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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍

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Annalise rushed to pack her bag after getting a call from Sam, and his tone told her it was urgent. He was on his way to take her to a nearby air force base. He didn't give her too much information, mainly because he didn't want someone else to hear their conversation. All she knew was that there was a new threat that he needed help taking care of. Even though the Jones girl had never voluntarily been in a fight, she would never turn down a chance to help Sam Wilson. Especially after everything he'd done for her since they met. She was determined not to let him down.

The Jones girl received a text from Sam right as she finished zipping up her bag. She didn't hesitate to sling her pack over her shoulder and rush downstairs. Annalise quickly hopped into the passenger seat of the car before the Wilson man started driving. Despite the curiosity flowing through the young girl's veins, Annalise didn't say a word as Sam drove. The look on his face told her he wasn't in the mood to chat, at least not now. Instead, he simply handed her his phone, which was open to a video. The Jones girl couldn't help but send Sam a curious look before hitting play.

Chills ran throughout the Jones girl's entire body when she was greeted by a group of people wearing masks. They were running around like crazy with bags of stolen money. One man kicked a police officer, sending him flying into a light post. But what caught Annalise's attention was how the light post bent on impact. No normal human being would be able to do that. The video ended with the same man picking up whoever was recording the video and slamming him against the ground. It was as if the cameraman weighed nothing at all.

"How did you get his?" Annalise asked as she handed Sam back his phone.

"A friend of mine sent it to me. He's the one who recorded it," the Wilson man responded before catching the girl's concerned look out of the corner of his eye, "Don't worry. Joaquín's fine. A little banged up, but fine. What we should be worried about is these masked people."

The Jones girl hesitated for a moment before turning her whole body so she was facing the man beside her. "Are they what I think they are?"

Sam couldn't help but let out a long sigh as his grip tightened around the steering wheel. "We're gonna find out."

It wasn't long after that when they reached their destination. Sam parked the car before getting out to grab their bags. Annalise attempted to take hers from him, but the Wilson man quickly tossed it over his shoulder. The Jones girl rolled her eyes at the playful smirk on his face. After trying and failing to take her backpack from him, she finally gave up and followed him into the hangar.

Neither of them said a word as they walked through the halls. Annalise had no idea where they were going, unlike Sam. He seemed to know the building like the back of his hand. They were keeping a good pace and passed a lot of soldiers in the corridors. Many of them sent Annalise confused looks, probably wondering why a teenager was in their hangar. But she simply ignored them as she kept up with the Wilson man. What she wasn't expecting was for him to make an abrupt stop, causing her to almost slam into him. An annoyed sigh passed over her lips as she stepped to the side to see what he was staring at, only to find a poster of the New Captain America staring back at her.

"Seems like a good guy," a new voice said, causing Sam and Annalise to turn around to find a young soldier standing behind them, "you met him?"

"No," Sam said while glancing back at the poster. He stared at it for a moment longer then turned his attention back to the soldier. "Thanks for doing this on such short notice. This is Annalise, by the way. She'll be joining us."

"Yeah. No sweat. I'm just finishing up the checklist. You'll be all good to go once you land in Munich," the raven-haired man responded before looking over at Annalise, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. But she's your backup? She looks like she just started high school."

The Jones girl opened her mouth to respond, but someone else beat her to it. "You shouldn't talk, Joaquín. You called me to help you."

Everyone instantly turned their attention toward the new voice to find a girl not much older than Annalise walking toward them. She wore a bright smile on her face that matched her even brighter colored clothes. A small laugh passed over her lips as she stopped next to Joaquín, who wore a slightly annoyed look on her face. It wasn't long after that when she turned her attention toward Annalise and Sam. "I'm Toni, Joaquín's sister. He said you guys might need a little technological help."

"Technology help?" Sam repeated while looking over at the Torres man for an explanation.

"She's a hacker. And a good one. Never know what you're gonna need in these situations," Joaquín whispered just loud enough to hear.

It wasn't long after that when he turned and began walking toward a set of nearby stairs. He didn't need to look back to know Sam, Annalise, and Toni were following him. Their feet echoing against the metal were enough to tell him. They were just about to make it to the bottom of the stairs when the Jones girl stopped in her tracks. Her blood ran colder than ice as she stared at the man approaching them, who hadn't spotted her yet. No one had noticed her not following them anymore, they were more focused on what was ahead of them. While Joaquín and Toni continued on their way to get the plane ready, an irritated Sam stopped right in front of Bucky.

"Shouldn't have given up the shield," Bucky said while glaring at the man who fought with him by Steve's side.

"Good to see you too, Buck," Sam responded as he walked past the Winter Soldier. It was only then that he realized Annalise wasn't with him. He instantly stopped and turned around to find her still standing on the stairs. He sent her a quizzical look as he studied the blank look on her face. "You coming, Anna?"

Bucky didn't hesitate to follow his gaze before his eyes locked on the blonde girl. Confusion flowed through his veins when he noticed the way she was staring at him. To most, like Sam, it would seem that she was lost in her own world. But the Barnes girl saw what that blank look was masking. Fear. At first, Bucky couldn't figure out what Annalise was so scared of. Then their eyes met, and everything came flooding back to him. He remembered the little girl from HYDRA, the same one he took to a lab to be experimented on. The girl who he was supposed to take to the Red Room. Bucky had been searching for her for years, wanting to make up for what he did. But he could never find her. Now she was standing in front of him, and he had no idea where to start to fix what he had done.

Sam's gaze bounced between his allies, unsure of what to make of their staring contest. He knew that Annalise wasn't a fan of Bucky. She never shared the details with him, but it was easy to figure out they had a history. Despite wanting to decrease the tension building up in the hangar, the Wilson man knew there wasn't time. They had a mission they needed to complete. So instead, he simply called out to the Jones girl again, drawing her attention to him. That was all it took for Annalise to finish descending the stairs and join him. It wasn't long after that when they continued walking through the hangar, with Annalise making sure to keep him between her and Bucky.

