So I haven't mentioned in my other chapters, but I do not own any of the characters in this story. I am not from Marvel. Maybe one day, though… *daydream sequence occurs*

Chapter Four

"I need you to tell me everything you know about the Arcane."

"Hey, at least wait until we're inside, alright?" Nick requested, lowering his voice so that he wouldn't draw any attention on the sidewalk, littered sparsely with people now that it was starting to become dawn. "Not exactly something you talk about in public, y'know?"

Bucky frowned, glancing around. "Inside?"

"Yeah, just over here." They stood in front of a small, well-kept diner, a painted sign reading 'Aischa's' hanging over the door. "Aischa's a friend, isn't on board with Jace and them. I work here, too."

Inside the café, it was almost deserted. Two kids around Nick's age stood around a dusty terminal in the corner, the girl actually playing the game. The boy stared on in amazement.

A middle-aged woman glanced up from behind the counter and smiled at Nick. "Hey, kid! Didn't think you had a shift today…" Then, she noticed Bucky standing beside him, looking increasingly awkward in the middle of the room. "Who's this, Nick?"

"Aischa, this is James. He's, um…" Nick walked forward to the counter and spoke quietly to the woman.

After a moment, she turned and scowled at Bucky, though she still addressed Nick. "So, let me get this straight. Some homeless guy pisses off a couple of the Arcane's adolescent goons, so you think it's perfectly alright to trust him? Where's your head?"

One of the teens, the girl, spun around and gaped at Nick. "You screwed with the Arcane?"

"No, I-"

"That's rough," the other boy said, turning and leaning against the wall. "They probably won't forget it."

Nick stared at him a moment, then his eyes widened. "Casey! She's still at the home-"

"I can go get her," the girl volunteered, and was gone in a flash. The graphics of the game were still flashing, irritating Bucky's head, but he didn't say anything.

"Are they really coming after you this time, Nick?" Aischa asked, her voice softening.

"There's a good chance, yeah. We need to stop them before anything can happen to, to Casey and you guys. And me."

Bucky glanced at where the boy and girl had been and made the connection. "I'm guessing you're Joey, and the girl who just ran out is Alicia?"

"Um, yeah. How did you know?" Joey asked, a little unnerved to be addressed by the man.

"Nick mentioned you. You knew they'd be here, even after I said that we wouldn't get anyone else involved." Bucky wasn't mad, exactly, but a little exasperated with how stubborn this boy was.

Nick found something very interesting to stare at on the far wall. "They can help."

"Yeah, there has to be… something I can do…" Joey spoke up, trying to meet Bucky's eyes but to no avail. What's with people and eye contact?

"Maybe there would be, and maybe there wouldn't, but I'm having a problem with even Nick being tied to this, so take it easy."

As Joey seemed to calm, Aischa made her way from behind the counter to look up at Bucky with a glare. She seemed to have no problem holding his gaze. "Look, James? It's great that you want to take down the Arcane and all, but I'm not letting you put Nick in any danger. Got it?"

Bucky nodded. "Looks like we see eye-to-eye on this. I'm not even sure what we're gonna do yet, or what the Arcane are doing that's causing the panic 'round here. But I'll make sure Nick stays safe. And his sister, and his friends." This's gonna be one hell of a mission…

-break-

Captain Steve Rogers glanced over at Sam Wilson, who was completely focused on his phone as the scenery outside flew by in a blur. He knew that his friend was pissed that he wasn't going to be flying to the small Arizona town- Steve had insisted that they stick together, in case there was any trouble on the way. Whether that trouble was HYDRA, or whether it was Bucky himself. Why doesn't he want to be found? Steve wondered for the millionth time, turning off onto the main street, sadness lingering in his chest.

It must have shown on his face, because when Sam glanced over at him, he sighed and set the phone down. "We're gonna find him, Cap. Eventually."

"Yeah, I know. It's just, you know, it's been over a week. This is our tenth lead, and the others didn't exactly bear results."

