Unable to force himself to eat anything more, Steve took his plate and coffee cup up to the wash station counter where what looked like new recruits were on dish-washing duty.
Steve found himself wandering around the corridors of the SHIELD HQ aimlessly. He didn't know what to do with himself while the others were off meeting with Fury. Bruce had told him to rest but it wasn't as if he was going to spend his entire day sleeping. While it had been rare that Steve would find himself without anything to do while working for SHIELD, on the occasion that he got some free time, Steve would usually work out or go for a jog. But now Steve doubted he'd be able to lift even the lightest weight in the SHIELD training room, and with his asthma back he would likely break into a coughing fit if he exerted himself even a bit. There were other things to do than work and exercising, was that really all his life had been lately? Natasha had been encouraging him to go on a date, his excuse had once been that he was 'too busy', true he had been mostly kidding at the time, but he still hadn't gone on any dates. What was his real excuse? That he wasn't over Peggy yet? That he hadn't quite let his past go and was unready to get back into the world? He had been distracting himself with SHIELD work, he had been subconsciously avoiding getting out into the modern social world. And now that Steve had come to epiphany he couldn't even do anything about it, he was stuck in an underground SHIELD facility. Though Steve doubted he'd even be able to get a date at his current stature.
"Are you lost?" Steve was startled out of his thoughts by a sudden voice behind him.
Steve turned around to see a young (yet still considerably taller than him) SHIELD agent standing in front of him. He couldn't have been much older than 19, probably a trainee, though he seemed to be assuming that Steve was a visitor or something. It was true that Steve didn't really look like he belonged in a secret SHIELD base, being dressed in a street clothes like he was and wandering around like a lost puppy. He supposed he should be grateful more people hadn't stopped him to question him.
"Oh-no, I'm just...walking around." That didn't sound suspicious at all.
And sure enough, "Do you mind if I ask your name? I don't think I've seen you around before."
Steve stifled a frustrated sigh. He was really not in the mood to explain his whole predicament to this kid. Steve didn't think his condition was being kept a secret from any of the agents, but it wasn't being broadcasted throughout the entire SHIELD base. They didn't even know how it had happened yet, there was no reason to go out of the way to tell everyone. No reason except to avoid giving long winded explanations to everyone who became suspicious of him.
Steve opened his mouth to begin the long explanation when two higher level looking agents walked past.
"-James Barnes, Captain America's old friend. I took the call from the agent investigating the HYDRA base in Russia, she saw him there taking out guards around the entrance." Steve heard the woman say as she walked by.
"Does Rogers know?" The other woman asked.
"It's being kept from him until further notice." Was the response.
The two agents were out of earshot before Steve could hear anymore of the conversation. Obviously they hadn't noticed him standing there, or thought anyone was listening to their conversation.
A rush of different emotions came over Steve, excitement at finally knowing the location of the man he had been searching for for a long time, confusion as to why Bucky was in Russia attacking HYDRA men, and then finally anger. 'It's being kept from him until further notice' was the way the agent had put it. It was Fury compartmentalizing, keeping important information from him because he thought he wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Your name?" Steve heard a distant voice ask.
The trainee hadn't heard a word the passing agents had said and was still trying to investigate Steve.
"It's classified." Steve said briskly before turning a running down the hall.
Steve didn't know the layout of the SHIELD base very well at all yet, but he knew enough to get himself back to the conference room. Once he reached the metal door with its scanner again, Steve pulled his access card out and held it in front of the scanner. When the green light finally blinked the the door slid open Steve stumbled into the room, only to find it completely empty.
"Steve, what are you doing?" Maria Hill's voice asked.
Steve whipped around to face Maria. From the look on her face Steve could tell that she knew all about Bucky.
"Where's Fury?" Steve demanded.
Maria's expression changed, as if what she had feared had come true. She knew that Steve knew about Bucky. "Steve, the other Avengers are already leaving on the quinjet, there's nothing you can do right now-" Steve was gone before Maria could finish her sentence, running through the corridors and passages as fast as his unfit body could.
Steve didn't really know what he was planning on doing, he was being rash and acting before thinking. All he could think about was finding Bucky again. He had been looking through every file he could get his hands on for his old friend, now he finally shows up and Fury tries to keep it from him. Steve forgot he was scrawny and weak, forgot that he would potentially be endangering any mission he went on in his current state. All he thought about was the fact that there was an opportunity to get Bucky back, and he was going to take it.
The hangar was tiny compared to other SHIELD hangars Steve had seen, it could only fit about three quinjets. That was likely due to the fact that it was not only underground, but a makeshift base. On the ceiling there was a large hatch for the quinjets to fly out of that Steve imagined was fit into the side of a hill. Two quinjets sat idle off the the side of the hangar, but the third was running loud and ready to take flight.
Steve had no idea what he was doing as he ran up to the quinjet, obviously nothing sensible. The jet was already lifting a couple feet off the ground when Steve took an unsteady grip of the scanner mechanism next to the large back entrance to the quinjet. He whipped his access card out of his back pocket and thrust it in front of the scanner. To his relief the green light flashed and the large metal piece covering the entrance to the quinjet began to slowly lower. The quinjet was fully in the air, out of the hatch and in the sky by the time Steve managed to jump into the quinjet.
For a moment Steve just laid there on his back on the metal floor of the quinjet with his eyes closed. When he opened them, four people were standing around him, staring at him.
