The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 32

Steve sighed, as he pulled off his battle gear. His jaw throbbed from where he had taken a rather unexpected hit from one of the ex-SHIELD fuckers who got lucky, catching him with the butt of a weapon. Which also might not have been so bad, if it wasn't also combined with the pounding of his head, which he was sure was a low grade concussion. The hit he had taken to his jaw had snapped the chin strap of his helmet, causing it to fly off. In the heat of battle, he hadn't given it much notice, until he had been flung into a wall by the shock wave of one of Starks's repulsor blasts.

Now, knocked around and bruised, body aching, he was standing in the team's locker room, stripping down as much as he could, until he was able to go down to his floor and take a nice long hot shower. Well, that had been the plan until a knock on the door made him pause.

"Steve?" Maria Hill asked from behind the closed door. "Do you have a moment?"

He heaved a sigh, rubbing his face. No, he didn't have a moment. He didn't want to deal with all the bullshit that needed to happen, post-mission. He didn't want to hear about paperwork. He didn't want to deal with any of the bullshit that seemed to pop up while they were away.

"Steve?"

"Yeah." He sighed again, feeling the weariness in his bones. Weariness, frustration...and anticipation. Anticipation because as soon as all this bullshit was dealt with, as soon as he could he was going to his girls. "How can I help you, Maria?"

"That guy you had me flag, Fredrick Castallano? He was reported missing three days ago." Maria informed him through the door.

Steve stilled, before balling up his battle top and throwing it into the locker with a harsh curse. "Who reported him missing?"

"His mother. He was supposed to meet her for lunch, and he never showed."

Steve rubbed his face with one hand while bracing his other on his hip. "Have the authorities found anything?"

"They talked to his neighbors. One reported seeing him talking to a man and then getting into an SUV with him."

So, Marino had made his move. Steve was a bit curious about the timing, though. It had been almost a week since he had Maria flag Freddie, the man who had shot Brooklyn, under the suspicion that he was connected to illegal gun sales and possible moving of SHIELD equipment. Maria hadn't blinked at the explanation, nor at his excuse that he had heard some rumors on the streets of New York, the woman familiar with his crawling of the streets to regain some measure of familiarity with his old home.

But the timing.... the timing was niggling at him.

"What time, exactly did they see this?" He asked, as he changed out of his battle pants. Stark was quick to fix issues with their gear, and one of the things he had mentioned to Stark was the fact that he didn't like feeling like he was wearing a jump suit, when fighting. It felt like it impeded his movement. So Stark had returned to the old standard of a two piece suit, until the issue could be resolved. Sliding a pair of sweat pants on, he shoved his feet into a pair of running shoes, ignoring the laces for the moment.

Opening the door to the locker room, he met Maria's eye. "What time, exactly, did he get into the car with the other man?"

She blinked, before checking the pad in her hand. "About nine-thirty in the morning. Why?"

He shrugged, trying to play it off. "Just so I know where to go from there.

"Uh huh." Maria nodded, a blank look on her face. "I would also like to remind you, that those PSA's you agreed to do will start filming soon. I have been in contact with the production company, and they will be sending over the scripts soon, so you can go over them."