"So, we need to keep on searching. It's the only way we'll ever get to him." Sam glanced at the stack of papers on the backseat of the car. "Find anything more in those files?"

"I've gone over them so many times, I think my brain's turning to mush. It looks like most of the important stuff wasn't included in that file, or any that got on the web. You wanna take a look?"

"Later," Sam muttered, eyes flickering to his phone. "We're here. The robbery was yesterday morning. Three guys broke in and held the cashier at gunpoint. According to the kid, 'A ninja with super powers saved his ass, bought some snacks, and walked out like he did it every day'."

Steve raised an eyebrow and put the car in 'park' outside the gas station. He couldn't imagine the Winter Soldier going out of his way to save a civilian like that. Maybe he's getting better.

After a quick chat with the cashier- still absolutely ecstatic from the previous day's events- Steve knew that his savior had been Bucky. Viewing the knife he'd left embedded in the wall, which even Steve had some difficulty removing, only confirmed this. "Did he give any indication where he was headed?"

"Um, no sir," Geoff the cashier stammered, mentally freaking out that Captain America was interviewing him. "I mean, he kinda left in a hurry. I asked around and no one's seen him since, but there is a bus station not too far away, he might've skipped town."

Steve and Sam thanked him, then made their way back to the car, Steve optimistic for the first time since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"The Captain and the Falcon are tracking him, too," the HYDRA operative muttered into his comm from his vantage point across the street. "Next move?"

"Follow them," a lightly accented voice commanded, that of the operative's handler. "Even if they do not find Barnes before we do, keeping tabs on them cannot hurt."

"Very well." Then the line went dead.

-break-

"The Arcane have been around for a couple of years. At least around here, I don't know if they were anywhere else before that, but Jace mentioned a few times living in L.A. before. Anyway, their leader is Cyrus Henley, who goes by Voron-"

"Russian. Raven," Bucky mentioned, scratching at the shoulder of his jacket in discomfort. The bionic arm would need maintenance soon or there would be glitches, as there had been occasionally in the past after so much wear and tear. But for now it was only irritating.

"You speak Russian?" Joey asked from beside Nick, raising an impressed eyebrow.

"Some. Sorry, go on."

"Voron is their leader. After that, it's mostly underlings like Jace and Al, but there are a couple 'a lieutenants, like Jace's uncle Damian, who's a cop, and Raphael, no one really knows where he came from but some people think he's ex-military."

Aischa drifted over to them and Nick paused in his explanation. "What can I get you to eat, Nick? James?"

"What about me?" Joey mock-whined, slumping in his chair.

"You never finished your fries and left them on the Pac-Man machine. Go get them if you're hungry. Now, for you guys?"

"Pancakes would be great," Nick replied, seeming relieved that Aischa wasn't angry anymore.

"Um, no thank you," Bucky muttered, well aware that he wouldn't be buying anything for a while.

Aischa seemed to understand. "Coffee's free."

"…alright." Then, she was gone, behind the counter and through a door. Bucky turned back to Nick. "What are the Arcane doing that's wrong? Other than that little punk tryin' to threaten you."

"They have the whole thing goin' where businesses will get a visit from Voron himself. He'll go on this whole spiel that the town's getting' rougher and if you pay a 'small' fine, he and his friends can protect you. Some go along with it, some don't. The ones who don't are usually burned down or robbed or-"

"Mr. Denning's died last week," Joey recalled with a frown. "Car crash, they said, but he's been scheming against Voron's gang for months. It sucks, he was a cool guy."

"-or that happens. Didn't stop at stores either. Recently, Raphael's been going door-to-door in apartment buildings, pulling the same bullshit with residents. They've got everyone runnin' scared. Us included."

"How did Aischa get out of that treatment?" Bucky asked, lowering his voice and casting a glance at the kitchen.

"She didn't. Initially, she bargained and only pays part of the fine, but it's- it's only a matter of time before something happens to her too."

Poor kid sounds terrified. "Alright. Do they have a base of operations?"

