The next chapter! I hope you like it and please let me know what you think! And thank you so much for the reviews, it makes me happy to know that you like the story! And concerning the important point I mentioned in the last chapter, I think no one of you noticed it. But don't worry, we'll get there soon and then you'll see what it was! ;)
I don't own the characters or places!
"So you want to tell us that your best friend, of whom you thought that he died nearly one hundred years ago, is still alive? And that they turned him into a killer machine whose actions can be controlled by Hydra? Oh and he tried to kill you?" Bruce frowned. "Looking for him doesn't seem to be a good idea."
Steve sighed and leaned back in his seat. They were still in the jet. After Tony left, Steve told them the whole story about Bucky, beginning by their friendship. Pepper had listened to it silently since she already knew the story. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Tony and how he'd just ignored her questioning looks right before he left. Of course she knew that he couldn't just tell her why he had to leave, Steve didn't want everyone to know the whole story. But couldn't Tony just take her aside as well and tell her? It would have made her feel better about all this.
"He remembers me." Steve said now. "Like I said –"
"The chance is small, but it's there." Natasha threw in. "And Steve already told you that he doesn't want to face him alone. Tony and Sam will be with him when the time comes." At the mentioning of Tony, Pepper's heart began to beat faster. He might not be facing that man today, but they were so close to finding him…
"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Clint asked now, but his thoughtful gaze rested on Natasha, not Steve.
"I'm sorry about that, but it's not easy to talk about all this." Steve admitted with a sigh.
"You told Tony." Thor threw in.
"Well, it wasn't like he told him about it on his free will, was it? More like a series of coincidences." Natasha said and smiled slightly. Steve had also told them about the way Tony found out about Bucky.
Thor frowned. "That's true." He muttered.
"The point is that this man is dangerous." Bruce said slowly. "There might be a chance that he remembers you, but what if he doesn't?"
"We need to find him either way. What happens then, I don't know." Steve admitted and sighed again. Pepper would have liked to comfort him in some way, but she wasn't sure how. Tony already told her that Bucky's fate weighed heavily on him. She was sure that Tony would know what to say. After all, he and Steve were very close now. Sometimes, she even thought that they were closer than Tony and Rhodey and he's been Tony's best friend for years…
"We can go with you when you face him." Clint offered. "When he's as dangerous as you say, it'd be good to have backup."
Steve smiled. "That's nice and I appreciate it, but it feels like something I have to do alone."
"Not completely alone." Natasha corrected him immediately.
Steve ran a hand through his hair. "That's true. But I don't want to put you all in danger. I think three people will be able to deal with Bucky. After all, we know what to expect, unlike last time."
At those words, Natasha grimaced. "True."
"Another problem ahead." Bruce muttered and looked at Steve thoughtfully.
"Maybe the same problem, just another part of it?" Thor offered. "It's also Hydra, after all."
"Yes, but this feels a lot more personal…" Steve muttered darkly.
With those words, the conversation ended and they all sat there in silence for the rest of the flight, everyone lost in their own thoughts.
"Not weird at all." Sam muttered and Tony looked up from the paper behind which he was hiding. "Sitting in a café with Tony Stark, waiting for the bad guys to show up."
"Didn't I tell you not to say that aloud?" Tony muttered and rolled his eyes. He'd arrived in Yellowknife about half an hour ago. Not wanting to attract too much attention, he'd met Sam in the forest outside of the town. His suit was waiting there for him and Sam had shown him the hotel. Luckily, Tony had his sunglasses with him and Sam had arranged a cap for him to wear. Otherwise, someone might have recognized Tony Stark walking through the streets and that was the last thing they needed right now.
"This place is nearly empty, there's no one here to hear us." Sam argued quietly.
Tony sighed. "Point for you."
Sam grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. He was too tense. They had been lucky that the café wasn't too crowded. Now they were sitting opposite of each other, with a good view of the hotel on the other side of the street. They would see everyone who entered that place. And that's when Sam had to play his part. They had decided that he should go in since Tony might be recognized too easily. And then he just had to get close to the Hydra agents and use the tracer on him. The can was small and when he could get close to the people, it wouldn't be difficult to mark them with the spray.
"I heard your trip to California didn't end well?" Sam asked, apparently he was trying to do some small talk.
Tony looked over his newspaper again and raised his eyebrows. "I bet Steve already told you everything about it."
