Battlefield ★ Bucky Barnes

XIII. He's A Ghost Story

"Connie, wake up."

Connie groaned as she felt herself being shaken. Despite how uncomfortable the chair she laid in was, she had been enjoying a rather nice sleep, so to know that someone was trying to remove her from that sleep annoyed her greatly.

"Connie," Natasha said as she continued trying to shake the super-soldier awake. "Don't you dare make me use one of these electroshock disks on you."

A sigh escaped Connie's lips at the sound of her words and she sat up, her brown eyes opening to meet Natasha's green ones. Natasha grinned at her and stood back up, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Someone was having a good nap," the redhead chuckled. "Have a dream about a cute boy?"

Connie glared at her and ran a hand through her hair, though she didn't exactly deny Natasha's words, much to her surprise. Natasha's eyes widened slightly and she sat back down beside Connie, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"So, you dream about men, yet don't want to date them?"

"That's about right."

"Now, I'm not gonna try to coerce you into trying for a relationship with this particular man, but I would like to know who this particular man is," Natasha teased her.

Connie cocked a brow at her and stood up from her seat. "All you need to know is that a relationship with the particular man in my dream is no longer possible. Why'd you wake me up?" she inquired as she fixed her clothes.

Natasha pulled the silver USB drive from her jacket and Connie's face fell at the mere sight of it.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked Natasha. And truth be told, Connie was genuinely curious as to where Natasha retrieved the USB drive. The last person she remembered having it was Steve, but she doubted Steve would be careless enough to drop it or leave it laying around somewhere, especially in a hospital filled to the brim with people.

"I don't know," Natasha shrugged. "Why don't you tell me?"

Connie threw her hands up in defeat. "That's why I'm asking you, because I genuinely don't know where you got it. Did Nick give it to you?"

"No," Natasha answered as she chomped away on a piece of gum. "Steve had it and I don't know why, though I'm pretty sure he'll be coming back to retrieve it before long."

Connie opened her mouth to respond, but wasn't allowed the opportunity before Natasha's phone beeped in her back pocket. The redhead removed the device from her pocket and looked at the screen, a small smirk coming onto her face as she did.

"Speaking of which," Natasha said as she looked to Connie. "He's here."

Natasha left the room immediately, though Connie lingered behind for several seconds as she tried to wake her mind up. After doing so, she left the room and hurried down the hall to find Natasha and Steve. She could not see them, but she could hear them, and the moment she figured out what room it was she stepped inside.

"Where did you get it?" Natasha asked Steve as Connie approached the two.

"Why would I tell you?" Steve countered.

"Steve," Connie said as she slowly inched her way towards the two of them.

Steve turned his head to look at Connie, though his hold on Natasha didn't falter. "What the hell are you still doing here?"

Connie simply disregarded his words and looked at Natasha. "Fury gave it to him," she informed the redhead. She was done lying to her friend.

Natasha glared at Steve. "Why?"

"What's on it?" Steve inquired as he looked back to her.

"I don't know."

"Stop lying!"

"Steve, that's enough," Connie chastised him. "She's not lying; even Natasha Romanoff doesn't know everything."

"Right," Natasha muttered. "I only act like I do."

Steve released her and took a step back. "I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?"

Connie cocked her head to the side at the sound of his words and Natasha seemed slightly taken back, though his words did make some sense to her.

"Well, it makes sense," Natasha said to him. "The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in, so do you."

Steve's face contorted in anger again, and he slammed her back against the wall once more, much to Connie annoyance. "I'm not gonna ask you again," he exclaimed.

Connie grabbed Steve by the arm and pulled him off of Natasha, her brown eyes filled with agitation. "Will you calm the hell down?"

Steve clenched his jaw and glanced between the two women. He was now convinced that both of them knew more about what was going on than he originally thought, and knowing that Connie was possibly withholding some sort of information from him annoyed him deeply. "Tell me what the hell is going on and I might," he said to them.

Natasha glanced at Connie, who only delivered a nod her way.

"We know who killed Fury," Natasha told Steve. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists; the one's that do call him the Winter Soldier."

Connie crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Steve. "He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So, he's a ghost story."

Natasha chuckled and shook her head. "Five years ago, Connie and I were escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out our tires near Odessa; we lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there."

"Nat was covering our engineer, so he shot him straight through her. Soviet slug, no rifling," Connie continued. "I was lucky enough to get away with a warning shot to the shoulder."

"Going after him's a dead end," Natasha informed Steve. "Trust us, we've tried. Like you said, he's a ghost story."

Natasha pulled the USB drive out of her jacket pocket and held it out to Steve. He took it from her without hesitation and he glanced between the two women.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."