Natasha picked up on your fifth call; you and Steve standing in the street not far from where you saw her, thankfully, chatting with a man from the summit.
"Yeah?"
"Don't you yeah me, I thought you were dead."
"Sorry."
"Are you alright?"
"Yes love, I'm fine. I got lucky." You watched her look around, glancing for where you and Steve stood incognito. "I know how much Barnes means to you." She wasn't talking to you now, she was talking to the eavesdropping Steve who could hear her clearly with his stupid serum enhancements. "I really do, but stay home or you'll make this worse for all of us, please."
"Are you saying you'll arrest me?"
"No but someone will if you interfere. That's how it works now."
"If he's this far gone Nat, I should be the one to bring him in." He tried. She sighed.
"Why?"
"Because I'm the least likely to die trying." Your heart skipped a beat at that thought. He stopped the call, tossing your phone in the trash - rude but okay - as he connected hands with you. You went to reenter the cafe where Sam was waiting for the both of you but instead were pulled into a tight hug, and you completely melted into him.
"What are you doing?"
"It's all been moving so quickly, we haven't had a moment just by ourselves." He pulled back, brushing a piece of hair from your face as he gave you that broken grin of his. "How are you feeling right now?"
"Scared as shit, but I'm okay." You kissed him quickly, not wanting to draw attention to yourselves. "You alright?"
"Yeah, just needed a moment with you to breath." Your heart shuttered in your chest. You had to tell him, right now. If you didn't, it would all just blow up in your face so you had to tell him right now. You opened your mouth, ready to watch your relationship fall to pieces but Sam caught his eye over your shoulder as he inclined his head to a waiting Sharon Carter. Fuck.
Sharon didn't explain exactly how she got the information, just slid a folder in front of you with a single statement: "you're gonna have to hurry, we have orders to shoot on sight."
You had been searching for the Winter Soldier for a year, there was no way you were going to let Steve go by himself and potentially lose his best friend because you weren't there to help. At least that's what you told yourself. Truth was, you knew your deception could only last so long because he was about to be a fugitive of the state and you wholeheartedly agreed with the accords. You had let it go on too long as it was, especially because he thought you were in this together as always. You just had to be positive the accords were what you wanted, more than you wanted Steve because unfortunately, this time you couldn't have both.
Sam took the high ground, perched on top of the building for a 'bird's eye view' as he liked to put it while you stood on rooftop near the back of the building. You looked for all the world like a graffiti artist, no weapons in sight because you, well, were the weapon. It really helped the whole incognito thing. So far so good, nothing but a slight crackle from Steve's mic to let you know he was in the same room as Bucky now and your heart sang for him. He had lost his other person, the only one who remembered the Steve before the serum and before the ice, and aliens, and robots. Now he was finding a version of his old friend who was still the same age as him.
"Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces, approaching from the south." You turned your attention that way, watching as they fanned out to begin their search. Shit. "They've set the perimeter." Steve was still radio silent. "They're entering the building!"
"Geez Steve," You mumbled to yourself, "at least acknowledge us somehow."
"They're on the roof. I'm compromised." Steve's comm crackled to life as you tried your best to continue to be nonchalant, even as the fighting started in your ears from Sam's side. "Five," Sam breathed, "Three, breach, breach, breach!"
Then it was on, grenades crashing through windows and the sounds of explosions but you didn't dare interfere. If you were to go in there now, you'd be a liability. Steve would focus on you rather then the current objective and that wouldn't help anyone.
"Baby, he's headed your way!" You jumped, hearing Steve speak to you directly. Next thing you knew a black bag was landing to your left and a full, grown ass man was hurtling out the window and rolling onto the ledge.
"What the actual fuck, you're just as reckless as Steve!" You admonished. Bucky met your eyes, recognizing you for a moment as he skid to a stop.
"You're his girl." He stated. Before you could respond, a man in a literal, honest to goodness cat suit went flying over the ledge and headed straight for Bucky who took off at lightning speed.
"Steve, we got an unidentified man in a freaking cat suit with little ears and everything, I'm not kidding!" You followed in pursuit, thankful that element control meant you could control the wind enough to make you levitate over the ground and 'fly' because these guys were quick and you'd been skipping leg day.
"Sam, southwest rooftop!"
"On my way, who's the other guy?"
