January 11th, 2014 - WASHINGTON, D.C
Steve walked up to the door of the bedroom where he could hear Natasha speaking softly, looking through the crack, he could see the red headed woman pacing around the room.
"Are you sure?" She asked, and Steve could see that she was talking into the burner phone she had used earlier too. All Natasha told him was that it was Barton, and to 'please' just trust her. Natasha had gotten the call earlier this morning and looked relieved when she saw the number. Steve had hoped that it was AJ somehow making contact with Natasha, still gripping on to Natasha's hope that she was alive. But when he heard her say Clint's name, his grip slowly loosened. It had been over 24 hours and AJ had yet to make contact, if she was even alive, Natasha had told Steve that she would have made contact by now. But she hadn't. "Yeah, I know where that is." Her tone was dry, no humor or softness, strictly business. "Okay. Alright."
Natasha hung up and Steve walked into the room, "Was that Barton again?"
She nodded, grabbing her gun and putting it under her coat. "I need to go out for a bit. I'll be gone ten minutes tops."
Natasha started heading towards the door and Steve stepped in her way, blocking her from leaving. "-It's not safe, Natasha." He didn't have many allies right now, and if Natasha truly was his, he couldn't risk her going out on her own.
"-Don't worry, I'll wear a hat and glasses." She smirked up at Steve. "In and out." Natasha moved to step around him but Steve placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Not until you tell me where you're going." Steve told her.
Natasha's brows furrowed. "We're trusting each other, Rogers. Remember?"
He sighed in frustration, "How am I supposed to trust you when you are keeping things from me?" Steve said back.
Natasha groaned, seeing that he had a point. "Fine." She huffed, "If you must know, I'm going to go get some tampons." Steve made a face, not believing her. Natasha shrugged her shoulders, "It's that time of the month, Cap. I can't help it."
Steve shook his head but let go of her shoulder, "I don't believe for a second that you are going to get tampons – but I'm not going to stop you from leaving." He wasn't going to beg her to stay and help him. It was her choice. Everyone deserves a choice. "And if you don't come back...I'll understand. Tell Barton I send my best."
He moved to walk away but Natasha grabbed him this time, twisting his arm until he was facing her again, "-Do you honestly think I'm not coming back?" She asked him, looking up at him with big eyes.
He shrugged his shoulders now, "What do you expect me to think? You talk to Barton and don't tell me what he says, and then you just happened to need to run to the pharmacy to grab feminine hygiene products just as Clint calls again." He could see Natasha's lips twitching upward, amused by it all.
"I'm coming back, Cap. Ten-fifteen minutes tops. If I'm not back by then, go on and leave. I don't blame you for thinking I'm only looking out for myself – you won't hurt my feelings. I made a career out of looking out for number one. But I'm not like that anymore. But if you're worried that I might turn you in, I won't hold any grudges against you leaving before I come back." Her voice went softer when she started talking again, "Or, you can trust me when I say I'm coming back and stay...I'll even bring you back something sweet." She smiled, a Cheshire cat grin.
Steve rolled his eyes and stepped out of Natasha's way. "Fifteen minutes or I'm leaving." Steve told Natasha who smiled and walked past him, patting him on his arm as she did so.
He could hear Sam making a noise of dislike when the front door closed and when Steve came into the kitchen were he still was, Sam held one hand in the air in confusion. "-Why the hell did she leave? And where the hell did she go?"
"I don't know." Steve replied. "But if she's not back within fifteen minutes – we leave."
Sam frowned, and for a minute Steve wondered if he was already backing out of his offer to join them in the fight against Hydra. But then he turned and grabbed something off the counter and handed it to Steve. "I used the last of my eggs to make her a damn omelet."
Steve chuckled quietly, looking away from Sam as he shook his head and went to the table in the kitchen to eat his breakfast. He was glad he met Sam. He knew off the bat that he could trust him. It had been the same thing that had happened when he first met Bucky, just a kid helping out a much smaller kid from getting beaten too badly. And from that day on until the day Bucky died – Bucky had always had Steve's back. He believed that Sam was just as loyal as Bucky.
It took less than five minutes to get to where AJ and her nephew were located. It wasn't safe to hotwire a car in Sam's neighborhood this early in the morning. The second the owner of the car left for work they would see that it had been stolen and would call the cops and if that happened – they'd all be in danger. So, she left on foot, wearing one of Sam's hoodies, a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses acting as if she were any other person on their morning jog.
"Nat," She heard someone whisper from a bit away in a wooded area. She quickly ran towards where the voice came, knowing who it belonged to, and found AJ waiting for her. Natasha engulfed her in a hug immediately once she was in front of her.
"I knew it," Natasha said over and over again as AJ chuckled, hugging her back. Natasha pulled away and laughed, "-You can't kill AJ Frost, she's too damn stubborn to ever die." Natasha said with a smirk, her eyes slightly blurry from tears building up.
Her friend smiled, pressing her hand to Natasha's cheek, wiping away a tear that had fallen. "I'm okay," AJ assured her, and Natasha hated the fact that when it came to AJ, she was so damn vulnerable. Natasha had been trying to keep it together for Steve, to be strong, because he was on the verge of losing it when each hour went by and AJ hadn't checked in – but the thought that AJ might possibly be dead? It damn near destroyed Natasha. Yet again, she found herself compromised. AJ dropped her hand from Natasha's cheek and looked around the area, "Where's Steve?" she asked, looking behind Natasha.
