Bucky groaned into his pillow as his alarm blared into his ear, turning over and smushing it into his face to block out the obnoxious noise.

"FRIDAY." He called out, dragging out the 'y' at the end. "Turn off alarm."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that." FRIDAY replied above his head.

"On who's orders?"

"Mr Stark's. He requests you join a team building event in the gymnasium with the others."

He let out another long sigh and slumped to his bathroom to get ready for whatever dumb shit Tony had inconveniently planned this morning.

He made his way down to the gym, where almost everyone was grouped together, minus Bruce who made it clear to not invite him to these events.

"Mornin' Buck!" Steve waved Bucky over to where him and Sam were standing.

Bucky headed over to them, glancing around the gym."What are we doing?"

"Tony suggested we do random sparring matches. He's gonna draw our names from that hat over there." Sam pointed, turning to Bucky. "Can't wait to kick your ass if our names get drawn."

"Yeah we'll see." Bucky replied, annoyance tainting his voice.

"Have any of you seen Y/n?" Nat joined their group, followed by Wanda behind her.

Steve glanced around the room and scratched his head. "No. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't seen her all morning."

"She usually comes in my room and wakes me up right before training." Wanda told them. "It's not like her to miss a session without warning."

"Alright, alright." Sam waved his hands. "Let's not jump to any conclusions. If anything were to come up, she would be capable of protecting herself."

Nat shook her head. "Would she even have a reason to leave without notice?"

"Shit." Bucky blurted abruptly, pulling out his phone and sending her a text message. He waited a few seconds and cursed again when the delivered sign didn't pop up.

"Buck, what's gotten into you?" Steve followed him as he approached Tony, another surprise to Steve as Bucky tried to avoid one on one interactions with Tony when possible.

"What's up sunshine?" Tony joked at Bucky's hard expression. His smile faded when he recognized the seriousness of his glare.

"Did you see Y/n at any point this morning?"

"No I have not." Tony told him. "Is there something we should be worrying about or are you finally deciding to ask her-"

"What's going on?" Pietro walked in. Bucky silently thanked him for jumping in before Tony could finish his sentence.

"Aren't we being a little dramatic here?" Tony took a sip from his water bottle. "She's an adult, not some lost kindergarten student."

"Her messages aren't going through. She has a rule where she never turns her phone off." Wanda informed them.

"There were files." Bucky said finally, waiting for everyone to listen. "Back in the facility from that last HYDRA mission, I found a few files with fully detailed information of me. From my life back in the 40's to..." He lowered his head. "To my HYDRA kill list."

"So what are you saying?" Pietro folded his arms. "They are keeping information about you? What would they gain from that if they already know everything about you?"

By that point, Clint and Thor had joined in to listen.

"They were old files, I recognized them." Bucky told the group. "I have a feeling they have some on Y/n as well if they're tracking us."

Bucky couldn't tell them. In fact, he wasn't supposed to know himself. It had been close to midnight a few months ago, when he had been experiencing yet another, sleepless night. He passed through one of the briefing rooms on his way to the gym, when he overheard them.

"It's no good, I haven't heard anything from Shuri." He heard Nat say tiredly, surprised to hear Fury let out a complaining sigh. "There's nothing we can do for her right now Natasha. What do you expect? Lock her in her bedroom and cause a ruckus in the tower over it? All we can do is make sure those bastards don't try that brainwashing shit on her again and keep her at bay." Another familiar voice managed could be heard amidst the conversation. "She's not a child, I'm sure she understands her limit in the field whenever we're dealing with HYDRA." Steve countered.

It had stunned him. Y/n? Nat was clear when she explained to all of them that everything that had to do with HYDRA was removed. Memories, brainwashing, all of it. It wasn't his place to tell the rest of the team. He had to come clean to Steve the next morning, who had only told him one simple condition. "Keep it to yourself."

He had seen Y/n walk into the kitchen the very next morning, wearing a bright smile on her face, eyes crinkling from laughter as Sam choked on a boba pearl from her drink.

He reminded himself that she was lucky in one way. Not a single memory. No recollection of her time as an asset.

"She had doubts of yesterday's mission briefing..." Wanda said quietly, almost to herself.

"What good will it do if she even manages to get them, though? They'll have already backed up whatever it is on their hard drive." Clint noted. "How dangerous could that information be?"

Nat's eyes widened, the realization splashing in her face like cold water. "Doesn't matter." She said sternly, turning on her heel and heading for the prep room. She couldn't explain to them now. "Tony, use that phone tracking thing you installed and find out if she left a message. The rest of you suit up."

"Phone tracker? Even when it's off?" Wanda questioned.

"I had to." Tony shrugged. "Your twin kept losing his, and having him run around the compound like an idiot for two hours was more of a headache than developing a tracker."

"I heard that." Pietro grumbled on his way out of the gym.

Tony whipped out his phone and pulled up a small map of the compound, making his way towards the elevator at the sight of a flashing blue point on the screen.

Bucky followed promptly behind him until they reached the kitchen. "Her phone was left here?"

"Apparently." Tony replied, following the blue light on his screen to the cutlery drawer. He tugged on the handle and frowned when the drawer didn't budge. Bucky gestured for Tony to move aside before yanking it open, most likely breaking something in the process.

"Aha!" Tony held up the phone triumphantly, passing Bucky a note she had left on top. He opened it hastily, his hands trembling slightly as his eyes grazed over the words.

"Dumbass." He said under his breath.

"What? Read it out." Tony urged.

First of all, how the hell did you manage to find this note? I swear the drawer was locked. Anyways, please don't come for me, I've got this handled.

Bucky crumpled the paper into a ball in his fist and threw it to the side. "I bet she's planning on somehow following them to their new base to find the files. HYDRA is expecting a team of Avengers, a not-so-subtle approach. They wouldn't expect us to send in just one person."

"No, this is insane." Tony shook his head, his tone growing more stern. "She's walking right into a deathtrap."

"As hard as it is to believe it right now, she's smart." Bucky sighed, running a hand over his eyes. "She might just be able to go undercover and get inside."

"Do you have any idea why she'd go through all this trouble?" Tony questioned, huffing when Bucky shook his head.

"I'm not sure." He lied, heading back towards the elevator. "It doesn't matter right now, we need to advance now."

On their way down, Bruce poked his head out of the armory room, where he was checking over everyone's equipment. "Can someone tell me what's going on? Something about Y/n?"

"She's going forward with the new mission Fury discussed yesterday. Alone." Bucky told him quietly, walking past him towards the Quinjet.

"Don't worry, just stay here Bruce." Natasha threw him a reassuring smile, before walking past the three of them to the jet. "We've got this handled."

Bruce ignored her request and set down the gadget he was working on. "No, I'm coming along."

Bucky's foot tapped anxiously on the way to the base as he thought about the possibilities of the situation, chewing away at his bottom lip. "Why couldn't she have told one of us before she left? Me, Nat, even Wanda."

It was reckless, but he understood her fear. He could only hope that she had somewhat of a plan.

Author's Note

I never do these anymore, but just a quick message! Sorry you guys had to wait a whole month for this chapter, which isn't the most exciting really. I had a few issues and messed up on a previous chapter, and had to work around the mistake and improvise a bit. I've finally got a hand on it though and you won't have to wait nearly as long as you had to this time! Thanks again for all the love and patience ❤️