Abandoned Warehouse, Downtown Berlin
"That helicopter's back again."
At Steve's low murmur, Maggie pulled out her phone and took a look at the local law enforcement frequencies. "They're scanning the area, but they haven't spotted us. We can't stay here long, though."
Steve glanced away from the crack in the warehouse door he'd been peering through, and eyed her. The expression on his face softened. "You okay?"
Maggie let out a breath. It had been an hour since they fled the JTTF headquarters, picking up Sam outside the building in their stolen van. Maggie had driven with the collected determination of the Wyvern, found them this warehouse and helped Steve and Sam to carry the unconscious Bucky out of the van and prop him against an industrial-grade vice, which they locked his arm in. Maggie knew how to disable the arm, but they decided the vice was enough for now.
Even then, confronted by Bucky's unconscious and bloody face, Maggie hadn't slowed down. She didn't allow herself to look at him for long. She'd got on her phone, monitoring the digital activity out of the JTTF, ensuring they hadn't been followed, and wiping any potential of her own phone being traced.
But now Steve looked at her, and she knew he could see the bruises, and the lingering horror.
Maggie swallowed. "Are you?" she whispered.
Steve shot her a small, sad smile. "Thank you," he murmured in reply. "For protecting him."
"I'm not sure I've done a great job of it," she sighed. She shook her head. "I just wish we could do anything other than wait for him to wake up."
They'd already decided that they needed further intel from Bucky before they could move forward. Sam had lost the doctor at the JCTC and they had no idea what he wanted.
"I wish there was something else we can do, but… we don't know who to trust," Steve said, his hands on his hips. "We stay off the radar, keep Bucky hidden so he can't be triggered again, and hopefully Bucky can give us a lead. I don't think that doctor's got what he wanted yet. Said he wanted to see an empire fall."
"We'll have a job following up any leads, with all this," Maggie said, peering out of the warehouse.
Steve put his hands on his hips and looked down. "For what it's worth… I do want to fix this, Maggie. Everything that's gone on with the team. "
"Not as much as you want to keep him safe," she smiled as she pulled back from the door and jerked her head in the direction of the other room.
He half-laughed. "Well. Can you blame me?"
"Of course not. I'm with you, in that."
His brows contracted. "You and Bucky-"
"Hey, Cap!" Sam called, and they both glanced over to see him looking into the room where they'd left Bucky, concern on his face.
They ran over.
Bucky was awake. He sat slumped against the vice, slowly trying to drag himself into an upright sitting position, muttered groans echoing in the dingy windowless room. Maggie's heart skipped and she faltered in the doorway.
Bucky looked up through his river-damp hair, setting another hand on the vice to right himself. His eyes fell first on Steve's shoes, then lifted to his face.
"Steve," he groaned, still sagging a little. He blinked, then squeezed his eyes shut.
"Which Bucky am I talking to?"
Bucky didn't seem to be able to focus on Steve's face. He winced a little and said, with determination: "Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."
Steve's expression changed: the frown lines cleared, and a ghost of a smile glimmered on his face. The intonation of Bucky's words made Maggie think he had said them before.
"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked, glancing between them.
"Bucky," Maggie murmured, and his eyes dragged over to her, widening. She held his gaze for a moment, terrified she would see ice and nothingness, but there he was: tired, a pinch of pain in the grey-blue of his eyes, then a worried look as he took her in.
"You're here," he murmured. He still sounded dazed.
Maggie nodded, her chest swelling. "It's you." She sensed Sam glance sideways at her.
Bucky looked down and his jaw trembled. "What did I do."
"Enough," Steve replied.
He let out a breath and squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, god. I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there."
"The trigger words?" Maggie asked.
Bucky nodded, running a tongue over his teeth in anger. Maggie unstuck her feet and paced over to start undoing the vice.
"Who was that doctor?" Steve asked, hands loose by his sides.
"I don't know."
"People are dead. The bombing, the setup, the doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than I don't know."
The vice released Bucky's metal arm and he slumped again, flexing the hand. When he looked up, there was a wondering light in his eyes. "He wanted to know about Siberia," he breathed. "Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
Steve frowned. "Why would he need to know that?"
Bucky's gaze dropped. "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."