"He's safe." Natasha told her, taking a step back to get a good look at AJ. She didn't seem to have any bad injuries, which was odd. "I left him behind – it's not safe to have us all leaving together. I told him to give me fifteen minutes before he leaves without me." Natasha explained, but she knew AJ understood. Natasha moved her hand to her gun when she heard someone coming out from the wooded area and AJ held up her hand, letting Natasha know that they were safe. Natasha dropped her hand and watched as Andrew Frost stepped out from a bit away, Natasha still surprised that AJ had gone to him for help and that he had actually agreed to help her. AJ had been so torn up after Brian Frost was killed on a mission, taking a bullet to the head that was meant for her – nothing Natasha or Clint could say could console her. Theodore Adams was able to take her mind off of losing a family member, though (in a way that Clint and Natasha hadn't tried.) But then he was killed too and AJ grew harder, less breakable.
And then Steve was found. And the pain of losing Brian Frost wasn't as painful. It hurt AJ, but she had Steve now.
"Romanoff," Andrew said, walking up to where Natasha and AJ stood.
He and Brian had worked on a case with her in 2008, but nothing after that. She had liked the twins, and never thought that in just a few years she'd witness the rebirth of their aunt who had died in the 40's.
"Andy." She greeted him and watched him flinch. Andy had been what Brian had called him, but the team picked up on it while on the mission to make it easier to identify them over comms – Andy and Brian instead of Frost A and Frost B. Andrew looked away and scratched the back of his neck and Natasha turned her attention back to AJ. "You ready?"
AJ smirked and Natasha raised her brow in confusion. AJ whistled, signaling to someone to come out.
And the person who came out was not anyone that Natasha was expecting to see. Jordan Connors came walking out from the woods over to where they all were. And when Jordan saw Natasha, she picked up the pace until she was running, the blonde threw her arms around Natasha and sighed in relief. Natasha hugged her back, hand moving to the back of Jordan's head as they hugged. And when Natasha finally pulled back, ready to tell them that they needed to go, Jordan did something that surprised Natasha. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against the former KGB assassin's lips.
Natasha licked her lips when Jordan pulled away, her eyes blinking rapidly from the shock of Jordan kissing her. Yeah, they flirted and hinted but neither had ever expressed having any sort of feelings for the other. But Natasha did have feeling for Jordan, and it appeared that Jordan returned those feelings. When Jordan grinned, Natasha shook her head with a smile and moved forward and kissed her again.
"I thought she was with Barton," Natasha could hear Andrew say as she and Jordan continued to kiss, Jordan's fingers running through Natasha hair. "Nope." AJ replied in a chuckle. When they pulled apart, foreheads pressed together, Natasha pushed Jordan's hair behind her ears and looked into her blue eyes. "About damn time." Natasha said with a smirk.
"I could say the same thing." Jordan said back, sassing Natasha.
"Uh," Andrew said, causing the women to slowly pull away from each other. "-Hate to break up this reunion but didn't you say that Steve was only giving you fifteen minutes before he bails?"
"Later." Jordan said, looking at Natasha with a smirk that matched her own. And then she linked their fingers together and told Natasha to lead the way.
Clint hadn't told Natasha about Jordan being with AJ. She had a feeling that AJ had something to do with that – wanting Natasha not to worry about the doctor's safety. But she was glad that it had been a surprise. Because even while they were in the midst of Hydra regaining power and having a weapon that could take out any person the algorithm thought was a challenge – Jordan running up to her and kissing her made Natasha completely forget that they were in any danger.
And when this was all over – Natasha could not wait to finally get Jordan alone.
She'd keep it PG...for now.
_
Natasha had snuck in through the back door of Sam Wilson's house, a man who Steve had apparently befriended the day before and trusted enough to go to without fearing the man would turn them in. Jordan and Andrew followed after Natasha but AJ stayed back a bit once she was in the house.
Would Steve even be happy to see that she was alive? Natasha had said that Steve didn't know that AJ was the one who she was meeting with when she left the house fifteen minutes earlier. Would he be happy to see her? Or would things still be awkward?
AJ didn't have feelings for Steve. She loved him, yes. He was her family. But it had never been anything more than that when it came to the two of them. They might play house from time to time but AJ, even though she knew he was dead, would never stop loving James Buchanan Barnes. It was why she had felt so guilty when Theodore was killed. Because he had feelings for her, told her that much. And she couldn't return those feelings. It had just been sex but Theo had been important to her. He was her partner. Theo was someone who went out of his way to watch her back, and his death had hit her hard – but not because she was in love with him.
It was the same damn thing with Frank Jackson. AJ had been with him for over a year and it took a war and him being countries away for AJ to realize that she did not love Frank in the way he loved her and that she never would. And...he died. He died while she was realizing that she did not love him.
Bucky was gone, AJ knew that. He wasn't coming back.
And maybe someday she'd fall in love again. Maybe.
But it wouldn't be with Steve.
And it hadn't been with Theo.
