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The drive back to Harlem doesn’t take nearly as long as it did earlier that morning. The roads are still icy, but their driver isn’t hesitant about driving on the ice and doesn’t seem concerned about it. She’s safe but competent, so it makes for a quick journey from the Bronx. During the ride, Stiles looks through the box of files, but it’s not really his area of expertise, so he doesn’t understand some of the more specific medical details.
The information that will be the most important to him is on the thumb drive. He knows it must be damaging to Nergal or there wouldn’t have been numerous attempts to take it from him. Hopefully, it’s more evidence that can help secure imprisonment for everyone responsible for the research study and however many unknown victims died the same way as Jose and Hazel did.
“All those people died for this,” he murmurs, holding the thumb drive. “From Wash to McGuire to all the minions who were basically cannon fodder for Nergal. All this time, it was stuck in transit from the post office, likely burdened with holiday shipping needs, and then it was just sitting right in the open on Frank’s dining table.”
“Wash knew what he was doing, even if he assumed that he’d make a clean getaway himself,” Bucky says. “The box is from a popular, common retailer and the weight added to increase the heaviness of the box to conceal the fact that it was files was smart. Even if you’d have received it, less thorough minions might have overlooked it.”
“He was obviously an intelligent man, albeit also a power hungry, attention seeking, arrogant one,” Lydia says. “Did you notice how confident he seemed that his plan to leave was going to actually be successful? Overconfidence can be a dangerous trait to possess, especially for someone with more pride than humility.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Stiles admits. “The last time I saw him, he was scared. Like really terrified. I don’t think Trini was the type to cause such a reaction no matter how obsessed with the plague idea she was. And Kaminsky was deadly, but he still struck me as more of a follower than someone who would instill terror in others.”
“We know that Trini was the Boss,” Bucky says thoughtfully, “but we also know that there must have been other power players because she told you that she had to finally take action against you because of the increased pressure within her little gang. You’re thinking the other players are the ones who scared Wash enough to make him plan his disappearance, aren’t you?”
“I know that Trini was an evil person responsible for many deaths, but she had others doing that work for her,” Stiles says, shutting the box when the car starts to slow down. “The way that Wash spoke to me about them that last time at the hospital makes me think there’s an even more dangerous threat behind the scenes that didn’t mind Trini being the figurehead.”
“Don’t let your past relationship with Trini cloud your judgment, babe,” Lydia says, squeezing his leg. “Just because she never showed you that side doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist.” She looks at him, arching her brow. “But you’re probably right about someone else being involved in a leadership capacity because of the money laundering and banking aspects that we’ve discovered.”
“I know that we’ve discussed it as a possibility, but I have no doubt that it’s an accurate theory now,” he says simply. “Trini was preoccupied with the virus. That was obvious when we spoke, and I bet she’s all over the files on this thumb drive. I mean, she apparently personally recruited Wash, which is notable. That’s odd, though, because Trini made it sound like the upper echelon of Hydra was responsible for recruiting him. I mean, I first saw Stasia with Wash, not Trini.”
“It makes sense considering her focus seemed to be on the virus, and Hydra might have pressured her to bring in someone they thought they could control easier. You realize that whoever else is involved at a high level has probably gone into hiding. Maybe even left the city,” Bucky points out. “SHIELD is still processing all of the information they found, so we haven’t had any updates yet, but I doubt there’ll be something as easy as a list of names.”
The car stops outside of Bucky’s house, so he doesn’t respond to Bucky’s comment yet. He scoots across the seat to get out, handing the box to Bucky because he doesn’t want to drop it. Since the road is icy, Lydia slides across the seat, getting out by the sidewalk. Bucky doesn’t give him the box back, just arches a brow when he tries to take it.
“You can get the door, Doc,” Bucky says, glancing over at Lydia when she makes a surprised noise. She starts to slide, managing to hit a patch of ice hidden beneath the snow. Bucky shifts the box and puts his arm out so Lydia can use it for balance.