"Sort of. Voron owns a warehouse and he's there a lot of the time, but I don't know what goes on there."

There was probably enough evidence there to make something stick in court. Before Bucky could ask where the warehouse was, Nick's phone rang and he quickly answered it. "Hello? Alicia, hey. Is Casey there? Oh thank god…" he stood and strode over to the other side of the café.

Joey stared at Bucky, hand on his chin thoughtfully. "So…"

"Yeah?"

"What're you doin' here? In Saynor." Must be the town's name. Bucky hadn't bothered to check. "It's not exactly a popular tourist spot, brother."

Bucky shrugged, wincing slightly as two plates in his arm scraped against each other. "Prime real estate's not exactly in my price range. I'm just moving around."

Joey had seen him flinch and frowned. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Aischa finally reappeared, setting down Bucky's coffee and two plates of pancakes. "On the house, James, just this once."

Kindness was still strange to Bucky. Most of what he remembered clearly was the farthest thing from kindness, but he'd slowly been seeing it in people now that he was free. First in Steve, trying desperately to make him remember. I still don't, not really. Then in a truck driver who had let him hitch a ride in New Mexico. Person after person. "Thank you, Aischa."

Nick returned, smiling widely. "Alright, Casey's with Alicia and they're taking a bus to the coast for the day. She's confused, but she's safe." He let out a little sigh of relief. "Casey's kinda bummed for not going to school, but the ocean's gonna make up for that."

"Oh yeah, we have school. It started, like, half an hour ago." Joey noticed, glancing at his watch. "Well, I ain't going. I'm takin' down a gang today, that's what it'll say on my excuse."

"It's not safe at school, anyway," Nick muttered, his face falling slightly. "It will be soon, though. Do we have a plan?"

Everyone turned to Bucky. Uncomfortable under their scrutiny, he stared down at his pancakes. "I'll need to think about it, there's a few ways we could go about this."

"Have you done anything like this before?" Nick asked, a little warily.

I've toppled governments and ended regimes. I almost overhauled the control of the entire world. "Sort of? But this is different."

"How?"

"I don't have backup."

"We're your backup."

"No, you absolutely are not."

"Wait, what are you saying here?" Nick asked, a cloudy expression coming over his face as he sat down. "I am going to help."

"Help? Yes. Storm a warehouse full of gangsters with me? That's not gonna happen, kid."

"I'm not a damn kid!"

"You kind of are, dude," Joey inputted quietly.

"Shut up, Joey."

"Look," Bucky growled, effectively ending the bickering between the two teenagers. "I am not bringing two civilians into what could turn into something extremely dangerous, let alone kids. I can handle it on my own, if that's what you're worried about, but I can see that it isn't." Nick dropped his gaze. "You really want revenge, I get it. Those bastards messed with someone you cared about. Joey, you wanna be there for your friend. Look, if I bring you two with me, you'd be a hindrance. Sorry, but you would, and these guys wouldn't get the justice they deserve."

"I need to do something," Nick responded quietly.

"And you will, I promise. But I'm still thinking of a plan, so for now, can I eat these pancakes in peace?"

Nick got up and strode outside, clearly still pissed. Joey looked over at Bucky before standing. "I'll go talk to him."

Aischa sighed and watched him follow Nick. "No matter how you worded that, he'll still be bent out of shape about it. Always wanting to help people, that's Nick." She shook her head and walked back behind the counter.

Something about her words reminded Bucky about something- someone?-, but he couldn't remember. So, he instead focused on trying to formulate his own plan, which would be difficult. During his time as the Winter Soldier, he'd been given mission after mission on a silver platter. Sure, he'd had to improvise at times, but that was nothing compared to formulating his own plan.

Bucky glanced outside, hoping that Nick wasn't too pissed off at him, only to see no one outside the store. Dread welled up inside him, and he knew that the boys had gone to the Arcane's warehouse, alone. Nick must've talked Joey into it. Dammit!

"Aischa! You know where that warehouse is?" Bucky called, making for the front door.

