Chapter Ten : America's Kneecaps

•°• ✾ •°•

     She was starting to lose her sense of time again. But then she would see the date on the local newspaper and realize that it had been a year since she returned to New York. It also made her remember how long it had been since she became one of those people wandering the streets without a place to call home. She couldn't stay in one place for very long or else she would be attacked again and she barely escaped the last time someone attacked her. She assumed it was someone from HYDRA who hadn't been caught yet after all information about the organization was released to the public.

     Thoughts of her family and what they could possibly be doing crossed her mind every day. She imagined that on Christmas and New Year's, they did the same things they always did when she was there. The city was still beautiful during the winter so she took the time to appreciate it when walking down the streets. Every now and then, she would spend a night in a motel room, especially when it was really cold outside and then she would be gone first thing in the morning. Now spring was here so she didn't need to check out a room as often as she needed to in the winter. She didn't know how she was able to do this for a year but she remembered why she was doing it and kept pushing.

     As Valencia was walking, she felt as if she was being watched. She looked around to see if anybody was watching her but she couldn't figure out who it was or if her mind was just playing tricks on her. After everything she went through with HYDRA for two years, it wouldn't surprise her if this was just her paranoia acting up. She exhaled slowly to calm herself down as she kept walking and moved around the people on the streets. But even though she kept telling herself that it was probably nothing, she couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching her.

     After a while, the feeling started to overwhelm her and she walked back to the motel room she checked into until the next day and sighed once she was inside. Unfortunately for her, that small feeling of relief was short-lived when she saw a man standing in a familiar red, white and blue suit and the same round metal shield with the same colours. He was facing the window but he must've heard the hitch in her breathing when she saw him standing there and he turned around to look at her.

     She had the hood over her head like she always did and she was wearing her usual baggy clothes so she remained unnoticed by others. Her hair had grown a little bit over the last year and there were some knots that she needed to brush out. She didn't look like the same woman who tried to kill him alongside the Winter Soldier on the helicarrier back in Washington D.C. She swallowed the growing lump in her throat when she looked at the size difference between them. This man was six foot two and probably weighed nearly two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. She was only five foot three, didn't really have much muscle of her own and she was overall much smaller than he was. From what she remembered from her last few encounters with him, he was very fast, very strong and could probably kill her just by punching her. Not to mention that his shield could definitely slice her in half if he threw it hard enough.

     "Do you remember me?" he asked and Valencia swallowed the lump in her throat.

     "Steve Rogers. You were my mission," she answered quietly. He stepped closer and she raised her hand as she took a step back to keep the distance between them. "Don't come any closer."

     "Hey, you were the one who tried to kill me," Rogers remarked.

     "You don't know what would've happened if I didn't," Valencia replied defensively.

     "I think I do. HYDRA threatened you, didn't they? They probably threatened the people you love as well. Your mother, your father, your little brothers," Rogers said and Valencia's heart skipped a beat.

     How did he know about them?

     "Why are you here?" she questioned as she stood up straight, demanding an answer.

     "I just wanna help you," Rogers said and Valencia scoffed.

     "I don't need your help, what I need is for you to leave me alone," she said as she glared at the larger man in front of her.

     "You've been wandering the streets by yourself with nowhere to live for a year now," Rogers stated.

     "If I go back to them, I'll just be putting them in danger," Valencia said.

     "Not if someone can protect them," the man in the suit offered.

     "I can protect them just fine by staying away from them."

     "Running and hiding won't make your problems go away."

     "Watch me."

     Valencia threw a projectile force field at him but he blocked it with his shield. He was distracted long enough for her to run past him and out the window but he chased after her. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her even though she knew that Rogers was much faster and was probably hot on her trail. She ran through many people who were on the streets, hoping to lose him but something knocked her off her feet and sent her rolling on the pavement. She quickly got up and it was the Bird Man from D.C. and she rolled her eyes.

     "Jesus, just leave me alone!" she said as she glared at him.

