It had been over a week since Sam and Bucky had given Agent Cooper their description and sent him on his way to deal with The Analyst. And they hadn't heard anything since.
Sam was the one to bring up the fact that after a few days of missing their morning runs, they should probably get back to it. To not only get back into their routine but also as to not raise suspicion. Particularly if Miss Mysterious was a threat like Bucky perceived her to be.
Bucky was not very happy about it, but he agreed.
Now he was back to being an anxious mess as soon as the park came into view. He was back to holding his breath as they rounded the bend in the trail. And this time he had more than a good reason to be doing so.
Anyone that raised that kind of reaction from him was dangerous. Bucky knew that part of him was still the Winter Soldier. That it would never go away. Sometimes it was a good thing as it did help them on assignments and missions. He was able to go into Winter Soldier Mode without the complete loss of control. But that was his choice to which he had complete mastery over.
This, however, was another person bringing out the worst in him. And it scared him more than he would ever admit. But he knew Sam had some semblance of an idea as to the gravity of this particular situation. He was no stranger to the Winter Soldier having had more than one encounter with him in the past.
This is why the following encounters confused the hell out of him.
After that first day when she looked up at him, Bucky had never experienced the same urge again. The Winter Soldier was never called forward again. Not once after that did he feel like he needed to stand at attention and await orders. Orders that he would then carry out without question. Mercilessly. In fact, every time they passed through the park and she was there she now looked up at them. Her eyes never left Bucky's.
And her eyes were anything but threatening now. Her expression always remained neutral, almost painfully so. Her eyes on the other hand always seem to hold a different expression. As if they were speaking volumes and he could not quite hear them. They always changed, even if her facial expression never did.
At least that's what Bucky perceived.
They sometimes showed curiosity. A smile. A smirk. Warmth. Expectation. An invitation? Everything that was the complete opposite of what Bucky had experienced that first time.
He had now seen her four times since that first time. The one which had ended so badly as to have them have a search done on her to find out exactly who she was. And now Bucky was starting to become a bit more curious. Just for the sake of being curious about her, as well as for the reason they initially involved SHIELD.
Now he found himself just wanting to know more about her. Whatever that may be.
Finally, the call came in. Cooper had what they were looking for. And he was ready to meet them and give them the files. For some reason, Bucky was nervous to finally find out the identity of this woman. It was a different kind of nervousness he wasn't accustomed to. He found that he really did not want to find out anything about her.
Particularly anything that would prove his previous feelings and notions about her to be true. He hated being wrong. But, in this case, he wanted nothing more than to be mistaken.
If they did find a match, he was genuinely afraid of what he would find and what the consequences of that would be.
Back in that little interrogation room Tyler, Sam, and Bucky sat down at the metal table and Tyler slammed down a rather large pile of file folders.
He took off the first few and set them aside in another smaller pile.
"These are the files that have the closest matches she could find. All containing possible lineage matches as well." He said, gesturing to the files he had separated.
Agent Cooper gestured to the other larger pile.
"And these are all of the other possible matches. She decided to include them all in case you guys got your description wrong."
Sam and Bucky looked at each other, affronted, but decided not to say anything. This was the make-or-break moment. Then they began sorting through the files.
For more than an hour, they both went through the files. One by one each was ruled out. Nowhere in the pile was the woman from the park. Nowhere in the files did an ancestor stand out to Bucky. It was tough to believe for Sam that she didn't have some kind of record or file anywhere that SHIELD could access. These days it was extremely hard to stay off of the radar completely. Even if you've never done anything wrong in your life.
"Are you sure this analyst checked every database we mentioned? I feel like she should be here and she isn't. Maybe your girl missed something." Sam sighed out after letting the last of the files fall back onto the table with a slap.
Cooper laughed.
"Let me see. What did she tell me she did? Oh, yeah. She checked our various databases, as well as the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, and other local and national law enforcement databases. As well as Interpol and various other international sources. She even called a friend in Wakanda to see if they had any leads. When I say that woman is a hound for details, I mean it. She's more than thorough. That's why it took well over a week. That and she's also working on a big case right now, too."
Bucky nodded his head slowly.
"I'm impressed. She seems to know her stuff."
"There is a reason why she's the best we have. I told you she would get your answers. I guess it turns out there isn't any. Is no news good news?"
This time Sam chimed in.
"I would have to say that's an affirmative. If she was that systematic and we still didn't find this chick, there's no way we will be able to find her. It seems as if there's nothing to find."
Bucky was relieved, although a bit put off. He was 110% sure that they would have a file on her, somewhere. But here they were with nothing. It just didn't seem right. It didn't sit well. He also found himself disappointed that he didn't even know her name.
