Steve's POV

.

I met them down in the garage. Bucky grabbed his bags, gave me a curt nod and walked away, not a word to either me or Rinn, who looked about as pissed off as I'd ever seen her. I'd gotten reports from both of them the day after the incident, but had only managed one short phone call with Rinn. Bucky had apparently chosen to hit ignore every time.

Rinn had assured me they were fine, and, at the time, I'd just assumed the short tone she'd used was because she'd been busy. I'd seen the schedule, on the go from morning until well into the evening, with very little me time planned. She'd warned me of the need for a couple days to decompress after, so I'd expected tired, not angry.

She dove into the trunk and began unzipping one of her bags. She pulled out a couple evidence bags and waved them at me. Instead of taking them I set a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

She sighed. "Fine. Need to run a tox screen on the shirt ASAP and want to play with the electronics as soon as I've had a shower and some sustenance." When I still didn't take them from her she shoved them back into the bag with far more violence than necessary.

Well, for an answer it didn't exactly tell me all that much. "What happened?"

"Talk to Barnes," she snapped then sucked in a huge breath. "On second thought don't." She grabbed two of her bags and began walking away leaving me standing there in confusion for a long moment.

I went after her. "Hey." I set a hand on her shoulder, which she slid away from, dodging me expertly. I got in front of her forcing her to stop or attempt to run me over. She might be strong, but unless she actively tried she wouldn't move me easily.

"What?" she snapped, her patience clearly at an end.

I wrapped my arms about her and pulled her close, her body stiff for far longer than usual, then I heard the bags thud to the ground and her arms came around my waist, holding on as if for dear life. I buried my face in her hair, her scent different, probably due to the hotel water and shampoo, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I'm sorry about TJ."

We all knew about TJ. Tony had been the one to dig up the dirt and accuse Laurin of using others work as her own. She hadn't gotten angry, but had told him in no uncertain terms he'd been mistaken and to check again.

Then he'd done that Tony grin, the same one I'd seen on his father's face so many times. The one that said he'd been impressed. The one that assured it would be brought up time and time again, like poking a hornets nest with a stick and hoping like hell you could run fast enough before you got stung.

Rinn had never spoken about TJ unless forced to. The guy had used her in every way imaginable based on the stories I had heard and put her off not only relationships of the romantic kind, but working ones. She preferred doing everything herself. Meeting Tony had begun the transition back. She still remained very guarded in both personal and professional relationships. Not sharing more than absolutely necessary.

She snorted. "TJ will always be a problem for me. Though if he annoys me enough I might just sic you and the others on him. Though I doubt there would be much left of him after."

"May have to anyway. I doubt he tried to drug you for humanitarian reasons."

She pulled back to look up at me. "Really? I never would have guessed that. Which reminds me…" she picked up her bags, refusing to let me take them from her, "I need to borrow Sam in a couple days. I checked the schedule and it's clear."

"Sure, why?" I motioned for her to stay put and jogged back to the car to grab the rest of her stuff and close the trunk.

"Have to go to DC and meet with Coulson."

My heart stuttered to a halt, then restarted at triple the pace. "Rinn, you sure you're okay?"

"Fine… mostly. Why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?"

"Coulson's dead. Battle of New York, remember?" I sure as hell would never forget. It had been the push that brought us together and actually be Avengers, working together towards a common goal.

"Uh, no. Else his life model simulacrum is really, really good. I had a video conference with him just a few months ago. Stepped down from being Director of SHIELD and seems happy about it."

I blinked, staring at her and unable to process a single word she had said. I could still remember Fury's words in my ear. The med team calling time of death. The blood soaked vintage Captain America cards he'd throw down in obvious disgust. Deserved, in truth, but me and Tony hadn't yet figured out how to work together. Hadn't been able to compromise on anything.

Not then.

Not now.

"Steve, jeez, breathe. You're scaring me here."

I shivered from head to toe and had to force myself to focus on her. The memories still strong and clear and full of so much guilt and regret that they could be difficult to step back from.

"Coulson didn't die?"

She shook her head. "Oh, he died all right. Just didn't stay that way. And don't ask me how, but they saved him and he's still the Coulson you remember… well, except for the new hand. Small incident when dealing with the terragen virus. Turns out he's just plain human."

I tried to absorb all of that information without my head exploding from conflicting data.

"Fury named him Director of SHIELD after the whole Hydra mess. He never told you?" She had dropped her bags again, her hands on mine, hers over warm, which meant mine had gone icy.

"No," I barely articulated, throat tight and mouth dry. "He's alive?"

