Chapter 6
It was a long and shitty night. But at least the fact he hadn’t gone back to sleep meant he hadn’t dreamt, hadn’t had to deal with…everything that went with that.
Sergei, the unreliable asshole, hadn’t responded to him since leaving the apartment. Bucky’s skin was starting to itch. God only knew what Sergei was up to, but Bucky could only assume he was hanging him out to dry. He was going to have to find someone else, and that was just a whole other headache.
Bucky dragged his eyes away from the couch again, started cleaning up the empty bottles for the recycling. He recycled now, like a real 21st century human being. Yippee. Never mind the fact the amount of alcohol he drank last night to empty those recyclable bottles would have killed an actual normal person.
He didn’t really get the whole recycling thing anyway. People acting like they were saving the planet by tossing perfectly good glass into a different trash can, like reusing shit had gone out of style. But what did he know.
He listened at the bedroom door for a minute to make sure his guests were still sleeping, then headed out, shutting the door quietly behind him. He had shit-all food in the apartment, and if he was going to commit to the facade of everything being fine and normal, he should probably offer them breakfast at least. He checked his watch. Still time before things would start to get serious.
He rubbed at the back of his neck as he walked down the street. Shit he really was starting to feel antsy. Just what he needed. He was vaguely aware he must look like crap, still wearing the hoodie and sweats he’d worn through the night, not having showered, but hell. Not the worst he’d been seen looking in this neighbourhood. No one paid him any notice as he went by. His brain tried to ask what his ma would think if she saw him looking like this, but he overruled it. Not today. He had things to do.
The bodega around the corner was the only store in the area that wasn’t festooned in Christmas lights and decorations. The owner was gruff, never once asked a customer how their day was going. Bucky had decided a week ago that it was his favourite bodega. He grabbed some cereal, milk, bread, eggs (whatever he thought they would expect a normal person to have in their apartment) with nothing more than a couple of grunts each passing between him and the store owner. Definitely his favourite bodega.
It was only by chance on his way back from the store that he looked up the face of his building. Spotted the newly added scuff marks around his bedroom window. He sighed inwardly as he shouldered open the door to the building.
What the fuck were they up to?
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The minute they were sure Barnes had left the building they sprang to work.
Step 1) Clint ensures the captive tracksuit was is still out cold, while Kate changed from her purple pyjamas to her purple crime-fighting gear. Clint hadn’t packed pj’s.
“How strong is that stuff you gave him anyway?” Kate asked over her shoulder.
Clint made a non-committal noise, half-shrugged, while still averting his eyes under the bed. “Well, I kind of pulled together these trick arrows on the fly so, hard to be scientific.”
“Great, so he could wake up at any second is what you’re telling me?”
“Or, he could wake up in 10hours. Think positive Kate.”
Kate wanted to scream in frustration, but she reigned herself in. If she wanted Clint to respect her, she had to show she could keep a cool head in stressful situations. So instead of screaming, she smiled sweetly at him.
Step 2) panic about your situation (while maintaining a cool head).
“Of course. I always think positive. For example, right now I’m positive your so-called friend has sold us out to the tracksuits and is currently on his way to get the backup this guy” pointing violently at the bed under which their new friend still lay “couldn’t get last night.” There. Step 2, check.
“Okay, first of all, I never said he was my friend. Number two, I know it doesn’t look great, but let’s not jump to conclusions here. Barnes has had two different Captain Americas vouch for him. That’s got to count for something, right?”
Kate looked at him sceptically “Two Captain Americas? Was either of them John Walker?”
“Oh no, ew not that guy. No the good ones.”
“Okay so let’s say we give him the benefit of the doubt. What innocent explanation could there possibly be for THIS GUY” - more violent pointing - “showing up here? In the middle of the night? Mere hours after we arrive?” She may have been slightly losing her cool head at this point, Kate was willing to admit to herself. Well, was willing to admit to herself after Pizza Dog start nuzzling at her leg in sympathy. She petted him absently. At least there was someone she could rely on.
“Well I want to say ‘booty call?’ but I think you’ll get mad at me so….okay. Look I don’t know why this guy showed up. But it doesn’t make sense to me that Barnes has sold us out. Caps aside, I barely gave him any details on what we’ve been dealing with. Obviously he has some link to the tracksuits,” Clint checked the window as he said this, making sure Barnes wasn’t returning as they speak. “but we don't even know how connected their Brooklyn outfit is to Maya's group. Let’s just think through our options here okay? We get this wrong, we could be losing an ally here. And we don’t have many of those right now.”
Kate was not convinced, but going through their options seemed reasonable. Something a cool-headed, good-in-a-crisis Avenger would do. When the guy could be back at the apartment with a horde of tracksuits at any minute.
Step 3) lay out the options and determine a plan of action.
“Okay, Option A, let’s get the hell out of here before Captain America’s creepy friend comes back”. Kate liked plan A, she came up with it all by herself and she was proud of it. She started sorting her gear.
“Sure, could do that. So then we’re back out on the street, exposed, with the added bonus of not knowing if we’ve just been sold out to the tracksuits.”
Clint was always raining on her parade like that, shooting down (ha) her plans. “Okay, so Option B - we jump him. The minute he comes back in that door, we take him down, tie him up and make him talk.” She paused for a moment “And if we’re wrong about the betrayal, you know, politely apologise.” Not a bad plan either really. And maybe could be kind of fun. Clint’s face however was telling a different story, all crumpled up, grimacing at her.
“Yeahhhh, not sure I fancy our chances on that one. No offence to either of us. But if we can avoid a physical confrontation we'll all be better off, trust me.”
“Okaaay so Option C - we hit him with a tranq arrow. Ba-da-bing ba-da-boom.“ There goes that face again.
“Oh for flip’s sake. What, you just had the one?”
“No I made plenty, all these blue-striped ones,” Cline answered, pulling out the trick arrows he’d stashed with her gear, “though honestly I have no idea how well they’d work.“ At that Kate made a sort of strangled noise, but Clint kept talking “But I really don’t think it’s going to come to that. Just, hold it together and let me handle this, alright?”
“Handle how?”
“I’ll-“
Kate never got to hear how Clint was going to handle it though, because all of a sudden they heard the apartment door open.
He was back.