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The Winter Solider had resurfaced, and it had proven to be a man from the past.
Peggy's testimony had given even Steve pause. It seemed impossible, that a ghost could rise up from nowhere and try to assassinate one of SHIELD's top members. The fact that he'd come so close to succeeding— and failed— seemed to be the clincher in the testimony she'd offered. Bucky and Peggy had been close, after all.
Of course, Peggy was promptly not allowed to go anywhere alone after the attack. Various SHIELD agents and allies, and friends, were called in to help protect Peggy and ensure a second assassination attempt would not be successful. And there was one more resource needed, and it could only be found at Stark Technologies; and for once, that wasn't Iron Man, but rather the personal files of Howard Stark, Tony Stark's father.
With Ava and Steve Rogers assigned to Peggy's person, they'd met up with other allies and struck out towards SI to get access to Howard's files on Bucky Barnes and see if they could deduce from them where, if anywhere, that notable had been for the last two decades.
Unbeknownst to the man in question, Bucky Barnes— the Winter Soldier, aka Jack Frost— is taking a quick break with his girlfriend in the lobby of Stark's corporate headquarters. Wearing a janitor's vest and a button-down shirt, with a glove on his left hand, he looks a little ragged— much like many men returning home from Korea and just finding a way to get by.
"It's just insomnia, Pepper," he tells the redhead as they dither near the elevators— her path up to the condos, his to the maintenance area. "I don't need a doctor to tell me I'm not sleeping. It'll pass," he assures the redhead. He reaches out with his good right hand and squeezes her fingertips gently, a discreet display of affection in the middle of their quiet, worried little discussion over his recent absences.
*
The redhead is still on break, not that she really had mandated breaks so she didn't mind if this went a bit long, especially as she'd made a promise to herself she would talk him into seeing a doctor. Pepper was *determined*, and little can stop a redhead when they are in that stubborn stage. The short, charming little hourglass of a woman stands in front of him in a dark blue work dress (though, it is a little tight on her curves, showing off everything rather nicely). She looks like any other worried girlfriend, pale eyes exploring his as they stand nearish to the elevators.
"No, Jack. I'm not letting you go back to work until you promise me you're going to see a doctor. This has been going on for weeks now and it's *not* healthy. You're going to make yourself sick. Please. I know a lot of very good doctors. Discrete ones. They… they won't ask questions, they'll just help you…" She implores him gently, giving his fingertips a tight squeeze as worried, caring eyes search his face.
*
With multiple agents in tow, Director Carter's clipped paces leave them trailing behind in her wake. The authoritative clap of her heels on the floor of the Stark Towers' lobby demands attention. There's no effort to hide the presence of the agents; they are here on official business, after all. The cut of her well-tailored suit, sweeping twist of her hair, and entourage all call attention to SHIELD's appearance.
She pauses at reception, "Hello… I'm Director Carter… we have an appointment with Mister Stark regarding some rather important files…" she twists around to face the team with her. "I believe we were invited to the tenth floor, yes?"
*
Ava's bruises have finally faded, the sling left behind. She probably shouldn't take any more blows to that arm for a little bit, but everything is working all right. She trails behind Peggy, a redheaded shadow in an oversized coat with her hands stuffed into her pockets. One of these days someone is going to have to take her shopping. Ratty clothes or no, though, her eyes are sharp as she looks around the lobby.
*
Unaware of the security situation, Queen T'Challa has instead come to meet with the Director at the other's invitation, having agreed with the agent sent to speak with her on the subject. She shows up low-key, not looking or acting like a monarch, but just a proud, independent black woman walking alone. Just please ignore the very intent-looking black men and women keeping a discrete distance, watching over her from across the street or down the block as she makes her way. With the hand-written invitation and her own ID, she's confident she can move past security, though she is not unaware of how intent-looking those worthies are upon her approach. She could turn out to be wrong, of course. T'Challa has been redirected from the first location where that meeting was set to take place, and has no idea why they are meeting at the Stark building.
*
One of the people accompanying Director Carter this afternoon: Liv Sigrunsdottir, one of the most recent additions to SHIELD's roster. She stands out for a few reasons: she's a six foot tall nordic-looking woman in a tailored men's suit, for one thing, and her blonde hair is kept out of her face in a series of small braids. Asgardian ones.
