The Secret Avenger: The Sokovia Accords

Chapter 1

Sy

"Apparently you bombed the UN today." Sy announced, flopping down into a chair, tossing a newspaper onto the bed. The headlines printed in bolded German described something called the Sokovia Accords and its relationship with a recent explosion in Lagos. Bucky - today was a Bucky day - looked up from the event program in his hand.

"I did?" She flipped on the news, international pundits speculating on why the infamous Winter Soldier turned on the Avengers now, before the signing of the Sokovia Accords. Blurry images of an explosion played in the background, as anchors rushed to analyze the scene. Bucky squinted skeptically at the television.

"What the hell are the Sokovia Accords?" Sy shrugged in response to the question. She has no idea. The two of them kept watching the news, as the looped video footage of the smoking UN building played. She inhaled slowly, her hands folded tightly in her lap.

"I like Vienna, there's this one concert hall I played at once. It's pretty there." Sy commented blandly, her skin crawling as the mug shot for several former HYDRA operatives appeared on the screen. Bucky reached for her shaking hands, prying her fingers apart, holding onto her gently. She squeezed his hand gratefully.

A small zoomed up still appeared on the screen, captured from a street camera. There was a white blur, with two dark eyes and dark hair. A baseball cap was pulled low over the bomber's face.

"That's supposed to be me?" Bucky scoffed. Sy shrugged.

"Perks of you spending all your time with me the last three months is that the paparazzi outside Tony's tower haven't gotten any glamor shots of your new haircut." Bucky scowled, running his metal hand through his shorn locks.

They'd gone to an amusement park in Copenhagen a month ago, and a five year old throwing a fairly impressive temper tantrum managed to spit a glob of bubblegum directly into Bucky's hair. Sy had gleefully taken scissors to his shaggy locks with an enthusiasm Bucky had not appreciated. 

Sy had been completely unrepentant about chopping off a solid three inches more hair than necessary to remove the gum. His current look was now much more in-line with Pacific Northwest hipster rather than his previous Dust Bowl era hobo. She deserved revenge for Bucky agreeing with Steve to babysit her around the globe. She did not need a Winter Soldier shaped bodyguard to protect her from monsters. Literal or metaphorical. 

And he'd needed the haircut anyways. 

She would never admit it, but it was kinda nice to not have to constantly look over her shoulder for monsters. As the only clear sighted member of the team besides the Maximoffs, Bucky had been uniquely qualified to follow Sy around as she skipped from one opportunity to another, since he didn't need to be trained the way Wanda and Pieter did.

There was also in Steve's eyes the additional upside that Bucky was both gay and not Sy's maybe-boyfriend. Pietro had initially offered to come with her instead of remaining in New York to train as an Avenger. Pietro later changed his mind. Sy still isn't sure if she believed Steve when he swears that he was not at all involved in Pietro's change of heart.

As the news cycled back to discuss the manhunt getting underway for one James Buchanan Barnes, Sy shut the tv back off. They didn't need to see more. They'll call someone on the team later to make sure that Bucky's name gets cleared and the real perpetrator gets caught.

"I can't believe someone actually bombed the UN. What does that accomplish? What were they even voting on today? I thought the biggest thing going on right now is Brexit and the humanitarian crisis in Sokovia after Latveria prevented UN aid from reaching areas impacted by Ultron." Bucky reached for the discarded newspaper and rifled through the pages.