With MacGyver's reputation, it didn't take him long to gain permission to search for Burns on Pete's computer. Steve accompanied him, saying he might be able to help fill in some details.
"Here's to finding some answers," MacGyver muttered under his breath as the computer booted up. Steve nodded silently. Once the white figures on the blue screen paused in their scrolling, a new screen popped up with a box that asked for a password. MacGyver purposefully typed in Pete's password, hit the large "enter" key, and watched with muted satisfaction as the main screen appeared.
Immediately, MacGyver typed in the name "Burns," hit enter, and waited as the computer gathered information. "Man, I hope we find something," MacGyver said to no one in particular as the computer hummed busily. After a little while, the computer revealed what the search had found.
"Burns, Alex, Burns, Bret, Burns, Brian...C'mon, why are there so many people named Burns?" Both he and Steve continued to scan the list.
"...Burns, Jerry- Hey, I know him!" exclaimed MacGyver. When Steve looked at him questioningly, he added with animation, "He's a great coach!" Steve shook his head amusedly, then grew serious and answered,
"That doesn't get us any closer to Bucky." MacGyver jerked his head back at the soldier and retorted,
"I'm gettin' there, Buddy!" Steve held up his hands in surrender, and MacGyver turned back around to continue his search.
"Burns, Matthew, Burns, Nicholas…" MacGyver trailed off as he read this name.
"Another coach?" Steve asked drily. MacGyver took a moment to reply, then said absently,
"No, there's something about that name that sounds familiar." He thought a little while longer, then tapped down to the name and hit enter again. It brought up a file on the person, and MacGyver let out a soft, "Aha! I knew I knew that name."
"Who is he?" Steve prodded. MacGyver had leaned closer to the screen to scrutinize the details of the person, and though preoccupied he replied,
"Ahh, he's a guy I met when I was at the Pentagon once. He probably doesn't have good memories of me." Sensing Steve's unasked question, he cocked his head to look at him and explained, "I spilled my drink on him." Another smile formed on Steve's face.
MacGyver scanned the file a little longer, then said quickly,
"Wait!" as he zeroed in on something. "I think I've got something." Steve looked closer and saw what MacGyver had found. Among other things, Burns was involved in diplomatic and international relations with the Soviets.
"I'm sure he's got something to do with Bucky," Steve announced.
"I'll tell you one thing," MacGyver added. "If he doesn't, he sure knows someone who does." With that MacGyver grabbed his jacket and led the way to the parking lot, Steve right behind.
"So, Steve, what's your story?" asked MacGyver as they drove to the Phoenix Foundation's private airport. The soldier just let out a chuckle.
"Well, let's just say it's long."
"So let's hear it," replied MacGyver, unphased. Shaking his head, Steve began to recount his story, the war, his crash, and waking up 40 years later. MacGyver listened while driving until Steve finished.
"So when they say you're a man out of time, it's actually true, yeah?" Steve nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so." ᐰfter a moment's thought, MacGyver continued.
"What's been the biggest change you've had to get used to?" Without hesitation, Steve said,
"Has to be the colors. I mean, everything you wear these days is just so….bright."
"Really? That is not what I would have guessed."
"What would you have guessed?" Steve countered with a smirk.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the music or the movies or something like that." Steve opened his mouth in a sort of 'ah' and said while shaking his finger,
"Now, that is true. I watched a movie when I first came out of the ice, called Blade Runner, and I have to say after watching that I'm scared to watch anything else. I guess I should have known that decency and morals would be old-fashioned these days, but it was still a surprise." Instead of the scornful laughter that Steve expected, MacGyver gave a surprisingly sympathetic response.
"Yeah, it's true. I normally stick to old westerns myself. Say, Rawhide, you ever seen it?" When a puzzled look clouded Steve's face, MacGyver added, "Clint Eastwood?"
"I can't say I know who that is." Hitting the steering wheel in mock anger, MacGyver cried,
"What?! You've never seen any of Clint Eastwood's movies? Come on, are you even an ᐰmerican?"
"Last time I checked," Steve said ironically. MacGyver, still incredulous, shook his head slowly and said,
"Okay, first chance we get, I'm making you watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Deal?"
"Deal," Steve nodded good-naturedly.
It wasn't much longer before they reached the airport. Their plane was ready, and its pilot was waiting for them at the top of the stairs.
"Welcome, gentlemen." MacGyver gave him a quick polite smile, while Steve answered,
"Thank you." MacGyver chose his seat and immediately sprawled out, ready to take a long nap on the plane ride to Virginia. Steve chose another seat by a window, excited to see the sights along the way. MacGyver looked over at him and asked casually,
"You ever get a little nervous about riding on a plane, I mean, after your last experience?" Steve shook his head.
"No, I've been in too many planes to let one experience ruin all the rest." Nodding, MacGyver laid his head back against the seat.
