Chapter 20

Bucky's POV

Once Steph and Tank were in the elevator and on their way down to the garage, I turned back to Steve and we both grinned. Most importantly, Tank was the guy at Rangeman who probably treated Steph the most like a little sister, and the one next to Ranger with whom she was the most comfortable. And that was what made him a good match for Steph. What made Steve and I who pleased, however, was that at 6' 4", Tank was slightly taller than Steve and almost as muscular as Thor. Granted, Tank wasn't Asgardian, and didn't have super serum powering those muscles, but for a human he was about as good as we could ask for in the intimidating presence department.

As we all piled back into the elevator, I looked over at Natasha, "did you have to hit her?"

"Yes," Natasha said blandly. "She shouldn't say things like that about herself ever. But she definitely shouldn't say them in public. Hopefully she'll think twice about doing so again."

There was an awkward silence as everyone thought about Natasha's words before everyone decided to just let it go for now. I'd still prefer that she hadn't hit Steph like that, but Steph herself hadn't seemed too bothered by it, so I'd have to leave it between the two women.

When we got to the gym, Steve and I set about our strength training exercises before moving on to sparring. A short time later, it turned into a team sparring session, which usually wound up being an "everyone against Thor" session followed by a free-for-all once the demigod had been taken down. As always, there was some light conversation going around during, and it was Steve who finally said, "you think she passed her qualifications? Maybe we shouldn't have had her run this morning."

"Steve, you know as well as I do that there's something going on with my blood and her healing still. It wasn't as fast on the stitches, but she's able to workout longer and not be as sore as we'd expect otherwise. The only thing I'm worried about is the marksmanship."

Unfortunately for him, Clint overheard me and stopped dead in his tracks instead of continuing his sparring and got clocked square in the cheek by Sam. He hit the mat hard and Sam was scrambling, "Jeez man, why'd you stop like that."

Everyone else turned and watched as Clint shook it off then turned to me and said, "Steph can't shoot?"

"Dunno. She hasn't let us work with her on weapons yet. She might be an okay shot, but at the very least she doesn't like guns and fights with Ranger over having to put in time at the range."

"Shit," Clint spat out. "If she's going to carry a gun, she's gotta be able to shoot."

"She can shoot- she's killed with a gun before," Natasha put in. "Although, I think that is part of the problem with why she doesn't like them."

"Wait, what?" Sam asked.

I looked over at Steve, relieved to see the same resolve in his eyes before I responded, "if you want to know about it, you'll have to ask Steph. But yes, she has shot people and things both fatally and non-fatally. And she has been shot herself multiple times. Due to her reluctance with weapons, we've been focusing on hand-to-hand combat. If we can keep her from getting grabbed off the street, that is a big one."

Everyone kind of dropped the subject after little more debate, but I was unsurprised when it Clint brought it up again that night after dinner.

"Steph, what's this I hear about you not liking guns?"

Darcy sucked in a breath, but Steph just stared him down, face blank. "That's right, I don't like guns."

"Did you pass your qualification test today?"

Steph turned her head this way and that so she could glance out of the corner of her eye at Steve and then me before saying tersely, "barely, but yes."

"I'd like to work with you on that, if that's okay."

There was kind of a collective intake of breath around the table that was only released when Steph looked down at her plate and muttered out a, "fine."

I was hoping they'd drop it there, but Sam pushed. "Steph, have you ever shot someone with your gun?"

I could smell the distress coming off of Steph even as her hand squeezed mine in distress as she came up verbally swinging. "It was self-defense both times! Look, I don't want to talk about this. Jimmy Alpha and Clyde Cone. If you want to know, I'm sure JARVIS can find the information for you. Or ask Ranger, I'll tell him to let you look at his files if you want."

She pushed back from the table and took her plate over to the kitchen. When Steve and I made to get up and go after her, Sam just waved us down and did so himself. From our seats, I could barely make out Sam apologizing for upsetting her in front of everyone and asking her to consider please talking to him about it sometime or allowing him to recommend someone else for her to talk to. Steph told him she'd think about it, and that was better than the second explosion I'd been expecting, so I relaxed a little.