“Thanks, James,” Lydia says, glaring at the sidewalk like it’s personally offended her. “You know,
I lived in Boston for nearly a decade yet this is the first time that I’ve almost fallen on ice. I told you that this city doesn’t like me.”
“I’m sure that the city loves you as much as everyone who meets you does,” Stiles tells her, making a kissy face at her. “How could it ever resist you, sister wife?” He walks up the few stairs to reach the door, putting his hand on the biometric scanner before unlocking it with his key. “You know, we should talk to Tony about changing the hand scan to an eye scan. It’s a pain when you’re wearing gloves to have to do the scan.”
“Don’t get him going or he’ll want some kind of advanced tech to scan our entire face instead,” Bucky says. “Sam and I felt that the biometric thingy was a bit too much considering the security cameras and special key, but we gave up arguing because, you know, free house.”
“Free house definitely outweighs concerns about too much security,” Stiles says dryly, arching a brow as Bucky enters the house. “Captain America lives here, Buck. You live here. There’s not really any such thing as too much security when it comes to protecting you from danger.”
“Says the dumbass without any security at all at his new apartment,” Bucky points out. “Don’t give me that look, Doc. I know you’ll put your—“ He stops and tilts his head, obviously listening to something. “Hold that thought. I hear Sam’s door opening.”
“Better than average hearing is now a confirmed trait for super soldiers,” Lydia murmurs, looping her arm around Stiles’ arm. “Is there any truth to the rumor that there’s also an increase in stamina?” She smiles coyly when he trips over his foot when hearing her question.
“True,” Bucky says, looking over his shoulder and winking. “But I’d be curious where that rumor came from since I know Steve wasn’t going around having sex with everyone after he was thawed out. And I was way too preoccupied with not being a brainwashed weapon anymore to pick up old habits.”
“There’s this fun invention called fandoms that allows people to randomly speculate about both fictional creative works and famous people,” Lydia says matter-of-factly. “With your obvious attractiveness and that of the original Captain America, it led to a faction of fans creating theories about your abilities.”
“That’s weird,” Bucky says, making a face. “I don’t know if I like being known enough to have strangers speculating about my stamina . Especially not with Steve. Can’t they go read a book or something that isn’t my actual life?” He shrugs. “Oh well. They got that part right, at least.”
“You’re trolling again, aren’t you?” Stiles asks suspiciously. “I’m pretty sure that you and I have talked about fans and fandoms before, Buck. It’s a whole thing for superheroes especially.”
“Maybe a little,” Bucky admits with a grin. “But I do find it all weird, especially that people who don’t know us want to believe that Steve and I were fucking when we were younger. I mean, Steve wasn’t my type at all. He could be sassy, but he wasn’t really enough of a smartass to keep up with me.”
“Why are you talking about Steve like that?” Sam asks as he steps off the elevator. “I’d say he wasn’t your type because he was Peggy-sexual. Yeah, yeah, I know all about the ladies on his USO tour; he got nostalgic when we were on the run together. I still say the man was all about Peggy anyway.” He flashes a charming smile at Lydia. “Good morning, Lydia. You’re looking as beautiful as always.”
“Good morning, Sam,” Lydia says, looking him over. “Are you going for a run? You realize that there’s ice under the snow, don’t you? What will the world do if Captain America twists his ankle while on a winter run?”
Sam’s eyes widen slightly as he rubs the back of his neck. “Uh, no, I wasn’t going for a run,” he says. “The sweatpants are just really comfortable. I was actually waiting for a pizza delivery that’s a few minutes out.” He clears his throat. “What have you kids been doing today? Get something good from Amazon?”
“Bring your pizza upstairs, and we’ll show you,” Stiles tells him. He snorts and rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on. Don’t look like I’m planning to hit you over the head and steal your pizza. I just thought you might be interested in seeing what’s so important that Hydra has been trying so hard to get it from me.”
