Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Twenty Six

After Steve and Catherine visited the museum, Steve decided to give Peggy a visit while Catherine went back to the tower. She had never been a very curious person. She normally did what she was told without a question, but Steve's conversation had her worried. Maybe he was just paranoid? She stared at the computer for an hour with the login page for SHIELD opened, waiting for her to type her log in in.

"Are you going to log in or stare a hole into my computer?" She heard Tony ask.

Catherine jumped. "S-Sorry. I'm just thinking."

Tony put a bouquet of flowers in front of her. "Who's Rumlow?"

"A friend from work..." She trailed off.

"Last time I checked, friends don't send each other flowers. Who is he really?" Tony asked.

"He asked me on a date, okay? I'm not even sure if I want to go." She admitted.

Tony sat across from her. "Why is that? I would have sent you jewelry though. Probably a rose gold necklace."

Catherine laughed. "You sound like dad. He would send a diamond bracelet to every women he...you know..."

"Huh. I didn't know that. That's a good idea actually. I think you should go though."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Maybe. What do you know about Project Insight?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Not much. Fury wanted me to look at some of the mechanics for it. Can you tell me what it is? It seems to have you perplexed."

"It's classified. Very classified. I don't even have full clearance for it. I just don't have a good feeling about it. Neither does Steve." She answered.

"Log in."

"What?"

"Log in."

Catherine quickly typed her SHIELD log in and opened the file for Project Insight. Tony started typing something on the computer.

"There. Now you have full access." He told her.

"What? How did you? You know what, I don't want to know. Thank you." She said.

She began clicking through various files mostly the blue prints. Something finally caught her attention. Target List. Target List? She clicked on it and felt her confusion grow stronger.

"Uh, Catherine." She heard Tony say.

"One second."

How did the program already have a target list? It hadn't even been completed yet. She scrolled through the list. Maria Hill. Bruce Banner. Steve Rogers. Tony Stark. Catherine Stark.

"Oh my gosh." She whispered.

"Catherine. You need to call Steve." Tony said.

Catherine looked up and saw Tony staring at the tv with the news on. She couldn't believe her eyes. 'Steve Rogers-Fugitive on the Run.' What the hell was going on? She heard her phone go off and looked down to see Steve's name.

"Steve? What's going on?" She asked.

"Fury's dead." His words echoed.

Catherine let out a small gasp. "W-What? How?"

"I don't know. He had a metal arm. SHIELD has been compromised. I need you to meet me at the hospital. Don't let anyone see you. Okay? And don't trust anyone." He explained.

A metal arm. Her eyes went wide. There's was no way. No way it could be him. But how many people had a metal arm and could kill Nick Fury? Her heart was beating against her chest.

"I'll meet you there. I found something on Project Insight too. I don't quite know what it is, but's it big." She told him before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Tony asked alarmed.

"I can't tell you. Just...don't believe anything on the news. And don't trust anybody." She told him.

"Catherine, I can protect myself." He said.

Catherine shook her head. "Not from this."

After logging out of her SHIELD account, she went into room to change into something that wouldn't draw any attention to her. She put on a pair of army green leggings, tennis shoes, a loose fighting black shirt and black hat to hopefully hide her face. She grabbed her side arm and tucked in behind her back. She took the elevator down to the ground floor and hailed a taxi.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"New York Hospital. I'll give you $4000 if you drive like hell too." She told him.

Once they reached the hospital, she paid the driver like she promised and got it. She pulled her hat down further over her face. So far she had been able to not have anyone identify her. It took her forever to find Steve. She didn't want to call him in case they were tracking her calls. She finally found him arguing with Natasha.

"You two are making a scene." Catherine said pulling them into the room. "What's going on? Is Fury really dead?"

Natasha looked at her sadly. "Yes, he is. I know who killed him though. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

Catherine felt her jaw clench when Natasha mentioned James' alias. She couldn't believe what was going on.

"So he's a ghost story?" Steve asked.

"You don't know he did this Natasha." Catherine told her.

"Steve said he had a metal arm. You and I both know this has his name written all over it." Natasha said.

"Why are you defending him?" Steve asked.

"I-I'm not defending him Steve. He trained me. He's not...you don't understand the control HYDRA has over people. You can't go after him. You won't be able to find him." Catherine explained.

"We do have this though." Natasha said holding up a flash drive.

"I might be able to guess what's on that. I had Tony give me a higher clearance for Project Insight and I'm not sure what I found exactly, but it was a list of names. Tony, Bruce, you, me." Catherine told them.

"Here's what we're going to do. Natasha and I are going to find out what this flash drive has. I need you to lay low Catherine. Right now SHIELD doesn't know who's side you're on. They may come after you too since you worked for HYDRA." Steve told them.

"I can help Steve." She said annoyed.

"I know you can, but the last thing I need is for them to capture you. I will call you when I need you." He told her.