She sighed heavily. "I know it'll be a pain in the ass, but I can't let them get my servers."

"You can't just replace them?" I suggested, and watched her eyes fall. They were just machines. The real data all in her amazing mind. Yeah, it'd be a pain in the ass to redo all the work, but it wasn't impossible by any stretch of the imagination.

"Steve, it's more than that. These servers… there's nothing else like them in the world. The mods I've made…" She shook her head. "No one has tech like this, trust me on that one. Even Tony was impressed. But if the government gets their paws on my proprietary hardware?" Her look hardened. "No. I won't have that. There's a reason my games are so damn realistic and… and…" She closed her mouth with a snap. "Look, if you don't want to get involved that's fine. It'll be risky enough, given I'll be dragging all of you back to SoCal to do this, I just…. I drew that line in the sand, I can't back down now."

And that got to me. Reminding me of the speech Sharon had given at Peggy's funeral, ending with the "no, you move." I had never intended to tell Rinn no, I simply wanted to understand why us, why the equipment had such importance when I knew she could just wipe them and begin over with probably no more than a six month delay. There must be something more to her system, an algorithm, or unique code she had created that made her company one of the best in the world when it came to reality-based games and simulations.

She'd put her company, her employees livelihoods, her relationship with her family on the line for us. Least I could do was stand by her in return.

"Laurin, I'm in even if they aren't," Sam told her without an ounce of doubt in his voice.

"We're all in," I assured her, certain of the answers the other two would give.

The tension in her shoulders drained away, most of it anyway. "Thank you," she responded with heartfelt sincerity. Bucky reached out, set a hand on her forearm and squeezed gently. I doubted he could tell her no on anything at this point, but I suspected she would not abuse that privilege.

She never had in the past.

A soft beeping came from the front and Bucky spun about to deal with it. "Approaching coordinates." He looked sideways at Rinn. "You've got to be kidding me."

She grinned. "Nope. Signed the papers a month ago."

I stood and moved forward to look over Bucky's shoulder, my eyes going wide at the sight laid out before me. "You bought a castle?"

"Leased for nigh unto eternity would be more accurate, but yeah I am now the proud owner of a castle."

"Okay, this story I gotta hear," Sam muttered shaking his head at her.

"I made a deal. Some sim work for an extended lease. Easy peasy."

Well, that turned out to be an awfully short story.

"Sim work? What the hell does the Austrian Military want sims for?" Bucky questioned as he maneuvered us closer. "Where do I park this crate?"

"Uh, beach should be big enough and the walk isn't too bad," she told him, waving lazily off to the left.

The beach on the edge of a huge lake that spanned at least a mile across, the water a deep blue this time of the day and smooth as glass, not a breeze to be had. A road wound around the edge that led to the lower section of the castle proper, the rest nothing but beach and trees, a proper valley in the mountains. The castle built into the side of a mountain that stuck out into the lake, so that once side had nothing but amazing views of the calm water and wilderness.

"Sims aren't for the military," Rinn offered up as the quinjet settled onto the sand.

"Then for who?" Sam asked, just as curious and confused as the rest of us.

Rinn stood up, arms stretching to press against the ceiling overhead. "Tourism board."

Bucky sputtered in laughter. "What?"

"Yup." She nodded. "I'm gonna create some uber detailed sims of various national monuments, and the countryside, and the cities, the whole nine yards. They figure if they can get people interested with some really, really pretty pictures they'll lure peeps to actually come here and spend some money. I mean, the country is beautiful as hell, but not where, Americans especially, think to take a vacation. It'll take a year to record all the video needed, but I'll have samples ready in about two months."

"And for that they gave you a castle?" Wanda questioned, looking as tired as she sounded.

"Well, I do pay for the privilege of living here, at a cut rate admittedly, but…" She shrugged.

"They also get to crow that Cyko Industries is now based here. I'd ask how your stock is doing, but I'm pretty certain you are still privately owned." Sam clearly had a far better grasp of the maneuvering needed in this day and age than me and Buck.

