a/n: the moment we've all been waiting for. **Words in bold are spoken in Romanian.

TW: death, falling off a build*ng.

-----

Talk about a look.

I was donning a new one, something I haven't done in a long while ever since the Avengers hauled my ass to their facility. It was strange to admit that I felt...comfortable. My hair was a different shade, my clothes were bland yet credible enough to blend in with the locals and I put on some coloured contact lenses. It was a routine that I was used to, dressing up like somebody else. Before it almost felt like an inescapable chore, but I found myself missing it.

Once again, I've lost myself in the art of disguise for the sake of going undercover. S.H.I.E.L.D was on our asses, and God knows how many goddamn people they have all over the globe.

"Normally, I'd dye my hair." I adjusted the cheap wig on my scalp, making sure my real hair was tucked in neatly so it wouldn't poke out and ruin the look. "Rogers could've at least bought me a better wig. Now, I just look like I'm getting dressed for Halloween."

"Lucky for you, it's almost October," Pietro replied. I could see him through the reflection of the mirror that we were both standing in front of. "It doesn't look too bad, yeah?"

I'd convinced him to cut his hair.

His head - once covered with that voluminous silver monster he called hair - looked different now, with his hair close-cropped instead of medium-lengthed. It took some serious cajoling, but I managed to convince all three of the men that wearing a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses was not a feasible disguise or a disguise at all.

"You surely look like a Daniel." Daniel Dalca, the fake identity that he had taken over. With his freshly cut, slicked-back hair and dark denim jacket, he looked nothing like the Pietro I had grown accustomed to.

He brought a hand up to touch his hair, "It feels weird."

"It's supposed to," I told him, eyeing his new look attentively. "If it feels normal, then you're not doing a good job. That's what I tell myself."

"You're right."

That's a first. "First day on the job and you're already fitting in just right, Daniel."

"Oh, this is not my first job, Cristina." Then there's me, Cristina Rusu. We both picked common names so it wouldn't stand out and bring about suspicion. Plus, we could both pass as locals.

"Ah, yes." My lips lifted in a half-smirk. "You went undercover when you tried to catch me back then in that bar. What a good job you've done! I could hardly notice when you spoke into your earpiece."

It was funny, thinking about it now. Maybe if Romanoff had been the one to enter that bar, it would've been quicker.

"That was not going undercover." He scowled. Mocking him was fun and I liked it. Honestly, it was nothing of malicious intent, I just liked seeing him react. Tie me up and call me a bully. "But you're here with me, so who's the loser, huh?"

Ouch. "Fair game, Maximoff."

The door opened before I could come back with a better retort, revealing both Sam and Steve -now, Mark and Hector - already in their disguises. Steve had insisted on sticking with his baseball cap strategy, not wanting to do anything to his beloved hair. I told him it would just look stupid. I mean, out of all of us, he was the hardest one to hide. His super-soldier body wasn't exactly indistinguishable. So, I made - or more like threatened - him to wear a bulky ass jacket. Now, he just looked like a lumberjack.

Sam, on the other hand, had on an outfit similar to mine. Perfectly Bland, a recipe I've since perfected. He was the one who flew us to Bucharest with a jet that he borrowed from a friend who owed him a favour, which made me realise how nice it must be to have friends in times of need. We arrived 15 hours ago. Through his numerous connections, Steve found us a safe house that was a small cottage at the edge of the city. It was a good spot, I'll give him that, but I do wish it was bigger. I was used to living solo, four people in a two-bedroom house felt like I was being trapped in a sardine can.

With all four of us in a room now, it was almost claustrophobic.

"What's the plan for today?" Sam asked, leaning against the door frame with his hands shoved into the pocket of his jacket. "We punchin' anybody?"

God, I wish. I needed an outlet for all these emotions swirling in my head. Punching someone would make me feel better. I hope.

"We're going to the city." Steve smoothed the fabric of his pants as he came to stand in front of me and Pietro. "See if we can find anything useful."

