Chapter 15
Even though Clint went home like he promised he would, you stayed an active member of the Avengers up until the issuance of the Sokovia Accords. In all honesty, you weren’t sure how you felt about the Accords. You simply refused to sign them because your loyalty was to your captain, not to a bunch of politicians who didn’t have the first clue what all of you had sacrificed.
Your devotion to Steve was the same reason why you now found yourself riding in a government vehicle under arrest for obstruction of justice. Once you reached your destination, you got out of the car after your friends and lingered behind them. You were too distracted by the sight of the glass prison containing Bucky Barnes being unloaded to focus on anything else going on around you, until the sound of someone saying your name caught your attention. You peered past the towering frames of Steve, Sam, and the new King of Wakanda to see none other than Everett standing there across the room. Pushing between them, you started making your way over to him when the two armed officers on either side moved forward.
“Oh, stand down both of you!” he said, walking forward to meet you halfway. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Addressing everyone he said, “Come this way.”
He led you all down a hallway, and after sending T’Challa to an office and leaving Steve and Sam with Tony, he put his hand on your upper arm and said, “Come with me.”
He guided you to his office and, once you were inside, shut the door behind him. Wandering over to his desk, you picked up a framed picture that was sitting on the corner of it. You smiled when you saw that it was of the two of you.
“I always liked this picture,” you said. He walked over and took it out of your hand before laying it face down on the desk.
“Have a seat, please,” he said, motioning to the chair across from him while he sat down behind his desk.
Once you had settled in, he said, “Do you have any idea how much trouble you could be in for what you and your friends have done? Why did you even get involved?”
“Bucky is important to Steve. I wanted to help. Besides, I kind of know what he’s going through.”
Everett’s raised eyebrows spoke for themselves.
“When Loki took control of Clint’s mind, he used him against his fellow agents. He knows that he didn’t have a choice, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t carry the weight of it around with him. Clint was at least lucky enough to have people who supported him and understood. Barnes doesn’t have that.”
“Where is Barton? I was surprised he wasn’t brought in with the rest of you.”
“Clint retired after Sokovia. He’s spending all his time being a good husband and father.”
He stared at you for a few moments before he reached down and you heard the sound of one of his desk drawers opening and then closing again.
“Stark is down the hall trying to convince Rogers to sign the Accords. It will make everything he did legal. This is my version of the same offer to you.”
He handed you a file folder and, when you opened it, you saw that it wasn’t a copy of the Accords inside.
“This is a new hire folder,” you said, making it actually sound more like a question than a statement.
“Yes, it is. This is what I was going to talk to you about that last night in New York before I changed my mind. I decided it would be better if I came over here and settled in first. I thought, by that time, the Avengers would have spilt up again and you’d be in need of a real job. I had no idea you all would stick together this long. But, nevertheless, here we are.”
You flipped through the file in silence before he continued, “I have the authority to choose my own people, and with my support we can smooth out what you’ve done so far. But only what you’ve done so far. If you get much deeper into this mess then I’m afraid it’s out of my hands. You don’t have a team anymore, y/n. I’m asking you to join mine.”
“Can I have a little bit of time to think about it?”
“What’s there to think about?” he asked, standing up and sighing loudly out of frustration.
“I need to talk to Steve first.”
“You need to talk to Steve first!” he said while giving you an incredulous look. “What does he have to do with anything? Is he going to support you now? Tell me he isn’t the reason you didn’t stay on to begin with.”
“I would expect you of all people to understand, Everett.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked in an annoyed tone.
“It means,” you said, jumping up and raising your voice, “that you want me to be a part of your team. Well I don’t know how you define a team around here, but for me it means loyalty and devotion...not letting your friend go into a fight without you. Steve has been there for me when I needed him, and now he needs me. I won’t switch sides in the middle of the battle to save my own skin. I’ll stand by him and see this thing through. You’ve already got Barnes in a cage. You won. At least let me do this the right way.”
When you were done, Everett gave you a small smile and said, “I forgot what working with you was like. I’ve missed it. Do what you need to do. Talk to him or whatever. When you’re ready, this will be waiting for you.”
You watched as he put the folder back in his desk drawer.
“Thank you. I have every intention of taking you up on that offer,” you said.
“I know you do.”
The sound of the door opening made you turn around to see another agent.
“Sir,” he began, “the psychiatrist is here. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Go ahead and take him down. We might as well get started.”
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“Since you didn’t sign, I can’t let you in to hear the interview,” Everett said, motioning to the door of the glassed-in room that sat behind their control room. Seeing Steve and Sam waiting around inside, you smiled and replied, “This is where I need to be anyway right now.”
Everett simply nodded in response, then he turned and left to go join the rest of his people. You entered the room and walked over to where Sam was sitting, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m glad to see they didn’t shoot you guys and dump your bodies in a hole somewhere,” you joked.
“Could say the same thing about you. We were starting to worry,” Sam said.
“Just catching up with an old friend,” you muttered as you walked over to where Steve was standing with his arms folded over his chest staring into the control room.
