villain | STEVE ROGERS 18+

f o r t y t h r e e

July 30th 2017
Rome, Italy

The streets of Rome were buzzing with tourists, Steve pulled down his cap further, adjusting his sunglasses. He had come too far on this mission to be caught now.

"He just passed the Marcello Theatre, turning right." Bucky said through his earpiece. Sam was tailing him, whereas Steve stayed a few blocks away, just incase he tried to make a move.

"Copy that." Steve replied, heading in that direction.

He just wanted to catch the guy and go home to finish binging modern family.

It was a good show.

Steve liked the dog.

He had information on a new drug ring that had come up on the Avengers radar. They didn't think he was the man in charge, but they were pretty sure that he was in their inner circle.

"He's speeding up, Cap. Want me to chase?"

Steve thought about it for a minute. If they chased him, and caught him. They were done, they could go back to the jet and get the hell out of here, out of the blazing Italian sun and back to the compound where there was air conditioning... And Netflix.

"Yeah, go after him. Don't hold back on the sedative if he tries to fight. We need him alive in the Quinjet." Steve replied. "I'll make my way up to the other end of the street, so if you don't manage to get him I'll catch him at the other side."

"Are you sure? Waiting till night—"

"I'm sure, Buck."

This wasn't the original plan. The original plan was to find his hideout, and infiltrate it after dark.

"He's getting away, Stevie," Sam said, followed by the sound of what Steve assumed were several trash cans, "Shit, I'm loosing him."

Steve gulped. This was going awfully.

"I'm en route right now, I'll get him at the end of the alley." Steve replied.

He pushed his way through the crowds forming at the market, apologising to the various people he crashed into.

"Are you interested in these cherry tomatoes?" An older woman stepped out in front of him, a bunch of tomatoes in her hand, offering them to him with her thick Italian accent.

"Sorry, no thanks." Steve replied, stepping to the side to get around her.

The woman followed his footsteps, also stepping to the side so that Steve couldn't get away.

"Only 2 euro." She said again, holding her hands out.

"No thank you." Steve said, this time having to physically push her (as lightly as he could) out of the way to clear a space for him to run to catch the man at the end of the alleyway.

"Fuck." Steve heard through his earpiece, followed by gunshots.

Then silence.

"Buck?" Steve panicked, "Bucky? Do you copy, I repeat, do you copy?"

"Yeah, Cap. Yeah. I copy." Bucky panted on the other side, "But he's got a gun, and I just blew my cover. It's down to you, now."

He began to sprint. Steve wasn't carrying a gun. He hasn't even touched one since the incident with Ember. At this rate, he was going to have to tackle the guy until the gun was well out of reach for either of them.

He caught sight of him when Steve reached the alleyway. The criminal looked at him, direct eye contact held for only a second, and began to sprint down the road.