A/N
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Lovelies!
Firstly I want to say a massive blanket thank you to everyone who has followed and set this story as a favourite! It certainly means a lot, and thank you also to those who have reviewed! Without further ado, here is Chapter 3! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
CHAPTER 3
.*.
Rolling her eyes, she headed towards the door. "I don't think I even want to know."
.*.
Packing wasn't always a necessity for Isabelle – she kept minimal possessions, and besides, anything of grave importance was already at the apartment - and with it only being a few weeks of hopefully 'hiding out' there, her collection of clothes and toiletries would suffice. So she now found herself sitting in the Medical Wing on the floor below, swinging her legs impatiently as she waited for Helen to come and tell her what the deal was with her rapidly healing, yet still very painful arm.
She reflected silently over the implications of everything that had happened, firstly, Fury had sent them in blind – a decision that she one hundred percent understood, but it made her realise how relaxed the three of them had become with their own personal safety. It was certainly something they would have to rapidly fix, starting with Isabelle making sure that from then on a knife would go with her everywhere – if she had even one strapped on her body yesterday she could have done some damage to slow Sokolov's getaway - or at least left a trail of blood. A lesson had been learned in all this and she would make sure not to forget it. You don't take people who can get into SHIELD HQ undetected lightly, and from then on, she wouldn't. Her second concern was the state of her arm and her talent with her knives, to say she was worried for her ambidextrous abilities was an understatement, so she had resorted to the fact she could only hope that she would gain the skill back quickly. Hope was better than nothing at all.
"Ah, good morning Izzy!" Isabelle disengaged herself from her thoughts and glanced up to see Helen walking in, clipboard in hand.
"Morning Helen, I see you've been busy since I last saw you." She glanced over at the regeneration cradle that was nestled away in the corner, Helen followed her line of sight – blushing ever so slightly. She never did cope well with receiving compliments about her work – Isabelle liked her more because of it, there were very few modest people in her life, especially since she had surrounded herself with the Avengers.
"Yes well, looks like I perfected it just in time." Helen observed, taking Isabelle's arm and flexing it slightly in the sling. "Does this hurt?"
"Not as much as it did this morning." Isabelle answered honestly, ignoring the faint shooting pain. "So, when will I be out of this and back to full fitness?" she nodded down to the sling.
Helen scrutinised her for a moment, her eyebrows knitting together in a hint of shock. Dropping Isabelle's arm back down carefully she sat down on the stool to bring herself down to eye level.
Ah, crap. Isabelle cringed, it was never good when Helen Cho brought herself eye to eye with you in a conversation.
"Izzy…" Helen trailed off, trying to find the right words. "It doesn't matter how fast the regeneration cradle has healed your body, you still went through something pretty traumatic – whether you think that or not." Helen held her hand up, silencing the argument creeping up Isabelle's throat. "You need to give yourself time to heal and come to terms with it all, you know it's the same protocol for all agents especially in peace ti-"
"It's hardly peace time when there's a deadly psychopath out there who got in and out of SHIELD HQ - with ease might I add - and is currently in possession of a lot of sensitive information!" Isabelle protested as she moved to stand up - but Helen put her hands out to stop her.
"Let me cut you a deal Iz," Helen kept her hands held up as if expecting her to lunge forward. "I will sign you back on to full fitness if shit hits the fan, but until then just play Fury's game." She moved her hands slowly, placing them on Isabelle's shoulders sympathetically. "It's the best I can do."
"I know." Isabelle grumbled - her last chance at joining her mentors for their mission was gone, if she couldn't break Helen and her annoyingly good nature then she had no chance with having another go at Fury. All she could do was resolve herself to the fact she now had some spare time on her hands. Standing up, she offered her hand out to Helen. "Thanks for fixing me up, I really do appreciate it."
Helen took her hand, shaking it firmly before guiding her out of the Medical Wing and back into the lift.
"Enjoy this time off Izzy, you've worked non-stop for five years – you deserve this break."
