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The cloudless blue sky above welcomed him back to reality through the shattered remains of a window, birds flapping happily with little regard to the havoc unfolding below. Steve felt the burning spread throughout his muscles and as he eased up from the splintered glass there was only one thought that entered his mind.
Edie.
Without much time to recover the Captain sprung up at the sound of bullets ripping through the mangled bus. Ducking through the crumpled door he snatched the abandoned shield from the pavement and moved to disable the machine gun. It was then that he noticed the metal armed assailant in hot pursuit after a familiar leather jacket. His feet moved on their own but he couldn't abandon a fellow soldier. Casting a conflicted expression towards Sam, who was fiercely retaliating against the armed mercenaries that seemed to multiple by the second, Steve's mind flew in a million directions.
Seeming to sense the transparent battle etched across Steve's troubled face, Falcon urged the Captain.
"I got this! Go!" He called out over the artillery fire and with a swift nod the Super Soldier was gone.
Steve recognized a familiar voice as he rounded the corner, but it held a ragged urgency that put the soldier on edge.
"Run Edie!" Natasha vocalized, gun drawn as the Winter Soldier advanced towards her.
With a running start Steve jumped the assassin, sending the firearm scattering towards the gutter.
"Steve! He's after Edie!" Natasha piped from her fallen position against the parked car, clutching her bleeding shoulder as the two exchanged blows.
Steve fought to keep the mercenary away from Edie, heaving him against the adjacent car. Meanwhile the Healer skirted towards the fallen agent, hand moving towards the seeping wound.
"What are you doing? Get out of here!" Black Widow hissed, urging Edie away.
"I'm not leaving either of you!"
It was just as the hitman lunged after Edie, hands grasping roughly towards her crouched form that Steve caught his sleeve. Serving a right hook to the man's cheek, and sending his black mask skating across the rubble. Whipping around to face the towering blonde, the Winter Soldier's identity was revealed.
Edie's POV:
The world seemed to fall away and time froze in its place as the name fell from Steve's lips.
"Bucky?"
I felt my blood run cold, slowly shifting my attention away from Natasha's injury, I dared myself to turn around. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath until a gasp escaped my lungs with a burning relief.
The curve of his jaw, dark chestnut hair whipping across those haunting eyes that brought it all back.
My heart seized.
"Who the hell is Bucky?"
His husky voice growled in an unfamiliar tone, gaze locked on Steve with a narrow scrutiny.
All my senses were stripped, fumbling forward on new legs I inched closer.
"James?"
I hadn't realized I'd spoken up until Buck's vacant eyes glazed towards me, and for a brief moment I witnessed a flicker in his eyes, fleeting and familiar something surfaced.
Recognition.
But with a quick motion the moment vanished and his gun was pointed directly at Steve.
"No!" I screeched, instinctively leaping to cover Steve just as Falcon swooped in. The younger man swiftly knocked Bucky to the ground and I felt the hard concrete break my fall for a second time that day.
The rubble dug into my palms with my quick scramble upward and I was welcomed into the outstretched arms of my Captain. I melted into that sweet shelter with exhaustion, wanting nothing more that to open my eyes to find us on the couch, in one of our lazy Sunday rituals of TV marathons, chocolate chip waffles and the forever tangle of each other's embrace.
But we were far from that and we couldn't go back, no matter how much I clicked my heels together.
"I gotcha, Doll." Steve's words vibrated against my ear in a soothing comfort, arms clamped tightly around my waist as I collapsed against him.
But amidst the tussle the Bucky masked assailant had snaked away from Sam and darted towards us with lightning feet. Steve fought hard to keep me from Bucky's advances, shielding me with the bulk of his body and using his quick reflexes to stay one step ahead. But a chilling sensation found its way around my waist and began to inch me farther and farther from the warm embrace of my husband.
I was pinned between two of the most important men in my life. Both furiously using all their strength to keep me from the other. My heart broke with each harsh tug, torn between the very fact that I wanted nothing more than to welcome Bucky with open arms but the hollow gaze that stared back shook me to my core.