She trails along after Peggy to Ava's left, her hands loosely clasped behind her back as blue eyes keep attentive watch on their surroundings. They fall upon T'Challa for a moment before moving on.
*
Steve couldn't have missed this. Sure, he and his girlfriend only recently survived their own assassination attempt. Granted, that was most certainly not Bucky, unless a lot has changed over there years.
He walks alongside Liv (whom he just recently met, afterall) and Ava (whom he met in a fight). He's eager to find out whatever he can about Bucky as soon as he can. As soon as he's apprehended, then Steve can get some answers and move onto the other worrisome aspects of his life.
*
The click-clack of heels and the authoritative female voice gets Bucky's attention. He turns to glance over his shoulder. It's reflex. The way he almost never sits with his back to a door, or how he always knows exactly how many steps away the nearest piece of cover is. How he can spot an undercover cop unerringly, even the Feds who come by to harangue Stark periodically.
The elevator door goes *ding* at the precise moment that Bucky spots the entire entourage, and his face goes completely flat.
He shoves Pepper away from him with a firm push from his left hand, hard enough to lift her off her heels and send her skidding across the tile floor. His right hand dips to the small of his back and comes up with a compact FN Browning, the slender, odd little European pistol levelling off at the group.
Bedlam explodes in the lobby as Bucky starts shooting indiscriminately at the little entourage, neverminding the nearly thirty-yard distance between the elevators and the front desk in the expansive lobby, or the civilians or furniture that partially obstructs his line of sight.
*
Just about to tug on Jack's hand again, Pepper blinks as he turns away, "Jack? Look at me. I'm talking to-" And then she's suddenly being shoved more violently than Bucky's ever dealt with her in his life. She didn't expect it, at all. She hisses in pain, tumbling backwards into the marble wall behind her where she slumps down, stunned for a few heartbeats. And then he's got a gun out and the entire world is changing.
"…Jack?…JACK!" She half screeches, trying to scramble back up to her feet even if it's probably a horrible idea because there will probably be other bullets coming back at him. Pepper's just acting on shocked instinct right now.
*
The sound of gunfire elicits reactions and muscle memory rather than actual thought. Peggy hits the deck, taking cover behind one of the many pillars in the main lobby. "GET DOWN!" the order comes true and fast amid the sound of gunfire echoing across the lobby. She slides to the floor behind the pillar and draws a weapon from its holster at her waist.
"And… of course I chose the best tailored suit…" she quips to herself as she peeks around the corner to open fire on… oh. She leans back around the corner and inhales a slow breath. This was not in today's plan.
*
Ava is regrettably not bulletproof. And yet, there's little in her response to the shooting that suggests she's aware of that, save from a slight angling of her body to get some cover from Liv. She doesn't run. Instead, she pulls a gun from inside her coat, already firing back at the shooter. The gun doesn't return bullets, though. Flashes of light - EMP bursts - shoot toward the Winter Soldier, the girl's jaw set in a grim expression.
*
The moment of that motion, violent and unexpected, twangs across T'Challa's nerves and she twitches in the direction of the to-be shooter. She has no time to shout a warning, and there's no flight in her to just leap back out of the building to avoid the chaos and danger that will ensue, despite what her security detail would prefer. They would have argued that she not take this meeting if it wasn't at a SHIELD HQ. But they did win out when convincing her to wear her Black Panther suit beneath her civilian attire, just in case something untoward should occur. It is part of why SHIELLD wants to talk to her, after all.
T'Challa leaps not away, but into the fray and towards the gunman, though even her herb-sharpened physical prowess will not get her all the way there. It will put her between the gunman and others, perhaps civilians or SHIELD agents. And her body - everything but her head - is covered by a vibranium mesh weave, which she can trust to absorb the impact of those bullets with relatively little harm. It's the best she can do this quickly, and she can only hope it is enough to save some lives.
*
One person who ignores Peggy's order to get down: Liv. Her head whips towards the sound of gunfire and then she moves fast, too fast for a human, to place herself in between the gunfire and the Director of SHIELD, and Ava as the young woman ducks behind her. The reason why probably becomes apparent quickly enough: her suit earns several bullet holes for her trouble, but the shells themselves clatter to the ground at her feet as if they were toys. Ava is not bulletproof, but Liv is.