"I promise. I do some off the books work for him now and then. Some projects I'm working on with Fitz. I think they're planning on announcing SHIELD is active again soon. Why? You want back in?"

I shook my head. "I'd have to sign the Accords for that." I managed to look her in the eyes and actually see them. My heart rate coming back down as the shock wore off. "No, this plan of yours will work better."

One hell of a plan, in my opinion. She intended to have Nomad be self-sufficient within two years. Taking outside, vetted, clients within six months, and hiring other displaced, also vetted, ex-SHIELD agents within three. I had already heard from Bobbi Morse, Mockingbird, who'd burned her covers about six months ago to save the day. Doing the right thing costing her dearly and forcing her to go on the run.

I hadn't learned about it until recently, my focus on the Avengers and not a government agency that had been all but destroyed and deemed mostly useless.

Guess I'd been wrong on that score.

I'd accused Rinn of letting us live off her handouts, two days later I had the business plan for Nomad in my hands, and felt like a fool. I should have known she had everything worked out ahead of time. She never did things by half measures.

"So can I borrow Sam?"

"Why not Wanda? Do some girl bonding," I suggested. Out of those who worked here, Wanda only seemed to feel comfortable with Rinn. The others, the Cyko employees, friendly enough, but uninterested in any type of relationship. Which made sense I supposed, they were very different personalities and, frankly, I think Wanda still frightened them. They'd seen us practice a few times and Wanda's power impressed even me. She could level entire cities with some practice and the will to do it and if I ever worried she might actually so such a thing, I made certain she did not see it on my face.

She eyed me, as if to make certain i was back on an even keel then picked up her bags again. "I considered it, but if they try to grab her, I might not be able to prevent it. So, Sam. Fully human and far more politic than either you or Barnes."

Okay, she had a good point. Several in fact. Wanda had done excellent work on the other assignments, but none had been back in the US, and sending her to DC might just force Ross's hand. I mean technically they were all escaped criminals thanks to me breaking them out of the Raft. I'd rather not have to do that again and embarrass the head of the Avengers even further.

"Sam it is." I began moving again. "You'll fill me in? I assume this is about the intruder?"

"Yep. Don't really have the means to keep prisoners here, definitely not legally."

"Why SHIELD?" Interested in the logic of her decision more than anything. She could have turned him over to the local police or Interpol, though with Bucky there, neither of those would be an optimal choice. The entire world pretty much knew what the Winter Soldier looked like.

"It was them or call Tony, which means Ross, whom I trust… not at all really. I think he has his own agenda where it comes to the Avengers and enhanced in general. His mistakes with Banner have colored his decisions ever since."

I had to agree with that completely and on every level. I wasn't perfect, but this man's army had become far removed from the one I'd joined in my youth. The lines far more blurred than they had been back during the war I'd fought in. And… and there was the chance that Ross had been involved with the attempts to acquire Rinn's servers. I wouldn't put it past him and those he answered to.

"Fair enough. They'll keep you informed of any developments?" I wanted to make certain that they didn't use her. Oh, I understood that because most of this stayed off the books that they would be using each other; I wanted to make sure the scales balanced fairly evenly.

"They will, probably more so than me."

Interesting, but I couldn't act surprised. Anything she gave them put her at risk of being outed as an enhanced. Those that knew, Coulson included, had kept her secret so far simply because she'd had no interest in joining SHIELD or becoming an Avenger. Her involvement much like that of Dr Cho, on the fringes and not greatly impacting that bigger picture. Or seemingly not. Without Cho there would be no Vision. An admittedly extreme example, but accurate.

So far, at least of late, Rinn's impact seemed to involve giving up huge pieces of her life for friends. Friends who should have been able to figure out the mess all on their own.

"Laurin, however you want to play this we'll back you."

She turned to meet my serious gaze. "I hope so. I need to figure out who TJ is working for really. He tried to recruit me back in college, but I wasn't interested. I had my plan set and didn't want my work being co-opted by others."

"And his move was to steal it and claim it as his own? You sure he's actually a genius?"

She laughed, which had been the reaction I wanted. She had every right to be upset and concerned, but she couldn't let it stop her, or even slow her down.

"We'll need to up my security on the remaining events. Be embarrassing to get my ass kidnapped at E3. Just not Barnes, please."

When I frowned she added, "Not just him, okay?"

"He did that bad?"

She shook her head. "From a work perspective he did fine. There were a couple… issues that I will discuss with you tomorrow. Soldier related ones."

That could be concerning, but given I hadn't gotten emails or texts the moment they had occurred I would trust her judgement on the matter given she'd been there and not me. "Then what?"

