"Remember when I made you ride The Cyclone at Coney Island?"
"Yeah, and I threw up?"
"This isn't payback, is it?" The dark-haired soldier looked out over the treacherous summit, and he felt a clod of fear swell in his throat. He forced it down and instead focused on the task at hand with as much heed as he could muster. While Sergeant Barnes would never voice it aloud, he had a crippling fear of heights. Figuring it was best to conceal it, Barnes stuck close to Steve's shoulder and made a pathetic attempt to stand tall in spite of himself.
Steve flashed a grin at Bucky's comment, offering so much as a scoff under his breath, and for just that instant, the sergeant's hidden quivering ceased to exist. In that instant, he was fearless. His dread threatened to suffocate him, but somehow, he pressed it down and narrowed his eyes at the cable that would bear the weight of three grown men or send them all to their death. It was thin and wavering against the frigid air, and just looking at it made the soldier shudder. In his mind's senses, he could hear the metallic snap and feel his body enveloped by nothing but bitter wind and the burden of gravity.
"Now why would I do that?" Steve smiled, making it very clear that Bucky's suspicions were exactly his intentions.
"Jerk," Bucky muttered, fixating his dark gaze on the snow-covered peaks.
"Punk," Steve spoke so quietly that even his best friend, who stood less than a meter away from him, could hardly make out what he said in the roaring wind. The words drifted away on the current of freezing air, gently brushing by Bucky's ear on their path.
Bucky swallowed one more time and lifted his chin with determination in mind, in an attempt to console himself, and Steve took hold of the pulley that would tote them to the train. He turned back to address his team.
"We got a ten second window, tops. Miss that window, we're bugs on a windshield," he called over the wind.
Bucky sighed to himself. Thanks Steve. Very reassuring.
"Better get moving, bugs!" Dum Dum Dugan, a soldier with a laid back sense of humor and one with whom Barnes had created a close friendship, urged from behind them. Bucky could hear the smile in his voice, and it slightly eased his anxiety.
Steve obediently jumped into the air and secured his grip on the bar, then Bucky and Jones followed suite. The T-bar was rickety and unbalanced, but Bucky hardly paid it any mind. His velocity was picking up rapidly, and if he didn't time his drop just right, he'd miss it entirely. Bucky was in no mood to die by his worst nightmare. Steve easily dropped to the train, and he didn't turn back to wait for his comrades.
Bucky saw his window. He knew his timing would be perfect. And yet for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to let go of the safety provided by the T-bar. A split second of free fall. For some ungodly reason, that felt more terrifying than smashing face first into a mountain.
"Barnes!" Jones shouted.
Reality snapped back into the soldier's field of vision, and he let go without giving his terror another thought. He landed on all fours on the roof of the train, relishing his small victory. His heart pounded in his chest, his wrists and ankles burned with impact, and his hands trembled. But he was alive. Jones landed just behind them and stood above the small hatch through which they would enter, posing for them as a lookout.
Bucky and Steve crept along the roof of the train, whose engine was emitting a deafening roar. The axels clicked rhythmically each time the wheel made a full 360. All the conflicting sounds were distracting at best, but the men moved with purpose and speed. Steve held the hatch open, and Bucky easily swung down into the train car, dropping low to the ground behind the stacks of weapon crates in order to remain unseen.
The duo walked close to one another, covering each other's blind spots. Bucky's arms were stiff in front of him, supporting his gun with a steady aim. Steve moved a few paces ahead of his friend with his shield at the ready. The older of the two men watched Captain America stride into the next train car, ever undaunted. He would never admit to envying him.
It was at that exact moment that the heavy steel door separating the two cars slid shut with a flat hiss. Bucky lunged to catch it, as did his friend, but they weren't quick enough, and the door sealed between them. The sergeant's eye caught a massive black-clad HYDRA minion with gargantuan cannons on his hands, and he leveled his gun's barrel with his attacker's chest. After firing a few shots that echoed through the train and rang in Bucky's skull, he was forced to duck behind a few cases of ammunition. His clip was empty. Bucky clenched his jaw and considered his very limited options.
Thankfully, Steve managed to get the door open, and he tossed Bucky an extra gun. The sergeant was quick to fire while Steve knocked a case into their opponent's chest. Their enemy went down, and Bucky sighed in relief.
"I had him on the ropes," he murmured, referencing a line Steve often uttered to him when their roles were reversed.
Steve nodded. "I know you did," the odd part was that he sounded completely genuine. Bucky glanced up at him, startled.
Before Bucky could find it in himself to respond, Steve seized his shield and covered both himself and his friend with the vibranium. A powerful blast of cobalt-colored energy sent both he and Cap tumbling to the side. Bucky crashed hard to the ground, and a jolt of pain shot through his spine. Somehow he managed to keep awake.
The shot, however, created a gaping hole in the side of the train, which gave way to the cliffs below. They were on a sheer rock face, which was entirely coated in a thick blanket of crisp white snow. Bucky landed dangerously close to the opening torn in the side of the train. He grasped the inside of the train door, closing his eyes tightly and praying this would be over quickly as the polar gusts of wind burned against his cheek. The thunder of the wind against the train was too loud for him to think about much else.
Though dazed, he shook off the blow and stood up. The heavily-armored figure had one of its cannons narrowed in on Steve, paying Bucky no mind, and the sergeant didn't hesitate. He scooped up the shield in his left hand and wielded his handgun with his right. He clutched the shield tightly, almost as if it would protect him from the lethal height as well as the shots from his attacker. He fired twice before another blast of plasma hit the shield with enough force to throw Bucky backwards and knock the shield from his grasp.
For that moment, Bucky's body was airborne. He latched desperately at empty air in an attempt to find something to hold onto. His elbow collided with a rigid and freezing object. It was a few metal handles grafted onto the side of the train. Bucky scrambled to grab the top rung, but missed. He managed to get hold of the third run down, and he tightened his fists around it with such force that his knuckles turned white and his arms began to shake. He squeezed his eyes shut and cowered against the icy metal. The ground was not beneath his feet. He was so high up. It was as if every nightmare Bucky had ever had was reality.
"Bucky!" he heard Steve shout at him. He looked up in time to see Steve clinging to the side of the train, inching his way. "Grab my hand!" His friend outstretched his hand towards Bucky, and in that second, Bucky felt reassured. Steve was there. Steve would save him.
Bucky made a hesitant, fearful attempt to reach his friend's hand, but missed. Just as he was about to try a second time, he felt the handle supporting him jerk under his weight. His stomach dropped as soon as he realized what was happening. Bucky had time to exchange one petrified glance of realization with Steve before the handle came loose and dropped.
"No!" Steve barely heard himself scream as he lunged for Bucky, too late. He was already off balance, and he couldn't think of anything in that moment but losing his friend. He could save him. He had to try. Steve pushed off the train and was in free fall after Bucky.
He packed his arms against his sides to fall faster, in an effort to catch up to the sergeant while they were in the air. Before he could succeed, his spine and ribs lit up in a spike of white light as his body collided into something hard enough to knock his trajectory aside. With that turning point in their fall, Steve blacked out.