Chapter Seven
Alessia's heart was beating painfully fast. She pulled herself up from the floor and dashed back to the bathroom door, fumbling with the lanyard full of keys. With trembling hands she locked the door from the inside. She turned around, leaning on the door, facing the bathroom again.
If Bucky is wanted, than hiding him here is definitely some kind of crime. Alessia thought, trying to work out exactly how much trouble she was in. But I wasn't part of that plan, and the other Avengers can attest to that, I just got kidnapped and rescued at the same time, so I'M not really in trouble. Alessia thought, even though it really didn't feel true. The noises outside the bathroom were muted by the thick tiled walls so that Alessia felt like she was in her own secret bubble. It still means Sam, Steve, and Clint are in it big time, Alessia thought.
There was a loud bang relatively close to the bathroom, and it jolted Alessia away from the door. It could have been a gunshot, but Alessia was too scared to be certain of anything. She didn't dare check the door again, and instead made her way to the other end of the bathroom.
Alessia lit her hands to light the space better. A small window, really only there to let fresh air in, was on the opposite wall from the door. It was high up, the way they put them in bathrooms so nobody can see in but light and air can still come through, and it was almost above the highest reach of Alessia's outstretched hands. She turned around, eyes moving desperately for anything she could use as a step-stool. The nearest sink was about three feet away, but at least she might be able to open the window with the boost. She stepped up onto the slick porcelain and carefully reached out to the wall, catching herself with an unlit hand, and raising the other to check the latch on the window. After a moment of fiddling with it, unlighting her hand to fumble with the latch, relighting it to see her progress, she got it open, and pushed the window forward.
A cool, fresh breeze hit Alessia and she pushed the window back a bit more. There was another crashing boom, closer to the bathrooms than before, and Alessia made a split second decision to vault herself headfirst out the window. She threw herself forward and ended up with the top half of her body outside, while her legs stayed in.
From this awkward position she had to shimmy herself out the rest of the way, and fall so that she didn't hurt herself. She tumbled onto the grass outside gracelessly, but stood up unharmed. Not a second later, she heard the door of the bathroom thrown open forcefully, wood splitting. Alessia didn't bother sticking around to figure out who it was. She ran in crouch, sticking to the shadows, heading for a different cabin, half hidden in a cluster of trees.
She fit the skeleton key into the lock, and slipped inside, locking the door behind her rapidly. She felt like she was watching herself do everything sped up. It didn't even feel like it was her doing it, it felt more like a video game or a movie she was watching. She didn't dare try for a light switch in this cabin, since that would only draw attention to herself. Instead she lit her hand again, finding that she was a storage shed. There were a couple of canoes, some fishing rods, and some bows and arrows. Alessia grabbed an arrow immediately, testing the point to see how sharp it was. Unfortunately, it was a safety arrow. She couldn't even pierce her skin if she tried. She started rooting around through the rest of the equipment, trying to find something she could attach to the end to make it slightly more threatening.
About ten minutes later, after listening to increasing hysteria, Alessia had outfitted only a dozen of the arrows with makeshift tips. She was on the floor, working on chewing gum and tying a straightened fishing hook onto the head of an arrow, when she heard voices close by. She stopped dead, and darted to behind the door, straining her ears to make out words.
"We're close to done here," A man was saying. "We just need to sedate the enhanced one and Captain Rogers, and we can go home."
"Man, am I ready to call it a night," Another agreed. "You wanna check this one?"
Alessia tensed up, readying herself as the door opened. The man who walked in was much taller and bigger than Alessia, but she had the element of surprise. She grabbed the door and slammed it into him while he was still halfway inside. He tried to tase her, but she grabbed his wrist before he was able to make contact with her, twisting his arm around to use the taser on him. His friend came at her from the side, also wielding a taser, and Alessia shoved the first man into his friend so that the taser hit him instead. As he slumped into his friend, she grabbed the first man's taser and tried to use it on the second one. He ducked out of the way and tried to kick Alessia off balance, but she moved out of the way too quickly, throwing a punch which he blocked. He stepped back, reaching for something new in his belt. Before Alessia could stop him he had pressed a button on his waist and was saying "We have the location of the enhanced, she's on the-" Alessia flung herself forward, kicking hard at the radio at his side, sending the man onto the ground pinned under her body. She brought the taser to his shoulder and struck him unconscious. She stood quickly, moving back into the shed to gather her modified bows and take another dash into the darkness.
