Developing a Plan!
The trio sat in the backseat of the Quinjet, headed for the smaller Avengers Compound in suburban New York. Stark had left the place to “Captain America”, but Steve’s will dictated that anything meant for Captain America should go to Sam. Now, Sam technically owned the compound, but he still retained an apartment both in DC and the New York/Queens area.
He watched Maggie from his spot on the bench. Her dark, choppy hair was curly, and her skin had a light-brown look to it. Darker than Bucky, but lighter than Sam’s. There was a boyish lilt to her features; it was evident in the downturned ends of her thin lips, in her large, round eyes.
She had thin arms. The sleeve of her jacket (a beaten up, olive green pullover, with five pockets) had slipped up to reveal the brown leather strap of a watch with a small face. She was looking at her hands just then. Her eyebrows naturally quirked upwards in the middle, giving the impression that she was either being tender or heavily sarcastic as she stared at her palm.
Sam spoke for the first time in a while. “So how do you two know each other?”
Bucky shifted in his seat and glanced at Maggie, his expression impossible to read. “Back when everyone thought I’d bombed the U.N., I was on the run in Bucharest. I met Maggie when some guy tried to mug her in an alley and we beat the shit out of him. Then I didn't have anywhere to stay so she took me back to her and her mom’s apartment. Turns out,” Bucky sighed a little to himself, “I knew her adoptive mom.”
“Ms. Hayes was an ex-American intelligence agent who had infiltrated H.Y.D.R.A. when I was there. Right before the organization fell, actually. She managed to escape from one of the bases which held Maggie."
Upon hearing her name, Maggie turned away, as if she expected this next part to sting.
Sam was almost afraid to ask. “Why was she there?” he said in a quiet voice, and leaned closer to Bucky, who replied in an equally-hushed tone.
“She was one of their experiments. Not exactly like me, though.” Bucky paused again. He looked over at Maggie, who seemed to be preoccupied with cleaning her gun. “They’d bred two of the other supersoldiers together to see if the DNA mutation from the serum would affect offspring.”
Sam didn't need to ask his next question. Bucky could already see it in his eyes.
“It did affect her. Not as much as it did her parents, but enough. Ms. Hayes was only able to escape with Maggie and her own life. They were on the run, too, from HYDRA, and the American government who thought she’d defected to the Russians. And they happened to have been hiding in Bucharest for two years.
“I stayed with them for a while, and I guess the kid and I bonded. We had similar trauma. It just happened over the course of a couple weeks, and then I was...well. I had to leave.
“Then earlier this year I was back in the States and flew out to Kansas. I knew Ms. Hayes had been pardoned and was living here, but I wasn't able to see her or Maggie. I had to come back to D.C. for court and therapy, but you know the rest.”
Sam did know the rest. He frowned and let what he’d just heard sink in fully. Maggie still sat with their back to them, but her shoulders were shaking. She’d heard everything that they had just said.
Several hours later, the Quinjet landed on the Avengers Compound landing strip. Everyone unloaded from the jet. Bucky had his arm protectively around Maggie, whose face was now dry and tearless.
“We need to finish up a briefing and then head back to the city. I hate being here. It feels wrong without Tony prancing around the place,” said Sam, his voice taught. Ever since the fight with Thanos destroyed the main Avengers Compound in the countryside, all superhero business was conducted at the much smaller facility in suburban New York.
They crammed into the small briefing room, situated at the corner of the small compound. The walls were stark white, with black marble floors and modest iron furniture. The table that they sat at was clearly designed for more than three people.
“So. You’ve seen all the hoopla on TV with me being Captain America, and the Flagsmashers, and John Fucking Walker?” Sam began earnestly.
“Yes,” said Maggie with equal intensity.
“Well, the Flagsmashers got their hands on Super Serum by involving someone called the Power Broker. The Power Broker has recently begun obtaining secrets - government secrets. Dangerous secrets. We’ve been tracking him down for weeks now, but we received a letter from his henchmen a few days ago. They have hacked into the power grid which runs the entire eastern seaboard-”
“-and they are going to hold it hostage until we agree to what they want.” finished Bucky.
“Why do you need me, then?” asked Maggie, brushing back her hair behind one ear.
“Because they also want a meeting. We had to agree to it, but we need backup,” said Sam with a wrinkle of his brow. Bucky noticed that he’d been doing that a lot lately.
The meeting was to take place in two days, at a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city. It was generally agreed that they should go back to Sam’s apartment downtown to catch up on sleep and eat something.
After the short drive back, they arrived at the small brownstone. It was pleasant, surrounded by other brownstones and buildings with an alley in the back. Everyone filed inside and set down their luggage. They were standing in a small living room with just a couch and a TV. It was connected to a small kitchenette, which had a fridge, sink, small oven, and a breakfast bar. Sam’s bedroom and bathroom were upstairs. It was small, but cozy.
“Maggie, you can put your stuff on the couch. I can sleep on the floor tonight and Bucky’ll get the bed,” said Sam.
Bucky started to protest but found that he was too tired to argue with Sam.
He went over into the kitchen, moving around naturally. He’d seen how hungry Bucky was on the jet, and now he began preparing sandwiches as he talked.
“Now, I don’t know if Bucky mentioned this, but we are certain that the Power Broker, whoever he may be, has a man on the inside - someone in the government who is trusted enough to gain access to government secrets. There was no other way that the Power Broker’s henchmen could’ve known how to hack the power grid. We need to assume that they have people watching us.” Bucky’s eyes widened when Sam said this. He glanced pointedly around the house, and then outside. Sam, utterly confused, raised his eyebrows.
Bucky grunted and reached into his inside jacket pocket, pulling out his notebook and the pen. Quickly he scrawled
“PEOPLE COULD BE LISTENING R-N. EARS TO GROUND EVERYWHERE.”
Maggie appeared confused, but Sam understood and nodded. Bucky meant that people could be listening to them in the apartment. Perhaps it was bugged? There were people with their ears (figuratively) to the ground, listening, everywhere.
He continued making the sandwiches. “We’ll make a plan after dinner. For now, let’s eat. We can take a walk outside after.”
They ate quickly. Conversation was tense, nervous and hard to come by. Once Maggie had wolfed down her third sandwich, Sam wrote down on a small sheet of paper that the apartment could be bugged. They would have to be careful.
He added, below, that he and Bucky were going to go visit an old friend of theirs. (Bucky did not seem to be in on this part of the plan, as he seemed just as confused as Maggie). Maybe, wrote Sam, Maggie could look around the neighborhood for any potential spies?
Maggie agreed, and nodded vigorously. “I think I’m gonna take a walk, dudes. Gotta burn off all those calories.” She nodded at Sam when she said it, and he nodded right back at her.
Maggie stepped quickly outside. She drew her hood over her face as she crept into the shadows, slipping cautiously from building to building and observing the pedestrians on the street. Sam had given her a ski mask to wear in case someone got too good of a look at her face, and she pulled it on as she leaned against the stoop.
Sam and Bucky left in their car, apparently headed to meet an old friend. Maggie wasn’t sure who this friend was, but for now all she had to do was observe. Observe, test security, make sure that the street isn’t bugged. Sam recommended checking the locks on the doors, too. It felt like all this work was being assigned as a meager distraction from the impending Meeting With The Power Broker, but Maggie didn’t mind.
Besides, she thought to herself, she rather liked Queens this time of year.