A/N: This chapter was once again beta'd by Emerald2211!
It had been over a year and Tony was no closer to finding the mysterious wannabe hacker (MW for short). After the whole confrontation with Stane, it didn't take long for Tony to find out where the attempted hack came from. But it did him little good since it was from a public library in the middle of nowhere Kansas. Anyone could have done it, and since there was never a second attempt, Tony had no clue who it was.
He then had Jarvis searching all over for the hacker's very distinct style. It was obvious that MW developed their own program; would have to in order to get anywhere near the inner firewalls. There were a few that got a hit, like a $100 stolen from one of Wilson Fisk's overseas bank accounts that would have gone unnoticed by anyone else. It was only more recently that Jarvis found something big and very obviously made by MW.
A tiny program within the SHIELD servers that no one without an AI would have noticed. And when Tony had Jarvis track that, it lead to another computer in another library in a completely different state. Just like all the others. MW would have to have made the program from scratch each time and by using a free programming software to make it. Unless MW has a flash drive with enough memory for all the files needed.
Tony ended up not letting Shield know about the hack, since it wasn't like he never had Jarvis do the same thing. And he was curious in finding out what MW wanted from Shield. No one just hacks into SI just to leave a helpful tip. And while the hacker could have figured out that Stane was a bad egg just through his emails and contacts, to figure out that Tony's arc reactor would give him palladium poisoning over a year before he has any physical signs of it?
Either MW was a genius that even Tony couldn't understand (impossible) or he was missing something. Since Tony wasn't able to find MW, the best he could do was tweak the little program hidden in Shield to duplicate any information it downloads and send it back to him. Maybe if Tony figures out what MW's motives are, it will give him and Jarvis more information to work with.
Tony just wasn't expecting it to be so long before it activated.
I didn't expect to get the message so soon. In my mind, I placed the last scene of the first Captain America movie only a few weeks (or months) before the avenger movie started and since that came out in 2012, it was safe to bet the movie events would take place that year as well.
But there I was, April 25, 2011. Not 2012. And I was looking at my stolen data from SHIELD that said they successful thawed Captain American from the ice. It was a short, coded message that took me a few days to get through. Bucky helped a lot, even though I have yet to tell him what I was doing.
I suppose I need to now. It would be rude to just surprise him. Steve is already going to be surprised, and I haven't really planned how to get them to meet without SHIELD finding out too soon.
The info didn't say where Steve was, but I was pretty certain that he woke up in New York city. We were in Illinois, in a town I never heard of until we arrived. A quick google map search showed it would take us about 14 hours to get there.
See this is the interesting part. I don't know how long it took Steve to wake up, and I don't know how long it was from the last scene of the first Captain America movie to the first Avenger movie. So far there is nothing on the news about Loki, but that could change quickly.
It might be better to wait until that stuff blows over, but then I won't know where Steve is. This is the only time I know the city he is in until the second Captain America movie which was three years after Avengers. And Avengers might happen anywhere from months to a year from now.
Still feeling undecided, I printed out the map and stuffed it in my bag. Then I went into the bathroom and Apparated back to the room we were staying in.
Bucky was already there, looking at me briefly when I 'popped' in before going back to his weapon cleaning.
"So, what do you think about meeting Steve Rogers?"
Like I expected, Bucky dropped the magazine clip on the table and gave me his full attention.
"Isn't... he dead?"
I've brought up the captain a few times in hopes of getting Bucky to remember more, but I don't think it was a lot. Mentioning Steve however, Bucky did let me read his dream journal and there has been a few pages about a weakass punk with a heart of gold. It was very distorted and I would have never made the connection if I didn't already know, but it was there.
"Missing in action officially, but through my sweet hacking skills I have discovered that they found him. They being a secret government organization that has at least ten members who have connection to hydra so-"
"We need to save him." Bucky interrupted and already moved to grab our bags before I stopped him.
"Whoa, Steve is fine. It's not all of SHIELD and he's too popular for them to do anything right now. Steve should be good for a while. I only brought him up because of how tied he is to your weird dreams."
"You sure he is fine?"