     "Not gonna happen," he said. In retaliation, she generated another projectile force field and threw it at him like she did with Rogers. It nearly hit one of the mechanical wings but he dodged in time while she made a run for it. "Cap, she doesn't wanna listen."

     "Go after her," Rogers said and the Bird Man did just that.

     Valencia made many random turns as she ran, hoping to throw the two men off her trail but one had enhanced speed and the other had an artificial wingsuit that he could use to fly. She ran into the road and heard tires screeching against the pavement as she reached the other side and kept running. God, damn these bastards. Valencia's lungs started to burn from the consistent running and she ran into an empty alleyway and dropped her bag on the ground. She made herself invisible and leaned against the wall to catch her breath as she waited for them to go away. She covered her mouth when she heard one of their voices and tried to stay calm.

     "We lost her," the Bird Man said through his ear piece.

     "She's probably invisible. Be careful, Sam, and look closely," Rogers said.

     The man in the bird suit stopped in front of the alleyway where Valencia was hiding and she hoped that he would continue walking. She managed to stay invisible but this man just wouldn't go away. If he wasn't going to leave, then she was going to have to do something instead of waiting for him to keep moving. She ran up to the man whose name was Sam and punched him in the face. She kicked him in the stomach and he stumbled back and then she punched him in the chest.

     "Found her!" Sam grunted as she kicked him in the side.

     "Keep her busy!" Rogers said while Valencia kept hitting him, focused on taking him down so she could have enough time to shake him and get away.

     "Won't be a problem," Sam said as he tried to figure out where the kicks and punches were coming from.

     "Try to make her visible again," Rogers said.

     Sam was pushed against the wall and saw a can of spray paint on the ground. He picked it up and pressed on the nozzle and the red paint revealed Valencia's presence as it stained her hoodie.

     "Cap, she's trying to make a run for it," Sam said as she became visible again and tried to run out of the alleyway.

     Out of nowhere, Rogers showed up and grabbed Valencia's arm and wrapped something around her wrists. She tried to make a force field to push him away but all that happened was a purple tinged flicker.

     "I wouldn't try anything if I were you. That device was made to keep you from using your abilities. Until someone takes it off, you can't make any force fields or make yourself invisible," Rogers explained and Valencia glared at him while Sam picked up her bag.

     "Are you kidding me?" she seethed as she tried to take off the cuffs but failed.

     "Well, you didn't wanna sit down and talk so instead, you ran and then we chased you," Rogers said while shrugging his shoulders and Valencia kicked him in the leg hard enough to make him stumble.

     "Go to Hell!" she said while Sam grabbed her arms and pulled her away from Rogers while he rubbed the area on his leg she just assaulted with her foot.

     "Jesus, what are you, five or something?" Sam asked while Valencia wiggled out of his grip and turned around to face him.

     "Bite me, Big Bird," she said.

     "You know, it's kind of hard to believe that you tried to kill us," Sam laughed and Valencia rolled her eyes.

     "You didn't think so when I kicked you off the helicarrier," she said and Sam raised his eyebrows.

     "We just need you to come with us," Rogers said.

     "And why would I do that, Cap?" Valencia questioned.

     "Because I know someone who can take those cuffs off and he's the only one who can do it. So, unless you wanna stay stuck in them for a very long time, you need to come with us," Rogers said.

     Valencia scoffed. "Seriously?" she asked. She didn't want to go anywhere with these people but apparently, there was only one person who could get her out of those cuffs and if she didn't go with them, she could be stuck in them for more than she would've liked. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, "Fine."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

     Valencia sat in the backseat of the car with her head against the window while Sam sat in the passenger seat and Rogers was the one driving. Sam wasn't wearing his wing suit anymore and Rogers was still in his Captain America suit but he had his helmet off and his shield was in the trunk, along with Sam's wingsuit.

     "So, you're the Red Lady?" Sam asked and Valencia lifted her head in interest.

     "Is that what they've been calling me?" she questioned.

     "No, it's what I've been calling you. Everybody I know just knows you as the Lady in Red," Sam replied. "I'm still working on the name."

