Author's Apology: Guys, I am SO sorry for not updating in a month. I had a lot on my plate and just returned from a wonderful ten day vacation. I wanted to post right before I left but wasn't unfortunately able to. I hope you're all still out there reading and enjoying. Thank you so much for your support up to this far. We don't have much left in our story, so let's finish this together!
Thank you for your reviews and kind words, please let me know you're still there and reading! I'll have another chapter up later this week!
And as always…
Read, Review, and above all… Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I know it's been a while but I still don't own Marvel!
Riley's eyes fluttered open, the fluorescent light above nearly blinding her as her vision adjusted. Her head was pounding; stress headache. She slowly rolled her head to the side, she knew she wasn't alone. However, she was surprised to see the other red head assassin sitting across from her. "HYDRA?" Natasha asked more accusingly.
Riley groaned, forcing herself up to a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes, feeling slightly wobbly as she looked at the assassin. "I didn't know." She explained.
"We know." Natasha said, this time more apologetically. "Have to admit, it was quite the curve ball."
Riley sighed. "Believe me that was the last thing I expected too." She looked around her room, her eyes focusing to the right wall. How she wished she could see through into the next room, was Bucky all right? "Bucky?" She asked.
Natasha's lips formed a thin line, debating how to tell the already troubled girl in front of her. "He's going to be okay."
Riley narrowed her eyes as she looked back at the assassin. "What does that mean?"
"I know it's overwhelming for you, all this." Natasha said. "I mean, I was hard on Barnes too. I was convinced he was the reason your family was attacked. It was logical even. I could understand his guilt, in a sense." Natasha shifted slightly in her seat. "It was hard on him thinking he did this to you, just imagine how difficult it is knowing what your family did to him."
"She's not my family." Riley objected.
"Regardless, she invented the machine that destroyed Barnes's humanity and made him the monster he thinks he is." Natasha explained. "Anyone in that position would break down too."
Riley's shoulders fell. "He did relapse then?" Her fear only confirmed when Natasha gave a quick nod. "Great—" Her words heavy. "How is he?"
"Last I checked; sedated in the cells downstairs." Natasha said. "Steve's with him."
"I need to stop her." Riley finally said. "I need to find her, stop her and get revenge for my family; for Bucky."
"And you will. However, I think you need to wait for the Avengers to come up with—"
Riley interrupted her. "No, this isn't an Avengers thing." She protested. "This is my fight."
"You know we won't let you. Bucky won't let you."
"Right now, I'm the last person Bucky wants to be near." She said, feeling worse as the words came out. "I have to make this right."
"And getting yourself killed is not going to solve anything."
"Natasha, one of my family members is the direct cause of something terrible to the person I care for most, and probably a whole lot of other horrible things." Riley tried to explain.
"And mine sent me to train for the KGB to be a killer. Families suck, we can't change who they are but we can change who we are." Natasha informed her.
Riley rolled her eyes. "Not the same thing but, I get it."
"My point is, there's nothing you can do about them. You're in control of you. Barnes will get over it and you two can go back to being gross and in love again." Riley just glared as Natasha smirked. "For now, we need to lay low and think of a plan. We can't go rushing in there. This is a HYDRA issue, Rogers won't let you take them down alone."
Riley nodded. "What about cleanup?" She finally asked. "What did they find?"
Natasha was afraid of this question. "Don't get excited. They only found one body. We'll find out more when the results come back."
Riley sat up straight. "So, someone could still be alive?"
"Don't get your hopes up, Rye." Natasha warned.
Riley shrugged. "I've got no hope left to lose. My last shred of hope currently is relapsed in a cell somewhere, oh, and he probably hates me." Riley forced herself to her feet, fixing her shirt before giving a determined look to Natasha. "Let's go. We have HYDRA to hunt down."
"You can let me out now, Steve." Bucky stated flatly, eyeing his friend on the other side of the large cell window. "I'm fine."
"You sure about that, Buck?" Steve asked skeptically. "I can't let you out like this, you could hurt someone."
"I'm not going to hurt anyone."
"What about Riley?"
He stared at his friend in disbelief. "You honestly think I'd hurt her?"
"You threatened it when you relapsed." Steve admitted, the harsh truth came with each word.
Bucky was taken aback by that, did he really threaten to hurt her? He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thought. "I wouldn't."