“Tony didn’t get you to sign?” You asked quietly, even though you already knew the answer.
“No. What about him?” he asked, motioning to Everett.
You peeped over your shoulder at Sam. Even though he was your friend and you trusted him with your life, this seemed private for some reason.
Dropping your voice even lower, you said, “He offered me a job. I told him I couldn’t accept right now, but maybe in the future.”
“It would be a good opportunity for you.”
“You trying to get rid of me, Cap?”
He chuckled and it was the first time you’d seen him do it since he’d gotten the text about Peggy’s death.
“Not a chance. I’d keep you with us forever,” he said with a smile. “But, what we talked about that day on the Quinjet...well this might not be the everything you had planned on, but it could still turn out to be everything you wanted.”
When he turned to look at you, you saw in his eyes all the things he wasn’t saying out loud. Today he had buried the woman that, at one point, he had thought he’d spend the rest of his life with, and there were still a lot of years left to fill without her. Although you and Steve had never discussed details, you both always seemed to know where the other was coming from, and he was telling you to take a chance.
Your conversation was interrupted by Sharon Carter entering the room. You weren’t sure why, but there was something about her that you didn’t trust. She had given Steve the information about Bucky’s whereabouts, which should have proven her loyalty to him, but you still couldn’t shake your concerns.
She walked over and pressed a button that turned on the video and audio of Barnes’ interview, even though the three of you weren’t supposed to have been granted access to it. You studied Steve’s face as he watched and listened to Bucky on the screen. Your eyes flashed away to the control room long enough to make contact with Natasha’s. You hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her since the funeral, but you could tell from the look on her face that she was concerned about Steve, too. She was probably worried he’d do something else that he shouldn’t that would cause more trouble. The thought occurred to you that this was the first time since you had recruited her that anything had separated the two of you.
You were drawn from your thoughts by the power going out, plunging the entire building into darkness. As the emergency lights came on, you heard Sharon giving Steve a location. He quickly rushed out the door with Sam close behind him. Without hesitation, you hurried after the pair of them and didn’t look back.
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“Son of a bitch really packs a punch, doesn’t he?” You mumbled as you rolled over rubbing the back of your head where you had hit it on impact.
“You alright?” You heard Sam ask as his face came into view.
“I’m not dead and nothing feels broken.”
“Then come on, we gotta find Cap,” he said as he helped you up off the ground.
You ran threw the building, witnessing the path of the Winter Soldier’s destruction as you did so. When you saw that most of the occupants were making a hasty retreat outside, you grabbed Sam by the arm and yelled over the sound of the alarm, “I don’t think they’re still in the building!”
He simply shook his head in agreement, took you by the hand so you wouldn’t get separated in the crowd, and pushed through the swarms of people. Once you were outside, you split up and went your separate ways to look for Steve. You found him in the water pulling a lifeless Bucky Barnes out of a ruined helicopter and swimming over to the embankment with him still in tow. After calling out to Sam, you ran over to Steve and tried to help him get Barnes up on dry land.
“Is he dead?” You asked, pulling on the metal arm as hard as you could.
“We aren’t that lucky,” Sam huffed as he ran up and helped Steve get him up where he could carry him.
The three of you managed to get him secured in an abandoned warehouse and waited for him to wake up. When he finally did, he told you all about what happened with the doctor and about the other Winter Soldiers. The four of you agreed that you had to do something to stop him from waking up those other assassins to wreak havoc on the world.
You had decided that you couldn’t call Tony or anyone else who had signed the Accords because they wouldn’t be allowed to do anything. Sam volunteered that he knew a guy that went by Ant-Man who might be willing to help, and you mentioned that it probably wasn’t doing Wanda any good being locked up in the training facility.
“What about Barton?” Sam asked.
“Clint’s retired,” you countered.
“Yeah, but-“
“Sam,” Steve interrupted, “Can y/n and I have a moment?”
“Sure.”
Once Sam was out of earshot, you said, “I can’t call Clint in, Steve. I’m the one that talked him into retiring. He’ll feel like he has to do it if it’s me. I can’t do it.”
“And I’d never ask you to,” he said, placing both his hands on your arms. “But I need to know, if I call him, and I ask him, and there’s no mention of you at all, and he chooses to help...are you and I going to be good?”
As you looked in his eyes, you knew that this was what you had been trying to explain to Everett earlier. In spite of everything that was going on, he cared enough to ask instead of just doing what needed to be done. In that moment, you knew you’d follow him on this path to the very end, no matter where it led you.
“Clint isn’t a child. He’s a grown man. If he chooses to get mixed up in this, I might get pissed at him for being a dumbass, but you and I will be good,” you said with a smile.
Steve gave you one in return before pulling you close enough to plant a kiss on your forehead.
“Thank you,” he said before turning to walk away.
“You didn’t ask if I was joining you or not, Cap!” You called out after him.
“I assumed you made that decision when you fished me out of the water!”
As you watched him leave to make the necessary arrangements, you whispered to yourself, “I made that decision a long time before that.”