"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."

Walter Winchell

             "I need you to listen to me."

               Bucky's words rung in Ophelia's head as she stared at the building that was being surrounded by police officers with anything but non-lethal weapons. He was going to be surrounded in a matter of minutes, and there were no good escape routes from their apartment. It was too high up, there were no ladders to climb down. Even if there had been, the police would have had them covered by now. Thinking about who would have known where his apartment was, and why they would be in there before the police even got to the building itself, she had to assume that the person was either there to warn Bucky, or to try and kill him before the police got the chance. She grimaced up at the chopper in the sky and cocked her head to the side. "Sorry, Bucky. Not gonna listen today."

            Taking a deep breath, Ophelia shut her eyes and focused on the apartment itself, the shape of their small place, the minor furniture that was in it. Next, she was able to feel what was out of place, and hone in on the person who was in there with Bucky. Once she had located them, she created the mental bridge. It had been a long time since she had done this last, and it was a bit overwhelming to feel another persons senses and emotions. When she completed the link, she realized who's head she was in, and her heart rose in her chest; Steve Rogers had found Bucky, and apparently he had been searching for the entire two years that they had been off the grid. She could feel his surprise to see his friend in the state he was in, coherent. But that surprise was overtaken when it turned into panic.

             "Ma'am." A police officer grabbed her by the arm. "I'm going to need you to step away."

             Ophelia shrugged him off and snarled. "Please don't touch me."

             The man released her, talking into his walkie, suddenly distracted by the crashing sounds above, and the bullets coming from the chopper. She lost the link with Steve then, but she knew that the fighting had started. There was nothing she could do down there to stop what was happening, all she could do was watch with wonder and a pain in her neck. 

              Beginning to feel the insidious thought creep into her head again, about being absolutely useless, she tried to rack her brain to find something she could do to help. When they were all the way up there, and she was all the way down here, there was little she could do. But it was only a few minutes later than the fight made it's way to her. She watched as Bucky leapt from the roof, and what caught her eye was the man clad in all black following him. It was all a flurry of chaos happening right in front of her, she hadn't even realized that she had walked back across the road. She was standing among the police cars, their lights flashing.

            When Bucky hit the ground, he spotted her standing there and his lips parted as though he was about to speak, but he had no time to do so. The man in black landed just behind him, and Bucky didn't have the chance to say anything to Ophelia. He simply ran because his life was depending on it. 

              Ophelia tuned back into her immediate surroundings and saw a few officers raising their guns to shoot at Bucky, and she growled. She couldn't keep up with Bucky, she couldn't follow him, but she could still do all in her power to protect him as he would have done for her. Walking up to the closest police officer, she grabbed his wrist and used the heel of her hand to bash the gun out of his hand. That got the attention on her from the remaining police officers; a good handful of them had gotten into their vehicles and were pursuing Bucky, and now Steve as well.

              While the bulk of the remaining police force had taken off in their vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring, there were three officers remaining with the intent to stop Ophelia. She had knocked the gun out of the one officers hands, but that left two with their hand guns pointed at her. From the looks on their faces, it was clear that they had no idea who she was, and they weren't planning on shooting her down. They holstered their weapons, but Ophelia wasn't planning on being taken in and thrown in a cell. She never wanted to be on the inside of a cell ever again. Once their weapons were holstered, she couldn't help but grin.

              She had to get away from all of this chaos, and she had to find Bucky, and she had to find Steve. If she had known that today was going to be the day that their lives were completely flipped upside down, there would have been a few other things she would have done. But life didn't work that way, and so she had to improvise; she was determined to ensure this was not the last time she saw Bucky.

              As two of the officers began to come at her, the third grabbing his hand cuffs as they were seriously underestimating her, she crouched down and placed her hands on the ground to support her weight when she swung her leg out. The first officer was tripped up, landing hard on the concrete below. She leapt up from her crouched position and grabbed the arm of the second officer, spinning it behind his back, and using her momentum of the jump, she kicked the third officer. The kick hit his wrist and he dropped the hand cuffs; instinctively he bent down to pick them up and she landed another kick, this time against his nose. He stumbled backwards, gripping his bleeding nose and groaning. The first officer had recovered from his fall, and Ophelia pushed the second officer whom she had in her grip into the first. They staggered against one another, and before they had the chance to recover, Ophelia took off.