Sam, now looking over his own paper as well, nodded. "He did. We talked very much, following the trace of someone who knows how to hide very well can get boring sometimes."
"Especially when you're sitting in a small town like this, waiting for something to happen?" Tony asked, smiling slightly, and Sam nodded.
"I really lost him here." He didn't sound happy with that.
"I'm sure our plan will work." Tony said confidently.
"Because it's your plan?"
"Partly." He admitted.
"What if your tracer spray doesn't work?" Sam asked slowly.
"It works." Tony muttered. "We've tested it."
"And also how long it works?"
"You have about two weeks."
Sam nodded slowly. "I can work with that. It's time that this journey ends either way. I hate cold weather."
Tony chuckled. "Bad luck that all those places concerning him are in regions like that."
"I just want to find him, tell you about it, deal with him and go home." Sam explained. "I'm doing this for Steve, but that doesn't mean that I like all of it."
Tony looked out of the window silently for a few moments. However, the people who entered the hotel now just seemed to be tourists. A family, with kids. "What are you going to do after this? Steve turned your whole life around."
Sam laughed quietly. "Yes, he did. And I don't know." He honestly in his words wasn't easy to miss. "Maybe I'll relax for some time, but I fear that the feeling of being useless might return…"
"Who knows, maybe we could use someone like you in the team." Tony said and that's when Sam dropped the newspaper completely.
"You're joking, aren't you?" He asked and when he saw Tony's expression, he shook his head slowly. "You're actually serious."
Tony nodded. "Why not? Steve trusts you and I've seen you fight in those records. We could use someone like you."
Sam was about to say something else, when a movement outside caught their attention. Three men in dark clothes were heading for the hotel, the looks on their faces serious.
"JARVIS?" Tony whispered and put on his sunglasses. JARVIS began to scan their faces immediately.
"They are agents from Hydra." JARVIS confirmed his thoughts. By the way they looked, Tony would have known who they were even without JARVIS' help.
"Seems like it's showtime." He said to Sam, who stood up with a grin.
In the tower, Pepper made her way to the top floors she shared with Tony. She was surprised to see that nothing had changed since the last time she'd been there. Apparently, Tony didn't spent much time there those past months. Everything looked clean, even too clean. And Tony was never this tidy…
In the bedroom, Pepper changed her clothes into something more comfortable. She just wanted to leave the room, when she noticed something standing on the bedside table. It was a picture of Tony and herself. She sat down on his half of the bed and looked at it more closely. She remembered the day it had been taken. They'd been in Malibu with Rhodey, it had been Pepper's day off at work. And Rhodey just returned from a mission in Asia. It was the time before the whole story with the Mandarin happened… On the picture, she and Tony were standing on the balcony of their old house, his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. He was kissing her on the cheek and she smiled in to the camera, looking carefree. And he also seemed so relaxed. There weren't dark rings under his eyes and the worry lines in his face haven't been that deep yet…
She looked at the picture for a few minutes, before she finally stood up and made her way to the kitchen. The other Avengers weren't there yet and somehow, Pepper was glad about it. Having them all around was nice, but sometimes it could also be exhausting. She sat down on the table and looked out of the window. Somehow, New York and this tower weren't the same without Tony… But with Malibu, it was the same after all.
She heard the elevator opening but didn't turn around. It was probably just Happy or one of the Avengers. The sound of high heels hitting the ground made her turn around immediately. And Pepper wished that she wouldn't have come to the kitchen now, when the others weren't around.
Maria Hill was walking towards her, wearing a tight, dark blue dress. Her hair was tied back and she was wearing makeup, something Pepper had never seen on her before. But to be honest, she'd only seen her once? Or maybe twice? She wasn't so sure about that. What she knew was that she didn't like this woman being around Tony. And her being his assistant was even worse.
"Mrs. Potts, it's good to see you. I was just informed that the jet arrived. I expected you to be back sooner." She was smiling widely at Pepper, but somehow the smile didn't seem right.
Pepper forced a smile onto her own lips. "It's Pepper, please."
"Then it's Maria." She interrupted her before Pepper could say anything else. "Tony already informed me that you couldn't come sooner because of Natasha's injury."
She was calling him Tony? A little presumptuous for an assistant.