And with that Helen pushed the button, allowing the doors to close between them, sending Isabelle back up to the top floor.
o.O.o
"Look, it will work – just give them to her as a precaution she can't argue with that."
Isabelle was greeted by Steve, Tony, Bucky and Sam Wilson huddled over by the kitchen counter as she exited the lift. She was hoping to say goodbye to Clint and Natasha before they left but she appeared to be too late, hopefully they could afford a phone call later before they went completely silent for the mission.
"Oh, I bet I can prove you wrong on that." She smiled as she walked over to them, cradling her arm. "Speaking of, what am I about to argue against?"
"Look, Iz." Tony shared a glance around the rest of them. "We know your fighting skills are undeniably amazing and if we were all plain old boring humans I'm sure you could take us all down in a heartbeat." He walked over to her, holding a small black box in his hand. "But you're injured, and good old Bucky over there isn't exactly human, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we would all feel a little better if you had these on your bedside table."
Glancing at them all with suspicion she took the box and opened it. Sat neatly in the velvet interior were 5 darts, all filled with a clear viscous liquid. Sighing, she shut the box and placed it on the counter, rubbing her left temple with her free hand. As much as she hated to admit it - it made sense in her current situation, even at full strength armed with all of her knives she didn't think she would stand a chance of stopping him in his tracks - let alone with an arm that still hurt when she sneezed.
"It makes sense," she muttered, noting the look of relief across all of their faces, especially Bucky's. "I'm guessing this is some kind of sedative?" she directed her question at Tony.
"First thing we worked on after he smashed up my favourite whiskey collection." Tony glared over at Bucky before continuing. "Took a couple of attempts but we nailed it finally – will put him out for at least an hour, so that gives you enough time to phone one of us three," he signalled to himself, Steve and Sam. "We would prefer it if one of us was there when he wakes so that we can assess who is waking up."
Isabelle looked over to Bucky, who was gazing behind her out of the window, a worried expression knitted between his brows as he absent-mindedly chewed at a fingernail.
"And how do you feel about this?" she cocked her eyebrow at him as he dropped his hand from his mouth, seemingly choosing his words carefully.
"It was my idea," he crossed his arms, almost hugging himself as he walked closer to her. "It protects me as much as it protects you and the city, Steve can punch me out of my nightmare – but if you can't wake me there is no telling what I would do." He looked towards Steve, his best friend - his only friend, who nodded back reassuringly. "I have to get rid of the Winter Soldier within me, but I need to cling onto Bucky if I'm going to do that, I can't afford to be trapped inside the Winter Soldier, even if it's only a nightmare."
She found it strange how Bucky saw his previous life as someone to cling to and not someone to go back to – but that was something she could mull over and dissect later, for now she had to get them safely to her apartment.
"You all packed?" she asked as she scooped the box up off the counter.
"Yeah." He signalled to the black sports bag by the lift. "Ready when you are."
Steve walked over to Bucky, clasping him hard on the shoulder, looking him in the eye before pulling him in for a tight hug. Bucky paused for a split second before hugging him back. When they released they quickly shook hands, something Isabelle was sure they could never delete from their mannerisms – the two men from a different era. Bucky then walked over to Tony, catching him off guard by holding his hand out to him also. Isabelle was bemused to see the utter confusion and almost admiration slip across Tony's face as he took Bucky's hand in one strong shake.
"At least my Tower will stay in one piece for a few weeks whilst your gone – although I do feel sorry for Isabelle's apartment, if only slightly." He winked at her.
Steve and Sam went to move towards her, but she held her hands up, causing them to pause in their tracks.
"Are you guys going soft?!" she asked incredulously. "I go out on deadly mission's all the time without so much as a 'bye' or 'be careful', but now that I'm going to spend the next three weeks babysitting your best friend you want to start dishing out the hugs?!"
"Hey, hey - he's not my best friend." Sam pointed out. "No offence." He glanced at Bucky who only shrugged his shoulders in reply.