Alessia ran into the woods this time, finding herself comforted by the cover it offered. She held one of the arrows outfitted with a fishing lure in the bow, slack but prepared to be shot at the first sign of danger. She picked her way through the woods, trying to ignore the fact that her feet were getting cut up by brambles and rocks. She carefully approached the end of the wooded area where she could see the cabin they had been sleeping in. She peered around a tree, fingers on the bowstring, and tried to make out what was going on.
Sam, Clint, and Bucky were engaged in the most aggressive fight Alessia had ever seen outside of a movie. About eight black outfitted men had gathered around them. Four more lay on the grass motionless. Alessia searched the scene for any sign of Steve, and found none.
Bucky was dropping men at an alarming rate, and Sam and Clint were more than holding their own against the opponents, and Alessia knew that jumping in would probably only hinder their abilities. Instead, She hitched her foot onto the lowest branch of the tree she currently hid behind, glad for once that she was barefoot. She scaled the tree until she was about twenty feet high, and surveyed the area. another group of men were fast approaching Sam Clint and Bucky, and Alessia had the feeling that another twenty men might be enough to take them down. She searched her quiver and carefully drew one of her makeshift arrows out, and aimed it carefully at a bale of hay about fifty yards away. She let the arrow fly. There was no immediate change in it, so she reloaded and shot another arrow at it.
"Please, please.." Alessia whispered, crossing her fingers. Fifty yards away, a glimmer of orange twinkled. Alessia's breath caught in her throat. The bale was catching. The flames grew. More than half of the backup on course for Sam, Clint, and Bucky switched to head over to the fire. From another direction, a jeep was speeding directly to the lighted clearing below. Alessia pulled another arrow out to aim, but as the car came closer into view she could see the distinct blonde swoop of the driver.
Meanwhile, Sam had disarmed the last of the men they had been fighting, and Steve had pulled up to let the others in the car. What they couldn't see was the last eight or so men who had not been diverted by the fire. They were huddled behind the corner of the cabin, but Alessia could see them from the tree.
Sam, Clint, and Bucky were still standing around. She could just barely hear them talking. She could have sworn she heard her name. They still haven't realized those guys are there. Alessia thought, thinking desperately for her next move. She had almost unconsciously drawn another arrow and was aiming at the most visible of the black clothed men, but it only had a fishing lure on it, and their uniforms were bullet proof. Again she heard a fragment of conversation from below, it sounded like Bucky's voice: "..Find her before we go…"
"Idiots," She whispered, releasing the arrow.
It made its mark, hitting the man on the arm. He let out a cry of surprise, and Bucky, Steve, Sam, and Clint sprung into action. Although it was eight against four, by the time Alessia had climbed down not a single of the black clad men was still standing. She dashed into the clearing as Clint dropped the last of them down.
"There are still more of them," Alessia said, running into the clearing, four heads turning to see her. "We should go before they figure out-"
"Let's move," Steve nodded, and was in the jeep again before Alessia even realized she'd been cut off. The rest of them hurried into the car after Steve, Clint smiling a little when he saw Alessia was carrying a bow and arrow.
Steve had the car moving before everyone was even sitting in it, and as soon as they were all well contained he said "Hold on," and thrust the gear shift, making the car whine, and speeding them along the grass into the darkness.
"Where am I heading?" Steve asked.
"You're almost at the main road I think," Sam replied, Leaning around Alessia in the backseat to see out the front. "Left up here," he said. Steve obliged. They passed a parked helicopter, although it seemed empty. After that a dirt road appeared in the headlights, and Steve took it. They passed underneath a big wooden sign that said "Camp Wakanapoke" and continued on down a dirt road. After a few minutes they came to a fork in the road, and the road became paved.
"Which way am I turning?" Steve asked.
"Depends, wanna go to a small town eight miles from here, or a bigger city twenty miles away?"
"Small town," Clint piped up from the back. "Thats where the Greyhound is."
"I do not wanna go on a greyhound." Alessia pouted "Greyhounds are creepy."
"Which way is the town?" Steve asked, while Alessia moaned in the back. "Left," Sam replied. Steve twisted the car left and drove on.
"You know they know what I can do, right?" Alessia asked. "Two of them almost caught me and they radioed in saying I was enhanced, and then when I lit that bale of hay on fire most of them went over to it."
"Yeah, I saw that." Clint said. "How did you get back over to where we were so fast anyways?"
