A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

You Say, Baby, We're Too Late

Steve had been to New York more than once since coming back from the ice. He'd lived there for a while, in fact. But it never felt right, never like home. There was too much that had changed, obviously the location but maybe a little bit in him, too, for it to be anything familiar. In recent years, he had avoided returning there whenever possible. Now in particularly seemed like a bad time to go back.

"It's right in Tony's backyard," he said, frowning.

They were all in the briefing room – Sharon, Nat, Bucky, and of course Clint and Sam. The last few hours had been spent pouring over whatever UN records they could get their hands on. Well, more accurately, Clint or Sharon could get their hands on. Nat and Bucky were reading through old SHIELD and HYDRA files in search of any mention of their Russian friend's real name.

There had been little success all around, and Clint suggested they go to the UN headquarters and see what they could find. Steve was less than enthused with that idea, for a number of reasons. The least of which being that Tony and the other Avengers would be close by and might have no trouble identifying them. Maybe as soon as they stepped off the plane. That was too dangerous to consider.

"Look, we're not making a lot of progress here," Clint said reasonably.

Steve looked at Sam and waited for him to weigh in. "Could find some leads," he offered at last.

Sharon put down what she had been reading with a little extra force. "So she got into a secure facility she shouldn't have. That doesn't mean she's working for the UN, just that she knows how to get through their roadblocks. And, correct me if I'm wrong, Natasha, but I think her background is more than enough to explain that."

"It could be," Nat replied with a smile. "It would be child's play to get myself in to question Zemo, though I have had more field experience than I expect she has."

"What other leads do we have?" Sam insisted, glancing at her sharply. Natasha's smile grew but lost some of its warmth, reminding Steve a little of a fox.

"We might still find something," Bucky put in quietly, looking between the two of them with a thoughtful expression.

Steve cleared his throat and they all looked at him. "What do we know for sure?"

No one volunteered to answer right away, directing their gaze to the table in front of them instead. Finally, Clint was the one who spoke up. He was always good at succinctly stating whatever they were facing.

"We know Barabal is Russian and worked in the Red Room. We know she left, though we don't know if it was by force or willingly after they wouldn't fund her program. It took her well over a decade to show up again, having gotten UN security clearance to question a prisoner that no one should be allowed to question. We know she sent agents to repeat at least six jobs on the Winter Soldier's rap sheet with the hopes of impressing someone. Whether that someone is footing the bill for her already and just needed a test, or whether it's just a declaration to the world what she's capable of, we don't know."

"Very concise," Nat told him approvingly. "James here identified some more cases that were definitely his, so might be repeated in the near future."

"How would she know which ones are his?" Sharon asked suddenly.

"That's a good question," Steve replied thoughtfully.

"Maybe she has access to some files we don't," Sam said with a shrug.

Steve had spent years tracking down everything available about the Winter Soldier. Everything from the file Nat had given him to combing through information that she'd dumped online. More of his spare time than he should really admit to using was devoted to finding out whatever he could about his old friend, a small part of him hoping that it wasn't true. That Bucky had died honorably, not been captured by the Russians and used for decades against his own country.

Then he'd used that information to search for Bucky. He had no real evidence that Bucky hadn't been found by his handlers, that he wasn't working again. But he hoped. There was no sign of him for two long years and he'd almost given up. It turned out everything he'd hoped for was true – Bucky was alive, no longer HYDRA's, no longer working for anyone. Just living a normal life. Regardless of how that ended, it was a relief to know that Bucky had found some peace.

But HYDRA, and Bucky, had covered their tracks thoroughly. And even the most encrypted files didn't confirm what the Winter Soldier had been doing all those years. What assignments were considered important enough to wake him up. So he couldn't imagine where Barabal could be getting information that slipped his thorough search. Maybe they were at a dead end after all.


Natasha wracked her brain, trying to think of something helpful. Barabal hadn't been one of her instructors, just an observer of herself and other students. She'd obviously been a generally successful staff member of the Red Room, because Natasha could remember seeing her around for years. As Natasha rose through the ranks, she could detect some animosity from the other woman. Especially after breaking trust and having a relationship with James. Barabal had almost been gleeful with malice about that.

When she was still being punished, Barabal had come to her cell more than once to taunt her about her choices, about what was waiting for her after this. There are wolves, she would say. There are stories about wolves and girls. Girls in red. All alone in the woods. About to get eaten up.

But those meant nothing. Natasha had kept her head down and didn't see the other woman again. Until she'd shown up on that security feed. How had she gotten in there? Impersonating a guard was easy enough, but she hadn't acted like it was a last-ditch effort on her part. In fact, she'd told Zemo that he knew who she was. Why would that be? Just from reading the files released from SHIELD? Why would she be in them, and why would he notice that?

"James, are you sure you don't know why she was observing you?" she asked quietly. After making no progress in their discussion, everyone had returned to reading in hopes of finding a lead.

He looked up at her apologetically. "I'm sure, Natalia."

Hmm. Well, if Barabal was asking Zemo for his files, did she mean the ones in Siberia? Those would certainly have records of the Winter Soldier's work over the years, and probably the only place to have kept track of it. But it wasn't like she would still be there, reading them. Of course, he'd only found out where in Siberia to go after questioning James. So he must have gotten ahold of something before then. Possibly something besides what was online.

"Where do you think Zemo got his information about you?"

James bit his lip. "I don't know."

"He talked about the files you released," Steve offered.

"There wasn't anything concrete on the Winter Soldier in SHIELD's databases, and the HYDRA files are what we have here," Sharon said, frowning slightly. "But he had that book. Where did he get it?"

At the mention of the thing used to control him, James stiffened and stared straight ahead, unseeing.

"James, when was the last time you saw it?" Natasha asked him gently, aching at the strength of his response.

His eyes flickered toward her uncertainly. "The man in the suit – Pierce. He didn't have it."

"No?" she murmured when he fell silent.

He nodded. "They only used it in Siberia. Or I would have destroyed it when I escaped," he added, savagely.

Ignoring the people around them, she tenderly took his hand. "We'll find it," she promised with a squeeze. "Do you remember anyone who used it there? Anyone Zemo might have found?"

"They didn't, uh, didn't use names much. The first man who gave me missions grew older and older until he was replaced with a younger man. That one aged, too, and was replaced. The last one is probably still alive. If no one's killed him," he added.

"What can you remember about him?"

"He was… young. Dark hair, eyes. Russian. Not all of them were. He wore his uniform all of the time. And a red cap. They called him… Comrade. Comrade Karpov." His expressive face cleared and he smiled triumphantly at the recollection.

Her face darkened. She'd heard of Karpov. Everyone had. He'd been essentially the head of Department X, though she hadn't realized he'd personally overseen the Winter Soldier. She had heard that he'd defected after she did. But she'd also heard that he'd taken a lot of their secrets with him.

"I hate to say it, but he'd have changed his name by now," Sam broke his silence at last.

"I know where he is," she replied coolly. Or was, anyway.