“Wait, hold up. Do you mean the files from Wash?” Sam asks, whistling low. “You found them? Damn it. That means I need to make another order for a couple more pizzas, doesn’t it? Wish you’d got here about twenty minutes ago.”
“Quit whining, Sammy,” Stiles says. “You’ll get to see them before Nat or Tony do, so that’s gotta be worth sharing your pizza. You don’t need to order anymore, though. We have leftovers from last night that we can also eat.”
“Actually, we don’t,” Bucky says. “Peter ate them this morning when you were in the shower.” He snorts, nudging Stiles’ arm with the box. “Don’t look so devastated, Doc. They were leaving town, and you know that your uncle uses flattery to get what he wants. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let your uncle go away hungry?”
“Those were my leftovers, Buck,” Stiles reminds him, pouting. “I can’t believe that you fell for Peter’s schwarmy flattery. I’m so disappointed in you. Now, he’s going to know your weakness is wanting to be a good boyfriend, and he’ll take advantage of it whenever he wants food.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s just leftovers, Stiles,” Lydia points out before focusing on Bucky. “However, he’s totally right about Peter now knowing one of your weaknesses. You should know better than to give in to him, James. He’s sneaky and manipulative.”
“Man, that’s pretty harsh,” Sam says. Lydia scoffs and heads to the elevator, obviously not in the mood to debate. “He seems like a decent guy. Kind of intense and terrifying, but not in a bad way. I mean, maybe a little bit of a bad way because I saw what he did to McGuire’s men at your building. No way a nice guy could do all that, but sneaky and manipulative seems over-the-top.”
Bucky gives Stiles a look before flashing a smile at Sam. “Yeah, they’re just fucking with me,” he says. “They do this thing where they gang up and exaggerate their inside jokes to try to scare me.”
“Exaggerate? Us ?” Stiles asks, batting his eyelashes before he gives Sam a solemn look. “Don’t be fooled by my uncle’s charm, Sammy. He’s dangerous, especially when someone he cares about is in trouble. While we’re definitely teasing Bucky, we’re not actually lying about Peter being ruthless.”
Sam arches his brows and stares at him. Finally, he flashes a cheeky smile and says, “Guess that means I need to become one of those friends he’ll kill for and just avoid becoming someone he wants to murder. Should be easy enough—I’m too adorable and charming to kill, after all.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Bucky says. “It won’t make it true , but it’s always fun to hear you being delusional.” He winks at Stiles. “You ready to head upstairs, Doc? Lydia’s probably getting impatient waiting on us, which none of us want to deal with.”
“Yeah, an impatient Lydia is worse than me when I’m hungry,” Stiles says. He feels a tickle against the wards that he placed around the house and glances at Sam. “Your pizza is here, dude.”
“No, it’s not,” Sam says. “They’re supposed to send me a text when they get here, and my phone isn’t pinging.” He waves the phone to prove his point. “You’re lucky that I got an extra large so I’d have leftovers, though, since I’m not waiting around for another order when I know you’ve got Wash’s files right there.”
“Fine, don’t believe me,” Stiles says, lowering his voice to make himself sound mysterious. “But your pizza is going to get cold if they just left it on the stairs and didn’t ring the doorbell.”
“Did you tell them to leave it at the door?” Bucky asks Sam, his lips twitching slightly. He manages not to grin, which is an accomplishment when he knows that Stiles must have known someone approached the house. “I suppose you can always heat it up in the microwave.”
“Did you get lost?” Lydia calls out from upstairs. “You’ve got two minutes to bring the box up here, or I’m going to get bored. Your laptop is right here, and you know I can always guess your passwords, brother dear.”
Fucking with Sam isn’t worth the trade off of Lydia snooping into his private files, so Stiles quickly goes to the elevator. “Coming, sister wife,” he yells up the stairs as he pushes the elevator’s button. “Come on, Bucky. The holiday’s over—it’s time to get back to work now.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know, Doc. It’s a miracle that I was able to get you away from the case for Christmas,” Bucky says, stepping onto the elevator beside him. “Not that I don’t have my suspicions about what you were up to yesterday before breakfast, especially when I was still asleep.”
