CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT – Lifeboats
"We should've taken the Jeep." A weary sigh blew pass my lips as I glanced at my watch, unsure how far behind the taskforce would be. With their seemingly unlimited resources it wouldn't be long before a net closed in around us.
"This is low-profile apparently." Sam retorted from the passenger seat of the Volkswagen Beetle.
"We would've been low-profile in the Jeep, and comfortable."
Bucky shifted beside me in the cramp confines of the backseat. "Can you move your seat up?"
"No." Sam didn't turn around. The two of them reminding me of trips I endured with Michael and his friends as children.
"We should've taken the Jeep."
"Alright, grandma, I get the point."
"You know her?" Bucky nodded his head towards Steve and Sharon conversing beside her vehicle at our prearranged meeting point under a bridge.
"Practically her whole life, she's Peggy Carter's niece."
"You didn't think to tell us that before?" Sam asked.
"It wasn't my secret to tell."
"Don't know how you keep track of all your secrets." He glanced back at me.
"In a binder with color coded tabs." My ragged breath drew Bucky's protection, his arm dropping around my shoulders.
"You don't gotta be brave all the time, y'know that, right?"
"I need to be focused on the fight, there's no time for anything else."
"We ain't fighting right now; we've got time so tell me what's rattling round that pretty head of yours."
Picking at the dirt under a chipped nail, Bucky's hand fell to stop my fidgeting, gaze trained on my face.
"He should know, Renard." Sam's voice broke my trance and Bucky's fowl look in his direction made me speak up.
"When we heard about the bombing, we'd just returned from Peggy's funeral."
The second a tear escaped, trailing down my face, Bucky drew me close against his side. The warm comfort of home was found in his embrace. I clutched desperately at his shirt, allowing some of the grief to break free from my fragile control.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I know you two were close."
"She's been the one constant in my life, always there when I needed someone. I don't know how to live in a world without her."
His cool metal fingers slid along my jaw, lowering to the simple chain around my neck, holding my locket and engagement ring. "I'm gonna keep my promise this time."
"What promise?"
"To find a way to live a life together."
"I got a message from Barton, he's here." Steve announced dropping into the driver's seat. He glanced back at us as I self-consciously wiped my damp face. "It's not a long drive."
"Has he heard from Tony or anyone else?"
"No, but I doubt they're far away."
I relaxed against Bucky's side during the short drive to the airport. The tense apprehension was something familiar, something usually experienced before a mission. As prepared as we thought we were, several unknowns could derail Steve's plan, landing us in a cell.
Steve pulled up a space over from a plain white van. Clint Barton hopping out to greet him.
"You know these guys?"
"They're friends, we can trust them." I climbed out of the Volkswagen behind Bucky, hope filling me for the first time in days. "Wanda!"
I rushed around the Volkswagen to embrace the girl. She clung tightly to me. "Are you okay?" I leaned back to give her a motherly once over.
"I am now."
My smile faded as we parted to a voice over the loudspeaker echoing through the parking garage.
"They're evacuating the airport." Bucky translated.
"Suit up." Steve ordered.
I reached for Wanda, her young features a picture of purpose to whatever waited for us. "Whatever comes next, stay safe, don't be a hero."
"I'll try my best." She grabbed a duffle bag from the van, passing it over. "You'll need this."
With a fading smile, I walked back over to Bucky, opening the duffle to pull out a tactical bodysuit among the equipment Wanda and Clint must've acquired from the Avengers facility.
"You close to that girl?"
I tossed Bucky a vest. "She along with her twin brother survived a HYDRA experiment a couple of years ago. She can move things with her mind."
"Seriously?"
"We're not so special after all." I carefully pulled off my blazer, Bucky snatching it before I tossed it aside. "What are you doing?"
"You ain't undressing in front of everyone." He held up the blazer between us as I undid my pants.
"You remember I survived being in the field with the Howling Commandos, right?" I gently got myself into the bodysuit, the fabric different yet superior to other bodysuits I'd worn in the past.
"I remember that time we got snowed in that barn."
A knowing smile crept on my face as I secured the belt. "Poor Monty, he got quite the shock that night. He couldn't look me in the eye for two weeks."
"There weren't any more midnight bathroom trips either."
I chuckled, taking the boots he handed me.
"Even then we had some good times, didn't we?"
I reached for his vest, zipping it up and rested my hands against his chest, looking up at his pleasant features. "There were some really good times, and when all this is behind us, we'll get the chance to have more."
"Maybe go back to your place in France?" He suggested with a smile.
"I'd like that."
"You two ready?" Steve clicked his helmet into place as we nodded.
"What are you orders, Captain?"
"Gin, I want you to secure the Quinjet while the rest of us deal with Stark."
"I can fight, Steve–"
"I know, but I'm not gonna put you in that position. If things go south, someone needs to get to that base and shut it down."