Maggie listened in mounting horror as Bucky described the Winter Soldier Program. The grim ambition of Colonel Karpov, the strength and mental instability of the new soldiers. She was familiar with the detached, lifeless way he spoke about his Winter Soldier days, and it made her heart ache for him all over again, but the content of his story made the hairs on her arms rise.
Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum.
"They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming," he finished, his gaze level and clear now.
"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Maggie asked.
He put his head in his hands. "I barely remembered, and it didn't seem important - I didn't think anyone else knew. Just like the trigger words." He shot her an apologetic glance.
Sam paced over to Steve, and Bucky dropped his head again. As Steve and Sam began murmuring to each other, Maggie circled the vice and crouched down beside Bucky. She set her hand on his forearm - the flesh one.
Bucky looked over at her, his expression creased in something that looked like pain.
"Thank you for coming back," she said, with a half smile. "It's good to see you again."
He huffed, breaking eye contact to look down again. He shook his head. "What're you doing, Meg?"
"What do you mean?" She glanced over at Steve and Sam - Steve had his eyes on her and Bucky, but was still talking to Sam.
"I know about the Accords, I know… you shouldn't have come after me. Your whole life… it's not worth this."
She squeezed his arm. "Hey. I told you before you left: you're my mission. Not a chance in hell I'm giving up now."
He kept his head down for another long moment, before he finally nodded once.
"I hurt people, didn't I?" he murmured.
"That doctor did, using you as his weapon. The guilt does not belong to you," she said firmly. She stood, wincing, and as if he could sense it he glanced up at her.
"I hurt you?"
But Maggie had begun listening in to Steve and Sam's conversation.
"If we call Tony…"
"No, he won't believe us."
"Even if I he did-"
"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," Sam said grimly.
Maggie cleared her throat. "Well…"
Steve glanced at her. "What?" Reading the look on her face, he sighed. "Maggie, I know he's your brother, but-"
"He's in."
Steve frowned. "What?"
Maggie pulled out her phone. "He wants to - he's going to help us. We can tell him what we've learned, figure out a plan. Though we're going to have a job of it; he says Ross is at battle stations, calling in all kinds of special forces on top of the Avengers-"
Steve blinked, then looked from her phone to her face, his expression going blank. He took a step forward, almost running into Sam. "You - Maggie, does Tony know where we are?" he glanced up, in the direction of the helicopter.
"No."
Sam's mouth had dropped. "And what, you're cool with updating him on our progress?" He looked to Steve, as if for intervention. Even Bucky looked up at Maggie with a frown.
"Tony wants to help." She brushed her hair away from her face. "He and I… look, we might have our differences about the Accords, but Tony and I agreed that this mess goes beyond that. He's trying to protect us as best as he can from the inside to make sure Bucky is out of harm's way, and to help us find that doctor. So we have to be clever about this."
Steve and Sam stared at each other a moment, aghast, before Steve looked hesitantly at Maggie again. "What can he do, restricted by the Accords?"
"Well he's currently in charge of finding us," Maggie said, checking the text thread with her brother again, "so he can do his best not to do that. And hopefully with him on the inside, and us on the outside… we can find this doctor before he gets to those Winter Soldiers."
"And then?" Sam prompted.
"And then… we deal with the next problem." Bucky made a pained noise by her side, and she looked down to see he'd managed to sit up straight.
"You're sure we can trust him?"
Maggie turned her gaze to Steve again. His brows were drawn together and his jaw set: his Captain America face. He was annoyed she'd kept this from him, but she saw the glimmer of worry and hope in his eyes; he didn't know how to feel about Tony right now.
She sighed. "Tony is being… stubborn, and idealistic, and driven by guilt right now. But he's also very smart. And he knows Bucky. And he realizes there's someone else we need to catch here. So we can trust his help. And trust me when I say that there's no way he can track this phone."
Steve held her gaze for a few long moments, before he finally dipped his chin. "Okay. But we only tell him what he needs to know."
Sam let out a frustrated sigh. "Even with Tony doing his best to turn a blind eye, there's no way Ross buys that we make it all the way to Siberia without him finding us," he said grimly. "And that's forgetting what we're going to face when we do get there - we're going to need gear, and a jet, and a hell of a lot more backup-"
"Yeah." Maggie ran a hand over her jaw, thinking. "So… we let him find us, then."
