Echo

Chapter 32

Quinn's POV

"You've got to be kidding me. You want to do what?" Bucky's incredulously sarcastic tone implied he hadn't heard what her and Steve had just told him, Tony and Fury. He leaned forward around Quinn to stare at Steve as if demanding that he say, Ha, just kidding! If it was one thing she hated, it was being talked about when she was right in front of the other people. It might have seemed like it was spur of the moment, but for her it was a plan months in the making.

"I'm going to be bait." She calmly tells her best friend, gaining back his attention. Bucky scoffs, pushing back the chair he's sitting in. Standing up he starts pacing in the locked down conference room as the others left in the room begin discussing possible alternatives, but there are none. She knew because of her gift.

Coming to a stop near her he finally speaks. "This bastard has more brains than we had initially thought him capable of. He could actually kill you this time! It's a stupid and reckless plan. Both of which you are neither, Quinn. We'll find him. It's just taking us longer than we thought it would." His tone softened by the end, hoping that she'll listen to reason. Going over to hug her distraught friend she shook her head no.

It had been a month since Quinn had first been contacted by Henri and they were still no closer to finding him. It had become an almost daily routine of her receiving a bouquet of flowers and a note. Nothing threatening, just observations of how pretty she looked or how he was sad he wasn't there to take her on a date. Henri Richelieu had become obsessed with her. It was like some kind of sick joke at first, but the more he did it the more feelings from him she got off of the notes. "He wants me, Bucky. He's convinced himself that he's in love with me. What better way to get him than to have him come to my 'rescue'." She gets him to sit back down to think the plan over hoping that he'd see she was right.

They needed to make a big enough scene to draw Richelieu out. Quinn had been thinking about what to do for weeks. Using her seers ability while holding his notes slowly a plan had come to her. It couldn't be anything that would directly put her, Steve or any of the team in danger. It had to be big enough to catch his attention. No silly fake fight that led to a fake break from the team or Steve would do. They wanted to play on Richelieu's feelings for her. Hoping that if he 'loved' her as much as he had been saying he would come out of hiding to play her dark knight masquerading as a white knight.

The plan? They were going to get married, well almost. That's right. The vision Quinn had months ago was going to happen and she was going to make sure of it. It had hit replay earlier this week with more details this time. Steve had been hard to convince, but she eventually got him on her side. Fury was surprisingly on board with no fight at all. He was as pissed as the rest of them that Richelieu had almost killed her. She didn't think he even liked her. To be honest Quinn had thought at most he tolerated her, but Nick had said that no one hurt his people. And that while he might not fight in the field anymore, they were all Avengers after all. He would help avenge what had happened to her as best he could from the background. Also he liked her because she gave Tony shit and put him in his place enough to actually follow orders on occasion.

'The wedding' was going to take place in a matter of weeks and that's where they needed Tony. With his money and connections he could bankroll the whole thing to make it look real. They were going to have a party in a few days time which would serve as their engagement party. Steve and Quinn would then make a joint announcement to the press that they weren't only engaged, but getting married in a few weeks time. The reason for such a speedy wedding was because after Quinn's recent near brush with death and memory loss they didn't want a long engagement. That they had almost lost each other once and now that she had her memories back they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together as man and wife.