Bloody Hands and Broken Minds Book 1

Part One - Chapter 22

"Geez Tony, when was the last time you slept?" Rhodey sighs as he watches an exhausted Tony pour himself another cup of coffee.

"I don't need sleep, I need to find this asshole." Tony grumbles.

"Tony, you need sleep man."

"I'm not gonna sleep until we find that psycho. You heard Eve, he's too dangerous to ignore. We need to find him now before he makes a move. Hell who knows, the bastard could be watching us right now." Tony declares.

"Okay, first off, thanks for putting that in my head. Second, there hasn't been any news on him since he showed up at the mission. Why don't you take a break, take a shower, and get some sleep."

"What if Viktor tries something while Evelyn's out getting food or on a damn walk? She's family, no matter what, and I'm responsible for keeping her safe." Tony replies.

"Tony, she's not a kid, she can take care of herself. You don't to watch over everyone on the team. You're not responsible if one of us gets hurt, okay?"

"He's right." Steve adds as he pushes himself off the wall he was leaning on and walks towards Rhodey and Tony.

"Dude, don't crept in the shadows. It's weird." Rhodey directs at Steve.

"Tony, take a break." Steve says, ignoring Rhodey, as he put his hands on his hips.

"I'm good." Tony replies.

"It wasn't a request."

"...Fine." Tony snaps as he gives Steve a dark look before heading to his room.

"Why do I feel like you and Tony are the parents of a bunch of freaks and outcasts?" Rhodey smirks.

"Shut up." Steve chuckles.

"Does he know Bucky and Evelyn are going on a mission?" Rhodey asks quietly, just in case Tony's lurking.

"No."

"That's probably for the best."

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"Barnes! Get your ass over here, we're leaving in three minutes!" I exclaim from the front door.

"Calm down, I'm right here." Bucky smiles as he strolls up with a bad slung over his shoulder.

"Where's your bag?"

"Already in the car." I reply with a grin. "Now, can we please leave before Tony decides to chain me up in the basement?"

"He's just worried for your safety. You're like a little sister to him."

"He shouldn't need to worry about me being safe when I have you." I smile cheekily.

"You trying to stroke my ego doll?" Bucky smiles back.

Steve, Nat, and Sam are coming towards us so I lean in to whisper in Bucky's ear.

"That's not the only thing I can stroke." I smirk as Bucky chokes on literal air.

"You good there?" Nat raises an eyebrow at Bucky who's red in the face from coughing.

"Ha! That's another thing I'm better at than Barnes!" Sam exclaims with a smile.

"What?"

"Breathing." Sam grins as Bucky rolls his eyes.

"Be safe, okay?" Steve smiles warmly as he hugs me.

"Always." I smile back.

"Don't do anything stupid, got it?" Nat adds as she pulls me into a crushing hug.

"Got it."

"Let's go." Bucky says as he throws his bag in the back of the car before sliding into the drivers seat.

I climb into the passenger seat and close the car door as Bucky starts the engine. The car rumbles loudly for a second before Bucky pulls out of the ridiculously large garage. I smile to myself, enjoying the sound of the tires going over the gravel path.

It takes a few minutes to get to the actual road because Tony insisted that the Avengers compound had to be as big as he could make the property. He's always throwing money at things just to show he could afford it, and to obviously show off that he had more than enough money to do so. I thought it was kinda funny that someone could have so much money and spend it on anything and everything, but never seem to actually lose money.

"What?" I ask when I'm pulled out of my thoughts.

"I asked if you were okay." Bucky clarifies.

"Oh, yeah." I nod as my eyes drift back to the road in front of us.

"You sure?"

"Bucky, I don't need you asking if I'm okay every five minutes. I'm good, really." I offer him a smile to assure him of it.

Bucky and I didn't pick up the conversation from there, creating an awkward silence between the two of us. I went over the mission in my head instead of breaking the silence.

This was a complex mission that required Bucky and I to go undercover for a few weeks. I didn't mind it, I was starting to go crazy cooped up in the compound. The mission wasn't all that hard, just a bit complicated. There was a certain man who got on Shield's radar that they suspected of having ties to a mob they've been tracking that's been selling elite weapons to dangerous criminals. Since the man already had run ins with Shield, Fury passed the information onto us. Bucky and I were not allowed to engage with the man, at least not in violent terms, unless of course it was unavoidable. We had our covers and our own assignments to complete to pull off this mission.

"Let's go over the details." I break the silence.

"Alright."

"Your name?" I ask.

"Julian Hirsch." Bucky answers without hesitation.

"Job?"

"Surveillance officer at the Paradise Casino."

The man we had to gather intel on to prove if he was indeed part of the mob, was a big time gambler. Apparently, he was at this casino every night.

"Living?"

"Moonscape Apartments, first floor, apartment number 24."

"My turn."

"Name?" Bucky asks.

"Amelia Jennings."

"Why are you in town?"

"Taking a vacation from my work in Pennsylvania."

"Staying?"

"The Sunset Resort, third floor, room 107. Three miles from the casino."

"We aren't far from each other, so if anything happens—"

"I know Bucky." I smile softly at him.

"We still have five hours left of the drive, why don't you take a nap." Bucky suggests.

"Are you sure? I can drive for a few hours if you want."

"It's fine, get some sleep. I'll wake you when we're 10 minutes away from the cars."

"Thank you." I smile a little as I get as comfortable as I can and close my eyes.

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