shield | b. barnes

"I was in a meeting with Captain America with half of my boobs on display?"

"Occasionally, I give a damn."

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[Corinna]

"Where are you Trisha? I thought you said you'd be here already." I whisper harshly into my phone as I stare out the small, oval window of Coulson's plane.

"Corinna?"  I hear a familiar voice call.

I close my eyes and curse under my breath before slowly turning around, "Hi Steve, how you been?" I ask with a superficial smile.

He nods his head with a smile, "I've been better, but I should actually be asking you. How are you? I'm sorry for what Bucky did to you..."

I raise my brows at him, "Bucky?"

"Yeah, Bucky - my friend that you're trying to find." Steve says as he frowns at me.

"Ohh, the metal—I mean...uh, Bucky, yeah." I say, catching myself before I called Steve's friend the metal-armed psychopath.

"Agent Chen?"

I turn my head to see Agent Romanoff walking towards us. "Hi Agent Romanoff, it's been awhile."

"Yes it has. How's that teaching job?" Agent Romanoff asks.

"How does everyone know about my career change?" I ask in exasperation, throwing my arms in the air.

"Being one of the best means people get nosy." Agent Romanoff replies with small shrug.

I scoff at her reply, earning a trademark smirk from the red head.

"And to answer your question, it pays the bills." I reply with a shrug.

"Well you know you're always welcome to join The Avengers." Steve says.

"And worry about the fate of humanity? No thank you. I'll stick to teaching the future generation instead." I reply dryly.

Steve chuckles at my response, looking away as Coulson enters the room.

"I don't think there's a difference." Agent Romanoff replies quietly as we three walk towards Coulson. I give her a dirty look before turning my attention to Coulson.

"Okay, so this is what we know so far about Mr. Barnes' whereabouts." Agent Coulson announces as he displays the map of Europe as a large holograph.

Before he can continue, Trisha and Jay come rushing into the room. I roll my eyes as Trisha comes to stand next to me and Natasha.

"Nice of you to join us Agent Stevens and Hardy." Coulson nods at the two newcomers before continuing, "He's either in Hungary or Romania."

"He's in Romania." Agent May interrupts as she enters the room as well. She places a manila folder on the table before turning to face Coulson. "He was last seen in Ploiesti and before that he was spotted in Brasov. I'm thinking he's heading towards Bucharest." She announces as she looks around the room. When her eyes land on me, she nods her head with a subtle smile and I reciprocate the action.

Agent May was my supervising officer when I first started out at S.H.I.E.L.D.. She's the reason why I was considered to be one of the best field agents in the organization. I used to take pride in that fact, but now, not so much. Especially considering the fact that Steve Rogers and Agent Coulson wanted me to go find the crazy man that tried to kill me by launching a grenade to my head.

"Thank you Agent May." Agent Coulson replies with a smile as he looks towards Steve and Agent Romanoff.

"Yeah, that sounds like where Bucky would be." Steve muses as he stares at the holographic map in wonder. "I would join you guys, but I have to deal with the fate of humanity."

I would've laughed, but I knew he wasn't joking. The fate of humanity seemed to always be in danger these days with aliens constantly targeting Earth and whatnot.

"Mr. Stark was nice enough to lend us one of his jets for you guys to use." Coulson says as he looks at Trisha, Jay, and me. Trisha squeals in excitement as she shakes me arm violently. I roll my eyes at her behavior before looking over to Steve and Agent Romanoff.

"You guys have anything we need to know before go after the psyc—I mean, once we find Bucky?"

"He's going to be suspicious of everyone and there's no guarantee what kind of mental state he will be in." Agent Romanoff replies.

"Fantastic." I reply dryly.

"Then what should we do if he doesn't agree to come with us?" Jay asks as he stands next to me.

"Tell him that I sent you guys and tell him that I say 'I'll be with you until the end of the line,'" Steve responds, "It was something we would always say to each other. The last time I said that, it seemed to work."

"I'll be with you until the end of the line," Trisha repeats. Steve nods his head in response and I look back at Agent Coulson and May who are nowhere to be found. I guess that was our cue to leave.

"Ok, we'll contact you once we've located your friend." I announce before turning to leave the room.

"Wait, Corinna." Steve calls out.

I turn around with a sigh, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't worry, I'll bring Bucky back in one piece." I reassure him before turning around again. He stops me by grabbing my arm. I look back at him with a look of irritation.

"Look, I'm sorry about bringing you back into the field to find my friend - especially after failing to protect Mark, I know it isn't fair. If you don't want to go on the mission, it's fine... I understand." Steve says quietly.

I shake my head with a humorless laugh, "You need to stop apologizing for what happened over two years ago. I don't blame you for his death. If anything, it's my fault. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for a mission." I reply curtly as I take my arm out of his grasp. Steve opens his mouth to reply, but I turn around and walk away.

On any other day, I wouldn't have been so rude to Steve. But considering the fact that I'm going on a mission to find his unstable, brainwashed friend that had led me to leave S.H.I.E.L.D., the mention of my dead boyfriend really did not do wonders for my crappy mood.

It took me one year to accept the fact that an alien had killed Mark and another year to forgive Steve and realize that it wasn't even his fault for Mark's death. A lot of lives were lost in the Battle of New York. Hell, even Coulson died, but Director Fury managed to bring him back.

We all lost something that day, and it would be rude of me to pin Mark's death on Steve.

"Corinna, where are you going?" I hear Trisha ask. I stop walking and wait for her to catch up.

"I'm going to my car to get my bag for our journey to find the metal armed freak," I reply before walking again.

"Come on, cheer up! At least we're going to a cool place. I've never been to Romania before. Wait, you know how to speak Romanian right? Because Jay and I don't."

"Yes, I know Romanian." I reply as I take my phone out to check the time. "We have an hour before we leave, wanna tell me what's going on between you and Jay?" I ask, changing the topic.

"Nothing is going on." Trisha replies automatically.

"Yeah, okay." I answer sarcastically before pointing to her shirt. She looks down and once she realizes what I'm pointing at, a look of horror appears on her face.

"I was in a meeting with Captain America with half of my boobs on display?" Trisha screeches in horror. I stifle a laugh as we both continue to walk towards my car to retrieve my belongings.

This is going to be an interesting trip.

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NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA HAVE BUCKY IN IT AND I CANT WAIT BC CORINNA IS FUNNY AF (i'm probably biased tho)!
But thank you for reading, love ya!