Chapter 40
"Keep circling around this general area. He can't have gotten too far, he didn't have much time on us." I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head as I spoke and prepared to exit the car. I took the earpiece Scott was holding out to me and pressed it into place. "If anyone sees anything, make sure we all know about it."
Steve glanced at me through the rearview mirror. "And everyone keep your heads down."
"You can bet your asses we're all over every news station and on the front page of every magazine and newspaper in town," Clint added. "If we get caught, we're fucked."
"Let me out here," I said suddenly, starting out the window. "Steve, stop the car."
Steve pulled over to the side of the road and put the car into park. I quickly opened the door and hopped out, closing it behind me without hesitation. I looked around for a moment, then began walking.
We'd tracked Bucky to Boston, but the car's fracked became disconnected soon after we'd entered the city. We were going in blind. I was now thinking of one thing, and one thing only- finding him. It was before noon, and the city was bustling with people. I ducked my head down and walked down the sidewalk towards a street that was blocked off for what looked like a farmers market. Small tents dotted the sides of the street, each one with a vendor selling something else. I walked past a news stand and glanced at it, almost stopping in my tracks.
Clint was right. We were on the cover of every newspaper and magazine, with threatening headlines about how dangerous we were. My heart sped up as I suddenly felt like everyone was staring at me, even though I knew they weren't. I swallowed the lump of nervousness in my throat and kept walking, even faster than I had been before, scanning the crowd for anything that could resemble Bucky.
"Miss, would you like to try a sample of-"
"No, thanks," I said sharply to the vendor as I pushed past them.
I walked around the market for almost ten minutes before I heard any noise over my earpiece.
"Sam and I are here," Wanda said.
I glanced behind me slightly. Wanda and Sam were walking fairly far behind me, both wearing hats and sunglasses. Her arm was tucked through his, the two of them looking like a legitimate couple.
"Can I ask why we're here?" Sam asked.
"He has a thing for stuff like this," i muttered in response. "It reminds him of how things used to be. He'll go back to whatever feels familiar."
"But of all places, why Boston? We hate Boston," Steve said bitterly.
I smirked slightly. "Steve, get over yourself. You've-"
I stopped, my eyes widening suddenly. My feet began moving faster as I saw the dark hair tucked under a navy baseball cap. I began bobbing and weaving around the people separating him and I. As I got closer, I suddenly realized that it might not be him. My heart sank as the man walked over to a small fruit stand off to the side of the street.
"Cara, what's wrong?" Sam asked. "Did you find him?"
"Give me a minute," I muttered.
I walked over to the fruit stand as well, standing on the opposite side as the man. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he picked up a bag of plums and handed the vendor a few crumpled bills. The man selling the fruit tried talking, but the man said nothing. He quickly turned and continued down the street.
I followed him.
He walked for several more minutes before suddenly turning down a fairly empty side street. When I turned down the sidewalk several seconds later, he was gone.
"Fuck!" I hissed slapping my leg angrily.
As soon as the word left my mouth, I was suddenly pulled into a large doorway off the sidewalk. Bucky held me up against the wall, strong enough that I couldn't push past him, but not so strong as to hurt me.
"What are you doing here, Cara?"
"I should be asking you the same thing," I shot back. "Are you fucking crazy, Bucky? If anyone sees you, they'll call the police and the police will call Tony and he will kill you."
"And if anyone sees you they'll call the police and the police will call Tony and he'll arrest you," he retaliated. "And I'm not about to let you take the fall for what I've done."
"You haven't done anything!"
"Cara, listen to me. I know how much I mean to you, and I know I feel the same way about you, even if I don't remember. But please, go home," he said softly, putting his hand on the nape of my neck and stroking my chin with his thumb.
I reached up to my ear and pulled the piece of plastic out, then shoved it into my jacket pocket. He looked confused as I put my hands on his cheeks and brought his face closer to mine.
"I don't have a home, anymore. Steve and Wanda and Scott and Clint and Sam, they're my family," I whispered. "They might be my family, but Bucky, you're my world. I love you so much it physically hurts me sometimes. I didn't even know that was possible until I met you!"
Bucky looked like he was at a total loss for words. I wrapped my arms around his neck silently and hugged him tightly. His arms tightened around my waist as he buried his face in my neck.
"I know you love me," he muttered into my hair. "That's why I can't let you do this."
Before I could move away, Bucky's hand slid down to mine, and I felt something hard tighten around my wrist. He backed away from me quickly as I looked town to see that he'd zip tied my wrist to a pipe on the wall behind me.
"Bucky!" I yelled, yanking at the plastic. "Stop!"
He glanced back at me, his expression pained. "I'm sorry, Cara."
Bucky turned and walked back down towards the farmers market, quickly disappearing from view. I continued pulling at the zip tie, but it didn't loosen. I reached into my pocket and retrieved the earpiece, shoving it back in and turning it on.
"Cara, where'd you go? What's wrong?" Steve yelled as the feed came back.
"I'm back, I found him," I said angrily. "And then he zip tied me to a pipe and I lost him."
"What?! Are you-"
"I'm fine," I snapped, pulling Fortis from my back pocket. "Clint, Wanda, I think he's heading east."
"On it," Clint replied.
I flicked Fortis out and wedged it between the pipe and the plastic. After a deep breath, I put my foot against the wall and pulled as hard as I could. It snapped easily, and I ran back towards the market as soon as I was free.
My hood had slid down now, but I no longer cared. I bumped into people left and right, panic slowly setting in.
"Cara, what the hell is going on?" Steve asked.
