I just wanted to say thank you for all the reviews and kind words, please keep them coming! This is a bit of a longer chapter, but it made sense to end things where I did! :) Hope you enjoy!
A few hours later. . .
Salt Lake City International Airport
"Well that was a fun plane ride." Bucky said sarcastically as he and Steve walked out the front doors of the airport, each carrying a small overnight bag in their hands. They'd just spent the past 3.5 hours on the plane being inundated with questions. Why Steve had quit being Cap, where all the other Avengers were, what was it like hanging out with the new Cap. . .
""Told you we should have worn hats and sunglasses." Steve replied as he scanned the area for a car rental place. After a few seconds he found one a few hundred meters away and began to head towards it, Bucky following beside him. According to Bruce's coordinates, the lab was still a three to four hour drive from here so a rental was really their only option.
"Oh yeah because that's super conspicuous." Bucky said dryly, the two of them continuing their conversation.
"It's worked well enough for me in the past." Steve said, a slightly defensive tone to his voice.
"I don't think you'd have been able to kiss your way out of this one." Bucky said, a slight smirk on his face as Steve chuckled, smiling fondly at the memory of him and Nat on the escalator all those years ago.
"Point taken. Still, we aren't being purposefully hunted so it still could have helped. It's easier to blend in when no one's actively looking for you to try and kill you." Steve said, shooting his friend a pointed look.
"You're never letting this go, are you?" Bucky groaned as Steve grinned at him.
"Absolutely not."
"Even though I was being tortured into doing whatever Hydra wanted and lost most of my memories so I didn't even know who you were?" Bucky asked.
"Excuses, excuses." Steve scoffed as Bucky just shook his head, a small smile on his face.
"Okay fine. We'll try your way on the way back if it will make you happy." he replied as the two of them approached the front entrance to the rental place and walked inside. It was fairly empty, just one person ahead of them in the line as Steve looked over at Bucky.
"What are we thinking? SUV? Two days?" he asked.
"I've got a feeling we're going to be off roading a bit here. Pickup might be better. And get the insurance." Bucky added as Steve nodded in agreement.
"Can I help the next person in line?" They turned their attention to the front counter as they approached a young woman working behind the desk. She had straight blonde hair, bright blue eyes and was giving them a friendly smile. She couldn't have been more than twenty years old, wearing a name tag of Anna, and as they approached the smile on her face faded slightly as her eyes widened in recognition.
"Oh my gosh, you're. . ."
". . .the man formerly known as Cap and the man formerly known as his sidekick." Bucky interjected as Steve rolled his eyes.
"I'm just Steve and he's just Bucky. We're just looking to book a pickup for two days. . .Anna, is it?" Steve asked as she nodded her head.
"It is and of course! I'll see what I can do." she said as she began typing away on the computer.
"I. . uh. . know you guys probably get this all the time but honestly, it's really cool to meet you. I. . um. . was one of the people who disappeared in the snap so I appreciate what you did." she said, giving them a small smile.
"I'm glad you're okay Anna. Did you find readjusting hard?" Steve asked as she shrugged her shoulders.
"It was a bit weird but nothing really changed. I lived with my parents before it happened as I was in university and working this job part time. They didn't get snapped so when I reappeared right where I left in the kitchen. . .gave them a bit of a scare. They were so happy to have me back though, my mom wouldn't stop crying for days. Then I re enrolled back in uni, got my job back here, and other than that things have kinda gotten back to normal now which is nice. But I'm sure you don't need to hear about my life." she blushed slightly.
"Hey, no. It's nice hearing about families reuniting after all this. Don't apologize." Steve replied.
"Thanks. So, it looks like we do have a pickup available. It's a white F250, fully loaded. Is that okay?" she asked.
"It will be fine." Steve reassured her as she nodded her head.
"I'm assuming you'll want insurance as well? I don't know what's brought you to Utah but, um, no offence things kinda tend to blow up around you guys." she said as Steve chuckled.
