A/N
Thank you so much to those who have begun to follow this story, have made it a favourite and to the lovely people who left me a review. I've decided to upload Chapter 2 a week earlier than planned down to the fact that Ireland have just won the Six Nations and a Grand Slam (a Rugby tournament for those who don't know) and I intend to spend at least the next 3 days suffering from a major hangover because of the celebrations.
I like to keep these A/Ns nice and short so please enjoy this new Chapter and feel free to follow and favourite :)
Reviewer Lizlil? Your wish is my command ;)
CHAPTER 2
.*.
"Who has broken you now? Or have you been fighting with the puny one again?"
.*.
When Isabelle finally stirred, she caught a glimpse of the winter sun creeping in through the window, it was morning - presumably the morning after the attack. Sitting herself up and adjusting her body - so that she was as comfortable as she could be - she removed all of the various wires and pegs that were attached to her body and turned the heart monitor off in the process. It's sharp monotonous tone was the last thing she wanted to hear. Looking down, she peeled back the dressing that had been so carefully placed around her shoulder - she couldn't help but widen her mouth in both shock and awe at how far on it had healed already. Although there were still various amounts of bruising and speckles of blood, the skin had knitted well together with barely a scar in sight. She lifted her arm up carefully to test its range and was rewarded with a sharp shooting pain across her shoulder and chest, causing her to hiss through her teeth and grip the bed sheets to balance herself as her vision momentarily blacked out.
"Too soon Iz, too soon." She muttered under her breath as she cradled her arm against her stomach.
"Dr Cho said you would do this." She looked up to see Steve standing in the doorway, cross armed and disapproving.
"Good morning to you too Cap," she grinned, knowing fine well her smile wouldn't disguise how beaten she looked. Steve naturally worried about his people and Isabelle always made a conscious effort not to add herself to his list. "Make yourself useful and help me put that on." She signalled to the sling hanging on the wall next to him. Without a word he unhooked it as he walked over to her bedside, slipping it over her head and helping her to gently pull her arm through.
"Sit still Izzy or else I'll never get this sorted and the pain will only get worse!" he admonished, giving her a faint smile. She bit back the tears and the urge to punch him with her good fist as his gentle guidance with her arm caused her a great deal of pain. She knew fine well that she would probably do more damage to herself than him, and one shredded arm was bad enough. Deciding to change the subject she caught his eye.
"So, what's the infamous Captain America doing up this early?" she wiggled her eyebrows at him, causing him to raise his own.
"What have I told you about calling me that?" he gave her a pointed stare. "It's Steve when I'm out of that suit."
"Okay, Steve. What are you doing up at this time?" she corrected herself, rolling her eyes as she watched him fiddle with the fastener.
He finished securing her arm in the sling and took the seat next to her bed, his face falling into his hands as he paused for a second, before thrusting them through his hair in a rare show of frustration.
"Bucky's having nightmares, most of the time he wakes up as Bucky…" he glanced up at her, she noted for the first time how exhausted he looked, something she had missed last night. "…other times he's The Winter Soldier, only briefly, but it's enough to do some damage."
Isabelle pulled her legs up onto the bed, crossing them beneath her and leaning on her good arm. She had a lot of time for Steve, the more and more work Natasha and Clint started doing with the Avengers the more she was getting roped in. Although she preferred to stick to her Agent work with SHIELD, the majority of the time she was more than happy to lend a hand when it was required, and recently, after the whole Triskelion fiasco she had practically lived at Stark Tower in and around her missions.
"How much damage are we talking?" she asked.
"Let's just say Tony isn't going to be impressed when he goes into the kitchen this morning." He shot her a painful grin.
"Aside from Bucky's nightmares what else is troubling you?" she coaxed, kicking his arm softly with her foot.
"Is it that obvious?" he sighed, swatting her foot away with ease.
