This means war

Chapter 12

"Our brave agents have saved us all from exposure to the world. Agent Christopher and Helena West had infiltrated out agency years ago. They slowly rose through the ranks and gained the trust and respect of us all. Yet, they were secretly collecting information about our S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra factions and storing it. They planned to make several copies of this information and sell them to foreign governments and large-scale criminal and terrorist organizations for 1 billion each copy. We were saved from the brink of disaster by our agents James Barnes, Natalia Romanov, Steve Rogers and Laila Brown. We offer you these medals to commend you for your actions." Nick Fury attached the golden medals to all their blazers with a smile.

The crowd mixed with agents from Hydra, Shield and the Avengers cheered happily. The four on stage smiled brightly before stepping off the stage and returning to their seats. Several other agents were called onto the stage and given medals for their accomplishments before the ceremony was curtained.

"This' my first medal!" Laila beamed excitedly. "I'm so happy."

"I remember when I got my first medal. But now I'm at what? 10," Bucky bragged. Leila squinted her eyes at him but didn't let him dampen her mood.

After the whole ordeal the relations between Hydra and Shield had gotten better. It showed everyone that both factions could work together and harbor fruitful results. Also, both agencies had launched internal investigations to be sure there were no more infiltrators. They had investigated each other's agencies to assure there would be no bias. Naturally this lead to agents being forced to spend a lot of time with each other and some started getting along well.

"I have to go get my hair done for tonight, so I'll see you later!" Laila waved at the group before going a separate way.

"Already?" Bucky questioned. "The banquet doesn't start until six, it's only 11."

"We need all the time we can get!" Nat defended. "Do you know how long it takes for us to achieve perfection?"

"You'd need way more than seven hours to achieve perfection," Bucky teased. "Maybe 11 years."

Nat swatted him playfully, "I'm not going to take offense in such a statement coming from a man with no interest in women." She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. "I'll see you later Steve." She stepped into her car and drove off.

"Want to get ready at my place?" Bucky asked flirtatiously. "You left you suit there anyways."

"Why not," Steve agreed. "I'll see you there." Bucky entered his car and drove off. Steve went to find his parents before he left. Sarah still wasn't talking to him much, but she wasn't completely ignoring him like she was before either. Progress.

His father patted his back encouragingly, "You always make us proud."

Steve smiled gently. "Thanks dad. I'm going to go get ready, but I'll see you both at the banquet tonight." Steve waved at his parents before sliding into his car.

A handful of minutes later he was parking his car inside Bucky's 8 car garage. Bucky owned only two cars, the sports car and his truck, but he had a large collection of motorcycles which seemed to grow every time Steve saw it. He had even more parked at his other house.

"Babe, I'm here!" Steve called as he walked through the garage door and into the house. He got no response, so he ventured farther into the space. Bucky's main house was on of those modern, luxurious constructions that were mostly large windows. It was nice and spacious with three bedrooms. It had been a while since Steve had been there, Bucky had recently been staying at his apartment which was a lot closer to work.

Steve remembered when Bucky had decided to make it his main house. He had helped him set everything up. They had moved all the furniture themselves and had painstakingly turned the large basement into a training space/ gym.