Moy Tovarishch, Moya Bor'ba
Chapter One
Third Person POV
"But then I said to her...hm...I guess I'm boring you with all this, huh?" the young lady spoke from across the red and white-checkered table towards the famous man before her.
"Hm?" Steve Rogers had his chin resting on a fist, his blue eyes having drifted over the different wood gradients in the floor of the Italian restaurant they were in, but snapped his attention right back to his date upon hearing such a question.
"I'm sorry...I don't know where my head has been at lately," Cap apologized, courteous as ever in spite of the fact that he wanted to leave and was, in fact, extremely bored right now, "...and it has been a very long time since I've...been out with anyone like this, so I uh...I think I'm out of practice."
An excuse and it made him cringe inside to even hear himself say it.
Steve had finally had enough of the several S.H.I.E.L.D agents pestering him about meeting a nice woman to take on dates and to start really enjoying life again; everyone seeming to have a differing opinion about what that really meant, however.
It had been just the week prior that Captain America had half-way begrudgingly asked out Lillian from accounting, if for nothing else, just to take some of the heat off coming from his peers.
That did nothing to quell the crystal-clear voice in the back of the Captain's head that insisted on reminding him that his heart was not in this date, that it was not fair to this young girl...and that as long as his mind continued to be wholly occupied with a certain task, he simply could not focus on too much else.
Lillian was speaking again, telling him how much she understood...
But her voice was a dull fog that did not reach the sullen super soldier who silently prayed that their food would not be too much longer so this date could conclude at last.
Steve sighed.
It had been four months since S.H.I.E.L.D had fallen and Captain America had last seen the Winter Soldier.
Four months of being confined to a hospital because of the Winter Soldier, removed from duty, and instructed by each Avenger at one point that he needed to 'take it easy' and 'just focus on recovering.'
"Bucky..." Steve's most troubling and frequent thought resurfaced for the umpteenth time, and blue eyes trailed over wood flooring again.
Cap had recovered in that time.
He had taken care of himself.
He had done what had been asked of him.
But Steve knew that just recovering physically was not totally recovering from the situation.
He had already swore to himself that he would look for Bucky...
"Now if only this awful date would end..." Steve thought dryly as the woman rambled on.
X
Meanwhile, halfway across the world...
Light blue eyes surveyed his immediate surroundings, every sense fine-tuned to the harsh environment.
Fresh white snow covered the sprawling landscape and offered a biting chill in the air that made one side of the sky-scraping trees have thick lines of frost.
A tall man dressed in thick, black tactical gear stood alone with his gloved hands holding an automatic firearm at ease while he planned his next move, the passing winds tossing his wild brown locks every which way.
The Winter Soldier sighed silently from behind his mask, having to quiet his thoughts lest they get too jumbled again.
Ever since fighting Captain America...and hearing those words...those few, simple words from that man that had made his hands freeze and his stomach drop because they had been words from a different time...and now he just could not seem to...
The soldier shook his head to remind himself to forget those types of thoughts.
He was on a mission, this one given to him by himself, for a change.
The moment he had rescued Captain America from that lake and dragged him to the bank so he would not drown, the soldier knew what he needed to do.
He was going to the place where this had all started.
He needed to see where he had fallen from the train all those years ago.
And the laboratory that he knew would be relatively close by...he needed to see what they had done to him.
The man adjusted his grip on the firearm and then continued his trek through the snow and bitter cold...letting that one spark of hope keep him warm.