Positive Regard

Chapter Ten

Tony took me to Steve's apartment. He wanted me to stay with Vision and Wanda, so I was getting clothes. He was going to come back and take me there, even though I told him I could get there myself.
When I got home, there was a note on the table, so I picked it up. I didn't know who could have left it.
Ms. Haywood,
I'm sure you've heard about me, but I haven't had the pleasure to make your acquaintance yet. My brother is friends with your friend, Captain Rogers. I'm sure you don't care for a stranger's opinion, but I'll give it anyways. If you return with Mr. Stark today, you'll be safe. After all, if it's fighting between your friends and your lover, how could you not be? I think you should go. My mother and I have been quite invested in the story of you and Sergeant Barnes. She thinks the letters in the Smithsonian are the most romantic things she's ever read.
I don't know how much they've told you, but the new king of Wakanda is out to kill your lover.
—An ally
I probably should have questioned who it was and how it got there, but I didn't. Besides, it wasn't important then. Whoever it was was right. And I was going to go, whether Tony would let me or not. I didn't care if Bucky or Steve wanted me there.
When Tony got there, I got in the car almost before he'd stopped it completely.
"I'm going with you." I said curtly. "You can try to stop me, but I'm going whether you like it or not. So you can take me with you or I'll go myself. Your choice."
"You're not going, Rosie."
"Bite me."
He looked taken aback. "Okay. Fine. You can go."
When he'd said I could go, he didn't say that half the time I'd be sitting in a room by myself, unable to do anything. But it was fine. I knew he was doing it for a good reason. I hadn't thought I would like Tony all that much, but we'd spent a lot of time together (mostly on planes) and I did like him. And his music recommendations were pretty good too. They were nothing like swing dance, of course, but they were okay.
In one of the rooms I was in on a big submarine type thing, he handed me his phone, where an article was pulled up.
"What's this?"
"I don't know what's gonna happen with Bucky or anything, but if he does end up with you, this might help. It's not called shell-shock anymore. It's post-traumatic stress disorder."
"Thank you. What are we doing here, by the way?"
"I'm finding out where Steve and Bucky are."
He was back within a couple of minutes. "Come on. I'm going to Siberia." He said quickly.
I followed him out of the room. "Don't you mean we?"
"No. I don't have a good way to get you there, so you're staying at the next stop."
"I'm coming."
"It's cold and I'm flying in my suit. You can't come."
"I'm coming."
"No, Rosie."
"What would you do if it was Pepper and Rhodey?"
"Still wouldn't let you go."
That wasn't what I was getting at. "I'm coming."
"Are all women scary? What do you want me to do? Steal a plane?"
"What about the helicopter we came on?"
He sighed. "I can't tell the pilot."
"Ask."
"Ask. Yeah, right."
"Go ask to fly alone."
He went to ask and came back. "They said yes." He sounded kind of confused, but he was still walking quickly.
We got in a plane and he told me to stop talking, so I did. After a minute, he broke something and sat down in the pilate's seat.
"What are you doing?"
"Broke the microphone so they can't hear us. I'm gonna fly, and I'm gonna tell you how to dismantle the GPS tracker."
"What's a GPS tracker?"
"It tracks your position."
"You know I can barely work a flip phone, right?"
"Just listen to me. I'll tell you what to do. Just make sure you do it exactly right so we don't crash."
"What?" My eyes widened.
He grinned as the plane lifted off. "Just kidding, it won't make us crash if you mess up. But it might turn the lights off or something. And we still need the map."
I managed to not mess anything up that I wasn't supposed to, so that was good. When I finished, I sat down to finish reading the article.
"Why do you have this?" I asked when I finished.
"Found it for you."
"Steve said you were captured in... what was it? Afghanistan?"
"Yeah. Let's not talk about that. We can when I'm not piloting a plane, if you want." He said after a minute.
"No, sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"It's fine. I'm fine."
"You don't sound fine."
"Well, I am. If you don't cut it out, you'll find yourself parachuting."
I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything else.
"Don't tell anyone I said this, but damn, you're brave. Not many people would be up for marching into Siberia to talk with an assassin and a self-righteous hero about what to do about five other assassins."
"Five others?"
"Yeah."
I looked out the window for a second before it dawned on me. "Tony, are we going to where they kept Bucky?"
He didn't say anything for a second. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."
"Oh, shit."