"We're going to try to avoid that if at all possible. Just visiting a friend but yes, we'll take the extra insurance." Steve said and a few minutes later, everything was finished
"Here are your keys. Pickup should just be out back." Anna said as she handed them over to them.
"Thanks Anna. And good luck with school." Steve said as she blushed again and waved goodbye before they exited the building.
"That the kind of thing you've been doing over the year?" Bucky asked as Steve nodded.
"People just need someone to talk to and hearing their stories. . .it always reinforcers how meaningful Nat and Tony's sacrifices were." Steve said, giving him a sad smile as they walked towards the single white pickup truck that was in the lot.
"Wow." Bucky said as the two men just stared at the truck for a moment, fully mesmerized.
It looked to be a brand new model, the chrome grill shining in the sun as the two of them walked over to get a closer look.
"I don't miss the vehicles we used to drive, that's for sure." Bucky commented, opening the passenger side door and letting out a whistle at the interior.
"Leather seats, full nav system, heated/cooling steering wheel . . ."
"Careful Bucky, I can hear you drooling from here. Since when did you become such a car buff?" Steve asked as he climbed in the driver's side and tossed his bag into the back seat.
"Picked up a few things here and there with Sam. Look at all the space we have!" Bucky climbed into the passenger seat, tossing his bag in the bag as well before turning his attention back towards the navigation system.
"You know how to use any of that?" Steve asked skeptically, starting up the truck as it let out a satisfying VROOM.
"More than you do my technologically inept friend." Bucky said, clamping a hand onto Steve's shoulder.
"Alright, just punch in the coordinates Bruce gave us and let's get going." Steve replied as moments later they were on their way, heading down the highway into the great unknown.
A few hours later. . .
"Bucky, are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Steve asked as they'd left the main road about two hours ago and were currently driving over a mixture of sand and rocks, the desert climate proving to be a little bit of a rough drive. The truck was doing remarkably well at handling it though and he was grateful they'd gone with the pickup option. Would probably need a really good was once they were done here, however. White was not the best colour for this climate.
"It's saying another five minutes." Bucky said as Steve looked ahead to see nothing but flat desert as large rock formations surrounded them on both sides. It was a nice, scenic drive but they weren't exactly here to take in the views.
"I'm not seeing anything." Steve said, feeling a little bit of irritation beginning to grow. He was not a fan of being left in the dark and Bruce had left them in the pitch black.
"Well it's right, I'm telling you." Bucky insisted as a few minutes later, they had arrived.
Steve put the truck into park and turned it off as the two men climbed out of the truck and looked around.
There was absolutely nothing but rocks and sand for as far as the eye could see. No sign of a base or that anyone had been here at all recently.
"Okay, that's enough of that." Steve pulled his phone out and punched in Bruce's number, bringing it up to his ear as waited impatiently for him to answer.
On about the fourth ring he finally picked.
"Steve, I can see you guys on the monitor. Letting you in now. Just drive down the ramp and it will open up into a hanger. The lab is at the back of the base, drive all the way down the hanger and you'll see a double set of doors that lead to it. I'll meet you there." Bruce rattled off instructions and before Steve could ask questions about said ramp, Bruce had hung up.
"That's getting really annoying." Steve muttered as Bucky looked over at him.
"Well?" he asked.
"Bruce said something about a ramp but I have no idea . . ." Steve began as suddenly there was a mechanical whirring sound, the two of them turning around as about a hundred feet away, the ground began to move. It appeared to just. . .slide back as slowly but surely, a ramp was revealed, running down beneath the earth.
The two of them walked over to it, peering inside as it was a fairly gently slope but seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see.
"Of course it's a secret base hidden beneath the ground. SHIELD's specialty." Steve grumbled slightly as Bucky looked intrigued.
