Disclaimer: No. Not mine. Never mine. Has not been mine. Will not be mine. I don't make money. I will not make money. Everything belongs to other people apart from Cassie and the plot bits I've made up. Even those bits I don't get paid for even though they do belong to me. My point is, suing me will not in anyway be worth your time. Don't do it. Okay, now I'm done.

It turns out that many things happen when a head of state dies in a terrorist bombing. Swarms of activity ensue. International lines of communication become flooded with panic, condolences, and opportunism.

Cassie doesn't know what a lot of the ramifications of a bombing taking place during the Accords signing are. International politics has never been her forte and she knows form experience to take every word produced by major news and media outlets with a grain of salt. What Cassie does know is people, and the ones around here she counts as friends who know about these things are grimly concerned and operating in a state of denied or repressed panic.

"I'm all for going to Vienna," Cassie says in the car on the way to the private airfield Stark has hired. "From the crisis reports they need as many emergency responders as they can get, and I'm happy to help. I just assumed I was going to have to fight someone on it. We're pretty much literally diving in to the belly of the beast and a large group of people seem to be operating despite that fact which kinda concerns me on a different level."

"We're ignoring the life saving instinct to run away from the people who want to tie us up in an unconstitutional contract because of the almighty Third Estate," Reyna says without looking up from her tablet. "The government was only able to put those Accords together because there are portions of the public who don't like us. For collateral damage or whatever other reason and we need them to change their minds."

Cassie frowns as her brain turns that over. "So we get a few pictures of us all doing aid work deliberately published and that earns us political points." She looks over at Steve. "No one's worried that's going to look like we're exploiting a tragedy for our own gain?"

Steve's fingers are tapping in a rough staccato against her leg just above Cassie's knee. "That'd be a separate though not invalid problem. The one we've got at the moment is that the press would have noticed that none of us showed up to sign the Accords. Everyone's caught on the tragedy of things at the moment but it'll be a pretty quick hop to the next conclusion."

Realization dawns and then breaks like a rising sun. It's dazzling and makes a horrifyingly beautiful kind of logical sense. "The hall got blown up before the Accords could be ratified," she murmurs, thinking out loud. "The press'll figure out we didn't like them, especially the outlets who have an actual copy of the text. The press might think we're happy about it, and AVENGERS SUPPORT TERRORIST ATTACK makes a good news headline."

"That's one thing," Bucky says. "Or that they'll think we planned it." That takes Cassie aback, and her surprise must show on her face because Bucky continues. "Charitably, some of them might assume we didn't mean to hurt anyone. Otherwise, planting that kind of doubt, it's the kind of thing They would have had me do."

It's clear from the ice in his voice who the they is.

Cassie swallows and the tempo of Steve's fingers increase their drum beat on her thigh. There's going to be a bruise there pretty soon but Cassie doesn't move to stop him. The fact that Steve has ticks, that he isn't just a steely edifice in times of crisis, is information that the press would probably love to have but would never believe. Of course, the tapping is a barometer Cassie uses to judge the stage they're actually at in terms of crisis level.

Steve likes to occupy his hands when he's thinking. Captain America goes still, and Captain America comes in when they have an imminent strategic crisis or combat scenario. Cassie'll start really worrying when the tapping stops.

"So we're going to Vienna so we can try to get out in front of that kind of rumor," Cassie surmises. She looks between Reyna and Steve. "Which is something we really hope Natasha is already doing?"

Reyna nods. "Frame it like a question and you might just win the Double Jeopardy round."

"You had to ruin Jeopardy for me?"

"Jeopardy is called Jeopardy and that is a state we spend a considerably high percentage of our time in," Reyna points out. "Besides, Annabeth told me about that sphinx in the labyrinth with the game show. By all accounts, Jeopardy should already be ruined for you."

Cassie has to concede that the point is valid.

Steve's taping slows and he looks around at her. "Sphinx with a game show in a labyrinth?"

"The summer I was sixteen was a really strange time for me," Cassie answers. "The sphinx with the educational quiz program and applause machine wasn't even the weirdest thing we dealt with. There was also a rancher with three chests and a double headed dog. Nico spent a lot of time raising the dead using McDonalds and root beer. Percy played the ultimate game of rock, paper, scissors, and that was a time. Plus the ultimate arena fight run by a former friend. Gladiatorial combat is so much less entertaining than some people would have you believe."

"You also spent quite a lot of time underground didn't you?" Reyna prompts.

Cassie grimaces. "Soooooo much time underground. I think the only one on that quest having less fun with the percentage of time spent in claustrophobic tunnels than me was Grover." She knows she's babbling but Steve's tapping is slowing and she can feel some of the tension bleeding out of him as she talks. "I met Rachel that summer too," she continues, thinking through that summer out loud. "And Pan, Lord of the Wild. And we got Nico playing back on team good guy. He was kinda floating there for a minute and that could have gone so bad for us the year after when we fought the titans. Having Hades on our side in the battle for Manhattan was crucial."

Bucky reacts to all of this by quirking an eyebrow. "One of you is going to have to write this down eventually and then give it to me and Steve to read," he says. "All of your other friends are dating each other and were there for most of this shit. We're starting behind the ball."