“I love your faith in me,” he deadpans, not bothering to deny Bucky’s suspicions because they both know he’d just be lying if he did.
It’s not his fault that there’s so much that’s happened in the last few days, and there’s only so much time to think about it. Besides, he only spent a couple of hours scrolling through Bumble chat threads and mentally critiquing Mata’s cyber sex skills. Or lack thereof, as it was in most of what he skimmed.
“I have complete faith in you,” Bucky says with a snort. “Complete faith that you were doing something related to this Hydra mess as soon as you had the opportunity to do so without me knowing.” He leans over and kisses Stiles on the curve of his jaw, not too far from his mouth.
Unfortunately, the doors to the elevator open before Stiles can return the kiss with better aim. Lydia narrows her eyes when she sees Bucky’s face close to his. “There are more important things to do than spending our time making out in elevators,” she says in a prissy tone. “James, you can put the box on the table.”
“You can try asking him instead of just telling him, Lydia,” Stiles reminds her. “He’s my boyfriend, after all. That means I’m the only one who is allowed to boss him around.”
“Do I get a say in that?” Bucky asks. “Seeing as I’m the boyfriend in question, it might be worth noting that I’m in favor of no bossing me around unless it’s in the bedroom or, come to think of it, anywhere else so long as there’s nudity involved. Just not for work stuff unless it’s necessary.”
Lydia blinks at him before looking at Stiles. “I’m not touching that at all,” she decides. “In the past few days, I’ve been shot at, kidnapped, and forced to endure the leers of Hydra goons waiting for you to play superhero, so you two can have your weird kinky thing in private without involving me. Later. Preferably after we’ve finished looking through these files and have determined if they’re worth being killed over.”
“I can answer that one right now,” Stiles says. “It’s no. Nothing in these files is worth murdering someone over. And, don’t worry, babe. We don’t want to involve you in any of our kinky things.” He makes a kissy face at her. “Speaking of kinky things, did I tell you that Isaac is in London with Jackson right now? Apparently listening to him whine about you. Is there something for him to be whining about?”
“Don’t give me that faux innocent look, Stiles,” she mutters. “You’re too much of a smartass to pull it off. While Jackson and I are good friends, I’m unaware of any kinky things happening between him and Isaac. However, I can’t deny that the thought brings to mind a rather pretty image.” She winks, and he has to snort because she’s not wrong. “Now, James, could you please put the box down so we can get to work?”
“I’m glad it isn’t that heavy,” Bucky says dryly, walking past Stiles so he can reach the table. “You two are something else. Kinda makes me glad I wasn’t really close to any of my siblings growing up.” He shrugs out of his coat after he sets the box down, hanging it off the back of one of the dining room chairs. “So, we know that these files are above our head, don’t we?”
Before Stiles can respond, the door opens, and Sam enters carrying a soggy pizza box. He gives Stiles a look as he plops the pizza down beside the Amazon box. “It was sitting on the stoop,” he says, pulling a chair back and falling into it. “They didn’t text, they just left it outside. How did you know that, Bones?”
“Lucky guess,” Stiles says with a shrug. “It’s the day after Christmas, so they’re probably delivering a lot of food, and you always give them complicated delivery instructions.” He walks over and taps the box from Wash. “You got here right on time, though. We’re about to start sorting through these files.”
“James is right, as much as I hate to acknowledge it,” Lydia says, making a face. “Give me anything involving physics or chemistry, and I’ll understand it as easily as I read ancient Latin. Virology and the human systems are not something I’m comfortable with at all.”
“Yeah, the details are going to need to be reviewed by Bruce, for sure,” Stiles agrees. “I know the higher level details, but it’s been years since I took my Medical Virology course. I’m thinking we should focus on anything that might identify the test subjects or, if we really get lucky, any names that might be listed. I’m going to check out the thumb drive.”