"I'm told I'm a good reader of the face." She smirked back. She didn't have to be told that, she knew it. She had a knack for not only never forgetting a face, but she could practically read the Avengers like the back of her hand, they had many talents - but hiding their feelings wasn't one of them.
"I'm just struggling to process having my best friend back, I never thought I would if I'm honest. When I saw his eyes for the first time after all those years they were completely dead, full of void and darkness." He looked up at her - she could see the lump rising in his throat. "I done that to him."
"Steve!" she hopped off the bed, kneeling as comfortably as she could before him and placing her good hand on his leg - more for her balance than anything else. After the Battle at the Triskelion she had spent quite a few nights with him to help sort his head out on the request of Natasha - who would have done it herself if she hadn't been sent back out on a mission - Steve had been through enough after being defrosted but had refused a psychiatrist, so unbeknown to him Natasha had put Isabelle in place. Although she didn't have any qualifications, she had a true knack for getting people to talk their feelings out. Plus, she owed it to Steve, there were certain demons of her own that he helped her put to bed.
"You know as well as the rest of us that anybody who fell from that height from a moving train would be mince meat on the other end, you didn't leave him behind because you rightly so didn't think there was anyone to go back for, and nobody for one second would have ever imagined what happened to him actually happened." She pulled back, forcing him to look up at her. "He needs you now more than ever Steve, if you trust him, that's good enough for me, regardless of personal feelings." She still wasn't quite passed what The Winter Soldier had done - even if he hadn't done it consciously, his hands had still done the dirty work - but that didn't currently matter.
"You can't help him heal if you're still broken over it all. Accept that it happened, move onward and upwards and help him get his life back, I'm sure with all this crazy technology that Dr Cho has she will be able to undo all the brain wishy washy stuff." She pointed out, earning a chuckle from him.
"You may be the youngest Izzy but you're sure full of wisdom, thank you. I know your right about this – I do need to get my act together." He squeezed her hand once and then released it before standing up.
"You'll make a decent Mom one day." He patted her on the head, knowing fine well it was an annoyance of hers.
"Steve, if yo-"
"WHAT THE DAMN HELL?!" a deafening roar filled the Medical Wing from the floor above. Both herself and Steve flinched.
"I guess that's Tony discovering the damage from last night?" she raised her eyebrows once more as Steve bolted from the room, no doubt about to put himself between an exhausted Bucky and an infuriated Tony.
o.O.o
Nick Fury, ever the timekeeper, kept to his word and arrived at Stark Tower bang on 9am with Dr Bruce Banner in tow, who was carrying a significantly large briefcase under his left arm. Placing it on the table he took his seat next to Clint as Fury took his at the head of the table, Isabelle, Natasha, Bruce and Clint sat down one side – Tony, Steve and Bucky on the other.
Itching with impatience Isabelle leaned forward. "So, fancy giving us an update Boss?"
"Yes, Agent Sullivan I'm getting to it but first we have to wait for Thor." He glared at her, disapproving as always when she called him Boss, which only encouraged her to do it more.
As if summoned on cue, there was a vibrating thud as Thor landed outside.
"Have you both spent all morning practising that?" Tony queried, his voice dripping with sarcasm at Fury.
Isabelle jumped and let out a small cry as a hand slammed down on her shoulder.
"Watch her big guy, she's injured!" Natasha jumped up to check on her, but Isabelle waved her away, standing up and turning to the big blonde God who gently pulled her in for a quick hug.
"Who has broken you now? Or have you been fighting with the puny one again?" Thor cocked his mouth, knowing full well he was about to get a reaction.
"I hardly think you can call me puny!" Clint protested.
"You're all puny to me." Thor barked, taking his seat next to Steve as if that ended the conversation.
"Why do we have this guy on the team again?" Clint asked to the group, earning himself a few chuckles – the tension in the room lowered a little.
"He shoots lightening from his great big hammer-" Tony exclaimed as he pointed a finger at Isabelle, "and no that is not a euphemism Miss Sullivan."