"Anchor issues. It colored some of his reactions in ways that were detrimental to the situation. A buffer would ease the conflict for him. Allow him to step away and not be concerned about my safety."

Now that made sense and was a reasonable request. Or would be if there were more than four of us trying to handle all the needs of Cyko. Maybe the time had come to expand our roster. Early based on her schedule, but if I could not longer pair Bucky with Rinn, who traveled the most, it would put a strain on the scheduling. "Maybe I should call T'Challa, see if he'd like to rotate anyone in for training with the understanding they'd be playing bodyguard for you and yours," I mused aloud and Rinn brightened immediately.

"Ooooo, I like that idea. And to be honest I'd discussed something similar with him. Not that his people aren't well trained, but fighting an enhanced is a definite skill and here we could assure a safe place for them to learn. I'll send him an email about it."

I shook my head. "I'll contact him. This would be under Nomad, not Cyko. Better to keep them separate."

She stopped dead and turned, eyeing me with a tiny smile turning the corners of her lips up. "There he is," she stated softly.

I glanced behind me. "Who?"

"The Captain. Our fearless leader." She cocked her head to the side as if debating whether or not to make her next statement. "You know they wanted you to head SHIELD."

I went still for a long moment at that thought. I mean, I could do it, no problem. I'd been designed to lead, though functioning within the system as it currently stood would be a challenge, but I would have figured it out. Made SHIELD into what Peggy had always intended it to be.

"But I'd have to sign the Accords."

Rinn nodded. "And I doubt you'd be thrilled with the inhuman registration act."

"Uh, not a chance. Criminals. Yes. Maybe. But all of them, just because they were drugged and changed against their will? No way in hell."

She shook her head with a laugh. "Pretty much what I told Simmons when she mentioned it. She understands you standing your ground."

We got moving again. She may have just arrived home, but she had things to do. I had things to do. "Hey, how'd you keep them from arresting Bucky?"

"They met James, my bodyguard and employee of Nomad. Far as I know he's not wanted by anyone for anything." Her words took on a hard edge for a moment, but she shook it off quickly. "Even if they all wanted to fondle his arm." She bumped into me, a gesture meant to comfort. " 'Sides they wouldn't want you breaking whatever facility they had him in."

I laughed. "You might have a point there." How she maintained all these varying relationships astounded me. Wouldn't stop me from using any and all information she gleaned from them though. "I set up a search to figure out who TJ really works for, but it's been slow going. I'd guess NSA or some other black agency, except he's out there at these conferences all the time."

"Which simply means his place is the hierarchy is overt. Probably a recruiter. Which makes sense given his preference for not doing his own research." The disgust in her voice audible.

"He must be good at it then." Since you fell for it, I didn't say, but had to admit I implied it.

"Oh, you want the dirt. Yes, I fell for his line of patter and him, at least a little. Keep in mind when I met him I had quite literally just recovered from being broken to the point speaking was dangerous for me." We climbed the stairs that would lead to the section of the castle she kept her private residence. Place definitely gave us all the cardio we needed, no elevators to get us to our rooms no matter how tired or banged up.

What we really needed was an onsite medical facility, but we made do with the nanobot lab and the extensive first aid gear she'd collected over the years. That might be a another thing we could borrow from Wakanda, medical personnel. I'd add that to the to do list once I got Rinn settled.

"First love?" I knew what that could be like. Luckily for me it had been mutual and she'd not been out to use me. Well, she had, as a weapon against Nazis and Hydra, but she'd also liked me for me and that counted for something.

"First lust?" She stepped off at the floor with the labs, dropping her bags in the hall and retrieving the piece of shirt. She waved for me to follow, the lab empty at the moment. No batch of nanobots being cooked right now. I still didn't quite understand how you built something on such a miniscule scale with normal sized equipment, but she… they did. The hard part, she always insisted was the programming, not the designing. A 'bot was a 'bot. The scale models, some nearly a foot long, were mounted on one of the long tables awaiting the next test run.

"What can I say, I was young and naive."

"And smarter than everyone else in the room. That was all post-grad work, right? For your doctorates?" I watched as she pulled her hair back into a bun held in place with a pair of chopsticks that had been left in a coffee mug with "Best Boss Evar" printed on the side of it.

"And all of them thinking I had wasted my time designing my games." She glanced at me over her shoulder as she snapped on a pair of virulent purple gloves. "They were just envious that I'd already sold the first one on spec and it had paid off all my college debt.

She removed the piece of shirt from the bag, snipped off a small amount from near the center and stuffed it into one of those tiny vials, added a squirt of liquid, capped it and stuck it on the centrifuge. "You'd already sold the nanobots?"

