Forgiven 3
The fight was almost laughable for him, he had to admit. These strongmen were nothing more than guys with an itchy trigger finger, no training and hardly any style. Bucky dodged some gunfire and bounced from doorway to doorway avoiding the spray of bullets that sent shrapnel flying, moving up the street towards the hill.
He heard a scream of children and froze in his tracks, eyes searching the darkness punctuated only by the blue Chitauri blasts.
"You! Stop now, or the kids die." A man's voice growled low from just beyond some smoke that floated through the street between buildings like the spirits of the dead.
As the grime lifted, Bucky saw a huge man with a hand gripping a girl's hair so tightly, she couldn't close her eyes. Tears streamed down her face painting trails into her dust-covered cheeks, fingers clutching at his sleeve trying to loosen his grip.
At their knees, a little boy kicked at the man, futilely pummeling his knees with tiny fists in impotent rage. Without even looking down, the gunman took a swipe at the child like a fly. The butt of his gun smashed the boy and he fell with a whimper.
Bucky twitched in response but then the girl shrieked as the barrel end of the gun was pressed fiercely to her temple. Eyes narrowed, Barnes replied, "Take me. Leave them."
"What a prize, no? I think all of you go. This girl… she is so… pretty." The man leered at the girl, his eyes evil. The child shuddered in his grasp. "You, carry the boy. We all go."
Barnes reluctantly approached, eyes never falling off the man who still had the pistol impressing itself on the girl's temple. A million scenarios were scrolling through is brain as he bent down to pick up the unconscious boy who had a purpling bruise on his forehead from the gun butt. Never breaking eye contact, he scooped up the child and saw a fleeting shadow gracefully flip over the tile rooftops.
The shadow was red and blue.
Barnes smiled a humorless smile, all teeth like an animal.
"What are you grinning about you moron?" the gunman barked shaking the girl, who cried out.
Barnes remained silent as a thin silvery thread shot out of the darkness and enveloped the man's head like a plastic bag. Instantly, he dropped his grip on the girl to claw at his smothered face, as Bucky shoved the boy into her arms. She fell to the ground holding the boy, shocked to be released as Barnes launched himself full weight at the gunman.
With several quick blows, and a satisfying snap, it was over.
Barnes looked back over his shoulder at the young teen and the boy. She peered up at him and nodded a thank you with gratitude in her eyes. Buck gave her a nod and continued up the street.
"Spidey… come out of your hidey hole." Barnes called as he jogged lightly up the road making progress up to the hill.
"I'm not hiding. I'm above you." Parker replied with a cheerful tone.
Bucky looked up and saw the arachnid superhero flitting from wall to wall like a sideways kangaroo.
"Thanks for that back there."
"Yeah. Looked like you needed a plan B."
"I'd agree with that."
"Cool."
"Stark here?" he rounded a corner and had to duck back as gunfire erupted shattering the wall he had just been next to.
"Somewhere. I guess." Parker replied flippantly and hopped down to stand next to the assassin.
Barnes looked him up and down and mentioned, "Have you gotten taller?"
Peter glanced at himself as if he could tell, "Uh, I don't think so. New suit… like it?"
"Better than that video thing you were wearing."
A blast interrupted their conversation. Briefly, they covered their heads as debris flew in random angles.
"You mean You Tube?" Peter's tone was chiding.
"Yeah, you wingnut. That." Bucky glared at him quickly, "Smartass."
"Language."
"Oh, not you too." Bucky replied before an RPG ripped the wall apart into sound and fury upon them.
Barnes felt crushing weight upon him and dirt filling his nose. With a gasping cough, he wiggled fingers and toes and found them responsive, if not trapped. Trying to orient himself in space, he felt something soft at his fingertips, like flesh. His mind immediately thought Parker.
"Peter?" Bucky wheezed, shifting his shoulders and feeling rubble move above him. "Parker!"
"Yeah." a raspy reply came.
"Thank God." Barnes tone was sincere.
"Aww, thanks."
"Don't let it go to your head. We still have to get out of here."
"Can you see it?"
"See what? It's pitch black."
"My web. It slowed the debris down so we didn't get torn to bits."
"How thoughtful of you."
"You're welcome."
"Don't get cocky kid."
"Isn't that from a movie?"
Barnes didn't reply but began to gather his arms towards himself, clearing his throat of dust that choked him. Pulling his feet up under him as best he could, he began to press upwards, shedding bricks and mortar as he moved. Parker did similarly. Slowly, they began to emerge from was used to be an apartment building.
"Wait." Barnes warned.
"For what?" Peter responded.
"Let me take a look before you crawl out of here completely."
"I have night vision in my visor. I should take a look."
"And I have more experience than you." Bucky glared an icily at the young man.
"I read up you were quite the mother hen, Mr. Barnes." Parker quipped. Barnes could hear the smile in his voice and shot him a frown.
Turning towards the source of the RPG, the street was deserted, Barnes figuring the assailants probably thought them both dead in the rubble.
Great time to be a ghost, Bucky mused briefly thinking of his fifty years as the ghost of Hydra. "C'mon. Coast is clear."
Parker stood up and began to dust himself off, "Stark is going to freak when he sees how dirty I've gotten this thing."
"I've seen worse. Let's move." Bucky began to pick his way over the rubble and up the street, his back always near a wall. Parker shot webs up and deftly swung above. "So, the hill has the weapon?"
"They won't let us engage it." Parker mentioned, a hint of annoyance coloring his voice.
"Who is 'they'" Bucky asked but felt confident he knew already.
"The U.N."
"You are just here to clean up? Evac? You know, the dead can't walk." Barnes was blunt.
Peter swallowed at the statement. It was true. Here they were super-powered beings able to neutralize that Chitauri weapon and all they were called for was to clean up the mess without solving the problem.
"You going to disarm it?" Spidey asked.
"Damn straight I am." Barnes replied still marching up the hill.
"Can I come?"
"But you're on official business. You'll get in trouble and sent to the Raft."
"Well, I can't think you just showed up here conveniently to mess around with a 'minor warlord'. You asked about Stark."
Barnes stopped in his tracks, taking a quick survey to make sure there were no hidden snipers or loose guns. Peter landed in front of him, the mechanized eyes of this suit narrowing slightly. Frowning, Bucky considered his options, the plates in his new Wakandan arm whirring softly. Peter ignored them.
"No, I'm not just here on a head bashing picnic."
"Didn't think so. What's your mission this time?"
Barnes colored at his reference to his past but he swallowed it down, this was just a kid who had spent a lot of time with Tony. "I am here to set things right."
"Between you and Stark?"
"Between Steve and Tony."
"Steve?" Peter sounded surprised, his suit eyes widening.
"Yeah. I'm going to turn myself in. Make Stark see I am sorry and he and Steve need to get back on the same team." The words felt like hot shame in his mouth but it was the truth. The only way to get Steve back on track was to reunite the Avengers. That was his mission.
Parker folded his arms across his chest, then one hand raising up to hold his chin as if in thought pondering the Winter Soldier's words.
After a moment, he released his chin and looked Barnes in the eye, "I hope someday to have a best friend like you. Steve is a lucky."
"And here I was thinking all you young kids were just a bunch of cell phone addicts. Hope springs eternal." Bucky smiled slightly. "So don't follow me. I'm not on official business."
"No promises." Peter jumped up and shot off a rope of web swinging away towards the hill.
Bucky watched him go and thought, that's what scares me Parker. Stay out of this kid.