Steve had mostly run out of anger and annoyance by day three. Test City was an unwelcome distraction that put him off his mission, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. It seemed like that was all there was these days, things he couldn't control. HYDRA had infected SHIELD from nearly the beginning. He'd stopped Schmidt's plane but the world still ended up in war and turned into a place he wasn't entirely proud of. He'd lost Bucky on that train, only to find out he'd been turned into a goddamned assassin at Zola's hand. The file Natasha had given him had been cursory at best, reports of cryogenics and periodic status updates on their weapon. He hadn't even been a person to them, and that pissed Steve off something fierce. He had to find Bucky, had to know if he remembered. A world without Bucky was a world Steve didn't want to live in. He'd proven that twice over, and Sam was itching to talk about it. But Bucky was private, just for him and no one else. Steve couldn't handle talking about his best friend because, for him, it had only been two years since he lost Bucky. The grief was still fresh in his heart, a barely scabbed over wound that had been brutally torn apart and made fresh after de-masking the Winter Soldier.
Steve pushed the thought from his mind, forcibly clearing it as he made his way to the mall. Having one set of clothes would definitely not be enough for however long they stayed here. Luckily, he actually had cash on him, and while he had his credit cards, Steve was pretty sure they wouldn't work. He only had $100 on him, and while this place seemed like it was ready for his arrival, he didn't want to get caught at the beginning of the month without money for rent. Which meant he'd need to find a job and that meant some new clothes and probably a jacket. Shopping was not one of Steve's favorite activities - they'd never had enough for much growing up and now, there were just too many options. He should've asked Pepper or Natasha to come with, or found a Good Will to pick things up from.
Just as he reached for the door, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Despite the 70 years he spent frozen, and the fact that he hadn't recognized it while fighting the Winter Soldier the first time, Steve recognized Bucky just from his shoulders and back. He abandoned the door to follow, at a distance, as his best friend turned brainwashed assassin walked along the side of the mall. What did he know? Was he still the Winter Soldier? Did he have a mission to complete? Would he kill Steve if he said something? Steve knew he was at a gross disadvantage without his shield or uniform, but it hardly mattered. Any risk was worth it to save Bucky. He quickened his pace, taking care to stay quiet until he was only a few strides away. It was only then that he stepped with enough noise to catch Bucky's attention.
"Bucky?"
There was too much hope, too much weight behind the single word, but Steve couldn't bring himself to care. The way he'd spoken, unsure of who he was, made Steve hopeful that there'd been a break in the programming. Maybe too long out of cryo or too long without having his memory erased. That file of Natasha's had included the machine HYDRA used to erase Bucky's memory with an extreme dose of electricity. Tearing HYDRA down to the ground and killing every last goddamned one of them was on Steve's To-Do list, but finding Bucky would always be first.