He pulls his laptop closer and sits down, clicking the power button and waiting for it to wake up. Bucky sits beside him, reaching for a pile of the manilla folders. “Funny how we’re the ones at risk for paper cuts while you get to do computer stuff,” he teases, knocking his arm against Stiles’ arm.
“Is anyone going to actually explain how you have the files from Wash?” Sam asks, holding half a slice of pizza that doesn’t seem ruined by the wet box. “Last I heard, the bad guys wanted the files, and Stiles didn’t have them.”
“Wash mailed them to me,” Stiles says, quickly tapping his password into his laptop, making sure Lydia can’t see him. She’s much too cocky about being able to guess it, so he isn’t going to help her. “Like real mail, through a post office, right around the holidays. One of my neighbors has been keeping my mail for me, and he had the box on his kitchen table.”
“It was actually pretty smart,” Bucky adds, reaching into the box and pulling out the ten pound weight. “He used this to make the box heavier, so it would have been difficult to guess that it was just a bunch of paperwork. Not that there’s a lot of that.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s only Wash’s research. Trini would have used a computer, so that’s probably what’s on this drive,” Stiles says. He puts the USB in an empty port and runs a virus scan, not wanting to take any risks with his own files. While the scan runs, he opens the folder that’s minimized on the bottom. The thumbnails remind him about what he’d found before Lydia’s call. “So, before the whole kidnapping thing, I’d actually been going through the videos from Kaminsky’s place, and I think that I might have found something.”
“Found something like what?” Lydia asks, lowering the file she’s been scanning. “Also, who exactly is Kaminsky? I don’t recognize that name from our discussions about this mess. I’m assuming it must be a recently discovered lead.”
“Oh, that’s right. I meant to catch you up, but you got kidnapped then someone insisted on no work talk during the holidays,” Stiles says, rubbing his hands down his face. “Dr. Stone wasn’t really a doctor, and his name wasn’t Adam Stone. He was Staff Sergeant Adam Kaminsky. According to him, he was also a high ranking agent of Hydra, and one of the last Centipede Soldiers, whatever that means.” He looks at Bucky. “Did Maria have any information for you about that or a barbershop?”
“We didn’t get a chance to talk to her,” Bucky says. “You texted me about Lydia, so Sam and I canceled our meeting so we could get back here to help. I’m sure she’ll know something, though. It’s about Hydra, after all.”
“The thing will be whether she tells us what she knows or not,” Sam adds. “SHIELD isn’t known for sharing info, but Steve trusted Maria, so I’m cautiously optimistic.”
“Daisy’s been part of SHIELD for a while, hasn’t she?” Stiles asks, seeing Bucky shrug in response. “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t really know that. She gave me her number before we left Trini’s house, so I was thinking she might be an option if Maria doesn’t know or won’t say.”
“Nat trusts her,” Bucky says. “I’ve worked with her several times, and she seems legit. A bit reckless sometimes, usually more with her own safety than others being at risk, but I’d trust her to have my back. Not sure what she’d know, but she definitely doesn’t see rules as an obstacle if she wants to do something.”
“Can we please go back to Adam not being Stone?” Lydia asks, her lips pursed. “Would I be safe in assuming that he’s the person responsible for our warm reception at the end of our bar crawl?” Stiles nods, and she scowls. “And you found videos at his apartment when you apparently went to confront him? James, why did my brother go to a Hydra agent's apartment to confront him when your little superpowered group could have handled it?”
“That’s a pretty stupid question, Lydia,” Bucky says bluntly, making Lydia blink at him in surprise. “You know Stiles better than just about anyone. When have you ever been able to tell him not to do something that he actually listened to? Besides, I trust Doc.”
“Point,” Lydia grudgingly acknowledges. “Stiles is a stubborn ass who doesn’t listen to anyone. Since I’m just now hearing about this, give me a summary so I can get up to speed. How did you find out about Stone being involved? And is there anything else that you’ve discovered since the holiday party that I don’t know?”
