A/N: Thank you so much Emerald2211 and Blueowl for editing my story. You two are seriously the best.
"I'm going to go use the restroom, I'll meet you back here?" He heard Lani said as he continued staring at the exhibit all about James "Bucky" Barnes like it would start making sense.
Or more sense. It made some sense just... left more questions than answers. Or answered questions that he didn't even know where questions before yesterday.
He (Bucky) felt himself nodding to Lani's question, and watched out of his peripheral vision as she disappeared into the crowd.
Looking at the picture makes him think of dirty and gunk and "when we get back I'll be the one to use all the hot water" and a sharp laugh that was too quiet but they had to be and "sure thing, Bucky". It felt like looking at a stranger, but not quite because while he can't remember that picture being taken, he does remember the squat man with the huge mustache who wanted to film everything, win or lose because people needed to know.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?"
He (Bucky) froze at that voice, wondering how he even let the man get this close without him noticing.
"But your little vacation is over now. Longing-"
Bucky swung to hit the man even as his mind went blank for the first time in years at hearing that word. He, Vasily Karpov, was able to move out of the way, and just as the civilians realized something was wrong, Bucky felt a stab of a dart in his neck.
"Rusted... furnace...daybreak..."
It was like a fog was filling his mind and he had no idea if it was because of the sedative or the words, but he needed it to stop.
He was barely aware of the other people running out, but he did take notice of the ones who stayed. The ones who didn't look confused or scared. Hydra.
He took two of them down while trying to get Karpov to stop talking.
"...and freight car."
He stopped.
"Mission request."
"Follow us to the base. That was more effort than it should have been... did they get the girl?"
"Already in the van for transport, sir."
"Good. Let's get out of here before anyone else makes a scene."
He obeyed this handler all the way, only vaguely aware of the change of scenery until they got to that chair. That chair that he has never seen before and yet...
"Calm him down!"
And yet...
"Karpov! I thought you said he was back!"
"The soldier always been wary of the wipe, it must be because he has been gone for so long..."
Then the door flew open.
"Let go of him!"
Tony had a broad search going on before Jarvis interrupted him hours after their two runaways ran away.
"Sir, I found a clip you might want to take a look at."
It was a video posted on twitter only minutes ago. Without having to ask, Jarvis let it play until getting to the part that pinged his search. It was only a few frames, but Tony still got a good view of Lani's face.
"Where was this taken?"
"The Smithsonian American History Museum at 14:23."
Tony frowned. That was right when a supposed fight broke out in the museum. Apparently no one was injured, but it made the news since it was on their reopening of the Captain America exhibit. The only reason Tony bothered looking into it was because it set off warning bells. And now he has proof that Lani was there, which means that the robo-hobo should have been there too.
"Jarvis, keep looking through social media to see if you can find any other images of Lani or James Barnes at that place and time, give or take ten minutes," Tony said as he checked the security cameras.
He should really talk to them about their weak firewall, but in the end it didn't matter because all the cameras on that floor were out. That was not a good sign.
Sure, Tony mostly did this to prove to Nata-whatever that even if Hydra couldn't find them, he could, but it was looking like they might have not been that lucky. And he might be a little worried about the kid.
"Jarvis, remind me, was there a potential Hydra base in DC by chance?"
"Yes, under the category of temporary laboratory, low guard high personnel."
"And what are the odds that Lani and Barnes were captured at the museum and taken there?"
"About 82.5% chance...95.0%," Jarvis calculated before putting up a photo he found on the screen.
It was a selfie of two teenage girls, but in the background (which Jarvis enhanced), a woman was carrying a child who had the same clothes as Lani in the video before. Her face was covered but...
"Is that blood?"
"Given the placement it is unlikely to be anything else."
That was the final straw.
"What is our merry band of misfits up to? Wait, don't tell me. Just let them know our new friends might have found some trouble in DC," Tony said as he set up his suit.
One of his old suits since it hasn't even been a full day after his Mark IV was destroyed and, while he has been working on it, the suit is no way flight worthy yet.
