Friend Or Foe? (May 2002)

SHIELD, not unlike the FBI and the CIA have several men and women monitoring cell phones, radio waves, cb radio transmissions and surveillance cameras from all over the world. Trained, professional people who are experts in what they do. At SHIELD HQ, there is an entire floor dedicated for this purpose. And right now they’ve all been tasked for looking for one man. Code named, ‘The Winter Soldier’.

After the beating SHIELD took in the last meeting, Nick has authorized the use of SHIELD’s heavy weapons divisions and he’s dispatched his best agents to hunt the man down. Included in the search are local police, the FBI and the CIA. Thousands of law enforcement professionals working together to find him. So far his identity is unknown but they do know that Hydra is involved.

Kate was on the observation level herself following up with two techs that thought they had captured footage of the man in question. So far though, Haley Ingle and Alex Davidson, the two techs that had called her down could not get a positive ID. Kate knew Haley, they were both about the same age and they had trained together. Haley smiled up at Kate and turned her chair around at her approach.

“Oh! Hi Kate, I didn’t know you were the tech officer on duty tonight, you running double shifts up there?” She asked and then looked around quickly then looked back at her. “How’s Daniella?” She asked in a much softer tone. Haley was Daniella’s friend too.

Kate was determined to find this man..."The Winter Soldier." She was barely sleeping. She knew he was out there and he had killed two of her fellow agents and wounded her friend. She was going to find him and kill him. SHIELD had shifted all of their resources to the effort. It had become their number one priority.

When Kate received the call from the Observation Level, she quickly dropped what she was doing to go down there. She had gotten a good look at this guy and she felt that she could help make that positive ID. Kate smiled at Haley as she walked in. Haley was the same age as Kate and she and Daniella often hung out together.

"She's...doing better," she told her. "Chase is back and he did not flee the way she thought he would. He was in shock, but he clearly loves her and is going to stick around."

Pure relief and commiseration came over Haley’s face. They all knew Chase was a good man. Especially for Daniella. He didn’t put up with her temper and seemed to keep her grounded. Something Daniella desperately needed in her life. But them coming together, and likely marriage and maybe even children. That life came at such a high cost. Daniella was sorely needed out in the field. And like Kate, she was very good at her job. Both Kate and Haley had met Chase. He was your typical, white businessman though incredibly handsome with wavy blonde hair and the bluest eyes. Daniella was crazy about him. So much so it was easy to tell when he was away on business. Daniella was always in a sour mood during those times.

“How are you holding up?” She asked just as Alex found the few seconds he had been looking for. “Here it is,” he said. Haley turned back to her monitors and hit a few keys to process more video feeds that had been coming in. Alex backed up the video and showed it to Kate. Unfortunately Kate would know it wasn’t the guy. His armor was high tech, his uniform to specific. The man in the video was masked but his jacket was all wrong and so was his hair. Brown, vs. the unmistakable black of the man she sought.

In many ways Kate was jealous of Daniella and Chase's relationship. Her last relationship had been almost a year and a half ago and had ended badly. Doing the job she did and trying to balance a relationship was nearly impossible, and yet Daniella had found a way to do it and, more importantly, found a man who understood her job. Kate's dedication was to helping people and she wasn't about to trade that for a man just so she could say she was in a relationship. Perhaps one day she would find what she was looking for...but not today.

Kate was anxious to look at the video. After Alex found the few seconds he had been looking for, he got up so Kate could take his seat. Kate sat down and looked closely at the man in question. Immediately she knew it wasn't the guy they were after. Kate sighed and shook her head. She could sense the disappointment in the room. "It's not him."

Alex retook his seat as Kate got up. Obviously this guy had some kind of interference device running. He was essentially a ghost and SHIELD had yet to be able to positively ID the man. And there had been a series of murders. Just no proof that they were perpetrated by her guy. Alex was very bummed out. “Well...sorry Kate, I really thought we had him,” Alex said. And then something flashed across Haley’s screen. It was only for a few seconds on one of the middle monitors. She had 24 monitors running, both of them did. Haley hadn’t seen it, she was looking at her.

Kate was trying to keep her disappointment at bay. She knew that they were working hard down here and she didn't want them to feel badly about themselves. She knew that they were working extremely hard. Kate nodded. "I did too Al..." Suddenly, Kate stopped speaking. She was starring at Haley's screen. No one else seemed to have seen what she just saw. "Haley, run back what's recording on your monitor about 30 seconds."