"Yes I do. Need a ride?"

"Thanks," he replied in a low voice when she was ready. "Do Joey and Nick have any way of getting around?"

"Joey got his permit last summer, but he doesn't have a car… Oh no, you don't think they went-" She stopped, gazing across the parking lot at an empty space. "They did. Stupid, stupid…"

"We need to hurry. They might do something stupid if we don't get there in time. Where's your car?"

"Over there," she replied, struggling slightly to match Bucky's gait. "I'm driving, by the way."

"…I don't think I can drive anyway." She shot him a confused look, but he didn't elaborate.

He didn't speak much during the short drive, as there was a headache brewing behind his eyes. He'd need to write that down when he had the chance. But not in front of Aischa. Instead, he kept his face neutral to hide the slowly growing pain.

The car screeched to a stop. "This's about a block away. I can get closer if-"

"No. If there're any cops you know that aren't Arcane, you should call them. I'll need your number. Please."

She scribbled it down on a stray piece of paper and held it out to him. As he tried to take it, she grabbed his wrist, the metal one. He froze, panicking that she might realize something was off, but she seemed not to notice. "Why are you helping? Why do you care?"

Slowly, he drew his hand back and put it in his jacket pocket, feeling a memory on the edge of his mind. "Never did like bullies," he muttered, then exited the car without saying goodbye. He rounded the corner hoping that she drove away.

-break-

"Steve, look at this," Falcon called from near the back of the bus.

Steve broke off his conversation with the bus driver with a smile and a thanks, then climbed to the back of the vehicle. "What is it?"

Sam pointed to one of the metal armrests, this one badly mangled and misshapen. "Looks like your friend's handiwork." Then, he closed his eyes like he made a mistake. "That… wasn't meant to be a pun. You get what I mean."

"What would've made him do that?" Steve wondered aloud.

"Could've been an accident. You've taken down doors when you close them to hard, Cap, this doesn't seem much different."

He exited the bus, seeking out the driver again in the station and asking "On your route yesterday, can you remember anything strange? Weird sights, people…?"

The short, stout man seemed to think it over, maybe finding it hard to concentrate with a celebrity hero around. "Well, there was one guy, but I didn't pay 'im much mind, 'til he left without payin'. There're rest-stops all through the route, right? I mean, we go for about twelve hours at a time, but this one guy didn't move, just sat there starin' at the seat. I was getting kinda worried 'bout him, actually, but he seemed fine, just like he was zoning out or something."

"Did you catch a name?"

"Nope. Skipped as soon as we stopped."

"Where was that?"

"My last stop, Saynor. It's North Cali, near Eureka. Like I said, a twelve hour drive in a bus."

Sam thanked him, and they both went back to their car. "Alright, so he came this way. Next stop Saynor?"

"Yeah… did you hear how that guy described him? He might be injured, or sick…"

Sam glanced over sympathetically and put a hand on his shoulder. "Think maybe we ought to worry about finding him first. We're getting close."

Steve let out a sigh, leaning against the door. "You're right." He wasn't just saying it this time, either.

"Great. But you drive like a 90-year-old on the highway, so I'm driving so we make it there before the next ice age," Sam claimed with a laugh.

Steve smirked and moved out of the way, grateful once again that Sam was willing to put up with him to find Bucky.

-break-

Finding the two teens wasn't hard. They lingered around an alley that looked directly at the warehouse, glaring at it suspiciously and whispering. They didn't see Bucky behind him, and didn't cry out when he put a hand over both of their mouths and dragged them backward out of sight.

He let them twist out of his grip and glowered at them. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Joey immediately stared at his shoes, but Nick held his gaze fiercely. "Staking the place out."

"You call that 'staking the place out'?" Bucky made air quotes. "The only way you coulda been more suspicious is if you wore a damn sign, 'I am the enemy, come and get me!'"

"We weren't seen-"

"The hell you weren't. Two guys, on the roof, both armed. They sure saw you alright, but they did not take you seriously enough to kill you."

