Avenger Arising → Bucky Barnes [3]

01|I SPY

Maybe, just maybe, the reader of Alchemy Jones' story would like to believe that Ally had finally begun to live her life in acceptance. Maybe the pain and suffering she had endured for so long was finally ease. Perhaps everyone would like to assume that after Ultron was defeated, Ally took Stark's offer to stay at the Avenger new building. Maybe things would've been different if Ally hadn't left like a shadow in the night, leaving the Avengers building in the dead of night, leaving without telling anyone. She knew Clara was in good care, she would train with Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson and Valerie VanDyke to be the Avenger everyone believed she could be.

But just like every other shadow, you can only see it during certain parts of the day. She left a simple note, stating that she wasn't gone forever and they (the Avengers but mainly Steve and Clara) had to understand that she had to search for him on her own. It made sense at the time and perhaps Steve understood too. Ally stated very clearly that if she even saw a glimpse of him, she'd report it immediately to Steve.

"She'll come back," Steve had said in the early morning upon finding the note in her perfect handwriting. "We can't stop her or follow her."

Tony Stark himself shook his head. "My only question is that after two and a half years, she decides now is a good time?"

Clara glanced at Valerie from across the room. "I guess you go the extra mile for someone you care about."

"I don't understand why everyone is so calm," Sam questioned. "She knows all of us have been looking for Barnes, why not just look together?"

"Because she's smart Wilson," Tony explained logically. "What are the chances she finds him if the world's mightiest heroes are looking for an assassin?"

Sam rolled his eyes and mimicked Tony before leaning against the countertop. "So we just let her?"

"She said she'd be back," Valerie spoke up, her blonde hair flowing freely down her back. "It's Ally, despite her glorious pride and sarcasm, if she needed help she would call."

"I don't see Nat every meeting we have," Clara pointed out. "She's here and there, if Ally does the same it isn't that big of a deal."

"You're awfully calm for someone who's mentor just left."

"I know she'll come back," she shrugged, glaring at Tony. "It's simple, if we don't hear from her in a long time, we reach out."

"Sounds like a plan," Steve nodded. "I guess that settles things, let's get back to work."

Ally responded to two of Clara's phone calls while she was gone for the first month. They were short and sweet. Clara updated Ally on what was happening, who was where, what missions she had done. Sometimes it made Ally regret leaving, things seemed to be going so well. She especially loved hearing Clara mumble and stutter about Valerie whenever she came up in discussion. Ally would ask to talk to Steve and their conversation would be very brief. Ally would explain that she thought she had a lead but she was wrong, Steve told her she can come back any time. Ally refused.

That was the first month of Ally being gone, the second month was a little more difficult. The public eye wanted to know why Alchemy Jones wasn't with the Avengers, why she wasn't on the news for some brilliant scientific discovery like how she should be. She only picked up one call from Steve that month, hanging up out of aggression within the first ten minutes. Ally was growing desperate, she wanted to find Barnes but the problem was that he didn't want to be found.

Ally typed away on her computer frantically as if it was her last piece of sanity. She was keeping a journal entry for everyday since she had left the Avengers building. The coffee she had bought was over-priced and at first, Ally found it too bitter. It sat in a white china cup, a leaf pattern in it's delicate milky foam. She wrapped her fingers around it, enjoying the heat that spread through her hands. She took another sip, still bitter, but it was the only thing keeping her awake. The small Italian cafe was located in Azzano, Italy, was one she remembered visiting as a young girl with her mother.

She settled her coffee down on the table and went back to typing. A man, much taller than she was and cloaked in mystery, walked past her table. One accident lead to the next and his hip hit her coffee, knocking the hot beverage all over her jeans. She jumped up immediately, the hot beverage scorching her leg.

"Sei stupido!" she grabbed a napkin, looking at the taller figure angrily. "Molte grazie!"

The stranger stood there for a moment, completely stunned that he had just done that. Ally was quick to recognize he wasn't a local, but merely a tourist as he struggled to come up with a sentence in Italian. "Scusa."

Her face softened as she stopped to look at the stranger with the same pair of raybans she was wearing. "At least you know something in Italian," she laughed, wiping up the coffee that spilt on the table. "It's alright, just watch where you're going next time."

"Right–" he stuttered, putting a hand through his dark hair. "I'm sorry, it was an accident."

"I believe you," she told him with a friendly smile. "You're American?"

"I think so," he offered the same smile. "I've been out of America for so long, it'll probably seem as foreign as Europe does to me."

"Touring?"

"I guess you could say that," he picked up the fallen coffee cup. "Hey, at least I didn't spill any on your computer."

"That's always a good thing," she chuckled. "I'm sorry for calling you stupid."

He shrugged. "It was pretty stupid."

"I'm Sofia," she put a hand through her hair, only giving out her middle name. "Just so you know."

His mind went blank for a moment. "Uh yeah...I'm Grant."

Ally stuck out her hand and shook the stranger's. "It was nice meeting you Grant, even though you spilt coffee on me."

"I'm really sorry about that," he mumbled. "Not my finest day."

"Easily forgiven," she packed up her laptop. "Maybe I'll catch you around Azzano sometime?"

"I think I'm taking off to Bucharest tonight."

"Bucharest?" she raised an eyebrow. "What's waiting there?"

"I'm not sure yet," he stopped to look at her once more. "Good luck with whatever you're writing."

"Good luck in Bucharest."

And just like that, two people who had known each other for almost a century, parted without knowing that fate was trying to say something.

—

"She said she'd be back," Valerie spoke up, her blonde hair flowing freely down her back. "It's Ally, despite her glorious pride and sarcasm, if she needed help she would call."