Powerless | b. barnes

02 - hello

T H E night before Steve and Ivy left for Bucharest Ivy couldn't sleep. This wasn't unusual as she usually had nightmares from either her Hydra days, the day her parents died or the day Pietro died. You could say she had been through some trauma seeing as she had so many instances to choose from for her nightmares. Ivy would joke with herself about how it 'keeps her on on her toes.' It was as if her brain spun the wheel of (mis)fortune each night to decide which horrible event in her life to bring up.

Nobody knew about Ivy's sleepless nights, she knew Wanda would only worry and Tony or Steve would make her go to therapy. Objectively, she knew that therapy is probably something she needs, but she didn't feel ready to talk about all the painful details of her life just yet.

On the night of the mission, Ivy was sitting in her bed watching The Office, a new show she started recently, when she heard a buzz from her phone. It was a text from Steve.

Steve: 'Alright, the QuinJet is ready to go, I'm waiting outside when you're ready.

- Sincerely, Captain Steve Rogers.'

Ivy: 'Stevie, we've talked about this. You don't have to sign your texts like a formal letter.'

They decided that they would sneak out and leave a note for the team that read: 'went to help a friend, be back soon.' That's vague enough right?

It was better to have the least amount of people possible know about Bucky since he is technically a murderer and would most likely be arrested if anyone recognized him.

Ivy grabbed her things that were already packed in her 'Mission Bag' and got dressed before opening her door quietly and  sneaking down the halls making sure that no one was awake. Thankfully, only three other Avengers live on this floor; Wanda, Vision and Thor. However, the God of Thunder isn't often on Earth which leaves Ivy's room between two empty ones, as they have a few extra rooms on the floor. The team suspects that Tony is planning on recruiting new talent someday.

Ivy left the note in the kitchen and tiptoed to the elevator.

Finally, she walked out the front door with ease and Steve was waiting by an old Volkswagen Beetle.

"What kind of getaway car is this?" Ivy asked him, gesturing to the blue car that looked like Herbie from the movie she watched a while ago with Wanda—minus the stripes and big '53' on the side of it.

"Good morning to you too." Steve smiled, "And this car is a classic!"

"Steve this is going to be the most noticeable car on the road!" she responded and his brow creased in thought and then concern.

"You may be right," he dropped his head slightly—he clearly hadn't thought about that part.

Ivy laughed. "Whatever, we'll be fine. You'll be noticed wherever you go with or without the car anyway. Let's get this show on the road!"

Ivy and Steve hopped in the tiny car and drove to the tarmac to get on the jet. It was barely three in the morning.

Once on the plane the two friends sat mostly in silence, they were both nervous and excited. Suddenly a thought entered Ivy's head; "Hey Steve, what's our plan if we actually do succeed in bringing Bucky home? I mean how will he not be arrested as soon as he steps foot in the States?"

"Well... um... I haven't thought about it too much but I did convince Sharon to disable the security systems that would usually identify Bucky as a wanted man as soon as he stepped on the compound."

Ivy scrunched up her nose, she didn't like Sharon but she knew that she would do anything to help Steve. She was also a little worried about the lack of planning for the latter half of this mission. "Okayyyyy. Well, that's a start but how do we convince everyone else on the team to trust Bucky and help him?"