Until I Found You

twelve

~ STEVE ~

"Do you still have eyes on her?"

I hear Sam's voice ask through the comms as I struggle to find a good vantage point. It's being made difficult by the handful of Rumlow's lackeys that keep getting in my way.

"Working on it." I reply, jogging along the edge of the rooftop. "You in position?"

"Just waiting for your signal." He confirms. It's the one thing that gives me any form of relief in this moment.

I have no clue what on earth this girl thinks she's doing.

I'd had a pretty good view of her until she started backing into that alley. Now I'm running across to the next building, trying to be able to see her again. I could still hear the majority of the conversation, despite the fact that I could no longer see her over the edge of the roof. I could hear her telling Rumlow that she didn't tell us anything, could hear him talking to her about some guy called Morris who apparently had a soft spot for her. I could also hear the fear in her voice and the rising anger in his.

I give up on trying to find her from this current spot, starting panic slightly. It feels like things are about to escalate and I'm of no use to anyone here. I start scaling down the nearest fire escape, thinking I'll have a better chance of getting to her from the ground. I'm only half way down when I hear the sounds of a scuffle, and a loud thud.

"Now Sam, go now." I order into my earpiece, dropping onto the floor and running towards the alley as fast I can. I round the corner just in time to see Sam, flying down into the narrow space. Rumlow has Abby pinned up against the wall, gun to her throat. Sam glides downwards, kicking an unsuspecting Rumlow in the chest, who topples over as Sam lands on two feet just behind him. He doesn't even give Rumlow the chance to stand up before landing two punches to his jaw and nose, knocking him unconscious.

Sam nudges his body so it rolls over, bending down so he can cuff him. I sigh, relieved at seeing him safely contained but this feeling is quickly over when I look back at Abby. She's not looking in either of our directions, she's just staring at the wall across from her, hand still wrapped around her own throat. Then she slides slowly down against the wall until she reaches the ground and her legs give out underneath her.

I don't waste any time in jogging over, crouching down in front of her. Her legs are curled up into her chest, and her hand is still covering her neck. Despite the fact that she's now looking straight back at me, I don't think she actually sees me. The blank, emotionless expression still resides there, making her look oddly hollow.

I've seen what people look like when experiencing shock after significant trauma before. As a soldier, I know that this is a frequent casualty of war. But Abby is not soldier, she's not used to being a pawn in a violent game of chess. I'm fairly confident I know what she's going through. I'm not, however, at all sure on how to fix it. She may not be what I had dreamed my soulmate would be but I sure as hell can't leave her like this, laundry scattered around the floor as she stares off into oblivion.

I look to Sam to explain but he just waves me off.

"Don't worry, I've got this." He groans, dragging Rumlow into a sitting position so he can loop his arms around his. "Damn this dude's heavy. See you back at the tower."

Sam's wings spread out behind him and he takes off, up and out of the alley. I turn my attention back to Abby.

She doesn't look particularly tense or stresssed. She's just sitting there motionless, completely paralyzed. I'm still not even sure that she recognizes that I'm here right now, partly because her gaze is still so disconcertingly empty but also because I'm pretty sure if she did know I was here, she'd probably be telling me off for one thing or another.