Bucky was in similar straits. Somehow, the girl's blood had gotten smeared all over his hand, and he'd touched his face before he realized it. Without meaning to, his tongue darted out to taste the blood streaked across his face from chin to nose and he froze.

"Mary, Mother of God," he breathed. What on God's green earth had he just tasted?

Aurora grumbled under her breath and went to see how her sister was doing. Her own injury stung and throbbed, and it was bleeding sluggishly, but she ignored it for the moment.

Steve swallowed convulsively. Twice. He had some little idea of what had just happened, something Natasha had told him a long time ago, but... it was really, really pretty much impossible. Right? Right.

Except he still couldn't look away from her.

"I'm fine," Reilly said when she spotted Aurora, waving a hand negligently. "Just a scratch, I don't think mine's as bad as yours. We should get that cleaned out."

Bucky, on the other hand, was watching the first girl. He remembered what Natasha had once said, too, and he was struggling to admit to himself that maybe that had just happened.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Aurora pressed. "I saw that one get pretty close to you."

Steve finally forced himself to take a step back, shuffling over to Bucky.

"So something crazy just happened," he muttered.

"I'm okay," Reilly promised. "Just one scratch, see? Stopped bleeding, even. Just need to disinfect it when we get home, just in case. You, on the other hand, need bandaging and disinfecting."

"You too?" Bucky murmured back. "We should go before they notice us again."

"I'll be fine until we get back," Aurora replied. She covered a wince when she moved her arm a little too far.

"Yeah," Steve murmured, though he wasn't convinced. He wanted to keep that girl in his sight. But he took a reluctant step back.

"Alright, then we're heading back now," Reilly said, frowning a little. "Come on."

Bucky had to force himself to take a step back as well. He didn't want to, god no, but he and Steve had to figure things out before they could do anything else.

Aurora was about to protest and say she was fine, but the claw marks across her collarbone throbbed and she just nodded.

"Yeah, okay," she said.

Steve managed to walk away, somehow, though he wanted so badly to go back. But he made himself keep walking back to the house he and Bucky shared.

"Good." Reilly walked with her back towards their place. Tony walked ahead of them, looking rather speculative.

By the time they got back, Bucky's hands were clenched so hard that his nails had broken the skin, and he was grinding his teeth almost loud enough to hear.

"Christ, Stevie, what just happened?" he asked.

Aurora just went with them, back towards home. She was tired, now, and aching, and just wanted to settle in for a bit.

"I think we both know," Steve said, practically collapsing onto a couch. "God, Buck. I can't believe..." He trailed off. He wasn't quite willing to say it yet. It still sounded to fantastical.

As soon as they were back, Reilly got out their first aid kit and started cleaning up Aurora.

"You too, then," Bucky replied. It wasn't a question. "What're the odds? I mean, one of us, that's crazy enough, but the both of us finding someone?"

Aurora grimaced and made small noises of pain as Reilly patched her up.

"God, that stings like a bitch," she hissed.

Steve shook his head. "Astronomical," he murmured. "I can hardly believe it."

"I know," Reilly murmured. "I'll be done in a minute, though, and then you'll feel better."

"What're we gonna do?" Bucky asked. "They're hunters."

"I know, but I can still whine about it," Aurora replied.

Steve ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know," he admitted. "I'm not sure."

"Yes you can," Reilly agreed with a grin. "You are absolutely allowed to complain."

"We need to figure it out," Bucky replied. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I gotta find her."

"It's going to scar," Aurora complained, making a face.

"We need to know more about them first," Steve said. "We can't just go introduce ourselves, Buck."

"Not if we use the jojoba," Reilly said after a few moments of consideration. "I think it'll be okay. Might take a bit to fade, though."

"I know," Bucky said. "I do. But I just-- I can't ignore this. And I know you can't either."

"We'll need to stock up on that again soon," Aurora said. She grimaced as Reilly finished patching her up.

"I know." Steve was quiet for a moment. "We'll find them again, find out about them. Soon." He was already beginning to feel an itch under his skin.

Reilly nodded. "There, that's better. Tony, you didn't get banged up, did you?"

"Tonight," Bucky said firmly. He was already tapping his fingers on his thigh, getting antsy. "I got a guy I can call, maybe he can get us some information on them."

"What? No, I'm good," Tony replied, waving a hand. "Narry a scratch. You're the ones who get to go kill things."

Steve nodded. "You call your guy, I'll talk to Natasha. She knows practically everyone, after all."

Reilly nodded an went to go flop over for a while. "Well, that wasn't fun, let's not do that again."

Bucky nodded and went to go make a couple of calls.

"No kidding," Aurora groaned, flopping over as well. She grimaced when the cuts on her chest throbbed.

Steve also moved off to call Natasha and see if between them they could figure out more about these girls. And then find them, because Steve was already itching to see his again.

Natasha was surprised to hear from Steve. It wasn't like him to call unless he thought it was important, and those sorts of calls were few and far between for the normally self-sufficient soldier.

"Ah, Steve," she greeted. "Been a while."

"Yeah, it has," Steve agreed. "Things have been quiet here, mostly."

And of course, now that he had Natasha on the phone, he wasn't sure where to begin.

"Mostly?" Natasha asked. She raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."