Flawed Minds

Chapter Twenty Three

Avengers' P.O.V.

Bucky had woken up that morning feeling notably less tense than usual, and quickly realized he was curled protectively around a sleeping Nova, her head resting on a pillow that half covered his metal arm. He tensed, thinking back to the previous night and the nightmare, the way her unique violet eyes glistened with tears as she tried to help him; he mentally cursed himself, upset that she had to see him go through that but also grateful she was there. His confused feelings were starting to give him a headache; the unusual desire to be near her conflicted greatly with the constant fear of becoming the Winter Soldier and hurting her, tearing him apart inside. Outwardly, he simply let out a breath and stayed still, not wanting to wake her.

Tony spent a good chunk of the morning in the lab with Bruce, who had come up with an idea for something that would aid their next surveillance mission. They spent a few hours testing and modifying, and by the time it had just passed lunch they had built a stealthy drone, able to fly almost silently as it recorded footage and streamed it directly to a tablet so that the user could see and scan an area without getting too close. As it hovered soundlessly in the middle of the room, Tony checked the tablet to make sure the camera worked properly and saw on the screen Steve propped up against the doorframe, watching with curiosity.

"Oh hey Cap. What's up?"

"I was wondering what you were hiding down here all this time for," He responded, walking around the drone whilst observing it closely. "It's impressive how silent it is- but what are you planning on using it for?"

"Well, me, you and Nova are going back to that lab tonight," Tony explained as he landed the drone and Bruce picked it up, checking it over again. "We're gonna have a closer look at what they're doing, this thing can look through windows and scan the inside where we can't see in case we miss something- we've got to take advantage of the fact they think we don't know as much as we can."

"Right, I'm in- does Nova know?" Steve questioned, and noted that Tony tried to hide a sly smile.

"No actually, she wasn't in her room this morning when I knocked to tell her." He cleared his throat and looked over at Bruce who rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with Tony being childish right now.

"Well, where is she?" Steve questioned, confused.

"I don't know actually- why don't you go ask Barnes?" Tony chuckled, flipping a screwdriver in the air and catching it before turning back to the drone. "When you find her, give her a heads up about the mission, I've got my hands full here,"

"Right, see you later," Steve responded, still perplexed, as he left the lab and made his way through the building on a search for Bucky as Stark suggested. Before he had a chance to find him he bumped into Nova walking down the hallway.

"Hey Steve, how are you?" She asked with a smile. "You look a little lost."

"I'm alright thank you, Stark was just being weird." He responded.

"There's really nothing new there then," Nova laughed and Steve had to agree.

"He said I should ask Bucky where you were because he knocked on your door to talk to you about a mission this morning but you weren't there." Nova blushed a little.

"Damn you, Stark," She muttered, then sighed. "I was with Bucky last night, I heard him having an awful nightmare- you can tell Stark that was the only reason!" It was Steve's turn to blush then as he realized what Tony had implied before, and Nova laughed, thankfully changing the topic. "You said there was another mission?"

"Oh- right, more surveillance but this time we can get a closer look." Steve explained the mission as they walked, informing her of the drone that Bruce and Tony had built and how hopefully, if all goes well, they'd be able to find out what's going on without getting caught. After they joined Bruce and Tony later to discuss the plan for this mission properly, Nova happily left them to retrieve her suit, adjusting the straps and holster before making her way back to them, clipping the belt around her waist as she approached, noting that it was starting to get late.