[616] ground zero for trouble

[daughterofliberty]

"Remember, Nick," she calls, buckling the utility belt of her suit. "I've got years of vacation time saved up. You owe me. After this, I'm taking five whole days in Virginia with Steve, and no one is going to bother us. Right?"

Fury scoffs, and she turns a gimlet eye on him. "Right?"

"Right," he says, holding up his hands in surrender. "Hell, Carter, it's not like the rest of the Avengers and SHIELD aren't around to pick up the slack. Go! You crazy kids have fun. Send a postcard. Let your hair down a little. You've been tense as a wire ever since – "

"I wonder why," she snaps, and he shakes his head. 

"Just saying," he says, as Tony Stark sniggers behind him. Sharon waves them both off, an unruly smile tugging at her mouth.

"I'll check in once I've made contact," she says. "Steve should be waiting for me at the rendezvous."

"Good luck, Agent Carter," Tony says, and she tosses him a crisp half-salute, then heads through the hatch towards the hangar that holds her vehicle: not the Quinjet, not for a mission this small, but the cherry-red convertible that hovers as she enters and taps out the activation code. "Come on, baby," she tells it. "Let's go for a ride."

But when she reaches the rendezvous at Avengers Tower and strides through the door, Steve's nowhere to be seen. 

And, honestly? Neither is the Avengers Tower.

Comments

[daughterofliberty]

"I'm sure you will," she says, as gently as she can.

"Hell, just you and Steve together could probably take that whole damn city apart, if you felt like it."

Her finger taps on the bartop again as she thinks. "I'd make sure Fury doesn't catch wind of what you're planning," she warns. "He'd probably just extract her and double down on the lie. He's clearly playing a game of his own and he doesn't like when his plans get derailed."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He'll never see me coming."

As a promise, it has weight.

"So, no, he won't find out."

[daughterofliberty]

"You are good at sneaking under the radar," she agrees. "Okay. With the Wakandans helping, you should be able to get into Madripoor without any problems."

She studies him. "Have you been there before?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's been a while," he says, dryly. Very, very dryly.

"You have, I'm guessing."

[daughterofliberty]

"I have. I didn't like it. The whole damn city's a cesspool."

She sips at her lager, considering. "If you have a basic idea of the mission, you should be able to track her down. Follow the weapons she's supposed to be tracking... if that's what she's really doing there."

Sharon hesitates, then pushes onward. "Can I ask you something? Are my – are her parents alive, in your universe?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It might actually be. The problem's a real one. Stolen vibranium, stolen Chitauri tech - put together, that's something nobody needs," he informs her. "She and Steve did a hell of a job breaking up an auction in Prague. I could see Fury wanting her back but under his orders and no one else's."

Something flickers in his glance at the question - and at what it reveals. "They are. They're safe in Virginia."

[daughterofliberty]

She nods, pressing her mouth into a thin line as her gaze drops. "Mine passed still thinking I was dead," she says, low.

"Fury took that from me, too. He and I might have come to an understanding since then, but..."

Sharon looks back at him, her gaze level and sharp. "If she can have the chance to see them again, I know she'd want it."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm sorry," he murmurs. "And you're right. She misses them."

[daughterofliberty]

She nods, then marshals another crooked smile from somewhere and lifts her bottle to him.

"This might be the first time running into a parallel universe has actually been useful," she says. "Maybe I'll try time-travel next."

[nerves_of_ice]

He raises his glass to her in turn, even as he also raises his eyebrows.

"Does that happen to you a lot? Aside from coming here?"

[daughterofliberty]

"More than you'd think," she admits.

"It gets to the point where it's hard to make a date sometimes, you know? It's difficult to make Friday night plans when on Friday night somebody's stuck in Dimension Z or a time bubble or inside the Cosmic Cube."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky shakes his head. "I can see how that'd be hard," he agrees, his tone desert-dry.

[daughterofliberty]

She's going to feel like a real ass if it turns out this wasn't just another one of Fury's machinations; that his Sharon really is gone and she's only made it worse by offering him a last, desperate hope. She remembers all too well what it was like in those dark days after Steve – after she'd –

Her mouth presses into a sympathetic line. "You probably want to go right now, don't you?" she asks. "Don't let me hold you back."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I do," he agrees, "but my Sharon - and Steve, and Natasha - would wonder what the hell was wrong with me if I didn't do everything I could to make sure you were okay first. Time doesn't pass on the other side of the door while I'm here."

[daughterofliberty]

"Me?" she says, surprised into a smile.

"I'm fine. Better than fine. Once I get back and we complete this mission, I'm dragging Steve to Virginia for a well-earned vacation, and by God, this time I'm going to make sure he actually takes the time off. I'm good."

[nerves_of_ice]

"If he's anything like mine, he probably needs it," Bucky drawls. "But yes, you."

His heart turns over in his chest at the sight of that warm, bright, almost-familiar smile.

[daughterofliberty]

"Oh, he definitely needs it," she assure him. "God forbid he be a man and not a monument for a few days."

But she says it with deep, deep fondness and trust; the kind that comes from spending years at one man's side, living and working together as agents, as friends, as lovers. "And if I can help you save your Sharon, that'll be a cherry on top of my already sundae-like day."

She studies him, rolling her bottle between her fingers. "I'm trying to think if anything else I know might be helpful, but I'm not sure how much of what I went through applies here."

[nerves_of_ice]

His own smile surprises him. He can just see her dragging Steve off for a break, and is glad his best friend - one universe over - has her in his life.

"Sounds like him." He finishes his drink and sets the glass to the side, asking for coffee instead.

"You've already given me more hope than I had before. Anything else you can share, I'd be grateful for."

[daughterofliberty]

"Hmm."

She toys with her beer without sipping at it, thinking back; refusing to get tripped up by the clinging tendrils of old pains and fears. "It depends a little on how long she's been gone. For me – "

She shrugs. "Without support, I would up finding work as a mercenary, among... other things. Even if Steve had gone looking for me where I disappeared, he wouldn't have found me; I was already gone. You might want to watch out if your Sharon's fallen into a crowd like the ones I ended up with."

[nerves_of_ice]

Some of her tells are different, of course, but there's enough similarity that he can read between the lines plain as print.

Bucky wonders, idly, if he'll end up shooting Fury again.

"Weeks," he says. "Not yet two months." Hopefully he'll be in time. Hopefully Sharon's still alive. Nothing's guaranteed, he knows, what with differences between worlds, but there are enough similarities here that there's a possibility, and if there's even the slightest chance he has to take it. He has to.

[daughterofliberty]

"There's another pattern you can look for," she tells him.

"When I was out there, twisting in the wind, I still did everything I could to ruin the bad guys' plans – just like your Sharon was probably meant to do undercover. There aren't many good guys in Madripoor, so if it seems like the few there have got a guardian angel looking out for them..."

Her smile is sharp and crooked and more than a little self-satisfied. "I'd check it out, if I were you."

[nerves_of_ice]

Angel. The pang strikes straight through him, even as he manages to nod.

"Of course you did. I'll remember."

[daughterofliberty]

The faint curve to her mouth is as sympathetic as the look she gives him.

"I hope like I'm not giving you false hope," she murmurs. "It just sounded too damn familiar. But if I'm wrong... I hope you know I understand how it feels, all too well."

It had been the faintest glimmer of hope that led her to search again for Steve, that brought her to Bucky and Natasha and Sam, desperate for them to believe her.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'll take any hope."

He studies her carefully. "But Steve's okay now," he says. It's not a question.

[daughterofliberty]

"Yes," she promises, instantly.

"He's absolutely fine now."