There was a small chance that someday she'd fall in love someday but...it would never be like the way she loved Bucky. She would only be able to give just a small part of herself to whoever she might end up with because Bucky, even in death, he had her heart. All of it.
It took a while for AJ to admit that he had had it even while in Camp McCoy, just pieces at that time. And that the day he shipped off to England he left with half of her heart, and when they were finally reunited her heart was all his. Bucky Barnes had stolen her heart piece by piece until there was nothing left to give to anyone else, nothing left that she would ever want to give to someone else because she loved Bucky more than she could have ever imagined and would never stop. And then he died.
And her heart had withered away each day she spent without him. It was broken and cold and it wasn't capable of ever opening itself up for anyone else.
And she was terrified that Steve would ask for it – that the reason he had been avoiding her for the last few months was because he felt something for her that he knew she wouldn't be able to feel back. Or because he felt guilty because she had been Bucky's girl.
AJ walked forward, listening to Natasha introduce Sam and Steve to Andrew after Jordan had introduced herself to Sam and hugged Steve.
"It's an honor to meet you, Captain Rogers. My dad was a big fan...obviously," AJ couldn't help but smile at that. Little Henry worshiping Captain America was not a surprise to her. He had met Steve before he was Captain America and took a liking to him. Steve made Henry laugh, and AJ wished she could have seen Henry's face when he saw the posters of Captain America and saw that it was Steve Rogers.
"It's nice to meet you too, Andrew..."
"Frost." Andrew answered.
"Frost?" Steve said, his voice full of hope and when AJ walked into the kitchen where they all were, out from behind Natasha, Jordan, and Andrew - Steve saw that she was with him and relief washed over his face. Steve moved forward and picked her up in his arms, hugging her tightly, apologizing over and over again.
"I'm sorry," He whispered, still holding onto her tightly, pressing kisses to the side of her head. AJ didn't know what to say, Steve sounded so broken and full of guilty, but still relieved that she was in front of him now. "God, I'm so sorry." AJ finally hugged him back, hiding her face against his shoulder. It's okay. She whispered, her voice small. He pressed another series of kisses to her head before he finally set her down, his hands moved to cup her face as he examined her. "You're healed..." Steve then looked to Jordan, "How?"
Jordan had explained to AJ her suspicions. That SHIELD had been weakening her. What she hadn't know and did now, thanks to Natasha, was that it had been Hydra weakening her, not SHIELD. She hadn't understood, Hydra was dead – the SSR made sure of it. But according to Natasha, it was very much alive. Jordan had told AJ that she had done the right thing by putting herself in ice. Ice healed her and when she used her powers, the ice was being taken away and instead of regenerating like they normally did – it was as if she was losing large amounts of her blood and not receiving a transfusion afterwards. The ice bath had saved her. And until they could find a way to reverse what Hydra did to her – the ice baths were going to be the only thing that would save AJ if she got injured that badly again.
"Because our girl here is a genius." Natasha smirked as she answered, looking over at AJ.
AJ looked to Natasha, giving her a look of; clear the room. She nodded, asking Sam to show Andrew where he could get a change of clothes and offered to show Jordan where she could get cleaned up as well. Natasha explained that they all wore around the same size of clothes that Sam's ex-girlfriend wore and the clothes she had left behind would work well. Why Sam still had his ex-girlfriends clothes though was a mystery to AJ.
When they were all gone, AJ looked up at Steve who had dropped his hands from her face by then. "I'm sorry." She blurted out. "I shouldn't have let things get this bad – I shouldn't have kissed you in the first place!" She continued to apologize. "God, I'm such an idiot!"
"Jay," Steve stopped her. "It's okay."
"No, Its not." AJ shook her head, "I was drunk and I felt alone and I miss Bucky..." She breathed in deeply, "-every day I miss him and I guess when I thought you were him I just..." She breathed out, looking up at Steve, "I just wanted to believe it." AJ felt tears fill her eyes.
"I know." Steve took her hand in his.
She frowned, slowly pulling her hand back from him. No, he didn't know. "I should have said this the day after it happened...I don't want things to change between us." AJ closed her eyes, not wanting to have to see the look on his face when she told him how she really felt. "I know he's dead." AJ whispered. "But he has my heart...and I...I won't ever be able to give you what you deserve."
And then Steve started to chuckle, causing AJ's eyes to open and look up at him. He composed himself, "I'm sorry." He sucked in his lower lip, trying not to laugh again.
"Steve!" AJ said, upset. "This isn't funny! This is really hard for me to say to you – you know how much I love you."
"I love you too, Jay." He smiled down at her. "But I'm not in love with you."
He watched as AJ's head fell back and she sighed in relief. "You aren't?" She looked back at him, smiling a lot harder than someone should after being told that someone wasn't in love with them.
"No." He laughed, "I mean, I thought maybe I felt something for you after you kissed me, but then I went to go see Peggy."
AJ's mouth fell open and she glared at Steve, "-Please tell me you did not tell her!"
Steve shook his head, "No." He told her, smiling softly down at her, "But I realized that I'm in the same situation as you. Bucky's gone, he's a ghost. But you still love him. Peggy is here, sometimes. And other times she's not. And I still love the part of her that comes out sometimes. But...it's like being in love with a ghost too."
