Little Miss America

Chapter Fourteen

The next day, you were wondering around the city, wearing a jumper with the hood pulled low down over your face.
You didn't want anyone to recognise you, because you didn't want to have to go back to John.
You had realised by now that you didn't have your phone, and you couldn't remember numbers. So there was no way you could call anyone.
Staying out of sight seemed like the best option right now.
But it was becoming extremely hard.
John had decided to do something about the fact that you had walked out. He made the public aware.
Using the reporters that were at the council the day before, he made an announcement.
Only an hour after you had left, he told everyone that you were missing.
Given that you were who you were, everyone was looking for you.
John was most likely driven by anger. He only wanted to find you so that he could hurt you. You knew it.
You couldn't let that happen.
You stayed in the shadows as much as you could, ducking into alleyways whenever you saw police cars.
TV screens in windows occasionally showed a picture of you, followed by a short video of John and Olivia.
"Y/n, honey" John said, faking tears. "Wherever you are, don't worry. I will find you. You can come home and it will all be okay."
"If you are watching this sweetie, please come back to us" Olivia cried. "We love you and we're worried about you."
You ignored the message, hoping that one day they would choke on all the shit they talk.
After a while, though, you felt like you were being watched. You had been cautious all day, but now it felt like someone was staring at you. Like their eyes were constantly fixated on you.
You looked around, but couldn't notice anyone other than civilians just walking around.
You fiddled with your lighter in your pocket and headed down an alleyway that opened out into another street.
Before you could reach the other end, someone started walking towards you.
They were wearing a mask with a red hand print across it.
The symbol was familiar, but you were too preoccupied trying to sneak past to think why.
You lowered your head and attempted to walk past them without being recognised but they grabbed your arm before you could get past.
You instantly pulled out the lighter from your pocket and held it up to their face. They cried out in pain but didn't let go of you. They snatched the lighter from you and crushed it in one hand.
"Get off me!" you screamed, struggling to get free.
Their grip around your arm was really strong. It tightened and you winced loudly in pain.
You bent down and bit down hard on their hand, causing them to finally release you.
You sprinted off down the alleyway, but two people wearing masks jumped down from the rooftop and landed in front of you.
You turned around to see the person from before now standing again, and joined by another person in a mask.
The four of them surrounded you.
"No please" you begged. There was no way in hell you could fight these people. They were taller, older, clearly a lot stronger...
They were getting closer. Slowly creeping towards you.
"Please" your voice croaked and your eyes filled with tears.
One of them stopped for a second, doubtful. They felt sorry for you.
You ran towards them, hoping to use this moment of weakness to your advantage. You tried to squeeze between them and the other person by their side.
It didn't work.
They each grabbed one of your arms.
You screamed out hopefully. Someone had to hear you.
You were muffled quickly with a bag forced over your head.
It was tightened around your neck until you struggled to breathe.
You stopped moving.
The people in the masks removed the bag once you were unconscious and dragged you out the alleyway.
They carried you to a black van.
The door was pulled open, revealing the red handprint symbol painted largely across the inside wall.
They carelessly threw you to the floor of the van, then got in after you.
No one noticed any of this happening, and so you were taken away without anyone knowing.
Luckily there were people looking for you, but they just thought you were missing. No one knew how much danger you could possibly be in.
———
Bucky had been looking for you ever since he had stepped back in the states.
He didn't trust John to look after you.
He had been calling and texting you constantly.
The first time he went to the Walker's house, there was no one home.
He decided to go again because he had no luck anywhere else.
He had seen on the news that John had declared you as missing. Even though he had only lost you a couple of hours before he announced it.
Bucky turned up at the Walker's house for the second time.
It was the evening of the second day you had been missing, and you still hadn't been found.
"Bucky" John glared when he opened the door and saw that it was him.
"I'm not here to fight, I just want to know where she is" Bucky said calmly.
"She's still missing."
"Crap."
"Honestly, I thought she might have run off to find you."
"I thought you could track her phone."
"She left it in the car" John pulled it out his pocket.
Bucky grabbed it from him and unlocked it.
He saw all the unopened messages from him and Sam and everyone else.
And then he saw an unsaved contact labelled "Maybe: Karli".
He opened and read the messages.
"Find me, or I will find you."
"Y/n didn't run away" Bucky sighed.
"How do you know?"
"Look at this" Bucky showed John the text.
"What... when was it sent?"
"Yesterday just after six."
"She was gone by then."
"So she doesn't know... Damn it!"
"Okay calm down-"
"You do not get to tell me to calm down! This is all your fault! I'm assuming you're the reason she ran off in the first place and now she's in trouble!"
"This is not my fault! We can find her! There is an address right there so we..."
"No that's where you're wrong. There is no we. You are not helping. You have done enough."
"Y/n is my daughter! I am going to find her!"
Bucky ignored him and walked back to his car.
"Fine! But give that back!" John yelled at him.
Bucky still had your phone, with the address that Karli had sent you.
He glared at John from across the street as he got back in his car and drove off.
He pulled over again around the corner so he could call Sam.
He held back tears waiting for him to pick up.
"Sam" he whispered into the phone.
"Bucky? Are you okay?"
"Karli is going after y/n."
"What? How do you know?"
"I found her phone, and there's a message from Karli."
"What does it say?"
Bucky read it aloud, and informed Sam that there was an address.
"Okay send it to me and I'll meet you there."
Bucky hung up but didn't start driving.
He pressed his forehead against the wheel and let himself cry.
He couldn't lose you.
———
Sam arrived at the address that Bucky had sent him, and he saw Bucky sitting on the curb outside.
"Hey what happened?" Sam asked as he approached him.
"There's no one in there" Bucky said.
"You sure?"
"Yes Sam I'm sure!" Bucky stood up to level with him. "I checked the entire building at least three times but there was no one in there!"
"Okay! What are you yelling at me for?!"
"I'm sorry! I just want to find her!"
"I know. So do I."
"I can't lose her Sam."
"I don't think Karli would hurt her."
"Yeah, well, I'm not going to put it past her."
"She wouldn't kill anyone for no reason." 
"I'm sure she has some delusion that she can justify hurting y/n."
"She wouldn't-"
"You don't know that! And I'm not taking any chances" Bucky started walking away.
"What are you gonna do?" Sam called after him.
Bucky turned back and paused for a moment. He didn't really know. He had no idea where you or Karli were.
"The GRC vote is tomorrow. Karli most likely has something planned. We go, and we stop her."
"And we'll get y/n back" Sam nodded.