Battlefield ★ Bucky Barnes

XXXIV. Nice To Meet You

Connie slammed the car door shut and hopped onto the tarmac, wasting no time at all in heading towards the entrance of the Bus. After receiving Phil's location coordinates, Connie left Romania immediately. She had been in a state of anger since she left, not to mention a state of sadness and determination. Bucky had been taken by a man she used to believe she could trust, only to find out the horrible truth. She was furious with the fact that Grant was working for Hydra, and she was absolutely livid that Grant had taken Bucky away from her. She hated knowing that Grant had betrayed Phil as well, not to mention the rest of Phil's team.

As Connie continued towards the plane, she was stopped by a colored man. He looked vaguely familiar to her, but she didn't have the time to work out who he was. She had to get to Phil so she could get Bucky back.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you don't have the clearance to board this plane," the man spoke to her. "You need to leave now or I'll have to escort you back to your vehicle myself, and it won't be very gentle either."

Connie rolled her eyes and pushed past the man, much to his annoyance.

The man grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back to prevent her from boarding the plane, but this only made Connie angrier than she already was. The man didn't even have the time to reprimand her again before Connie spun back around and wrapped her fist around the base of his throat. She was in no mood to deal with anyone who saw the need to compromise her plans, regardless of whether or not they were Phil's agents or following protocol. She cared about nothing at the moment except getting to Phil so she could get Bucky back.

"Never touch me," Connie instructed the man angrily as she slowly lifted him into the air, much to his shock. "And never threaten me."

"Agent Jones," Connie heard a familiar voice call to her.

She snapped her head over to see Phil standing inside the plane, just between the two vehicles parked inside, one in which she knew was Phil's beloved Lola.

"I'd appreciate it if you would let go of Agent Trip," Phil said to her. "We have some things we need to talk about."

Connie looked back at Agent Trip, her eyes glistening with anger as she placed him back onto the ground. Agent Trip was rather bewildered and a bit annoyed with himself that he hadn't known who she was beforehand. Connie was one of the few people left on the planet who knew his grandfather personally, and she was also one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest agents. He wasn't sure why he hadn't recognized her sooner.

"You would also be wise to take heed of her words, Agent Trip," Phil said to Trip with a small smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, Agent Jones," Trip apologized.

Connie only looked at him and continued on towards the plane, following Phil further inside the enormous aircraft. The two of them headed upstairs, where the remainder of Phil's team, aside from May, were relaxing in the loft. They stopped what they were doing, however, when they took notice of the woman trailing behind Phil.

"Oh my gosh, it's her," Connie heard a Scottish accent mutter.

She stopped and turned to the group of people sitting in the loft, prompting Phil to stop as well. There were only three—a man and two women. Connie figured this was the small fraction of Phil's team that she had yet to meet, and of course she wanted to be more excited about meeting them, but there was just so much on her mind at the moment.

"Are you going to introduce me to the rest of your team, Phil?" Connie asked him. "It's only right that I grow familiar with them if I'm going to be working with them."

The brown-eyed girl's eyes widened at the sound of Connie's words. The thought of working with Connie made her particularly happy for some reason. "You're going to be working with us? Like, you're going to join our team?"

"Not exactly," Phil answered her. "You're going to be working with her."

"Why? What do you mean?" the girl with the dirty blonde hair asked with furrowed brows. "Not that I am at all objecting to the possibility of working with you, Agent Jones, but I truly am curious as to why we are."

"We're going to help her find someone, Simmons; we owe her that much, and later I'll explain why," Phil informed her before looking at a frowning Connie. "This is Skye, Gemma Simmons, and Leo Fitz."

Connie nodded at the three of them. "It's nice to meet you all."

"If you'll excuse us," Phil said before pulling Connie away from the group and into his office. He closed the door behind them and led her further into the room, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to look at her.

Phil could see just how tore up about the situation she was, and he could see that she wanted to break down, but her current location prevented her from doing so. She cared about being seen in such an emotional state, but Phil didn't necessarily care about that. He had seen her in this state before when he helped rescue her from what he now knew to be Hydra, and he knew it was not at all healthy for her to keep those emotions buried inside her. With each passing day, they would only get stronger and stronger, not to mention harder and harder for her to deal with.

"Connie," Phil spoke to her in a rather coaxing manner.

Connie shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "I know what you're trying to do, and it's not going to work."

"Are you sure about that? Because I could think of at least three things to say to you right now that would break you in half," Phil retorted as he took a step toward her. "You lost him, you got him back, and then you lost him again."

Connie squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the tears building up inside her, ready to push their way out. She knew what Phil was trying to do; he had done it multiple times before when she tried to conceal her emotions. He said what he needed to in order to break her, though he did it out of love.

"He's the love of your life, Connie, and you're gonna stand here in front of me without a single tear in those brown eyes knowing that he's gone again," Phil continued pushing her. "What if we can't find him? What if we do find him and it's too late, Connie? You know better than anyone what they'll do to him—what Ward will do to him—and they will do it just to hurt you."

"I will not hesitate to rip someone's throat out if they hurt him," Connie snapped as the tears began to flow down her face. "Ward's included."

Phil held his hands up in defeat. "I'm well aware."

Connie wiped her face and sat down on the arm to one of the chairs in Coulson's office. "We have to get him back, Phil."

"And we will," he reassured her. "My team and I will do whatever we can to help you get him back."

"But it isn't their responsibility, and come to think of it, it isn't yours either," Connie sniffed.

Phil moved to stand beside her. "Theoretically, it is. A member of our team is responsible for this, so we owe it to you to help fix this."

A few more tears fell down Connie's face and she stood up to hug Phil. She wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders and cried, unable to express just how grateful she was to have him in her life. He was always there for her, and he proved that was something that would never change no matter how busy he was or how much time passed by.

"Thank you," Connie said as she squeezed him tighter.

"Like I've said before, I'd do anything for you." Phil pulled away from her, though his hold on her shoulders remained, "Did you call Steve and tell him about what happened?"

Connie let out a breath and shook her head. Steve didn't even know Connie and Bucky had been together, let alone did he know that Hydra had taken him once again. The fact of it only made Connie feel guilty; not only did she keep the information regarding her status with Bucky from Steve in the first place, but she also disobeyed Phil when he first instructed her to tell him.

"No, he doesn't even know that I've been with Bucky, Phil," Connie told him.

Phil let out a breath and shook his head. "I thought I told you to tell him?"

"I wanted to, but Bucky asked me not to," Connie defended herself. "Please don't tell him, Phil."

"Okay," Phil said. "I won't tell him."

Of course, Connie was thankful for his words, but what she missed was just how untrue they were.