Joey was trembling slightly. "We- we just wanna help," he murmured, drawing himself up and reaching over, taking Nick's hand in his own. "You weren't going to let us."

Bucky looked between them for a moment, then sighed, his posture relaxing a bit. "I might've done that same." Never did like bullies… Seeing the boys smile suddenly, his gaze turned icy again. "That doesn't make it okay, not by a long shot. What you're going to do," Bucky formulated right then, taking out his phone. "Is call me if you see anyone else enter the building after I go in. One ring, then hang up, alright?"

"But I want to-" Nick tried to complain.

"I. Do. Not. Care." That wasn't true, Bucky was pretty sure. He cared what the boy thought, but he wanted to keep him alive more. "Stay here until I'm in." Then, he was gone. He wasn't very good at goodbyes.

"Where'd he go?" Joey asked, releasing Nick's hand and glancing around.

Nick peeked around the corner to see the man he knew as James already across the street at the base of the building. The two men on the roof- Why didn't I see them before? Dumbass move, Nick- didn't seem to notice anything. Then, to his amazement, Bucky grabbed a window ledge and pulled himself up to another, and another, and another, a kind of parkour he'd only thought possible in Assassin's Creed. He paused near the fifth floor for only a moment, then resumed his climb.

He'd paused because a burst of pain made his vision swim, but he soon overcame it. Nearly at the top, he stopped again, assessing the situation. Killing them probably wouldn't be best. Go unarmed, but be careful.

The guards were on separate sides of the roof, the closest one almost directly in front of Bucky. He timed his jump carefully, then leapt. An arm across the guard's throat, pushing the head forward from behind in a simple choke. He was unconscious in three seconds, but Bucky held it a bit longer so that he wouldn't wake up equally as fast. Then, he dragged the body with him behind the doorway leading to the downstairs. When the second guard came around, he received the same treatment.

The top floor was the seventh, and it was deserted, Bucky concluded after sweeping it, pistol in hand. The firearm was just a precaution. In fact, there wasn't much of anything; that particular floor probably hadn't been used in the last ten years.

Floor six was a bit different, and Bucky heard voices echoing up the stairwell. Three of them. Stealth wasn't an option anymore; he hadn't seen any other way down. This was the only way to go.

Three men sat around a table of cards, laughing and smoking. Bucky wondered if they learned how to be gangsters from watching bad TV. The stack of blackmail money beside them completed the cliché. None of them noticed Bucky until he seemed to materialize out of the shadows behind the one with his back turned, gun pressed to the man's skull. "Don't speak."

Silence. Two bewildered stares.

Bucky glanced over at a table a bit away from them, noticing zip ties. Slowly, he moved away from the man and retrieved them, never taking the gun nor his gaze from the three men. After their wrists were secure, he tore off pieces from a jacket slung over the empty chair at the table and gagged them. They only stared stupidly after him as he glanced down the stairwell.

Floor six: illegal cash, Bucky documented in his mind, gliding down the stairs.

Floor five was not so accommodating. Six men, all on alert- but obviously not that smart, since their guns were all stacked in the corner. One immediately spotted Bucky and yelled out, taking a knife out of his coat and throwing it at him.

The former Winter Soldier easily blocked the sloppy attack with his metal arm, then threw himself at the enemies. Two punches, one kick, three of them on the floor. One gathering his wits enough to throw a punch, and Bucky grabbed his wrist and flipped him, driving a knee to his face on the way down.

Two scrambled away and got their guns, spun, and shot with surprising accuracy. One passed above Bucky's head, another through the loose fabric of his jacket. Two knives from Bucky, striking hand and gun, causing them to drop the weapons, and they were easily finished off from there.

Shouting from below. Everyone heard the fireworks, he thought to himself, shaking his head to disperse the discomfort setting in again as he retrieved the knives.

The crowd of guards were met at the top of the stairwell. Bucky had a running start and grabbed the top of the doorframe, swung his body like a pendulum, and struck the first of the Arcane in the chest. He flew backwards, slamming into his comrades, and they fell into their comrades, and it was a human domino effect on a large scale.