"Yep, and he might not even be awake yet. See the reason why Captain America went missing was because he was frozen all this time. They just found him and stabilized him so, even if I wanted to take you there right now, it would be kinda pointless."
Bucky gave me a very pointed look that said he didn't think it would be pointless. Honestly I was a little surprised about how gung-ho he was about this. I was planing to have to coerce Bucky into this since it is really stupid since there is no way Hydra won't find out.
"I trust you have a plan?"
"Nope!" I told him with a huge grin. "I have a collection of ideas that might work as a plan with enough elbow grease. Also that is the weirdest phrase ever. Why would you want to call hard work as elbow grease? That sounds so gross."
"Focus, how long ago did... shield find him?"
"Today. I could go back and find out the exact time."
"You don't need to do that, but you know where Steve is now?"
"New York, New York. You know I've never seen the Statue of Liberty in person before. I bet I could teleport onto her head too."
"Maybe later. Can you teleport us both to New York?" Bucky asked and I froze.
There has been a good reason why I haven't taken Bucky with me while apparating. I don't know the rules for teleporting with other people. My SP cost for apparating has gone down to only 9, but who knows how that would change with another person. I don't want to cause Bucky to loss an other limb. Or worst.
"I have to had been to the place before in order to teleport to it. I've never been to New York." I semi-lied.
I knew Bucky knew that I lied, but he didn't mention it.
"Then what do you say we leave now and talk more once we are closer?"
I gave him a huge smile.
"Hell yeah! Operation meet Steve is a go!"
"We are not calling it that."
"Yes we are."
Despite leaving that night, it still took us two days to get into the big city. I have been to New York city before, but only for a few days while traveling to other places or meeting up with friends. I never got to check out the classic tourist places.
"We should go to Times Square." I suggested for more than one reason.
One because that was where Steve ran off to when he woke up in the fake hospital, two because I want to see it. At least that was where Steve ran off to in the movie, so it's as good a place as any to start.
"You think... he will be there?"
"If we get lucky." I told Bucky with a shrug.
Though that would be quite the shock for Steve. 'So not only are you 70 year in the future, but your best friend who you saw fall to his death survived and was used as a brainwashed assassin for that whole time'. Yeah maybe that won't be the best time, but as long as they somehow meet, that will be good enough for me.
Still, we ended up walking around the area until sunset without any super soldiers running down the middle of the street. I honestly really wanted to see that. The closest I've gotten to seeing a superhero fight is when Bucky shows up out of nowhere to help me with any trouble I found. And it wasn't like I even needed the help, so I can't call what Bucky did a fight.
"What do you think of the buildings around here?" I asked as we headed back to the motel room that I was willing to bet had cockroaches filling the wall as installation.
"You said he was being held in a hospital?"
"No, not a hospital. Just a place where they have the medical equipment." I said looking at all the skyscrapers that really did look all the same.
I have no idea what building Steve woke up in looked like from the outside. I assume it would be a build that SHIELD owned, but finding that out might be tricky. Or at least would require me to reset a bunch of times and I would rather not do that if I can. It gets really mind numbing reliving the same day over and over. Probably not good for my mental health.
"Let's head back for now. I know a few ways we can sneak in and find out where he could be."
"Oh? Are you going to teach me some cool ninja assassin tricks?"
"You already know most of them. You're just too loud."
"Okay, if you are talking about my teleporting that is not my fault. Pretty sure it makes that sound due to pressure difference from the locations, so the larger the difference the louder the sound."
"I was talking about when you walk Lani."
"Oh, right. I could work on that. I mean, I know how to walk silently, I just... don't do it all the time?"
"I would like to have you just stay behind, but I know you will somehow find more trouble to get into."
"Listen buddy, I just have some bad luck and very little sense of self-preservation. Totally not my fault, and you're kinda calling the kettle black here."
"Which is why we'll both need disguises when we do this."
"I've been watching youtube makeup tutorials about that! Thought it might come in handy, and it's like DIY shapeshifting, so that's cool."
"Okay, sure." Bucky said even though I got the impression he didn't know what I was talking about.
That night, instead of going to a library to hack into SHIELD, I just looked into the energy consumption for the building in New York, around Time Square. I figured that wherever Steve was being held would have a lot of equipment. Of course if they had their own power sources that would skew the numbers, but it was a good - safe - base.