This was not my Bucky. Our Bucky.
I tightened my looped grip around Steve's neck, clawing the taunt flesh of his shoulders to take a rigid stance.
"Bucky stop this! Listen to me!" Steve barked out with desperate reasoning against my ear, breath hot and shaky.
"You know us! Buck! NO!" Steve gritted through his perfect smile, and I could feel his muscles began to tremble from the resistance. I ignored the violent scream of my rib cage as Steve gripped me harder against his chest, refusing to budge.
He fought hard, fought without coward but this man disguised as Bucky Barnes was strong, too strong and I couldn't let Steve get hurt in the process.
Gulping past the lump in my throat I reluctantly accepted my fate, whispering gently against the softness of his cheek.
"I love you, Steve."
For a moment I swear I sensed his heart skip a beat, as if taking the time to fully grasp my sudden proclamation. In the seconds we still had together, I studied his face, absorbing every bit of him that I could.
"NO!"
I noticed the mirroring cloud of frustrated tears muddy his pale blue eyes in a flash of anger and panic as we were both stripped of any last shred of strength and I no longer felt the protect embrace of Steve around me.
"STEVE!" I bellowed a distraught plea to the universe, metallic arm cemented around my waist and securing me flush against a rock solid chest just as a crowd of HYDRA agents flooded the area.
"On your knees, Cap! Get on your knees!" Agent Rumlow barked, his men circling Natasha, Sam and Steve with guns pointed at them like rabid dogs.
Rumlow sneered another order and had the nerve to place the barrel of his gun against Steve's neck.
Wrong move.
I felt it.
The heat of rage snaking its way up my spine, consuming every cell and taking with it my rational thinking. I hadn't had an episode since New York, my trigger being the threat on Steve's life which had been reduced to zero until now. The forceful energy coursed through my veins with a new found strength, leaving me powerless to its whim. But before everything went red, Steve's gaze caught mine and I saw the realization grace that gorgeous face.
"Edie..no.."
But it was too late, it was happening.
"Not a scratch." I reminded through shallow breaths.
My body began to tremble, the asphalt beneath my feet began to shake and crack. With one sharp jerk the soldier at my back was thrown roughly into the pillar of the overpass, the echo of metal scratched against concrete. I locked my haloed gaze on the dark haired agent.
One free hand extended to surround Steve in a protective cloud of energy, while the other gave an effortless swipe in the air and sent a debilitating shock to Rumlow's body. He squirmed and thrashed, but his struggling attempts to escape were futile.
I could sense the rapid beating of his heart, adrenaline laced panic shooting through his system. Blinded with furious anger I was seconds away from crippling the man's life without even so much as a physical touch when a gunshot rang out.
Freezing everyone in their tracks.
My eyes fell to Steve with a seize of panic. But it wasn't until I realized that he was unharmed and slowly read the shock unraveling across his face that I felt an ache spread through my chest. Soon all my senses returned and the burning rage subsided with a focused clarity but there was still this pain in my chest, increasing by the second. Glancing down I was met with a crimson stain pooling against the material of my white blouse, a newly jagged hole decorating the center. I retracted my left hand, drawing a finger across the stain which painted my fingertips warm and sticky.
I saw past my hand to find his face, misty blue eyes mirroring my stunned stupor.
Was I shaking?
My lips moved but I was deaf.
Suddenly a bitter metallic taste coated my mouth and everything seemed to blur together in a slow motion. Soon I was no longer standing, kissed by the concrete once more. I watched through funneled vision as Steve cried out, struggling against my fading force field that held him in place. Rumlow's body thumped against the rubble, motionless but still clinging to life. Despite my depleating strength I channeled what energy I had to keep Steve protected. Those frustrated tears had returned, spilling over his cheeks with a tragic beauty.
A scuffle caught the corner of my eye, the man with the metal arm cornered one of the agents, silver gleaming in the hot sun as he grabbed the stumbling agent by the throat.
"No, wait-she was going to-please!.."
Soon I wasn't the only one of the ground, met with the lifeless stare of the man that discharged the shot into my chest.