As Steph rejoined us, I asked, "how'd the rest of the testing go?"

"It was great!" she beamed back. "Actually, one thing was kind of weird. Everyone was thrown off by my combat session, and afterward Bobby asked me some questions about your memory. Mostly he wanted to know if in addition to being photographic, you had enhanced muscle memory. Then he asked me to get Bruce to watch the video too when I showed it to the two of you."

I went on alert in my seat, and noticed Steve, as well as pretty much everyone else doing the same. Calmly I asked, "have you watched it yet?"

"No, but it should be interesting. It all happened so fast that I hardly remember any of it."

Well shit. I was pretty sure "interesting" was going to be the least of it.

With a sense of dread I asked, "did you bring a copy home?"

"Yes, Lester emailed it out to all of Rangeman, but I downloaded it onto my phone. I assume we can ask JARVIS and…" she trailed off as the TV in the other room turned on, showing a paused video of the inside of the Rangeman gym. Quickly the rest of us got up and stashed our dishes before settling down in front of the TV. Steve and I sat on a loveseat with Steph draped across our laps. I was pleased to find that she'd decided to cuddle up with me and put her legs along Steve's lap this time.

As everyone was settling in, all we could see in the video so far was Steph standing in the boxing ring alone on the paused screen. I rolled my eyes as I noticed that Tony was handing out bowls of popcorn, then thought better of the high road as I took one for us. It was Darcy to ask, "who'd you spar with?"

"Ranger," Steph said. She must have felt me startle in surprise because she shrugged and added, "I think he wanted to be sure that no one was going easy on me or anything like that. If he's sending me into the field in the position he's giving me, he wants to make sure I can take care of myself. No matter how much he says to himself that I can handle it, he needed to know it too. If he wasn't satisfied, I'd have been on the mats every day until he was before I set foot in the field."

Finally everyone was ready, and Steph said, "go ahead, JARVIS."

There was a healthy amount of laughing and cheering going on as the fight started. From what I could tell, Ranger did seem to be going a little easy on Steph to start, probably with the intent of getting her warmed up. Once Ranger landed the first real blow on Steph though, something strange happened. It was like someone had flipped a switch and sent Steph into a much deadlier mode. She was moving faster, more efficiently, and with much more precision than I'd seen her move in any of our sessions together. It reminded me of videos I'd watched of Steve and I fighting, and on Steph's end it was unnaturally quick. All the moves were ones I had shown her, and a few Natasha had thrown in, so I had no doubt that she had picked them up from us.

Then she managed to throw and pin him a couple minutes in, and I knew I was watching something I'd honestly thought by this point we weren't going to see ever. Effects of my serums in Steph. The third time she threw Ranger, Darcy finally broke the silence that had settled over the group, "goodness! how long did you fight?"

"An hour," Steph replied, "we don't have to watch-"

"Shhhhh!" came from everyone else, interrupting what I was sure was Steph offering to have us not watch the whole fight if we didn't find it interesting. Of course, what Steph wasn't accounting for, which surprised me given the fact that I was pretty sure her friends at Rangeman were the same way, was the fact that we all enjoyed watching things like this.

By the time the hour was up, everyone in the room turned to look at Steph who was sitting on my lap still with wide eyes. "No offense to you, Mr. Miyagi, but I'm pretty sure I'm not actually that good!" I didn't have time to ask what she was talking about before the conversation moved on, so I made a mental note to look it up later.

"All evidence to the contrary, Steph. Clearly you ARE that good," Tony said. "Embrace it. I always do. I'm Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, reformed-playboy, philanthropist. Apparently you are Stephanie Plum, surprisingly dangerous."

I said, "Hey, Steve, did you notice that she only got the fast reflexes and really good fighting-"

"After Ranger hit her," Bruce cut in. "And she was only super fast running the one time-"

This time Steve cut in, "when she'd been attacked and was being chased."

"You know what I'm thinking, Bruce?" Tony asked.

"No, Tony. We are not just going to inject her with Epinephrine to see what happens." Steph looked like she was about to ask, so Bruce said, "epinephrine triggers the release of norepinephrine in the body; the two combine to be a large part of the fight-or-flight response… norepinephrine can increase heart rate, trigger release of glucose energy stores, and increase blood flow to your skeletal muscles. It also has various links to cognitive alertness."

"Basically in normal humans who didn't get a super soldier infusion, it increases blood flow to muscles, does a bunch of things to make them feel like they have more energy, actually makes them clot more to prevent excessive blood loss, and increases muscle tension to make them stronger and faster," Tony expounded.

"And you think that because of Bucky's blood, I'm experiencing this… what? Stronger?"

"And possibly more easily- you had to have known you weren't really in danger when Ranger hit you, but it still triggered," Bruce said. "It might be a good idea for you to take up meditation, just in case controlling it becomes an issue. I'd be happy to help you with that if you'd like. Though, you clearly knew you were sparring, so while it triggered, you don't seem excessively angry, which is good. Just… more alert and faster."

"So I can still work like I have been, and train like I have been? Are there tests you do want to run?"

"Maybe some cognitive and memory tests, but without a baseline, they won't help that much unless you're going to get a really advanced result. Which you might, but I think you would have already noticed that kind of difference."

"I will trade you meditation in exchange for not having to do more medical tests unless something major comes up."

With a soft smile Bruce nodded his head, and said, "agreed."

"But hey," I added, rubbing my hands together excitedly. "now that we know you're picking this stuff up fast, we can throw more training at you more quickly- more moves, more scenarios, and more styles."

Clint, Natasha, and I started discussing various things to begin working into training, and continued to do so for several minutes before Steve cut in asking, "Steph, how did you feel after that fight? Did you feel okay or were you shaky? Because if you have a big adrenaline dump after, I think we should save your training until you're home each night. It wouldn't be a good thing for you to hit the streets already exhausted on an adrenaline hangover if you get triggered during training in the morning."

"As much as you know I would love an excuse to sleep in," Steph said, "I felt perfectly fine after other than a couple of bruises, which you will not fuss over!"

The last part was said while batting my hands away from trying to find the bruises as I mentally played back each of the strikes Ranger had managed to land. I let her think she had won as I kept going through the queue in my head, silently noting each place I was going to inspect once I got her upstairs. As I did so, conversation continued around us. After about ten more minutes, I met Steve's eyes when his hand squeezed my shoulder to get my attention. Standing up, I kept Steph in my arms and walked with Steve to the elevator, ignoring the catcalls and whistles from our friends. Once we got her upstairs, Steve and I took turns thoroughly examining her body for injuries… and distracting her while enjoying ourselves as we did so.

Over the course of the rest of the week, we began to develop a sort of routine. Morning workouts continued, with Steve and I running with Darcy and Steph. Every day we were closely watched by a somewhat smaller Rangeman guard- Tank actually usually came out and ran with us, but two men were always circling us. Sometimes more. Steph said that the days with more were usually because they couldn't decide who "got" to do it. She always used the air quotes because she couldn't understand why people would want that duty. It was times like that I wanted to set fire to Trenton for the damage they'd done to Steph's perception of her self worth.

Halfway through Steph's second week back at work, Steve and I had to leave for our first mission since Steph's arrival. It proved to be a bust, with a lot of action but nothing valuable gained. When we walked back into the apartment in the early morning hours two days later, we found Steph passed out in front of the TV with Ghostbusters on, completely wrapped up in the comforter from the bed with my shirt on and Steve's sweatshirt over it and Eden curled up on her feet. With a low chuckle, Steve walked over and picked Steph up, blanket and all and carry her into the bedroom with Eden trailing eagerly behind.

She woke just enough to say, "you're back!" and then, as she looked us over, "Yummmm. Let's talk about your uniforms some more another time, and whether or not certain things count as desecrating the flag." Steve just shook his head, but I had to side with Steph on that one, Steve's uniform clearly displayed the fact that he was the pinnacle of human physique. And I knew I'd caught him checking me out in my own on more than one occasion, but if he wanted to pretend otherwise, I'd let it go… for the time being. After all, the mission may have failed to garner any actionable intel, but I was still filthy and tired from battle. All I really wanted was a shower and to snuggle into our bed together.

Unfortunately, I was woken just before dawn to find Steve in the grips of a nightmare. Thankfully I was between him and Steph at the moment, so I was able to roll into Steph, put my hand over her mouth and wake her quietly.

"Steph, I need you and Eden to go into the other room until I get Steve out of this nightmare. Okay?" I breathed in her ear, hoping she could hear me and Steve wouldn't in his sleep.

She stiffened against me and nodded her head. When I released her she slipped silently out of the bed, taking the puppy with her. It took me a good twenty minutes to wake Steve up, and when I did, he woke up swinging. After that, none of us, not even Steph, managed to fall back asleep. We took Steph and Darcy for their morning run, but when we reached the Tower, Steve kept going saying he'd be back before Steph left for the office.

At that point, we should have known that it was just going to be one of those days and stayed in bed. Not that it was really an option with our varying responsibilities. By midday, I was dreaming of a vacation when my phone chimed in a text alert. Steph was letting Steve and I know that we shouldn't wait dinner on her. It was going to be a late night at the office for her, they had a pickup to make in the evening when their skip returned home from work.

Dinner went well enough, though we both obviously were missing Steph's presence. Clint apparently decided that we needed to watch a show called The Walking Dead to "prepare as a team, just in case," and we were partway through the second episode, with ice cream, when the TV paused.

"Pardon the interruption, but Rangeman is attempting to contact the Tower," JARVIS said.

Immediately on alert, I jumped up and frantically ordered, "connect the call, JARVIS!"

"Hello?" Steve called out when we heard the phone click on over the speakers.

"Steph is okay," a voice I immediately recognized as Ranger's said as soon as he heard Steve. "She's only mildly injured. I'd imagine she'll be fine by morning, just some scratches and some burns. Bobby checked her over, and she didn't even need any stitches. Just, you know, clean her up a little when she gets in and she'll be physically fine in the morning."

"Physically?" I asked.

"Yes," Ranger said with a very telling pause.

"What about emotionally?" Steve asked.

Ranger cleared his throat, "are there any civilians there?"

I cast a glance over at Darcy, Jane, and Pepper who were all standing, chins jutted out and looks of mutiny on their faces. It was Darcy who answered, "yes, and we're staying."

Ranger had too much self discipline to sigh over the phone, but I could tell he wanted to. Still, he continued without further argument, "Steph and Tank were in the lead car, and the skip saw them out of the dining room window. Apparently he was expecting them, and he threw a makeshift molotov cocktail out said window. They managed to bail out of the SUV before it exploded-"

"Thank God," Steve said. "Is Tank okay?"

"Yes. The, uh, skip saw the rest of the SUVs, must have gone to the back and seen the men waiting there, and decided he didn't want to go in. It seems he also decided his pregnant omega girlfriend had sold him out."

"Fuck," I murmured inelegantly.

"Steph insisted on being first through the door, and she found the omega with multiple stab wounds and the kitchen knife left in her abdomen. Bobby wasn't there but everyone has some first aid training. Steph gave her CPR until the ambulance arrived, insisted on riding in with her, but the woman and the baby were both DOA at the hospital."

Jane whimpered and I looked over seeing her and Darcy clinging together looking rather pale.

"She left before anyone could get to the hospital- apparently she already knows one of the nurses, who put her in a cab at least, but I think she should be there soon. I'm actually a little surprised if she isn't already."

Steve and I were already in the elevator before he finished talking, with JARVIS carrying the audio with us.

JARVIS spoke then, "I have picked up Stephanie's phone's location. She is two blocks out, but getting farther away."

Before he'd even finished, a Tower alarm started going off. The elevator reversed direction, stopping back on the common floor long enough to let the rest of the team in before continuing to the command room floor with the Quinjet. Everyone was silent as we stepped out, immediately pulling on uniforms and ready for battle by the time the elevator returned with Maria Hill. She used hand gestures to throw a map from her tablet onto the wall, and what we saw had all the blood in my body boiling in rage. I could smell it on Steve- his normal scent was tinged with the coppery scent of blood in a way I'd rarely smelled it before.

"Anicetus," he muttered.

"We have to assume they're drugging her again and we're on a very short clock," Natasha said quickly even as she watched the map carefully. As soon as it stopped moving, she called, "let's move. I think I know how to get in!"

We were in the jet, with Clint piloting and Natasha murmuring instructions less than a minute later. I looked over at Steve before looking at the rest of the team. Sam met my eyes, and cautiously said, "Steve, maybe you should wait in the jet."

When Steve only managed a fierce growl in response, I forced out a false laugh. "He didn't get enough sleep last night, Steph was just starting to scent preheat this morning but it shouldn't have been for another day or two so he was already starting to have an alpha hormone spike of his own, and now she's in trouble. He's not staying in the jet, and we should expect that things might get a little… adult… if we find her uninjured but in the state we think we will."

"Hill," Tony called.

"Yeah, boss, sending the truck."

I looked at him and he just said, "I developed a reinforced scent-insulated truck for such situations. We'll get the truck as close to them as we can, and when you're able, you get them into the back of the truck. Then we'll drive the truck back to the Tower, and they can stay in it until you can get them to move upstairs." That all sounded reasonable, until he muttered, "Then I'll burn it."

Frankly I didn't care whether or not he was joking- either way, that was a way better option than having to hole up wherever we found Steph for hours, trying to keep it secure and give Steph and Steve some modicum of privacy. Plus, we knew little enough about the drug Hebe, that it would probably be best to treat the area like a biohazard. After all, it had stayed in Steph's system for a prolonged period of time last time. We arrived at our destination with the sound of the Quinjet blasting a hole into the side of a building. Steve quickly stood, hit the button to open the back of the jet without warning and jumped out.

As I followed suit, I could hear Sam gliding out behind me calling over our radios, "we're going to have that talk about parachutes again later!"

"No time!" Steve called, already on the ground running. I took off after him, and as we reached an elevator shaft, blasted open by the jet, I could hear the roar of Hulk behind us. Without pausing, Hulk ran up, picked Steve and I up, and jumped down the shaft. When we hit the ground, he set us down before ripping through the steel doors. Then, much to my surprise, he waited. In that moment it seemed that, as reluctant as Bruce had been, the time spent taking the Hulk on training missions was definitely paying off.

Steve jumped into the hallway and started taking out the people that fired at us even as he was continually scenting the air. The scenting between alpha and omega and the draw of their bond were both stronger between each other than between either one and me, the beta. I didn't really understand how much until it took a solid five minutes of following Steve as we moved together, steadily laying waste to the men sent to stop us at a breakneck pace, before I also could even begin to smell Steph.

Finally we made it to the room holding Steph. It appeared to be reinforced in some way. Steve was trying to use his shield to break open the door, and I was trying to see if I could get my metal arm through the wall when Hulk just shoved us both aside. He took a few steps back, then smashed his body through the wall. A few soldiers, including one that smelled like doped up alpha came flying out of the hole accompanied by an angry roar. Seconds later, Hulk came back out, shoved Steve and I in, and stood with his back to us, using his body to block the hole in the wall.

I said a quick prayer of thanks when I saw that, although covered in blood that was most likely from earlier in the day that didn't appear to be hers and chained to a table, Steph was fully clothed and seemed to be relatively unharmed. The few injuries I saw on her matched those that Ranger had spoken of from earlier, but I could smell the scent of the artificially induced heat mixed in with her natural smell. When she looked over and saw Steve and I, she let out a sound that somehow managed to sound relieved and desperate. I gave a quick status update to the team over our radios before asking JARVIS to switch Steve and I to a private channel until I signaled again or until the truck was here, whichever came first. Then I set about releasing Steph from her shackles and making sure Steve didn't hurt Steph in their initial reunion.