The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 16

Upstate New York, USA

Early Summer 2016

Nadine sat, curled up in her chair, knees to her chest, chin propped on her crossed arms where they rested on her knees. Staring with sightless eyes at the screen in her private workroom devoted to her search for Barnes.

Over the last several month, she'd whittled her master compilation of abandoned and defunct HYDRA safehouses he might have gone to ground in—over 400 potential sites so far—down to a much more manageable list of just over two dozen likely options scattered across Europe. Sites in Russia, France, Ukraine, England, Romania, Germany, Belarus and more. There was even one in Austria, in one of the poorer sections of Vienna, Nadine recalled with a pang, not all that far, all things considered, from her Workshop. She had physically hurt when that one made it onto her short list.

...that he might have been so close...

It was just a matter of investigating, now. Something she was eager to get started on, just as Steve, Nat and Sam were. Especially Steve. Nat and Sam had even checked off a couple sites already; one in Poland and one not far from Paris.

But she could just feel it. The end was in sight. One of these sites had to be where Barnes was laying low. And when they found it? Found him?

Then she would finally be able to let go of the last of her secrets. Never had she dreamed that she would be anticipating that day with a mixture of relief and apprehension instead of all out dread.

But that was on hold for the time being.

Which was probably a blessing, considering her mind was otherwise occupied, just now. And not with pleasant thoughts.

Not while listening with half an ear to the television on the background dissecting what had happened in Nigeria for the umpteenth time.

A little over a month had passed since the disastrous mission in Lagos and, mercifully, everyone was recovering about as well as could be expected. Even Wanda, Nadine had noticed in the weeks since with no small measure of relief.

Though, the renewed coverage the last day or so was not helping. Especially since, besides dredging up the whole episode again, it seemed to point to something big happening in response.

She couldn't help the sense that something was coming. What happened in Nigeria had been a tipping point, especially now that the elusive Wakandan nation and their eloquent King had taken up the cause.

"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil," he was saying in the background as she listened, "not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them." Nadine's jaw tensed, the calmly spoken statement leaving her conflicted and irritable.

It apparently mattered very little that, for the most part, the Avengers had been cleaning up others' messes or staving off something much worse when they took the field. And considering the sheer scale of the most widely publicised of the clashes they had been involved in? Of course there was going to be collateral damage, no matter how hard the Team always worked to minimize civilian casualties as much as they could. It was a by-product—tragic as it was—of any violent conflict. It always had been. People got hurt. Property got damaged. It was a horrible reality but a reality just the same. And the world would be singing a different tune had the Avengers sat back and done nothing. Like if the World Security Council's plan to combat the Chitauri Invasion with a nuclear missile hadn't been thwarted by the Team...she couldn't imagine that would've gone over well...

Or maybe Nadine was just cynical.

The sad truth of the matter was that the world simply hadn't seen the lengths the Avengers had gone to and what they had done—were willing to do—to protect and defend the people of the world. All the world saw was the aftermath. The flattened buildings and shattered glass and videos of a rampaging Hulk. The clash over the Triskelion in DC was a perfect example; next to no one of the general public had even the slightest idea what had truly been at stake or even what had actually happened that day. Sure, the details of how S.H.I.E.L.D. had been compromised and that it was thanks to the efforts of Steve, Natasha, Sam and others that HYDRA and their Project Insight had been stopped—Natasha's statements during the Inquiry on Capitol Hill had ensured the whole story had come out—had been made public, but most of what was said had been lost on the general population. If they saw any of it to begin with. All they had seen were three Helicarriers falling from the sky and the word that Captain America had been fighting to protect them.