There was a large explosion, followed by multiple others. Steve was leading Bucky up the stairs to the metal beam that could get both of them across.
However, Steve noticed how unstable the beam was. It would only be able to hold one of them at a time.
"Come on," Steve helped Bucky over the rail. "One at a time."
Bucky didn't protest as he carefully made his way across the beam. It shifted multiple times, causing Bucky to flinch and nearly fall into the fiery explosions below them.
Finally, the beam gave out, for a moment Steve was terrified, thinking that Bucky wouldn't make it. But the man leapt, and managed to grab hold of the rail and climb over, but there wasn't any way for Steve to cross now.
"There's gotta be a rope or something!" Bucky shouted.
Steve thought for a moment. It would be better if Bucky escaped, so at least he could make it out, even if Steve couldn't.
"Just go! Get out of here!"
He watched Bucky's expression turn into complete horror and surprise. "No! I'm not leaving without you!"
Steve swallowed. "Oh hell.." He stared at the large gap between him and Bucky, bent the metal rail back, and continued to back up as far as he could.
Bucky was watching him intensely, ready to grab him if he were to miss.
Steve took a breath, cursing to himself silently before sprinting and taking a giant leap off of the platform. He made good distance, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. He yelled in great surprise when he smacked into the opposite platform, fingers scrambling to find something to hang on to as he dangled over the edge. Right over the nearing explosions.
"Steve!" Bucky shouted. He knelt down and grabbed his hands, struggling to pull the super-soldier up to safety.
Bucky's eyes were wide in fear, Steve noticed, likely afraid of Steve falling to his death right here and now. "Come on, Steve," He grunted as he finally tanked Steve onto the platform, pulling him to his feet and wrapping his arms around him.
"Dear god, stop scaring me like that."
Steve let out a soft chuckle, "Sorry.."
They pulled away and ran outside, in the middle of pure chaos. They both looked at each other, then at the loud explosions from the weapons HYDRA had made, except their own soldiers had apparently managed to get a hold of them, using them against the creators.
"Holy hell," Bucky muttered, listening to the loud explosions that accompanied the blasts.
Some HYDRA soldiers still stood, fighting to their last breath against the others. Bucky and Steve raced over to help, fighting alongside their own to take down the remaining HYDRA agents.
They won pretty easily. Steve wished the way back would have been the same.
It would take a while to get back. Steve and Bucky stood at the front of the parade of returning soldiers, walking along the large path that would get them back to their base in about 2 days. Steve was exhausted, but it was nothing compared to Bucky. Hell, he had no idea what they even did to him, but at times he could see his friend's face pale.
Of course, he could go longer, since he was a super-soldier, but he was still greatly concerned about his friend. They probably experimented on him…
Like hell, they would.
He pushed the avenging thoughts out of his head. That's not how he should be thinking right now, especially when a good amount of their soldiers were injured.
Tanks and other vehicles followed behind them. At times, Bucky would rest on one of the vehicles until he regained the strength to continue walking. Steve, however, walked the whole thing. It was complete hell, but worth it. The whole time, he barely broke a sweat.
A few hours from camp, they had to stop and take a break. Plenty of the soldiers were already exhausted, most having barely slept, including Steve. Bucky had got some naps in here and there on the way back, but Steve didn't stop at all and being honest, he could feel the exhaustion beginning to catch up to him.
Bucky caught up with him once everyone had stopped, finding a tree or something to sit against. Many were already asleep, as it was pitch black outside. He clearly noticed the dark circles under Steve's eyes, because he quickly mentioned it.
"You need some rest, Steve. You look terrible."
Steve sighed and nodded. "I know, but I gotta stay awake.."
Bucky placed a hand on his shoulder. "Everyone will be fine. You haven't even slept at all. We've been traveling for well over a day and you haven't even stopped to take a nap or anything."
Steve shrugged. "Don't need it." That earned him a hard glare from Bucky, which he was used to. "God, you're so stubborn. You haven't changed a bit."
Steve sighed in defeat and put his hands in the air in surrender. "Fine, I'll sleep. Happy?"
Bucky grinned. "Yes. Now sleep, and I'm watching you," he made a motion with his fingers, pointing at his eyes and then pointing toward Steve, who mumbled inaudible words to himself as he slumped against a tree.
His eyelids felt heavy, so he allowed himself to finally sleep, which came pretty quickly.