III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve

XXI: Sokovia Killer

Steve texted the group as he saw the Secret Service agent lead Sunny, cuffed, out of the White House. Sunny got arrested at the White House. No weapons on her, according to the crowd. She's being taken to the Counterterrorism Center. Meet me there in 1 hr.

Sam's response came in less than two seconds, DID SHE MAKE IT INTO THE WHITE HOUSE?!

Yes, Steve typed back.

IS THE PRESIDENT STILL ALIVE?! Sam asked.

Steve sighed, Yes.

Sam sent a reply immediately, Bucky doesn't believe that. And why are you so calm about this?!

Steve grimaced and turned off his phone, shoving it into the pocket of his jeans. He squinted against the rain as a black van rolled up. Five bulky Secret Service agents escorted Sunny into the van. The doors shut and the van rumbled away.

Steve shoved his hands in his pockets and waded through the small crowd that had gathered. He walked in the mist to his car. Technically, it wasn't his. He'd rented it to keep in DC. Just in case.

He let his thoughts wandered. Why was he doing this? She was part of this team he'd made. She was a friend. A good friend. He didn't want to lose another good friend to an organization with an evil agenda. He wondered what Sunny was to him. She was certainly attractive. His thoughts traveled to earlier, when Wanda suggested that they shouldn't try to save her. His stomach clenched at the thought.

No. He was going to try to get her out of this alive with his every fiber. He didn't think he could take it if she didn't. He'd taken down HYDRA. What was one more wicked organization? Steve opened the door to the gray minivan. They couldn't keep flying the QuinJet everywhere. They needed to buy a car. Steve wished he knew where they kept Sunny in between murder missions.

He climbed in and started driving. It was only a half hour drive to the Counterterrorism Center. The windshield wipers swiped the rain from the shield. He wondered where his own shield was right now. Probably in the Tower. He didn't feel any remorse for what he'd done and said to Tony. He did what he thought was right. That's all he could've done.

Bucky, on the other hand, carried that red star, and everything it represented, around with him everywhere. The guilt followed him like a storm cloud. Steve could tell by the way he fiddled with everything and how he would stare off into the distance with glazed eyes, no doubt reliving the hell he'd been through.

Steve still had nightmares every so often about his own hell. Weird smorgasbords of Bucky falling, him going into the ice, and him cracking Tony's electromagnetic... thing with his shield. Five years and Steve still didn't know what to call it. Sometimes his nightmares didn't even make sense, but almost all of them included losing something. Buck, Peggy, the Avengers, and now Sunny.

Steve had woken up panting last night on the couch of their hotel room. It had been his turn to take the couch. He'd had a horrible nightmare about chasing Sunny through the HYDRA compound he'd rescued the 107th from. Everytime he almost caught up with her, she'd teleport farther and farther, until she'd disappeared. She'd been wearing the getup she wore when she had fought them in Estonia. The corset and combat pants. She would smile back at him when he almost touched her, encouraging him. Then she'd be gone.

He wasn't able to go back to sleep after that, instead he'd stayed up and browsed the internet for news about Sunny. On the news sites, they'd connected the Estonian massacre with the Sokovian council members murders because of the bloody method of impalement. They were all calling for a hunt for the 'Sokovia Killer' or 'Sokovia Impaler'. The only pictures he'd seen were blurry images of Sunny in action. News stations now had a slot for talk of the Sokovia Killer, outlining the victims and speculating about the identity of the murderer.