Sooo I've been gone for so long! I know! I hope you're all still out there and want to stick with the story!

Chapter Seven

As the pair grappled and fought their way from the room, I hauled myself to my feet and cursed. Running after them as quickly as my trembling legs would carry me, I scoured the area for any sign of the man. He was small, thin and weaselly, not hard to find as he was the only other conscious person on this level aside from Steve and Bucky.

He was darting away, intent on freedom while the Winter Soldier wreaked havoc throughout the facility.

Not on my watch.

Taking off after him, I chased the unknown man, intent on taking him down before he could escape.

The building was a maze and my head began to pound. Seeing through the structure, seeing the wiring, the concrete, steel, brick, bodies, took an unimaginable amount of concentration. And power. But I could see him, he was within my grasp, and I refused to stop until I had him.

A familiar whoosh of air blasted by me and my heart soared as I heard that familiar Sokovian accent exclaim, "Which way?"

"Left, Pietro, left!" I exclaimed, "he's not that far! He's-"

The quick twin paused long enough to offer me a wink before disappearing in a blur. I watched him move - even with his speed, my gaze was powerful enough to lock onto him. I didn't bother running after them any longer, fighting the urge to drop my glasses over my eyes and block out some of the sensation. I heard a loud yell and watched through the walls as Pietro slammed into the man, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there.

His tone was chipper as he called out to me, telling me what I already knew, "I've got him, Aury! Though, I'm sure you already saw that."

"Course I did!" I matched his tone, rounding the corner and eyeing the scene before me in amusement. A smirk crossed my face and I folded my arms over my chest. "Pietro, who's your friend?"

"I was going to ask you that," he retorted, offering me a mischievous grin, hauling the unknown man to his feet and turning him roughly to face me. His easy smile dropped and a glower took its place as he shook the man, "So? Who are you?"

But he refused to answer, sneering at the pair of us and struggling fruitlessly against Pietro's hold. Scanning the man's form, I caught sight of something in the breast pocket of his jacket. Stepping closer, I offered Pietro the slightest of glances when he made to step between us and shoved my hand in the man's jacket. I pulled the red, leather book from his pocket, putting some distance between us.

Turning it over in my hands, I cast him another brief glance, spying his driver's license through the thick leather of his wallet. Keeping my tone light but dangerous, I queried, "What's this, Zemo?"

He seemed startled, but refused to speak, looking nervous for the first time since we had captured him. He didn't say a word as Pietro led him away, tapping the earbud in his ear, "We have him."

"Barnes!?"

"Zemo." Pietro enjoyed shoving the man ahead of him, who undoubtedly realized if he even attempted to run, the quickster would be on him faster than a flash, "let's run a search on him."

Tony sounded confused, but agreed, questioning, "GG there with you?"

"How do you think we found him?"

The smile Pietro offered me was proud, adoring almost, and I spared him a grin of my own before returning my attention to the book in my hands. I flipped open the cover, leafing through the pages as the I followed behind them. It was written in German, with a star on the cover. Though I wasn't familiar with the language, it was easy enough to figure out what it contained.

It had HYDRA written all over it.

"So whatever's in here," I surmised, casting a glance at Zemo, "turns soldiers into monsters?"

"An oversimplification," he replied, his accent heavier than I expected, and Sokovian, "monsters are everywhere, are they not?"

"I'm lookin' right at one," I offered him a feral smile, brushing past the pair of them and calling over my shoulder, "I need to show this to Tony. Wanna get him to Ross?"

"Your wish is my command," Pietro answered, sketching a low bow and dashing off with Zemo in tow. I could hear the latter retching as they went, earning a laugh from the silver-haired Sokovian.

I had saved him. In Sokovia. A boy was in the line of fire, and Ultron's bots would have peppered the five-year-old with bullets if Pietro hadn't scooped him up in his arms. They would have slaughtered them both, but that was the second time in my life that I had produced flames from my gaze. Hotter than the sun, it seemed, because the bots melted on the spot, a pile of smoking, silver goo in an instant.

Of course, I didn't get to see the results; the effort to produce the beams of fire had exhausted me in an instant. But it was worth it. Pietro and the boy both had survived; the former had gotten the child to safety before snatching me up and holding me tightly to him until a roar from the Hulk had rousted me from unconsciousness. The look in Pietro's bright, blue eyes said enough; I didn't need to read his mind to see that he was enamored. And now, if I did meet his gaze without my glasses on, I saw it all. The way he viewed me, the feelings he harbored for me; he knew I was aware of them, with my gift, but never spoke them aloud.

And he was handsome, that was undeniable. But-

Tony drew me from my thoughts, scooping me up in his arms as I neared him and spinning me slightly; when he set me back down, his concerned gaze swept over me, "Are you alright? You're not hurt?"

"I didn't even see any action, Tony," I replied, brushing his concern away with a smile and pressing the well-worn journal to his chest, "know any German?"

He took it from me, turning it over in his hands and pausing at the star pressed into the leather cover. The same star adorning Bucky's metal, HYDRA arm. Brows high on his forehead, he turned his attention to me, lips tugging to the side in a grimace, "Mighta underestimated him, GG."

"Big of you to admit," I patted his cheek, pointing at the book, "whatever's in here, whatever it says, it must be conditioned in him. To trigger the Winter Soldier. I saw him, Tony; he wasn't the same guy in Budapest. I'd swear that on my life."

