I got carried away last night and wrote one REALLY LONG CHAPTER so I cut it up into two and a half chapters and ACCIDENTALLY maybe left this chapter at a bad place? I dunno. Depends on you, the reader.
Review and let me know how I'm doing :D
Chapter 3
He stood in the living room watching as she talked quickly on the phone. A Newspaper on her counter caught his eye and he unfolded it to look at the page advertising an exhibit at the Smithsonian dedicated to Captain America.
Clara hung up, dropped the bag by the door.
"I need to drop the dog off at a friend's place across town, but Tony is arranging a flight for us. We'll have about two and a half hours before we have to be at the airport. Do you want to come with me or hang out here?"
He folded the newspaper and turned to look at here. "I'll stay behind."
"Alright, I'll be back in two hours and we'll go. I'm going to stop by what's left of SHIELD and see if they'll let me get some things from my office if it's still there."
He watched as she retrieved the dog from her room, hooked her leash to her collar, and led her out of the apartment. He waited a few minutes, reading over the details of the museum as he pulled on the jacket. This exhibit would tell him more about the man that was his mission—more true facts than he'd been fed at Hydra, which had been scarce anyways.
Worried he'd be recognized, he pulled on a jean jacket that he found on a hook by the door, deciding to take a worn hat from the hook as well. He tucked his hair behind his ears and pulled on the hat, took the paper, and headed out. As long as he was back before she was—not that he needed permission to leave. The museum was only a short, fifteen minute walk a couple blocks away. Her apartment had been relatively close to SHIELD headquarters, which had been placed in a prominent part of the city.
He walked up the steps, his hands in his pockets. The sensory array in his arm came in handy when he snuck in past the guards—he had no money on him, might as well use his stealth training.
He was determined to find out what kind of man this Steve was. More importantly—who he was to him.
The various plaques detailed Steve's life from before the super soldier serum to shortly after. Then he walked up to a bit that talked about the Howling Commandos. He recognized his own face next to Steve's in the lineup.
They were in World War II together? On the same side? He fought in the war for the American's with Captain America himself. So why was Captain America his target now? Why were they suddenly enemies—at least to him? Steve had made it clear he still thought of him as a friend.
The Winter Soldier turned to continue further into the exhibit and then walked up to the next part in awe. A large holographic image stood before him. This piece was all about him. James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, it read. The story informed him that he was Steve's childhood friend. Was drafted, sent to England, and then was captured. If Steve hadn't come after him, Bucky would have been killed.
But Steve had gone in and saved them all. There was a fuzzy video of him in a dark jacket standing next to a suited-up Steve, leaning over maps, making jokes. It was like he was looking at two different people. The person he was, and the person he is now. No, that wasn't true, he decided. He wasn't the Winter Soldier anymore, either. If he was, there would have been a trail of destruction behind him.
The text also told him he died falling off a train during a mission. He remembered flashes of pain, his left arm bleeding, his body broken. But other than that, no new memories resurfaced like he had hoped.
What was left of Bucky, this "Winter Soldier," looked up sadly at the monument made for a great man. Could he be that again? Could he be a soldier for the "right side" again? Would he ever be the man who deserved this kind of remembrance? Or would he always have the blood on his hands that he did now?
He averted his eyes and backed away, leaving the museum and heading back for the apartment to wait for Clara.
XXX
Hours later, the Winter Soldier stepped out of the car feeling more exhausted than he could remember ever being despite having spent the last hour or so just traveling from DC to New York City.
"What happened here?" he muttered, following her into the building that had seen better days. The sounds of the city, the cars and people, put his nerves at ease a bit. It felt like…like home.
Clara held the door open for him and let out a laugh, stopping when she saw his stern face. He reached around her and held the door open for her, waiting for her to go in first. "You're kidding, right?" But he said nothing. She led the way to the receptionist desk at the back of the lobby, murmuring to him, "It was all over the news. Alien invasion?"
His eyebrows twitched a bit, but he otherwise didn't respond.
"Hi, we're here to see Mr. Stark—I called him earlier, he should be expecting us," she told the receptionist. Even though it was already nearing 7pm, the building was still bustling with people—employees in suits and construction men.
"What's your name?" The receptionist glanced over uneasily at the man standing behind Clara, making his muscles tighten and tense in ways he wish they wouldn't. This woman did nothing wrong. She was a receptionist. She wasn't a threat—she wasn't even armed. She. Was not. A target.