"I gave you the mythology books I found," Steve points out.

Bucky shrugs and leans back in his seat, stretching one arm out behind Reyna's shoulders. "Stevie, my girlfriend and your fiance have gods on speed dial. We live in the same building as Thor and you've fought Loki. I decided the mythology books were pretty much crap after a certain point on the basis of them calling beings we know personally 'mythology'".

"That's fair," Cassie points out as Reyna casts her eyes towards Olympus and sighs. "And I think Percy is working on writing this stuff down. Plus, he's been updating camp profiles on the Greek gods at the very least. Some of the big name heroes too. Annabeth's been editing and gave him the list of which ones to write about so it should be varied comprehensive, and relatively organized."

"I retire reassured on this particular point," Reyna says peacefully. Then her phone rings and she brings it to her ear without checking the caller I.D. "Yeah?" She listens for about half a second before she starts talking in rapid fire Spanish.

Much of the remainder of the car ride and subsequent flight is spent that way. Steve spends a lot of the trip speaking very controlled and planned Swiss, German, Dutch, and French. Reyna sticks to a combination of Spanish and English and from the sound of things she's mostly speaking to the members of the press. Cassie has no idea who Bucky is talking to or what language he's speaking, but she can tell from his tone he's swinging rapidly between sinister implied threats and a level of cranked up charm Cassie's heard stories about but never seen in action.

For her part, Cassie spends much of the flight coordinating relief plans to deal with the medical emergency in Vienna with the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. The only other language she can speak is Greek or Latin and neither of those is exactly helpful at the moment. What she can do is co-ordinate medical treatment for the masses in times of complete and absolute chaos, so that's what she does.

The job of keeping Pepper, and by extension the rest of the team, up to speed on what they're doing is one she mostly takes on as well. Bucky speaks more languages than she does, Reyna is better with the press, and Steve is better with the governments of the world and the armed forces. Right now the whole team is doing their utmost to take on whatever job needs doing and Cassie is determined to pull her own weight.

However, there's only so long a demigod can stay awake for and Cassie hasn't slept in a while. She finds herself something to eat, downs a glass of water, and curls up across two plane seats to try to squeeze in a nap. Hopefully all of these steps will prepare her for the heavy magic use that will surely be heading her way.

The last thing she registers before fading out in to unconsciousness is Steve giving her a tense smile, the phone pinned between his ear and his shoulder as he shrugs out of his jacket and folds it up. He gestures for her to lift her head which she does and the jacket slides in to place for her to use as a pillow. She smiles back as reassuringly as she can and mimes blowing him a kiss.

When Cassie wakes up it's because the plane has jolted with its touch down on the runway. She sets up, stretches, and looks around for her bag. Steve saves her the trouble by handing the bag to her by the straps and leaning down to place a light kiss on a portion of her cheek that she only notices afterwards is weirdly tingly and fuzzy feeling.

She sighs, "I have zipper tracks from your jacket don't I?" she asks resignedly.

Steve nods in confirmation as he reaches for the aforementioned article of clothing. "In a big way." He shrugs in to his jacket and then reaches back around with Cassie's and holds it so she can pull on hers. "On the bright side," he says leaning over to place a second kiss on her forehead as Cassie fastens her coat. "I'm marrying you anyway."

Cassie smiles and makes to turn for the door. "It's nice that's not the deal breaker on our relationship."

What neither of them brings up is the fact that they're supposed to be getting married two weeks from now in New York City, and at this point it looks more likely that they might very well end up spending their honeymoon, not to mention wedding day, in Switzerland... Most of their friends will probably be in Switzerland with them at least. Does it still count as a destination wedding when the wedding is happening because you're on the run from the United Nations?

Maybe someone can poll that question for her. Surely one of her friends knows how to get a vote on that question. She knows people now.

Two of the people she knows are currently behind her carrying out their own couples de-planeing ritual. Bucky had apparently managed to fall asleep at some point and hadn't been awakened at touch down. Reyna's version of a gentle wake up call seems to be to take a glass of water and flick the liquid at his face. The method is a bit cruel, but certainly effective.

It takes exactly four seconds for Bucky to respond. He shoots to his feet and glares wildly around. He takes in Cassie and Steve's distance from him and Cassie gives him a little wave to emphasize the point. Steve holds his hands up to show a universal sign of non-guilt.

Reyna smiles innocently and hands Bucky his jacket. "Te amo mi amor."

Bucky points a finger at her. "Ty, lyubov' moya, zloy."

Cassie looks to Steve for a translation and her fiancé obliges. "'You, my love,'" he translates. "'are evil.'"

"Nice."

When they get off the plane is when things (unbelievably) begin to go worse. Cassie doesn't realize that initially because despite being awake earlier Bucky and Reyna are the first two people out the door. In fact, Cassie and Steve almost don't make it out the door because Reyna and Bucky are both in the process of turning around to shove them back inside seconds after the door opens.

"We have a tactical problem," Bucky reports, all traces of casual joking gone.

