Controlling the Timeline || MARVEL ||

Chapter 22. Stupid

~THIRD PERSON VIEW~

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

Yup. That's the first thing Tony screamed as only 3 of them walked out of the jet. Waving his hands around and walking back and forth frantically.

"YOU LOST HER? AGAIN?" Tony kept screaming; Not letting them have a chance to explain. They knew this was coming so they just let him scream it out. They stood there like children getting yelled at by their father.

Natasha came out second later. She didn't look as angry as Tony but still angry.

"Are you done Tony? We have work to do." She pulled Steve by his arm towards the compound entrance.

"OF COURSE WE DO!"

All of then hurried inside to find almost everyone arguing and standing around the conference table. Papers were everywhere.

"What the hell happened out there?" Fury spoke out overpowering everyone's voices. They all quieted down and looked at the 3. It was good to see him walking around now. Although everyone can still see padding on his right torso from bandages under his clothes.

"Where's Thor?" Clint looked around the room.

"We don't know." Steve sighed looking down.

"That's not an acceptable answer. Your mission was to find Loki and capture him. Is that so hard for 4 humans and a God to handle?"

"He tricked Kat." Sam explained.

"Give the man a cigar!" Fury looked at all three with disappointment. "He is the God of mischief. No fucking shit he tricked her."

"Look," Steve looked at Sam then Bucky who stayed silent. "We spotted him and ran into moving positions. She said she was following Bucky out of the building, but Bucky was in the room next to me. He tricked her."

"I can't believe I let you convince me to let her go on this mission." Fury stood in front of Tony.

"She was ready."

"She's stupid enough to fallow someone out in daylight, right in front of our target."

They argued back and forth until Steve started to yell.

"She didn't know!"

Everyone stayed silent. They just looked at him confused.

"Didn't know what?" Fury asked.

"I never filled her in on Loki. I never told her who we were looking for or how dangerous he could be." Steve waited for a response. Tony ran his hands threw his hair and slumped into the seat behind him.

"Why didn't you tell her? She might be here if she knew?" Natasha was very stern. A couple heads nodded in agreement.

"I know Kat. If I told her about her last visit with Loki and how dangerous he is, all it would do was fuel her anger. I know for a fact she would try to kill him on the spot."

"So not telling her anything was a smarter plan?" Fury yelled.

"Yes!" Steve yelled back. "If she attacked Loki, who knows what kind of damage he would do to her. I thought I-... We could keep her close enough, so she doesn't get ahead of herself."

"Look where that got us." Fury said the last word as always. Again, everyone stayed silent until Bucky finally got up and left the room slamming the door on his way out.

"We should fallow him." Sam sighed heading for the door.

"Let him go." Nat said stopping Sam. "You know he's not going to talk. Just let him go through this on his own for now. We have bigger issues." Sam hesitated but eventually went back to standing in the group.

"Banner did you locate her yet?" Tony rubbed his face in frustration.

"Not yet. The tracker isn't giving me anything." He clicked on his screen but shook his head when he made eye contact with Tony.

"What tracker?" Nat leaned over Bruce's shoulder.

"When she was little I out a tracker in her." Tony sighed and sat in a seat.

"Convenient." Agent Hill huffed her chest. "Good thinking. This girl tends to get in a lot of trouble."

"No shit." Clint chuckled. He sat down as well.

Steve stood there silently rethinking the whole mission. He thought of what would have happened if he told Kat. What he could have done differently might have kept Kat with him.

A door swung open and Sharon walked in.

"I have the files you asked for." She placed the papers on the desk in front of Fury then looked at Steve.

"Paper files?" Nat chuckled.

"We haven't updated everything into the new system yet. This is surveillance reports from our first encounter with Loki." Fury grabbed the folders and started passing stuff out to people.

Sharon moved towards Steve, but he didn't budge.

"Steve?" She grabbed his arm, and he looked at her. His eyes didn't sparkle at her like they used to. They were saddened and dark. They were full of worry.

"I'm fine." He forced a smile. Looking around the room and watching everyone digging into the files looking for something that might give a glimpse of hope of where she is was making him go mad. "I'm going go clear my head. I'll be back." He didn't bother giving her a kiss on the cheek.

He left not knowing where he was going. He kept a calm face passing everyone in the halls but deep inside a storm was erupting. Getting angrier and angrier by the second.

Finally, he stopped at a door. It was cracked open the slightest and he heard muffling from inside. He opened it slowly. It was Kats room. He looked at her little trinkets and details that she had to make it her own. Hair ties were on every surface. A collection of knives on her desk.

It took a second for him to realize but Bucky was sitting on the floor propped up against her bed. Silently staring into a necklace that he held in his hands.

Steve sighed and walked fully into the room.

"Hey bud." He sat down next to Bucky. "I didn't realize you were in here."

"She gone, Steve. Again, we lost her." Bucky was definitely angry. He saddened Steve but it was expected.

"And we'll find her. Again. We'll bring her home Buck." Steve finally looked at the necklace Bucky was holding. A heart shaped silver chain with K and J engraved on it. Steve chuckled reminiscing as he remembered getting that with Bucky.

"You were so nervous getting that for her." Steve tried to lighten the mood. Bucky cracked a smile and nodded.

"I thought it was too cheesy. I can't believe she kept it after all this time."

"Why wouldn't she?" Steve looked at Bucky as he hesitated to answer. Steve could only imagine what Bucky was thinking.

"You remember when we first broke up? It was right after that steak-out mission in New England?"

"The one where it just turned out to be the Italian Mafia?"

Bucky chuckled. "Yeah. She partnered up with Sam." Bucky gripped the necklace in his hands.

"Yeah, I remember."

Bucky took a couple keep breaths.

"We were already kind of going through something. Just a little rough patch but then I did something stupid which made it worse. I remember her ripping this off her neck and throwing at on the ground."

Steve didn't say a word. He had nothing to say really.

"That was her turning point. That was when she went dark and shut everyone out." Bucky gripped the necklace a little tighter. "I caused it."

They stayed in silence for a long time thinking about the good and the bad times they've had at the compound. They had so many words left to say to each other, but nothing felt right.

How are you supposed to make this feel better when so much has gone wrong?