By the time he left his lab, Rogers, Banner, Natasha, and Clint were already waiting for him looking battle ready. It was honestly ridiculous. Tony still had bruises on his face and here they were about to blow up a secret organization. At least, he wanted to just blow it up. After he got done explaining what he discovered, Capsicle didn't look too far behind.
"Are you really just going to go now? This base is apparently in the basement of a Bank; people are going to get mad if we just rush in," Banner tried arguing.
"This happened half an hour ago! We need to go now or..." Cap trailed.
"And it's we. You're coming with us right?" Tony asked as they headed off to the Quinjet.
"Not sure that the other guy is any good for rescue missions."
"Having a doctor might be," the redhead said before Tony could get a word.
"I'm not that type of doctor."
"Buuut?" Tony asked because when in doubt, peer pressure usually works.
"...I'll come."
They were all boarding the Quinjet when Steve noticed that Stark wasn't with them.
"What are you doing?" Steve asked, stopping himself from telling the man off for messing around when things were so time sensitive.
"I'm going to fly head. Should still get there ten minutes before the jet even with this low tech," Tony said even though Steve had no idea what he was talking about.
The suit looked very 'high tech' to him.
"Keep it to recon. I tipped off the police that something is going on but told them to not draw any attention to the bank," Natasha said before going to sit down with the others.
"I'll go with you."
"Sorry Cap, this is a one person suit unless you want me to carry you for 200 miles. In the air."
"That's fine. Bucky needed me 30 minutes ago, I'm not going to wait any longer than I need to."
Stark gave him a look of utter disbelief before shrugging.
"Fine, just make sure to keep your eyes and mouth shut. Don't want any flies flying in," Tony said with a wink before his face-plate slid back into place.
Steve had a moment where he heard Natasha say something before Stark fired up his thrusters and they were off. Being held by the armpits at that speed was very unpleasant, but if it got them there quicker, than that is all Steve cares about.
[Er̵͖̀ro̸̖̅ȓ̴̯]
[Jã̶̙m̴̞͝eŝ̷̷̳ B̵̦͆a̶̔rñ̸͓es F̷̓am̷͠iĺ̷̗y̵̪̐ rè̸̯l̷̥̉at̵̛̪i̶ons̶̲͆ḫ̷͐i̵̮̚p̷̻͋ n̵̰̓ǫ̴̉t f̶͇̑ő̶un̵͖̽d̵͈͝]
I was too late. The door was locked and I was too late.
[L̶̠̄o̸̗̒ad̸̡͂ s̵̗͑a̶̭̐ve̵͓͗]
[...]
[Ë̵̥rr̸̙̋or̶̮̀]
[S̵̢̈́a̷͖͆v̷̤̐e c̸̐o̶̔rr̸u̸̙͌p̸̈́te̶͕̍d̴͎͊ cǎ̷̡n n̴̥̓ot̴͓͊ b̷͕̒e loa̴͕͊d̶̥̈́ẻ̸̢d]
Fuck. That was not...
Fuck.
Okay. Plan B. Luckily the door was mostly metal, so it wasn't too hard to literally blow the thing off its hinges.
"Let go of him!" I yelled when I saw that they were trying to force Bucky into the mind wipe electric chair.
In hindsight, a four foot tall girl with a concussion isn't the most threatening imagine, even if I was holding a bloody makeshift knife, but in the end it didn't matter. My distraction was enough for Bucky to get the upper hand of his struggle and suddenly gunshots were being fired.
Most of their attention was on Bucky, so it was easy for me to slip in and cut the tendons in their knees like they taught me. I didn't take it the next step of slitting their throats once they were down at my level, but Bucky did. The Winter Soldier did. Or, maybe not. He was fighting them, so maybe the trigger words weren't as effective. Maybe Bucky was still there and it was just our relationship that got messed up. Maybe...
"Enough! New mission, eliminate the girl," said the only other person alive in the room besides Bucky and myself.
Bucky froze, but he didn't turn his gun on me. That was good. That has never happened before. Well, not sure the one event where it happened before I reseted is good for basing the norm off of, but it was better than nothing.