"You'll want Hanger Five, Gin."
I nodded at Clint and the rest of them as they took off. Bucky hung back, curling an arm round my waist to draw me close. His kiss took me back to the past, where in a moment of jealousy my feelings revealed themselves and tangled us together for seven decades.
A slow smile curved his lips as we parted, the warmth in his eyes a kind reminder he truly was back. "Promise you'll wait for me?"
"James Barnes, I have made a career out of waiting for you." I laughed.
"So, we fight to come back to each other then?"
My hands cupped his face, thumb brushing over his rough beard. "You've already come back to me, any time together from now on is a blessing."
"I'll see you soon." He promised with another chase kiss to my lips before pulling away.
"I love you!"
"I know, sweetheart." He replied jogging after Steve.
Heading in the opposite direction, my path around the airport went undetected. An eeriness made my footsteps sound louder than they were, distracting my thoughts from the numbing pain consuming my upper body. Despite my desire to fight alongside my friends, I wasn't a hundred percent, and a liability they couldn't afford with Bucky's freedom on the line.
Instinct drew a weapon, the eruption of various explosions in the distant drawing me to the shadow of a pillar. Glock in hand I could only assume my friends were in the fight of their lives and I needed to get to the hanger quickly. Whether they were at my side or not, my mission couldn't be delayed.
"You got this, Renard." I exhale a shallow breath, calming my heartbeat enough to refocus myself and keep moving.
Approaching the hanger, I entered through a side door. Quinjet insight I came to abrupt stop barely a foot inside I held back swearing aloud.
"I should've known." I nodded my head at Natasha as she approached from the opposite side of the hanger.
For a moment we could ignore the obvious noises of our friends still coming to blows outside and approach a delicate matter on how we'd leave the hanger – Quinjet or handcuffs.
"Steve sent you straight for the jet, smart." She complimented.
"He knew I couldn't bear the thought of watching my family tear itself apart."
Natasha came to a stop before me, features softening in mutual understanding. "Families disagree from time to time, or so I've heard."
"We need the jet to go after the fake doctor, before he starts a fight nobody can win. It's not too late, you could come with us."
"It's not that simple–"
"Nothing ever is, Natasha, but sometimes you've got to look past logic, and do what feels right in your bones. I will protect Bucky until my last breath because he deserves the chance to be free."
"Y'know, you said that about me once." A small smile tugged at her lips.
"And I meant it. You were so much more than what they created, and I'm so proud of the woman you've become."
"Even though I sided with Tony?"
"You didn't side with him; you made your own decision."
"And Bucky, he's worth all this?"
"He's worth everything I have and more." No hesitation would be found in my reply as I believed the words with every fiber in my body. "He saved me, but I didn't realize it until I'd lost him. Now it's my turn to save him."
I moved pass her, exhaling a long breath as every step brought me closer to the Quinjet, and unchecked by someone who could've taken me down.
Boarding, Natasha still stood at the entrance of the hanger. I went through the motions of starting the Quinjet, keeping an eye on expertly trained assassin.
"Where are you Steve?" I muttered, drumming my fingers against the pilots' chair when part of a building seemingly dropped like a pile of bricks. Plumes of dust and broken debris littered the entranceway, my heart sinking only for two men to emerge through the disastrous cloud.
I reached for my Glock, studying the brief exchange of words between Steve and Natasha. She allowed the men pass her – Widow stingers halting T'Challa from interring as he emerged from the debris unscathed. The electrical currents barely controlled his movements, but it was enough so make an escape.
"Where are the others?"
"They're gonna buy us some time to get out." Steve passed by, dropping into the pilots' chair.
"What does that mean?"
"Strap yourself in, Gin." He ordered taking control of the Quinjet.
"Steve, what happened out there? Was Tony there?"
I looked to Bucky for answers when Steve refused to respond. "Sit down, Gin."
His quiet tone sent a spark of worry coursing through me, but I held my tongue and strapped myself into the chair across from his. A hand rose to clutch my locket as the Quinjet soared through an opening between the hanger and debris. The carnage below couldn't be unseen, small fires and what looked like a dismantled airplane littered the space, leaving little doubt in my mind we were lucky to be escaping.
"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky finally spoke up when nothing, but clear blue sky surrounded us.
"Whatever it is, I'll deal with it." Steve replied quietly, an unfamiliar hum of unsureness making me shift uncomfortably in my chair.
"I dunno if I'm worth all this, Steve."
"What you did all those years, wasn't you, you didn't have a choice."
"I know, but I did it."
I reached across, dropping a hand on his arm, a small reminder I was at his side. Eventually, his hand covered mind. No words would ever soothe the open wounds of the past, but perhaps shutting down the Siberian base would be the beginning of some closure.
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