Title: All Alone
Summary: The serum saved Steve Rogers' life but it was not without its faults. It was never meant for long-term use as Tony quickly discovered.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Inspiration from The Used's "The Bird And The Worm."
Warnings: Violence, drugs, made-up science, swearing, drinking, horror, angst, insanity, yaoi, het, smut, etc.
Side Note: I've seen plenty of stories about the serum breaking down due to instability and decided to take a turn at it. Future chapters will be longer.
White teeth stained red with blood clenched together as a hiss came from the bloody man who crawled across the mud using his elbows to propel himself forward, his legs assisting as much as they could while he trudged through the thick mud. The warmth of his blood gushing outside of his the left side of body and across the taut material of his uniform was quickly wicked away by the bitter chill of the mud that clung to him. Bright blue eyes glared through the pitch darkness that surrounded him, wondering why it was that this attack had to have started around midnight and that he was the one to be volunteered to go crawling underneath a building. Natasha and Clint were far slimmer and could have easily found the case of relays that he was looking for instead while they fought against a group of amped-up thugs.
The wet ground vibrated around him as the flooring right above his head rattled, a large explosion going off in the background as voices screamed. The tones were panicked and thunder rumbled, bringing a soft smile to his face as Thor would make sure not to hurt anyone that was not trying to destroy everything...or take the last of those pastries that he enjoyed toasting and devouring by the dozen.
"Steve. Steve..." a voice murmured, sounding faint as though he was underwater, which could have been true if Thor was around and calling a storm. It did not stop him from recalling just who the voice belonged to. "Hey, buddy, you can do this. Hey, remember that time when we were kids and you-"
"Cap!" a new voice cut in, shouting over the amused and worried tone of Bucky's voice and quickly commanding the blonde soldier's attention. "You find the relays yet? It's going to hell up here and at the rate you're moving we might be better off sending Robin Hood down there."
"Hey," Clint called back with a snort. "Cut the guy some slack. It's easy for you to say when you're flying around and not mucking around down here, asshat!"
"Can you believe the attitude on that one, Steve? Some nerve, huh?" The voices almost matched each other in tone and the soldier could not help but smile softly as he crawled through the mud.
"He's a Stark, Buck," Steve muttered as he moved father under the building, covering his ears and burying his face in the mud when another explosion went off, the building above him groaning and rattling ominously and threatening to give out. His ears were ringing as a large portion of the flooring suddenly crashed into mud to his right, sending up a cloud of dust and grit to stick to the wet earth as voices screamed in the small device in his ear, drowning out the thunder and screams in the background.
"Shit, they're taking down the building, Cap!" Definitely a female voice, the soldier thought as he elevated his face from the muck and wiped as much of it as he could away from his eyes, only succeeding in smearing the viscous mud across his face and cowl.
"She's a real champ, Steve."
"How are you holding up there, sunshine?" Tony cut in over the frequency as Steve continued to crawl under the building, looking for the small box that was supposedly hidden underneath the building. "Any chance you're going to find the relays before we have to send our favorite rage machine out to dig your spangly ass out from a mess of rubble? I'm sure he would love that, though. Hell, you can even give the big guy a treat for being your hero!"
"It's official; all Starks are annoying. Do you remember that time Howard actually-"
"Bucky," the super soldier called out as trudged through the mud. "Save the stories until we're back in the bunker."
"Uh, come again?" Clint called out over the frequency as Steve continued to move underneath the building. He could hear all kinds of sounds over the frequency; Thor's boisterous laughter, the Hulk's loud growls and heavy breathing, bit out Russian that sounded like it was probably cursing with the way the words were spat out, Tony's grumbling about numbers and words that made absolutely no sense to the soldier, and Clint's humming calliope music that reminded him of visiting Coney Island with Bucky when they were children before a loud click sounded out. "Jesus Christ! Move, Cap! Get the fuck out of there right now! There's no relays!"