She was about to retaliate and defend herself when she stopped, realising that it was a fair comment – her mind did tend to spend a lot of time in the gutter.
"Who wouldn't want him on their team? Plus, with our latest problem we could use a little spark to fry the guy after what he did." Tony grimaced at Isabelle's arm.
"Is anyone going to speak of this grave issue I was summoned for or are you going to keep speaking in riddles?" Thor slammed has arm down on the table.
"Yes, thank you Thor I was just getting to that." Fury commanded silence in the room with his words. "For the benefit of Thor, I'll catch him up so that we are all on the same page." When no one spoke, he continued. "Three weeks ago, I tasked Agent's Barton, Romanoff and Sullivan with tailing a man who I believed was rapidly becoming a danger to not only my SHIELD operatives but who was quickly assuming the potential of becoming a danger to the world." Opening the briefcase, he handed out a thin mission pack to each of them sat at the table. When Isabelle opened hers, the man's face - who not 12 hours ago sat on her body and plunged a knife into her - was staring back.
"His name is Viktor Sokolov." Fury continued. "From what I have gathered from various intelligence he was trained and served in the KGB before being declared deceased in a mission report – but as we can clearly see, that is not the case."
"Natasha, have you ever heard of him?" Steve asked the question that was on all of their lips.
"Contrary to everyone's beliefs I don't know every single Russian spy." she glared at them all before continuing. "But no, I haven't heard of him – he must have had a short career, if you do well within the KGB you make a name for yourself that everyone knows."
Isabelle had long ago stopped being scared when Natasha alluded to her past, as terrifying as half the stuff she had done made her appear she had more than compensated with her work for SHIELD.
"You're correct Agent Romanoff," Fury's voice made Isabelle jump from her thoughts. "It was only his first mission back in 1991 when he was declared dead and yet, he turns up in the United States of America twenty three years later with a knack for espionage and stealing."
Fury signalled for them all to turn the page in the mission report, looking down, Isabelle turned her own page to reveal the little information that they had on him - little, but terrifying. Raised in Pechora - a little town in central Russia - and trained by the KGB after showing promise, he was activated on completion of training at the young age of 17 and sent on a mission deep into Afghanistan with reasons unstated. Two weeks later he was declared dead and supposedly buried by his wife in his hometown. That made him 40 by Isabelle's math. According to the report, three weeks ago, on the exact same day they were activated there was a breach at SHIELD HQ where information was taken pertaining to 'interests of SHIELD' and the only lead they had was the CCTV showing this man entering and leaving the building, all other cameras had been wiped.
"And what interests has he taken information on?" Tony was the first to speak. "Since you've got us all in a little cosy circle I'll give myself three guesses." He mocked.
"From what we can analyse he accessed the Avengers Initiative and…" Fury looked over at Bucky. "And the information, field reports and interviews that we have held on Sergeant Barnes."
"Oh, so nothing personal then." Tony rolled his eyes, but his feigned disinterest didn't fool Isabelle, she could see he was as perturbed as the rest of them. "So, when are we all suiting up to go and turn this guy into confetti?" he went to stand.
"Sit down Mr Stark." Fury barked. "I know we don't have much on Victor Sokolov but from the little that we do have it won't be as simple as blowing him up!" he fixed Tony with his trademark fierce stare. "I sent Agents Barton, Romanoff and Sullivan – my best Agents - on his tail, I had hoped that maybe he was some cocky middle-aged virgin with nothing better to do than to waste his time getting high off the feeling of breaking into a high security building and stealing information. But apparently being followed was all part of the game, just as the Agents went in to extract him, Agent Hill updated me on who he actually was. We may not have much on this man, but what we do know is that there is a gap of 23 years in his history – which means that's 23 years of him learning a lot of shit and becoming a very equipped enemy, as proven by the fact that he fooled the brightest Agents I have and disappeared into thin air!"
No one spoke for a moment as they all slowly arrived at the same conclusion.