"What kind of tactical problem?" Steve asks.

Cassie looks to Reyna, trusting her for her own tactical prospective and knowing that between her and Bucky they'll have formed a complete assessment within moments. If Bucky says anything Reyna doesn't completely agree with she'll be able to tell from her face. Also, Steve is rapidly slipping in to Cap mode and Bucky is reverting to the Soldier. The two of them will have to run the civilian and press co-ordiantion side instead.

"Law enforcement on the airstrip," Bucky reports. "Baker's dozen, armed nice and heavy. If I had to guess I'd say Central Intelligence. Ross is out there so that bet looks strong. No sign of U.N peacekeepers, you can see that from the weaponry which is the good news. Bad news is obviously-"

"-Soldiers on the run way waiting to arrest us," Reyna completes. "Though I suppose it's possible they're all just here with all of their weaponry to escort us to the site of the bombing and tell us that we're doing a really fantastic job.

That's when a knock sounds on the outside of the plane door. The sound reverberates through the metal shell of the plane structure with an ominous clanging sound. "Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, Dr. Morgenstern, Miss. Avilla-Arellano, this is Everett Ross of the Central Intelligence Agency. We ask that you please exit the aircraft."

"I'm guessing not," Cassie says. She looks around and notes the stream of sunlight coming in through the plane window. "What play are we running here?" she asks. "I can get us out, but I'd need to know where I'm going. And once we start running..."

She let's the words dangle and Steve picks them up in a murmur that's more to himself than it is to any of them. "...They'll never let us stop." His vision goes suddenly clear and Cassie watches the Captain snap in to place. That's good, the Captain is probably who they need right now. "We don't run," he states looking around at them all. "We run we look guilty. They have no grounds to arrest us and we haven't done anything illegal."

The 'yet' remains unspoken, though really very crucial. Organizing a mass covert immigration of superheroes and their support staff to a neutral country to avoid the apparent will of the United Nations might not be illegal, but continuing to operate as an independent group of superheroes in direct opposition to that will almost definitely is. Or, would be, had that will actually been ratified instead of being blown up.

With that stream of thought Cassie is very quickly back to the issue most directly at hand.

Bucky nods to Steve and rolls up his sleeves. Conscious gesture or not, it makes the articulated metal plating on his arm incredibly obvious. It's Bucky's version of putting his game face on when facing the enemy. Cassie also notes that he's placed himself between Steve and the door. The instincts of a lifetime of friendship clearly didn't fade easily.

Gods, Cassie knew that. She's known that for years.

"Wait," Steve says, stopping Bucky from opening the door. "Reyna, call Pepper and Tony. Put the phone on speaker and leave it in your pocket."

Reyna nods and hits a button on her, well Cassie's, phone which Cassie can only assume is the speed dial and Pepper picks up in the middle of the first ring. "What's wrong? FRIDAY says you touched down ten minutes ago. I would have opened the conversation with 'please tell me you're calling from the car' but let's face it our luck just isn't going that way lately."

"We are still at the airport," Reyna reports. "There are a group of C.I.A agents outside the door occupying the tarmac."

There's a moment of silence then, "Hold on."

On the other end of the line they can here Pepper calling for Tony and then Stark comes in to the range of the phone speaker. "What's the play then Cap? Blast and scram? I'm sure you guys can pull that off between the four of you. Two super soldiers, seventy-five percent of a Roman God and fifty percent of Greek one versus the CIA. My money would be on you guys."

"No," Steve says. "We're going with them, quietly. For now. The rest of you stay low and be ready to bug out to Switzerland. And that's everyone. Anyone without a Visa and citizenship change already is officially defecting. It's not what we wanted but we're out of time to fuck around on this anymore."

"Got it," Stark says, and the fact that he doesn't argue outlines more than anything else just how serious this situation really is. "Should I be prepping Delilah?"

Steve hesitates, clearly weighing up the odds for one last precious second. There's another knock on the plane hatch, this one louder and more insistent than the one before. Clearly, agent Ross is getting impatient.

"Go," Steve says.

Stark replies with a terse, "Keep this line open," then he and Pepper both go quiet.

"Delilah?" Cassie asks.

"A way to get out anyone they try to stick in the RAFT," Steve explains. "It's where SHIELD likes to send anyone they think is a security risk."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "Like for instance a highly trained assassin with amnesia and a cybernetic arm." He shifts, repositioning himself between the rest of them and the door. "Well I'm in, so long as it doesn't involve tights or a theme song."

Steve sighs in a long suffering kind of way and moves so that he'll be the first thing the agents see when the door opens and pulling his shield from it's storage spot. "I feel like I would like to point out that I never actually did any singing."

"You could," Cassie tells him as the door opens. "You've got a great voice."

"Sorry about the wait Agent Ross," Reyna interrupts with a sunny smile to the man now standing in the open plane hatch between them and the outside world. "The door was a bit jammed and we had a few last minute things to organize."