AJ swatted at Steve's chest, "Dammit! Why couldn't you have just told me that after you went and saw her!" AJ laughed.
Steve held up his hands, shielding himself from getting hit by AJ again. "-Hey, you waited until your apartment was blown up and I thought you were dead to admit to me that you don't have feelings for me."
AJ shook her head, smiling a little. "Quite the pair, we are." AJ chuckled. "Avoiding each other because we're too afraid to hurt the others feelings and still helplessly in love with ghosts." Steve nodded his head in agreements, sighing as he opened his arms for her. AJ moved forward and into his arms, wrapping her own around his middle. "Sorry I kissed you." She whispered.
She felt Steve's chest rumble. "Sorry I kissed you back."
AJ smiled, "For the record – you are a very good kisser."
Steve let go and laughed, "Thank you! You mind telling Natasha that!"
AJ raised her brows and smiled, needing Steve to explain what he meant ASAP. "Explain."
He simply shrugged and went to get her a cup of coffee.
Idiots. The two of them. Complete idiots. If they had just pulled their heads out of their asses they wouldn't have wasted the past few months avoiding the other. It only took nearly dying and the fear of losing each other for them to finally say what should have been said last November.
"Hey, uh," AJ walked over to Steve, taking the cup of coffee he was offering her. "Speaking of ghosts. There's something you should know about the Winter Soldier." Steve looked over at AJ, brows raised. "Clint filled me in and Natasha told me that she only told you about her history with him." Steve now looked concerned. "After being at SHIELD for a year, I was assigned a partner. I was usually assigned on missions with Nat and Clint but after doing well on my first solo mission – SHIELD and Fury believed that I was ready to step back from them, Nat and Clint working together is like watching a masterpiece and they wanted to see if I was able to have that with a partner of my own."
Steve frowned, not understanding.
AJ took in a deep breath, "His name was Theodore Adams. He was a descendant of a friend I made while at Camp McCoy; Nathaniel Adams." AJ could see recognition in Steve's eyes. He knew Nathaniel.
"You two were close?" Steve asked, almost cautiously.
"We were..." She licked at her bottom lip, trying to come up with a word that wasn't vulgar. "Intimate for a while." AJ admitted. Steve swallowed, nodding his head quickly as if he were trying to tell AJ to move on with her story. "-It wasn't like that, Steve. I didn't have feelings for him, it was just-"
"Sex." Steve answered for her, still looking very uncomfortable. "I get it."
AJ looked away from Steve, "In November of 2011, Fury sent me and Theo to Bucharest to extract an agent who was being held hostage. After we were able to extract our agent, we were on our way to the hotel that SHIELD had assigned as our rendezvous spot when our car got knocked off the road. It was the Winter Soldier. Who, I assume, is a Hydra asset." Steve nodded his head, letting her know that she was right. AJ took in a deep breath to try and hold back her frustration that Hydra was even still alive. "Theo was stuck in the car and couldn't get out in enough time. He told me to grab our agent and that if he wasn't at the rendezvous spot within ten minutes to leave."
It was only one man.
"The guy coming towards our car was alone. Metal arm."
Steve frowned, "The Winter Soldier."
AJ nodded her head, "SHIELD was able to locate Theo's body – the Winter Soldier hadn't taken it. Just left him on the side of the road like roadkill. He had snapped his neck and then shot him for good measure."
"-Did he go after you?"
AJ shook her head, "No. I got out in time – but I sure as hell wanted to go after him."
"Why didn't you?" Steve asked.
"Natasha told me it was a dead end. She had tried to go after him a few years earlier and refused to let me do that as well. Said it'd only get me killed."
Steve took in a deep breath, nodding his head. "I'm glad you didn't go after him. But I am sorry he killed your partner."
"Theo was a good guy – he didn't deserve to die like that."
"You still hold a grudge?"
"How can I not?" AJ asked him back. "I'm telling you this because if we run into him again – I won't hesitate to go after him this time."
"AJ," Steve began to protest.
"Not up for discussion, Steve. I'm just giving you a heads up." AJ told Steve causing him to sigh. "He's killed two people that I have cared about now." Steve frowned at that, but not out of silence, but almost as if he was holding something back from her. "What?"
Steve opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted, "-You need a change of clothes," Natasha said from behind AJ, causing the woman to look over her shoulder. She did. "I found something more your style."
AJ huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes and handed her cup of coffee back to Steve after taking a large gulp, "Please say it's something leather or black." AJ said as she walked away with Natasha.
She felt relief.
Things were back to normal with Steve.
And they had the same mission. Take down Hydra again.
And the Winter Soldier was a part of Hydra. So, that was just a bonus for AJ.
_
AJ hadn't told Steve much about Andrew, just that she had a nephew. And he had never pushed her to tell him more. And seeing as Natasha was asking Steve to keep something from AJ – he couldn't exactly be upset that she wasn't being more open about Andrew Frost.
After Natasha had shown AJ where to change, she had come back and pulled Steve aside and asked him to not tell AJ about what they had seen from Zola, about Howard's death and his connection to the Winter Soldier.
"Howard was like a brother to her – she deserves to know the truth. That it wasn't a car accident." Steve had tried to argue.