"A very extreme sleeper Agent." Natasha growled as they all turned to face her. "I've never heard of someone lying low for more than a few years never mind twenty three. If he disappeared in 1991 that coincides with the year that the KGB was disbanded, which means whoever turned him into a sleeper knew KGB was about to end and had him in place with specific instructions before it happened." She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "The Avengers Initiative wasn't even a thought back then, so why has he targeted us?" she wondered aloud.
"Well we've not exactly been quiet in our actions." Bruce pointed out. "Maybe his handler is still alive and changed his orders? I mean not everyone approves of the idea of us."
"It doesn't work like that Bruce, what they do is-"
"As far as I'm aware I was always under HYDRA's control so why would they want my file?" Bucky spoke for the first time, cutting Natasha off mid-sentence.
"Who's this man?!" Thor turned as if only just realising Bucky was sat next to him.
"Bucky Barnes." Bucky held his metal arm out to Thor, who stared for a few moments before shaking the extended hand.
"Formerly the Winter Soldier i.e. our latest pain in the ass since your brother." Tony chimed in. "Speaking of, how is darling Loki?"
"He can be talked about later," Thor growled.
"As can the update on Sergeant Barnes." Fury held his hand up, stopping Steve in his tracks from explaining everything to Thor.
Isabelle could only smirk as Thor kept side glancing Bucky's arm. The God of thunder, weary of a human with a metal prosthetic arm. Oh, the irony.
"Agent Romanoff, I've got a mission for yourself and Agent Barton, come to my office later today – and no Agent Sullivan you cannot go along." He sighed with impatience as Isabelle moved to ask the obvious. "As fancy as Dr Cho's weird ass healing machine is, you have still been shot and stabbed – you will return to the field when I say you can." She slumped in her chair, cradling her bad arm with her good one, trying her hardest to refrain from pouting.
"As for the rest of you, until we know what we are dealing with I want everyone to split up, Agents Barton and Romanoff are already taken care of-"
"I'll be heading back to Asgard - I appreciate your human problems, but I have some of my own right now, so yours can wait." Thor slammed his hand down on the table once more.
"Okay buddy, I know you're a God and you have all these super duper sparkly powers but if you slam your arm down on this table again I'm going to remove it and slap you across your perfectly angled face with it. Got it?" Tony pointed a single finger at the now laughing Thor.
"Yeah, I have some business to attend too as well that will keep me out of the picture for a while." Bruce stood up, changing the subject before Thor and Tony descended into another argument. "In fact I really should be leaving now." He glanced at Fury who only nodded. Isabelle sensed that there was an unspoken message going on between Fury and Bruce, but Isabelle couldn't bring herself to care enough to ask, and if Clint and Natasha did sense it she was sure they would ask Fury privately. Scooping up the mission report Bruce squeezed Natasha's shoulder as he walked by. "You know how to call me back if you guys need me." He gazed down at her.
"Yeah big guy." She patted his hand before he let it drop and walked from the room.
"Well I'm not going anywhere," Tony sighed matter of factly, placing his legs on the table, crossing one over the other. "I feel pretty safe in my tower, if our little friend was to make an appearance I'm sure me and Cap can take him – right Cap?" he turned to Steve, who only stared back incredulously, shaking his head.
"If Fury says-" Steve began.
"Yeah yeah we all have to split up but let's face it no matter where I go trouble always finds me so I should at least get to be comfortable in my own home when it does." Tony smirked, knowing he was right and no one could argue with that fact. "You don't have a home so you can stay with me, cause I'm kind like that Cap, plus you and that shield do come in handy for defence whilst I'm suiting up."
"What about Bucky?" Steve asked, placing a hand on the Soldier's arm. Isabelle couldn't help but smile at how protective he was over his old friend.
"Sergeant Barnes can't stay here." Fury cut off the ongoing conversation. "Viktor Sokolov took his files so will be aware of everything we have on him. Everything." He emphasised.