So I took a chance and grabbed his hand. If I could just get us out before reinforcements arrived then-
Suddenly I was in the air and couldn't breathe. Bucky had his metal arm in front of me and I reactively started trying to pull his figures off my throat.
"What are you waiting for?" the asshole yelled, and I vaguely recognized him as the guy who commanded Bucky to shoot me last time he forgot.
Of course, that never happened, but I felt like that meant something since Hydra kept sending the same dude to get the Winter Soldier back. Obviously he was the one who knew the trigger words, so I guess my hopeful thought that Bucky could just break through it was for nada.
Black dots started to fill my vision and I knew I didn't have much time. Either I'll be able to find out if dying gets me to my last save or not, or...
[L̶̠̄o̸̗̒ad̸̡͂ s̵̗͑a̶̭̐ve̵͓͗]
[...]
[Ë̵̥rr̸̙̋or̶̮̀]
[S̵̢̈́a̷͖͆v̷̤̐e c̸̐o̶̔rr̸u̸̙͌p̸̈́te̶͕̍d̴͎͊ cǎ̷̡n n̴̥̓ot̴͓͊ b̷͕̒e loa̴͕͊d̶̥̈́ẻ̸̢d]
Right. That's still not working. Okay, plan...C? Feels like I should be on plan D by this point but...
I meant to just mess up his hand with my alchemy, but instead the whole arm ended up blowing up. Not all of it, there were still wires hanging out, but at least it was enough for Bucky to take a step back.
I still didn't have a lot of time though, and this was a last case scenario if I have ever seen one.
"Sorry, Bucky. Longing rusted furnace daybreak seventeen benign nine homecoming one freight car," I said in such a rush that I'm surprised it even worked.
The reaction was immediate though. Bucky's eyes glazed over and Asshole in the back was cursing up a storm.
[R̷͓̊e̴̦̅là̸̪ti̵̗͆o̵̩͐n̸͕̂s̴̤͐hí̵̯ṕ̶͎ cḩ̵̓a̵̞̐ñ̶̩g̸̜͆é̷̦]
[J̵̟͐a̵̱͐ṃ̶͠ė̵̬s̴̰͝ B̵͐å̷̖r̶͓̅ne̸s̵̷̡̈ REDACTED i̸̪̊s̵̯̃ no̴̼̒w̵͋ͅ J̷̡̿ä̷̬́me̶̬̕s̷͈͆ B̶̘͆a̷̤͝rn̵͑é̴͖s̶̰̈́ M̷͍̔i̴̬̓ni̸̩̕ȍ̸̬n̴̲̑ 1̶0̷̬͐]
[H̶̢͗ę̵̌ ẉ̴͂ì̴̩l̸̝̄l̸͓͗ d̴͍͠o̸̙͂ w̵h̸̭̾a̷̜͠t̶̩̅ev̴̡͠er̶̨̒ ỳ̷̞o̷̹͆ù̴͉ c̵̰͐omm̴͔̾ậ̸ṇ̴̇d̸̤͝]
I didn't have time to figure out what in the world THAT all meant (and why the hell was redacted not glitched out) because I noticed that Asshole finally pulled out a gun.
I grabbed Bucky's shirt when the shot rang out and apparated out of the room. I was aiming for somewhere else, anywhere else, but I couldn't focus on one place long enough to do so comfortably. I already blew up Bucky's cool metal arm; I didn't want to have him lose another limb.
However, when we reappeared down the hall, I wasn't able to keep my balance and fell. My right shoulder was filled with pain and I must have landed in something gross because I could feel the back of my shirt getting wet.
The black dots were back and it didn't help that I heard footsteps coming toward us.
It was hard getting back up, and I tried not to let it bother me that Bucky didn't try helping me up. That whole thing can be dealt with later. Once we are long gone and this place is on fire.
Looking, I saw the reason why Bucky didn't help me. He was already busy fighting someone else. With one arm. Which reminded me of my own arm and then I looked.
"Holy shit, I pulled a Dobby."
Only with a bullet instead of a knife. And it wasn't in my gut and... that was a lot of blood.