"She already has it out for the Winter Soldier, add Howards death on top of all he's already taken from her..." Natasha shook her head, "She will get herself killed. And I refuse to let her die – she is vulnerable right now and we don't exactly have access to a tub full of ice if she gets hurt beyond repair. So...please, just...wait. Wait until this is all over."
For the sake of AJ not dying because of her vendetta against the Winter Soldier, Steve agreed to keep Howards true cause of death from AJ.
They had gone to the army base to steal the EXO-7 Falcon flight harness, AJ and Natasha had been able to break in undetected and the alarms only went off when they were long gone. Steve had asked the two women why they had the alarms go off now – AJ had smirked, "So they know it's gone. And they'll know what's coming."
Sam didn't like the idea of them knowing that the gear had been taken, but he wasn't too vocal about it. He and AJ got along quite quickly, AJ no longer having to worry about whether or not they could trust the man. And Steve wondered if maybe it had to do with why he had been able to form a friendship with Sam so easily, because the man had reminded him of Bucky in some ways. Maybe AJ saw it, too?
They would wait to go after Sitwell for information on Hydra and Pierce until after Jordan and Andrew left, Natasha wanting Jordan safe, and AJ looking out for her family. Jordan had looked at her watch, saying that it was nearly time for her to head into work anyway. Natasha had told her no, that she shouldn't go in. But Jordan wanted SHIELD to believe that she was still loyal to them. And if Jordan didn't show up to work – they'd be looking for her too. And that she wasn't as covert as the rest of them. "I'm just a doctor. I'm not truly an agent, or an assassin, or spy, or super soldier or AJ." It had made AJ smile a little, being her own category. "And let's face it – I'm hot. I'll stand out." Steve knew that Jordan was trying to make Natasha smile, but he could also see that Natasha was worried.
Jordan left, running around the city until she was far enough away and took a cab back to her apartment and left for work.
When AJ had begun to tell Andrew where a bunker was that Clint had in case of anything happening and any of them needed to hide out – the young man shook his head at AJ, telling her that he wouldn't go. "You could die." AJ told him, telling him that she didn't want him to come. Andrew told AJ that it was too bad, "Family over everything." AJ had looked at Andrew, eyes misting and took a step back, simply nodding her head and agreeing to let him come. When Steve asked her what had happened, AJ told him that when he said those words, Andrew had looked so much like Henry that she couldn't argue.
Steve remembered how AJ was never able to tell her little brother no. It seemed like Andrew had the same effect on AJ that Henry had.
The goodbye between Natasha and Jordan was short and sweet and Steve watched as Natasha whispered something in Jordan's ear after they kissed, causing the blonde woman's face to flush a dark shade of red. The tables finally turning between Natasha and Jordan, the doctor previously being able to make Natasha blush while keeping her cool whenever Natasha flirted back.
They left separately. AJ going off with Andrew in a car they had stolen while Sam, Natasha, and Steve left in a separate car to go interrogate Jasper Sitwell.
Now, Steve, Natasha, and AJ walked up to the top of the roof, where Sitwell was stammering on about how AJ wasn't supposed to be dead.
"-They said they killed you." Jasper said, pointing at AJ. "-You are supposed to be dead!"
Steve grabbed Jasper by the shirt and tossed him through the now open door that would let them out and onto the roof, the man's body flying forward.
"They lied," AJ told Jasper, walking onto the roof next to Steve and Natasha.
"Tell me about Zola's algorithm." Steve demanded.
Jasper got up, putting his glasses back on as he walked backwards, trying to get away from them. "Never heard of it." He lied, terribly.
"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked next.
"I was throwing up. I get seasick." Jasper replied and Steve grabbed Sitwell, forcing him to the edge of the rooftop. The man did not seem frightened anymore, he just smiled at Steve. "-Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're going to throw me off the roof?" Jasper asked, finding it all humorous. "Because it's really not your style, Rogers."
Steve let go of Sitwell, nodding his head in agreement. "You're right. It's not." He said, smoothing down the mans jacket. "It's hers." He said, stepping aside to let Natasha kick Sitwell hard in the stomach, sending him flying off the roof and plummeting to the ground.
"Always with the dramatics." AJ said, leaning forward to watch as Sitwell screamed as he continued to fall. The tree of them stood on the edge of the roof waiting.
"-Oh, wait." Natasha said, "What about that girl from accounting, Laura...Lisa?"
"Lillian." Steve corrected, knowing that Natasha was continuing on with her pursuit of trying to find Steve a date. "Lip piercing, right?"
"Yeah, she's cute." Natasha said, looking to AJ who nodded her head in agreement.
"Yeah, I'm not ready for that." Steve told them.
He looked to AJ who smirked, "So, am I going to learn more about the kiss you two shared?"
Steve rolled his eyes at her just as Sam flew up, holding onto Sitwell with one hand, wearing his Falcon jet-pack that had wings. Sam flew a bit more about them before dropping Sitwell onto the roof and when Natasha, Steve, and AJ walked up to him – the man held up his hands in fear.
"Zola's algorithm is a program!" He confessed! "For choosing Insights targets."
"What targets?" Steve looked down at Sitwell who was breathing hard.