"This is wrong," the Barnes man said, earning a long sigh from Sam.

"Hey, hey, look, I'm working alright? So all this outrage is gonna have to wait," Sam responded while keeping his eyes glued to the plane that the Torres siblings just boarded.

"You didn't know that was gonna happen?" Bucky asked in a tone that made chills run throughout Annalise's entire body, something that the Barnes man couldn't help but notice.

"Of course I didn't know that was gonna happen," the Wilson man retaliated, not bothering to hide the growing annoyance in his voice, "you think it didn't break my heart to see them march him out there and call him the new Captain America?"

Now it was Bucky's turn to let out a long sigh. "This isn't what Steve wanted."

"Seriously? So what do you want me to do? Call America and tell them I changed my mind? Huh?" Sam questioned, earning nothing but silence from the Winter Soldier, "yeah, right. It's a great reunion, buddy, be well."

"You had no right to give up the shield, Sam," the Barnes man continued, clearly not done with their conversation.

Those words caused the Falcon to stop in his tracks and turn to face Bucky. The two of them had a staring contest that lasted for what felt like an eternity. Annalise thought they were gonna stay like that forever, only for Sam to break the tension building between them. "This is what you're not gonna do. You're not gonna come here in your overextended life and tell me about my rights. It's over, Bucky. Besides, I have bigger things to deal with now."

Bucky just stared at Sam before glancing down at Annalise, who was doing everything she could to avoid making eye contact with him. It wasn't long after that when his attention returned to the Wilson man. "What could be bigger than this?"

The Wilson man quickly pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of the masked man from Joaquín's video. "This guy. His connections with rebel organizations all over Eastern and Central Europe, and he's strong. Too strong."

"And?"

"Well, he's been connected to this online group called the Flag Smashers. Now, Redwing traced them to a building somewhere outside of Munich. So that's where Annalise and I are going."

"Well, I don't trust Redwing," Bucky retaliated while Sam and Annalise began walking away from him again, "hold on a minute."

The Wilson man let out an annoyed groan as he turned back around to face Bucky. Annalise couldn't help but debate on whether or not she should just board the plane, wanting to get as far away from the Winter Soldier as she could. But she decided that it would be better to hear their conversation than to run away. "You don't have to trust Redwing, but I'm gonna go see if he's right. Because I have a feeling they might be a part of the Big Three."

Confused looks instantly appeared on both Bucky and Annalise's faces as they stared at Sam. Both men were surprised when the Jones girl spoke for the first time since the Winter Soldier made his appearance. "What 'Big Three'?"

"The Big Three," Sam repeated, earning matching irritated looks from both of the people standing in front of him, "androids, aliens, and wizards."

Bucky couldn't help but scrunch his eyebrows together after hearing the Wilson man's words. "That's not a thing."

"That's definitely a thing," the Falcon argued, earning an eye roll from Annalise that he chose to ignore, "every time we fight, it's one of the three."

"So, who are you fighting now? Gandalf?" the Barnes man retaliated.

A confused look soon appeared on Sam's face. "How do you know about Gandalf?"

"I read The Hobbit in 1937 when it first came out."

"So you see my point?"

"What point are you trying to make, Sam?" Annalise asked, earning another annoyed look from the man in question.

"No, I don't," Bucky declared, drawing their attention back to him, "there are no wizards."

"Doctor Strange."

"Is a sorcerer."

"A sorcerer is a wizard without a hat! Think about it. Right? I'm right. I just came up with that. It's crazy," the Wilson man concluded with a large grin on his face, completely ignoring the bewildered looks he was receiving. It wasn't long after that when a more serious look returned to his face. "But that's not the point. These guys aren't magical. Alright, they use brute force just like you, the incredibly annoying guy in front of me with a staring problem."

Before Bucky had a chance to retaliate, Sam began walking toward the plane with Annalise right beside him. The Barnes man's eyes were locked on the Jones girl's retreating figure. Shock coursed through his veins when he found himself feeling protective over her. For some reason, he didn't want her facing this threat. And that feeling alone was enough to make him follow them.

"I'm coming with you," Bucky announced, causing Annalise to stop in her tracks.

She watched as the Winter Soldier walked onto the plane, leaving her standing in the hangar with Sam. The Wilson man let out a long sigh before beginning to follow Bucky, only to stop in his tracks when he realized Annalise wasn't by his side. Sam instantly turned back around, only to find the young girl staring back at him. It was at that moment that he finally saw the fear in her eyes, and it didn't take him long to figure out why it was there.

"I'm not going," the Jones girl said while doing her best to avoid eye contact with Sam.

 A long sigh passed over the Wilson man's lips as he approached Annalise. He didn't stop walking until he was standing a few feet away from her. "Come on, Anna. I need your help with this one."

"If the Winter Soldier is going, I'm not going," the blonde girl declared with a bit more determination in her voice than before.

"Bucky isn't gonna hurt you. He's not that guy anymore," Sam told her in a very calm tone, one that somewhat irritated the cryokinetic, "I promise he isn't gonna hurt you. And if he tries to, I'll throw him off the plane. Deal?"

"Fine," Annalise sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be able to get out of it. Sam had always been one to push her, and she never wanted to let him down. A large smile soon appeared on the Wilson man's face, only for it to fall when he heard Annalise's next words. "And if he tries to hurt me, you don't need to worry about throwing him off the plane. I'll freeze him myself."

"I'm sure you will. Now, come on, Frosty. We need to get going before Joaquín leaves without us," Sam responded, the grin returning to his face as they began walking side by side toward the plane.

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