Distressed // Steve Rogers

22 - Six Hours

"She wouldn't have left like that Tony." Nat chimed in. Her head was pounding and her chest hurt. She knew Steve was right but she also knew Tony had grounds to believe what he believed. The worry was rolling over her with such control she was finding it hard to concentrate and Steve and Tony had been going back and forth for an hour with no end in sight. "And even if she had," she added with a sigh as Tony shot her an incredulous look, "why the hell would Bucky be gone too?"

"She was dead as far as you were aware not that long ago Nat, and I get that she's been through shit, I'm not denying that." Tony stood from the couch and made his way over to the kitchen, dumping his coffee cup in the sink and turning back to face the team. Vision watched him expectantly as he searched for the right words. "Listen, my heart bleeds for the girl, it really does - she's seen a lot more than most twenty-seven year olds have seen, stuff that messes a person up - but the fact of the matter is she's also openly stated she does not form connections that will keep her in one place if she feels threatened. That ex of hers seems pretty threatening to me. As for Barnes... well who knows what actually goes on in Metallica's brain."

"She hasn't run Tony." Steve's voice shook as he stared at the floor. He could feel Wanda probing his mind and he did nothing to push her back: he needed someone to know that he was right. He pulled up the memory of the note he couldn't share without betraying her trust, now burning a hole in his back pocket; he pulled the memory of her laying in his arms the night before, his face nuzzled into her neck as she smiled, holding onto his hands as he wrapped around her, drifting to sleep. He needed someone to know.

"Steve's right," Wanda offered him a small, sympathetic smile as she spoke up, he had shown her what she needed to see but it was not hers to share, "and we aren't going to find either of them if we're sitting around arguing."

Clint had been silently staring out of the window for the duration of the meeting, his mind calculating scenarios and situations, determining the probability of each one that came to his brain.

"There is a chance Bucky's gone Winter Soldier."

Every head in the room snapped towards Clint with the same look of disbelief plastered across their faces as he stood with his back to them, musing out loud.

"It's unlikely, I know." He continued in muted tones as if he was just speaking to himself. "Wakanda seemed to be pretty successful in removing the control Hydra had, but it's possible. Alternatively, he's just snapped and killed her as Bucky, but that's highly improbable."

Wanda stared wide eyed as his words sent shock waves through the group.

"Clint, you're talking out of your ass." Sam groaned. "I love you man, and you're a lot smarter than most of us, Stark and Banner excluded obviously, but that shit's dumb. First off: he's not The Winter Soldier - a pain in the ass? Yes. A liability? Almost always. The Winter Soldier? Nah. Secondly, they got back yesterday and he cancelled our run, said he was going to run with her to try and break the last bits of tension. He said they'd made some headway on the whole 'you almost killed me' thing and he wanted her to know he wasn't mad. I don't think a man who is going to give in to homicidal rage is likely to alert someone else to his plan."

Steve watched Sam as he spoke. It wasn't like Bucky to cancel on Sam. They may not have been the best of friends, but their morning runs were a large part of keeping Bucky grounded. He'd never cancelled. Sam had always been the one to back out if anything. When he'd seen Talia's note he'd assumed Sam had cancelled again. Now something didn't sit right with him.

Without another word Steve got to his feet and left the room. Natasha's eyes followed him as he slipped into the hallway and out of sight, only staying seated because of Bruce's hand resting gently against her knee.