Eyes narrowed, Liv glances askance at Steve while Ava returns fire from behind her. "I have her, Captain," she says crisply, before jerking her chin towards the Winter Soldier. "Go."
*
*BZZT* 'Pepper…' *BZZT* 'Pepper?' *BZZT* 'Pepper, I swear, I didn't do anything this time, so if you're mad at me…' The intercom at Pepper's desk goes off a few times with Tony's voice coming through. Finally, one of the other admins informs him that Pepper isn't back from her break yet. Weird #1. Weird #2 when he catches information on his home-grown security system in the lobby that Aunt Peggy has come in. Did they have an appointment? He would ask, but PEPPER IS AWAY! Weird #3 comes not too soon after when said security system notes that shots have been fired. "Not in my building…" is muttered before Stark stalks back into his office and Iron Man flies out the large, panoramic window (that has been adjusted to open previously, of course), and stalks his way back into the Lobby of his own building.
"We just redecorated in here. If you don't like it, you don't have to be so vocal," is projected through the suit's speaker before he glances about to see just what is going on. "Everyone who doesn't want to fight, get out." is then ordered. Aunt Peggy -AND- Pepper here? What a conundrum! The Director of SHIELD, however, seems to have bodyguards and Captain America. In going after Pepper, he sees Jack with the gun. "I knew it! I knew there was something fishy about him!" Even though he probably had no clue and was purely jealous.
*
Speaking of vibranium, Steve Rogers reaches towards his back to pull out his. The shield, held to his back, was the only part that signified his identity, although anyone who paid attention knows that Steve Rogers is Captain America. He wasn't expecting bullet fire, however,
In between getting his shield and putting it in front of himself and other mortals, like Peggy, Steve is hit in the shoulder by a bullet. His face grits in pain and he begins to stalk towards Bucky, if that is him, with a look of determination on his face, headlong into the hail of bullets.
He then hears Liv's commentary about going to get Bucky and he picks up the pace. He trusts Liv, to be honest he trusts her enough to keep Jack safe. And Peggy. He begins to run as fast as his super powered legs will take him, straight at Bucky.
*
Bucky flings himself into the elevator, tucking and rolling into a tight ball to avoid the splash of those sparkling energetic bursts of power. He comes up from his roll as the doors start to slide shut, staring Steve right in the eye as Captain America closes the gap, and aims the barrel at his face— then drops the muzzle of the gun at the last moment and shoots at Steve's legs.
The doors *ding* shut and Bucky savages them with a punch from his left arm, disabling the opening mechanism by dint of jamming them completely shut. He leaps up, punching the emergency escape hatch open, and clambers up into the elevator shaft.
He starts a timer in his head. It's all math— how fast T'challa was moving. Steve's reaction times. Iron Man's presence. Pepper.
No time to think about Pepper. Bucky leaps from one car to the next, then the next, smashing the pulleys as he goes to disable the elevators. He makes it to the third car and wraps his hand around the cable, then savagely kicks the counterweight stops loose. The elevator box, ten stories up, comes crashing down and Bucky uses the momentum to go flying /upwards/, the lights on the elevator panel dinging with alarming speed as the elevator— and its occupants— plummet to the basement level.
*
"…Jack! Stop! Please!" Pepper's voice crackles in a desperate, panicked scream into the room. She's been through a lot of awful this year, but watching the mild mannered, far too quiet man she's come to spend her life with suddenly turn into a murdering machine? It's too much. She stumbles up to her feet, finally. She'll feel those bruises in the morning but she just doesn't CARE right now. Oblivious to Tony's paging her above, or Iron Man soon trying to fly onto the scene, she's just trying to follow the assassin and talk some sense into the man she thought she knew.
Of course… she wasn't expecting electric EMP sort of bullets to be fired at him. While Bucky is moving impossibly fast, she's not, and one of Ava's charges actually nails her right in the side. At least the redhead isn't screeching any more. She goes down hard, twitching and flopping from the shock.
