Chapter 3: A Mission For Doctor Watson~
John's head is spinning , as he takes a seat on the super-tech plane that Captain Nicolas Fury from the secret intelligence services has sent to fetch himself and Captain Rogers.
Their dialouge with Fury was very brief.
"Well, it's good to finally meet the infamous Doctor Watson!" Fury had said, grabbing John's hand up in a powerful shake.
"It's good to meet whoever the blazes you are. An explanation would be nice?" John had quipped ,raising an eyebrow.
"Well, the best explanation I can give you is that your friend is alive, but in trouble. And when Sherlock Holmes in in trouble, the whole world is in trouble, so it's our job to bail him out."
Fury had chuckled darkly,then, and called nonchalantly over his shoulder, "Leavin' it in your hands, Cap!" And then he was gone. John hadn't liked it. He'd been living for years with the idea that Sherlock was dead. And now these mysterious men had showed up at his doorstep, told him Sherlock was alive, and that he needed to follow them on some psychologically impossible mission to save him, and a supposedly killed (or missing in action ,one) American sniper by the name of James Barnes.
John doesn't know which is more disturbing. The fact that these people have come to him with this wild of a story, or the fact that he blindly dove in head first and joined them. That he's sitting in an airplane's cockpit right now beside the immortal Captain America, back in his military fatigues, head bowed over his knees.
"You know...I get this. I mean I know exactly what it feels like...Losing the person you care about the most...Probably the closest thing you'll ever get to having a brother...And then strangers come knocking at your door...telling you that your mission isn't over...When you know it ended the day he fell..."
John looks up, eyes bright and wide, like grenades gone off.
"Day...he...fell...?"
Steve was staring at John intently, jaw clenched, brow creased like something was hurting deep in the recesses of his stomach.
"...Sergeant Barnes...was...uhh..." the Captain's teeth barred, like there was no way he could choke out the words.
"Well, I suppose I should start over...I called him "Bucky"." he looked away and smiled.
"He was...my best friend...Sometimes...he was my only friend. There are a'lot'ta guys that say I don't have a dark side. But that's not true...Bucky...was my one weakness. He-he was my dark side..."
Steve stared at his hands now, and shook his head.
"I don't know how much you know about me, but I'm actually a lot older than I look. I am a World War 2 veteran. Buck and I grew up together in Brooklyn, and when we grew up we served together in the U.S. Army. We also served with Agent Peggy Carter, Sherlock's nanny, probably never mentioned her to you because of protocol, and well, Sherlock's got a reputation for being more of a machine than a human being, not really revealing a whole lot of personal information, or at least that's what they say...I'm taking it by the way you've grieved for him, that's probably not the case. In fact, I'd say that Sherlock Holmes was probably the same person to you that Bucky Barnes was to me. Your brother...Kinda like the other side of you...your dark side..."
John nodded, feeling a knot forming in his throat. This guy had read John and his relationship with Sherlock Holmes like a book. It was almost unnerving...
"Well...we had a mission...It's kind of hard to explain, especially if you don't know your history too well,but we were practically hijacking a train. And it turned hot pretty quick. It was only natural for Buck to try and protect me; I was actually really puny when we were kids, and he had to save my butt a whole buncha times...In the action, Bucky ended up being knocked out of the window of the train, and got dangled over a really deep cliff in the mountains. I reached for him, but the rail he was holding on to was breaking...I guess he knew he'd take me down with him..."
John felt his heart stop. Captain America was sitting next to him, in tears.
"I watched my brother in arms fall through mid air to his death just the same as you did. The day he died, so did I. I don't know how to explain it to you...but I don't have to. Sorry, I just can't tell this story without cracking, which is why I've never told it before..." he started rubbing the back of his fist at his eyes,and breathed a ragged sob. John sat dumbfounded, wondering why the hardened soldier would open up to him so...openly?
"I really hate how this has gone down, John. It really, I mean you've gotta be just as confused as I was when I woke up out of my coma! To be honest with you ,though, no one explained this mission to me either. They just told me that miraculously Bucky Barnes was alive, and that if I wanted to find him, I'd have to get in contact with Sherlock Holmes, the greatest detective of all secret intelligence history. Then they tell me that he's temporarily out of commission, and if I wanna find him, I've got to team up with you...They tell me you're the only one that will be able to find Sherlock, because Sherlock will want to find you. They tell me the guy has gone to insane lengths to keep you out of the cross hairs..." Steve looked at John who was now in tears himself, and he didn't have to explain it, because Steve knew...
"Ok, so ,let's start over!" Steve smiled, and laughed, extending a hand.
"Hi, I'm Steve Rogers.I'm coming to consult Mr. Holmes concerning my very dear friend Bucky who's been missing in action for 70 plus years...I've been run through the circus rings of shady secret service agents, just like you. Sherlock Holmes is the only guy I trust to give me real answers, not just about what happened to my friend, but about everything else that I've been involved in since I woke up from a long Ice-nap. Sherlock isn't here, but you are. We're soldiers, and its our mission to protect the people we care about. Our friends are both in trouble. Doctor Watson, will you help me rescue them? Its not on behalf of shifty agents...I'm asking you, man to man..."
John smiled, and took the Captain's hand, and they shook on it firmly.
"Oh God, yes!" John whispered.