"You!" He looked to Steve, "Her!" He pointed to AJ, "A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City," He listed off names, "Bruce, Banner, Stephen Strange – anyone who's a threat to Hydra! Now, or in the future!"
"The future?" Both Steve and AJ said in unison. He looked to AJ who looked incredibly worried and continued on, "-How could it know?"
His question was apparently funny to Sitwell. "How could it not?" He shouted, pushing himself up off the ground. "-The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught Hydra how to read it." Steve still didn't understand, and when he looked to Natasha and AJ, they looked equally confused. "-Your bank record, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples past to predict their future."
"And what then?" AJ asked.
Sitwell looked to the ground, breathing speeding up as he came to some sort of realization. "Oh my god." He said under his breath, "Pierce is gonna kill me."
"-What then?!" Steve yelled at the man, moving closer to him. Sam stood behind Sitwell, grabbing him by the back of his jacket and Jasper started giving them answers again.
"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."
"So why not wait to kill me?" AJ asked, stepping forward and into Jaspers space. Steve didn't stop her, he let her ask her questions. "-Why have Rumlow plant a bomb?"
"That wasn't Rumlow." Jasper told her.
AJ tilted her head to the side a bit, "Who was in my apartment?" She asked. Steve didn't understand why it was so important to her. Why she was willing to waste the little time they did have on finding out who had planted the bomb.
"You're a weakness."
That's all Jasper would say.
_
AJ drove a car far enough behind the one Sam, Steve, and Natasha were in, so that the three were ambushed, they'd have back up. Andrew sat in the passenger seat next to her. "How are you a weakness?" Her nephew asked after AJ had explained to him what had happened. "And if Rumlow didn't plant the bomb – who the hell did? Pierce?"
"I don't know." She snapped, knowing there was no reason too, but doing it anyway. She sighed, "I'm sorry – but whoever was inside my apartment took something that belonged to me and..." AJ stopped talking and focused on the road. "It doesn't matter. We have Sitwell now – call Nat's burner phone." She instructed and Andrew nodded his head, pulling out the burner phone he had bought for AJ earlier.
But before he could even flip the phone open, someone had rammed into their car and there was a loud thud on the roof. Out of instinct, AJ moved let go of the wheel and pressed her hands to the cars ceiling and created a strong sheet of ice to protect herself and Andrew as a gun began to shoot into the car from above, the car went circling backwards into traffic and AJ could see through the window that whoever was on their car had jumped onto the car next to them as it sped up to cut through traffic. A metal arm flashed in her vision just before she grabbed onto the steering wheel and slammed on her breaks, causing cars behind her to crash into the back of the car she had stolen.
"Andrew!" AJ said, unbuckling her seatbelt and moved to grab at her nephew who had smacked his head against the passenger window when they had crashed. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Mm-hm." He said, holding onto his head.
"Okay." She said, shifting the gears and pressing on the gas, "-Call them. Now!"
Andrew did, "Serves are jammed – I can't get a signal." He told AJ, trying over and over to reach Natasha's burner phone. AJ pressed down hard on the gas, swerving in and out of traffic to cut through people to get to the car her friends were in.
They were too far away for them to notice that AJ had crashed or that someone had been shooting at her car – that was her mistake – she should have gone along with Steve and drove behind them. But AJ had worried that they would be ambushed (which, they were) and they needed to spread out.
The car was now in her view and Andrew pointed to the car, "Is that?"
The Winter Soldier stood on top of their car, punching through the backside window and AJ and Andrew watched as Jasper Sitwell was ripped from the car and tossed into traffic. The Winter Soldier shot into their car they same way he had shot into AJ's but was thrown off the roof when Sam slammed on his breaks.
AJ was just about to them when one of SHIELD's jeeps passed her on the highway and crashed into the back of the car that Steve, Natasha, and Sam were in and pushed it forward at a high speed. AJ swerved into the next lane, grabbing her gun from her holster and tossed it to Andrew while she unrolled their windows. "Those windows are bulletproof she make your shots count!" She yelled, pulling up next to the jeep just as the Winter Soldier flipped backwards and onto Steve's car.
Andrew pointed his gun at the jeeps tires, firing repeatedly but not doing any damage. AJ watched as the Winter Soldier pulled the steering wheel out of the car before he jumped onto the jeep. Sam managed to get their car a little bit away from the jeep but it rammed into them again with the Winter Soldier still on top of it and the car crashed, flipping through the air. "No!" AJ gasped but then saw that Steve, Natasha, and Sam were sliding along the highway on the highway on the door of the car with Steve's shield protecting them. The jeep sped up and once she saw that Steve and Natasha were safe, AJ sped up, spinning the car so it was in front of them and quickly pushed Andrew out of the car so they could get out through his side, seeing as her side was right in the line of fire. "You okay?!" AJ shouted, running over to Steve, who was just a little bit away from the car.
He nodded but then quickly looked ahead, AJ looked where Steve was staring only to have him shove her roughly behind the car as a missile launched at him, the shield blocked the explosion but the force of it sent Steve flying over the guard rails and down onto the street.
"Steve!" She shouted, moving to run forward only to have Natasha grab her by the back of her coat and drag her back behind cover.
