[AU] How much - how little - is within our power

[from_the_outside]

 "No," says Sharon, for what feels like the thousandth time. "That's not acceptable."

The rest of the flight had been uneventful, and once they landed she'd been grimly unsurprised to see that Stark had sent Happy Hogan, his erstwhile chauffeur, to guide them to the apartment they've been assigned. Stark himself had apparently gone somewhere to get out of his armor, somewhat mollified by having gotten them here and under his thumb.

Except Sharon won't stop kicking up a fuss.

Hogan stares at her as she inspects each corner of the apartment. "I can't cut these rooms off from the central security protocols," he says, slowly, like he thinks she's just misheard him.

"Well, you can," she tells him. "Or I can force a cascade in a couple load-bearing subroutines that will shut the whole damn thing down. It's your choice."

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

“Mr. Stark won’t like that,” Hogan says, and Bucky has to fight to keep his lip from curling. While Sharon argues with him, he prowls the apartment, searching thoroughly for any sign of surveillance equipment.

It’s a nice apartment, at least. Spacious, with three bedrooms and a large open common area.

He stacks the third bug with the others on the table beside Sharon and goes back to his search.

[from_the_outside]

"Mr. Stark should have thought of that before he strong-armed us into coming here."

Her hands are on her hips and her eyes are spitting fire. "Complete control over our security and surveillance was one of my conditions. If you or Mr. Stark wants to revisit negotiations, I'm happy to take Sergeant Barnes with me back to Virginia."

She opens the pack of anti-surveillance equipment and leaves it on the table for Bucky to take and place where he pleases before she turns and gives Hogan a glance up and down. "You look like a man who understands the importance of good security," she says, and watches with hidden amusement as he puffs up beneath the compliment.

"I'm sure you can understand the bind I'm in here. Tony Stark brought us here under duress; he clearly intends for this to be some kind of house arrest situation. I'm just trying to make the best of it."

[nerves_of_ice]

“You’re guests,” Hogan insists. “The security measures are for your protection.”

He doesn’t let himself react to that. Nor does he take all the anti-surveillance equipment where anyone else can see it, leaving half for later. Bucky quarters the room, then circles the perimeter, then does the same for each bedroom.

The camera above the fireplace he removes with his left hand and crushes, dropping the scraps into the pile of bugs.

[from_the_outside]

"Oh, we are?"

She tips her chin up and fixes him with a flat stare. "Do all your guests get brought here under threat of grievous bodily harm, property damage, or worse?"

Hogan looks a little flustered as he watches Bucky crush the camera. "No," he says, "it's – look, lady –"

"Agent," she corrects, coldly. "Agent Carter. CIA, Joint Terrorism Task Force. I can protect myself just fine, thanks. I'm opting the hell out of your security measures and instituting my own. And I want visual and audio access, both inside the building and on the exterior, for a two hundred yard radius around this apartment."

Hogan gapes at her. "You want to surveil the Avengers?"

"Damn right I do," she tells him. "And that's only the start."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I wouldn’t argue with her,” Bucky observes, blandly - and lying through his teeth, given how often he’s done exactly that.

He finishes placing the devices he’s willing to let Hogan see, then takes up position on the side of the room, watching them and the door. It’s why he sees Hogan press a button on his watch behind his back.

“Whatever you just activated, you should rethink it.”

His tone is deadly flat.

[from_the_outside]

She looks at Bucky, then levels a flat stare at Hogan, who has just realized that he's been flanked by the Winter Soldier.

"It's not," Hogan starts. "It's just a, just a – I'm just letting Mr. Stark know –"

Sharon's eyebrows creep up until they're nearly at her hairline. "I see," she says, and her voice could freeze a river in July.

"Hey," comes another voice, from the hall. "Hey, hey, hey, no bloodshed on the new carpet."

It's followed by Tony Stark entering the apartment, now dressed casually in dark pants and a beautifully tailored long-sleeved shirt that probably cost more than everything Sharon is currently wearing. Happy looks relieved. Sharon feels murderous.

"You haven't met my conditions," she tells him, and looks at Bucky. "I guess that means we can go."