Joint Counter Terrorist Center, Berlin
Secretary Ross brought with him a dark kind of heaviness to the air, like the sky before a storm.
"I don't suppose you have any idea where they are?" he asked in a low, gravelly voice, advancing on Tony and Nat where they sat in the operations center.
"We will," Tony assured him. "GSG-9's got the borders covered, recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit, we'll handle it."
Ross had turned his back. "You don't get it, Stark, it's not yours to handle. It's clear you can't be objective, especially given that your sister is now one of the fugitives. I'm putting Special Ops on this."
"What happens when the shooting starts?" Natasha piped up from her seat. "What, you kill Steve Rogers?"
"If we're provoked," Ross replied. "Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers." Tony and Nat shared a glance. "There are dead people who would be alive now." Tony sat down, and Ross took the opportunity to loom over him. "Feel free to check my math."
Tony held his gaze. "With all due respect, I think we have to consider the possibility," he said carefully, "that there might be more to this. Some of the JTTF lot here" - good, shift the responsibility - "think there's evidence that Barnes might have been framed, that there's someone else out there. That they might have been responsible for the power outage too. Berlin police are investigating-"
"Framed?" Ross scoffed. "Stark, if I see a HYDRA assassin with a screw loose blowing up government buildings, I don't jump to framing." He began to turn away again. "With all due respect, your pal Rogers is committing treason to protect his old war buddy regardless of his crimes, and Wilson and your sister are too weak-willed to do anything other than follow." He headed for the door.
"Fine," Tony said, hands clenching, and Ross paused. "But you're not gonna solve this with boys and bullets, Ross. You've gotta let us bring 'em in."
Ross turned. "How would that end any differently than last time?"
"Because this time I won't be wearing loafers and a silk shirt."
When Ross left, calling the names of those he wanted arrested, Tony let out a long sigh and sat back down, rubbing his chest where Barnes had hit him. Asshole packs a punch, he thought, but the resentment was tempered by his surety that that hadn't been Barnes. He wasn't friends with the guy, but he'd lived in the same building as him for two years. Fought with him, even. And Bucky Barnes didn't fight like that. Bucky Barnes didn't look at people the way that man had: like there was nothing inside of him other than blind purpose and violence.
He closed his eyes at the memory of Maggie's face - hurt and horror jumbled into one as Barnes advanced on her. Maggie was normally so good at hiding her emotions, but she'd worn that one crystal clear.
Natasha came over to stand by him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?" she asked.
"Always." She crossed her arms and looked through the glass walls at the surveillance screens in the operations room. "36 hours, jeez," he muttered.
"You didn't try very hard to convince him that we know there's someone else behind this," Natasha commented.
"Neither did you," he added. He rolled his shoulder painfully. "He's mistrustful enough, he clearly doesn't want to hear it. Gotta stay in the good books." His phone buzzed in his pocket and he checked it.
From an unknown number, a text that took a minute for F.R.I.D.A.Y. to decrypt: Got a lead, but we're going to need non-Accords backup and a jet. Cat and mouse?
He sighed.
"All we can do is go after them," Natasha murmured, and he glanced up to see the conflict in her eyes. "And we're seriously understaffed."
"Oh, yeah. We're going to need backup." He stretched. "All the same, I think our next mission's going to end in a failure, too."
She frowned. "Why?"
"Because I'm going to make sure of it."
Her expression dropped and she faced him, glancing around to make sure they weren't being observed. "What did you do."
"Come on, Nat. You know Barnes did not just go off his rocker for no reason. You know there's more to this."
She tipped her head back. "I'll admit the story as it stands doesn't line up."
"Want to make it line up?"
She tilted her head. "You're playing a dangerous game, Tony."
"I'm good at those. So are you." He raised his eyebrows at her.
She sighed. "What are you planning?"
Abandoned Warehouse, Berlin
They'd given themselves forty minutes to pack up, plan, get ready, and then flee the city.
Maggie spent her time selecting the best place nearby to steal a car from, and checking the JTTF's hunt for them. Steve and Sam discussed the gear and backup they'd need to face five Winter Soldiers.
Bucky was slow to rise, wincing as he moved. He currently stood in the main space of the warehouse, checking the bullet holes in his left sleeve with a frown.