"It's understandable, I did give you a pretty good beating-"
"It was not a beating!" Sam protested as he moved towards Bucky, an argument at the ready on the tip of his tongue.
"Okay, no hugs Iz." Steve laughed as he stepped between the two of them. "But take care of him, please." His smile faded with the last word as an understanding passed between them, he didn't have to ask her to do her best because he knew she would.
"Right, let's get going before I get an angry message from Fury about why my ass hasn't removed itself from Stark Tower yet." She pocketed the box and grabbed her jacket. "I'll shoot you all a text with my address, I trust our internal network is still safe?"
"C'mon Izzy, don't second guess Jarvis like that or you'll hurt his feelings." Tony threw his hands up in mock horror. "Of course the network is still safe, you'll know when it's not, trust me." he grinned like a child as he pulled his phone out and started tapping away wildly.
Rolling her eyes, she headed towards the lift. "I don't think I even want to know." she muttered.
"Nope, you don't." came his quickfire response.
"Hey, Iz?" she turned to see Sam holding up her belt filled with her battle worthy knives. "You not gonna need this, y'know, just incase?"
Bucky had arrived by her side as the lift opened, he grabbed his bag and signalled for her to lead the way.
"Nah, I've got plenty in my apartment." She stepped into the lift before Bucky, winking at the three stunned men looking back as the doors closed between them.
o.O.o
The minute they entered the street Isabelle flagged a cab down, earning her a confused glance from Bucky.
"Is it wise to get a cab?" he asked before elaborating further. "I mean this guy seems to be capable of anything, surely tailing a cab would be a piece of cake?"
Isabelle could only laugh as she indicated for him to get in, closing the door once they were both comfortable and giving the cab driver directions to a cafe a few blocks from her apartment. As he set off into the New York lunchtime traffic the cab driver put his headphones back in, continuing to argue on the phone call that they had apparently interrupted. This suited Isabelle fine, enabling her to talk freely.
"Firstly, Tony, as you will soon learn thinks of everything, and I mean everything. If that guy was anywhere near Stark Towers, the many facial recognition drones that Tony has situated around his prize tower would have picked up on him already." She smiled reassuringly up at him. "There are roughly 13,000 yellow cabs in New York Bucky, even if Sokolov did magically guess that we were going to leave Stark Towers at this exact time and get into this exact cab he wouldn't know which one we would be getting and he would have a difficult time tailing in this traffic." her smile turned into a frown. "I'm almost hurt you think I couldn't spot a tail."
"Well, you walked right into his set up in the bar." He looked at her blankly before the panic set in as he realised what he had just said. "Shit, no, I didn't mea-"
"It's okay," she grimaced, he was right, and it pained her to admit that. She had indeed walked straight into an ambush with her eyes tightly closed, but on the plus side it gave her the push she needed to be more vigilant – granted she would have preferred it if that lesson hadn't of come with having her arm nearly blown and hacked off. "You're right, we made a grave error, but it was also a lesson for us and a reminder not to slacken off on our own security."
"I still don't understand why Fury didn't tell you guys what Sokolov had done, doesn't it feel like he sent you in blind?" he asked sheepishly as he picked at his nails once more, not looking at her. This was a common stress-relieving tactic, if she hadn't of felt sorry for him she would have laughed that the Winter Soldier was sat next to her stressing so badly that he was picking his nails to pieces.