Steve sighed, rubbing his temples as a minor headache throbbed in his skull. "A lot came out today, we learned that HYDRA isn't even close to be eradicated; they made their move on one of our own."
"But is she one of us?" Bucky asked. "If this is something her mother is doing, then why are they going after her? What is their plan?"
"I wish I knew." Steve said. "One thing we do know is Wanda saw Riley's past. She had no idea, her memory was wiped just like yours."
Bucky folded his arms across his chest, his thoughts running a mile a minute over the last hour or so. He had another relapse that sent him into a frenzy; what had he remembered? Riley, he remembered Riley. He remembered their first encounter, he was going to kill her. He remembered the feeling of home and nearly losing it the first time. That didn't help. He knew Steve was right, she wasn't at fault here. He had to get over it, she wasn't the reason for his memory loss. She was indirectly involved. For the first time, Bucky Barnes wished his train wreck relationship wasn't the chaotic mess he had come to love. "She's going to want to go after them." He said, ripping himself out of thought.
"I have Natasha watching her at all times, we're well aware of what Riley is capable of." Steve assured him. "We'll go after HYDRA when the time is right."
Bucky nodded. "For now, I need to apologize to my red head." He motioned to the door. "Any help there, Cap?"
Steve gave Bucky a warning look. "Don't do anything rash." Bucky smirked in reply as Steve opened the cell door.
Riley hated meetings. She hated sitting in a room with people who were prone to arguing and never really having traction to show for it. She also hated the smug look on Stark's face; that childish look of arrogance that made her skin crawl. She didn't necessarily hate Stark, just his attitude. It wasn't until Steve and Bucky strolled into the debriefing room did she stop nitpicking at every little detail of Stark's hubris.
Her heart leapt into her throat, thudding and thumping loudly she was almost certain the group could hear. Her Ghost was standing in the farthest corner of the room now, arms folded. His metal arm reflecting the fluorescent light from above; the metal arm that she felt somewhat responsible for now.
Bucky remained collected on the outside as he stood a small distance from the group. Inside, however, he was screaming. He wanted to make eye contact with his red head. No, he wanted, more than anything, to run over to her and hold her in his arms. Barnes wanted to act like nothing had happened. He just couldn't bring himself to do that right now. He still had his doubts about the whole thing.
"As many of you are aware of the current situation, we have a HYDRA problem on our hands." Maria Hill began. "A new and serious threat has been made known and we have to stop it before it grows. We have insight that there is a functioning HYDRA base, one we had no prior knowledge about."
"Where is this base?" Steve asked the important question.
Maria looked almost apologetically. "We are still working on that. Stark and I have been trying to lock on and pinpoint a location through their channel. They're a secret organization, we need time to decipher their code to find them."
"So what do we do until then?" Riley asked, her throat feeling dry.
"We need to be patient." Maria said.
Before Riley could protest, Natasha joined in. "What if they try to come after Riley again? They didn't exactly try to hide their existence the first time."
"Then we kill them." Barnes muttered from the corner as if to remind the room of his presence.
"We should come up with a plan before barging in." Steve said diplomatically. "Riley is safest with us and in this base."
"We can't let them run their operations freely, we have to take action. They need to be shut down." Riley said.
Steve eyed the girl carefully. "Shut them down or get revenge?" Riley bit her lip in reply. "I know they hit you hard, Riley. We have to think of this as a regular mission. We can't just run in guns blazing."
"They wouldn't expect it." Barnes chimed in again.
"We'll be searching for them all night, Deadshot." Stark finally spoke. "I promise you we'll find them and when we do, they're going to wish they didn't mess with the Avengers."
Riley was still unsatisfied at the response. Her body stiffened as she folded her arms across her chest. Something had to be done, sooner rather than later. What if her Granddad was still alive? What if someone from her family was alive and HYDRA had them? She needed to take action; waiting for a lead was going to waste more time. Riley had to track down her mother on her own.
James Buchannan Barnes was clever. He could read people very easily, it was one of his many talents from his Winter Soldier days. He could tell when someone was going to panic and do something stupid; he could tell impulsiveness from contemplative. Yet in that moment, he couldn't tell what the expression on Riley's face really meant. Was she about to explode and take everyone down with her? Or actually listen and do this the smart way? One thing he did know about his red head, she was impulsive and the former seemed more plausible to him. His feeling only confirmed when the meeting adjourned and Riley stormed out of the conference room.