That little bit of information sunk in to Isabelle. Fury was right. Even though it appeared Bucky had managed to disengage himself from The Winter Soldier there was still a potential that there were people out there with the knowledge on how to erase him back to the perfect weapon. If Viktor Sokolov took Bucky's file it was for a reason, one she was sure that without action would become apparent.
"He's right," Bucky turned to Steve. "I need to disappear, so far no one knows I'm here as that wasn't on my file, but if this guy is as smart as we think he is the first place he will look is by your side."
"Disappear – yes. But not alone." Fury stood up. "We promised we would aid you in finding out who you were and to get rid of whatever it is in your head that so easily brainwashes you when a HYDRA agent possesses you, which is why I'm sending you away with Agent Sulli-"
"NO!" three roars came simultaneously from Steve, Tony and Bucky.
"Wow guys thanks for the vote of confidence!" Isabelle rolled her eyes at them.
"It's not that – its just – I'm not entirely in control, I could hurt you." Bucky voiced his concern, not looking at her.
"Second that." Tony snorted.
"Yeah this doesn't seem like the best idea isn't ther-"
"No, there is no one else Captain." Fury interrupted Steve. "All of this stays between us, Agent Sullivan's arm is nearly mended, but she needs a few weeks out in my opinion. I believe she can handle Sergeant Barnes and his nightmares for a few weeks until we have a better idea of what this punk ass mother fucker want's and then we can re-group."
Isabelle sat there stunned, Fury had to be extremely pissed for him to start dropping the 'M' bomb so early in the morning. The childish argument that was on the tip of her tongue settled back down her throat. Clearly there was no point even attempting to get activated with Clint and Natasha.
"Well, I say the man has a metal arm, he can do as he please's!" Thor chimed in, still side-glancing the arm, as if expecting it to attack him.
Without looking up Fury continued. "Agent Sullivan, Sergeant Barnes, get your bags packed. I'll have the details of a safe house sent to you within the hour."
Isabelle mulled over the details that she had learned this morning and came to her own conclusion of a plan of action.
"With all due respect Sir, if he accessed numerous files he may also be aware of our safe houses." She gulped slowly, knowing the next part was going to get her in a whole world of trouble. "But I have my own place we can go to on the other side of the city."
She was met by stony silence. After it started getting uncomfortable she glanced up through her eyelashes at the clearly fuming Fury and the incredulous stares of everyone else.
"Agent Sullivan, is there a particular reason I don't know about a property in your name?" Fury chose his words carefully.
"Screw SHIELD, why don't we know about it?!" Clint hit her on the leg, signalling to Natasha and himself. Isabelle looked over to Natasha who only smiled and winked. Natasha had discovered the apartment a few months back after tailing Isabelle to it one night when she had walked out of Stark Tower at 3am, refusing to put up with the amount of noise Tony was making in his lab.
"Alrighty then," Clint had read their faces. "Why didn't I know about it?!"
"Because I just needed my own space where no one could find me – my aunt left it to me in her will a few years back and I just might not have got around to informing SHIELD."
Fury's face had hit peak anger level, Isabelle could feel another 'M' bomb about to be dropped so she rushed on. "But on the bright side we now have a safehouse that we know is definitely safe for the time being for myself and Sergeant Barnes. And if anything goes wrong at least Steve is only on the other side of the city, him and Tony could be there within minutes."
Her logic seemed to work as Fury stood up, ending the meeting.
"Romanoff, Barton – come with me now, the sooner you start your mission the better. Sullivan, I want you and Sergeant Barnes gone within the hour, make sure you are always available for contact and we will have you both back in Stark Tower before you know it. Make sure everyone in this room is aware of the location of your apartment before you leave." He gave her a pointed stare as he walked past, waving to the rest of them. "Sit tight folks." And he was gone.
The silence was broken in a matter of seconds by Clint. "So seriously?! You never thought to tell me you had a secret hideout!"