Maggie's phone buzzed:
Ross gave us 36 hours. And he's sending in special forces with us, so this is going to have to look very real. Bring everyone you can, we're getting more backup. We also need a safe venue.
She let out a shaky breath. She'd heard Steve and Sam planning who they could bring in, and they needed the backup, but… they were gambling with lives here.
The familiar claustrophobic press of panic around her made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Her skin flashed hot, then icy cold, her fingers tingled, and she felt her heartrate ramping up.
Maggie closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe long and slow in through her nose, then out through her mouth. She planted her feet firm on the floor and forced herself to concentrate: the cool air on her skin, the distant buzz of car engines and helicopters, hair tickling the back of her neck, the slight growl in her stomach. I am afraid, she told herself, and that makes me a person.
And I'm always an Avenger.
Another half a minute of breathing had the panic easing back, allowing her enough space in her chest to breathe freely. A part of her wanted to worry at the sudden return of her struggles with panic attacks, but mostly she allowed herself to be proud. Two years ago she'd have been a shivering mess on the floor by this point. Now, she was able to nod to her feelings and walk with them, like two old friends making their way down the street.
She pulled out her phone again and replied to Tony:
I've got a few ideas.
"Hey."
She glanced over. Bucky had given up on his inspection of the bulletholes in his shirt, and had taken a few paces toward her. She smiled at him. He looked startled, then offered a hesitant smile back. His eyes flicked over her.
"Are you okay? Did I…?"
"I'm okay. Got you good in return," she half lied. Need my wings if I'm going to be facing more like him.
He let out a tired sigh.
"Hey. C'mere." She pocketed her phone and opened her arms, and his eyes widened again. "You look like you need a hug."
He hesitated.
Maggie stepped forward, her eyebrows arched to ask permission, and he gave her a small nod. She took the last few paces and folded him into her like he had when she'd got back from Lagos; one arm around his back, the other folding over his shoulder with her hand coming to rest at the base of his neck. She couldn't match his size, but she held him fast and tight and curved her body around his to offer him as much warmth and support as she could. He stood still a moment, before his arms hesitantly rose to hold her in return.
He held her gently, far more gentle than he'd been before, his hands barely touching her. Despite the lingering damp from the river his body radiated heat, instantly easing away the chill of the warehouse from her skin.
"I missed you," he mumbled into her shoulder, so quiet that she barely heard him. A thrill zapped through her in a flash of heat that lanced from her chest to the tips of her toes. She squeezed him tighter. Strands of his hair tangled with her fingers.
"Same," she managed to get out, her throat dry. "It is so good to see you again. Even if you do stink like a river."
He chuckled, and the sound reverberated into her chest. "Sorry I ran."
"I know why you did."
"So are you guys coming or what?" Sam called as he walked past them toward the stolen van.
"Piss off," Maggie replied, and he rolled his eyes as he passed. But she and Bucky did pull apart.
Maggie reached up to touch Bucky's face before he stepped away, her thumb swiping over the dried blood on the side of his forehead. His skin was rough under her palm, stubbled and streaked with grime. He watched her face, motionless.
Her inspection turned to a smile, and with one last brush of her fingers she pulled away.
Behind her, Bucky let out a breath.
Her phone buzzed once more in her pocket and she checked it:
T'Challa knows we're after you, he's coming too. Can't stop him, sorry.
Queens, New York
Tony Stark stared at Peter Parker.
The kid had just webbed his hand to the doorknob, and the stuff felt frankly disgusting, like cold, sticky, superglue. He'd seen it coming: Parker was painfully young and full of ideals - when you can do the things that I can, and you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you. But he'd also seen the spark of adventure in the kid's eye. The promise of an adventure to Germany was too much.
Parker pointed at him. "Don't tell Aunt May."
"Alright Spider-Man," Tony promised. Parker held his gaze, determination rising up to overcome the nerves. Tony jerked his head at his hand. "Get me out of this."
The determination scattered. "Sorry. I'll get the…"
Parker fumbled around his bedroom looking for the anti-coagulant he'd engineered, as Tony watched with bemusement.
"Hold on," Tony said, holding up his free hand. "What's the date?"
Parker shot him a strange look. "Uh… June 23rd?"
Tony counted on his fingers. "Well I'll be damned. With a month to spare, too."
Parker began dabbing the translucent webbing with the anti-coagulant. "What?"