As if on autopilot, Bucky went to Riley's room instead of his own. He had a plan; no, Stark had a plan. Now he had to run that plan by Riley. She'd go for it, he knew she would. It was all about execution now. He was prepared to knock on her door only to be interrupted by a different red headed assassin. "I've got her, Barnes." She said with a warning.
"I'm here to see if she's okay."
"You know she's not."
His eyes narrowed. "I'm on your side, Romanoff." He said with authority. "I don't think she should go after HYDRA alone."
"Do you now?" She asked skeptically.
"I'm here to talk her out of it." Natasha's lips forms a thin line as she watched the Winter Soldier before him. His face like stone, revealing nothing as she observed him. "Just let me talk to her."
Reluctantly, Natasha agreed with a curt nod. "I'm going to get something to eat, she better have a different mindset when I come back." Barnes replied with a musical hum before watching Natasha leave down the hallway. He inhaled deeply and entered the warzone that was Riley's room.
Of course she heard everything outside her room, they weren't exactly being discreet. She was already glaring at Bucky the moment he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "You're going to just glare at me or listen to what I have to say?" He asked somewhat harsh.
"I already heard you want to talk me out of going after my mother." Riley said, returning his tone.
"I'm not letting you go alone." Bucky was stern with the red head, he had to be.
Riley wouldn't be swayed. "I have to do this, Ghost." Her voice was pleading. "Someone from my family might be alive; HYDRA has them. Nora is calling me out now. By the time the avengers figure out a game plan, it could be too late."
Bucky folded his arms over his chest, his body strong. "I'm not letting you go alone." He reiterated. "So let's go before anyone notices."
Riley's jaw fell as she stared at the soldier before her, confused at his change of side. "You're coming with me?" She asked.
"I can't stop you from going and I don't think the group realizes they can't stop you either. You're going to figure out how to get out of here and you're going to do something stupid. At least let me come with you and keep you out of too much trouble."
Riley continued to stare at Bucky for what felt like an eternity before finally giving in. She moved quickly, closing the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. Bucky was taken aback by her sudden affection. "Thank you, Ghost." She mumbled into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her finally. The contact between the two made her heart race, she missed this. They both did.
"Don't thank me yet. We still have to bust out of here."
"What's your plan for that?" Riley asked skeptically as she pulled away from her Ghost.
"We improvise." He stated flatly.
Riley looked at him unamused. "Seriously?"
Bucky simply gave her a dazzling smile. "Where's your sense of adventure, Red?" She couldn't help but smile in return as he lead the charge out of her room and to their escape.
"Are you sure this will work?" Maria asked, her arms stiff at her side as she watched the surveillance monitor.
"It will." Stark was confident, he had always been. "She's going to find them. She's good at it; you told me that once. If all goes to plan, they'll come out of hiding and we can strike." He watched as the man with the metal arm and his smaller, red headed partner grabbed their weapons. "You and I both know HYDRA isn't going to make the next move. They're calling her out, they're banking on her looking for them. All we have to do is intercept that before someone gets hurt."
Maria pursed her lips. "Quite the gamble, Stark."
"It's a gamble Terminator and Deadshot were willing to take." Stark said. "It's like Barnes said, she was going to get out sooner or later. Better he goes with her with us trailing behind." He looked at Maria. "She'll get Nora to come out of hiding. When she does, we'll be ready."
"I'm still shocked you got Sergeant Barnes to agree." She said lightly.
"He's well aware of what would have happened if we didn't let her go. I think he's just content he was given the option to go with her."
Maria nodded, although she wasn't sold on the plan completely, she knew deep down it was the best way for them to find the HYDRA base. Nora wanted Riley, the first attack was to call Riley out. Now, Riley was going out in the open. All they could do now was wait for Nora to take the bait and attack. "Rogers isn't going to be happy."
"Is he ever happy with my plans?" Stark asked with a quirked eyebrow as he watched the two assassins make a break for the front door. He sighed, shoulders slumping. "Let's get their tracking up and running before anyone realizes."
Final Note: Thank you again, sorry for the slow chapter, promise it will pick up from here! We get more Bucky and Riley, the older version of them; in their element. Back to the snarky comments, yay! Remember to review and see you guys in the next chapter!