"Edie! Wait!"
Steve's voice broke through my hazy consciousness but I was not surrounded by those warm arms as I hoped, instead a cool touch slipped around me and I was huddled against a strong chest and a masculine scent before everything went black.
-0-
"транспорт." Transport.
A thick voice vibrated into my fading consciousness.
Light and Dark.
Voices and Silence.
Through hooded eyes I fought against the fatigue to peer upward, warm slivers of sunlight bathed my face through thick glass.
I was moving, swaying with the rough jarring of what I could assume as a truck. I craned to follow the husky Russian dialect that joined the air.
"задание выполнено. полученная цель" Mission complete, Target obtained.
"Bucky.." My breath strained a whisper and soon after the seat next to me shifted. A calloused hand ghosted my temple with a familiar touch.
Comforting and tender.
I sought after it but my movements were a chore, leaded with fatigue I stumbled.
The gentle touch lingered, further dancing broad fingers across my forehead, brushing away the tangled waves. And just before the blackness drew me back in, the voice neared with a kiss against my cheek.
"отдых." Rest.
-0-
Steve's POV:
"Again I ask you. What do you know about Agent Edith Andrews?" The agent's icy tone emphasized with a precise draw.
"Rogers." I corrected, mirroring the younger man's narrow gaze.
"I know she steals the blankets at night."
I took a small amount of numbed joy in the annoyed huff earned from across the table, so naturally I continued.
"I know she makes the best chocolate chip waffles I've ever had. And there's this little scar above her eyebrow, only noticeable in certain lighting, from a riding accident with her brother in the summer of '35."
"And one thing I know for sure is, she is no agent. She doesn't sneak around to steal someone else's secrets because some man behind a desk tells her to. No. My Edie is a soldier. A soldier who selflessly puts herself in danger to heal those in need." My tone flickered with intensity that promised consequences if the agent dared to proceed.
It was the sound of an irate buzzer that brought our pleasant interrogation to an end. The agent kept his rigid composure as he filed out of the room, leaving me with only my thoughts.
"We have to find her.." I advised to no one in particular, sorrow a permanent resident in my heart as I studied the reflective metallic of the table. Edie's fearful expression haunting me with each shallow breath.
A cold sweat plagued me as soon as I noticed the green fade from her eyes, signaling her change. It was the gun against my neck that did it. I had begun a silent prayer that she would keep her composure though the chances were slim. But there was a difference this time, a new wave of fierceness seemed to consume her. Edie's strength had increased and with it her temper, retaliating against the threat with a devastating power. This was the first episode since New York, she'd nearly collapsed the STARK tower that day. Renovations had been quite extensive afterwards. It was Dr. Erskine's words that came to mind the longer I pondered Edie's changes: good becomes great, bad becomes worse.
But my Edith was good, good to a fault. She just got a little fiesty if someone put a gun to my head, I couldn't really be cross with her about that. Then why couldn't I shake her father's words? Maybe it was because a small part of me really believed that if that shot hadn't been fired she would have leveled the entire block, including everything and everyone in her path.
She meant well, she always meant well. It just got away from her. Her only flaw wasn't really even a flaw, but it was that she loved me with every ounce of herself. Enough to cripple men and demolish cities.
No, my Edie was good, good to a fault.
My blood ran cold and a nauseating realization settled in as the stain pooled against her shirt. My throat was raw before I even knew I was screaming, every fiber of my being fighting to close the gap between us, to cradle her fading form against me and will it all away.
"Steve…?"
I'd read my name on her lips just before she collapsed, everything happening so fast I barely had time to register the shot let alone its target.
But I was powerless.
A familiar feeling that I hated to my core, that planted a seed of anger in the pit of my stomach which grew strong and fast. I could do nothing but watch her lay, the light dimming in those jade eyes all the while she kept channeling a force of energy to protect me. I had to watch as a stranger picked up my wife, snaked their arms around her and disappeared before my very eyes. Even as she slowly slipped away, with literally every last fiber of life Edie protected me.
"Not a scratch."