[nerves_of_ice]

He doesn’t move save to tip his head forward in a nod to Sharon. He’s deeply certain Stark will protest either way and would rather not start a physical escalation if they don’t have to.

“You just got here,” Stark tells Sharon. “Don’t like the decor?”

[from_the_outside]

"I don't like being threatened or undermined," she says. "And, yeah, the decor is a little cold."

Happy relaxes as she transfers her glare from him to Stark. "I told you I want complete control over our security here. Meet that very reasonable request and we'll stay. Don't, and watch how little I care about walking right the hell on out of here."

[marvel_npc]

He already knew she was going to be a pain in the ass, but he’d hoped it would take longer. Then again, between a CIA agent who used to be one of Fury’s and the goddamn Winter Soldier, he might have guessed.

He spreads both hands wide, gives a deliberate look around the room, and turns back to her. “It’s open plan. Everything’s right here. There’s even snacks in the fridge. You already found the little enhancements, so what’s the problem?”

[nerves_of_ice]

He manages to keep his sleep light, drifting in and out of catnaps and never quite falling deep enough to sink into nightmare.

In the hour before dawn he slips quietly from the bed. Sharon’s exhausted, and doesn’t stir enough to wake. Bucky slips back to his room, dresses in the dark, checks the security systems, and slips downstairs to the community kitchen they’d passed on the tour.

Maybe it’ll have a few spices - cinnamon in particular. And at this hour, he’s got a decent chance of avoiding anyone.

[marvel_npc]

When he gets there, he'll find he's not alone. Vision, wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, lifts a hand in polite greeting.

"Hello," he says, amiably. It takes less than a fraction of a second to access his files – memories? – of James Buchanan Barnes, aka 'Bucky,' aka the Winter Soldier, one-time sergeant in the United States Armed Forces, birthdate March 10, 1917 –

Ah. What was it Wanda had told him? Vis, you can't just regurgitate data about people, it's rude. He re-assesses, and attempts a reassuring smile.

"Did you need something?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Well, hell. He manages to keep dismay from showing on his face.

“Hi,” he returns. “I didn’t mean to bother anyone. I was looking to borrow some cinnamon, is all.”

[marvel_npc]

"You are not bothering anyone," Vision assures him. "At least, not at the moment."

Certainly the man's very presence bothers Tony, but Tony is sleeping. Ergo: unbothered.

Vision finishes unloading the dishwasher and moves across the kitchen to the spice cabinet. "Do you often require cinnamon in the very early morning, Sergeant?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Not at the moment. Well, it’s honest.

“Agent Carter prefers it in her coffee,” he explains. “I thought to see if I could have it on hand before her before she gets up.”

[marvel_npc]

"How very thoughtful."

Vision reaches into the cabinet and retrieves the cinnamon, only realizing after he's done so that he forgot to open the door and instead slid his hand right through it.

Ah, well. He crosses the kitchen and offers the small glass bottle to the other man. "You know, you don't seem to be aggressively violent at all."

He pairs this observation with another smile.

[nerves_of_ice]

He doesn’t know as much about Vision as would be ideal, he realizes. He makes a mental note of the casual relationship with physical reality - and manages not to sigh at the observation.

“I don’t have any reason to be right now,” he says, mildly. “I’m not activated. I don’t do that kind of thing at all if I can help it.”

He looks down at the bottle in his hand, then back at Vision. “File, Stark, or some other source?”

[marvel_npc]

"Oh, file," says Vision. He considers for a second, then carefully leans back against the counter and crosses his arms over his chest with a little too much care for the motions to be entirely unconscious.

In fact, it looks very obviously like an attempt to put a human at ease through use of congenial body language by someone who is fluent but has never had cause to use it before.

"Though I suppose, since my initial programming came from Mr. Stark, one could say it's... a little bit of both."

[from_the_outside]

She'd asked Bucky to be absent for this call, for a few reasons:

First, he won't be able to say anything. And listening without being able to react will be stressful for both him and everyone else who knows he's there.

Second, the role she'll be playing isn't really a role. It's who she should have been all along; in Franche-Comté, in Thessaloniki.

And she doesn't want him to watch her argue everything he knows she doesn't believe.

