I'm Here | ✓

45 - Developments

The next morning, I wake up on the couch with a cold sense that something's wrong.

Steve's head is resting on my shoulder, our hands clasped lightly in my lap. I admire his long eyelashes and gentle giant nature before focusing on exactly what feels off. I glance around, spotting nothing out of place; no broken windows, no busted doors, no bootprints on the floors. This isn't the first time I've felt paranoid, and normally, my sense is spot on when it comes to danger, but this is weird.

I glance out the windows that I can see from here and look to the other rooftops, looking for snipers like my first day here, but I don't see anyone. I'm getting aggravated. I tilt my head down, just a little, to check for the knife I taped under the kitchen table. It's still there. What is wrong with me?

Carefully, awkwardly, I slide my hand up and under Steve's head where it rests on my arm. To the best of my ability, I maneuver my body out from underneath him, gently tucking a pillow underneath him as I lay him down. I watch for a few moments, wondering if he's going to wake up, but his breathing remains slow and steady. I pace around in my socks silently, drawing the curtains closed so as not to wake him and also, to give us a little privacy.

I walk to the bathroom first, checking the shower and behind the mirror and in every drawer. There's nothing gone, nothing added. Everything is exactly how it was left, I think, but I check everything again just to be absolutely certain.

On my way across the hall to the bedroom, I can't resist another glance into the living room and kitchen. Steve is still fast asleep on the couch, there's still six knives in the knife block, the door is locked. I think back to last night, with Steve and I watching movies. There wasn't anything abnormal then. We just got so tired that he drifted off, and I remember smiling down at him and going to sleep too... wait.

The TV was on when we both fell asleep.

I backtrack. It definitely was. We were in the middle of Mary Poppins, at the part where Mary sings the really long word to the kids eating candy apples. I don't remember anything after that, but the TV was on. Maybe Steve woke up and turned it off in the middle of the night? I make a mental note and move on to the bedroom with increased anxiety.

It doesn't take much searching to find out what's wrong with the bedroom. Everything is in perfect order. Steve's books are lined neatly on the shelves, the bed is neatly made, but it's what's sitting on the bed that's most concerning.

It's a single sheet of paper with a typed out note. My stomach drops, and I rush to grab it.

Addressed to Steve Rogers and James Barnes.

As you can see, we've been watching you two for a while. After Zemo left, our agency fell apart, but not so far apart that we all disappeared. After the arrest of our leader, we regrouped. It's similar to your current situation with Hydra; they have fallen apart, but they are not quite gone. Perhaps I should say "we." After all, we are nearly becoming one and the same, which means we have a single mission; retrieve our Soldier.

I'm nearly sick reading this. Hydra's back? But Natasha released all their files to the public, every hideous thing they had done, destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. in the process. How could they be back? Back for me? Despite my confusion, I keep reading, pacing to the doorframe to support myself.

It is not very cooperative anymore. It has been too long out of cryofreeze, and it is starting to regain its memories, although jumbled, which I assume can be nothing short of confusing. Our technology wasn't perfected until after it stopped becoming important, but now, with the other Soldiers dead, it becomes fundamental that we complete Zemo's mission. There is no hope of recovery for the Soldier now, because it has too many memories to erase, but the more human it becomes, the more ties it creates. Of course, that leads us to Captain America, a possible romantic interest, and the Wakandan vibranium the Soldier's arm is clearly made of. You two might have thought you were going undercover, but we've been watching you at every turn.