“We looked at security footage from work,” Stiles says. He proceeds to summarize what they learned about Kaley as well as what Kaminsky shared with him. He’s rather proud of himself for keeping it concise and on task, since he’s feeling rather twitchy at the moment and wants to actually be doing something more productive than explaining things. When he finishes, he opens the video file he’d been looking at when Lydia called. “And that brings us to this.”
“Man, I don’t feel comfortable watching sex tapes for women who don’t even know they were filmed,” Sam says, making a face when he sees the image frozen on Stiles’ laptop. “I mean, you’ve got my utmost respect for combing through all of this because it’s not fun at all.”
“It’s definitely not something I’ve enjoyed,” Stiles admits. “Between this and the Bumble chats, I’ve reached my limit on creepy invasion of privacy, that’s for sure. There’s just been so much going on recently that I haven’t had the chance to just focus and finish with either of the tasks. I’m down to one more USB for Kaminsky’s videos, though, and I think I’ll get caught up to Mata’s final chats eventually.”
“What’s on the video, Doc?” Bucky asks. “You said that you think it’s a clue, so why aren’t you sure? Is it someone else you work with or something like that clip you showed me of the warehouse? We now know that was taken at the place they were holding Lydia, so some of the non-sex clips could be important.”
“The woman in this video is familiar,” Stiles says, clicking play. He grimaces as they watch for a minute before he pauses it again. “I think that I recognized her, but I can’t be entirely sure because I didn’t see her when she looked like that.”
“Can you go back, babe? Start at the first instead of in the middle of the sex faces,” Lydia says. “I’d like to see her face better.” Stiles arches a brow but does as she requests. There isn’t much footage that isn’t sex stuff, but Lydia pulls the laptop closer so she can get a better view. “You didn’t see her like this because you only saw her after she was burned. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah,” Stiles says, sitting up slightly when Lydia looks at him. “Am I right? You were researching Meadowlark East, so you’d know better than I would, but I think it’s her.”
“It’s Carrie Hill,” Lydia confirms. “And, based on the date of this video, she was with Stone, Kaminsky, or whatever over seven months before the fire that killed her and Mata. I don’t necessarily believe in coincidences with something as involved as this whole Hydra plot.”
“We know that Trini, Wash, and Kaminsky are part of Nergal, and they were involved with the experiments that killed Jose and Hazel,” Bucky says. “We can also link them to the other disappearances from the medical study cover. Wendy is part of those threads and so is Richie. We can even show a connection between Nergal and Driskill Bank with the money laundering. What I’m still not seeing is the link between Mata and Nergal. Do you think that’s the background threat we were talking about earlier?”
“There’s still stuff we have to discover,” Stiles says honestly. “If Enki is legit—and I feel like they are— then taking out Trini isn’t the end of it.” He pulls out his phone and opens the text he got yesterday. “According to this, we’ve only found half the story, and everything we’ve learned about Driskill and Mata and even Meadowlark East was from following Enki’s clues. It makes sense that it’s the threat, but we need to know more.”
“It’s the money,” Sam says simply. “Malakar was the brains behind the plague and pushed the Nergal agenda, right? We all agree about that part. She couldn’t have done it without the money, though. And someone else is involved that she had to appease because she told Stiles that much. Someone is controlling the funding and likely the Hydra connection since Malakar wasn’t in it for ideology.”
“Someone that freaked Wash out enough to steal research and plan to go into hiding,” Stiles says. “Insane and irrational are the words he used in the letter he wrote to me. Trini wasn’t scary, not like the way he was describing, and, honestly, neither was Kaminsky. He was too much a soldier to be unhinged.”
“And we do have a connection now,” Bucky says. “If the broad in that movie is Carrie Hill then we can draw a line from Mata to Kaminsky through her. Maybe she wasn’t just collateral damage in the fire the way we’ve been assuming. You said she was beat up pretty badly, didn’t you, Doc?”
