Tangled Paths | Bucky Barnes

Chapter 9: The Contingency Plan

9
The
Contingency Plan

Avengers Tower 2015

Steve took Darla to every floor of the Avengers compound. He started at the bottom and worked his way to the top. It seemed to be like There was an entire floor for anything they needed. Two floors dedicated to the gym. An entire floor for a training area. There was an entire party deck which took up three stories near the top of the tower. Four floors dedicated to living quarters for avengers and other high-profile employees. A few floors for offices. A Floor in the basement for all of Tony's cars. Another floor in the basement was a shooting range.

Steve and Darla arrived up in the laboratory. "And this is as high as we can go. Tony and his Girlfriend Pepper live at the top of the tower, it's usually off limits to us unless in case of emergency." Steve explained as he watched Darla take in the multi-floor lab.
"Who's office is that?" Darla asked as she pointed at the set of double glass doors that lead into an office area with a couch and desk and bookshelf.
"Bruce, he spends the most time up here, you know when he's not turning green and hulk smashing aliens and buildings he's a shy kind scientist who likes to experiment and tinker," Steve explained.

Darla nodded and continued to look around at things, she looked down into the glass floor and said "Woah." As she watched machines build other machines that had humanoid forms.
"What are these?" Darla asked as she watched the machines work.
"They are Tony's latest project, it's a peacekeeping program that he created, the bots are supposed to help clear areas of civilians so people don't get hurt," Steve explained as he watched as well.
"Hm, and how has that been going?" Darla asked as she rose to her feet.
"They haven't seen the field yet." He admitted. Darla nodded slowly and moved on. She headed up the set of three shallow steps to Bruce's office and sat down on the couch. The amount of walking she'd done since she got in the building alone was crazy even with the option of the elevator to take them between floors.

Steve walked in behind her and walked over to a small docking station that Bruce had. He plugged in his phone and the speakers softly started playing music from the 40s in hopes to keep the conversation he was about to engage with Darla calm. He moved to the lounge chair across the table from the couch that Darla sat on and sat down himself. Darla wasn't exactly sure what was happening. People she was having a casual conversation with didn't normally just pop on slow jazz and pull up a chair, But she tried to remember that she and Steve grew up in the same time period and perhaps this was him attempting to bond with her in a way they both knew how.

"Now that you've seen as much of the tower as I can show you I was hoping we could have a chat." Steve gestured. Darla knew there was a catch.
"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Darla asked as she relaxed into the couch.

Steve threaded his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. "Fury called me yesterday and explained the full situation to me. I was wondering if we could talk about it." He asked her carefully. The expression on Steve's face was hard to read for Darla. She wasn't surprised by the topic he had sprung on her either. Darla nodded at Steve as a response.

Steve thought carefully about how he'd start the conversation, ultimately he decided to be direct. "Why did you attack Bucky?" Steve asked. Darla's entire body tensed at the mention of his name. She attempted to think of an answer but the truth was that she didn't really have one for him.

"I don't really know." She replied in hopes that he'd take that as enough of an answer. Steve nodded and looked down at the floor for a moment. 

"Okay, maybe it would be easier for you to start from the beginning? I'd like to get a full idea of what led you to this point." Steve pressed in hopes that at least something would make sense. Darla nodded and prepared herself to tell the full story for the first time.