"I didn't light it myself. C'mon give me a little bit more credit than that," Alessia replied, pulling one of the last arrows out of the quiver and handing it to Clint.
"Are these.. strike anywhere matches?"Clint asked, observing the tip.
"And gum, so maybe don't touch it," She answered. Clint's outstretched hand, inches away from the tip, recoiled. "I think Pepper or Jane must have said something," Alessia continued sadly.
"She might have a point Clint," Steve said from the front seat. "I don't really know if we should leave her on her own if they're looking for her too."
"Did you ever actually use your powers?" Clint asked.
"No, but they called me enhanced, what else could that mean?"
"Are you sure they weren't talking about Bucky?" Clint persisted.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Alessia said, exasperated. "They found me and tried to call their buddies and said 'we have a location on the enhanced one'"
"Fine," Clint said. "What's our next move then?"
A silence filled the car and Alessia glanced uncomfortably in the darkness at the others. She was sandwiched between Clint and Sam in the backseat, which gave her the benefit of being able to see everyone without having to lean forward much. She could even see Steve and Bucky in profile in the front.
"We need to get evidence to clear Bucky's name" Steve said finally. "They're not going to stop looking for us until we can convince them he's not a threat."
"Good luck," Bucky said. "That's hopeless" Bucky had slid down in his seat, and Alessia couldn't see his face through his hair.
"We need to figure out how they found us, first of all." Clint said from Alessia's left. "They were on us way too quickly to be coincidence. At least one of us has a tracer."
"You think? Who would be tracing us? Not Fury…" Steve wondered aloud.
"I mean… didn't you take one of Tony Stark's jets? Like, surely whatever GPS he has in those lets him see where they are, right?" Alessia offered from the backseat.
"Tony wouldn't do that, he wouldn't help someone catch us." Steve said at once. Alessia felt Sam and Clint exchange a glance across her. "Are you sure about that, Steve?" Sam asked. "He didn't really seem to think Bucky was worth saving when we were leaving."
"It's not a bad theory-" Clint interrupted, "But I was sure I disabled the tracking in the ship. I mean, I'm worried one of us might be wearing one."
"So who do you think put it there?" Steve demanded again. "Fury doesn't keep tabs on us anymore-"
"I think Alessia's right." Clint said. "I think we need to consider the possibility that Tony put tracers on us."
"So what do we do?" Steve asked again, his voice hard.
"Well," Sam Began "Tony has had plenty of opportunities to put tracers on you two. I mean, he could have easily have slipped one in subdermally on Clint that one time."
"Oh god, you're right," Clint interjected, looking warily down at his lower rib cage.
"But Stark hasn't messed with any of my gear," Sam went on, "You know I don't like anyone else working on my wings, and I've only met him once, and only for a few seconds. I'm probably clean."
"And so are Alessia and Bucky," Steve finished, completing Sam's thought. "You think we should split up."
"I'm just looking at our options, man." Sam said. "The way I see it, you go one way, Clint goes another, and Bucky and Alessia come with me somewhere while we figure out what our next move is. Even if they do have a tracer on me, They'll probably assume Bucky's with you and Alessia's with Clint. I mean, it's not a perfect plan-"
"But it's the only one we've got." Steve finished again. "Fine. What do you guys think?"
"I think it's the only way to be safe." Clint said. "Even if they caught you or me, they'd bring us in for questioning before anything else happened. We know they're not going to give Bucky the same favor-" Bucky slid down in his seat a little bit more "-and I'm worried that Alessia's not going to get much better treatment. I mean, the way they've been asking about Wanda does not have me convinced the government is going easy on enhanced humans, even if they haven't… um… been the Winter Soldier."
"What do you want to do?" Steve asked Bucky gently.
"It doesn't matter." Bucky murmured. "Clint is right. They have it out for me, this is a hopeless cause."
"Well, I'm sure my opinion doesn't count." Alessia chimed in "But I would like to not get kidnapped again. Soo.. I'm down." She said, turning to give Sam a nod.
"Bucky, go with them." Steve urged. "We're going to figure this out, I promise. Just do this for me."
Alessia watched from the center back seat as Bucky glanced up to meet Steve's gaze. Again, she felt unsure about whether she should be allowed to watch this. The way they were looking at each other… There's no way they're not a couple, Alessia thought, a twinge of disappointment touching her heart.
"Fine," Bucky sighed. "I'll go with them."