Phone calls
The base felt so empty without the team around. The only people about were cleaners, too busy to talk, and gardeners smoking outside.
The sun was setting, and Avery was still working on her laptop on the couch. Through her bedroom window, she could see the landing pad and was just hoping that they would be back soon. It was strange caring about people she hardly knew. Mostly, she wanted to chat with Bucky and know what he was thinking. The team had been teasing her about him, but if he didn’t make it clear he was joking, her heart might stop on the spot.
"FRIDAY, is there any updates on the team?" Avery called out, hoping her access had been set up here like at Stark’s Tower.
"No, miss. However, there is no communication blackout. You have been granted permission to be in the group chat. Putting you in the call now."
Avery didn’t want to speak with them; what if they were in the middle of something?
"No, FRIDAY, it’s fine, don’t put me through."
"Too late, doll. You try to check up on me?" Of course, he had to be the first one to answer. Wanda couldn’t have said hello first, maybe even Sam. Before Avery could reply, she heard Steve’s voice.
"No, this is perfect. I don’t know why I didn’t think of calling you before," Steve sounded excited, like a child about to play with a new toy. "We need any information you can find on the Embers Corporation. Do you think you can find us anything?"
"Like, do you just want what I have access to legally, or just whatever I can get my hands on?" Perfect! Work—this would distract her from constantly thinking about Bucky, Bucky’s hands, his voice calling her "doll." Wait, what did Steve want again?
"I like the new kid. Just get us anything you can," Sam’s voice added, and then she heard Nat’s voice.
"I’m sending you through what I have," Nat said. This was going to be fun. The team had a lot of information, but nothing that couldn’t be found on their website.
"She’s not a kid, Sam," Bucky’s cold voice interrupted.
Avery found the social media platforms of a few employees. All American, all very open with the racism. She started looking for a connection between the company and its workers.
"Hey, is the company racist or something?" Avery asked, now in the employees’ records, trying to find a way into some better information. There was definitely a lack of diversity.
"There has been a string of missing women, mostly prostitutes, and the only lead we’ve got is that a van with the Embers logo was seen," Steve added, sounding frustrated. Right, okay, that made no sense. Avery pulled up the police records for the area where the abductions were happening, but there was nothing—not even the list of women she had names for. She started looking at local police force names and noticed family connections between them and employees at Embers.
"Lots of members of Embers have family in the local police department, and there are no ongoing cases about these women," Avery reported.
"Right, we need more information. We’re running around blind out here," Steve’s voice again, his earlier optimism now lost. "Let’s head back to base."
"Wait, some idiot is trying to hack me. Give me a moment. If this is Embers-related, I can probably slip past this hacker and get into their system."
"Keep us updated, doll. We’re heading back to you," Bucky’s voice came through, distracting her completely. This hacker wasn’t as good as she was, and he definitely wasn’t as good as Ned. She was pretty sure FRIDAY could keep him out, but where was the fun in that? After getting past his walls and setting up distractions for him, she got a date, an address, and access to some video files. Once it was clear that was all he had, she slipped out, stopped his advances on her system, and set FRIDAY to keep him out.
"I have a date..." Avery started to say, but Sam interrupted.
"Really? Don’t tell Bucky. He might get jealous," Sam laughed like a bunch of high school kids.
"25th of February, at this warehouse in the next state over. I also have some video files, but there are 16 missing women and 16 videos. I’m kind of scared to open them." This was starting to feel like a Criminal Minds episode, and Avery really didn’t want to know.
"Okay, doll, we’re about 25 minutes away from you. When I get back, I’ll watch through the videos with you. We need as much information as we can get."
"Right, thanks, James. I appreciate it." Avery was glad they couldn’t see her blushing. It was a sweet offer, but she was starting to get scared for these women. What was going on? Did the Avengers deal with this kind of thing a lot? She thought it was mostly Nazis and worldwide threats.