"I heard," the man says with a somewhat irritated tone peppering the dryness of his voice. "Planning to re-start the old traveling musical routine Captain Rogers?" The mockery there is evident. Clearly this is one CIA agent used to being obeyed in a timely manner which Cassie decides is just too bad for him. She makes sure to walk at a leisurely pace when he waves her out the door. She notices that the others are following her lead, though Steve and Bucky have both adopted the text-book military posture.

"Well we're going to need something to do in retirement," Bucky says, the dryness in his tone matching Ross's.

Ross is apparently lacking in appreciation for his own methods of communication because Cassie is able to watch as something shutters behind his eyes. "Your retirement, Sergeant," he says acerbically. "Is exactly what we need to discuss."

Reyna appears to have decided that playing peacemaker and keeping things civil is the part she should adopt. "I'm sure we'll have time for that later," she says, press smile still fully in place. "It's so kind of the Agency to provide us with an escort to the aid site. I'm sure the motorcade and sirens will do wonders when it comes to dealing with the traffic."

Ross shakes his head. "The only place you're going is the joint office of INTERPOL so we can get this investigation moving."

"Well that's a bit of a problem," Cassie interjects, deciding that this might be the time to push back a little bit and see what happens. "There are people expecting me on the scene. I've been co-ordinating with the Red Cross and M.S.F to treat the injured."

"There are already plenty of emergency workers on the scene," Ross says with a dismissive wave of his hand. "They're pretty good at their jobs. I'm sure they can get along without you."

That seems to be the theme echoing through the events of the last few days. The idea that extra help isn't needed and that official authorities have everything completely managed and in hand. It's a sudden emphasis coming from the government with all the petulance of a toddler denying that they need help.

Cassie has a sudden memory of Julia, Terminus' little assistant at Camp Jupiter. The tiny girl had gone through an independence phase at age six. For months, anyone that offered her any kind of help (shoe tying, hand wiping, reaching for objects above her head, hair braiding, etc,) had been greeted with an angry mutter or exclamation of "No! I can do it Self!"

Wonderful.

Their group arrives at what is very clearly an armored van with blacked out windows. Steve's eyes flick around them and Bucky's head has developed a carefully measures, constant, swivel. A squadron of highly armed and faceless agents have closed in around them and are loading themselves in to vans on all around them. The question of weather they were there for protection or incarceration, remained to be seen.

The slamming of the car door behind them is not a reassuring thing. In fact, for a girl with not a tiny bit of paranoia over being trapped in small spaces, it's enough for hints of claustrophobic discomfort to come creeping in to Cassie's consciousness. She knows Reyna and Steve well enough to know that they'll both hate the situation tactically and Bucky has worse claustrophobia from her as a result of being cryo-frozen so at least she's not alone in her feelings.

Similarly, after a fleeting initial exchange of mildly unhappy expressions, all of them erase the outward signs of their discomfort. Cassie folds her hands demurely in her lap and counts her breaths in measures of four. Reyna sighs and extracts her tablet, shifting so that the phone still buried in her pocket will have a clearer range for the speakers. Bucky's face goes as blank as a stone gargoyle and Steve stares straight ahead in silence, the Captain now firmly in place.

In fact, within moments the agents escorting them look more deeply discomforted than any of them do.

It occurs to Cassie that it's possible that all these men know about them is what gets covered on the news. The news which is currently implying they might have orchestrated a bombing slash assassination attempt in reaction to Accords they don't agree with. The fact is, if Bucky, Steve, Cassie, or Reyna was what these men and Agent Ross was afraid they were, not even this many agents would be enough to compel them to do anything they didn't want to do.

Right now they and the rest of the team have decided to cooperate outwardly as they make plans to remove themselves from the situation. In essence, they are embracing their 'flight' instincts. Who knew when that might swing to 'fight'.

Vienna is a lovely city. At least, Cassie thinks it probably is from what she sees of it through the blacked out windows and traffic. The buildings are a beautiful blending of old and new in their architecture. The shapes are all grand arches and sweeping curves and the building materials seem to be mostly pale stone and shinning glass. Cassie catches glimpses of cobbled sidewalks and pastel store fronts and thinks it's too bad they're here under such shitty circumstances.

The building they eventually arrive at is decidedly less charming than any of those they pass on the drive in. The design here is American military industrial and the building looks like it was poured out of a concrete mold. Everything is grey, drab, and dull.

Annabeth would hate it.

When they arrive they are escorted in to a large conference room with glass walls and a glass table. There's a television in one corner of the ceiling and the carpet and ceiling tiles are matching grey tones. The lighting is all industrial as they had been led through several internal hallways and away from any window to the outside upon their arrival. The elevator had demanded a voice confirmation and a retinal scan to move and Ross had used a security pass and several additional scans to get them through the door.

In conclusion, it's a very suppressing kind of space that Cassie really hopes she won't have to break out of. It's possible and she has a vague idea about how she would pull it off if she was going to try, but she's not looking forward to it. In all likelihood it'll take a lot of work and a not insignificant level of physical violence. At least, until she can get to a natural light source.

Their bags are confiscated along with Steve's shield. Reyna points out that the agency needs a warrant to seize and search their property and Ross produces one with a smug expression and annoyed eye roll. Evidently, people who are aware of their constitutional rights are very inconvenient for covert intelligence agencies that have to adhere to them.