Few of that crowd were conscious by the end of that, so while there was more commotion from farther below, Bucky took the opportunity to search the fifth floor. He doubted any of the guns were registered, or that the drugs behind them were legal anywhere, so he added them to the list, too.

That's probably enough to put some of them away, Bucky thought. But nothing specifically on Voron. Unless you cut off the head, another takes its place…

The fourth floor was much the same, as was the third. As he fought and won, some of them fled. One Arcane yelled "Where the hell's Raphael?" before being cracked in the jaw. Mysterious Raphael, who's apparently a badass? We'll see.

The second floor seemed empty. Bucky should've known not to assume anything, because as he made his way across the floor, red-hot pain suddenly coursed up his leg from the floor. A charged wire, meant to immobilize, Bucky realized, and immediately threw himself forward. A hiss of air above him indicated a near miss.

Bucky landed in a roll and came up in a crouch, pivoting and bringing out his gun. The man before him, dressed all in black combat gear with a red cloth mask, tilted his head. "Interesting."

Bucky rose to his feet, ignoring the numbness in his right leg, he'd had worse, this was nothing, Holy shit that hurts. "On the ground."

Maybe a smirk behind that mask? It was hard to tell. "Voron will be very interested to hear of you. Taking out most of the 'security' like a wolf among sheep. Not easily injured by electricity."

A stab of pain behind Bucky's eyes, and he staggered a step back. Raphael noticed, and took advantage of it, because he was there in a moment, striking the gun away, sending it spiraling away under a table. A jab across his face, and Bucky's vision only got worse, but his reflexes were still sharp. He immediately swept the combatant's legs from under him and wound up his metal arm, intending to put the man out for a very long time.

Raphael rolled away just fast enough to avoid the blow, and Bucky's fish slammed into the concrete, creating a crater and sending a vibration through the floor. He was up in an instant, kicking Bucky in the gut and sending him sprawling. "Strong, as well," he noted as if nothing happened. "Perhaps a bit slow. Or sick. A disadvantage, anyway."

Another kick, and another and another. Bucky blocked a few, at first, but the pain got worse and he couldn't keep his head up. Kicks turned to punches, over and over again. A roar, maybe his pulse, resounded in Bucky's head, a lightning strike shooting through him with each blow.

Abruptly, there was no pain. Raphael stared down at him, looking confused, fist hovering above his face. Maybe he tried to say something, but words didn't make sense.

Like a film had jumped ahead, Bucky was standing, the gashes and bruises already beginning to heal over. Raphael lay at his feet. His face and chest were a mess with blood, which also sprayed around the walls and stained Bucky's gloves. But he was still breathing, not conscious, but alive. What happened? What… what did I do?

He noticed he was surrounded, finally. His phone rang urgently in his pocket. Two dozen guards, armed with rifles, staring at him like animal control might stare at a rabid bear. Another man who stood off to the side, clad in a professional, clean suit, clapped slowly. "So this is the Winter Soldier."

Bucky swallowed the terror and disgust rising in his chest and growled out "So this is Cyrus Henley, Voron."

"Indeed. I'm glad we know each other. The Kennedy job is my favorite of your exploits, by the way."

Kennedy? Bucky didn't voice his confusion.

"Anyway, I never suspected we would be going against each other. I was inclined to hire you at one time, but Raphael here came cheaper. Shame. You should never trade quality for a bargain." Raphael groaned in pain from the floor, blood welling up from his mouth, but the older man ignored him. "I've already informed HYDRA that you're here. So, shall you give up now, or…"

He trailed off at the sound of sirens outside. The other guards craned their necks to see what the commotion was outside out the window behind Bucky. The attention was off him, and Bucky whispered "No."

He threw himself backward, crashing through the glass. Bullets flew, but none connected.

Bucky didn't fear heights. In that moment, though it was only a two-story drop, he got the distinct feeling in his gut that he was terrified of falling.

