III: The Girl Who Ran: Dirty Hands and Dark Hearts

XIX: Calculated Guessing

A/N:
March 1st, 2017- Two weeks after Sunny's abduction
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Bucky stared at his hand as Natasha talked to all of them, "The Estonian authorities are labeling it as a terrorist attack. The jury's still out on who did it. Meanwhile, nearly all cleared SHIELD members have been wiped out, two millionaires are dead, and the Speaker of the House has died under mysterious circumstances. And we've arrived too late to the scene at all of them."

Sam stared out the window of the QuinJet at the pale blue sky, "I haven't seen anything like this since Afghanistan." He spoke so seriously that Bucky stared at him.

"I don't think we should try to save her anymore. This is... just...," Wanda trailed off.

Bucky saw the woman splayed out on the table in Estonia, an iron chair leg sticking out of her stomach. Her eyes staring at the ceiling. Her hands still clenched around it, trying to pull it out even in death. And the smell... G**, the smell. And Sunny had fought them with not a speck of blood on her. Bucky cleared his throat, "She was toying with me and Steve in Tartu. She was trying to find our weaknesses."

"For what?" Sam asked, turning back to look at him.

Bucky picked at the bandage wrapped around his shoulder, the wound was almost healed, but Bucky kept it on, just in case. "We're probably somewhere near the top of her hit list."

Natasha played with a rubber band, "Shouldn't we strike preemptively, then?"

Sam frowned, "That is a great idea. You're missing one thing, though, Nat. We have no idea where she is currently."

"Steve. You're being very quiet," Wanda said, looking at the man piloting the Jet.

"I'm thinking," he said simply.

Sam chuckled half-heartedly, "Oh, no."

Steve stood up and joined the party, setting the Jet on autopilot, "If you were LAZARUS, who would you go after next, besides us?"

"Stark and the President," Bucky said without a second thought.

"Zemo," Natasha said at the same time.

Sam's brow furrowed, "Does anyone else think it slightly disturbing that they both came up with three completely different people in under two seconds?"

Steve shrugged.

Natasha explained herself, "Think about it, HYDRA and LAZARUS are rival organizations, right? If I were a part of LAZARUS, I would want anyone who even remembered HYDRA to be dead. Who knows more about HYDRA than Zemo?"

"I agree, but Stark and/or the President would give LAZARUS more publicity," Bucky argued.

"Sunny doesn't seem to be going for publicity," Natasha snapped.

Bucky countered, "You kind of need publicity to have power."

"It's the other way around. Ever hear of the Mafia, the KGB, ninjas, anything?" Natasha said, her words sharp. "If you have power, you gain publicity."

Bucky recognized her point, his cheeks flooding with color. Why did he always lose arguments? He grunted and went back to staring at the little blue bracelet on his wrist. A little silver horseshoe hung from it, and made a nice jingle when he moved his wrist.

He listened to the discussion.

"I think we should split into three groups, one to the Raft, one to the White House, and one to the Tower," Steve concluded.

"Who wants to go by themselves?" Sam asked the group.

"I can go by myself to the White House," Bucky said.

Everyone, including Steve, stared at him for a moment. Wanda chuckled, "I'm sorry, Bucky, but that is a terrible idea."

Steve shook his head, "I'll go to the White House by myself, Bucky and Sam can go to the Raft, and Wanda and Nat can go to the Tower. I doubt Tony would kill you two."

Great. He'd gotten stuck with Sam. There would be no end to the corny jokes.

Sam guffawed, "Wait, how the heck did you and Sunny get into the Raft the last time?"

Steve shrugged, "I stole a submarine."

Bucky turned to look at Steve, "You did what? I decided to go into the ice for ten minutes and you steal a submarine?!"

"It was a tiny sub," Steve said.

Natasha sighed, "You should've stolen one for all of us."

*****

Bucky frowned, "This is a horrible idea."

"You say that now," Sam scoffed.

"Do you even know how to drive one of these things?" Bucky asked, staring at the submarine's controls.

Sam lifted his hands, "How hard can it really be? Steve did it."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that Sunny drove the submarine," Bucky pressed his hand to the cool steel wall of the sub.

"Sunny also stabbed you. Which is not that hard. I think if she can drive a sub, I can drive a sub."

Bucky frowned, "Wait, that doesn't make any sense."

*****

"You're going to get us killed, Sam," Bucky whispered as they slipped through another hallway.

"Shut up, Bucky!" Sam opened a maintenance closet and ducked in.

Bucky went in behind him and shut the door quietly, "Lord help me, Sam, if we get killed by some janitor--."

Sam sighed and sat on the bench in the the little closet, setting some glass cleaner on the floor. Bucky sat farthest away from him, albeit, it wasn't very far. Bucky leaned back against the wall, "Wake me up if you hear screaming or guns going off."

Bucky saw Sam trying to keep frowning, "You're absolutely amazing, Bucky. Why do you sleep so much?!"

Bucky smiled, "I have to get a break from you somehow."

Sam grinned, "Oooh, that's low, man."