"What? You think we're going to find him out in the open?" I chastised. He's a killer, he shouldn't be out in public like a normal, law-abiding citizen. If he knew any better, he would be hiding away like a groundhog. "He's got a metal arm. Unless he wants to be seen, we won't find anything useful."

"Well, what would you suggest?" His voice was taking on a tone that sounded more like he wanted me to shut up rather than answering his question. Once more, I was reminded of my position on this so-called 'team'. I wasn't anyone's friend. I was still an enemy, just a useful one at the moment.

"You brought me along to help you. I'm just trying to do exactly that, Rogers." I reminded him. "We should split up, it's less suspicious. Scour the sketchy areas of town. He'll most likely be hiding in an apartment building. Best-case scenario, we find something that could lead us to where he is now. Worst case scenario, we lose a day's worth of scouting."

Steve looked indifferent, but he wasn't opposing.

"Teams of two. We search each area for three hours tops. We meet back at our rendevous point at sundown."

A compromise. I guess that's why he's the Captain.

"I'll go with Y/N." Pietro offered, much to my surprise.

Steve looked at me, shrugging. I don't get why Pietro would want to team up with me, but I wasn't complaining. I wasn't going to go with The Winter Soldier's best friend, and I did not trust Sam the Stranger enough to be left alone with him. Even if Pietro hadn't offered first, I would've asked the same. Only because he was the only one I felt who wouldn't throw me off a building if he had the chance. Also, he was a mutant. I could just Echo him if the situation called for it.

"Fine." I agreed. "But you're doing all the running."

---

We walked side by side on the open hallway of the apartment complex, the sound of our footsteps bouncing off the walls. Truly, it was one of the sketchiest buildings we came across. It was the third one we'd walked through for the day. So far, we've had some rough encounters but none that were relevant to the mission.

I could hear the low, muffled voices of the tenants as we passed each door. The sound of human conversations, mother's yelling at their children, babies crying, dog's barking. At one point we heard a choir of people singing, only realising it was somebody's television at maximum capacity volume after the singing was cut off by what sounded like a laundry soap ad.

"Sheesh," Pietro frowned. "These walls are thin."

They were. It was like the walls were made of paper. But, I could use that to my advantage. I tried to focus on each sound, closing my eyes as I did so. This time I didn't tune out the voices, instead, I let my ears hone in on each one as if I was a satellite, listening in on each conversation just in case any of them would be of any significance.

Have you had lunch yet?- ... Mom, I think I'm- ... Have you seen my keys?- ... He's here. I found him-

"What are you doing?"

My eyes shot open to see a very baffled Pietro standing in front of me, his face close to mine. I could technically feel his breath on my forehead. "I'm...trying to listen."

"That's impossible. You're telling me you were trying to listen in to almost a dozen voices talking at the same time? In Romanian?"

"Okay, first of all," I pushed him with the tip of my pointer finger, right in the middle of his chest. He took a step back. "Yes. I was trying to do that before you so rudely interrupted my process. You can add that to my list of abilities. And secondly, you were the one who called me a polyglot. Why would it surprise you that I can understand Romanian?"

He raised his hands in defeat, "Woah, no need to get so loud with me. I was just pointing out my confusion."

"Whatever."

He removed himself from my line of sight and resumed his initial position by my side. I could see him from the corner of my eye, a wary look on that troublesome face of his. "Can I ask you something?"

"Depends."

"How long exactly is this 'list of abilities' of yours?"

If I could, I would've wiped him off from existence right then and there. Who the hell does he think he is? Just because we were on a spontaneous mission together, it didn't mean we were the best of friends. He was just another individual, another human being who was unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with me. "What the fuck?"

"What?" He dared to look innocent.

"Maybe next time you're planning to gather intel, try to be a little bit more subtle." His brazen attempt was almost offensive. As if I was going to trust him with that information. Just because I shared a moment of vulnerability with him didn't mean I was going to share every single personal detail.