"Woah, what?" Tony cut in over the archer's shouting. Steve paused in his crawling to look around him, narrowing his eyes as he saw that he had only managed to make it a few feet from the collapsed portion of the building, making out the faint shape of the rubble in the darkness.
"Hey, Steve," Bucky called out softly, getting the blonde to look over at him. For someone who was lying in the mud, the sniper was not looking at all dirty. "It's good to see you."
"Shit! Rogers, get the fuck out of there!" Tony called back over the frequency, his voice sounding panicked as the line was suddenly filled with white noise before crackling back to life. "-ing's rigged! Any means, necessary, Steve! You got that? Right this goddamn-"
"It's really amazing how much like his father he is." Steve nodded before Bucky pointed at a dark shape sitting in to his far left. "See what I'm seeing, Steve?"
"I see it, Buck," the blonde soldier replied as he crawled towards the metal square, smiling at the ability to call his friend that nickname again. "I found it guys," he said into the static, wondering if they could hear him.
"Hey, did I tell you about Peggy, Steve?" Bucky asked when Steve finally made it to the box, his mud and glove covered fingers sliding across the smooth item for purchase.
"P-Peggy?" Steve asked as he jerked to look at his best friend who was smiling sweetly at him.
"Don't tell me you forgot all about the dame you were sweet on."
"No, never!"
"-eve, can you hear me?! Get the fuck o-" the earpiece crackled once more before snapping back to white noise. It was distinctly Natasha's Russian-accented voice and the Captain could not help but frown at her language.
"She wanted me to give you a message, buddy."
"Sh-she... She has a message for me?" Bucky smiled widely, his gray-blue eyes crinkling in the corners in a warming way that did not fully meet the icy color of his irises.
"Yeah, only for you to know and no one else."
"Tell it to me?" Steve asked as his fingers caught on a latch on the housing for the relays.
"Steve!" a frantic voice cried out in his earpiece once more as a telltale whine filled the air around him, the sound so familiar but out of place as the soldier focused on his best friend from before the war, a man that had given his life for the greater good but was somehow lying pristine in the mud right next to him.
"Bucky, how...how did you get here?" Thinking back on the situation, Steve could not remember exactly how Bucky had managed to end up underneath the storage building beside him. He remembered the briefing from Fury, Clint's snarky comments, Thor's eager willingness to fight, Natasha dangerous smirk, Bruce's wry and worried grin, and Tony's salacious wink as they all stepped into what appeared to be a battlefield in upstate New York.
However, he could not figure out when Bucky arrived; certainly not before he crawled under the raised foundation of the house.
"Please, Bucky?" Steve asked, his curiosity about what Peggy could possibly have to say overpowering his need to know how Bucky, who he clearly recalled dying back during the war, the panicked look in his friend's eyes as he fell... How was the same man with him underneath the dilapidated building? Still, Peggy took precedence and he could always ask the sniper about he had survived and found him afterward.
"Anything for you, Steve." The smile grew darker and his eyes colder as Bucky Barnes leaned closer, the air around him becoming colder while his skin paled and grew sallow. Flesh pulled away from bone as thin fingers clutched at the front of his mud-slick uniform, the mood changing dramatically and sucking the air out of Steve's lungs. He could feel the thin bones, strong and fragile at the same time pulling the reinforced material away from his chest as the image of Bucky grew more solid. His lips parted in a sadistic grin and once-white teeth rapidly yellowed and darkened, the edges becoming distorted and chipped. Fear gripped his heart and Steve felt his stomach drop as Bucky pulled him through the mud until their lips were almost touching.
"You're going to burn in hell, Rogers."
Cold, thin lips pressed against his own while dead eyes stared at him before the world around him shook and rattled. Pain seared at his skin and through his muscles. Steve thought absentmindedly that the building was crashing around him but he was not certain if that was all in his mind as the world suddenly grew as the dark pupils in Bucky's eyes.
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