Bound By Purpose

Favors and Futures

"Where's Steve?" I look up and see Wanda looking intently at me. It had been a few days since we got back and she had apologized again and again for what had happen. I couldn't blame her... how could I. Losing someone that close... it can mess with you.

I get up from my chair behind the workshop table, "He's walking Thor and Tony out I think." As I say this the large doors to the hangar opens. Steve and Natasha walk out. I look up with a smirk before looking around at the recruits. Wanda, Vision, Rhodey and myself, Sam lands next to me. They stop at the top of the stairs for a moment as Steve calls out, "AVENGERS... SUIT UP." They both skip down the stairs and ss they come by they all the recruits follow suit. Steve stops next to me. "Not coming with us?"

I shake my head with a slight smile. "Nick wants me here. Besides, Tony's fixing my suit for me." Steve nods.

"Well there's always a place for you, I hope you know that."

"I do." I say with a genuine smile. We lock at our forearms quickly before he turns to board with the new team. I smile at them, arms crossed, until they disappear from my sights. My smile fades as I turn back towards the doors. It was true, Nick does need me here. He's waiting for me just on the other side.

"Just couldn't wait could you." I say walking past him towards my room. 

"I don't exactly have all the time in the world." He proclaims. I nod in understanding.

"None of us do Nick." I close the door behind us and sit on my bed as he sits in a chair. After a moment of silence I start to speak. "I have nothing for you Nick. I don't know what you want from me."

"Wanda wouldn't tell you?"

"She can't tell exactly when something could take place, she can only interpret it..." Tony and I had a long conversation on the matter on the way back to base. "Tony thinks we may have avoided the whole thing." I know Tony is hopeful but I'm not so sure that we're completely out of the woods yet.

"What do you think?" He asks sensing my uneasiness. 

"I think something's coming, something big, but I also think that as long as the team stays together we'll get through it. I have faith in that." Nick nods and stands, ready to leave without another comment.

Though he's done shady things in the past and things that I haven't always agreed with, he has always had our backs as a group. "You're part of that team too Nick. We'd all be dead if you hadn't done what you did."

"Don't say I never did anything for ya." I think he's implying about the helicarrier, but he proves me wrong by pulling a folder from inside his coat. No more words are passed between us as I take the folder and he leaves.

I lean back in my bed. My heart starts to thump in my chest at the sight of the Russian on the cover. I have to close my eyes for a moment. I rest my hand on it for just a moment, am I ready to go through this again. I make up my mind rather quickly, that yes, if there was any chance at finding him that I was ready.

Years of knowledge from the SSR, Army, DOD, CIA, and SHIELD, grace the pages... They all have files on him. The latest entry was from the Defense Office...

Last seen:  Vienna, Austria... Not immediate threat. 

They had eyes on him. I let out a loose breath knowing that they aren't specifically going after him. I flip through the previous pages and see that he's clearly been moving eastward across Europe. It was a decent start at finding him. He seemed to move in a near perfect pattern, every two months he'd hop to another city within the country and then a week later he'd be spotted in a whole nother country. 

I would read this file cover to cover over and over, I would study it until I memorized it all. I will find him. I can feel it within myself, that our time apart is nearing its end.