"And he also told me that you would be coming. What brings you to New York?" She really hated that smile on her. Was she looking at Tony like this was well? Or wasn't her smile fake then? And what did he think of her as his assistant? He didn't sound very happy when they talked about her back in Malibu… Or did he like her? She was pretty, wasn't she? And Tony liked pretty women…
"I came here with Tony." She replied calmly. She wouldn't let this woman know that she didn't like her presence. At least not yet. "And I will do some business visits for Stark Industries. I haven't been here for some time."
Maria Hill nodded slowly. "Where is Tony? There are a few things he needs to sign." She held up the papers in her hand.
Pepper raised her eyebrows. "And what is to important?"
Maria's smile became a little more forced. "I'm afraid I can't tell you about it. It's just for him."
Pepper would have loved to roll her eyes, but she just kept smiling at the woman in front of her. "Well, then I have to tell you that I'm afraid he won't be back until this evening. So you will have to talk to him tomorrow."
Now she raised her eyebrows. "He didn't come with you?"
Pepper shook her head. "Unfortunately, there was something else he had to deal with first. An emergency."
Maria frowned and Pepper would have liked to laugh. Apparently, she didn't like the news at all. As fast as her expression had darkened, the smile on her lips returned. "Can you tell me what is so important?" She asked politely.
"I'm afraid not. It's personal." Pepper answered slowly. "You will have to ask him yourself tomorrow."
Maria Hill nodded. "I will do that. And I'll also show him the papers then. And inform him about everything he missed during his absence."
Pepper smiled. "I'm sure he'll like that."
"We always have very nice conversations." Maria said and the expression on her face made Pepper's blood boil. "I didn't think that it would be so pleasant to be his assistant."
She raised her eyebrows. "And why is that?"
"From what I've seen and heard before, I thought that Tony wouldn't be the best person to work for. He's too impulsive. Unpredictable."
"You changed your mind about that?" Pepper tried to keep her voice neutral.
Maria laughed and shook her head. "God, no. But we get along well, he let's me do my work and that's all that counts."
Pepper hoped that she would leave now. Or that Happy would finally come to the kitchen, or one of the others. She really didn't like to be alone with Maria Hill anymore. And the way she talked about Tony… He didn't like her, did he? She really was pretty, after all… And a fighter, she was a SHIELD agent… Didn't Tony like women like that? Stop worrying about this, he loves you a voice in her head told her, but Pepper couldn't stop the thoughts about Marie Hill. Not when said woman was still standing in front of her.
"I heard that Tony dealt with an incident in one of the Stark Industries facilities in LA." Maria Hill said. "And you went to a charity gala. You two looked very good together. He got a few invitations for events in New York as well, I considered not to show him those because he wasn't too happy when I asked him about this last time. But maybe you would like to attend another event?"
At the thought of the charity gala, Pepper forced back a grimace. "I don't think that will be necessary, one of those events at a time is enough." She hoped that Maria wouldn't see how stressed this theme made her.
"Then I'll just throw them away. What a pity, Tony really looks handsome in a suit. In here, he's mostly covered in oil or something like that. Also doesn't look bad on him, but it smells." Maria searched for one of the papers in her hands and folded it. "Then I don't have to talk to him about this anymore."
Pepper just stared at her silently. How dare she talked about Tony like this… And then in front of her. Yes, their relationship had been difficult in the past months, but didn't she know about them? Did she decide to ignore that fact on purpose? She had to know that they were back together, after all, there had been pictures of them kissing in all of the papers…
"I hope that Tony feels better now that you're here." Maria said now, still busy with the papers. "He's been absent-minded the past months. It hasn't been easy to cheer him up. Not that I didn't manage it, but either way…"
Luckily, she didn't look at Pepper in this moment. Otherwise, Maria would have seen the murderous look on her face.
Before Pepper could reply anything, the door of the elevator opened again. This time, it was Happy. "I'm sorry that it took me so long, Steve caught me once we left the jet to talk about…" He hesitated when he saw Maria standing there. "He wanted to tell me something."
Pepper smiled at him and this time, the smile was real. "Don't worry about that, now that you're here we can think about lunch. I bet the others are hungry as well."
"Did someone mention food?" The elevator had stopped again and this time, the other Avengers were walking towards them. They all gathered around the table and began to think about which food they should order. Maria Hill was forgotten and when she left quietly, Pepper would have liked to laugh. However, there was still this strange feeling in her stomach. Did Tony really like her?