[Game Saved]
[SP at max]
The next day I got to make Bucky look like a middle age old man with some cheap kids makeup while I got Bucky to cut my hair (and burn it in the bathroom sink). It made him look more like a depressed businessman than a hobo, so I guess it worked.
"This is a really dumb idea." I commented as we just walked into a building.
I totally get that idea that if you act like you belong people wouldn't question it, but this is taking it a little too far.
"And you're just realizing that now?"
I would have pouted at that if it wasn't for the fact that it was game time.
I was able to narrow down our search to five buildings last night that had serious electrical usage. Like at least twice that of other buildings. And they were all government funded buildings that didn't say what they really were. There's a good chance that more than one was owned by Shield, and all we needed to do was figure out where Steve was. Then figure out how to get him alone.
First building was a dud, and I reloaded before telling Bucky such. For the second building the security was tighter and we had to separate. Bucky got in looking like a janitor while I got to explore the vents. Which were very dusty and small.
I was a little nervous letting Bucky go by himself, but I was planning on reloading as soon as we figure out where Steve was.
Bucky wanted me in the vents to do some recon on the areas that didn't fit the online layout of the building, but when I saw an empty computer lab, I couldn't help myself.
Slipping down from the vent, I got onto one of the computers. Taking a look at the desk, I found a few post-it notes. Obviously this person was very old fashioned, but it worked in my favor as on one of them was the password. I then had to work quickly to see if there was any information physically saved on the network that I couldn't access before.
And there was.
[Save loaded]
[SP at max]
"He's not here. The silvery building that was second on the list? It is part of Shield and Steve was there, but left for a mission."
"Didn't he wake up only three days ago?" Bucky asked despite my info bomb right in the morning.
"I'm starting to think that was just the "official" time for the rest of the organization."
"Then where is he?"
"Don't know."
It was a little weird. I didn't think Steve went on any mission until Loki showed up.
Having a bad feeling, I turned on the TV to the news. Of course it was on the weather, but once they got to the world news there was still nothing about Loki.
"What is it?" Bucky asked, obviously picking up on my confusion.
"Not sure. It just... doesn't make sense. Why would Steve be on a mission so soon? Unless they needed Captain America, but there's nothing in the news."
"Could be the public doesn't know yet."
"Could be." I repeated, wishing that I had internet on my phone so I could see if there was any videos on social media.
"Do you want to go back and see if you can get any other information?"
"Not sure how much more I could get, most of it was encrypted."
"Then do you want to leave? We shouldn't risk our position if Steve isn't even here." Bucky said despite looking like he would do anything else but leave.
"We should be good for a few days, and I could activate my keyword hack again. See when Steve is done with his mission."
Maybe this was a comic book thing and not what I thought it could be. But if it's a comic book thing, then I have no idea if New York city is safe or not.
[Game Save]
[SP at max]
We ended up getting ready to go the next day. Bucky didn't want to test our luck, and I suppose there wasn't much reason for waiting. It just made me sad that it looked like we missed the window by a day or two. There was no hurry to leave, and we even ended up going out to breakfast at a little bistro.
By the time the sun was well into the sky, we were on the road heading out of downtown. So of-freaking-course that was when the sky decided to open a wormhole and those weird Leviathan/Chitauri aliens started falling out.
Fuck.
A/N: Thank you everyone who has favorited/followed this story. And super thanks to Nivellia Neil, Fan, Sunysides, theassomest5, the "Damn it" Guest, Estelle Lumene, the "this is so cool" guest, Updown1234, Inu-Angel Z, XenoLucifer, the "love this story" guest, I.D's Fantasy, Drunken Hamster, Brunolmg, Mwangochii, Goldenfightergirl, Cinnybun, Queen715679, Omega-66, thanzintay.2000, BlackDove WhiteDove, Blueowl, Nameless Angel 00, and Death Fury for thanking the time to leave me a review. The last chapter has broken the most review for this site, with 24, and the most review/comments total with 34! That is so crazy.
I am so excited to post the next two chapter. I sure a lot of you can guess what's going to happen ;)