James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
;
"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
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I got a call from Tony right as I was pulling my dress back up and chugging water.
"Did you find something?" I asked instead of a 'hello.' "I can be right there."
"Just calling to see how you're doing, kiddo."
"I'm fine. What's going on with you guys?"
"The hacking done on the prison?"
"Yeah?"
"Looks a lot like what was done to FRIDAY. I have a hunch it was the same person. I have an even bigger hunch that that person was Colin Cross, since he was able to watch us at the memorial. So I could use your help with something."
"Sure, I'll come down right now."
"No, stay put," he said. "It's a long shot and it's just one question."
"Okay, go for it."
"There's a file he left in the system. Something purposeful. He wanted us to see it. It's prompting me for a password, and the screen just says 'killer.' Any idea what the password would be?"
I rolled my eyes, even though Tony couldn't see me. "Yeah. Try 'whale' or 'whales.' God, I hate Colin."
"Oh, to be young and in love," Tony said dryly, probably assuming Bucky could hear. And he did; he stiffened beside me and moved his hand onto my inner thigh. There was a pause while Tony tried the password. "It worked. Oh. Oh, shit. Aaaand maybe you should come down here after all."
"What is it?"
"Elevator death footage. At long last. Bring popcorn. Wow."
"What?" I demanded. "Are you watching it?"
"Yeah. And it looks like two Colins killed Colin. And I don't know if any of the three Colins are actually Colin. Yeah, that explains a lot."
"What?"
"Just come down here."
Bucky and I went down to the lab, where Tony and Bruce were standing at a computer. Sam, Nat, and Steve arrived with us, each of them looking refreshed and a bit more relaxed than they were a couple of hours ago. Tony and Bruce moved so the rest of us could cram ourselves around the screen.
The footage began with an empty elevator. Then Colin stepped in. It moved up a floor. Another Colin entered. On the next floor, a third. They stood together, not speaking to each other. They were all watching their wrists closely, where they were all wearing a gadget. It was too grainy to see, but I had a feeling they were watching live surveillance of the lab floor to make sure they would be undetected when they stepped off. At least, that would be what I would be looking at if it were me.
Right before the elevator stopped at the lab floor, one Colin reached into his hoodie pocket, withdrew a gun and shot another. It all happened in a split second. The doors opened, and the third dropped the note on the ground and dragged the body, positioning it where I found it.
