Taming The Ghost

Chapter 18

A/N: Hi guys! It's been a while since I've updated this story and for that I'm sorry. I had some things to take care of in my personal life, but I have returned and I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I hope you enjoy the new chapter! :)

I had decided, but once I did this, there was no turning back. I would be a fugitive of the law. I would become one of the very people I had worked so hard with S.H.I.E.L.D to obtain. It was quite ironic, really. My bags were packed and my mind was made up, all I had to do was get out of the tower without question or suspicion being raised. As I headed down to the communal kitchen to grab breakfast, these were the thoughts that plagued my mind.

"Hey there kiddo, how you doin'?" Tony piped up chirpily from the stove where he had eggs and bacon cooking simultaneously. I must admit, it smelled delicious, but the scent also made my stomach churn. That, however, could also have been due to nerves.

"Not too bad, Stark. Oh, and please stop calling me kiddo, I'm almost 22. It's insulting." I replied

"Ok, ok, feisty. Can do." he said in his usual understanding tone. He knew where to draw the line with me and it was probably for the best, I tended to snap easily when pushed too far. "Want some bacon?" he asked as he raised up his spatula, a piece of perfectly cooked bacon sitting atop it.

"Sure, why not." I answered, sliding a plate along the countertop towards Tony, who caught it and slipped two pieces of bacon on there, alongside a pile of scrambled eggs. I collected my food and grabbed a fork from the drawer. Upon digging into the eggs, I realised they tasted quite plain. Grabbing the salt and pepper grinders, I seasoned my food and informed Tony "These eggs are awful, remind me to teach you how to make scrambled eggs that don't taste like cardboard some time." To this, he simply laughed and nodded. Little did he know, that time would never come. A few moments of silence later and Tony spoke up again from the dining table.

"Oh, did you know that Barnes escaped from our facility?" This fact, of course, did not surprise me as I had already known about the incident, but I did my best to appear shocked in order to keep my cover intact.

"What?! No way, how did that even happen? I thought Steve had it all under control."

"Yeah, me too, but evidently not. Apparently, he kicked some guards asses and stole one of the old pick-ups from the basement."

"Do they know where he's gone?"

"Not a clue, they think he's headed back to Washington but there's nothing they can use to track him. He doesn't have any electronics and those trucks were only supposed to be for maintenance so they never fitted them with trackers."

"Damn, Steve's got his work cut out for him."

"Hasn't he just. Luckily for him and the rest of his motley crew, I'm now lending a helping hand as well so it shouldn't be too long before we find him and apprehend him again." said Stark confidently.

"Y'know, arresting him and putting him back into cells with nobody to talk to isn't going to help anything. He's just going to keep trying to get out."

"Yeah, well, maybe he should try not running from us. It'd make his life a whole lot easier." I knew this wasn't true. His life was going to be difficult for a long time before he could get himself cleaned up, and locking him away wasn't going to help.

After finishing up breakfast in silence and placing my plate in the sink, I headed back to my room to grab the bag I had packed. This consisted of my iPod, earphones, notebooks, my wallet, clothes and two fake passports, one for me and one for Bucky. I thought up an excuse for Tony, just in case I ran into him, so that I could get away with taking such a huge bag with me, grabbed my phone and shopping list and headed out as quickly as I could so as to avoid detection. Miraculously, I made it out undetected and, with my plan in motion, I walked as quickly as I could, putting on a black baseball cap, which matched my red shirt, black hoodie and black skinny jeans, and pulling it low over my face, to ensure that remained to be true.