*
Peggy rounds the corner of the pillar, and she opens fire on the assailant as both of her hands clasp the weapon tightly. It kicks back as she allows the bullets to fly. And her eyes trail after the retreating Bucky. The order comes quickly as she insists, "Stay on him!" And she aims to do the same as she runs towards the elevator, following the other agents as she does.
*
See? This is why Ava uses the EMP shots. Collateral damage is a lot less scary that way. Hopefully. When the Winter Soldier goes up the elevator shaft, she's ready to escort Peggy to a safe place, blinking when the Director instead not only directs them to pursue, but goes after him herself.
"Director? Shouldn't we get you to safety?"
*
With grunts of effort for the shots intercepted, T'Challa lands in a roll and leaps towards the elevator, trusting the professionals to protect Director Carter as her own would be protecting her if they were not trapped outside this building, gnashing their teeth in fury right now. Her leap carries T'Challa towards the elevators, where herb-sharpened senses pick up the vibrations and screech of the falling elevator car. She doesn't hesitate much, but stuffs her hands into her pockets and withdraws them with clawed gauntlets in place, slicing through the elevator doors swiftly to get herself and others inside to spot what may be wrong. Whether or not she can catch and save that car of passengers, she has to try something!
*
Peggy makes it about four steps before Liv's hand seizes her by the back of her jacket, the Asgardian giving her a genuinely apologetic look as she physically holds her back from joining the pursuit. "She's right," she notes with a nod to Ava. "We need to get you out of here while the getting is good. You're his target, and I'm not ready to have that conversation with your husband." She nods towards the arriving suit of armor. "Let him and Steve handle it." And T'Challa, of course. But she has no idea what to make of her yet.
*
Iron Man goes first to Pepper as she's downed by the mussed EMP blast and he glares at the shooter (although hard to tell behind the featureless mask), "Aim much? Try it. You might like it." He lifts the mask then to try and see if she's all right. Unfortunately, with not-Jack's actions with the elevator, he can't stay with her. Peggy passes him and he flicks the mask back into place, "Don't do anything stupid, Aunt Peggy…leave that to me…" is offered even as he aims a palm at the elevator door. "Clear!" is called before he shoots at the doors, clearing the rest of the metal that was left after T'Challa's clawing of it. He's then flying towards the falling car of passengers to try and grab the cable and at least slow the descent to a reasonable, semi-safe velocity.
*
The bullets ping harmlessly off the shield as Steve stalks after Bucky. As he follows him towards the elevators, however, the low shot gets past the shield. Lucky for the Star Spangled former Avenger, the bullet ricochets off of his boot, albeit bending the steel toe badly.
Once the door shut, he realizes that Bucky has too much of a headstart and that he's just going to be a sitting duck in chasing him. He decides to take the stairs instead, running upwards as fast as he can, despite his aching toe and bloody shoulder.
*
Between T'challa's quick thinking and Tony's augmented strength, the two of them manage to get the doors open enough that Iron Man can grab the falling car and arrest it from falling furthur. Still, it's so badly damaged by the fall that it's jammed crookedly in the shaft— the weight could still let it fall, but there's no pulling it back up again, either. And from the terrified screams inside the cable car, there's at least five people who are going to be facing a multi-story drop into the SI building sublevels if that groaning cable in Iron Man's gauntleted hand snaps. Either way, they need to come up with a plan of action— fast.
Winter Soldier releases his grip on the broken, snapping cable near the penthouse level, fetching up hard against a girder and clinging to it for balance, before hauling himself up to the doors.
*Ding* Pepper Potts' Condominum: Women's Clothing, Food, office supplies.
He wrenches the elevator door open, still keeping perfect count in his head. Counting the moments he has until Steve can scale the stairwell to get to him. Because Bucky's counted how long it takes /him/ to scale that stairwell, at a dead sprint, as fast as he's able to do so.
He rushes into Pepper's room. Ignore everything. He rips a duffel bag out from under her bed, and pulls a flak vest over his shoulders. A compact, wickedly novel machine pistol gets strapped to his right shoulder. He reaches between the mattresses and produces an M14. A Browning semi-auto is produced from behind the nightstand.
Thirty seconds.