"Go, go, go, go!" Natasha yelled as guns fired at the car AJ had been driving, bullets piercing through the windows and nearly hitting them. AJ grabbed Andrew, pushing him behind another car while she and Sam ran in the same direction and Natasha ran off on her own.
"I can do it!" AJ yelled over at Natasha who hid behind a car a few feet away from her, firing her own gun at the Winter Soldier and the Hydra agents who were shooting at them.
"No!" Natasha yelled back.
It was risky but it was worth at least trying. "I'm gonna do it!" AJ yelled, stepping into the road and raised her hands in the air only to feel someone tackle her to the ground, the both of them rolling to the car Natasha was hiding behind. AJ looked up, expecting it to be Sam, but saw it was her nephew. "Andrew, dammit!"
A grenade was thrown into the car they were hiding behind and Natasha jumped over the railing onto the other side of incoming traffic while AJ pressed her hands to the car, freezing the back so that they wouldn't be hit from the explosion.
AJ breathed hard, feeling tired from using so much of her strength to create ice shields to protect her and Andrew. Her nephew lifted her off the ground while the Hydra agents aimed at Natasha. AJ looked back just as the car Natasha was behind exploding and Natasha was nowhere to be seen. "Go!" Andrew hissed, seeing that they had an opportunity to get off the bridge.
When they were at the ledge, Andrew pulled out a device Natasha had given to him that would latch onto the side of the bridge and they could both be lowered. But AJ stopped him, instead, grabbing her knife, two guns, and a grenade. "Here." She told Andrew, taking the device from him. "Go find Sam, watch his back."
"-I'm not leaving you!" He argued.
"Your brother died trying to protect me, I'm not going to let the same thing happen to you! Go find, Sam!" She ordered, latching the device onto the side of the bridge and jumped off. When Andrew looked back down, he saw her safely on the ground, heading in the direction of where Natasha had been thrown off of the bridge.
AJ looked up when she heard a gunshot and started running when she heard multiple. That's when she saw Natasha fleeing the scene, running in the opposite direction. AJ was just about to go after her when the car under the bridge was smashed, the Winter Soldier landing on it, crushing the metal. She dove under a car and waited until he was no longer in sight, and then started to stalk him like he was her prey.
But a man had run up to her, screaming at her to go in the opposite direction, that there was maniac with a gun. Yeah, she knew that. AJ was currently trying to follow that maniac. She groaned, handing him her burner phone and told him to call 911 while he searched for anyone injured, and that she was looking for anyone who might be hurt too. He finally agreed and AJ ran in the direction the Winter Soldier had been headed.
AJ spotted Natasha just as she dropped down to her knees after a bullet ripped through her shoulder. She ran forward, and saw Natasha take cover behind a car.
The Winter Soldier had jumped on a car a few feet away from Natasha and pointed his gun at her, only to be blown off the car by a gust of cold wind that AJ had sent in his direction, knocking him down so she would have the advantage. He jumped to his feet and pointed his gun at AJ who dodged the bullet by sliding on her knees, skidding against the road until she was at his side, using the knife she pulled out from her belt to slash at his ankle and thigh causing him to buckle forward. AJ stood up, and the man spun around, gun pointed at AJ again only to have her raise her leg and kick him hard in the gut, sending him falling down hard on his back.
Before he could get up, AJ was on top of him, the knife she had used to cut at him earlier was still in her hand, ready to plunge into him only to have him grip onto her wrist before the blade could even touch his skin. She tried to fight him, but the grip he had on her wrist tightened until he was able to switch their positions, AJ now on the ground with the Winter Soldier on top of her. The man knocked the knife out of her hand and his metal arm went to her neck, choking her.
The man lifted her off the ground, metal hand still wrapped around her neck and when AJ finally looked into his eyes, something inside her snapped, her body completely losing control and instinct seemed to kick in. AJ gripped onto his metal arm with both of her hands, trying to freeze it solid. He stumbled a bit when his metal arm was nearly frozen over when a blast of heat came from out of the metal arm. AJ looked up at him just as the blast from his arm sent her flying forward and into car ten feet away from where she had been standing. And the blast from her own powers sent him flying away from her as well.
AJ groaned, sitting up a bit against the car she had been thrown into, and held onto her side, feeling a warm liquid oozing out of her side. The Winter Soldier was up again and headed in her direction, handgun pointed at her when Steve came running forward, the assassin losing focus when he had looked in the direction AJ's eyes had gone. Steve came at him and the man metal arm went straight for Steve, only to have Steve hold up his shield to block the blow. The sound of metal colliding against the vibranium of Steve's shield echoed all around them.
She started to try and get up but could feel something painful in her side, just above where she had felt the blood. AJ moved her hand up and felt that it was a metal shard sticking out of her side. AJ took in a deep breath, trying to work up the courage to do what she had to do next. With shaky hands, AJ gripped onto the shard of metal and pulled, screaming out in pain once it was no longer lodged into her side. Blood began to spill from the wound and AJ quickly pressed her hands to it, using whatever she had left of her powers to use the ice to help it heal. It worked, slightly. Enough that AJ could stand up without falling back onto the ground but not enough for AJ to be able to see straight.