Even with this feeling, he was thankful that there had been nothing to find. That he had indeed been wrong. And he was so glad for it, he wasn't entirely sure why that was. But he felt relieved.
Now he was certain that there was nothing nefarious going on and that whoever she was, she was just another random person in the crowd. Nothing to be worried about. No one to lose sleep over. The only thing he really could not explain but wanted to, was his reaction the first time she looked at him. Though it had never happened again. He still wondered why.
As they got up to leave and Cooper gathered the files to take back to this analyst a thought occurred to Bucky.
"Hey, Coop. Did she check the old physical files as well as the digital ones when it came to HYDRA and Project Paperclip?"
Cooper dug a slip of paper out of her pocket and read over it.
"It says here that she did. Even though all of those files have since been digitized. She wanted to double-check as most people make mistakes."
Sam could not contain his laugh. Bucky just stared. Damn, she was good.
"Wow, she sounds like a piece of work."
Cooper smirked.
"Yeah, but she gets the job done and half of the shit that goes on around here wouldn't get done if it were not for her. So, we deal with her quirks. She's worth it."
Sam whistled.
"Damn, man. Sounds like you got a crush on this girl."
Cooper paled.
"No thank you on that one. She's too much woman for a guy like me. Remember when I said she kind of scares me? I lied. She really does scare me."
Now both Sam and Bucky laughed.
They made their way to the exit, still bantering with Tyler. They went their separate ways. Tyler back into the heart of the building, Sam and Bucky heading out and towards the apartment. Both of them feeling a lot lighter now that this little ordeal had been resolved.
The next morning during their training session they both received a message to report to SHIELD ASAP. Apparently, the information from their last mission had yielded something to go off of.
Bucky was practically chomping at the bit by the time they arrived and prepared for their mission and briefing. He was so tired of recon missions. He wanted to do something for once. It had been months since their last real assignment that was not intel gathering.
He was in luck. Their work had paid up. In gold. There was a facility on the west coast. Now they knew where it was and that it was a laboratory of some kind. Though the analysts could not tell for what. All they knew was that the facility was geared toward scientific experiments.
Now Sam and Bucky were going to find it and take it down. Along with any and all information, they could get their hands on. And hopefully a scientist or three in the process.
As they geared up Sam could see that Bucky was feeling better than he had felt in a very long time. When they boarded the quinjet and Bucky took the helm Sam put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's go kick some HYDRA ass, Buck. I'll let you lead on this one."
Bucky just smirked as he readied the quinjet for takeoff.
Two days. Two days was all it took for this mission. Which had been a complete and utter failure.
The facility they found had no doubt been a HYDRA scientific research facility. Keywords: Had been. It was not so anymore. It had been completely abandoned in the time between when the last satellite images were taken and the day before.
All they found was a series of buildings in the middle of the mountains of northern Washington. All with empty rooms, hastily cleared of all equipment and paperwork. Computers that had all been wiped. Empty holding cells, various laboratories, and what appeared to be operating rooms.
There was no trace of what had been going on there. What experiments were being conducted, or to what end.
Sam and Bucky scoured the entire complex when they realized it had been deserted. They found nothing. No clues. Nothing to point to where everyone had gone or what they had been working on.
On the flight back Bucky said what had been on his mind for most of their search.
"That felt a lot like that weapons factory in Austria that they kept me at after Azzano."
Sam remained stoic and answered in a monotone to keep his voice from shaking.
"Do you mean to tell me you think they were conducting human experiments in there? That they might be working on another version of the Winter Soldier Project or their Super-Soldier serum?"
"I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying that it felt eerily similar. And as to what they are up to, why would they pack everything up and leave so quickly? What are they trying to hide? What are they trying to keep safe? You know as well as I do that the last satellite images of that place came in only three days ago."
Sam sighed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Bucky continued.
"And I am not saying anything about another Winter Soldier Project. That was the Soviets. But I am not ruling out anything similar. They tried once, who's to say they won't try again. I'm wondering who the hell tipped them off and how did they know we were coming."
Bucky saw the blood drain from Sam's face before he spoke.
"Dear God let's hope that's not what's going on here. I already have to deal with one of you. Hopefully, they are just secretly testing a new line of skincare products or something. You're starting to look your age, Buck." Sam quipped, trying to diffuse the tension and the sudden anxiety he was inundated with.
Bucky flipped him off in response. He had been having a lot of bad luck in trusting his intuition and gut recently. Maybe he was wrong about this too. Some small part of him, however, knew that he was right about this. No matter how much he wished he wasn't.