She'd suggested he go spend some time with Nat, instead. Whether he does or not she isn't sure, but once she and Steve are alone, she takes a deep breath and hits the contact on her phone. It's on speaker, but she's asked Steve not to say anything until she introduces him.

This oughta be interesting.

[marvel_npc]

He's in the monthly administrative meeting when her call comes through, and is more than happy to have the excuse to step out to take it. Ross figures he's sat through maybe one of these meetings since he took this job, but whatever, it's something to have tried - and the office managers and process coordinators are doing better without his interference anyway.

Ross answers on the second ring. "Carter." He's already walking briskly back toward his office. "How's the family thing going? You're checking in with good news, I hope - like that you're already on your way back?"

[from_the_outside]

"Sir," she says, by way of greeting, and glances at Steve.

"Sorry, no. And I have more bad news: the family thing is quickly becoming a work thing. In fact, that's why I'm calling."

She takes a breath and focuses on the phone. "Over the course of the last week I've uncovered a threat to both the Avengers and the JTTF. The immediate danger has been dealt with, but there may be other problems on the way."

[marvel_npc]

The office door slams behind him, securing the room. Ross transfers the call to his desktop command center to record and routes the audio to the earbud he keeps with him.

"Details," he orders. "Now. A threat to the JTTF and the Avengers?"

[from_the_outside]

She's tensing up; she consciously forces her shoulders to relax. "Last week," she begins, "I was approached by a man I later determined to be Baron Helmut Zemo, a Colonel in the Sokovian Special Forces. He targeted me for two reasons: first, because I'm a Task Force agent, and secondly because I have a personal connection to Steve Rogers. Captain America," she amends, as if Ross might not know who she meant.

"I know Captain Rogers from my time at SHIELD, but also because... Peggy Carter is my great-aunt."

She glances at Steve, then looks back at the phone. "Zemo informed me that he had apprehended and detained the Winter Soldier, one Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, and that he wished for me to use my connections to bring Captain Rogers and Tony Stark to him at an at that time undetermined location.

"I didn't contact Captain Rogers." She chews on her lip. "Instead, I tailed Zemo to an old HYDRA facility in Siberia, where he had put Sergeant Barnes back into cryosleep."

[marvel_npc]

A bitten-off curse sounds from the other end of the phone. Steve tries to put all the encouragement he can into his eyes as he gives Sharon a nod and a quick bolstering smile.

Hearing it like this - he still wishes she'd felt she could contact him, but he understands why she didn't. Understands better, anyway. She was protecting him and Bucky both.

[marvel_npc]

He hears himself make a strangled sound as she hits him with a series of bombshells in quick succession.

"Jesus Christ, Carter!" His breath hisses in and out through his teeth for a second as he works to get a goddamn grip and think it all through. She'll know what the sound means, she's worked closely enough with him long enough now for that.

(Clearly she's okay, if she's finally calling in a mission report.)

"Sokovian," he repeats, focusing on the key intel. He didn't get his position by being slow on the uptake. "Connected to the Ultron disaster, I assume. You're not stupid, so I further assume you had reason to believe that escalating to me would increase the security risk. We'll come back to that later. Continue. You were in fucking Siberia, I believe."

[from_the_outside]

That sound he makes is all too familiar, but he rallies, which she appreciates. He really is good at what he does; no surprise there.

"Right."

Steve's nod and smile is a small but welcome support. This is going to be tough for him, too. "I tracked Zemo's private plane to Novosibirsk and trailed him from there to the old HYDRA facility where they had apparently kept the Winter Soldier all these years. Once there, I engaged and subdued Zemo."

She takes a quick breath: here's where things might start getting dicey. "Initial analysis of available intel – " Read: what Zemo said and what he had on him –

"– suggested two discrete but related plans. First, there was evidence proving the Winter Soldier's involvement in the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark. It was immediately clear that Zemo planned to break the Avengers apart by pitting Captain Rogers' friendship with Barnes against Stark's desire for revenge.

"Second, I found a file on Dr. Broussard, who we sometimes use for psychological profiling and evaluations. Further analysis suggested Zemo initially planned to spark a manhunt for Barnes, impersonate Broussard, and infiltrate the JTTF to access him."