No one tries to take their various personal effects which Cassie is grateful for because it means she keeps her bow and quiver and Reyna keeps her spear and Aegis of Athena. She's also grateful that Stark has her armor at the moment so it's not in her bag. The greater intelligence community still doesn't quite know what she is, and she has a feeling demigod armor might kind of tip that hand.

They have a tricky moment with the phone. Reyna still has Cassie's in her pocket. She'd changed it to the recording function instead of the call and refuses to hand it over to the agent who tries to take it.

Eventually, Reyna wins the argument by citing the fact that they haven't been arrested and keeping one phone between four of them is hardly unreasonable. Cassie weighs in to help by pointing out that the four of them together have been mobilizing relief efforts and can't continue to do so without a means of communication. She and Reyna together imply that it might be a shame if any of their more recognizable team members failed to hear from them and decided to tell the press that one of the reasons international aid can't be organized is because the C.I.A has unlawfully prevented the communication of American citizens with their fellows.

After all, Steve points out, they haven't done anything wrong.

Their arguments cause quite a lot of confusion amongst the underlings and teeth grinding amongst the overseers of those underlings. They're eventually allowed to keep the phone, but the unspoken thought from Ross that they haven't done anything wrong YET or PROVABLY hangs unpleasantly in the air.

Cassie doesn't care. That phone is useful for more than just phone calls. It represents their link to no questions asked immediate help and could conceivably let them listen in to conversations. It's only their only other source of entertainment apart from each other, and the only tangible link Cassie actually has to her father and grandfather. It's a means of instantaneous messaging and provision of constant music which makes it the only joint gift she has from Mercury and Apollo.

After a suitably impressive and boring period of waiting, Ross returns to tell them that they'll be interviewed one at a time. He doesn't answer when they ask why but does respond when Steve demands to know why Bucky is going first. "Alphabetizing," he says tersely. "Your fiancé goes next, you'll be last Captain Rogers." He smiles in a way that is decidedly unfriendly. "I suggest you get comfortable."

Bucky pushes back from the table and gives Reyna a blatantly lingering kiss before getting up. Cassie feels him ruffle her hair as he passes and watches as he claps Steve on the shoulder on the way out the door. She hears him murmur "end of the line Pal," before he leaves.

They are precluded from taking Ross' suggestion and 'getting comfortable' even had they been inclined to take it. This is purely caused by circumstances outside of their control, and ones that should be less surprising, or possibly more surprising, than they are. They begin about seventy seconds after Bucky leaves, and his presence is replaced by Sharon Carter.

"I've brought official receipts for your personal effects," she says breezily. "Please sign for it here so Uncle Sam has a record of you knowing where your personal possessions are."

Kudos to the Agent, she doesn't once give any sign of being aware that they're all staring at her. Intelligent they all may be, trained in subterfuge they are not. Instead, Sharon Carter moves calmly around the room as she hands each of them separate sheets of paper.

"Yours is a bit longer Captain," Sharon says with a vague note of apology in her voice. "We weren't completely sure how to classify the shield when it got checked in with your bags. It ended up getting written up separately." Her expression doesn't change a bit as she hands Steve the second piece of paper, but Steve's does.

He spends perhaps fifteen seconds with his eyes flicking back and forth over the page. Steve looks up quickly. His eyes are wide and his voice has gone low and tense though still efficient and polite. "Agent Carter," he says. "Is there any chance we could watch the news? No one's kept us up to date on the situation outside."

His tone doesn't match the question.

Agent Carter seems to consider before crossing to a small control panel on the wall. "It can't be on for very long, but I suppose five minutes can't hurt."

Following a lifetime of social conditioning, Cassie turns her eyes to the television as the screen buzzes to life. She doesn't know exactly what's going on, but it's apparent to her that Sharon has managed to pass some kind of covert message, and that message has put Steve's back up. She's a little surprised when the news actually is the first thing on screen.

That surprise quickly turns in to horror. The news isn't quite blaming the Avengers for the explosion anymore. No. Now they're just blaming Bucky.

Someone, someone very good with computers has managed to dig up that Bucky was the Winter Soldier. They've found a file, the one that describes the assassinations of Maria and Edward Stark. Accusations and speculation over cover-ups and lies are flying fast in a variety of languages. People are calling it the SHIELD/HYDRA debacle all over again and some are proclaiming this as proof of why the Avengers shouldn't be trusted. Blurry photos of someone who might look a bit like Bucky from the back and in profile near the Accords Hall taken three days ago keep on flashing across the screen.

Describe the situation in a word you ask?

Shit.

And it's about to get worse.

Sharon changes the channel while the three of them are still absorbing the news to show a badly lit interview room. "The agency is trying to contact the rest of the team. We've managed to get in touch with Mr. Stark and he's currently on his way in to the building. I believe Sam Wilson is with him. We need to debrief him over the latest discovery. Ross called in a psychological specialist to speak to Sargent Barnes."

