Author's Note
I figured out who it was.
Chapter Two
For the rest of the week, they received a flash drive each morning of the previous workday at the public defender's office. Tony determined it was security camera footage, but when he ordered Jarvis to perform a threat analysis on the public defender's security system, no anomalies were detected. There were no fingerprints on the flash drive or envelope, and the address was printed, not handwritten. The only evidence was the videos themselves.
On Tuesday, Barnes had to help talk down a client who was convinced his lawyer had been kidnapped by the District Attorney.
On Wednesday, they found out Barnes was a legal secretary. He had only been covering for the receptionists while they battled an outbreak of flu. The first receptionist came back, still coughing, and made Barnes wear a surgical mask so he wouldn't get sick. Clint could no longer read his lips, and the only part of his face visible were his eyes, which looked close to tears. Even Tony felt sorry for him. (He didn't say anything, but he did try to buy The Death of Socrates from the Met. Sam eventually talked him down to a print and a nice frame. It took five hours.)
On Thursday, he attended an all-staff meeting where he was awarded a Starbucks gift card for being a "Stealth Hero." After the meeting, he had to spend twenty minutes in the Lactation and Feelings Room.
On Friday, Barnes took his Captain America bobblehead back to his desk. The rest of the receptionists had returned, bringing him a new bobblehead in thanks. It was Iron Man. He placed it carefully next to Captain America, but twenty minutes later, he turned it to face the wall.
He spent the day working on a rush transcription for a case going to trial the following week. It was a police interview of a guy who had stabbed someone in the eye for calling him gay.
"I wish we lived in a world where that wasn't an insult," said Steve. After a moment, he added, "Also maybe a world where people didn't stab each other in the eye."
The rest of the Avengers drifted in and out of the common room, but Steve stayed, camped out on the couch like it was a foxhole. On Thursday, Dum-E hosed him down with the sprayer from the wet bar.
Steve said, "Thanks."
Then, "Can you bring me a granola bar?"
A "granola bar" was a euphemism for Plumpy'Nut, a peanut-based famine food the Avengers had distributed after a run-in with Crossbones in Lagos. Steve had stress-eaten one on the plane and found he didn't need another meal for almost two hours. Since then, Plumpy'Nut had become his go-to food source when he was too depressed to eat. Sam was growing seriously concerned about Captain America's colon.
(Sam would never be concerned enough to ask about Captain America's colon.)
The weekend brought a break from the videos, so Steve watched Google Earth instead, until Tony told him that most of the satellite imagery was at least a year old.
"I would offer you the thermal readings Jarvis took of the Saint James Apartments, but honestly, I'm still not sure how he got that. Also, you need a real shower. You smell like Circus Peanuts and Smirnoff. That's my signature scent."
Steve sighed so much that Natasha had to weigh down the file she was reading with the nearest heavy object, which happened to be Clint.
On Monday, there was a bomb threat at the public defender's office.