"Why not Wakanda?" I asked, certain T'Challa would have been happy to have her. The rear hatch opened and Bucky encouraged us out into the late spring sunshine. The temp had dropped even though the sun had risen higher in the sky, the elevation enough to counter the effects of the sunny day. That water might look beautiful but fair bets it stayed ice cold year round.

"Second choice. He offered me an entire building to play with. State of the art and everything." She led the way up the path towards the imposing stone edifice that loomed above us.

The monument to days gone by had clearly been restored and maintained over the centuries as we headed up a set of stairs to what would be a massive patio on a house, but had been a staging area of some sort for the original owners. The view, when I turned to look, breathtaking to say the least. "So why not there?"

"The Accords," Wanda guessed.

"Not really. Austria signed as well. I just needed to be more centrally located. Half my new clients are in Europe so it'll be easy to maintain the systems." She strode over to a set of french doors that had clearly been added later in the building's life and swung them open, waving us in ahead of her. We stepped into what must be the main floor for the business side of her life. Some of the furniture still covered in plastic, but the set up pretty obvious. I didn't think she had a lot of clients who came to her, but I suppose appearances had to be maintained. The Tower had an entire floor devoted to nothing more than being a showcase for those who might walk in the front door. Granted Tony had been running Stark Industries out of there as well, but even then he'd been far more focused on the Avengers than his actual business.

A man walked through a doorway off to the right, head down, attention on the tablet in his hand.

"Rinn, you're back. Good. I know you said to wait, but I decided to go ahead with the prelim render and…" he trailed off as he lifted his head and realized others were in the room. The hand with the tablet went limp, the piece of tech damn near slipping from his fingers as he stared at us in utter shock.

"David, I think you dropped something," Rinn deadpanned.

David twitched and looked about the floor for the item that didn't exist. Or at least I hadn't actually seen anything fall. "What? What did I drop?"

"Your jaw."

David snickered. "You weren't kidding were you. I mean, I've seen you with Tony Stark, but I guess it never really sank in that you actually know the Avengers."

I winced a bit at that. Avengers something we most definitely no longer were.

"Oh, stop fanboying. They're just people," Rinn admonished, though with a lightness to her voice to ease the sting of the words.

I agreed with her though. We were just people and I found it far easier to be treated as such instead of worshiped as the god some people seemed to think I must be. If so, never had there been a more flawed one.

"Laurin," I prompted before the poor man fled in embarrassment.

"David Redle I want you to meet some friends of mine. Steve, James, Sam and Wanda."

He shook our hands in turn, and upon discovering we did so just like everyone else on the planet, relaxed and managed some pleasantries without his voice squeaking over much.

He suddenly turned to Rinn. "Wait are these guys the security team you want to transport the servers?"

She nodded.

"Oh thank god," he muttered, "maybe the equipment will actually arrive. By the way the Magic 8 Ball finally turned up."

She frowned. "If they broke it I'm gonna sue them until I own them then break 'em up for parts." The anger in her voice a living thing.

Clearly, she had under-exaggerated the situation. Little chance we would say no to her now. "So why trust us?" I asked of David, just curious to understand why he seemed so thrilled we had agreed to step in and assist.

He choked. "You're frickin' Captain America."

I frowned.

"Or you were, anyway. If Steve Rogers can't be trusted then the world truly has gone to hell and I need to spend some time decorating my handbasket."

Bucky laughed at that. "Well, your reputation precedes you as always."

I sighed. Then again it was nice to hear that ordinary people still saw the person I had always been, Accords or no. Of course that brought my thoughts back around to the whole god complex potential. I mean no one really intends to end up being the bad guy. In their reality every single thing they've done had been for a reason that in their minds had always been the right one.

And yet they end up committing what others saw as atrocities.

Loki a prime example of that.