           She was faster than the average person, and so she was able to slip away and out of sight within a few seconds. She could hear the sirens all around, but couldn't pin point where they were. She decided it would be best to hone in on Steve again; it was easier to connect with him than it was Bucky, because she had less of a history with Steve. She didn't have to dig through layers and layers of horrid memories, which often used to force her out of Bucky's head. Assuming that Bucky was too distraught right then and there to remain connected with him anyways, Ophelia linked her mind with Steve's for the second time that day. They were not far, only about a kilometer away, and Ophelia started to run again.

            She felt alive for the first time in a while; even though everything was going awry and she just wanted things to go back to the way they had been as of yesterday, she couldn't help but feel a bit elated. She was using her powers, she was utilizing her enhanced abilities. Knowing that it was the fact Steve and Bucky had been reunited -though probably not under the best circumstances- she simply had to hope that Steve was going to do everything in his power to protect Bucky. It took her only a few minutes to get to where Steve had stopped moving, his location suddenly stationary. They were on the freeway, and she was up top, searching for a way down.

            Glancing at the scene below her, she saw Bucky, Steve, Sam, the man in back, a dozen police officers, and The Iron Patriot. He was far from home, Ophelia noted, and began to worry that this was far worse than she had believed at first. Two years they had gone unnoticed, undiscovered, and suddenly there was the entire police force after Bucky. From where she stood, it appeared that Steve was not on the side of the law, and panic began to set in once again. Looking around, Ophelia found her way down quickly, and stood underneath the shadows of the overpass, listening to what was being said.

             "Congratulations Cap, you're a criminal." The Iron Patriot spoke with tone coated thick with disappointment.

             The man in black removed his mask, revealing a face that Ophelia recognized, but couldn't pin point where it she knew him from. Bucky was standing tall, but clearly accepting defeat. She was behind him, still hidden from sight, but slowly inching closer to the rubble and the arrest that was being made. She had to make a choice right then and there; stay hidden and spend her days alone from now on, never knowing where Bucky and Steve ended up, or to reveal herself and get herself arrested alongside them. Knowing that the only people who ever protected her were being arrested, she didn't have to think twice about what decision she was going to make.

              She raised her hands and walked out into the sunlight that was peering down through the bridges overhead. Two police officers lifted their weapons towards her and said something to each other about her assaulting three officers and she knew she would be arrested too. Bucky turned to see what they were looking at. His face dropped, and Ophelia felt a sudden guilt for revealing herself. Bucky had specifically asked her to leave, to find him in a few days time, but too much had happened and she knew that even if she had linked with him when she was somewhere safe, there would have been no way for her to ever see him again.

            She never would have forgiven herself for leaving him behind. 

            "No," Bucky said in a quiet voice only Ophelia and Steve were able to hear. "O..."

             Steve turned and looked, his eyes widening, almost a sense of relief in his eyes. He glanced at Bucky and sighed. Ophelia smiled sheepishly as the police officers wondered what to do; they didn't know who she was or why she was surrendering to them in the first place. The Iron Patriot turned and looked at her as well, all eyes on her. "Bring her in too; she is associated with Barnes."

            Bucky closed his eyes. "Don't."

            Ophelia sighed as the police officer finally got a chance to cuff her. The others were getting cuffed as well, but they had something else entirely for Bucky. She was brought into the small grouping of people who were being arrested, and she suddenly remembered who the man in black was; T'Challa, prince of Wakanda. She cocked her head to the side and wondered what he was doing there, and that was only one of the many questions she had bouncing in her head. None of her questions were going to be answered yet, so she didn't bother asking as she watched Bucky willingly accept his arrest. 

           He did not, however, willingly accept hers.