CROSSBONES PT ONE
It certainly wasn't a suite.
It was an apartment, roughly bigger than the one we resided in while in Puerto Rico. A complex filled with families, as the loud voices of parents yelling and children screaming back gave away.
I really,really hoped to never have children of my own. It would be catastrophic, if nothing else. And, although this wasn't the only reason behind that choice, this is not something to speak of now.
Tasha gave us all shot glasses filled with dark liquid. Said it'd warm us up, since the heater didn't really do much. Called it Tuica,said it was a traditional Romanian beverage of some sort,though it tasted like Brandy.
“Tuscan called a few nights ago”,she said, her mouth stuffed by a sandwich she started eating. “He's a link I got since a bad trip in Georgia seven years ago”,she explained.
“You trust him?”
“As much as I can trust a guy like him,Cap”,she smiled. “Tuscan works in favors. This time he owed me one, next time I'll be the one who owes. He said he run into him in a mission back in the day. He'd recognize him even if he was blind, or so he said”.
I tried raising the temperature in my body, as I was gradually losing sense of my limbs. Tasha noticed some steams over my skin, she shook her head, then continued.
“He had his men tail him for a few days, but in then he lost track of him. Last place they saw him was here. Actually a couple blocks away from this apartment complex”
“I really doubt he's still in Deva”,i murmured.
“Yes, that makes two of us”,Tasha agreed. “We gotta start somewhere though”,she whispered in a sly smile.
Tasha spread out a series of photographs on the table,putting the shot glasses away. She put them in chronological order,one next to the other. For someone who had spent so much time fighting him,having seen his face, touched him- it was obvious that the man in the dark clothes and hoods walking down the street was none other than Bucky.
“I really,really doubt his reason for being here was solely pleasure”,she murmured.
“So,then it was business”,I chimed in.
Steve's glance was stuck on each of the photograph; as if he was studying something, be it his body language, his facial expressions – the slight ones you could make out of the pictures. Nevertheless, he was awfully quiet for a moment there.
“I already got a place to check out”,Tasha huffed out,much to my surprise at least. “He'd been seen regularly in a certain club in here”.
“Let me guess”,Sam raised his eyebrows at her, “tis a sketchy one,ain't it?”
Tasha pursed her lips at him, smiling. “You got a point Wilson. I think he's been tailing Rumlow”.
Suddenly we all got very quiet. I noticed how Steve tightened his fists,how he clenched his jaw. Touching his hands crossed my mind; hugging him, kissing his lips- showing any form of affection,of any kind.
That was when I knew just how much things had changed for us two. Soldiers don't try to comfort each other. Soldiers don't show intimacy.
Soldiers follow orders. Soldiers see a mission through. Soldiers win, or they lose.
That's how we show care. By carrying out orders, missions, the kill.
Any other day I would show Steve my consideration by merely doing my best in helping him find Bucky and kill Rumlow- or have whatever he wanted to do with him.
Today, I only want to kiss him.
“Well then”,I spoke, “what are we waiting for?”
Tasha sighed and rubbed her eyes. “We're not in the States anymore Pers. We- “,she took a deep breath. “We're no longer part of SHIELD- or,or any organization that's gonna take care after the mess we leave behind”.
I opened my mouth momentarily,confused by what she said to me. It hadn't really crossed my mind, not in that way in particular, though it made much,much sense.
“She's right Pearse”,Sam sighed as well. “We can't just go to a club and start throwing fire punches and vibranium shields at people. We gonna get arrested – at best, deported,whatever they may find fitting for us. It's gonna be considered a criminal act. Rumlow and the other HYDRA fellas are the FBI's territory now,supposedly”.
I would have spoken, but for some reason I found myself with nothing to say. So I took a deep breath as the frustration kicked in, and sat next to Steve. I placed my hands on my knees, pressing against my skin as if that would somehow help my brain work faster.
“We can't just let that go to waste”,Steve said in a low voice.
“So what can we do,then? Tasha?”
She scratched the back of her head, her lips pursed as she was starring away. I knitted my eyebrows together. She wouldn't have called us here just to tell us our hands are tied. She could have said that over the phone. She has something on her mind, something which I can only assume would be barely legal- if not at all.