Tony grinned. "My sister owes me a Quinjet."
Avengers Facility, Upstate New York
As they fled the facility in Clint's car, Wanda glanced back in the rearvision mirror, worrying at the hem of her sleeves.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Steve called. There's some serious shit going down in Europe and they need backup. He told me to warn you though: we do this, we're going against the Accords, with all the consequences that involves. He said Maggie's doing her best, but she can't prevent Ross from doing whatever he's going to do. So if you're opting out, you do it now."
Wanda's eyes flicked away from the rearview mirror and to Clint's face. "I have already chosen."
"Good," Clint nodded. "We'll see if the next guy's as up for breaking the law as we are."
24th June, 2016
Maggie watched from the backseat of a Volkswagen Beetle as Steve Rogers leaned in to kiss Sharon Carter.
It had been an uncomfortable night - they'd stolen three separate vehicles on their way out of Berlin, avoiding roving aerial surveillance and road blocks. They'd had to drive down a long maze of narrow and bumpy country roads in the dead of night in the Beetle, which had terrible suspension and very little space for four Avengers in it: Steve and Sam took turns driving in the front, Maggie and Bucky squeezed into the back. Maggie had been busy on her phone most of the night, warding off surveillance attempts and trying to find any sign of the doctor.
It had been good to have Bucky back by her side though: he was quieter, tired and almost glowering, though she knew the frustration on his face was entirely directed at himself. But he was there, breathing and present. At around about three in the morning she'd caught him looking at her, over and over, and turned to face him with a frown.
"What's up?" she'd asked.
He'd blinked, then nodded his head at the front of the car, where Sam was at the wheel. "Sorry, just… the song. You… never mind."
She'd frowned, and registered the song playing faintly on the radio: Jet's She's a Genius. "What?"
He'd shaken his head. "It's stupid."
"What?"
He had studied his metal hand. "I've never heard that song play without you singing along to it, is all. It was weird."
A smile had broken over her face, and for a moment it was just the two of them in the workshop, listening to music. "I'll happily serenade you, Bucky-"
"Please don't," Sam had grumbled from the front seat, breaking the spell.
Maggie had glanced to the front. "Ooh, you're cranky when you're on the run."
"I will pull this car over right now-"
But they had made it through the night, with only a few short words, and met up with Sharon a few miles away from the Leipzig-Halle airport. Steve had gone to speak with her, leaving the rest of them in the car - Sam refused to move his seat up for Bucky, and Maggie had looked heavenward.
And then the next thing she knew, Steve was kissing Sharon Carter.
Her eyebrows flew up and she glanced at Bucky. He looked back at her, his own eyebrows high, then they both turned back just as Steve and Sharon pulled apart with a smile.
Bit weird, Maggie thought, but then shook the thought away. Steve had been through so much tragedy, he deserved a little joy.
Sharon circled around to the driver's seat with a glance back at the Beetle - Maggie waved, and Sharon turned away. After another moment Steve glanced back at the Beetle, still smiling to himself. Maggie could see Sam nodding slowly, and sensed Bucky smiling beside her. She put both thumbs up and gave Steve an encouraging smile.
Steve sighed.
A minute later, when Steve had grabbed all their gear and opened the back seat to pass it in, Maggie wolf-whistled him.
"Alright, alright," Steve cut her off with another sigh.
"Way to go, Cap," Sam added.
"I'm serious-"
"Hey, she brought my wings back," Maggie said, grabbing her wingpack out of Steve's arms. "I'd kiss her too if she wanted."
Steve chucked the rest of the gear onto Bucky's lap and closed the door on them, the tips of his ears burning red.
Leipzig-Halle Airport
Steve pulled the Beetle into a park several spaces down from an unmarked white van in the tall concrete parking structure of the airport.
Steve and Sam instantly opened their doors and stepped out, Sam letting out a groan. The van doors opened a moment later, revealing Clint - in dark clothes and a leather vest - and Wanda, her expression troubled.
Maggie listened with one ear as Steve greeted Clint and Wanda in low, grim tones - she and Bucky were navigating squeezing out of the narrow Beetle doors. Maggie grimaced as she stepped out into the cold parking lot air; she hadn't showered since Vienna, her muscles ached from the fighting followed by the awkward night in the car, and the light seemed far too bright. Bucky stepped out the other side of the car and stopped there, leaving the Beetle between him and the others. Maggie shook out her limbs.