"Dr. Clara Maitland." She glanced over her shoulder then added, "And friend."
The receptionist nodded then picked up the phone. "Mr. Stark, Dr. Maitland and friend are in the lobby." She placed the receiver back on its cradle and offered a small smile. "Someone will be down in a minute."
"Thank you." Clara walked away from the desk to plush benches lined against a fountain in the center of the room. "So you don't remember seeing anything on the news about aliens invading New York?"
"Does that kind of thing happen often?" he asked quietly, hesitantly taking a seat next to her.
She let out a small chuckle. "Thank, God, no," she told him. "But thankfully the Avengers were there. The guy you'll meet in a minute, he saved the entire city from a bomb."
"The Avengers?"
Clara blinked for a second. It was one thing to not know about the aliens—which was really strange considering it had been an international worry since it happened—but to not know about the people who helped stop it? She was leaning more towards amnesia with this man. "Okay." She let out a breath, switching back to professional mode. "The Avengers was a program created by SHIELD to deal with problems that the rest of the government cannot." She began to tick off names on her fingers. "The Avengers are Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America."
"Captain America…" He let out a shuddering breath as the scenery around him changed and he was suddenly standing in a crowd of people—of soldiers. "So, 'Captain America,' huh, punk?"
The tall man in front of him took off his helmet and grinned, his blond hair muddy with dirt and grime. "Don't laugh, jerk, I didn't pick it out." He gestured to a poster hanging near the tents proclaiming a tour of the American hero.
"Dr. Maitland." The voice cut through his being and he blinked, looking up at a redheaded woman in jeans and a button up walking across the lobby towards them. He jumped to his feet. "How have you been doing? We heard what happened in DC earlier today, are you alright? You weren't in the building—"
Clara smiled and stood while the woman shot off question after question. "I'm fine, Ms. Potts. A little knocked around, but otherwise I'm fine."
"Well, that's good to hear." She turned to the Winter Soldier and held out her hand, which he shook automatically. "I'm Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries." Her eyes, like everyone else's, flickered down to his arm exposed from the t-shirt he'd borrowed from Clara. "Interesting tech."
He gave her a nod, but otherwise stayed silent. He didn't have a name to offer up still. He didn't know who Bucky was. He didn't know why he was the Winter Soldier.
Knowingly, Clara jumped in. "So how is Stark doing? When I called him earlier he sounded uptight."
Pepper's face fell slightly, but she motioned for them to follow her to the elevator. "Yes, well, he's been on the internet all day." She pressed the button for the top floor and the door shut.
"So he's been reading through…all of it?" Clara asked quietly.
"As far as I know, yeah," Pepper sighed. "He knew a lot of the information already when he hacked SHIELD months ago, but a lot of the stuff about Hydra…"
"He's got information on Hydra?" the Winter Soldier's voice pierced the quiet air of the elevator
"Yeah, SHIELD was infected with Hydra members. God knows how long," Clara explained, her voice still quiet.
The elevator doors opened with a ding and he let the ladies step out first.
"Well this is new, you're usually up running around, not sitting behind a desk," Clara called across the room to a dark haired man behind a large desk, glasses on, pen between his teeth.
The man looked up and the pen bounced off the desk and dropped to the floor. He jumped to his feet, chair flying back, and immediately jumped across the desk, pulling Pepper behind him. "Pepper—get back," he was yelling.
"Tony—" she began to groan, rolling her eyes.
"Pepper!" he yelled, voice shaking. "You." The growl was directed not at Clara, but at the man she had brought with her. Something flew in from the ceiling and suddenly his arms were covered in red and gold steel. He flew foreword and grasped the man by the shoulders, forcing him back away from the ladies.
The Winter Soldier's hands flew up to push back, the metal plates in his left arm rippling.
"Tony, stop—" But Pepper's words were drowned out by Tony's sudden yelling.
"Was it you?" he demanded. "Did you cause that accident?"
"Tony, what are you talking about?" Clara placed herself between the Winter Soldier, who she knew was about to go on the offensive—she could tell from the tilt of his head, the way his eyes were pinned to Tony.
"Did Hydra hire you to kill my parents in 1991?" Tony demanded, voice shaking in anger.