I'm Not Here to Hurt You

Steph's POV

It had been an absolute shit day. The skip I'd been sent after by my cousin Vinnie apparently owned his own company. He was a paint manufacturer, and of course, I'd tracked him down in his place of business. As was true with most of my skips, he hadn't so much forgotten about his court appearance as he was disinclined to go to force and face the possibility of jail time. I had politely offered to give him a ride in to the courthouse to reschedule his appointment and he had much less politely told me where I could put the courthouse.

Honestly, I didn't think it would fit. Before I could tell him that, he'd taken the opportunity to throw a couple gallons of paint on me. When I'd simply stood there sputtering, he'd taken that opportunity to throw a couple more gallons of yet another color of paint on me. As I'd chased him throughout the factory, he'd gotten several more opportunities to do the same, and I for one was glad that they didn't put lead in paint anymore. Right? I really hoped so at least.

By the time I'd caught up with him, I was in no mood to deal with any of his crap, so I tackled him with a move that Ranger had shown me and forced his hands behind his back and into my cuffs. At least I hadn't lost my cuffs today. That was a pretty low bar for a highlight for the day. Of course, the paint hadn't been the end of it.

When I'd pulled into the police parking lot, I had noticed that something seemed to be happening. The place was abuzz with way more activity than usual. I'd even noticed a couple of media crews out front, and was grateful that I'd be able to pull in around back and hopefully out of range of any cameras.

As soon as I had stepped foot inside, I realized just how bad my luck had gotten that day. It appeared that the Avengers were in Trenton. For the life of me, I couldn't think of one possible reason that the Avengers would be in Trenton other than for fate to mess with me just a little bit more on an already hellacious day. I took a couple more steps forward, trying very hard to hide my limp and shoving my skip in front of me. The roar of noise that had greeted me cut completely out.

"Looking good there, Steph!" One of the cops, and I couldn't tell who it was, yelled out. In response I simply flipped the bird in that general direction. I shoved my capture up to the booking desk and gave Robin a small smile. As hard as she tried, she couldn't hold back the look of pure pity she had on her face.

"Hey, Steph," she greeted me. "Who have you got for us today?"

"Trev Garnett. Wanted on charges of failure to pay child support. I've got my right to apprehend paperwork right here, let me grab it for you," so saying, I put my hand into my bag and of course, Trev took the opportunity to try to make a break for it. What he was thinking in a room full of cops and the freaking Avengers, I didn't know. I sighed and turned around just as the Black Widow flipped him onto the ground.

Great, as if the paint wasn't bad enough, now the Avengers were having to recapture my skips when they tried to flee. Hawkeye bent down and pulled Trev to his feet, handing him off to me and giving me a nod when I gave flashed a smile of thanks to him and Black Widow.

I turned to Robin and gave her the paperwork, then waited as she came out to grab Trev and start the booking process. Knowing by the fact that it was still silent around me, I figured the superheroes were still standing behind me. Slowly, I turned around, "soooo…" I started, "what brings you all to Trenton?"

"You a bounty hunter?" Captain America asked in his deep voice. When I nodded, he looked at the rest of his team who shrugged their shoulders. "You have a lot of connections in town?"

"More in some places than other, but sure."

"We're looking for a… friend… of mine. Someone who has had a rough time of it lately, and we're trying to track him down to help him out. We heard that he was in Trenton and are trying to confirm it."

He held out the fanciest phone I'd ever seen and I looked at the picture on it and froze. I knew who that was- I'd seen the footage of Captain America's first battle with him in DC that had leaked when all of SHIELD's files leaked.

When I stiffened, the Black Widow was immediately in my face calmly assessing me. "How do you know who he is?"

"I work part-time for a local security company, Rangeman LLC. I do data work for them, usually searches, but when SHIELD's files leaked, they brought me in to help them read through everything. Obviously, I saw his picture when he was fighting you all. You say you want to help him?"

With an earnest expression, Captain America said, "yes. He wasn't doing what he did willingly, and we want to help him." He slid a card into my hand and added, "If you know who he is, then you know not to approach him if you find him. Just call that number and tell whoever answers if you hear anything."

I nodded my head, and finally turned back to where Robin had finished processing and was holding my body receipt out to me. After thanking her, I turned back around and saw the six men and one woman still staring at me. I gave them a smile but before I could leave, the Falcon spoke up, "I'm sorry. Just in case we never see or hear from you again, I have to know. What is with the paint? Not knowing will drive me crazy."

"That's fine. I appreciate you all not making fun of me like others no doubt will the next time I see them," I said casting my glance over to the bullpen and the cops who were still openly gaping and some pointing at me and chuckling amongst themselves. I could even see some money changing hands. "Trev owns a paint manufacturing company, and I found him at the warehouse. He didn't want to come back in."

Not really sure what to do with the information they just nodded, so I took the opportunity to sneak out with a little finger wave back at them before I made it out the door. Well, that had been horribly embarrassing, I thought to myself as I drove away.

When I finally made it into my apartment, I shut the door behind me with a thunk and leaned against it letting out a breath. I took three steps into the apartment before something told me I wasn't alone. From a darkened corner of my bedroom I heard a voice say in a placating tone, "I'm not here to hurt you," a man stepped forward holding both hands in front of him as though trying to prove he wasn't a threat. One was flesh and one metal. "I just needed somewhere to hide until dark, and your apartment was easy to get into. I was hoping because you weren't home that you were out of town I'd be able to get in and out without you ever knowing."

"You know, given the line of work I've fallen into, it has always been reassuring to know that my soulmate wasn't going to try to hurt me."

His eyes bugged out of his head as he looked at me, so I spun around and pulled my shirt out of the way so that he could read the words written on the small of my back. I shivered when I felt a cold finger move along them ever so gently.

I turned back around and smiled at him saying, "hi, I'm Stephanie Plum. I'm a bounty hunter, though admittedly not a great one, and I do a little work here and there for a private security company. I know who you are, and you're obviously welcome to stay here as long as you like. But if you're hiding from Captain America and his friends, I feel compelled to tell you that I did meet them in the police station today. I won't tell them you're here unless and until you want me to. If that day never comes, that's fine. If it does though, I'm certain they don't mean you any harm."

He smiled softly, "I know, but I'm not ready for them to find me yet. I think right now I just want to get to know you, Doll." He slid his arms around me to the small of my back, pulling me into him slowly while gauging my reaction. "You can call me James or Bucky, whichever you'd prefer. And what do you say I help you become the world's best bounty hunter?"

I leaned up and gave him a soft kiss before saying, "I want to get to know you to. And if you think you can, you're welcome to try."

"I know I can, Doll."