Deception || Steve Rogers Daughter

Chapter Six

Emma continues to run through the crowd, pushing people aside with little conversation to explain herself. April was Hydra, she had been all along, and now she was trying to drag Emma back to that hell hole that she'd tried so hard to escape. How could Emma be so foolish? How had she let April weasel her way into her life without question? Emma had always been so careful around people, yet she let her guard down when it came to April. Someone she thought she could trust because they had come from the same place or at least she had assumed they had. 

Emma falls into an alleyway, against the wall, and tries to catch her breath. Her mind was so caught up with the April scandal that she couldn't tell where she was going. Emma had to calm herself down and think things through, she didn't want to be caught and any wrong move could send her right back to the torture chamber. 

Emma takes a deep breath and runs a shaking hand through her stringy hair. Where could she go now? Hydra was after her, SHIELD was after her, and probably in a matter of minutes the US government would be too. Emma bites her lip and looks up, though the view wasn't much better in her opinion. 

There, across the street, was Bucky Barnes. It was obvious that he knew she was watching him from where he sat at another cafe table with a cup of coffee held closely to his face. Slowly, Emma straightens up and looks back at him with expression that showed her resentment. He raises a brow and tips his head to the side, gesturing towards a line of men and women dressed in black. 

Emma stares at them as they walk down the street, stopping everyone that walked past them. She sees April at the head of them, directing each agent down every street to try and find her. Emma swallows the lump in her throat and turns her gaze back to Bucky. He sets the cup down and shrugs slightly as if telling Emma that it was her choice to make. 

Emma could see three options at the moment. Try to make it on her own, get captured by Hydra, or taken by SHIELD. She had done so many bad things, killed so many people, how could SHIELD ever allow her to walk free? But her mind seems to try and remind her of Bucky, they forgave him didn't they? Well, yes, after a whole war was fought over him.

Bucky slowly looks down the street again, trying to show Emma how urgent the situation truly was. The agents were getting closer and soon would be closing in, her window was closing. Who could she trust? A former Hydra agent or herself? Emma knew that no matter how far she ran, someone would always find her. If she went willingly, maybe SHIELD would be lenient about her past.

Emma purses her lips and pushes herself off the wall, she had to trust Bucky despite her gut screaming at her to run in the opposite direction. Emma cuts across the street, her head ducked away from the crowd of agents, to Bucky who stands to meet her within seconds. They don't speak, something that even Emma could remember from their missions. Instead, she just follows him through the crowd to an alleyway that connected two streets.

A van sits at the end of the street and despite the worry growing in Emma's stomach, she continues to cautiously follow Bucky. Without checking the perimeter or the van itself, he opens the back doors and climbs in. Bucky turns around and offers his hand to help Emma into the car, she stares at it for a few moments before slowly looking up at him.

"I promise, there's no tricks here." Bucky genuinely states. "I know how it feels to worry about this and not trust anyone, but I swear to you that you can trust me. These people will help you and they won't lock you up. They can over my dead body." 

With that, Emma wraps her hand around his and Bucky pulls her into the van. The doors close behind her and he helps her into a seat before strapping himself into one across from her. The van starts to lurch forward and immediately joins traffic, bouncing around due to the potholes in the road.

"This is Clint Barton." Bucky introduces while gesturing to the blonde man in the drivers seat. "And Sam Wilson." 

"H-hello." Emma stutters and clears her throat awkwardly.

"Hope you don't mind, we stopped at that car that you were going to use to escape and grabbed your stuff." Sam shrugs without turning around after Clint had said his hello. "Made sure that there wasn't any trackers, we'll have to check you too." 

"C-check me?" She stutters again.

"Nothing bad." Clint sternly cuts in. "You're just going to walk through something like those airport security machines." 

"I've never been to an airport..." Emma mumbles while scoffing her shoe against the ground.  

"Okay." Clint purses his lips. "It's an arch that you walk through and it'll beep if there's a tracker on you."

"Not that anything will happen if it beeps, of course." Sam quickly adds. "We'll just pinpoint the location and remove it."

"Where are we going?" Emma questions after a few seconds. 

"SHIELD base off of eighty-third." Clint replies. "Don't worry, we're almost there." 

"That doesn't make me any less worried." She whispers under her breath and continues to play with her fingers from worry. The three boys notice but don't comment on it, they didn't want to make the situation more awkward. So, instead, the van fell into silence with only the sound of the radio and New York streets around them, which in reality wasn't that silent. 

Clint turns down a street that wasn't as busy as the others and slows to a crawl. This meant that they were arriving, which caused Emma's stomach to churn. She wasn't ready, she hadn't had time to prepare! 

She leans forward slightly and looks through the front window to watch Clint literally drive into a rock that moved out of the way. She hadn't even realized where they'd gone but before Emma can argue anything, the rock slams down behind them. The only light coming from the front headlights. 

Emma takes a deep breath and closes her eyes while leaning against the side wall again. She could do this, Bucky promised nothing would happen, and despite her raging nerves she had to believe him. He was the only one who she could truly trust at the moment, which only scared her more, but she couldn't think of that right now. Emma had to be strong, she had to be brave, for her aunt Peggy. 

Emma promised Peggy that she'd always be strong for her and now she began to realize that she was letting her down immensely. So, she takes a deep breath and forces herself to open her eyes with a new expression of confidence. If she couldn't do it for herself, she'd do it for Peggy.