On Your Left

[captain_asthmatic]

Months after being cleared for mission duty, things were settling into a normal routine for Steve. He got up before dawn, his mind clearing of the dreams - (nightmares) - he usually didn't remember. Usually he went for a run. Even in downtown Manhattan there were places to go for a good run, and he was always back by eight on the dot for inspection and mission briefings, if there were any.

This week, he had been brought back to D.C. for the first time in a while. Pierce was entertaining some U.N. dignitaries, and wanted Captain America to have a presence. So this morning was the first time since before Insight that Steve had run the Mall.

He ran at his usual easy pace, and as the sun just began to touch the buildings, he came up behind an African American man who was running as well. "On your left," he said automatically as he got close.

Comments

[airfoil]

As one might expect getting shot sucked. They didn't get all the chips replaced in time, they didn't stop Project Insight. They failed and pretty much everything else fell with them. Sam - more literally, caught just as he was jumping from the 41st floor to the helicopter Fury was piloting and crashing down into the Potomac. He thought he was pretty much as good as dead honestly but he washed up on shore and someone took pity on him without turning him over to the hospital for some HYDRA operative to finish the job.

There were more like him pulled into makeshift medical outposts constantly under the threat of discovery. Took about four months to get back on his feet and he was lucky, lucky that it went through his shoulder instead of hitting his heart or head.

Sam spent a lot of time recovering in West Virginia, out in the country were it was less likely for the helicarriers to pass by and start clearing them out. Coming back to D.C. was a serious gamble.

Trying to contact Steve was even more of one. The TVs were playing a real sick kind of story with Steve back on the stage.

"Is that how it is?" Sam called as Steve breezed by. He was wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and shorts, anything that'd keep the satellites from picking up on his identity.

[captain_asthmatic]

Steve hadn't expected to see Sam - Sam was dead - and he hadn't recognized him from the back, especially in that outfit. But at the moment that he heard his voice, he checked his footing and whirled around to face him, continuing backwards a few steps with the force of him momentum. It was an almost ungraceful move for someone who had superhuman grace.

"Sam?" he asked, stunned.

[airfoil]

Sam's shoulders hunched in an automatic cringe at being called out in public though it was at least so early in the morning that no one else was around for several hundred feet. He nodded though, stepping forward since pumping the breaks still had Steve going a little farther down the path.

"Yeah, Steve, it's me. Don't freak out. Let's just keep walking a bit?" Act natural as possible.

[captain_asthmatic]

Steve was about to freak out. Sam was marked by Insight. He knew he had been, but then Steve had also been marked, but he'd been lucky. HYDRA had chosen to try to recruit him, and had succeeded. Maybe the same thing could happen with Sam.

He stepped closer, dropping his voice as well. Sam had to be hiding from the helicarriers, and automatically Steve's eyes rose, though he knew they weren't covering this area at this time. He nodded, covering the gesture with a stretch, and then putting his hands on his hips. "Sure, let's take a walk." He turned to continue the way he had been walking, jerking his head to indicate that Sam should walk with him.

[airfoil]

Sam could consider himself lucky too, maybe more than Steve if what he'd been seeing and hearing was true. A sketchy smile pulled at his lips once Steve fell into step and they started to stroll. Nothing but two joggers doing a cool down, right?

"They let you out for runs?" he ventured, starting with that. He wanted to honestly divulge everything but there were people aside from himself involved in his survival and he wasn't about to endanger them. Only Natasha knew that he was doing this and that was to make sure someone back at base would be aware if he went missing.

(She does a little lip quirk when she thinks he's being stupid. It was in full effect as he snagged her last night.)

[captain_asthmatic]

Steve had appeared on the television, and so it was natural that Sam would know that he'd changed allegiances. No secret had been made of that, though no one outside of HYDRA knew the lengths that had been gone through to make that happen. Even Steve had little idea of what had happened.

He glanced at Sam sidelong at the question. "Well...sure, of course. Why wouldn't they?" He had been a prisoner at one time, but not any longer.

Sure, he had a handler, and Steve had strict rules to abide by, but that was a matter of order - and because he had been their enemy for so long. Besides, he was an important asset, and the world was quite unsettled these days. It would be terrible if something happened.

[airfoil]

Sam's head ducked and he stuffed his hands into his pockets, drawing in air and just holding it. He definitely had appeared on TV; speaking strong and proud but the words that had inspired those who weren't living double-lives at SHIELD weren't anything close.

He spoke for HYDRA. As HYDRA. As their damn new world order.

"Don't know," he ventured, though he was getting the strong impression that his concerns were pretty confirmed by now. "Maybe they'd be worried you'd run off."

Terrible. Sure would be terrible if something happened, indeed.

[captain_asthmatic]

Steve chuckled and wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulder, tugging him in for a one-armed hug. He was just so glad that Sam was alive, and here.

"Well, that's not gonna happen. No need for them to worry about that."

[airfoil]

Staying in that hold was harder than it had right to be and eventually he had to shrug himself out of it, ducking his head after shaking it off as if to ward him off. He missed him; he seriously did but-

"Steve-"

He stopped walking, stood stock still and tense with his brows knit tight between his sunglasses and the top of his hoodie.

"Why are you sticking around?"

[captain_asthmatic]

Steve let Sam pull away, disappointment and uncertainty clouding his face. He hadn't meant to make Sam feel uncomfortable, but it did seem like his manner was growing more and more tense with every passing moment, and that made Steve draw himself up and turn serious, watching Sam's demeanor.

Still, he wasn't sure exactly what Sam was asking. "Sticking around here? We're friends, I thought-- Aren't we, still?"