Buzzkill [Winter Soldier]

Chapter 35

From the alley, the two of them traveled along the backstreets past smaller shops to avoid anyone recognizing them. Chaos seemed to flow throughout the main streets and every news station in the whole city. All everyone was talking about when Ruth and James would pass by were the airships falling from the sky, flooding parts of the city and destroying some roads and docks which ended up killing quite a few people.

They made it to a small, remote motel out of the heart of the city and out of the eye of the traffic of people. It was obvious that the man at the desk didn't recognize either Ruth or James, and they got a room easily within a few minutes.

While James got them checked in, Ruth looked around the room, trying to marshal her thoughts after what had just happened that day. Underneath the large, printed painting of the Capital Building hanging on a wall behind the front desk sat a rack of various brochures of tourist attractions throughout the city. Ruth scanned her eyes over each of the titles. She figured that all of them would probably help her figure something out about the city, so she took one of each and stuffed them into her bag.

Walking into the musty motel room, Ruth scanned around for anything out of place or for any access points where someone could get in besides the door. James looked out every window before securing the locks and shutting the blinds. From the small bathroom, Ruth looked out at the main living and sleeping space. To her, the room was rather spacious. Bigger than the room she'd had to stay in for the past few months. From the bathroom, the queen bed was on the main wall to the right with a worn-out mattress dressed with bedding that looked like it had been there for a hundred years. A couch that looked just as old and uncomfortable sat on the wall beside the door. Hanging off the wall to the right of the couch was an old television, with the remote to go along with it, sitting on the bedside table.

"I think we'll be safe here for a day," James broke the silence. The only sound besides the stray cars passing by was the fan in the bathroom and the large fan in the corner that James had turned on after he checked the windows.

Setting her bag on the couch, Ruth agreed, pulled out the multiple brochures from her bag, and set them on the bedside table in case James wanted to look at them as well.

The heat and humidity outside made the room feel uncomfortably stuffy. Ruth took off her jacket and draped it over the arm of the couch.

"I'll sleep here tonight," Ruth spoke up.

James looked over at her after setting his bag down on the floor and shook his head, "No, I'll sleep there, you can take the bed."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway. You've had a long day, you're hurt, please get some good sleep tonight."

James hesitantly nodded and struggled to get his jacket off.

Ruth hurried over and helped him. He winced in pain as the sleeve slipped over his arm.

"Does it need to be put back in place?" Ruth asked. If the bone were out of alignment it wouldn't heal.

"No, it's a small fracture. I'll be fine."

"Is it alright if I check the news?"

"Yeah, I don't mind."

Ruth grabbed the remote and pointed it straight at the TV and tried to figure out how to turn it on. Once the screen lit up, the news reporter's voice spoke loudly about the breaking news of today. Ruth saw the images of the airships crashing into the water and onto the pavement just miles from where she now stood.

"In addition, it appears that all of the government intelligence agency SHIELD's files have been leaked on the internet, and have blown up all over social media. Much of it is redacted, but as the days go on, researchers say this could dangerously reveal many secrets the public could never have even thought were possible about our government, and even the Avengers."

Ruth's blood ran cold at the thought of the files now being able to be viewed by anyone. If SHIELD and Hydra went hand in hand, this would be the end for her. Soon she would be hunted by vengeful second parties who would want to kill her just to say that they did. How long would it be until that day came?

James saw Ruth's silent reaction and muted the TV. "We should be fine. It would take even a highly skilled agent at least a couple of years to get through all the redaction in the files," James tried to reassure her, but she shook her head.

"Even if it takes that long, what then? Where do we hide from that?"

"I know some places. We'll be fine, I promise."

 "How are you not concerned?"

"I am concerned."

"You're hiding it well."

"Thank you."

In her short sleeved shirt, Ruth studied her right arm where the scars and marks were scattered around her vein. The various scars from bring trained in Sweden on the rest of her arms were pale in comparison. She then thought about what happened earlier and how the electricity seemed to dissipate throughout her body. Looking over at James, Ruth noticed him trying to stretch out the muscles in his hand and forearm with quite a bit of discomfort.

"How did you remember me?" Ruth asked him.

James looked up at her, caught a little off guard with the question.

He shrugged, "I'm not sure. When I talked to that guy, um...Steve, he said things that seemed to bring so many memories back at once it was hard to keep up." James gave a nervous laugh, "I was sent to kill him and I ended up saving him from drowning in a river." He furrowed his brows and looked down at his hands, "With the memories going back and forth, it's sometimes hard to remember why I even did that. But I knew him."

Ruth tried to give an encouraging smile, but she knew he was in pain.

"Those memories brought back more recent memories than anything, so then I remembered you. After they wiped my memory yesterday, they told me who you were and showed me a picture to associate your name with. But the memories brought back why you were there, and how you really shouldn't have been there at all." He looked back up at her, "I probably don't remember every conversation we've ever had, but I'll get there."

Ruth found it hard to even manage a smile now, her heart felt so heavy. In what version of his torn up mind did he think she didn't deserve the treatment she got?

"But you need to answer a question I have," James started again.

Ruth was just taken back by how talkative he's being. "Yes?"

"How the hell were you not affected by that taser?" He asked lightheartedly.

Ruth shrugged, "I honestly have no idea. Maybe it just wasn't on a high enough setting and my body is probably used to a little shock from the injection process."

"Your body doesn't just get 'used to' electric shock."

Ruth leaned back on the couch and folded her arms. "Well ok then, if you're so smart, what do you think it is?" she asked with a smirk.

James shrugged, smiling back. "I don't know, I guess that's something else we'll have to figure out."

There was a pause. Ruth admired the silence that, for the first time in a long time, didn't mean fear.

"If you want to be alone, please let me know," Ruth interrupted the silence.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't have to come back for me. And I know that having someone tag along everywhere you go is not an easy way to lay low. If you want to be alone, I can try and scrounge around for a place to stay here in the States for a little while, I do have citizenship here."

"No. We can stick together for as long as you want. There are a lot of things I need to remember and figure out and I was hoping you would help me with that."

Ruth just found it so hard to believe. "If you want me to help you, I will. I'll tell you everything I know."

James nodded and paused for a moment, "Who is Steve Rogers?"