"Hey, hey!" I had picked up my pace but he followed suit, hot on my heels, true to his speedster nature. "Wait!"

I was a good number of steps ahead of him. I could hear the sound of his shoes hitting the bare cement. Maybe I didn't want to admit it but I didn't know why I reacted that way. Maybe it was because I didn't have an answer to his question. It was pushing another series of memories up to the surface. Pietro was one hell of a memory-undoer.

I never knew the full extent of my abilities. The only one I was sure of was my Echo. Other than that, zero.

"Y/N!" He panted, "Please wait."

Oddly enough, and much to my dismay...I stopped. That same tug on my heart compelled me to. It wasn't like I wanted to. My feet betrayed me.

Fucking feet.

I turned slowly, seeing Pietro's very, very remorseful face come into view as he jogged the last few steps. "Why?"

"I was not trying to gather intel." He said through short breaths, which I found ironic for a superspeed hero. "Never once did that cross my mind."

"I honestly could care less. But next time you ask me a question like that, I don't think it would go so well." I raised my shoulders in a full-bodied shrug. "We should get going."

"Y/N." He grabbed my arm.

At that moment, my brain caught itself in a jam. I was torn between wanting to twist his arm around to break it and turning around to see what he had to say.

My brain unfortunately chose the latter.

"I'm serious. I was just curious, again."

"Well, curiosity killed the fucking cat, didn't it? Don't let it kill you, kitty."

He ran a hand through his short hair, eyebrows knitted together in the middle. "You know, you have to stop with that."

"With what?" My lip curled up in irritation.

"You act like everything is out to get you. I-I'm not planning on doing anything malicious to you, okay? You said it yourself. You're my enigma and it's still driving me crazy! I don't know a thing about you but I so badly want to and I don't understand it."

"Am I a joke to you? I act like everything is out to get me because everything is out to get me. I've been running for more than half of my life. Do you expect me to let my guard down now?" I glared at him. "So, what is all this to you? A game of 20 questions to solve some sort of mystery that I'm supposedly involved in?"

"You-"

"Don't you remember threatening to kill me before you grew some sort of twisted fascination with me? It's like you keep ignoring that we're on different sides. I'm just here because I was stupid enough to get caught in the first place. I never trusted anyone before, what makes you think I'm going to start with you?"

"You trusted me enough to save you in that hallway."

I remember that moment. "I was at a dead end. You were my only lifeline, don't flatter yourself."

"Damn it, Y/N. I just want to be your friend." Hid voice grew quiet. "Trust me - or don't - but I'm telling the truth when I say that I'm not trying to get to know you because I'm trying to write up a report. It's simply because I want to."

Friend.

I was dumbfounded. Time seemed to stop around me as I searched his eyes for any sort of dishonesty, any red flag. But I found none. Was he truly telling the truth? Could I trust him? There goes that woozy feeling in my chest again, only this time it was stronger and wilder. My head was spinning in circles.

I felt my feet moving closer to him. What was it with my feet today? Why did they feel like magnets that were beyond my conscious control? Was it something I ate?

Then, time moved on again and reality struck in as I saw a very familiar-looking face appear from behind Pietro's body.

Fuuuuuckkkk.

There was no time to think. Only to act.

"You said you wanted to be my friend?" I whispered hurriedly to him, making sure to keep myself hidden. "Be a good one and kiss me, right now."

"Excuse me?"

"There's a Hydra agent right behind you and I know him. Kiss me!"

"Are you sure?"

"NOW!"

He slowly but surely moved his lips closer to mine, but Brock Rumlow was getting a hell of a lot closer than I would've liked him to be. I took his face in my hands and kissed him, covering my figure with his.

His lips were soft and light.