Tony sighed heavily, shaking his head slightly, "I'm gonna take a look. Do you mind takin' one for Barnes? And Capiscle? I think they ran off together into the sunset…"

"Will you arrest him when I do?"

Tony's expression turned affronted, his voice exaggeratedly hurt, "Aurelie Ann Reynolds, I would never do such a thing." His tone turned serious as he patted the book against one palm, his gaze turning thoughtful, "Not after this."

"Thank you," I pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I'm gonna go find them. Do not let that book get into Ross's hands. Ross or Ross. Either of them. We don't need more Winter Soldiers, no matter how much they think they'd be able to control them. That book is now mine. Think you can distract Ross for me while I make a break for it?"

"I'd be more worried about Speedy Gonzalez if I were you," Tony blinked pointedly at me, "he's got it bad, babe; you're gonna have to let him down gently here sooner or later. Or hook up with him. Doesn't matter to me, I'm not the jealous type."

Pinning him with an exasperated frown, I walked backwards away from him, "One: you are the epitome of jealous. Two: I know, I have to-," I blatantly ignored him as he questioned excitedly, 'wait, hook up or let him down? Which one?' "-and three: my middle name's not Ann."

"Well, then, I'm just gonna have to fire that temp," he shook his head disappointedly, winking at me and flicking his hands to shoo me away, "I swear she told me it was Ann. I'll find out, GG, I always do. Love you, babe."

I blew him a kiss, lifting my glasses and weaving my way through the building, dodging guards as I went. Slipping easily outside, I scoured the surrounding area. Though I didn't have any sort of location abilities, I had become skilled enough at finding what I was looking for. It took me far longer than I would have liked, wandering the streets, but I picked up the trio lurking in an abandoned warehouse, Bucky pinned by his metal arm and Steve and Sam standing, their backs to the soldier, and speaking.

I focused more on Bucky, not because I was concerned he was turned, but because his head was hung low, his hair masking his face, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Through the curtain of his thick, dark hair, only his eyes lifted and it was as though his gaze was piercing my own. His brow furrowed slightly, his shoulders tensing, and those baby blues began shifting, searching.

Looking away quickly, I shifted my glasses back over my eyes, rubbing at the ache in my skull and wondering what the hell had just happened. I had never made eye contact with anyone through steel and concrete, and I wasn't even sure I had, but my heart skipped a beat. It certainly had felt like it. It was as though Bucky could see me, or at the very least sense me watching him. My cheeks warmed slightly; was I more embarrassed at being caught or was the blush because of how intense his gaze had been?

Shaking away the feeling, I jogged toward the building as the pressure continued to build behind my temples. Slipping through a jagged hole in the fence, I made my way into the warehouse. A body blocked me almost instantly, a hand reaching out and catching me by the throat.

There was no strength to it, and the fingers released me almost instantly, resting on my shoulders as Steve apologized profusely. His brow furrowed high on his forehead, his eyes were panicked and he hugged me tightly.

"It's alright, Steve," I laughed, my voice muffled by his thick chest, "you didn't hurt me. How'd you know I was there? I was Natasha Romanoff-quiet."

He released me, stepping back and revealing Bucky, who dropped his gaze almost immediately as I turned my attention to him, "Bucky thought he felt something. Turns out he was right."

"I thought it was gonna be Stark, not her."

"I left Stark behind," I replied chipperly, strolling closer to the soldier, wondering if he would meet my gaze at all, "he's taking a peek at a certain leather-bound HYDRA book."

That made him panic; those wild, blue eyes shot up to meet mine, struggling to rise to his feet despite the fact that his arm was caught in a massive, metal clamp, "That book needs burned! If he-"

Raising my hands to settle the spooked soldier, I assured him, "Tony Stark is a dick of the most outrageous kind, but he won't let that book fall into the wrong hands. I promise you, Bucky. You can trust me."

His jaw clenched, his gaze steady, before lowering it to the ground.

"I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but-"

"I do," he interrupted, his tone low, soft, his free hand clenching his knee tightly, "I… saw what you can do. You coulda stopped me. You could've… controlled me. But you didn't. That's more than enough for me. But-"

"Aurelie may be one of the only people that Tony Stark would do anything for," Steve interrupted him, resting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a warm shake, "he's not going to betray her trust, either. This is the proof we need, Buck; if we get it translated, they'll see. They'll know it wasn't you. And I'm pretty sure Stark's fluent in German."

Nodding, I squatted in front of the soldier, coaxing him to look at me, "I promise I'm gonna help you. And these," I tapped on my glasses, wincing slightly as it jolted the pain in my head, "I wouldn't do anything to you, not after all that shit with HYDRA. But when I have these on, it stops it. I can't do anything with them on. You can look at me."

He did, his cheeks coloring slightly, but the corner of his mouth tugged upward in a slight, alluring smile.

Oh.

That might've been a problem.

/

Olivia0707: thank you! sorry you had to wait so long!

13teen: Thanks! I have somewhat of a different plan in mind for that ;)

BacchikoiBABY21: hahaha Peter's a little young but I'm sorta vibing Pietro/Aury/Bucky ;D We'll have to see!

Ephemeralstyleee: here you go!

ElliElver: I hope you enjoy!

RedPlanetGalaxy: OMG thank you!

SomebodyWhoCares: enjoy!