"Well my curiosity is peaked about what Banner could be hiding in a secret facility away from prying eyes. Shall we?" Bucky asked as Steve nodded and they climbed back into the truck. Steve turned the truck back on and backed up, lining himself with the ramp before putting the truck in drive and slowly edging closer to it.
"Here goes nothing." he said as they hit the ramp and began to descend into the base. They'd barely gotten the whole truck in before there was another mechanical whirring noise as the ground slid back into place, sealing them in.
Lights had been placed on both sides of the walls, illuminating their path as they continued to head down. After what seemed to be hours, they finally saw some light up ahead as the ramp slowly levelled off and they found themselves driving into an enormous hanger.
"Whoa." Bucky said, his eyes wide as Steve put the truck into park and the two of them looked in stunned amazement at the hanger in front of them. It must have stretched out for at least a few miles and was filled with old SHIELD jets, vehicles, equipment. . .
"Why would they just abandon this place?" Bucky asked as Steve put the truck back into drive and began heading forward, down a clearly marked vehicle path that continued on towards the end of the hanger.
"That's a good question. One of many we should ask Bruce when we see him." Steve replied as they continued driving.
Steve looked out his window and spotted something way off in the distance, almost on the opposite side of the hanger. There was a large, circular platform of some type, mostly drapped in a large white sheet, as it hovered a few feet off the ground. He could just see two ramps that let up to what appeared to be the platform as he suddenly felt a sense of unease begin to grow. That looked vaguely familiar. . .
"You okay? See something?" Bucky asked as Steve turned attention back to the road.
"It. . it's nothing. Thought I. . .never mind. Hey look, I think i see Bruce."
The two of them had reached the end of the hanger and saw Bruce standing by a double set of doors, his right arm in a sling still from the damage taken from wearing the gauntlet as he wore a look of anxiety and impatience on his face.
"Last time I saw him, he looked a little more green." Steve commented as he pulled into a parking space and put the truck in park. The two of them climbed out as they headed straight for Bruce, Steve getting a closer look and being slightly taken aback by how disheveled the scientist looked. More so than usual anyway. He had bags under his eyes, his hair tousled and unkempt and Steve could feel a nervous energy radiating from him.
"Bruce, it's been awhile. You're no longer green huh? What happened to the big guy?" he asked.
"He's still in here and that's . . a story that can wait for another time. Glad you're finally here, now follow me." Bruce said abruptly as he turned around and walked through the double set of doors, Steve and Bucky exchanging a look before walking through the doors as well.
A long hallway stretched out in front of them as the three of them hurried past conference rooms, former SHIELD offices, training rooms, armoury's, and multiple other rooms until the reached the end of the hall where a sign out front a single door read "LAB"
"Bruce, hold on." Steve caught his arm and forced Bruce to turn around and look at them.
"I think you've left us in the dark long enough. We came all the wait out here and deserve some answers. What is it that you want us to see so badly?" Steve demanded as Bruce ran a hand through his hair.
"Not a what. A who." Bruce said softly as the uneasy feeling Steve had earlier was beginning to grow again.
"She's in here."
Bruce turned around and opened the door to the lab as the three of them walked inside.
The lab was very white and pristine, with lab tables set up in front of them containing all sorts of medical equipment and computers, papers laying scattered all about on the tables. It was a bit of a mess, untidy and unkempt as Bruce pointed towards a glass wall to their right, a room behind it with a hospital bed inside. Someone was lying in the bed and. . .
"Steve. . ." Bruce began as Steve found himself walking slowly towards the window, his feet automatically carrying him until he got a good look at who it was.
He stopped dead in his tracks, all the colour draining from his face as his mind was trying to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. He could hear the blood pounding loudly in his ears, Bucky standing next to him and saying something but Steve couldn't hear him, his attention fully focused on her. It was impossible.
It was impossible. It was impossible. It was impossible.
And yet. . .
Inside the room lying in the hospital bed was an unconscious, but very much alive, Natasha Romanoff. . .