"How 'bout our other recruit?" she heard Steve ask, and she held out a hand.
"Wait. Before you wake him up."
Clint turned back from where he'd been stepping toward the van, and he and Wanda eyed her. "Hey," he said.
"Hey," she said, with a quick flash of a smile as she came up to stand beside Steve. "Look. Tony knows where we are."
Both Clint and Wanda's faces fell.
"He, Nat, and Rhodey know Bucky," she explained, gesturing back at Bucky, whose head was downturned. "They know there's more going on here, but they're restricted by the Accords. They are going to come at us with everything they have, so we need to be prepared for that. But we need to get to Siberia, so don't go easy on them - there's not much they can do to help us."
"Hold on." Wanda crossed her arms. "So they are willing to bend the Accords for him" - her eyes flicked to Bucky leaning against the Beetle - "but not for me?" Bucky didn't look up, but his brow did furrow.
"Tony said you were on house arrest," Steve said, eyes flicking over the young Sokovian. "Are you okay?"
Wanda's fingers tightened on her own arms. "I… I know I have caused a lot of problems. But they didn't put me on house arrest for that; they did it because they are afraid of what I can do. All I want to do is live, free of punishment for who I am." She uncrossed her arms and straightened her shoulders, looking Steve dead in the eyes.
"And we are going to work on that," Maggie promised. She crossed the space between them and touched Wanda's arm - her friend's arm. It seemed like a million years since they'd sat at a bar in China together and talked about sillier things. "But we need to stop this doctor first."
Wanda's eyes, defined by dark eyeliner and simmering with conviction, rose to Maggie's face.
"I'm sorry," Maggie continued. "But… trust me, I want to sort out this Accords mess too, but this has to come first."
Wanda held her gaze for a few more tense moments, before bobbing her head. "I understand. That's why I'm here." She touched Maggie's hand on her arm, then leaned around her to look over to Bucky. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Are you alright?"
He looked up, the furrow in his brow clearing for a moment and his eyes widening.
"Right," Clint added. "Steve explained about how you were framed for Vienna, and then those… words, in Berlin." His face shadowed. "It's no fun having your head messed with. But we've got your back."
Bucky swallowed. "I…" he glanced between them, and Maggie could see he hadn't been expecting the kindness from either of them. "I'm fine now." From the tilt to Wanda's head, it was clear that she didn't believe that. "I… I just want to stop the guy from controlling those Winter Soldiers."
"We will," Wanda said firmly.
"So," Clint said with a glance back at the van. "Are we not telling the new guy that we're in touch with the people we're about to fight?"
Maggie looked to Sam and shrugged. "He's your guy."
He scratched the back of his neck. "He's a good guy. But I figure it'll be good to have someone who thinks this is real?"
"This is real," she reminded them. "We're not going to go to pretend prison if we lose. I'm not going to be hiring you all pretend lawyers."
"We won't get actual lawyers thanks to the actual Accords," Sam reminded her.
"We'll see about that," she replied stubbornly.
Clint appeared to take that as permission to open the van, revealing Scott Lang - who was asleep on the seats. He looked younger than Maggie had expected, with tousled dark hair and a decidedly nice look to him. He roused with a start and got out of the van, staring at them all. And talked a lot.
He shook Steve's hand for far too long, bumbling all the way through it, staring at Steve, then Wanda, and then his eyes landed on Maggie.
"Wow, Maggie Stark! You're taller than I expected."
"I get that a lot," she replied, fighting to keep her mouth from curving up. I like him. She glanced over her shoulder at Bucky, and he took in the glint in her eye with a ghost of a smile.
"They tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked Scott, breaking off the chain of words.
Scott's smile dimmed a little. "Something about some… psycho-assassins?"
"Might have to get through the other half of the Avengers before we get there," Maggie warned, and his eyes widened.
"We're outside the law on this one," Steve said heavily. "So if you come with us, you're a wanted man."
"Yeah, well," Scott sighed. "What else is new."
"We should get moving," Bucky called.
"Who's that guy?" Scott squinted. "Oh shit, that's the Winter-"
"You can call him Bucky," Maggie said, with just enough steel in her voice that Scott looked at her in surprise. He took in the hard look on her face, then looked back to Bucky and said:
"Right on. I loved you in those Howling Commandos comics, man."
