III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve

XVII: Blur

Steve was up before the sun was. They'd gotten a hotel room for the night, coming inside in groups of two. The police weren't here, so he assumed no one had recognized them. He stared out the window at the rain. Bucky and Natasha, the only ones who understood Estonian, had said that the dead guy was Herni Malevet, an old Sokovian councilman who had been working as Tony's lawyer. Shortly after learning that from the news, Nat had fallen asleep with Wanda on the bed closest to the door, Sam passed out on the couch, and Buck had blinked out like a light bulb on the left side of the other bed. Steve had laid down beside him, but couldn't fall asleep.

Technically he didn't need sleep, but it offered a break from the world. He wished he had brought his sketchbook with him, but he'd only brought money, extra clothes, and his hygiene kit. He picked his phone up from the windowsill and checked the time. 7:30. The sun was peeking through the rain as it rose, swirling blue and gray with orange and gold.

He wondered where Sunny was right now. Was she being tortured? Sent out on another assasination mission? Having her mind wiped clean of everything she knew? What if she died?

Steve pushed those questions out of his mind and brought up the local news site on his phone. The police had judged the murder as suicide. Police always ruled deaths they didn't know anything about as suicides. Because, of course, a random man sitting in a very public cafe would decide to put cyanide into his own teacup. That makes complete sense.

Steve stood up and threw his phone on the bed. Sunny had been gone for a week now. What if they never found her and some seventy years from now she turned into another Bucky?

"We'll find her."

Steve glanced up to see Wanda awake and staring at him.

"She won't be another him," she pointed to Bucky's sleeping form.

Steve wondered for a moment if she'd been poking into his mind, and came to the conclusion she had. "Don't do that," he said, his words having an edge he hadn't meant to give them. He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm sorry, I'm just stressed out."

"It's fine," Wanda said stiffly. She climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. A couple seconds later Steve heard the shower turn on.

"Great job, Cap. You made the girl with telekinesis angry," said a sleepy voice from the couch.

Steve groaned, "Really, Sam?"

"Come on, you know you love me. Everyone does," Sam smirked, lifting his head from the pillow he'd stolen from Bucky the night before. His head fell back onto the pillow, "What time is it?"

"Eight hundred hours."

"Aw, h*** no. It's too early for this stuff. I don't know about y'all, but I value my sleep as much as my life," Sam pulled the thin, tan blanket over his head.

Bucky sat up, looking past Steve at Sam's blanket, "Sam, I know it'll be hard, but can you try not to wake everyone up for one d*** second?"

Sam popped back out, "You'd think that you'd want to be awake after you've been asleep on and off for seventy years, but no, Bucky wants to sleep. Bucky doesn't need sleep! Bucky's an assassin, for Pete's sake! Assassins don't sleep!"

Nat groaned and rolled over to face them, her eyes still shut, "Yes, they do. Shut up, Sam."

Sam propped himself up on his forearms, grinning, "Oh really?" He pointed at Bucky, who was digging through his little backpack, "You're gonna side with him now? I see what's going on here."

Steve held up his hands, ready to referee the verbal sparring. All four phones in the room buzzed at the same time. Bucky didn't have a phone, but that was beside the point. Steve opened his phone. It was a message from T'Challa. Steve scanned the photo and waved his hand, "Let's go! Sunny's on the move! Sam, how fast can we be in Tartu?"