"Yes and no. I'd gotten stuck with them, obviously and they'd fixed what they could. But I hadn't quite made them marketable yet." She turned to look at me, those safety goggles and lab coat making her look like a nerd.

"How old were you?"

"Ah, I see you've caught on. Fifteen, sixteen."

Young. Damn young. But so intelligent that I didn't even have to wonder why someone would try to use it for their own purposes. She'd just recovered from a severe trauma, given the freedom to be herself for the first time in years and gone out into the great big world. "How old was he?"

"Nineteen, supposedly. I suspect that was a lie."

"You weren't fooled?"

"Oh, I was. For months. But after being confined to a wheelchair to have anyone look at me with something other than pity…" She shook her head. "I got sucked right in. But I was also determined to finish what I had started. My nanobot designs were making headlines, as were my games. I took a simulation course, decided they'd gone about it all wrong and added that to my resume. Then I tied it all together. 'Bots to maintain the systems that I created the VR on."

"You wanted to share what you'd learned."

She nodded. "And so much more. When I could barely move for fear of breaking another bone, my mind…. flew. So much in here," she tapped the side of her head with a finger, "and no easy way to get it out."

"So you invented a way. Your neural mapping technique." I thought about that. Her technique, as far as I knew did not record anything other than how a particular brain worked. Showing patterns in brain function similar to an MRI or CT scan. Just deeper, allowing those sim suit connections to grant the wearer to actually experience the sim through touch and sight in a depth that had been thought impossible before Rinn had done it. The suit let others feel what the original wearer had, pressure, pain, dizziness, etc.

And that meant… "You can already input outside data."

She shook her head. "No, I can simulate only. It's more visceral feelings. It's their own minds interpreting the data, my technique does not override the person in control."

"But that's what you need to do to fix Bucky."

She nodded. "To a degree, anyway. I need to modify his programming, the neural map just shows me where. I can simulate experiences for him, recreate with enough data, but it's all external. This is a bit trickier… and potentially dangerous."

I'd known that. Removing the Soldier programming would require screwing with Bucky's mind yet again and the consequences could be dire. The temporary fix still holding, but for how long? Would the decades of use cause the known to override the patch job? I'd seen the look in his eyes some days, not recognizing the man looking at me, the Soldier still there and able to function even without being told what to do. "Will he be himself after?"

"Who is he?" she questioned. "No, he won't be the Bucky Barnes you remember prior to the war. No, he won't be the Asset, the Fist of Hydra. But he will be himself. He just has to figure out who that is in this wild world he's woken up to." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You have to let go of him, Steve."

I sighed and found a horizontal surface to lean back against, fingers curling about the table taking care to not crush it in my grip. "He deserves a chance."

"Agreed, and that means not pressuring him. He has to figure this out on his own. He needs support not more orders." The centrifuge wound down and she removed the vial and placed it in another machine that would tell her what drug cocktail TJ had gotten her with. The machine whirred to life and she rubbed her face in her hands, the skin turning momentarily red due to the pressure she'd applied.

"You're tired." Obvious maybe, but it felt like it need to be said.

"That too," she agreed.

"You've got some time, yes?" I waved at the machine, reasonably certain it would not be giving up the answers in the next five minutes.

She nodded.

"Then let me buy you lunch."

She snorted. "You mean raid the kitchen."

Well, she'd just gotten back, I wasn't about to drag her into town even if it did look like she could use the time away, which I had to admit was a trick to pull off after being gone for the better part of a week. Maybe it was more the responsibility she needed to be away from, rather than anyone in particular. "Your place or your place." Meaning her suite, which had a small kitchen in case she wanted no part of dealing with the rest of the world, or the huge kitchen the staff used. Yeah, I could have dragged her to the Keep common room, but did not want to push that hot button just yet.

She would explain what had happened between her and Bucky in her own time.

She glanced at the watch on her wrist and made a face. "Main kitchen. I have to get up in a few hours anyway. I'll substitute food and a shower for a nap."

I stepped back into the hallway and picked up all her bags, much to her displeasure when she finally joined me. The lab tech gear shed for the time being. I suspected she'd be back in them within the hour.

"Aren't you supposed to be seeing Sharon this weekend?"

I ducked my head and increased my stride intending to drop her bags off in her suite before heading back down to the kitchen to see what we had in the way of decent leftovers.

"Steve, you are not going to blow her off again."

I hadn't blown her off. Other stuff had come up and taken precedence on both sides. She had responsibilities and the need to hide that she knew exactly where Steve Rogers had taken up residence. The fact that she was an easy day trip away making it harder for me for some insane reason I couldn't understand.