He slings pistols around his hips, an H-harness slung over his shoulders. All the most modern military gear out there, ready to go, ammunition loaded into magazines. He slings the rifle over his shoulder and pulls an atlas off Pepper's shelf— dozens of stolen documents tucked inside of the hollow, false book. Those get crammed into the duffel. He rips her phone apart with his left hand and extracts the audio recorder he'd hidden in it.
He checks his timing. Out of time. Bucky rushes out the penthouse door and pauses for just a beat to throw a pair of thermite grenades into the room behind him. The fire should provide a good cover.
He moves with alacrity to the service elevators at the back of the building. He punches one elevator panel until it's completely out of commission, then flings himself down the other shaft, gripping the cable in his left hand until smoke rises from steel clutching steel as he descends a dozen stories to the parking garage below in a matter of seconds.
*
Well, that was a new experience. Fortunately, the shock doesn't last long, though Pepper's got the breath knocked out of her almost entire by it as she curls over onto her side, in the direction of Iron Man. She gives him a weak smile, all too well knowing who is behind that suit, and then a small wave a heartbeat later, "Go…go…I'll be fine…" She rasps out softly, almost trying to push herself up off the floor, but she decides that's a very unwise idea a moment later and remains cheek kissing the marble below her. Everything hurt.
When others follow Bucky into the apartment, they will find a very stereotypical, mod, elegant woman's place. Pictures on the wall, coasters on the table, an array of expensive dresses in the closet. A black and white TV, of course, and a well stocked wet bar. The predominant colors are pink, cream and shiny brass. It's achingly feminine and a very strange comparison to the weapons of death Bucky pulls out from under the bed.
*
The grasp of Peggy's jacket and Ava's words cause the director to pause. Peggy straightens and casts a stray glance towards Tony. She tugs on the bottom of her jacket as her weapon is returned to its holster. "Bring him in!" she orders mater-of-factly to the rest of her agents. "We need to secure the perimeter and ensure…" she looks around the room "…the civilians. We need to get help for the civilians…" She pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Sigrunsdottir, you're with me," mostly because she already declared the need to get Peggy to safety, but the Director isn't one to sit on the sidelines, even when it's well-advised, "… we need to ensure the civilians are secure…"
*
Ava is too busy being confused by Peggy to even notice Tony's crack about her aim. Besides, it was just an EMP burst! It's not like the secretary has a pacemaker. Probably. When Peggy consents to go with Liv, she looks toward the elevator shaft, weighing the likely results in her mind. "I'm going to try to cut him off," she says, nodding once to Liv before turning to run for the front door again.
Where would the Red Room say to go? To a window. To an unconventional escape route where people aren't likely to be able to follow once he gets a lead. Like nearby rooftops. To which he'll need to jump. Out the front doors she goes, scanning the outside of the building with her gun in hand.
*
Outside the Stark building, a team of four Wakandan security professionals - two men, two women, all native Wakandans dressed in dark Western suits with tribal splashes to bring the point home - have closed in on the building. They started by trying to push inside, but now have settled in to maintain containment. They can't get through that tangled mess to T'Challa, but they can make sure no one gets out until they're cleared. They've called in for backup, just as surely the SHIELD agents have done, and one of them is looking for an opening to get herself inside to her Queen. But that's as far as they have gotten, despite their determination.
Inside, T'Challa eyes the shield-bearing soldier heading for the stairs, and the Iron Man who just tore through the remains of the door she'd shredded to get to the elevators. A shooter willing to take fire on civilians cannot be allowed free roam with Stark tech about. She leaps through the opening and starts bounding from one side of the elevator shaft to the other, climbing as quickly as her herb-heightened physicality can carry her after the shooter. Somewhere along the way those civilian clothes are likely to get left behind, and a hidden mask will make its appearance. Better the Black Panther than the unmasked Queen.
*
Once Liv is sure Peggy's not about to go haring off after the man that is actively trying to assassinate her, she releases her grip on the Director's jacket. She doesn't need to be told to stay close to Peggy's side, but the order still receives a nod and a "Yes ma'am," all the same. She nods firmly to Ava, but otherwise, her attention is on what Peggy's deemed their priority: the perimeter. The civilians.
"He's going to circle back around, you know," Liv asides to Peggy as she shadows her, making a mental note of Pepper's face. She'd need to check in on her once the actual crisis was under control. "You're his objective. I can put myself between you and his bullets all day long, but I'm not perfect."