Bucky looked despairing.
"We got a chopper lined up," Clint cut in, but a moment later was cut off by a blaring alarm.
A man's voice spoke German over the intercom system. Maggie concentrated - her German wasn't great, but…
"They're evacuating the airport," Bucky translated, sliding his elbow off the car with a heavy look on his face.
"Stark," Sam muttered, then glanced at Maggie. "The other one."
Steve looked to Maggie. She hadn't had a message from Tony since yesterday, but this was the plan. She nodded once, then let out a breath.
Steve nodded back, then looked around at them all.
"Suit up."
Clint caught Maggie by the elbow before she could head to the Beetle to pick up her gear. The others scattered, heading to the vehicles to get their uniforms, leaving Clint and Maggie in the empty space.
"Hey," he murmured, peering at her face. "You good?"
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. I'm sorry we pulled you into this, Clint. Your family-"
"Laura told me to come," he said frankly. "She understands what's at stake here, probably better than me. And let's be real. You need all the help you can get."
She huffed a laugh. "Don't I know it."
He let go of her elbow and eyed her keenly. "You're running a risky plan here, Wyvern. You and Tony. Neither of you are cut out to be double agents. And last I spoke to Tony, he didn't seem like he was much up for compromise."
"It's messy," she sighed. "And you're right. And really, nothing much about this situation is changed by us being in contact; we're fugitives, and he's looking for us. He can't go easy on us. But I'm hoping with him, Nat, and Rhodey at least aware of the larger plan, we can make something stick." She caught the doubt in his eyes. "There are only risky moves from here on out, Clint. I'm going with the one that feels the most right."
He sighed. "And that's the best I can ask of you, I guess. Just… remember this isn't like when you used to play chicken with S.H.I.E.L.D." He crossed his arms. "Fury knew when to take the right risks, and when to do the right thing instead of the lawful thing. Ross… doesn't seem like the type."
"I can't figure him out," Maggie frowned. "He's all… calm and calculated these days. I think he hates enhanced people, if his history with Bruce is anything to go by, but I'm not sure what he gets out of this game with the Avengers - regulating us, rather than trying to abolish us entirely-"
At that moment Wanda appeared from behind the van, her arms full of burgundy fabric. "He is a tyrant," she said simply, her intense eyes on the pair of them. "He loves power, so he is afraid of those who have more power than him. And he will do anything to get more. You cannot reason with him."
Maggie and Clint blinked at her, and a moment later Wanda disappeared behind the van again.
"Right," Clint said eventually. He clapped Maggie on the shoulder. "Well. You better go get your wings on, Wyvern."
"And you'd better break out the medieval weapons - ow!" She rubbed her arm where Clint had socked her, and smiled at his back as he stalked over to the van. But a moment later her smile faded, and she turned to the Beetle.
Get ready, Wyvern.
The weight of her wingpack settling against the center of her back made Maggie close her eyes. The moorings on either side of her spine activated, whirring open and accepting the mechanical ports in the wingpack, connecting metal and flesh. She didn't deploy her wings - there was hardly any space between the two cars she was getting changed behind - but she felt a little more settled in her own skin. Metal harnesses unspooled and curved around her torso, anchoring her in place. She felt the buzz of electricity like an extension of her own nervous system.
The rest of the uniform went on quickly: dark armored suit, boots, gloves, wrist blasters, retractable helmet, and goggles. She stretched a moment, familiar in the metal and fabric uniform, and nodded to herself. Here we go, Wyvern.
She stepped out from behind her impromptu changing area, head turning to find the others - only to find Bucky standing a few yards away in an empty parking space, wearing a dark uniform with a tactical jacket, his metal arm bared. He had been looking down at his metal palm, but at the sound of her footsteps he looked up.
For a moment they just looked at each other, sizing up each other's uniforms, empty air between them. Maggie could just see some of the others gathering back at the van - Clint strapped his quiver to his back and murmured to Wanda.
"Don't fight your brother," Bucky finally said. "I'm not worth-"
"Shut your mouth, Bucky Barnes," Maggie cut him off. She paced toward him. "I'm going to fight my brother. I'm going to beat him, and then I'm going to take all of you with me and find that doctor and the Winter Soldiers and beat them, and then I'm going to go back home, abolish the Accords, and get everyone out of this legal and political shitstorm."