"I'm looking," I said numbly, almost getting hit by a cyclist. "I'm looking and I can't find him."
"It's okay, Cara, we'll find him," he assured me gently.
I didn't respond, just kept walking. I ducked off to a less crowded sidewalk and picked up the pace as I caught sight of the back of Bucky's head once again. Just when I'd almost started running, a woman's shoulder connected right with mine, making me stagger backwards slightly. I swore loudly before looking up to curse the woman out.
"Cara?"
My face paled and my mouth went try. "Pepper."
Pepper Potts stood in front of me, holding several bags of produce and sporting a sizeable baby bump. Her face was a mixture of confusion and concern, and I slowly began feeling panicked.
"What are you doing here? Actually, that's the wrong question. What the hell are you doing, period? Everything I've heard from Tony and from the news doesn't make any sense!"
"Pepper, I'm sorry, I wish I could explain it to you, but I can't," I said quickly. "I have to go."
I turned around and started to walk away, but she reached out and grabbed my wrist.
"It's about Bucky, isn't it? Nobody will say that, but I know it is."
I looked around desperately, keeping my eye on Bucky as he walked farther and father away from me. Pepper stared at me, still holding onto my wrist.
"Okay, don't talk to me. But whatever you do, Cara, you need to get out of Boston right now."
I furrowed my eyebrows at her, and it suddenly dawned on me why she was saying this.
"He has people following you," I breathed, my heart pounding, "doesn't he?"
She nodded slowly and dropped my wrist. Without saying anything, I turned and ran down the street.
"Steve, we need to get him and go," I cried. "Pepper saw me, she has people following her, they'll be here, I know they'll be here."
"Why did you see it?"
I stopped in my tracks suddenly. The dream. The dream with the person attacking Bucky.
"Yeah," I said hoarsely. "Yeah, I think so."
"Dammit," Steve snapped. "Cara, if you can't grab him now, we've gotta leave without him."
"No!" I protested, starting to run again. "Fucking no, Steve!"
"Well do you see him?"
I scanned the crowd in front of me, and let out a slight sigh of relief. "Yes."
I ran up to Bucky and grabbed him by the arm, putting my other hand in his. He looked down at me surprisedly, but didn't react otherwise.
"You left me back there," I grinned, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. "Come on, we've got a train to catch, remember?"
He gave me a look, but nodded and lead me away from the farmers market.
"Tony's going to be sending people any minute," I muttered. "Pepper saw me and he has people following her."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Because you're still here."
I saw his Adam's apple move as he swallowed, instantly knowing that he was stressed. I squeezed his hand slightly as we continued walking, and he pulled me closer to him so that our hands were almost hidden. A block or so ahead of us, there were two cop cars speeding down the street with their lights on, and my heart stopped.
As they almost passed us, I grabbed Bucky and turned so that we were both facing a storefront window. Once they'd passed, we started walking again, keeping our heads down. More and more cops sped past us, headed towards the farmers market.
"Cara, where are you?" Steve asked. "I've been driving around here for twenty minutes and haven't seen you."
"We're just trying to get away from the market," I muttered. "I'll tell you when we're safe."
"We?" Clint said. "Does that mean you found Bucky?"
"Yeah."
"Good to hear, I-"
Steve's voice crackled off suddenly and was replaced with a loud static noise. I ripped the earpiece out of my ear and shoved it into my pocket, muttering profanities under my breath.
"What?"
"They did what I would've done," I said, looking around and growing more and more nervous at the sight of the growing police presence. "They jammed the radio signals so we can't communicate."
"Well fuck."
As Bucky spoke, I felt him tense up suddenly. I looked over and saw him staring at something, his face cold.
"What is it?"
"Run."
"What?"
"We need to run. Now."
Bucky took off sprinting down the street, dragging me behind him. My feet flew as I struggled to keep up with him as he practically pulled my arm out of its socket.
"What are we running from?" I cried.
"Look up."
I did as Bucky said. My stomach dropped as I saw Rhodes and Tony circling directly above us.
"Maybe they don't see us?" I offered, turning my focus back to running.
As I said this, there was a loud popping noise from above. Bucky stopped and held his arms out so that I wouldn't run past him. I rammed right into him at the exact moment a shell I recognized to be Tony's exploded less than one hundred years ahead of us.
"I don't think we're that lucky."
I looked up again and saw Tony beginning to fly down towards us. I turned on my heel and took a sharp left down the street, Bucky following right behind me. Another bomb exploded behind us as we sprinted. I could hear Tony getting closer but didn't dare turn around.
"Here!" I called to Bucky and ran towards what looked like an office building.
I tore the door open and we ran inside, slowing down slightly to catch our breath. The lobby of the building was silent. There were modernish matching small tables and folding chairs around the large room, but absolutely no people.
"I don't like this," he murmured, walking closer to me.
"You're being paranoid."
"Cara, I have a bad feeling," he said insistently. "Let's get back on the street and try and find Steve-"
"Tony won't come in here if he doesn't know it's empty, there would be too much risk of collateral damage," I told him. "So let's take a few minutes and collect ourselves before going back out there and being easy targets."
"Okay, whatever you say," he gave in wearily, taking off his hat with one hand and running the other through his hair.
I sat down in one of the chairs and put my head between my legs. I didn't want to think about the hell that lay beyond those doors. Bucky walked over slowly and put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. Just as I began to relax, there was a noise from across the room, and I sprang up quickly, tearing the ICER out of the back of my jeans and pointing it to the origin of the noise.
Natasha stood near the set of elevators on the other side of the lobby.
"You really should've listened to him."