Light & Shadow

Chapter 14

I can't sleep anymore. My mind is back to being on constant alert, which I was hoping wouldn't happen since we're here—we're safe for now, but it doesn't feel like it.

It's strange. Things have felt almost normal, like a little dream we've been getting to live and pretend we're a normal couple. Except for the moments when we watch the news, ARTI gives me an alert, or any time we hear so much as a floorboard creak, both of us ready are ready to run or fight in the blink of an eye.

There's still something more. I keep trying to find the words to explain it to Peter, but I can't. It feels stupid to call it a 'gut feeling' when it's so much more. Something about what's happening in the world just does't settle well. It feels wrong to see Steve's name—his suit, his shield, his legacy being given away like it's nothing more than a hand-me-down.

It only makes it worse that I have a bad feeling about the man they chose. There's something in his eyes when he feigns humility. A deep rooted anger in the way he carries himself. I know because I saw it in my mother—in Claire—every day. It's a bitterness that lives deep in someone's soul, like a piece of tinder waiting for a spark, and it turns into an inferno that destroys everything in its path.

Not to mention, the 'flag smashers' and the havoc their creating. It just spells out disaster in bright neon letters. "ARTI?" I ask and fiddle with the corners of the couch pillow in my lap, "Can you monitor the GRC's communication channels, and see if they have information about how Karli and her friends got their hands on super solider serum?"

"Lia?" Peter questions as he leans against the wall. "Can't sleep again?"

"What gave it away?" I chuckle and stare at ARTI's projections. "I just—I figured I'd try to see if I can piece together a few more things. I've mapped out most of the network and history, but there's pieces that don't make any sense. There's times where they made leaps where the data only shows steps, and I still have no leads as to who is managing and funding it all.

"The only thing I know is that OSCORPS is the one managing, but there's still someone pulling the puppet strings. I mean, the data goes pretty far back, which makes me wonder if maybe someone like Hydra was initially funding it. Of course, that can't be the case any more. Otherwise they would have been a lot more brazen these past few years, and it'd mean they'd be coming after me themselves."

"Maybe, but look at how much you have figured out." Peter reassures, sensing my frustration. He points to the data popping up about the new super soldier serum. "You think it's connected, huh?"

"It's just a hunch, but yeah." I pull up more of the details. "This isn't just the kind of thing that happens by chance. You can't just create something like that without having a place to start, and only someone in the trials would be sick enough to go through what it takes to get there. And I know you're gonna hate this idea, but it's all we have at the moment."

Peter just stares back at me with determination and resolve, and without hesitation asks, "What's the plan?"

"We take a risk—a huge one, track down Sam and Bucky, find out what they know, share what we have, and see if we can get a fresh lead that won't needlessly risk more lives."

"Then let's do it."

"You do realize they're gonna be under surveillance by at least the GRC and the wannabe Cap, right?"

"Yeah, but it's we take a chance now or later."

"I just wonder if I'm starting to get reckless." I tell him honestly. "I'm just tired of running, Pete. Because the longer we keep hiding and running, the more danger it puts our families in, the harder it will be to clear our names, to go back to a semblance of normal, to live without constantly looking over our shoulders waiting for the next threat. I just—what if when this is all over, it's too late for us to bounce back?"