     "Where are we even going? If I'm going to be held in the backseat of Captain America's car, the least he could do is tell me where he's taking me," Valencia said while glaring at the back of Rogers' head and all he could do was exhale.

     "First, you gotta tell me everything you know about Bucky," he said.

     "You mean Sergeant Barnes?" Valencia asked.

     "Yeah, that's him," Rogers replied with a small nod.

     "Oh, yeah. I remember him. He tried to strangle me the first time I met him," Valencia said as she leaned back in her seat. Sam and Rogers looked at her through the rearview mirror and she shrugged her shoulders. "You did say everything."

     "I never realized how much of a smartass you are until now," Sam said and Valencia plastered a fake smile on her face.

     "Is there anything else you can tell me about him?" Rogers questioned.

     "After everything that happened that day on the highway, we went back to fix his arm, which by the way you damaged with your giant metal frisbee. He started asking Pierce who you were and he said he knew you and Pierce didn't like that so they wiped his mind with some sort of machine and this guy said these words in Russian. And then after that, it was like he didn't even know where he was," Valencia said as she remembered the sound of his screams and the way Rumlow forced her to watch everything they did to him.

     "And you just watched it happen?" Sam asked and Valencia scoffed as she leaned forward.

     "Do you think I wanted to watch HYDRA torture another human being in ways that were worse than what they would do to me? Pierce and Rumlow made me watch and even if I wasn't being forced to stay in place, you don't know what would've happened if I stepped out of line. Knowing HYDRA, they would've found some other ways to torture either one of us in ways far worse than what they were already doing," Valencia said. "I doubt you could understand the position I was in."

     "Feel free to enlighten me," Sam replied.

     "Let's say I decided to threaten you. And then I tell you to do what I say or I'll kill you and you know I will do it. And just to make a point, I shoot you so you can't fight back. And just when you think I couldn't stoop to a lower level, I threaten dear old Steve here and everyone you've ever loved and the only way to make sure I keep my end of the bargain and leave them unharmed is to do what I say. Imagine how helpless you would feel in that moment, knowing that all it takes is one wrong move for your world to crash and burn. One little mistake and you could lose everything. And I almost did lose everything," Valencia said as she fell back against the seat and swallowed the lump in her throat.

     "I just have another question for you," Rogers said.

     "Fine," Valencia replied while looking outside the window.

     "Why did you pull me out of the river that day?" he asked and she shook her head.

     "I didn't pull you out of the river, that was all Barnes," she answered.

     "And how do you know this?" Sam asked.

     "Because he pulled me out too and we were the only ones there. We both agreed to leave everything with HYDRA behind and forget we even met each other and I haven't seen or even heard about him since then," Valencia said. "I told you everything I know about Barnes, now you tell me where you're taking me."

     "Somewhere you'll be safe," Rogers said and Valencia looked out the window.

     She noticed that they were driving in an area that she didn't recognize and she couldn't help but ask, "Why did you even come to find me?"

     "I asked Romanoff to get me the file HYDRA had of you. After that, Sam here agreed to help me find you," Rogers said.

     "So, Captain America, for no reason, just decided to track me down and find me?" Valencia asked with her eyebrows raised as Rogers continued driving.

     "Well, you were in the state so it wasn't that hard," Sam said.

     "And yet, it took you a year to find me," Valencia remarked.

     "In our defence, you moved around a lot and you blended in."

     "That's the whole point, Cap."

     After a while of driving, Rogers parked in front of a huge tower with the letter A on display for the whole world to see. Once he got out, he opened the door so Valencia could get out and he led her into the tower while Sam walked behind her. She wanted to laugh at how Sam felt the need to stay so close to her as if she was going to be able to do anything with the cuffs on her wrists. She could take him on with just her hands and feet but Rogers would be able to overpower her without any questions. She needed to know when to fight her battles but she also needed to know when to let some of them slide. And this was one of those cases where she needed to be smart and let it slide. She was outnumbered and outmuscled on this one so all she could do was let Rogers take her to the one person who was supposed to take her cuffs off.