The man in the rain

Alone Again

It had been one month since Vieve went missing and morale around the tower was really low. No had given up looking for her, but it was getting difficult with no leads because air control had no idea where the plane was going. They told the team that it was an unscheduled flight and they had no idea that it was going to be there. Natasha and James were the ones who were taking it the hardest and they were constantly up searching for her. They lost so many hours of sleep and some weight too because they weren't eating with searching for her taking priority. 

Bucky was beating himself up over it, and he had completely stopped talking to the rest of the team because he needed to find her. He truly believed that it was his fault that she was missing and he felt like the team hated him for it. Steve had tried to talk to him and he would just walk away because he couldn't face him. It hurt Steve to see Bucky like this, just as he had finally let his guard down from H.Y.D.R.A. they come barging back into his life and take one of the most important aspects of his life away from him. He ended up leaving the tower because he couldn't see the faces of the people that he let down everyday. He stayed at her apartment hoping that one night she would just magically appear or that they would take him and bring her back. Yes, H.Y.D.R.A. was the worst part of his life, but he would go back in a heartbeat if that meant that she was safe and sound here in New York where she is supposed to be.

The stay in her apartment wasn't a pleasant one. He was constantly looking at the pictures she had hanging up and saw how happy she was and how as soon as he came into her life that it all went to shit. She had her friends and her schooling, working at the dinner and the Gilbertsons all of which he had to go and tell that she won't be there for a while and don't know when she is going to return. He wouldn't sleep in her bed, so he slept on the couch and he tried to see what a normal day in her life would be like just in case he could find out how she was discovered by the enemy. Jo didn't take the news too well either. He was obviously upset but he was more upset about the fact that they haven't found her yet and it seemed like to him that they weren't working that hard to find her. Bucky offered for him to come to the tower and see for himself how the team was working together to find her.

Jo took the offer and they both made their way to the tower with Bucky. When they got to the floor where the team had set up HQ to find Vieve. Jo was stunned. He had never seen these guys all in the same room at once unless they were fighting aliens or something to that extent. He had tears starting to form in his eyes because he knew that his friend was going to be found but he was also still so scared for her.

After Jo left from his visit, Tony called an emergency team meeting and this had given everyone a little bit of hope that he found something. As they all gathered Tony was messing with something on his laptop, and his face had a little hint of relief that only Nat and Bucky noticed. Their trained eyes were able to detect the slightest change in facial expression so the pair shared a look of hope and excitement with each other. They all were there and they all were focused on Tony and he was still focused on his laptop so Clint cleared his throat to get his attention. That did the trick and Tony broke his trance from his screen and stood up straight.

"Alright, thank you all for taking a break from searching and coming. I want to start off with some thank you's.  You guys are awesome for taking shifts of who is searching and staying constantly searching for the last month. I know that she is our friend and you guys want to find her just as much as I do, but you guys are also taking care of yourselves as much as you can. Now for the reason that I called this meeting," he said while turning towards the t.v. behind him and turning it on. It turned on and he quickly connected his laptop to it. "As you know I have had facial recognition constantly going on all cameras that I can have access to and I have some good news. I have a facial recognition hit on her in Germany." This caused the team to have all of their facial expressions change from serious and worry to hope and excitement.

Tony didn't want to give them the bad news but he knew he needed to. He put the picture of her up and when he did there was a collective gasp between the group. The picture was from a store surveillance system and she looked like a completely different person. They had dyed her hair a dark black and she had a big scar that ran from her eyebrow and across her eye diagonally. It was still freshly pink indicating that it was freshly healed. Tears had welled up in the eyes of many. There were tears streaming down two faces, the two faces who had become the closest to her Bucky and Tony. Before Tony started to speak again he had to pull himself together. This image broke his heart because she really felt like he was her daughter. It had also hurt Bucky because he recognized what they did to her and he knew that she wasn't okay.

"Now this store is owned by a friend of mine and she came in there about a day ago, so we know that she is in Germany, so everyone needs to pack a bag and get on the quinjet, we are going to get our girl back" Tony said leaving to go get his things that he needs.

James just sat there defeated and upset with himself. Steve noticed before he left and put his hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him and that caused the tears in Buck's eyes to spill over and fall and he let out a tiny sob. He was so upset with himself. He did this to her and the guilt that he felt was eating him up inside.

"They wiped her, I can recognize that blank stare from anywhere" Bucky said letting his head fall into his hands, letting out little sobs and his breath getting more and more shaky. Steve didn't know what to say because he was right, he also recognized that blank stare because it was the same blank stare that Bucky had when he first found him. The Vieve that they knew was buried under blankets of traumatic experiences and it was going to be extremely difficult to try and get her back. Steve knew that they would never get the exact person Vieve was back because Bucky won't ever be the person that he was before they got to him. 

"We'll bring her back, Buck, I know that we can" Steve said and Bucky looked up at him completely broken. The sight killed him but he had to be strong for him so he could have a shoulder to lean on because he was really going to need it. "Come on, let's get our things and go get your girl" he said leading Bucky out of the room. 

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Heyyyyy everyone! Finals week is finally over and done with and I couldn't be more excited. I am going to have a lot more time to be able to write for you guys which is going to be really exciting. Like I have said before I have some really big plans for this story. What did you guys think of the chapter?! Let me know and don't forget to vote if you liked this part it would mean a lot! 

And as always HAPPY READING 

xx-pag :)