“Yes, she definitely sustained a severe beating along with her burns,” Stiles says. “I don’t remember all of the injuries, of course, but I can check her chart when I get back to work tomorrow night. I can access it to clarify some documentation or something to cover my ass with compliance, but I’d like to review it more thoroughly since Lydia’s right about coincidences.”
“I don’t know if you should go back to work so soon,” Sam says, holding up a hand when Stiles glares at him. “If that text is right, we’re only halfway done with this case, and you don’t know who can be trusted at the hospital. Not to mention the fact that you’re still having to process through the emotional trauma associated with being betrayed by a close friend.”
“He isn’t wrong, babe,” Lydia points out. “Dr. Wash said in his letter that there are people close to you who are part of all this, and, honestly, I don’t think he only meant Trini since he mentions her specifically. There could be others that she recruited into her scheme, and we just haven’t found them yet. With her disappearing and their base being overtaken, they could be extremely volatile and paranoid.”
“If that’s true then it’s even more reason for me to go back to work as planned. I’ve already been off for over a week, and I’m not letting Nergal or Hydra scare me away from my job,” he says firmly.
While he’s open to discussion about a lot of things, this isn’t one of them. He needs to get back into his scrubs and remember that he’s a doctor, not an investigator. He can balance the two right now because he’s been pulled into this, but it’s not going to become his new normal.
“I’ll be careful,” he adds, seeing the concerned expressions on their faces. “I was able to work fine without any risks before, and that’s when they were actually after me for these research files. I’m under security surveillance there, not to mention the amount of people on the floor at any given time would make it a less than ideal location to attack.”
“You’ve both forgotten that Stark has hacked into the hospital security system,” Bucky points out. “With Jarvis monitoring the feed, I know that we’d be alerted quickly if anything did happen. I’m sure that we can also arrange for one of the agents to work all of his shifts. Don’t say a word, Doc. It’s about compromise.”
“It’s overkill, and you know it,” Stiles mutters, debating how he wants to react to that idea. He isn’t in the mood for arguing, so he decides to let it go for now. He feels really mature for making such an adult decision, but, mostly, it’s stupid to have a tantrum about them wanting to keep him safe. “But whatever. When I get back to work, I’m going to review Carrie’s chart for the night of the fire. I also want to check on Lucas because I haven’t heard anything from Susie in a couple of days.”
“With the holidays, she’s probably been spending time with her pack if she isn’t at work,” Lydia says. She blinks when Stiles kicks her under the table but smoothly recovers. “Isn’t that what she said her aunt always calls their family? Or was it their tribe? I’m afraid that I was drinking when she was talking about it at the Christmas party.”
“I’ve heard of people referring to their found family as their tribe,” Sam says, not seeming overly interested in Lydia’s slip about Susie’s pack. “I’ll reach out to Maria about rescheduling our meeting, Bucky. I’d like to find out if she knows anything about Kaminsky’s rantings of centipede soldiers and Hydra.”
“Just let me know, Sam. I’m going to the meeting with Nat to discuss the Nergal warehouse findings, but that’s the only thing I’ve got planned,” Bucky says. “Well, I’ll probably play delivery boy tomorrow to take this research to SI for Bruce to start reviewing, but that can be done around a meeting.”
“Speaking of the research, we should probably get this looked over,” Stiles says. He checks his virus scan and sees no results, so he clicks the USB drive. “I’m planning to text Rajiv later this afternoon to see if he’s back from Connecticut, and I’d rather have these files done before I deal with him.”
“Maybe you should invite him out somewhere to have that talk,” Bucky suggests. “Going back to the house is going to be difficult after everything, not to mention the kids being around.”
“I think he’s probably already suspicious and worried after not hearing from her for Christmas,” Stiles points out. “When he gets home to find some of her stuff gone, he’s going to know she’s left him and the kids. I can handle going to her house one last time to keep my promise to her, Buck. You’re welcome to come with me if you want to; you and Rajiv got along well at the Christmas party. Right now, though, let’s focus on these files so we can see what’s so important that multiple people died for them.”