Secretive - Bucky Barnes

32 || Interrogation

[Nova]
When I wake up from the alarm the next morning, I wonder if it is the first time I am clumsy enough to have forgotten to turn it off. Lazily, my hand glides over the sheets to tap the stop button, which usually, I hit with the first try.

But my phone continues to ring angrily, almost like being mad at me to dare it being wrong.

Then, I remember, it is Saturday.

Sitting upright, I grab it and simultaneously get it off the loading cable. I do not even care to look who is on the line, calling me before the sun has set on a weekend. It needs to be important. »Yes?«

»Good, you finally picked up. Stark Tower, you have an hour.« Mister Stark's voice appears, very demanding.

My eyes widen. Did he find out? No, he cannot. He sounds way too calm to have figured out yet I deleted every bit of information about me. And it would mean he would have looked at it right after I left, in the night or in the morning - too much of a coincidence. William Herondale flickers in my head, a quote of him getting me to twitch the corner of my mouths although I am not at all pleased in that second; Dear me. Such harsh truths in the morning cannot be good for the digestion.

»May I ask for what reason?« I respond, a little distrustful anyway and way too sleepy to think about hiding it.

»You did good work yesterday, and we found out more.« Now, there is the sound of voices in the background. He is not alone. He cannot threaten me. And he needs witnesses, probably. Or, it really is simply him needing me. »We need your help with the new information. I thought, perhaps, you could be useful again.«

Wow, what a compliment. If the others really believe some nerd of an university can help them, I though never believed Tony Stark to portray gratitude and ask for help so openly. He probably thinks I would not have a clue. I keep myself from a devilish chuckle; what assassin would not get it if people did spy on them?. »Look, I actually wanted to-«

»The evil doesn't sleep, Miss Wolf. Bring Peter on the way, he'll stand outside.«

»But I don't even know where he-«

Stark hangs up the phone. In the next second, an address appears on my display.

Well, I have two choices. 

I could run, leave everything in here behind. Save myself, start new somewhere else. Contacts from my father could give me a new identity again, and carry for the change of university, living place, bank account, and everything else. Including what dad suggested almost a year ago: a change of appearance. 

But no, you have been too stubborn, Nova. As always. And drove yourself right into mess.

Or, I could stay and follow his demands. He knows for months who I am, for actually two years. He would not suddenly attack me, would he? He had had plenty of occasions in the past, and nothing happened. Perhaps he tells the truth, perhaps he really needs help. And with him knowing who I truly am, and the others not being aware of it, he could play along just as he did all the way.

Then, another thought brushes the walls of my conscience, almost delicately getting my attention. I promised myself to never, never, let innocents die again if it is in my hand. Maybe, this will be the time I can prove myself.

And James. A quiet voice, almost inaudible, whispers in the back of my mind. You could never leave James like this.

Except for the fact he is in great danger when I do not, when Stark tries to manipulate me, or force me to do something. But all I know of Stark, all that I have seen and have been told of, he would not have the guts to do something alike. His bad conscience would be far too huge for him to handle a kidnap and being a threat for a beloved person. He himself has enough experiences of loss.