*
Pulling the elevator back up…not gonna happen. So, despite wanting to go after Pepper's boyfriend/shooter, Iron Man nods to the familiar-looking woman scaling the walls, "Go get him!" He then lowers the elevator, as slowly as he can while still sort of rushing, to the basement. "Watch out," is called to those inside as he pulls open the emergency hatch for them to try and climb out or at least get some air. After that, though, he's turning the boot thrusters on and he's booking it after the others.
The fire alarm that goes out due to Pepper's condo being on fire isn't going to help.
*
Just as the top floor of the building explodes with the fire grenades, a figure is leaping out of the building and plummeting towards the Earth, right above the parking garage. People gasp and scream as that portion of the building goes up in flames, but someone points at the floating figure.
"Who is that?"
"That's Captain America! Look at the shield!"
Steve plummets towards the Earth with his shield out in front of him, the star getting larger and larger as he approaches the parking garage.
*
T'challa, in hot pursuit, would hear the wrenching of the elevator shaft on the other side of the wall being savagely torn open. It wouldn't take the Queen long to recognize that the target had taken another fast course down out of the building.
Winter Soldier rushes to his motorcycle and vaults into the saddle, kicking the engine into high gear. It revs twice with a coughing boom as he overloads the choke, gas burning and sizzling on the exhaust. On the third try it kicks over and he opens the throttle wide open, the bike rearing up off the front axel into a wheelie as he makes a break for the exit.
He's all of five feet from the ramp when Steve Rogers crashes through the roof and with unspeakably good luck, bounces off the bike's rear tire. Winter Soldier loses control of the bike and it goes skittering away from him. He lands in a skid, but fetches up to his feet and breaks into a mad sprint for the exit to the parking garage. That little snub-nosed SMG pops off his shoulder and he spatters hot lead behind him at Steve Rogers, without breaking stride, and explodes onto the sidewalk moving with shocking amounts of speed, accelerating into traffic and easily keeping up with swerving, honking cars in the middle of a busy thoroughfare.
*
Yes, Stark Industries has the most state of the art fire suppression systems. Pepper made CERTAIN they were installed after a few incidents in one of the labs. Of course, they're still all on the same network, so to speak. If one goes off, they ALL go off. Suddenly, as the smoke in Pepper's condo so many floors above hits it, the overhead sprinklers throughout the entire building kick on, raining musty water across everyone in the chaotic scene. Pepper blinks as she feels that water, rolling over onto her back and giving a drunken, half insane little laugh. "…perfect…Just…perfect."
*
Even with Liv's assertion, Peggy isn't easily distracted from her mission. She's already moving back towards the street from the lobby, "Even if he does circle back, we need to establish a perimeter around the building… no one else is to come in… " She manages a tight-lipped near-smile that looks more like a grimace than anything remotely merry as she tugs on the door to the lobby, and is rained on in the process. "Where there's smoke…" not that the water is actual smoke. "…I suspect the system is designed to herald for help…" She frowns as the pair hits the sidewalk.
*
Ava comes up short against the Wakandan guards when she steps outside, losing half a second in lowering her gun to look like a properly panicked civilian. It means she's just in time to see him driving away, and into a crowd where shooting anything is less than ideal. She lets a curse drop in Russian, looking back over her shoulder to the building.
*
T'Challa's biggest problem is that by the time she's about where she wants to get … everything erupts. Fire, and then water running down into the shaft from the halls and their fire suppression systems. She skids and scrapes down the walls, then starts reversing her leaping course until she can roll out into the dampening lobby once more, her quarry lost. She doesn't even try to give chase outside, but does head towards the Director and her guardian, the Black Panther fully costumed and masked as she approaches. "It seems you are perhaps a bit unpopular, Madam Director. Or too popular? Let me tell my people to release the doors, if you please, to your people."
*
The four Wakandan guards are given a very quick once-over by Liv as she follows Peggy out onto the sidewalk, seeming completely unbothered by the fact that she's been left soaking wet by the building's sprinklers, but there is just something in the Wakandans' collective bearing that doesn't set off her alarm bells. Not like the squealing tires and honking horns in the distance do.