He moved his hands to the small of my back, gently pulling me in closer. I didn't object. Never have I ever kissed anyone in my life this way, I couldn't explain it. He was so...gentle with me. As if I was a porcelain doll that would shatter if he moved even in the slightest way. My heart skipped a beat, my stomach twisted into knots, it was a rush of emotions that was stronger than anything I've ever experienced.

What the fuck?

He held me to his chest, making sure my body was fully concealed from Rumlow's sight. At least Pietro got the message. We needed to stay hidden.

I opened one eye, trying to see if Rumlow was gone. No one else was in the hallway except us anymore. I needed to pull away. These were dangerous waters and I had no time or energy to tread in them. So, I removed myself from him, a little bit breathless. We both were.

I didn't want to admit it, not even to myself. But I so badly wished Rumlow had been there a bit longer.

"Sorry-"

"Don't be." He cut me off, his voice was an octave lower than usual.

Suddenly, I was aware of how dangerously close we were standing together. Sheepishly, I took a step back. The ghost of his lips stayed on mine, it took everything in me not to run my tongue over them.

"Who was it?"

"Hmm?"

"The agent?"

Oh. Right.

My brain went into auto-pilot mode. I needed to stay focused. It was just a damn kiss. Why was I overreacting? Mentally, I was cursing myself for acting like a schoolgirl, but on the outside, I made sure to keep a straight face on. "Brock Rumlow. Kicked his ass a few years back but I never got the chance to kill him."

"Was he after you?"

"Yeah." Brock Rumlow was an asshole. He played and fought dirty. It was a nasty battle with him. If I could go back to that moment where I had him pinned, I'd have slit his throat instead of second-guessing it. "The asshole works for Hydra."

"Why didn't you kill him?"

The last time I saw him, he was limping like a hurt animal, blood that wasn't my own blurring my vision and matting my hair. I made the mistake of letting my guard down and he'd flipped me over so he could slither away from my grip like a snake. "He got away."

"What's he doing in Bucharest, then?"

That one question triggered something in my brain. Rumlow in Bucharest? Just like that, everything clicked into place. I gasped, "Shit, Pietro! We have to follow him!"

His eyes widened. We both took off running, chasing after the infamous man. But then he stopped halfway, turning to me. I was about to yell at him for slowing us down before he called, "Echo me!"

There was no time to argue. In the blink of an eye, I'd gripped his arm and absorbed his energy. My body did the rest. I could feel the familiar sting of the energy surging through me, his powers replicating themselves in each cell of my body. It only took a second, maybe even less. As soon as I felt confident enough, I gave him a nod.

In truth, I've never felt such a rush like this before I met Pietro and his powers. I loved it. The wind whipping through my hair, the cool air blowing in my face. It was far from mundane - it was supernatural. There was no seering pain in my chest as my brain fought for oxygen, no, I felt as if I was walking. It was like there was some sort of force pushing me from behind, giving me the momentum that I needed to run as fast as possible. It was an undeniably exhilarating experience. In the few times that I've echoed him, I was always left craving more.

Much like that kiss of ours.

Huh? I shook my head. Keep it together, brain. Don't make me regret listening to you all these years.

"He's there!" I could hear Pietro calling out. Rumlow was walking through a door, but I covered the distance in a minute, just in time for me to grab him by the collar and push him hard into the wall.

"Rumlow," I growled, watching with satisfaction as his eyes went round with alarm. He was trembling under my grip. Good. Let him shit his fucking pants for all I care. My mouth twitched, and I tilted my head as I leaned in closer to him with the intention of striking fear into him. "You think I would've let you go that easily?"

"The Echo." His mouth set in a hard line. "Finally come to beg for mercy?"

Before I could even think, I punched him in the face. "No, I've come here to finally drag your ass to hell."

He swung back at me while he escaped from my grasp, but he missed me by a second as I deflected it. He was easier to fight since I knew what to expect from him now. I saw his fist coming my way again and I caught it swiftly, keeping my hold on him strong.

"Even after all these years, you're still one for revenge."

