As Thursday night rolled around, Steve decided they should get out of the Compound before the press conference. He managed to convince Wanda and Sam to come with him, but Natasha stayed back with Pepper so the two could catch up. 

Tony had mentioned something about a festival in a nearby town, so Steve, Sam, and Wanda decided to go. It had been a while since any of them had been to a fall festival and 45 minutes wasn't too long of a drive, all things considered. 

"Can we get apple cider?" Wanda asked, spotting the booth as soon as Steve had parked the car.

"Sure," Steve agreed, locking the car and turning towards the festival.

He followed Wanda to the stand and they bought three warm apple ciders. Once they'd received their drinks, they looked around for something else to do. It didn't take long for Sam to find something.

"Let's do the haunted house."

Steve was about to disagree and suggest the hay ride instead, but Wanda liked Sam's idea and the two were running towards the haunted house before Steve could even open his mouth. Begrudgingly, he followed them towards the line and waited until it was their turn to go through.

While Sam and Wanda blazed ahead, Steve stuck behind them. Since he was in the back, he managed to avoid something jumping in his face while Wanda and Sam were often the ones being scared. 

"Loosen up, Steve," Sam said, elbowing Steve about halfway through. "You're the one that wanted to have fun."

"Haunted houses aren't my idea of fun," Steve replied, looking around the dark halls as best he could.

Sam rolled his eyes, but their conversation was abruptly interrupted as what had appeared to be a statue jumped out and grabbed Steve.

Being grabbed from behind wasn't what Steve had expected and rather than screaming like Wanda and Sam had when something jumped out, he threw back his elbow and flipped the offender over his shoulder. When he looked down at his attacker, his eyes widened.

"What the hell, man?" the vampire groaned. Steve helped him to his feet, apologising profusely and making sure the man wasn't injured. "Don't do haunt houses if you're gonna attack the actors."

Steve tried to apologise again, but the man waved him off and slowly walked back to his post.

Turning back to Wanda and Sam, he said, "See? I shouldn't do haunt houses."

"Whatever, man," Sam chuckled, patting his shoulder. "After this, we'll ride the nice hay ride."

* * * * *

As it turned out, the hay ride was haunted too. After Sam had mockingly asked the driver if the ride was family-friendly and appropriate for the elderly, they'd been told it was actually a haunted ride and they would be visiting old cemeteries. That had been enough for Steve to refuse, telling Wanda and Sam to go on ahead while he went to listen to the band play.

When Wanda and Sam had seemed reluctant to leave him, he promised he'd be alright as the ride was only thirty minutes long; they weren't going to be leaving him alone all night. Besides, he was going to go find himself another glass of that apple cider. 

Steve had just sat down with a new glass of apple cider, ready to enjoy the live music, when his phone rang.

Frowning, he pulled the device from his pocket and looked at who was calling him. The caller ID read 'Pepper Potts' which surprised him. He didn't know he had Pepper's number, but he supposed it shouldn't have been too shocking. Tony had set up the phone for him and Natasha and helped him add contacts, either of them could have thought to add Pepper.

"Hey, Pepper," Steve answered with a smile. "How are you and Natasha doing?"

He wasn't sure what he expected her to say, but it wasn't that the Compound had been invaded.

"Ross," Pepper explained shakily, "he got through FRIDAY and inside the Compound while we were watching a movie."

Steve frowned, walking away from the music to hear her better.

"What happened?" 

"Tony was gone." She sniffled and took another shaky breath. "He flew to Manhattan this afternoon, you remember?"

"Yes, now what happened, Pepper?" Steve repeated, worry growing in his chest. "Are you both alright?"

Pepper choked back a sob, but Steve heard it.

"Natasha," she said, her voice cracking. Steve swore he stopped breathing as Pepper continued through her tears. "They took Natasha. Said she was still a fugitive since she'd signed the Accords and then acted against them."

"What?" Steve demanded, harsher than he meant to. He softly apologised then asked, "How did they get her?"

"They had guns and I didn't," Pepper said. Steve sighed. "She could have taken him, but there were nine of them all with guns and neither of us had anything to fight back with."

"How long ago did they leave?" Steve asked, making his way across the grass and all but running towards the hay ride. Thankfully it hadn't left yet. They were just finishing up loading everyone on board. 

"They left fifteen minutes ago," Pepper answered. "Tony's on his way back now. He'll be here in twenty minutes."

"We'll be there in forty," Steve promised, running faster as the tractor started up.

"Alright." Pepper sniffled again. "Hurry back."

She hung up and Steve shoved his phone in his pocket. Dropping his apple cider in a trash bin, he ran at the tractor and yelled for them to stop. Fortunately, Wanda saw him and pointed him out to Sam then asked the driver to stop. He did, grumbling about how people just couldn't be on time. Instead of Steve getting in, though, he told Wanda and Sam to get out.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, jumping out of the trailer. The driver yelled at him in protest, but the three ignored him.

"Ross was at the Compound," Steve said, turning towards the parking lot. Wanda had to almost jog in order to keep up with him. "He took Nat."

"What?"

Steve nodded, unlocking the car then sliding in. Before Sam had even shut his door, Steve was speeding back to the Compound.