Partners in Crime(fighting)
SIX WEEKS LATER…
Sam finished another set of push-ups and sat down, sweat glistening on his face. Bucky watched him from the sofa, his face creased with worry.
“You’re not ready yet. You’re gonna hurt yourself, Sam.”
He grunted in reply. When Bucky continued to give him a death glare, Sam sighed. “Listen, man, we’ve been sitting here on our asses for weeks. The Power Broker isn’t gonna wait for my stab wound to completely heal, and the police are still looking for us. We’ve had to change locations six times in as many weeks. I gotta do something.”
Bucky, to his credit, looked almost convinced, but still apprehensive. “Fine. You have any theories?”
Sam nodded. “We gotta talk to Sharon again.”
“Are you crazy?” Bucky stood angrily, but Sam hadn’t finished.
“No...I think she has some connection to the Power Broker. Isn’t it suspicious how, when we talked to her, she knew things she shouldn’t?”
Bucky remembered talking to her a few weeks previously, the night that Maggie had been kidnapped by Peter.
They stood together on the front stoop of Sharon’s place in the drizzle. The car was parked nearby, and the day was warm but brisk. The door opened with a buzzing sound, and a pretty, blonde woman stuck her head outside. She smiled when she saw Sam and Bucky.
“Hey, boys. It’s been a while.”
They all stepped into the condominium building. Sharon led them to the elevator, which they rode all the way up to the fifteenth floor. Her apartment was glitzy and modern and expensive, not unlike her place in Madripoor.
Bucky cleared his throat. “We just had a couple questions. A possible favor to ask, too.”
“Is this about the Power Broker?” she asked innocently. Sam frowned at her and glanced at Bucky, who frowned back at him.
“We didn’t mention the Power Broker.” Sam seemed almost suspicious as he said it.
Sharon allowed a hint of apprehension to show on her face, but it was gone before Bucky or Sam could process it. “Lucky guess. It’s what you guys always want to know about these days. Power Broker this, Power Broker that…”
“We just want to know if anyone at the Bureau has been selling government secrets. The Power Broker is starting to know things he shouldn’t.”
“Like what?” Sharon replied.
Bucky and Sam made eye contact again, and shared that secret, special look that was reserved for only the two of them. God, how Sharon hated that shared, special look.
“We can’t say. Has anyone been suspicious lately? You work at the Bureau, so I’m sure you’d know. Anyone with possible ties to Madripoor? Or perhaps a spotty record?” asked Bucky. Sharon tilted her head, thinking, and after a few seconds she shook it.
“No, I’m sorry. Can’t think of anyone I know who could be “selling secrets”. Don’t you think that maybe you are...overreacting to this whole Power Broker thing? I don’t think they are gonna do anything too bad.”
Sam just sighed and frowned a little. “No, I guess not. We just have this slight threat hanging over our heads constantly, and I suppose you could say it’s driving us nuts.”
“So you need some action?”
“No, not quite.”
The three of them spoke a little while longer, but nothing more was uncovered. Sharon seemed skittish; she dodged their questions, feigning innocence over her glass of red wine. Once everyone had finished their glass, however, Sharon bid them a cheery adieu.
“Well, good luck, boys. Don’t get too banged up at your meeting.” She smiled and waved as she spoke.
Sam smiled back politely, maintaining an odd mask of naïveté as he and Bucky left the building. They sat down in the car, and Bucky tossed his jacket into the backseat while he waited for Sam to start driving. Sam didn’t drive; he just sat in the driver’s seat, his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, frowning into the distance.
“What’s with the thousand-yard stare, Sam?”
He turned to look at Bucky, still frowning. “I dunno. Maybe it’s just me being crazy, but something seemed off. I don’t know what it was, but there is something wrong. With Sharon. She was different today, couldn’t you tell?”
Bucky nodded in agreement. His friend was right: Sharon did seem different today. There was certainly something off, but that was an issue for another time. They had to concentrate even more on this Power Broker debacle at the moment.
“So,” said Bucky now, “you’re saying that you think Sharon is working for the Power Broker? You think she’s his informant?”
“Exactly,” said Sam, staring at Bucky evenly.