"No shit." I saw red. "You think revenge has a statute of limitations?"

"Go to hell."

I threw another mean punch, making sure it landed firmly on his nose. I wanted him to bleed. "Haven't you been listening? You're going with me. I saved you a special seat, right..." My knee hit his crotch. "...next to me."

It took him a moment to recover after crying out like a baby, squirming under my grip. Pathetically, he cried, "What do you want?"

"I want to know what you're doing here."

His lips drew back in a snarl, cackling like the asshole that he was. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yeah, I fucking do." I grabbed the switchblade that I had kept with me since the safe house, flipping it over and holding it up to his face. I pressed it firmly to his cheek, drawing blood. "Tell me before I give you more than just a scar."

He winced, "You've come to look for him? The Soldier?"

So, my assumptions were right. "You're here for him too. Tell me where he is."

"Oh, princess." I put more pressure on the blade, the knife cutting deep. Rumlow was tough not to cry out immediately, I'll give him that, but I wasn't surprised at all. He was the king of being an asshole. The man's jaw set, "What makes you think I'll tell you so willingly?"

"Maybe you won't be so cocky when I gauge your eyeballs out."

"You and your threats." He scoffed. "He trained you well, didn't he? You were his little puppet for so long. What brings you here now? Are you running out of options?"

"Stop talking."

"Or are you here because you need him?"

"Stop."

"It's the law of nature, Echo. The puppet always comes beckoning to the master. You'd never be able to live without him. Because without The Soldier, you're nothing but a headcount. You're a nobody, princess. You were never your own person. You were just a vessel for Hydra's experiments. Did you ever think you could amount to more?"

A flash of denim appeared right before my eyes and Rumlow disappeared from my grip.

"She was right. You are an asshole."

Pietro fucking Maximoff. "Took you long enough."

"I was waiting for the right moment." And the right moment it was.

Pietro had Rumlow by the feet, hanging off the railing as if he was a sack of meat. I walked to stand beside him, looking down at the prick with a smirk on my face. He had in his hand a ten-inch knife. If it hadn't been for Pietro cutting in, I'd have been too distracted to catch that. "Still not going to tell me?"

Even in the face of death, he was arrogant. "I'm not afraid of heights."

"I bet you're afraid of falling, though." Pietro let go of his left foot.

Rumlow cried out at the change in balance, but he didn't give in. The knife in his hand came loose from his grip, falling to the ground 10 floors below. "You can kill me for all I care."

"Tell us where he is!"

He laughed, "The Soldat won't be easy to find."

Pietro looked to me, asking for a conclusion to the situation. Drop him or bring him up? God, I wanted so badly to let Pietro drop him. He wouldn't be missed. Why would the world need another killer like him? I knew Rumlow, he was one of the pricks who wouldn't think twice about killing an innocent person. If anything, he's killed more people than I have.

But...he was the only person who could lead us to the success of this mission. It wasn't like I was eager to find The Soldier, but I gave my word to Steve. I could just tie him up and torture him into submission.

"Bring him up." I sighed.

Brock Rumlow had other ideas. Neither of us saw it coming.

"Hail Hydra."

He pledged, then he shook his foot forcefully out of Pietro's grip, succumbing to the laws of physics as gravity pulled him to his desired death. I saw our only hope of finding The Soldier fall in slow motion, clenching my jaw as realisation set in.

I didn't even get an answer.

Pietro stayed leaning over the railing while I walked away from the scene. It was an unfortunate tragedy, one that would surely attract unwanted attention. We needed to get out of here before anyone could see us. Out of all the ways he decided to die, he chose the one that would inconvenience me the most.

"What are we going to do?"

I shook my head, "I'm exhausted."

"We should go."

I knew that. I did. Nonetheless, the only thing running through my head was how Steve Rogers was going to react to this. Would he make good on his threat?

"We just lost our only lead, Maximoff."

Now, how the hell was I supposed to fix this?