A shout of pain when he landed on his back awkwardly. He tried to stand, but exhaustion overcame him and he lie down again, staring up at the sky, which wasn't the color of ice, but a blue like, like something.

The blue was overtaken by black.

-break-

Joey jumped at every gunshot from across the street. "Are you calling him?!"

"He's not answering!"

"He didn't say he'd answer! Just keep calling."

"Why am I calling IF HE ISN'T ANSWERING-"

"Holy shit," Joey whispered as cop cars pulled up in front of the warehouse. "This is bad, Nick, this is really bad."

"I know," Nick muttered, typing on his phone with one hand but grabbing Joey's hand with the other. Maybe Nick wasn't much for fighting, but he was a real comfort to have around, and Joey relaxed. Friends since they were kids, having met at a cemetery of all places. Nick had been trying to get Casey to stop picking flowers off the graves, calmed Joey down when she ran off with the ones from his brother's grave. A stranger way to make friends hasn't been found. At any other moment, Joey might've pondered how it'd be if they weren't just friends, but this wasn't the time. Also, he was scared shitless that they might both die.

A window exploded, a shape falling from it and lying still on the pavement. "I think that was James," he whispered.

"What?" Nick exclaimed, redialing his number. A faint ringing sounded over the sirens. "Let's go."

There was no point in arguing. The boys sprinted across the street, weaving through the crowd of police who seemed to pay them no notice, instead proceeding to storm inside.

They screeched to a halt beside the still figure of James. "Is he dead?" Joey shuddered, hugging himself as Nick kneeled beside him and felt for a pulse with shaking hands.

"No, he's okay, we just-"

"Hello, Nick," a voice sounded from behind him, and Joey turned to see Voron, gun in hand, advancing toward them from a back door. "And you, Joe."

Joey's mind went reeling at the sight of the gun. He instinctively stepped in front of Nick and James, not really understanding the implications of his actions. He wanted to make sure his… best friend was safe. And the guy who is maybe gonna die trying to save us. But Nick can't die either, he can't… Thoughts that weren't making much sense.

"Noble," Voron commented, clicking the safety off. "Useless, though. It was not wise to resist-"

A car screeched around the corner. Voron turned to it in confusion, and was immediately struck by the vehicle and slammed into the brick wall of the building. They didn't know it, but he was killed instantly.

"Holy shit, Aischa," Both boys gasped as the woman staggered out of the car.

"Language. Haven't I taught you- oh no, James!" She exclaimed, seeing his bloody form lying still.

"He's alive," Nick breathed. "We need to get him to a hospital or something. Quick, help me lift him up."

Before Aischa could protest that that would do more harm than good, Joey had grabbed his feet and lifted him up. "Door," Joey grunted, and soon they were all in the car.

"Help me get his jacket off," Nick muttered, trying to keep his cool as they sped away. "I need to see how bad it is."

"What, you're a doctor now?" Joey asked breathlessly, but complied. "How come we didn't leave him back there with the cops?"

"Still don't know who to trust. They could've been Arcane."

"They weren't," Aischa called back, violently rounding a corner. "I called a friend of mine-"

"Aischa, Joey," Nick said quietly, bloodied jacket in his hands.

Joey turned to him, curious at his change in tone, and gaped.

Bucky's metal arm gleamed in the afternoon sun.

Author's note: Congratulations! You are the winner of a new chapter! (Which is freaking huge compared to the previous chapters, but I wanted to get in as much typing as I could this week, hence this monstrosity was born.) As per request, I included some of what Steve and Sam are up to, but I'm just saying now that there won't be much from their perspective. I've really wanted to focus mainly on Bucky, and as much as I love Captain America and Falcon, this is the Winter Soldier's story.

Lots of OCs this chapter… guess I have to update the character list.

Also, I don't speak Russian. At all. From what Google translate could tell me, 'voron' is just the pronunciation of the Russian word for raven, 'ворон'.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and continue to read! Thank you for giving this story a chance.

~Nemesis