The Child of Winter ~ Book 1

12. Runaway

    Bucky about blew up when he saw that Steven had run away. He consoled a now devastated Peggy as best he could as Steve and the other Avengers began to canvas the city. The ex-assassin knew though that Seven was a master at vanishing and wouldn't make it easy for them to find him; however, he reassured Peggy by saying, "We'll find him, Peggy, he couldn't have gotten far."

    She just nodded, suddenly ripping the necklace she had received from Steven from her neck, spitting, "If he wants to be a coward, so be it. I'll pound some sense into him myself if I find him while I'm out and about!"

    "Steven, you've really messed things up now," Bucky thought to himself as he watched Peggy storm off to her room. He moved to the edge of the window, looking at the sheer drop and wondering how Steven could have possibly survived a fall from this far up; however, he also knew that Steven was well trained and could have gotten out of the fall somehow. With that in mind, he told F.R.I.D.A.Y., the current A.I. of the tower, "Lockdown the garage and give me an inventory of it while you're at it."

    Her response didn't inspire much confidence, "The motorcycle Steven Barnes uses is missing and so are several handguns, knives, and some mission provisions."

    "Well, that's just great, Steven, where the hell do you plan on going?!" Bucky growled as he made his way into the main living room to tell Steve and the others about this newest development.

    Once he did, Steve sighed over the comlink, "We'll find him. Does the tracker on that bike still work, Stark?"

    The billionaire responded moments later, "I'll try to get a bead on it... Yep, I got him."

    Bucky shook his head and growled, "You'll probably just find the bike, Stark. Steven wasn't born yesterday and knows that you've put trackers on all the vehicles." He rubbed his temples slowly, trying to rid himself of the stress that was driving him to punch something.

    Stark confirmed his assumptions moments later, "Found the bike, but no young assassin, guys. Now what?"

    Steve's voice came over the coms now, sounding just as stressed as Bucky felt, "He has to be somewhere in the city. Spread out and look everywhere. Natasha, you head to the alleyways with Clint. Stark, you monitor security cameras all over the city for him. I'll stick to the outskirts of the city and try to catch him if he makes a break for it."

    The Avengers carried out the captain's specific orders, but they came up empty wherever they looked. Dawn crested the city with still no sign of Steven and even Dr. Strange couldn't find the teen with all of his tricks! They all convened back at the tower and began going over possible places the teen could've gotten to, but in the end, they called in for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help with the matter.

    Fury's first question was, "Why did you allow him to close himself off in the first place?"

    Steve sighed, "None of us expected that he'd run, Fury, and we are on a time clock to find him before Hydra gets him."

    "Do you ever think he just went back there on his own, Captain?"

    That question had Bucky out of his chair, absolutely furious with the man, "There is no way in hell that Steven would go back willingly into their clutches! He's fought so hard to get away from them, so how could you even think to suggest that?!"

    Fury remained calm as he said, "Think about it, Barnes, that kid is afraid of hurting you, Peggy, and everyone else in the tower. He removed himself from the equation and could be thinking, while in the dark place he's in, that being under Hydra's heel is better than having to worry about falling apart around the people he loves."