In a dark alleyway several streets down, Peter Parker was crouched behind a dumpster. The alleyway was somewhere in Yonkers. His backpack in one hand and a pair of sunglasses in the other, he stuck his head out into the street and peered around, then ventured out after determining it safe. He slid on the sunglasses and pulled his hoodie up to cover his hair.
The block where he was walking was a pleasant, semi-suburban area lined with shops. He began making his way to one of the grocery stores, moving in flow with the other pedestrians who busily crossed sidewalks and streets. Peter entered the grocery store and was immediately hit with the heavenly smell of baked goods. His stomach grumbled hopefully, but he pulled himself away and towards the healthier foods.
He bought bread, cheese turkey, two bags of grapes, a six-pack of yogurt, and some sliced pastrami. The store was relatively cheap, but the food still cost Peter almost everything he had on him. After paying, he thanked the cashier quietly and left, bags in hand.
Peter walked for a while. He enjoyed it, and besides, he didn’t get much exercise these days. He couldn’t be Spider-Man at nights anymore (because the police and feds still wanted him in connection with Sam and Bucky and the murders they’d been framed for. It was safest to lie low).
Eventually he came to a park in the more urbanized and industrial part of the area. There were taller industrial buildings and warehouses, all of them quite big. The small park was an oasis of sorts in the dreariness. Peter scanned the area until his eyes caught on one of the benches, where a small figure wearing an oversized and familiar leather jacket sat, looking out at the street on the opposite side of the park. He smiled, adjusted his grip on the groceries, and walked over to the bench.
Maggie turned to watch him come over. She smiled amiably, and he did too, as he set down the bags and seated himself on the bench next to Maggie. She tugged the jacket a little closer around her in the chill of nightfall. Peter realized it was Bucky’s jacket, the one he always wore.
“Did you get the stuff?”
“Yup. Right here.” Peter gestured to the grocery bags, and Maggie smiled again. “Did you enjoy the park?” Maggie nodded in lieu of a reply.
“No one followed you?” she asked.
“Of course not.”
“Good.”
“We should head back. It’s getting late,” said Peter. He sighed and stood up. Maggie’s hand slid into his, and he gave her one of the bags to carry. They walked through the streets to a smaller, decrepit, storage facility. The place looked empty from the outside, but the teens knew that Sam and Bucky were inside, waiting for them.
Bucky looked up when the door slid open. He smiled when he saw Maggie and Peter. The bags were set down, brief greetings were exchanged. The food was laid out on the cardboard boxes which were used for tables, and everyone sat down on the floor. Sam looked sweaty and tired but healthy; he was grinning and moving around. He was certainly more than ambulatory.
“The food looks good, Pete.”
“Thanks. It’s ‘cause I had more money this time. Someone had dropped their wallet in the alley, and it was an out-of-state address on the license, so I figured…”
“It’s okay. I know stealing is bad, but it’s the only way to make ends meet,” said Sam, laying another slice of pastrami on his bread. They ate in silence for a few moments.
Suddenly Peter spoke again. “How long are we gonna have to do this?” he shouted. A flush crept into his cheeks as Bucky and Sam looked at each other, and then back at him.
“We do this until Sam is fully healed, and then one of us will find a way to explain ourselves. But first we have to find the Power Broker,” Bucky stated firmly and calmly. He was accustomed to hormonal mood swings from the teens at this point, and he knew how to deal with them. “And, Sam thinks he may know how to get to the Power Broker. I suppose we have a plan after all.”
“Fine, then, what’s the plan?” Peter still seemed angry, but was calming down.
“Sam?” Bucky looked over at him, and he cleared his throat.
“Me and Buck...the day that Maggie, er, met Peter, we were gone because we went to visit Sharon Carter. She’s been recently instituted as the head of the FBI’s Enhanced Humans Taskforce and Database. We wanted to ask her about the Power Broker. We wanted to root out the inside man.” Sam looked at Bucky, who spoke and continued.
“She knew too much. She denied any knowledge of an inside man, she avoided our questions, and she somehow knew about the meeting even though we didn’t mention it. I don’t know about you, Sam, but it was certainly suspicious to me,” said Bucky. Peter and Maggie both nodded, understanding. Sharon Carter was the Power Broker’s inside man.
“So what are we gonna do about it?” Peter asked, looking at Sam.
“We’re gonna ask Sharon some questions. But this time we aren’t gonna be so nice about it.”