Haley shifted back to her monitors and pointed to the one she thought Kate had meant. When Kate nodded Haley went to work. She paused all the feeds and brought the one feed to take up 9 of the monitors. She backed up the video and began to step it forward. There was a police car and apparently, a crime in progress. A police officer fell back against the left, front quarter panel of his squad car then fell to the street with a massive hole in his chest. And, for just a second and a half, a grainy shot of someone on the roof across the street. Haley zoomed up on the man using a small joystick next to her keyboard. The video was very grainy and she began an enhancement program. All three of them were watching the screen as the program scrubbed away the static in the image line by line. After about a minute though it seemed much longer, Kate saw the man she sought.

When Kate asked where that was, Haley pulled back and got the cross streets. 16th and Bedford, there in New York. Alex chimed in.

“There’s something happening, we’re getting a newsfeed,” Alex said and then he brought it up. It was the Avengers in action.

------------------------------------------

Captain America, Tony and Isabella Stark had responded to a situation at the 12th precinct courthouse. It began as a hostage situation but the violence had apparently spilled out onto the street. 3 police were dead and one seriously wounded. The assailant moved quickly. He fired a grenade at Isabella. It hit her in the chest and though her diamond skin protected her, the impact sent her flying back into a car that had screeched to a stop in the street. She hit hard and her body made a huge dent in the side doors and the impact turned the car sideways in the street. There was a passenger too. An older woman and she looked seriously injured.

Steve flung his shield and knocked the weapon out of James’s hands.

Kate wasted no time in rushing out and getting changed. She grabbed her weapons and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail. Several other SHIELD agents were also going with her, but she made it clear that she wanted to be the one to take him out.

By the time they arrived on the scene there was pure chaos. Several police officers were already dead and there was a large amount of destruction. Isabella helped the older woman out of the car and carefully moved her away from the area. Paramount were already arriving and Isabella made sure she was seen to.

Kate watched as Captain America fought hand to hand with The Winter Soldier. She pulled out her gun and took aim. It was difficult with them moving, but she kept her eye fixed on him and waited to pull the trigger.

Kate’s experience as an agent out in the field had prepared her for moments like this. Today she was not held back. There was no ‘client’ she had to safeguard. Today there was no leash and today wasn’t just about her just ‘doing her duty’. Thoughts of Daniella, Harold and Josh came into her head. The caskets and the grief in Daniella’s eyes. This man was the heart of all of that pain and suffering. And there was more lives and families destroyed today by this man. She took aim right between his eyes and fired.

Just as she fired Steve pushed up on the man’s chin. He was sooo strong! But Steve was stronger. The bullet that was fired, he knew someone had shot hit the man he fought right in the side of the face. However the protective mask the man wore took the bullet and was knocked clear of his face. Steve and the unmasked man had one another in their grip and Steve’s eyes goggled as he took in a sharp breath.

“Bucky!?” He said in pure disbelief. For a moment the Winter Soldier stopped. He...remembered being called that. Remembered ‘being’ someone named that. No, not his ‘name’. A nickname. And he recalled a man’s face calling him that. Captain America’s face. Steve Rogers face. Both men returned to their senses however they both realized that someone was shooting at them. Tony used his fire suppression system to put out a car fire while Isabella helped keep the citizens away from the fighting. Both men worked together to bring Steve’s shield to bear against the incoming shots.

Kate’s shots were deflected by the shield and she’d know that not all of that was due to the unmasked man.

Kate growled when her shot was deflected off of the man’s face guard. However, the shot was powerful enough to actually dislodge his mask and push it off of his face. She aimed to take another shot. She had his forehead in her sights, when suddenly Captain America blocked her shot! She didn’t understand what was happening. Then, he suddenly began protecting him. What the hell was going on?! Kate’s perfect shot had been ruined and now Captain America was protecting this murderer.

Kate kept her gun level as she got close enough to talk to Mr. Rogers. “Mr. Rogers, this man is a murderer. Please step back and let us bring him to justice.”

Steve struggled to hold Bucky and his shield was out toward her as she came closer to speak. They both heard what she said. “Bring him to justice...by killing him?” Steve said. Finally Bucky managed to push Steve off of him and Steve fell forward into Kate though he managed to not bash her with his shield. For a moment Steve landed on top of her and they were face to face, only inches apart.