AJ pulled out her gun from under her shirt and ran towards where Steve and the Winter Soldier were fighting, firing off a few shots at the assassin, nearly hitting Steve in the process. The Winter Soldier turned to look at her and Steve was able to grab him by the back, throwing him behind as he ran in front of AJ to block her. "GO!" He yelled at her. The ice she had tried to heal herself started to melt and AJ stumbled forward and onto the ground. When Steve bent down to help her, The Winter Soldier grabbed at his neck, lifting Steve up in the air. AJ went to reach for her gun that had fallen only to have the man kick it away and try to kick at her, but she tumbled out of the way, only able to do so with the little bit of adrenaline she had left. When she looked back up, Steve had the assassin in a hold, grabbing at his mask from behind and flipped him over his back causing the man to fly forward, tumbling as well to land on his knees. Steve went to move in front of AJ when the assassin stood up off the ground, his mask a few away from where AJ was laying.
The Winter Soldier turned himself to face them and AJ inhaled sharply, everything around her becoming hazy. "No," She whispered, looking up at that man. It wasn't possible – she was near death and the last time she nearly died – Bucky's face had been the last thing she saw.
But then she heard Steve say his name, "Bucky?"
It wasn't just her that saw Bucky standing in front of him, Steve saw him too.
AJ didn't take her eyes off of the man, "Who the hell is Bucky?" He pointed his gun as Steve as AJ gripped onto the car next to her, hearing his words – Bucky's words, his voice, it came out of the man's mouth, the man was Bucky – he was alive. Somehow, Bucky was alive. If she let go of the car she was gripping onto, she'd fall to the ground and lose it.
"Buck," She breathed out causing him to look at her briefly only to be tossed across the street by Sam who had flown in wearing his Falcon gear. "No!" AJ yelled, trying to crawl forward. When Bucky landed, he looked at both her and Steve, his eyes showing he was conflicted. But in the end, he raised the gun and pointed it at Steve only to have a missile shot in his direction by Natasha, who was behind Steve and AJ. The car exploded and when the smoke cleared, Bucky was gone. "Bucky!" AJ shouted, "Bucky!"
Sirens surrounded them, SHIELD cars as well. AJ felt like she was going to be sick. Bucky. He was alive. AJ felt herself slumping against the pavement, looking up where Bucky had just been standing with tears in her eyes. And then she was being yanked up and thrown down onto her knees, a gun pointed at the back of her head. "Don't move!" Someone threatened her. She looked up as the person behind her put her in cuffs and didn't fight against her capture when they lifted her off the ground to stand. AJ looked over to where Steve had been standing and saw that he was surrendering as SHIELD agents had their guns pointed at him.
She tensed, and the person behind her gripped onto her hard, "Don't do anything stupid, Frost."
The voice was gruff but it sounded familiar.
It didn't matter.
All the noise around her became a buzz and the only thing she could hear was Bucky's voice repeating in her head, "Who the hell is Bucky?"
_
"It was him." Steve looked down as they road in the back of a van. AJ, Sam, Natasha, and Andrew. He couldn't look at AJ – he didn't want to see her face because if she felt anything like he did, Steve would break if he looked at her and saw the pain in her eyes. Bucky. He was alive. But...he wasn't Bucky anymore. "He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."
"-How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago." Sam asked.
"Zola." Steve answered. "Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall." Steve looked up and over to AJ, who wouldn't meet his eyes, but he could see the streak of tear stains on her cheeks, and her lower lip quivering. "They must have found him and..." He shouldn't have called off the search – he should have listened to AJ, he shouldn't have stopped searching.
"-None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha said.
Steve took in a deep breath, because he knew that Natasha was wrong. It was his fault. And hearing AJ breathing in and out in shaky breaths was proof enough that AJ knew that it was his fault too. I'll never forgive you for this! AJ had told him when Steve called off search and rescue for Bucky. He had lived. And Hydra had turned him into a weapon.
"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."
AJ took in another shaky breath and Steve looked at her, watching as her nephew looked down at her side. "Does it hurt?" He asked her.
She nodded her head, tears falling again. Steve knew AJ wasn't referencing the pain from her wound. "It hurts." She whispered.
"We need to get a doctor here," Sam said, causing Steve to look away from AJ. Natasha's shoulder was still bleeding heavily. "-If we don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in this truck." The guard next to Sam pulled out an electric rod and Sam shut up, but instead of the guard using it on Sam, the guard pressed it into her companion's chest, leg lifting in the air as her foot collided with his face, knocking him out. His body fell to the ground and Steve looked to the guard who had just done that to the man.
"Ah," The helmet was taken off and Maria Hill was revealed. "That thing was squeezing my brain." She said, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. She looked to everyone, and then to Sam, only to look at Steve in confusion. "-Who's this guy?" AJ slumped forward and Andrew tried to move to grab her and Maria sighed. "Okay, we need to get her under ice." Maria said moving out of her seat and began to unlock everyone. "You got her?" She asked Steve.
He nodded, pulling AJ up and into his arms.
"How the hell do you expect us to get out?" Sam asked Maria.
"Ye have little faith." Maria said, pulling out a tool from under the seat.
Steve looked down at AJ, her eyes closed but her cheeks still damp from tears. "I'm sorry," He whispered, moving her so he wasn't cradling her and let her face falling into the slope of his neck. "I'm so sorry."