He started smiling halfway through her speech, and even as she said it they both knew it was impossible. She stood firm in her determination all the same.
"If anyone can do it, it's you," he said softly.
Maggie stopped walking and looked up into Bucky's face for a long moment. Some of the tension and frustration that had hung on his face ever since Berlin had eased in the last moment, and as he looked down at her with an open kind of fondness and trust, her heart felt like it was exploding in her chest.
She let out a long sigh. "When this is all over, you and I need to talk."
A flash of worry crossed Bucky's face, but she smiled, and after a moment the worry faded.
He hesitated. "You… you're sure?"
She nodded. "Life since you left the Facility has sucked. And I don't want it to be like that again. I've been… I've run away from a lot of things in my life. Starting now, I'm going to start running toward the things I want." Her eyes remained fixed on his face.
"Meg…" she could see he wanted to protest, but he either gave up or got distracted, because he did not speak again. His eyes darted down to her mouth, and her gut burned.
The air crackled between them and Maggie found her own gaze dropping to Bucky's mouth, then up to blue-grey eyes that seemed to draw her in. She could hardly remember the ice and emptiness that had been in those eyes only yesterday, because this was Bucky, and he was looking at her like she was the entire world. She took a step forward-
"We're heading out in 1 minute, be ready," Steve called, striding past them as he slid his shield onto the harness at his back. Maggie let out a sigh and stalled.
"He is such a cockblock," she muttered.
"A what?" Bucky repeated with a stutter. Maggie completed her step toward him, nudging her elbow into his as she passed.
"Come on. Let's go kick my brother's ass."
Joint Counter Terrorism Center, Berlin
"Yes. Yes. I'll update you as soon as they're secured. The strike is about to begin."
Standing in the operations hub of the Joint Counter Terrorism Center, Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross hung up the group video call on the screen before him and then turned to face the rest of the screens on the wall.
He and his team had co-opted the recently locked-down JTTF headquarters. They were a mix of CIA, Joint Special Operations Command, German Special Forces, US Army, and Marines. It was only thanks to the Accords that such a large US-based force was allowed to operate out of a European country, and the JTTF had reluctantly given up their base of command for their use.
Of course, most of his men weren't currently in the building.
Ross's eyes roved over the dozens of screens set up around the operations hub, most of them manned by analysts and unit commanders wearing headsets and ready expressions. The screens themselves showed multiple camera angles of the Leipzig-Halle Airport over a hundred miles away from Berlin: several surveillance angles, but many moving ones. Each of the combat units setting up a perimeter around the airport wore body-mounted cameras, which jostled as they hurried silently around the rapidly evacuating building. Three drones buzzed high in the sky, showing aerial angles of the airport, and several gunships fixed their cameras on the airstrips, searching for activity.
The operations hub itself was already loud with multiple conversations - analysts reporting clear areas to the combat units, whispered reports over the radio from their agents on the ground, dozens of orders and reports and questions being asked.
"No angle on them yet, but their vehicles have been located in the parking deck," called one agent at the desk, glancing over at Ross.
Ross nodded, standing tall in his suit.
"You sure you got enough guys? They're the Avengers."
He looked over his shoulder to see the current Deputy Task Force Commander of the JTTF, Agent Everett Ross - no relation. The younger man eyed the operations setup over the screens.
"The Avengers are the ones who'll be arresting them," Ross said, gesturing to the screens marked Stark and Rhodes. "We're dealing with four tired fugitives from the law - maybe six, if Barton and Maximoff have joined them - with no gear and no backup. While they might be enhanced, we have the forces to bring them in." He touched his own headset. "Stark, report."
There was a moment of silence, and then he heard Stark's irritatingly chipper voice: "Just caught movement outside Terminal A."
One of the drone cameras snapped over to the area, catching a blue, white and red clad figure jogging across the tarmac toward a helicopter.
"Now it ends," Ross murmured.
Don't forget to review, that's the best way to make sure other people see the story :) Also if you join the discord (invite code pDsGenUEUX) you can get a mid-weak teaser snippet of the upcoming chapter.
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BrownEyes: Maggie has to learn to be bossy!