He noticed Kate then and recalled her name. Kate Blackwell, that was her name. A SHIELD agent. She was pretty with her golden hair though it looked somewhat haphazard, very much so. No, not pretty, gorgeous though her blue eyes seemed to bore into him angrily. As he sat up though he put his hand on her weapon hand and used the edge of his shield to smash it from the side. He rolled away from her fist before she could connect and then away he ran after Bucky. When she looked at her pistol she’d know it was ruined.

Tony dropped down in front of Bucky and blasted him with both of his repulsors. Bucky was flung back into a concrete parking block. Pieces of concrete broke off as he hit and he shifted onto all fours as he tried to shake the stun of the hit off.

Kate opened her mouth to respond to what Captain Rogers said, but suddenly The Winter Soldier threw Steve towards her. She landed flat on her back on the ground with Steve on top of her. She opened her eyes to see that Captain America's face was only inches away from her's and she found herself looking up into his blue eyes. Despite the fact that he was an incredibly handsome man, she was still pissed. She saw him sit up and look at the gun in her hand. However, before she could move it he held her hand down and then used his shield to smash it. She gaped at him and what he had done.

"What the hell are you doing?! This man has killed innocent people and is currently terrorizing New York City! Why are you protecting him?"

Isabella was watching what Tony was doing and she suddenly saw an opportunity to get Bucky down. She rushed at him and then used her powers to transform her skin into a heavy metal. She knew it wasn't enough to crush him, but her goal was to keep him down. She wrapped her arms around him and felt him struggle underneath her weight.

“Because he doesn’t know what he’s doing!” Steve yelled quickly over his shoulder as he ran toward the others. Bucky moved awkwardly with the tremendous weight atop him. Isabella had her arms around him and no matter how hard he struck her with his elbows she did not let go. Finally Tony moved up and injected him with a strong sedative. And then he hit him again with one more. As Steve arrived, followed closely by several SHIELD agents and police, Bucky’s thrashes began to slow and weaken.

“Bucky...how...how are you alive!?” Steve asked as his eyes closed and all went black. Isabella climbed off of him but several cops and SHIELD agents looked at him with murder in their eyes. Steve could see that now. “This man is James Buchanan Barnes. I knew him in 1945, we were...best friends,” he said as Isabella turned him over. His left arm was cybernetic. Tony watched as a crowd gathered, in a moment they could turn ugly. By their angry, fearful looks, they could tear this man apart.

Tony retracted his facemask and looked at Steve. “Ok, so he’s your ‘friend’. What are you asking us to do Steve?” He asked. “I…” he began and then saw Kate Blackwell as she came up to them with a furious look in her eyes.

Isabella waited until she felt the man collapse down onto the ground as the sedatives Tony had given him took affect. She got off of him and her skin transformed back to normal. She looked over at Steve as he approached. All around them an angry mob of people was forming. Isabella looked at Steve and was shocked to hear that this man had been his best friend back when they were younger. Isabella began to suspect that Hydra might have something to do with what he had been turned into.

Kate stormed over to where Steve stood with the others and continued to guard the man. "He killed colleagues of mine who weren't even after him. He nearly killed my best friend. Her right arm and leg had to be amputated and she was severely burned."

Steve shifted over to block Kate from doing anything...harmful to Bucky. He pointed to her. “Miss Blackwell, he’s not right in his mind. Something has happened to him...Bucky was a war hero, not a murderer. So I’ll thank you to stay back,” Steve said. “Tony, we need to get him out of here,” Steve said. Tony shared a look with Isabella. “What are we going to do with him?” Tony asked. “Get him out of here, for starters,” Steve said. “And fast,” he added. SHIELD agents moved up behind Kate as well as other police officers. All had their guns drawn.

“Look, I’m sorry about your friends Miss Blackwell, but I promise you, I will get to the bottom of this and what happened to him,” Steve said.

Kate was clearly very upset over everything that had happened in the last few weeks. She looked at Steve and said nothing. She fought back a few tears as she shook her head and turned and walked away from him without another word. She didn't even pick up her broken gun. She just pushed through the crowd and never once looked back at him.

Somehow the Avengers were able to get Steve and James out of there and made it back to the Tower. James was placed into a highly secure room. It would take hours for the sedatives to wear off. Isabella poured them each a drink and she looked at Steve. "So, what are you thinking we do?"

Tony scanned James’s arm for weapons. As far as he knew, it was just a cybernetic arm. There were no internal weapons but he could use it to bash his way out of a cage. Unless it was one that Tony built. The hulk could get out...eventually, but not easily. He sat cross-legged in the middle of the cage as he looked at them.