"Not necessarily, we get sent in blind on the odd occasion, especially if it's just reconnaissance which is how that mission started. Normally we put it down to two factors, firstly that the person sending us into a mission doesn't have any information on the target," she held up her forefinger quickly followed by her middle. "And secondly, because they know that Agents have weaknesses and if fully briefed it could impact our feelings on the mission. So, for example if we had known that he held information on the Avengers that's close to home for us, Fury could have been wary of us making mistakes and chosen to believe in our skill to bring someone in without knowledge rather than be uncertain if we were fully clued up." She done a quick 360 glance, also taking into account the near screaming match that the cab driver was now having with the poor soul on the other end of the phone, which drowned out her conversation with Bucky alone. She hastened to continue as she realised they were close to their stop. "Thankfully Fury wasn't aware until the minute he asked us to bring Sokolov in, informing me there and then before I went to retrieve him could of clouded my judgement and instead of going in calmly, I could of gone in with a dire need to grab him quickly instead of sticking to our plan – which is a big no no for any agent, I know to you and Steve it seems like a lack of loyalty but Fury withheld that information for good reason. He has to look at the whole picture, not just the fragments, as much as I hate to praise Fury it was a good call to send us in blind – despite the outcome for myself."
The cab pulled up outside her favourite cafe - Nelly's - just as she finished talking. Not allowing Bucky the chance to reply she paid the driver who kindly stopped his phone call for a split second to thank her before she got out. Bucky walked around the cab and stood beside her, shouldering his bag as he glanced down at her. "I'm sorry, it's not my place to question how SHIELD operate, you are the ones protecting me after all."
"It's okay." She brushed her hand against his arm as she went to comfort him - she could see he was regretting his comment - but pulled away at the last minute, thinking better of it. She turned instead, signalling to the near empty diner. "Fancy a bite to eat?"
"Now you're talking." He grinned at her, holding a hand out and gesturing for her once again to lead the way. She could get used to this gentlemanly attitude.
o.0.o
It didn't take them long to order their food and stuff their faces, the minute Bucky placed his knife and fork down Isabelle chucked a twenty-dollar bill on the table and stood up. She hadn't realised how hungry she was, noting that she hadn't eaten since the day before yesterday. "Let's get going, I want to get you in and settled before it gets too dark."
Bucky followed her silently as she led him out of the door, she took a series of twists and turns, knitting a nonsensical path until she was content that they were completely alone. Taking a key out of her pocket she took a sharp left and opened a faded red door with ease before slipping inside, Bucky following closely behind her.
"Did you notice anyone?" she asked as she headed up the steps to the second floor, taking two at a time.
"No, smart thinking by the way – going around in circles to draw anyone out." He shot her a brief smile as he levelled with her on the landing before her door.
"It's an old habit that I like to keep up on, you should of seen Natasha's face the first time she tailed me here." Isabelle chuckled at the memory. "I had her sussed in five minutes."
Opening the door, she hit the light switch to her left to reveal an open planned kitchen and living area that grew and grew the further you looked.
"Bloody hell, what was your Aunt? A millionaire?" Bucky stared incredulously as she set herself to work, opening the curtains to let the slowly fading sun splash the last of its light in.
"Something like that." She muttered, struggling with the last curtain that had snagged on a hook. Isabelle didn't even know how her Aunt afforded this place, when she was alive she had a small cosy apartment not far from here that Isabelle used to visit when she had the time. Her Aunt - her Mom's sister - was her only living relative, so when she passed away she was surprised to be given this place – no explanation, nothing. When Isabelle enquired about the other apartment that she had known as her Aunt's she was met with a brick wall of silence, being told it was none of her business. The apartment itself was already immaculate when she had moved in, but Isabelle had found herself wanting to put her own touch on it. So she redecorated the whole place, painting both bedrooms and the living room a pale grey, installed a new kitchen and rewarded herself with the biggest, comfiest lounge sofa that she could find.
"Here, let me help." Bucky stirred her from her thoughts as he reached up higher than her 5'5" frame could manage and carefully yanked the curtain free, allowing her to open it fully.
"Thanks." She gave him a tender smile as the shooting pain returned to her arm - ignoring it she walked past him, pulling it closer against her chest, making a mental note to hunt around for some pain killers in her bathroom cabinet once she had him settled. "Let me show you to your room." Going down the narrow hall way off to the right she opened the first door on the left, revealing a plain room – a built in wardrobe on the left-hand side, a double bed in the middle accompanied by two bedside cabinets and a small dresser underneath the window.