"Bout to find out!" You clocked Steve landing behind you, easily covering the distance as the cat-man and Bucky begin to fight. The shadow of a helicopter flew overheard, raining down bullets and you form a wall of rock to keep them from hitting. One slips through, bouncing off cat dude like it was nothing but giving Bucky enough time to escape claws of doom.
"Sam!" You call out, dropping your shield and joining Steve in pursuit of them once more. "Helicopter. Please."
"Got it!" He sets the chopper off course, giving you enough time to get out of the way before they started firing again. What in the actual fuck was going on right now.
"Steve are they headed for the -."
"Freeway? Yeah." You groaned, landing from your hover as you both began to jump over cars and bringing a whole new meaning to parkour.
"Cover me." He got your gist, grabbing your arm and propelling you a few cars up as he deterred the others from hitting you. You ripped the door open, smiling softly at the shocked male cop chasing down the rogue Bucky. "Sorry about this."
You tossed him out, Steve grasping his arm and depositing him safely - minus a few bumps and bruises - before hopping into the passenger seat as Steve took the drivers.
"Okay, I have to tell you something right now because I am 100% afraid we are going to get murdered by psycho Hello Kitty and rogue cops." You yelled, grasping onto the handle above the door as Steve took curves at mock 40. You glanced over at him, receiving a nod of approval and you shut your eyes tightly, begging yourself not to cry because you were literally in the middle of a fight.
"I'm going to sign the accords." He slammed on the brakes, narrowly dodging a police car as he slid through a small gap all while looking at you in utter shock. "It's the right thing to do Steve and you would agree if it weren't for Bucky."
"Are you kidding me?" Steve yelled, and you shied away. Steve never yelled at you. "What, a man's life doesn't matter to you? The fact that this is just an easy way for governments to have access to an elite team of enhanced humans and aliens alike to do their bidding doesn't bother you? Bad guys won't just go away because we do."
"But we hurt people Steve, civilian people who don't deserve it!"
"And how many do we save in the process? We're not perfect. I'm not saying we're remotely close but for fuck's sake," He exclaimed, eyes tearing up as he looked at you. "I'm doing this for more than Bucky, but you? You're doing it to assuage your guilt in some misguided notion that you can atone for something you didn't mean to do, and put any future mistakes onto someone else while ignoring taking responsibility for what you've already done."
Your mouth dropped open, eyes wide as he dared to say you were trying to blame other people for what your abilities did. Were you guilty? Yeah, you'd fucked up long before you met Steve and continued to do so now but were you trying to blame someone else for it? No, because you could never do that - not when you knew how bad it hurt to carry it on your shoulders.
He didn't flinch though, eyes unwavering on the road in front of him because even if he did feel bad for that last remark, he couldn't take back anything else he said. He believed every word he uttered to you. A thud hit the back of your car, cat-man at it again as he clung on for dear life.
"Sam," Steve cleared his throat to rid the anger, "I can't shake this guy."
"Right behind you."
Sam swooped in, grabbing the man up but you watched in horror as he climbed Sam like a tree. Rubble started to fall around you and Steve grabbed your hand with one of his. You met his gaze slowly, fear in your eyes as you wondered how much hatred you'd see there.
"When I say jump, you jump."
He might be on the opposing side of this now but you still trusted him more than anyone, as hurt by his words as you were. He wouldn't let anything kill you though, so you steeled yourself for whatever he was about to do. Rubble had fallen in front of the exit, beginning to block it but Steve wasn't slowly down and your palms started to sweat. He was going to hit it head on. The tip of the hood smacked into the rock, right as he yelled for you to jump. You both went out the driver's side door, him lifting you over the rock as you used a gust of wind to propel you both out.
He kept running but you turned on your heel, hands out in front of you to catch falling rocks that could easily kill people if they were hit. The sirens blaring behind you told you the running was over for now, that you were about the have to surrender so you lowered the granite and turned to face the music. The cat-man's mask was off and you recognized him as the man Nat was talking with earlier as Steve stood to Bucky's side and Rhodey pointed hand rays at both sides.
"Walk over here slowly, no funny movements." Rhodey commanded you and you rolled your eyes as a chest ray trained on your shirt. "I mean it."
"Don't worry about her," Steve sighed, giving you the most heartbroken look you had ever seen in your life, "She's on your side."
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