Bucky
I hate night clubs. The claustrophobic setting and the way you can't hear anything over the vibrations of the music clash together in a way that makes my skin crawl with irritation. There are too many people here; too many bodies pressing in around us. I snake my arm around her frame to keep her close to me. As we work our way through the crowd, I keep my hand tight around her waist, marvelling at how strong she feels beneath my fingers.
While we were in the car and Rufus was telling her what we were meant to do, I saw a light go off in her eyes as she came to some conclusion that practically shut her down. I'm not sure what was going through her mind, but the blank stare she wears now is concerning. She stops in the middle of the dance floor and pulls on my hand, says something I don't hear over the music.
"What?" I yell as I lean closer to her. She grabs me by my shoulders and stands up on her tiptoes as she leans close to my ear.
"I said let's get drinks, we need to blend a little better. I think you're freaking people out." She leans back down on her heels and moves through the crowd easily. Worried that she is going to be swallowed by the pulsing bodies around us, I reach out and grasp the back of her neck lightly. A point of contact to make sure we aren't separated.
At the bar she easily flags down the bartender and he comes down, takes her order and then places two shot glasses in front of us. I'm not sure what the point of getting drinks is; neither of us will feel the effect of the alcohol. But I down the shot anyways, letting the cold liquid burn the back of my throat. I slam the shot glass back down and skim the crowd, looking for anyone that could be this Lyle guy.
"There," she says cooly. She nods towards the elevated cat walk about fifteen feet above the crowd. Looks very VIP.
"How do we get up there?"
"We walk up those stairs." Nonchalance drips from every word and she once again slips away from me and I'm left scrambling after her. This woman is going to drive me crazy before we rejoin the Avengers, I'm absolutely sure of it. Just as I suspected, we are stopped at the stairs by a large bouncer and just as I'm about to tell her we'll have to find another way up, she leans into the man and says something I don't hear into his ear. His face reddens but he nods and steps aside, allowing us entry.
The whole way up the stairs my eyes are floating over the people crowded down below us. I generally don't trust people, but when you get so many gathered in one place, it's almost always a recipe for disaster. Up on the cat walk, so far removed from the drunken partying, there is quiet. Not silence, but I can finally hear my own thoughts and the thumping music isn't bouncing around my head so harshly. Besides Lyle, there are two men and a handful of women sitting around them. Kit leans back into me and lifts her chin slightly as she speaks softly so that the men around us don't hear her.
"You're the Winter Soldier in here, got it?" I nod my head, I understand what she's telling me. I'm beginning to wonder what her plan is, but before I have any chance to speak, she struts across the platform and straight up to Lyle James. I hang back, keeping my distance as she bends at the waist and whispers something into his ear. I avert my eyes as the thin fabric of her dress rises up her thighs. What is going on with you, Barnes? I berate myself. When she stepped out of the bathroom in the office I almost went catatonic. I shake my head but I can't help but wonder if she's armed, and if she IS armed... where is she keeping it? I almost miss her waving for me to approach as I'm lost in a daydream. Rolling my shoulders, I approach slowly, doing my best to keep an even face. As if I'm not really here. It is scary how easy it is to fall back in the Winter Soldier. I like to believe I'm rid of him, but standing here now I realize that he will always be with me.
"Now, Lyle," Kit is saying, no.. crooning, when I walk up. Her voice is gently chastising him. She reaches forward and grabs a lock of his brown hair and I honest to God don't know how she doesn't drop it immediately. It looks so greasy. "You know that it's in your best interest to endorse Keiran. So why are we dragging our feet here?"
"There are other candidates that are willing to line my pockets," Lyle's voice is strong, but he is gazing at Kit with misty eyes, under her spell. One of Kit's most dangerous skills; I've watched her turn men into putty in the palm of her hands. But never like this. When we were younger she did it unknowingly, as if she couldn't even begin to comprehend that she had the capability of captivating the men around her. Now she's using it easily to her advantage. She's still twirling Lyle's hair around her finger as she talks to him.
"Maybe, but Keiran has more to offer than just money." Suddenly her hand is around the back of his head and in one swift motion she slams his head downwards. I hear a crunch as his face makes contact with the table in front of them, shattering the glass in its center. Blood sprays from his nose and when she pulls back, her hand wound tightly through his hair, his face is covered in blood. "Like protection from all the things that go bump in the night."
The moment I saw her flex her arm, seconds before she smashed his face into the table, I jumped into action and grabbed the man directly to Lyle's right by his neck and brought his head down towards my knee. He falls limply to the ground and the other two men advance on me. One has already drawn his gun and is pointing it straight at my head. I grab the barrel with my left hand just as he pulls the trigger. I feel the impact from the bullet all the way up into my shoulder and even though it doesn't go through my metal arm, I know my shoulder will hurt later. I flip my hand palm side up while still holding onto the gun and he fires off another shot before I can yank it out of his hand. A single punch to his head knocks him clean out and the other man steps towards me half-heartedly, apparently trying to decide if he has a chance.
I tilt my head slightly, indicating he should make a decision before I make one for us. In a strange jerking motion he takes another step towards me and puts his fists up near his face. Wrong decision. He strikes out with his left fist, which I easily deflect and as I'm pushing his fist away from my face, I use my feet to swipe his out from under him. When he hits the ground I kick him across his cheek and watch the lights go out of his eyes and his jaw go slack.
The women, who had been screaming, are gone now. Fled downstairs to where the party is still going on as if nothing had happened. In the time it took me to render the two men unconscious, Kit had finished speaking with Lyle and was wiping blood off of her hands.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Lyle. My boss thanks you for your endorsement. If we have to come back here, or find out that you've changed your mind... well we'll be sending the Winter Soldier alone. And it won't be to such a public place. Understood?" Lyle stares at me in horror as she tosses her napkin down at him. "You have a little blood on your face." I stare at her in amazement as she picks her way carefully over the broken glass all over the floor. "Let's go, Soldier." We weave back down the stairs and through the crowd of people until we are out in the cool night air.
"You're kind of scary, has anyone told you that?" I ask her as we wait for Rufus to drive the car around.
"Yeah, I've been told once or twice. I'm just glad it went that route instead of the alternative." She sounds genuinely relieved.
"What's the alternative?"
"Come on, Buck." Her voice is melancholic. "You don't think I dress like this because I enjoy it do you?" I give her a once over and realize how tight fitting the dress really is, how the heels she wears makes her legs look beyond tempting. "Reed had one need for me in his business, and one need only. I was to convince people, by any means, to join up with him. Or to do business with him. He frequently rented me out by the hour." She leans back against the building and presses the back of her head to the bricks. My heart squeezes as I watch her stare up at the night sky in silence more than likely reliving nightmares I can't begin to imagine.
Something inside of me rises in my chest, a fierce need to protect her roaring at me to do something. Anything. But I know her. I know that she would never ask for me to protect her, and if I offered, she'd probably beat me up. So instead of comforting her with an embrace I lean beside her and we wait in silence until headlights pull up in front of us and I see Rufus sitting in the drivers seat.