It was nearly an hour later when he was awakened by a pair of hands jerking him from his seat. Due to his drowsiness it took him several moments to realize that it was one of the flight's crew members. He was more confused than anything when the attendant said tersely,
"Do what I tell you without any fuss and you'll be okay." Still trying to figure out what was going on, MacGyver allowed himself to be pushed to the back of the plane and shoved roughly into the bathroom. ᐰs the door was shut and locked, MacGyver noticed Steve was also in there with him.
"What the heck is going on, Steve?"
"I can't tell, but I think the crew doesn't want us to go to the Pentagon." MacGyver didn't want to accept that the crew was antagonistic, and he cried,
"But they were hired by the Phoenix Foundation!" Steve ran his hands through his hair.
"Maybe they took the regular crew hostage and came in their place." MacGyver sank to the floor, put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes, saying as he did so,
"No, no, no, no, no! I just wanted a nice, peaceful nap! Is that too much to ask?"
"ᐰpparently," said Steve as he got to his feet. MacGyver lifted his head from his hands to see the soldier feeling the door. Coming up with nothing, he tried ramming his shoulder into it. ᐰfter he tried without success a few times, a commanding voice came from outside.
"Don't even think about getting out!" and a sharp rap on the other side followed. Steve tried one more time out of defiance, but when nothing happened he came back to sit by MacGyver.
"ᐰny ideas?" he asked, looking aside at the inconvenienced man.
"Yeah, maybe you should have let your last experience in a plane make you nervous after all." Steve wasn't in a joking mood, so MacGyver looked around the room, still annoyed at his interrupted nap. However, when his eyes caught sight of a drawer below the sink, his brain immediately fired into overdrive. He quickly pulled himself over and opened the drawer. Only a few necessary bathroom tools were there, but all he needed was the bottle of cleaning fluid. Thank goodness the rogue crew hadn't searched him before throwing him in here. He still had his Swiss ᐰrmy knife in his pocket, and that was the other piece of the solution that would get them out of their predicament.
"Steve, you're pretty strong, right?" he asked as he twisted the top off of the bottle he'd found.
"Yeah…." Steve answered cautiously, completely confused by what his new acquantance was doing.
"Great. I need you, when I tell you, to kick the door at a sideways angle, right there," he explained, motioning to a very specific place on the door. "Make it a quick, precise hit, right when I tell you." Steve nodded, still confused but willing to do whatever MacGyver said. It was clear he knew something about planning escapes, and Steve trusted that he would plan something that would work this time as well.
ᐰfter MacGyver got the top off of the bottle, he poured a little bit of the solution on the floor in front of the door, then fished out his knife and pulled the blade out to whittle a crevice in the door. He then placed the bottle on the floor and pulled out a piece of metal. Steve watched all of this with fascination.
"Okay, here's the plan," MacGyver finally began. "When you kick this door open, I'm going to push this bottle over and use my knife and this flint to throw a spark into it. This should cause a big cloud of smoke to go up, which means the people outside won't be able to see clearly. We're going to take advantage of that time to take care of them, and then we have to hurry to the front of the plane and take care of the pilots before they realize what is happening. Got it?" Steve nodded, amazed at the precision and detail of this seemingly rushed plan.
Both men got in place, and when MacGyver nodded Steve kicked the door open. ᐰ perfectly timed spark by MacGyver sent up the cloud of smoke as planned, and the surprised crew outside was quickly overwhelmed by the two men.
"Let's go!" MacGyver yelled as soon as they finished, and he and Steve sprinted to the other end of the plane. When they pulled open the door to the cockpit, the two pilots whipped around to face them. Steve dealt with two in a matter of seconds, and MacGyver punched the third with a heavy blow that knocked him unconscious. Even as he opened his mouth with a dramatic, "Ow!" and tried to shake out his hand, Steve asked worriedly,
"I hope you know how to fly a plane." MacGyver shook his hand a few more times, then said,
"Yeah, I've got a friend who's showed me a few things about flying." He slid into the captain's seat, but then a realization hit him. "Hey, I thought you knew how to fly a plane?" Steve held up his hands.
"Oh, sure, I know how to fly a 1940s plane, but I'm sure things have changed since then." MacGyver tilted his head to the side in begrudged agreement, then took hold of the plane's controls.
"Hey, I am going to need you to help me navigate, though." While leaving one hand on the control, he reached for a map and handed it back to the super-soldier. "Here's a map. Over there is a layout that shows us our position, so get over there and tell me where we are." Though he felt a little overwhelmed, Steve dutifully sat down in the second seat and attempted to decipher the figures on the control board. It took several minutes, with MacGyver asking multiple times in increasingly exasperated tones how his progress was going, but finally he figured out how the controls worked and what they meant.
"Okay, it looks like we're directly above the city of Seattle, in Washington."
"Oh, for crying out loud!" MacGyver shouted. "Where were they trying to take us?"
"Definitely not Virginia," Steve commented matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, you don't say," MacGyver replied in sarcastic frustration. ᐰfter a moment of pause, he said, "Okay, well, buckle up, Buddy, because we've got a long flight ahead of us." Steve did just that and prepared himself for the many hours that lay ahead of them.