“Bucky, don’t you recognize me?” He asked. Bucky just looked at him with those, stern, dark eyes. “I...have memories or dreams. I...see your face, sometimes,” he said but he didn’t move to change his expression. Tony took a sip from his drink as he watched Steve interact with him. He turned to Isabella. “Even if Steve gets through to him...SHIELD is going to want his head,” He told Isabella softly.

Isabella stood back with Tony as they watched Steve with James. His eyes never changed, but he did seem to recognize Steve. That was at least a good sign. She sighed and took a sip of her drink as she listened to what Tony said. "Let's just take this one step at a time. We'll deal with that later. For now, we just need to try to get through to him."

SHIELD demanded updates and information daily. Tony and Isabella were called over and over by Nick Fury and Phil Coulson about James Barnes. Now that they knew who the winter soldier was, they had researched him. Kate was looking at his former military record. It went on and on and on. He worked against the Nazi’s, rescued prisoners, worked with the Sub-Mariner, THe Human Torch and Toro, He led the Kid Commandos and later, the Liberty Legion. He was a highly decorated officer and friend to Captain America. A complete 180 of the man she knew The only reasoning behind this drastic shift ‘was Hydra who also operated during the war. Hydra and the Red Skull who Barnes helped Steve defeat more than once.

Steve laid in his bed as he thought about the moment, two days ago that he discovered Bucky was alive. His thoughts drifted to a woman, a Miss Kate Blackwell and her amazing blue eyes and blonde hair. He needed help, his friend needed help but he didnt know where to turn. So he decided to call her. Tony had gotten him her number.

Kate’s cell phone rang. .. She did not know the number.

Kate felt that she had failed Daniella and her team. She had tried to resign from her position over what had happened, but neither Phil nor Nick allowed it. She couldn't face her friend and she had been avoiding her these last two days. Instead, she threw herself into trying to understand this man and why Steve Rogers would want to save him. Everything she read about him told her that he had been a completely different man from The Winter Soldier once long ago. This didn't make Kate feel any better. She shoved away the file and took a sip from her beer bottle. She then heard her cell phone begin to ring. She didn't recognize the number, but her number was unlisted. Someone had to have been given it. She finally picked up.

"Agent Blackwell."

Um...This is Steve Rogers. Kate? The reason I’m calling…” He began but then He pushed the phone away and covered it with his hand. He had a feeling that he would not get through to her like this. The telephone was very impersonal. He needed to talk to her...face to face. But how? He didn’t want it to be official.

“You wanna get a coffee or an Ice Cream?” He asked awkwardly. Steve was not good at all at this type of thing.

Kate's eyes grew wide when she heard the voice and the name. How did he get her number?! Feelings of anger swelled up inside of her again and she blinked when he asked her if she wanted to get coffee or ice cream.

"And why would I want to do that?"

Steve had to think about that a moment. She sounded angry. He tried to think about what Tony would do and then thoughts of her without clothes came to him and he put a hand over his eyes and winced. Unbidden thoughts of kissing her and her kissing him back came into his head and he had to concentrate to scuttle those away.

“I think we met in terrible circumstances. And I wanted to talk to you, if you can put away the agent for a moment. You look like a chocolate peanut butter girl to me,” He said as he cringed.

Kate was quiet for a few long moments. She didn't understand what he could possibly want from her and she was still pissed, but for some reason she couldn't force herself to hang up on him.

"Fine, meet me at Morgenstern's...the one on Rivington Street. You're paying."

Kate took the subway into the city and then walked to Rivington Street. The ice cream shop was hard to miss with its blue painted exterior. She walked in and spotted Steve already there. Even angry as she was Kate was still beautiful. She was dressed in street clothes, but she was obviously in great shape. She looked at Steve, but didn't say anything to him. She turned to the man behind the counter and ordered a Hot Tin Roof Sundae.

Steve saw Kate come in but he managed to contain his pleasure from her acquiescence to him asking her to get ice cream. He stood and came over. He ordered a Butter pecan and caramel sundae. And he aid cash for his and Kate’s order. The workers handed them their ice creams and he stepped away from the shop with her onto the grassy green just beyond the parking lot.

He ate his ice cream in a cup with a spoon as they walked. “I just wanted to apologize for us getting off to a bad start. I know you’ve been in SHIELD for a long time and that your parents were SHIELD agents. I respect your dedication Kate. You should be a role model for women everywhere,” he said. “But, to be honest, I wanted to talk to you about Bucky...uh, James Barnes,” he said honestly.