She let's the words hang for a second before politely excusing herself. Steve thanks her formally as she leaves and holds the door for her. Sharon is equally polite to Tony and Sam who come charging in next, far outpacing the detail of agents that had escorted them in.

Steve opens his mouth to talk but Tony holds up a hand. "You don't speak to me." Play along, his face is saying.

They all catch on quickly. Tony has decided to play this like the public revelation of his parent's killer is news to him too. It's smart and probably the only reason Ross hadn't protested them being put in to the same room all together.

Tony sits and propels his chair as far from Steve as possible, arms crossed over his chest. Sam takes the seat across from the one that Bucky had vacated. Sam taps his fingers in a quick rhythm that Cassie quickly translates. Three short taps, three long ones, then three more short ones. Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot. S.O.S in Morse Code. It sums up their situation pretty well.

Cassie notices that Tony is wearing a non-digital watch. They only reason she notes it is because it's unusual. Her suspicion is born out quickly when Tony pulls out the winding pin and spins the second hand twice around the clock face.

"Banner, Laura Barton, and the Barton kids are in the clear," is the first thing out of his mouth. "Thor popped them up to Asgard with Jane. I thought there were rules about that but apparently when you're a Norse God king you can do what you want. Pepper, Katy, Bennet, and McCaffrey are en-route out of the country to Switzerland. I've told the kid from Queens to get low and stay that way and Visas for the wonder twins are processing. I've got them at a private airfield in Berlin that belongs to a shell affiliate company of Stark Enterprises. Romanov and Rhodey are waiting there to fly them, and us, out of here."

Steve nods once. "Stage one is complete then."

That's when things go wrong on T.V. The psychologist talking to Bucky turns out to be not a psychologist. In fact, he's trying to use the soldier trigger phrases.

Bucky takes the logical preventative steps of calmly and deliberately reaching forwards, grabbing the man by the tie, and then using that tie to slam his head in to the steal table. Then Bucky looks directly in to the camera. "You've got a mole," he says. "Those were HYDRA phrases." He points, "You want to know something about the bombing? I suggest starting with him."

Then Bucky reaches for the camera cord and yanks it out of the wall. The feed dies immediately and a moment later they hear a real time crash as Bucky doubtlessly begins to make his way back towards their room. The sounds of pounding feet trying to intercept him come from all around as people attempt to seal down the conference room.

Cassie shares a communal look with Reyna, Sam, Steve, and Tony.

"How open is stage two when it comes to improvising?" Cassie asks conversationally as she makes her way to her feet.

"We're at stage two," Steve says bleakly. "We're already improvising."

Tony sighs and makes a quick swiping motion over the face of his watch. In moments he's completely encased in a compressed travel version of the Iron Man suit. "Yeah," he says. "In the original Plan Noah, step one was a lather, rinse, repeat, sort of situation with variations on the theme until everyone was out."

The glass walls around them shatter to announce Bucky's arrival. "So," he says conversationally. "I'd say that could have gone better." He tosses Steve his shield and holds out Cassie's medical bag. "I made a stop, picked up some things." Agents and armed guards are filling in the entire hall and office space behind them."

Reyna assess this quickly. "Is there anyway to get out of here that doesn't involve a whole lot of violence against people we don't want angry with us and whom are really just here for the paltry government paycheck?"

"I'd go for bribery," Stark muses. "But this many people... odds are some of them are honest."

"I'm thinking that might take a little too long," Sam says casually. He shifts his coat over his shoulders and Cassie's willing to bet that his wings and flight goggles are hidden beneath it. The last round of upgrades Tony had planned to do were all to do with nano-tech. Apparently, he'd found the time.

Steve turns to Tony. "We need to buy time," he says. "Make it look real."

Stark shrugs and mutters "Rock'm Sock'm." His helmet slams shut to hide his face his voice is tiny through the suit sound system when he next speaks. When that happens it's an angry shout. "You son of a bitch!" and he fires a repulsor shot straight at Steve. Steve blocks the charge with his shield and Cassie suddenly understands.

Steve and Tony together will be able to get themselves out of almost anything. They're playing out this fight to buy the rest of them time to leave. Even if someone in the agency suspects that's what this is, Cassie's willing to bet Tony jammed the sound recording in the room and it'll be nearly impossible for them to prove. In fact, if they run now, then running will be the only thing the government can prove they've done wrong.

Tony's next repulsor shot goes wide on purpose and the guards scatter. Cassie, Sam, Bucky, and Reyna charge the gap as one and are in a hall filled with natural sunlight before anyone has time to follow them. Steps are just following them when Cassie manages to gather enough power to transport them out over a short distance.

"Where am I going?" she gasps out as the power seems to swirl up through her skin, fizzing like champagne in her blood. It's nearly enough to make her dizzy and Cassie notices that she's overreached from all the chaos.

Bucky destroys the camera covering the hall and rejoins them in four strides. Sam holds up a google map image with co-ordinates. "National Forest fifty miles out."

Cassie nods, "I can do it. Reyna," she stretches out her hand.