[W̷̙͂a̴͕̎rn̴̹͠in̵̬̈́ǵ̸̸̯: H̷̱͑P̴̼̃ lo̷̜͑w̷̹͐]
Ignoring that lovely warning (not that I needed a pop up to know bleeding out is bad for my health), I used the wall to pull myself back to my feet and tried my best to help Bucky. If I felt unstable before it was nothing now. Pretty sure I must have shock or something too, but that's not important right now.
"Bucky! Watch your left!" I called out, and luckily he responded and took out the dude and grabbed his gun.
I wanted to do more to help, but it was taking all my effort to just remain standing let alone teleporting and stabbing people. Not that it looked like Bucky needed my help. He was still a badass even with one arm.
"How did you know that?"
I was suddenly pulled off the wall by Asshole and I screamed in pain.
"No one should know all the words. Just what are you?"
I wanted to call the man out for being a rude fucker, but instead I just squeezed my eyes and tried to not pass out. Or throw up.
Okay. This was bad.
Asshole got the knife out of my hand, which I didn't even realize I still had.
I somehow was able to get the gun out of his hands with my thrashing. It landed with a thud on the floor as it slid away. Hopefully far enough away that he wouldn't be able to use it. Or so Bucky can grab it... but I needed to focus on my own issues.
Dude was still yelling at me but I had long stopped paying attention. I wasn't even sure if he was trying to kill me or restrain me or what.
I just wanted him to stop.
The bullet was still lodged in my shoulder and I'm not even sure how it got into my hand but next thing I knew, I used my alchemy on it and the resulting thin pole was lodged into his brain.
I really needed to stop aiming for the eyes. It was really gross.
The now dead Asshole fell on top of me which was also very gross. Pretty sure I heard somewhere that you defecate yourself when you die and... ew ew ew.
I struggled getting out from underneath him and everything was spinning.
I just killed someone.
Sure, I killed some Chituaris before but that... that felt different.
I... I should feel bad about this. That I just killed someone. But the only thing I felt was relief.
[W̷͐a̶̩͐r̴̪̋nin̷͉̓g: H̷͔͋P̶̱͐ dä̸̗ng̷̬̾e̴͎̽r̸̼̍oú̶̜sl̵̅ͅy̷̙̋ l̴̠̊o̵͔̓w]
I was vaguely aware that Bucky was back with me when the black dots filled my vision completely and I passed out. Again.
A/N: It's funny, I didn't plan of Lani passing out this chapter, but I actually calculate her HP behind the scene and her HP reached 0. I am using the d&d definition of HP where once it hits 0 you fall unconscious, not die, but you will die if you don't get your wound stabilized. Also sorry this chapter is shorter then I expected, writing action scene is hard. Hopefully, the multiple POV in this chapter made up for it.
As always, thank you so much, everyone, who has favorited or followed this story. I think this morning alone I got like three notification e-mails. I always love the feeling when you find a new story, and just when you reached the end they update it again. Super Duper thanks to CyberWolf Writes, SuperPuddingFace (times 2!), the Guest who was worried about Bucky (as you should be), Ashliyn (times two!), Guest named Fan, Guest who thinks chapter 17 was as brilliant as always, Eslynn, WhineyEmperor89, Ninellia Neil, Polarion6, Cboylan, Inu-Angel Z, moonlight468, The guest named SunnySides (as for your "OC has made such an imprint on Bucky that even the Soldier recognizes her" prediction, there will be more Bucky pov next chapter), Miss A. Winchester, verycoolname, Y0urDownfall, Death Fury, Isaned, HuangBaiLian, Bisque-Ware, mk0008, wickedlfairy17, PhoenixxReborn, KEZZ 1, Nameless Angel 00, jcheriscar, I.D.'s Fantasy, Lulumo, and BlackDove WhiteDove, for taking the time to leave me a review.
Bit of a heads up for the next chapter, I haven't finished writing it yet so while I still plan on updating in a week, there is a chance it might be longer. I haven't had at least a chapter backlog since I posted chapter 4.
Until next time, hope you all have a nice day/night!