"Captain! Do you even hear me?" A familiar voice rang out, bringing me back to reality.
"I have to find her." I murmured my newly found mantra.
"Come'on Rogers stay with me. If we leave now we can find her, but you have to move! They'll be back any minute." Natasha stressed, expertly removing my cuffs in a fluid motion.
I couldn't remember the blur of events that followed but the next thing I knew I was running, Natasha and Agent Hill leading the way. An armored car awaited at the curb, soon after shuttling us through to the bowels of the city and Agent Hill instructed us down a murky corridor to a basement, where I was stunned by the scene before us.
Director Fury, laying in a crisp white hospital bed very much alive.
"You doubted her." I barely recognized my own voice as it seethed towards Natasha. The fact that Natasha undermined Edie's motivation to save the Director was enough to have my anger flaring and her disappearance only seemed to heighten it.
"Hindsight 20/20." She simply replied with a shrug, brushing off my rigid tone with understanding.
I was hurting, it was obvious. I had this hole in my chest to which there was no relief, no comfort. Because she had been stolen from me, my comfort, my home. A home to me was not an address or four walls, it was a warm smile and endless emerald eyes.
I struggled to keep up with their conversation, that depicted the dark secrets of SHIELD. I found it hard to focus on anything but the possible locations of Edie.
"Rogers?"
My blank gaze shifted absently towards the voice that called my name, Director Fury.
I was reminded that we were to complete a mission much bigger than what I was currently thinking about. One that would save the world, billions of people. But I could hardly think past the fact that the one person that was my entire world was out there, in danger. And not to mention the newly discovered existence of Bucky, very much alive but not how I would have expected our reunion.
"So what we need is the means. To end this we will need all the resources we can get and I hear, you know a guy. A certain Fairy Godmother with money to spare and a sarcastic attitude." Fury elaborated with a hint of humor in his raspy tone.
Life as we knew it was falling to pieces at our feet, the very institution Edie and I…and Bucky gave our lives for was revealed as a sham and this man was making jokes?
I bit back the anger locking my jaw, I knew exactly who Fury was talking about and to be honest I wouldn't mind seeing him, he would know what to do.
Tony would help me get my Edie back.
-0-
Back at the safe house as we waited for Tony's arrival I dared to open the door at the end of the hall, tasting the familiar bitterness of regret as soon as the hinges creaked. It was undisturbed, exactly how we left it.
How she left it.
Clothes sprawled across the armchair, ones that carried her scent and served as a reminder that she was no longer here.
My eyes fell across the rumpled sheets and comforter. Had we not layed there just this morning, tangled in a mess of each other?
A ghost of Edie's silhouette appeared, giggling a sick imitation of her laugh.
"You holding up the wall, Soldier?"
She moved to recline against the bed with a content sigh, smoothing the material of her dress before returning that haunting gaze back on me and I was breathless.
"Come here, Teddybear."
Hands outstretched and waiting.
Following the instructions of the ghost, so vividly conjured by my subconscious that I swore it was really Edie, I swallowed the tension clawed around my throat and took an unsteady step inside. Soon I was collapsed into the mattress and huddled against Edie like a lost child, clinging desperately into the crook of her neck.
"Shhh..it's alright. You fought hard."
She soothed a tender hand through my hair, a simple task that had me vulnerable beyond recognition.
"I was supposed to protect you." I choked on the regretful words that loomed over me like a dark, churning cloud. Another hand came to stroke my cheek, slow and hypnotic.
"Smoothies."
My brow furrowed at the randomness of her response, until those ghostly strawberry lips elaborated against the shell of my ear.
"Your turn."
I was reminded of our game, one created shortly after we met, so much had happened since then and I broke into a humourless laugh. The pain in my chest only seemed to grow, and I closed my eyes for a moment.
A moment too long.
When I shifted my attention back to drink in the memory of her face I was met only with the crisp material of our bed and a new wave of loneliness. But before I could be consumed by that darkness again a soft knock at the door sounded.
Quickly snapping up from the bed, I wiped the sadness from my cheeks and composed myself the best I could just as a familiar face peeked in.