I seriously doubted he and his ego saw himself as the villain.

Then again neither did I and here I stood, no longer Captain America. No longer that symbol of truth, justice and the American way.

That vaunted American way I had so revered long since destroyed and turned to dust in my opinion.

Still that name, that shield had stood for something that others aspired to and I had dropped it as if it meant nothing for a man who meant everything.

I'd made my choice and I would stick by it whatever consequences it may bring.

"Hey," Rinn said softly, suddenly at my side, hand on my arm, "you okay?"

I shook my head, a non-answer if ever there could be one. "Tired," I admitted, not lying, but most assuredly not answering the actual question buried under those simple words. The look she gave me indicated we would be having a private chat later, which I debated avoiding for all of five seconds until I realized that wanting to avoid it meant I needed to get something off my chest badly.

"David, stay." The man grinned at her. "I'm gonna get these guys settled and be back in fifteen. I wants to see my precious ASAP."

He laughed and gave her a sloppy salute. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am."

She shook her head at him, then waved for us to follow her.

We headed towards the actual front of the castle, the grand main entryway only modified enough to indicate a business now resided here with tasteful signage and directions. The original stone and metalwork on full display, sconces and tapestries and antiques that surely cost a small fortune in their proper places. Another sign indicated tours were by appointment only. "Tours? Isn't that risky?"

"Oh hell yes, which is why they've been discontinued. I have to maintain specific areas 'as is', but the rest is mine to play with."

"So you had to make some compromises," Sam pointed out.

"Of course, but this particular castle doesn't have any major significance historically aside from it remaining in the original family until the mid-1950s or so. Last member left it to the government and given the place had been maintained and updated over the centuries…" she shrugged. "It was a bed and breakfast for a while. It just ain't a big tourist spot no matter how pretty the locale."

Up a curving staircase and a long hallway to the right and we found ourselves in a lounge area with a couple chairs about the edges, book shelves, and a huge fireplace that looked as if it might actually still function with a pair of leather sofas parked kitty corner in front of it.

"All right there's three rooms off this lounge, part of the B & B set up. Feel free to shower and change. Yes, I arranged for clothes, nothing fancy, but'll get the job done for now. When you're ready, head back down to the business lobby where we started, food'll be set out for you." Rinn did all this as if she'd done it a thousand times before and I wondered how often she'd done something similar for clients she had been attempting to woo.

"How long have you been planning this?" I asked, realizing there is no way she could have thrown this together in the last couple of hours.

"Planning what?" she asked all in feigned innocence.

"Inviting us to stay here," Wanda filled in for me, her eyes narrowed, even she had glommed onto the fact that Laurin had been far too prepared for our unexpected visit.

"A couple weeks," Rinn admitted. "I was about to call you when the landslide happened, since I knew you'd be heading there, my concerns seemed a touch petty."

"Petty? Last I checked you were our friend, you will always have the right to ask us for help," I told her in no uncertain terms. I could see she wanted to argue so I got there first. "Moot point now, we're here."

She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at me. "Go get cleaned up. Should I grab a first aid kit?"

"Nah, we're good," Bucky told her. "Hungry, though."

"Your wish is my command," she said with a flourish and glided from the room with a grin on her face.

"Jeez, how many steps ahead does she think?" Bucky asked wandering over to one of the rooms and looking inside.

"As many as she needs," Wanda answered as she moved to a window and looked out. "She wants us to stay here."

"I doubt that," I said, even though I'd gotten the same impression. "It would put her in danger."

"She's already in danger."

I looked over at Sam. "Why do you say that?"

"Cap, she's been forced to leave the US, seek protection from another government just to run her personal business, had her tech stolen… What are the chances it won't escalate once they realize they can't get their greedy paws on the real servers?"

Christ, they could go after her family, go after her. "Let's get cleaned up and see if we'll even be of use to her moving the servers, okay?"

Nods all around, but all of us knew something else must be going on here.