"Unfortunately, we are going to have to share a bathroom but I'm sure we will manage," she signalled to the wardrobe. "You'll find some towels in there, feel free to make the room your own." The pain was getting stronger but she ignored it, holding onto the door knob for support as her head spun, her mouth drying quickly of all saliva. She was just dehydrated, she hadn't bought a drink at the cafe - that was surely the source of the sudden onset of pain and light headedness. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked.
"No, but I have a feeling you'll need these." He chucked his bag on the bed, unzipped it and pulled out three plain boxes before walking back over to her. "Dr Cho had me pack them, c'mon," he put a gentle arm through hers and took her weight, "lets get you a glass of water, you look like you need one."
A stronger pain now radiated down her arm causing her to yelp and stumble, thankfully Bucky had enough of her weight to catch her. Leaning down he scooped her legs out from underneath her and cradled her against his chest as he carried her out of the bedroom. Completely embarrassed at how pathetically weak she was being she put her good arm across her face as her cheeks burned, no doubt turning a blossoming red at the same time.
"Bucky I can walk really I'm ju-" before she finished her sentence he had already plopped her down on the sofa, chuckling as he fetched her a glass of water from the kitchen.
"I thought you were the one who was supposed to look after me?" he cocked an eyebrow as he popped her two tablets from each of the three packets Helen had provided.
"When did Helen give you these?" she probed, ignoring his question.
"Before you went to see her, she said you always forget to take any meds she supplies you with but these ones were important." He held the glass and all six pills out. "Now take them."
"She didn't even tell me to take any!" she defended herself between each gulp, he only shrugged in reply.
Removing her phone from her pocket she turned it on to see she had 3 messages, one from Natasha, one from Clint and one from Helen, before she began to read them she shot out a quick text with her address to the relative people before she forgot.
Opening Natasha's message first as she was dying for an update, she scrolled through the lengthy text.
Me and Clint won't be contactable for a while Iz, lay low and keep your instincts heightened. I dropped some updated files on Sokolov in your room before we went, along with some files Bucky might be interested in when he is ready. We both know part of the battle to recovery is in the mind, you can help him overcome those barriers. Stay safe and remain vigilant. Nat.
Smiling and slightly relieved to have heard from her mentor she shot a quick reply wishing her luck and safety before opening Helens message.
If I told you to take them you would have refused, no doubt by now you've already nearly collapsed – good. Might teach you to appreciate medicine a bit better. Keep taking them three times a day for three days before taking that sling off, then just take them when you need them. Call me if there are any problems.
"What's so funny?" she glanced up to see Bucky looking at her, head cocked to one side, she hadn't even felt him join her on the sofa. She realised she must have been grinning like an idiot at Helen's text.
"Just Helen, giving me a telling off in text form." She waved her phone. "Thank you, by the way for giving me the tablets, they are already working." It was true, a calming numbness was now spreading across her chest and running down her arm, allowing clarity to return.
"But also," she held a finger up and gave him her best death glare. "This stays between us, if Tony finds out we weren't in my apartment five minutes before you had to swoop my pathetic ass into your arms I'll never hear the end of it."
He held his hands up, eyebrows raised as he spoke. "Trust me I'm more scared of you than I am of him, your secret is safe with me."
"And that includes Steve." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Damn."
Glancing back down at her phone she opened the last text message from Clint.
Full on house party when this business is over – still can't believe you didn't tell me Iz! Be careful, try and keep all limbs intact by the time I get back – and remember, if I wouldn't do it then don't do it either. Keep a low profile and don't go finding trouble. But if you do we've left a few nice surprises underneath your mattress.
Oh, how he knew her so well. She had no intentions at all of being a sitting duck for the foreseeable future. She was only asked to babysit Bucky, that didn't mean she couldn't do some digging and take him along too. But that could wait, her priority was getting back to full strength, even she wasn't so stupid as to think she could take on anyone with her arm in the condition that it was. Healing and knife training first, finding the bastard who done it to her second.