"Hey, you going to leave me waiting out here all day?"
There was that sarcasm, and it was a surprising comfort. At least Tony wasn't treating me any differently, I was already getting tired of the sympathetic looks and tender reassurance.
"No, come in." I ushered him through the door, relieved to no longer be alone with my thoughts.
"I came as soon as I heard. Steve I'm so-"
I couldn't take another actionless apology, my hand flew up in protest.
"Tony, I don't need you to be sorry. I need you to help me get my girl back."
My hand fell with a soft thud against the sheets and I could read the beginnings of a smirk twitching under that dark mustache.
"Aye Aye, Captain. But first one question, did Fury really call me the Fairy Godmother?"
My laugh returned with a rumble, this time with the remnants of true humor.
Both coffee and strategies were flowing into the early hours of the morning as we all drew together to devise a plan. With Sitwell gone we would need another way passed the security measures and into the main system. The day had begun to weigh heavy on my muscles and my eyes dared to ease shut if I stayed stationary for too long but the distant reminder that I'd have to crawl into that bed alone fueled my consciousness. The question we were all struggling desperately to answer seemed to suffocate the air around us.
Where had they taken Edie?
-0-
Bucky's POV:
I watched her through sly glances, breaths ragged and shallow as she lay tucked against my side. But they were there, despite the bullet that laced her chest. Rolling my neck with a slow stretch I felt the muscles ache with recovery. I didn't even have time to react before my back met that concrete pillar, knocking the air from my lungs. She was strong, more than all of the HYDRA men combined and yet it only flared when the blond, Steve, was threatened. She protected him fiercely, with little regard to her own well-being. Without so much as a touch to Rumlow's body she had him in agony, reduced to a twitching fit on the ground. I had witnessed everything through blurred vision until I caught the slow movements of the officer, gun drawn.
My eyes fell to the shifting plates of my hand, metallic grip that ending his life in seconds. It was as if I did it on instinct, without even realizing.
She was in danger and I acted. It was second nature, like breathing.
The truck's brakes squealed to an easing halt and the back doors were roughly jarred open. Shrouded by the sudden blinding rays of sun two heavily armed men shuffled in and snatched the woman from her rested position beside me. I quickly darted from the armored van and after the agents, just in time to watch them fasten her to a gurney with enough straps to hold down a man twice her size.
"Target obtained and secured." One of them barked roughly over the radio wave.
I stood frozen in my tracks, unable to take my eyes off this dark haired woman that held an odd familiarity. The longer my gaze stayed fixated on her, detained so severely, the more vivid a memory became. One of blind agreement and pleading fear, to save someone.
To save me.
"Edie, her name is Edie." I breathed as soon as it hit me, stepping to close the gap between us I was met with a stiff hand to the chest.
"Whoa there big guy, boss wants to see you."
I craned past one of Pierce's countless minions to watch as Edie and I were indefinitely separated. She was wheeled out of sight and I was escorted back to my cage.
"You made quite the scene, killing one of my men and entertaining a wild chase through downtown. But you did your job, you collected the asset."
I recognized Pierce's voice filtering in from behind as I was settled into the stiff chair.
"Why her?" I cast glassy eyes towards the suited man that came into view, a bit of surprise flickering in his intense gaze.
He thought for a moment before answering, as if mulling over whether it was even worth the time.
"If you must know, this is the sure way to break Rogers. Go straight for his weakness, his pretty little wife. Convince him she is corrupt and he too will fall." Pierce growled with a precision as if he arrange this sort of thing everyday. And I assumed he did.
"What are you going to do to her?"
I couldn't stop the words that were already past my lips.
"You've got quite the agenda today. Let's remember who's in charge shall we? I will do what I see fit." Pierce hissed, drawing in with a malice expression.
"Prep him and fix that arm. They will no doubt come for her and we need it." He barked, throwing up a hand to the nearest mercenary as he made his way out of the room.
Just as I felt my seat recline and was roughly fed the rubber mouth guard, my head snapped in the direction of a high pitch sound echoing through the hall.
A woman's scream.