“Well..”,he dragged the word along her tongue, “..we could always use plan B”.
“Which would be what exactly?”,I asked with an arched eyebrow.
Tasha smiled, tried hard to pass it as an innocent one, although she was basically incapable of doing so.
“Romanoff?”
“Well Rogers”,she raised her eyebrows upon calling his name, “we can always pretend to be doing what people who do not have agendas do”.
“Will you say it already?”,I huffed out.
“And where's the fun in that?”
“Those clothes are not meant for fighting. Or to be worn in a place that cold”,I protested through murmurs.
Tasha chuckled, “And that's because we do not want anyone to think we're here to start a fight,sugar”.
I could hear her voice through the intercom. As far as the planning went, we were supposed to get inside separately. Wearing clothes that suggested we were there to drink and dance,and as Tasha said, to do drugs.
This place was known for it's dealing. That could be the reason behind Rumlow's partaking as well.
Each of us had a corner to cover, our eyes would need to be vigilant, our ears opened. Tasha called this tactic 'fishing'.
“If you ask me, you look amazing”,he said in a hoarse voice.
“Not tonight Romeo”,Tasha hummed.
I smiled.
But we shouldn't lose our objective here. We were to merely gather information. Not to engage in any way, not to be compromised. Rumlow wouldn't stay in plain sight either way.
What Steve didn't like about the plan though, was the means. To acquire said drugs, to dance, to flirt our way inside. Well, if I must be honest, I didn't like that either. Unlike Birdie and Tasha over there who seemed to be having actual fun.
I felt incredibly vulnerable. This wasn't my idea of dancing,and I really found it difficult to remain sober. Because, if I was sober, then I wouldn't be able to put up with the shit men told me as they passed by me.
One of them said something in Romanian , which I obviously didn't understand. His eyes were droopy, and rather red. Although speaking, he was still trying to pull some dancing out of his body.
“Sorry”,I said to his ear, “English”.
“Oh!”,he smiled brightly, “English,huh? Okay, I know English. What's your name honey?”
I tried to smile,and not to allow my facial expressions to get the best of me. This was a terrible idea, I thought to myself as I continued.
“Mary. How'bout you?”
“Oh Maryy. Hail Mary,huh? I'm Andrei- you having fun Mary?”
I took a deep breath, and yet another sip from my drink.
“Yeah but not enough”,i faked a slight pout. “You people only drink these?”,i pointed at my glass, a sly smile on my lips.
Andrei's lips curved a little as he licked his teeth. “Depends on who's askin' honey. You want something stronger?”
“Well..”,i approached him, “A girl needs some fun, don't you think?”
He clicked his tongue,and didn't speak for a second as he eyed me. Then, he put his arm around my lower back, grabbed me as he pulled me closer.
“You alright there Pers?”,I heard Steve's voice coming out awfully austere and low.
“It's your lucky night, draguta. Your boy here happens to know the source of all pleasure”,he said,his smile and breath both suggesting just how disgusting he was.
“Hm”,I went closer to his ear, “How about we do something about that?”
He took a step behind, eyeing me up and down. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
“Gimme a second here,Mary”,he hummed as he started walking away, “Don't get away!”,he yelled again before disappearing in the crowd.
“Pers?”
“I'm fine Steve”,I huffed out, finally allowing my face to rest from all that forced smiling. “I think he's gonna take me to Rumlow. Or..Or whoever it is that handles the drugs”.
“Persephone- No”, he almost snapped at me, his voice incredibly low at this point.
“He's right Pearse. We all agreed- do not engage”,Tasha said.
But at that point I could get a glimpse of Andrei coming back, a sly curving on his lips as he looked at me. I turned around slightly, making sure he wouldn't catch me speaking to the earpiece.
“Eyes on me boys and girls. If this is indeed Rumlow- we won't get another chance anytime soon. This is our best shot here,so.. get my back”,I huffed out,then clicked the earpiece to put them to silence.
“Yo Maryy”,he called my name as he put his arm around me once again.
I felt shivers from being touched by a complete stranger whom I found to be particularly slimy,such as he was. It felt wrong, but it was a mean to an end. One I could not afford to miss.
“You ready to meet Crossbones?”