"Whatever happened to Jenkins?" Buc asked, turning the icer over in his hands as he waited for Nat to pull up. He perched on the back of Steve's sofa, and glanced towards the kitchen, where Steve was preparing grilled cheese. "You didn't have enough men to watch him."
The butter spat against the heated pan. "There was a deal," Steve admitted after a pause. "He keeps quiet, we protect him from you. TV says Captain America's involved with the DC Shooter, no more protection."
"That deal still valid?" Buc grinned crookedly.
"Well, if he talks, I expect you to take him out with your own testimony."
"Right." Buc got to his feet. "One of these days." The media had gone silent on the Soldier's violence in the months following, but there was no doubt that the investigation continued, wordlessly churning through the volumes of declassified reports and encrypted print records, following a paper trail to eventual confrontation.
Outside, the engine of Nat's car rumbled. Buc holstered the icer and stepped toward the door. "See ya, Steve."
"Where to?" He ducked into the passenger seat.
"Jersey." Nat handed him a paper-wrapped bagel and eased into the road. "Fury's got something of interest to us both. The site seems inactive - but you know. That's not always the case."
"Good." Buc unwrapped his lunch. "Thanks, by the way."
"You know," Nat mused, when Buc had resorted to picking crumbs from his jacket. "I thought you were done, when you got rid of your personal arsenal."
He glanced up in surprise. "What - you're kidding."
"So you're not worried...He's really gone."
"Yeah - yeah he's gone. My turn now. To do some right." He mumbled with distracted concentration to his jacket.
Buc doesn't say a word to anyone. He doesn't say a word to Nat when they're working and his hand nudges the barrel, autonomous. Correcting with the hairs-breadth-exactitude of the person he once knew. He doesn't mind the help.
((Hi guys, thanks for reading! This was mostly unplanned and based on partial lucid dreaming so it was something of an experiment to write. Buc's condition in the story is based on Dissociative Identity Disorder.))