Liv glances over her shoulder when the Black Panther approaches them, and much like the guards, no alarm bells go off in the Asgardian's mind. She earns a small smile and a nod. She sticks close to Peggy all the same, turning her eyes back towards the sounds of chaos in the street as she slowly moves to put herself between the noise and Peggy herself. Pay her no mind, boss.
*
Trying to catch up with the shooter and Captain America, Iron Man crashes through the nearest window to circle about and try and find the man to target. He'll pay for the window's repair later. As not-Jack skids through traffic, he spots him and tries to fire a repulsor beam of his own. He'd fire bullets or mini missiles, but…cars and busy streets. Flying above the traffic does make things easier as far as tracking him goes.
*
The irony is not lost on Steve Rogers.
Back when he and Bucky used to roam Europe, the Soviet Union and the United States were allies. Now, if this Ava girl is correct, both men are on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Steve is running out into traffic after his former friend. He's chasing him down to protect Peggy, and to protect Jack, really, too. He's chasing him, as fast as he can, not only because he's a fugitive and because Bucky is an enemy of the state. But he's chasing him for closure too. He needs to see what the Soviets did to him, and whether he's at all the same person under there.
This time the barrage of bullets does not hit, but they slow him down. Steve realizes at that point that he's about to lose Bucky all over again. He grits his teeth and throws his shield as hard as he can.
*
Winter Solider dodges the first blast from the repulsor. The second catches him a glancing blow and he staggers, losing some of that breakneck momentum. He converts it into a roll, bouncing off a car, and then at that moment Steve Rogers throws his former best friend the perfect weapon.
Winter grabs the shield out of the air with his left hand. He jukes once, gets his feet set, and turns the shield on Stark just as the Iron Man looses a blast of repulsor energy at him. The legendary shield bounces that repulsor blast at Stark, full force, and just for good measure Bucky throws the shield at Iron Man with a /lot/ of raw power.
And then, amidst the tumult of traffic accidents, the shouting guards, escorts, Wakandan bodyguards, civil police, most of the original Avengers, and whomever else is watching— between the smoke and the distrction and the crunching of cars, Winter Soldier ducks between two vehicles— and vanishes.
By the time anyone can catch up, he's disappeared into the labyrinthine passages that make up the dark shadows of New York's utility corridors, headed God only knows where and leaving behind a great deal of injury and carnage in his wake.
And many, many unanswered questions.
*
Oblivious to what is happening outside, Pepper blinks against the moisture on her face. It's not tears, surely she's not crying. She can't cry, not in front of all these people. Not in front of an entire company that now is going to rely on her to clean up and rebuild. The redhead shakily begins to push herself up to her feet, blue dress clinging all the tighter to her, as she tries to push one hand back through her hair and get it off of her face. Then, crisis mode Pepper engaged, she double times over to the terrorized front desk. "Vilma, I need to you to put in a call to the insurance adjustors now. We need at least five of them out here to survey the damage. And…" Then she hears sirens, "Start organzing the emergency crews as they come in. We need to check on all those people in the elevators. Has anyone located where the fire was? Can we kill this water?"
*
"Oh, shi—" is started as the repulsor beam is mirrored back at him. Iron Man tries to swerve out of the way, but it dings him, sending him barreling back before he rights himself. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have a chance to recover before he's doubled over by the flying shield. Normally, he might consider this advantageous, but as he hurls into the window of a nearby building, he skids across the floor and can manage only, "Ow."
*
Steve comes to a stop as he realizes that he's lost him. He looks over towards Iron Man who will likely be alright; only his ego will be bruised. Steve is so angry he cannot even speak. He walks straight over to Iron Man and picks up his shield, "We should have had him."
"We should have had him," he repeats.
*
Unless someone from SHIELD actually does bother doubling back for her, Pepper is going to be commander in chief of the clean up of Stark Industries all day and through the rest of the night. It's better to work, after all, and not actually need to acknowledge the man she loved just turned into a mass murder machine, tossed her across a floor, tried to kill a bunch of people, and took off. Work is so much better than that. So, she starts helping to direct emergency crews, makes certain EVERY level of insurance is called, checks for people trapped in the building… and generally proves just why she's such a damn well paid secretary. Crying will happen later. A lot later. Probably when she sees her destroyed apartment.
*