Reyna takes it with no other prompting and Cassie feels an additional rush of strength flow in to her, steadying the nervous, bubbling stream of magic exciting her blood. That's why Cassie had asked. She has power, Reyna has strength. One stabilizes and emboldens the other.

Now Cassie can be sure she has enough magic to move them all at once. She figures it won't matter if she over or undershoots. National Forests are by nature an imprecise area. She can miss the exact coordinates and still drop them in the right spot. Actually, at this point anywhere but here will be preferable.

"Hang on," she warns them all. "Tight as you can. Only way I can take you all."

None of her friends need telling twice. Reyna's grip on her hand tightens and she interlocks their arms for good measure. Bucky reaches behind them both and locks them in to a utilitarian bear hug. Sam reaches from the other direction so Cassie's staring at his chest and grips Bucky's shoulders. Cassie gets a tight hold on the fabric of Sam's shirt and shuts her eyes.

The magic rushes up inside her as Cassie bends the energy to her will. She focuses everything within her on her desire to leave this place and go to the one in Sam's picture. Images of thick trees and leaf strewn ground fill her mind as her skin heats from the inside out. Her body seems to buzz as each of her atoms energizes.

She feels them all dissolve just as the first Taser charge is fired.

Cassie knows as soon as the world reforms around them that they have both good news and bad news to deal with. The good news is that she can tell instinctively that all four of them have made it and all of them have all of their necessary parts attached. The bad news is that they're falling.

See, the problem with map images is that they are topographical and generally taken by satellites. Cassie's aim had been perfect. It's just that it's about one thousand feet above the tree tops.

Thankfully, one of her friends can fly and Sam has good emergency response reflexes. On finding them falling, it takes him about four seconds to decide to deploy his wings and another three to actually get them deployed in order to slow their fall. Not so thankfully, the Falcon wings are designed to carry one person and are precisely calibrated for that purpose. Tony has adapted Sam's for emergency medical evacuations so that his wings can carry two.

Right now, he's carrying four.

The other unfortunate thing is gravity and the laws of physics.

Cassie thinks she remembers that a human skydiver falls at a rate as fifty-three miles per second at their fastest. Doing the math, they've only got about six hundred feet left to slow their fall. Cassie doesn't think the impact will kill any of them, but it would doubtlessly be enough to put them out of action.

There's an abrupt jerk upwards and Cassie sees a grey parachute unfurl above them. Their fall slows some, but not enough. Sam grunts in pain at the pull of the chute and Cassie almost doesn't notice Reyna shouting in to her ear.

"The ground!" she's calling. "Sound! Use it to blast the ground!"

Cassie does what she says without asking, feeling Reyna's strength poor in to her and using it to amplify whatever energy she has left. The wave of sound rattles the tree branches below them and propels them nearly three hundred feet upwards. Belatedly, Cassie realizes the intelligence of Reyna's idea. The additional height will give them time to slow down.

"This is gonna hurt!" Sam warns, even as the descent slows to a rate that doesn't seem quite as deadly.

Sam is right.

Upon reflection, they're all lucky the trees are there. The branches catch on the parachute, ripping through the nylon and slowing them down to a shuddering stop. The impact finally dislodges Sam's grip with a shout of pain, and Cassie, Reyna, and Bucky fall the remaining thirty feet to the forest floor.

Cassie has just enough strength left to ensure that she doesn't crack her head open on impact, but her landing is by no means graceful. She hears a grunt of impact from Bucky and the sound of Reyna rolling with the impact as she had. Her eyes open to show her a sprawl of tree branches over head.

She also sees Sam hanging from his parachute straps, wings mercifully retracted. He's grimacing in pain but tries to make some kind of smile show around it. "So..." he says, drawing out the syllable. "I vote for never doin' that again."

It's a struggle to stand but Cassie manages, only wobbling a little on her feet. A quick self-scan tells her she's exhausted, but largely undamaged. "Give me the details Sam," she calls. "Tell me what's broke."

"Collarbone probably," he calls back. "And there's some road rash happening I ain't too happy about."

Bucky is already examining the tree. "I can get up there and cut him down," he reports. "But there's a thirty foot drop left. If I get up above him in the tree I can probably break the branch and lower him down."

Neither Reyna nor Cassie has a better idea so they both nod consensus.

The operation is a bit clumsy and there isn't a way to do it that isn't awkward as hell and painful for Sam. Bucky is sweating and Sam's face has gone ashy by the time both men are back on the ground. Reyna hands Sam a canteen of water from Cassie's bag and Bucky begins to cut away the parachute straps.

Cassie clinically runs her fingertips over Sam's chest, shoulders, and collarbones. She modulates her pressure and watches Sam's face, feeling for breaks and tender spots. A quick examination reveals a blatant crack through his collar bone and a partial soldier dislocation. Cassie magic further informs her that the parachute straps have ripped away enough skin to be exceedingly painful, and there's blood leaking through to the surface in several places.

"Hold still," she tells him, making sure to catch Sam's eyes. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch but it'll be over fast." Sam grits his teeth and nods, bracing for the pain. "Deep breath in and hold it," she advises. "On three. One, two-" That's when she sends a charge of healing energy in to Sam's upper body.