"Do you still like her?"

"What? Yes, of course. Why would you…" I stuttered to a halt at the smirk on Rinn's face. Damn it.

"Then just go. She'll forgive your quirks, but only for so long. Take her to dinner. A stroll, enjoy the weather, and tell her how you feel before some new world ending problem shows up and you can't."

"And if it puts her in Rumlow's line of sight?"

"And? I seem to recall her facing down him before. Warn her. Hell, she… they should know anyway. Especially after what happened in France." Rinn set a hand on my arm. "Sharon's a big girl, give her the info and let her make her own decision. Then kiss her for heaven's sake."

I felt my cheeks heat up and ducked my head. My skill with women, women I had a personal interest in anyway, still lacking. I was fucking Captain America and terrified of kissing my girlfriend mostly due to a decided lack of practice, which Nat seemed to think was required to master this skill.

"Steve, do you still feel guilty because of Peggy?"

Christ, did she have to go for the jugular every time. "And if I said yes?"

"Steve Rogers, you don't understand women at all, do you?"

We made it to her suite and she dug out the ancient oversized key, that I had thought was a joke the first time I'd seen it, and unlocked the door. A nearly undetectable scanner did its job, disarmed the alarm system and turned on the lights upon recognizing who had walked in the door.

"Well, it's not like you don't try to be confusing at all." I carried the bags over to her bedroom and set them on the bed. The lights coming on as we moved about. Not an AI like JARVIS, but one of those integrated home systems like Nest, only one she'd built. Another beta test project that she'd been playing with.

She chuckled shaking her head as she kicked off her shoes, bare feet on the cool stone of the floor. She only had a few rugs here and there, the small vacuum bot that trundled about not having a whole lot to do given she spent comparatively little time in the rooms. "Steve, I suspect above all, Peggy would want you to be happy, and you definitely have a type."

Sharon looked nothing like her great aunt so Rinn's statement confused me.

Laurin seemed to realize this.

"Strong women. Not appearance. All your female friends are ones who are fully confident in who they are and don't need or want a man to protect them. They want a partner." Rinn began to shed her clothes and I cleared my throat, at which she did no more than look over her shoulder at me as she unhooked the bra and let it fall to the floor. "What? Not like you haven't seen it all before."

"Rinn, you are a terrible person." I got to my feet and strode back out into the living area, knowing that any answer would be conveyed to me through the system. But she was right, I definitely had a type when you put it in those terms.

"No, I'm comfortable with you. Hell, I'd invite you to join me, but it would embarrass you too much. Then again…"

I heard the water start and paced the room, heading for the french doors that led out to the balcony that ran around the entire tower. A balcony now, probably for armed guards during it's original incarnation. I opened the curtains to look out over the darkened lake, the lights from the nearby town not washing out the view of the stars over much, the moon reflected on the near still waters. I liked Rinn, and could see myself with her if circumstances had been different. If I had never met Sharon, maybe. "You sure you'll be all right?"

"I'm sure. While absence does make the heart grown fonder, it does mean you need to be there with her every now and then. Fantasies can only get a girl so far."

I coughed into my hand, wanting to laugh, but finding it inappropriate. "I do not need that… that kind of advice from you."

She laughed and I heard the water shut off. More of rinsing off the travel grime than an actual shower. "Oh, honey, you so do, but I'll be gentle, promise. Or I could contact Nat. I'm certain she'd be happy to walk you through any variety of positions or skills."

I damn near choked on the breath I sucked it in so fast. "Laurin, for fuck's sake."

She appeared a few moments later, hair still pulled back into a messy bun, skin still damp, but dressed, thankfully. Beat up pair of jeans, with more holes than denim at this point and a Metallica t-shirt too big for her tied in a knot over her left hip. I suspected she'd stolen it from Tony. "I can arrange that."

I wanted to be angry with her, wanted the flush I could feel creeping across my skin to be anything but embarrassment, not at her words so much, but the fact that I wanted to act on them. Not with Rinn. No my… interest had a definite target, but I feared I had waited too long on that score as well. "What if… what if she's not interested."

Rinn planted her hands on her hips and tipped her head to look at me seriously. "Then she'll tell you. But hiding here won't get you an answer. Now will it."

I shook my head. "No, I don't suppose it will. Why is it the idea of facing a bomb about to go off is less terrifying than talking to Sharon?" I mused aloud, not really expecting an answer.

I should have known better.

"Because dying is easy. But finding a reason to live? That's scary as all fuck."