His shoulder crunches and twists independently as it reduces in to place. There's a hiss that Cassie can actually hear, though maybe no one else can, as Sam's collarbone melts and reforms. Sparks of Cassie's power visibly run over his veins and disappear beneath the fabric of his shirt, targeting the more serious patches of skin damage. It's over in under eight seconds.

Cassie sits back with a sigh, now completely exhausted. Sam is gasping, part in shock, part in relief, and part in surprise. Bucky finishes cutting away the parachute and adjusts to sit with his back to a tree. Reyna passes Cassie a granola bar and drains the rest of the canteen, looking nearly as tired as Cassie feels.

There's a long moment of silence as everyone attempts to process what's just happened. Everything from the flight, to the C.I.A building, to the media whirlwind blaming Bucky and the Avengers for everything that's happened, to the faux psychologist that made them run, to Steve and Tony (still left behind) carrying out their fight to buy them time, to the fall, and this forrest floor. It's enough to make Cassie's head spin and make it hard to stabilize her breathing.

This day feels like it's gone on forever. Gods, has this only been one day? Cassie's not sure with the time zones and the flight. Oh Hades, one day, two, three, it doesn't matter. It's all blurring and Cassie can't make herself care. The timing of events isn't important. What's important is that everything is coming at them all at once and they still need to figure a way out.

"Anyone know where we are?" Reyna eventually asks.

Bucky wiggles the fingers of his metal arm in a particular pattern and a series of numbers flash across a panel Cassie's never notices before. "Krivoklatsko," he answers. "It's a protected landscape area outside of Prague." He looks at Cassie. "That's impressive. It's about one hundred and fifty miles farther than planned."

Sam manages to sit up. "Stark wasn't sure how far you could make it. Doing that popping thing with four people. He picked something close. I think this is better."

"I was panicking," Cassie explains. "Over shot it. Normally my intention is more specific. I think it just got jumbled in to going for a wildlife park somewhere between Vienna and Berlin. My abilities responded to how I was feeling and got us as far away as possible."

Bucky shifts a little gingerly. "And showing up a K over ground?"

Cassie grimaces and defends with. "I didn't know where I was going. All I had was the one picture and it was an overhead shot. I normally need to picture where I'm going so..." she shrugs. "Be happy we all showed up with all our own limbs. My dad was chalk full of horror stories when I was first figuring out how to do it. Trust me, this could have been so much worse."

Sam grimaces but wisely makes no comment.

There's another moment of quiet as they all adjust, organize, and generally get their feet back under them again.

Reyna is the one to co-ordinate what they should do next. They're approximately fifty kilometers outside of Prague which they quickly calculate to be a ten hour walk and generally unfeasible. There are also too many of them to hitchhike and god only knows where the nearest public transport is. They use Cassie's phone to check on the news and manage to work out that Steve and Tony have both disappeared after engaging in some kind of epic three party chase with the new King of Wakanda who had apparently been wearing a vibranium cat suit.

"I have so many questions," Sam comments. The rest of them each shoot him a look. "What? Guy shows up dressed like a cat and you don't want to know more?"

"You fly around with bird wings," BUcky points out.

Cassie shrugs. "I've met a version of Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess in person- in feline- whatever. She spends half her time in the form of an adorable Egyptian Mau with fantastically large ears. My pet cat is sometimes a skeleton. I've stopped asking those questions."

Eventually they manage to determine where wildlife enthusiasts will have parked to come out and enjoy the nature. It takes a three hour trek with no path, but they eventually reach the road. They're confronted with a choice between three cars to steel and Bucky and Cassie together conclude that they should take whichever one has the most gas. This turns out to be the nicest model which makes Cassie feel less guilty. The person who owns the nicest car is also the person most likely to have insurance.

Before they go, Cassie manages to detach and swap the license place of the car they steel with one of the ones they leave behind. Hopefully that'll make it harder for the police to find them if the car is reported stolen. Then begins the remaining five hour drive in to Germany, a drive made longer by their need to stop for gas and food and avoid all toll stops where highway cameras are more likely.

They eventually manage to get a message to Tony and Steve. It's another hour before they get a reply and Sam redirects the car towards Leipzig airport where, hopefully, they'll be able to re-consolidate and make the final leg of the journey to the private airfield and the plane that will get them to Switzerland and end this ridiculous nightmare of a time.

That's the hope anyway.

Bets anyone?

A/N: So... Hi guys! I know I haven't updated in ages. If you're sticking with me than you are honestly amazing. I am so sorry about the wait but real life got a bit hectic and responsibilities kind of piled up. There might also be a bit of a gap until the next one though I do have a general plan about where it's going next. As you can see, I'm building in the major changes at this point. Maybe you can guess where I'm headed with it ;). What do you guys think about how it's progressing? I was a bit worried that the events in this chapter were rushed. Partly I just loved the idea of Bucky, Sam, Cassie, and Reyna on a road trip. They played well together in my head and honestly what a super-friend squad right? Anyway consider this a late X-Mas/ New Years gift from me to you all. I hope you all have a totally awesome 2020! Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo