Hi, everybody! It's time for another chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
-Disclaimer, I own nothing.
Chapter Fifteen
I stayed close to Steve while he made contact with Sharon. It didn't take all that long, but my mind drifted in and out of my blurred memories of the other Winter Soldiers, making it feel ten times longer. Every time I almost lost myself to them, Steve was there, reminding me that I wasn't in Siberia anymore, but when he was done contacting Sharon and a different guy that he called Clint, he turned to me with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Bucky, but we need to take care of the other Winter Soldiers before the doctor gets to them," he muttered.
I had assumed as much. "I can get you there."
"No, you don't have to. I can fly the jet."
"You won't be able to fight off all five at once," I countered. "I can at least be of help with that."
After a moment, his shoulders slumped, and he nodded. "Now we just need to get there," he sighed. "You want to steal a car?"
"Oh, Captain America stealing a car?" I questioned sarcastically, trying to lighten my own mood. "Sure you aren't just borrowing?"
I waited alone with Sam near the door while Steve went out and got us a car. I offered to do it, but he didn't want to risk me being seen. The silence between Sam and I was so tense and awkward. I had no idea what to say to him. The only times we met, we were fighting something-whether that be each other or something else.
"Did you teach Steve how to steal a car?" Sam eventually asked.
I huffed in amusement at the comment and shake my head. "No. Nazi Germany did. And he would say that were 'borrowing' the car. Not stealing. Only the last time he did it it was a Tesseract-powered, German tank, so...A car isn't a problem."
"He hotwired a tank?" Sam clarified, surprise in his voice.
"Once. And I nearly punched him for it."
"Why?"
"'Cause he nearly got himself killed like an idiot," I sighed. "Sometimes I could swear that is life's goal was to give me a heart attack."
A honk sounded outside the door, making me jump. Sam opened the door, and Steve waited in a small, '40's style car. I reached for the handle to the front seat door, but Wilson's hand shot in front of mine. He got in without a word, and I shrugged, moving to the back. It was so cramped that my knees were almost touching my chest, but it wasn't that bad. The cryo tube was smaller.
Steve started to guide the car away from our hiding place, and we drove for several minutes in silence until Wilson suddenly said, "Lord of the Rings."
"Lord of the Rings?" Steve repeated.
"Yeah. Another movie you should add to your list. Well, three movies. And The Hobbit prequels," Wilson clarifies.
"Movies?" I wondered. "What do you mean movies?"
"Yeah. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are books that came out after World War Two," Steve agreed, glancing back at me through the rear-view mirror with a smirk. "Bucky, you wanted to read those, right?"
"Yeah," I answered slowly, vague memories of hearing about the series coming to mind. "I heard about them when I when I got shipped out to England. They weren't published yet, so I didn't hear much of the details."
Steve laughed. "I tried to read them when I got out of the ice. I couldn't even finish them. They were so boring. It's just walking and walking and even more walking."
I smiled slightly, picturing his struggle to read them. "They couldn't have been that bad."
"Well, all that walking is the reason that the books got turned into films," Wilson said. "They took most of the walking out, and they made the walking they left in funny. I tried to read them, but I agree with Cap. I understand that you would want to read them, but don't."
Just because he said that, I made the determination that if I ever got the chance, I would read those books all the way through.
A few hours later, we pulled underneath a bridge near the airport. Steve parked the car in front of another and stepped out. The blonde woman from earlier-Peggy's niece, Sharon-got out of the other car and met Steve halfway. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could read their lips well enough. "Not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car," she said.
Steve's back was to me, so I couldn't get his response, and then Sharon turned to the trunk of her car, so I couldn't get what she said either.
The cryo tube might have been smaller than this car, but I was unconscious then. I couldn't feel how cramped it was, and it seemed like the space in this car had been getting gradually smaller the whole drive. "Could you move your seat up?" I requested, glaring at the back of Wilson's head. I knew he was doing this on purpose, and I understood his irritation with me, but he didn't have to be a jerk about it.
"No," he curtly stated.
After a moment, I slide to the other side of the car, the blood finally flowing back into my legs.
Sharon glanced at me with mistrust and started to speak to Steve. "You know, he kind of tried to kill me," I read.
Steve nodded. "Sorry," he said before turning back to Sharon.
They spoke some more before Steve leaned closer to her and kissed her. On the mouth. For more than one second.
They pulled away, and Sharon moved towards the front of her car. Steve glanced at Wilson and I, and I smiled at him. As far as I know, that was his first kiss since '45. I was proud of him. He got a girl on his own. Like he got Peggy Carter without me.
Sharon was her niece. He just kissed the niece of the woman he was in love with a few days after said woman died. Actually, the more I thought about it, the stranger it was.
Sharon and Steve unloaded the gear from Sharon's car and placed it in the trunk of ours. Sharon got back into her car and drove off, and Steve got back behind the wheel.
"So you and Sharon, eh?" Wilson said loudly the instant the door closed.
Red stained Steve's cheeks and he laughed awkwardly. He didn't say anything as he started the car back up and drove in the opposite direction from Sharon.
"Was that your first kiss since '45?" I wondered, earning a laugh from Wilson and a groan from Steve.
"Why does everyone think that I haven't had a single kiss since '45?" Steve questioned harshly.
"Well, have you?" I laughed.
"Yes!" he groaned.
"Really?" Wilson exclaimed sarcastically. "Who?"
Steve sighed and refocused on the road. "Natasha."
"You kissed Natasha Romanoff?" Wilson clarified.
"It was two years ago when we were being hunted by both SHIELD and HYDRA," Steve explained. "We were...hiding our faces."
"Sure you were," Wilson countered, drawing out the first word impossibly long.
Natasha Romanoff? I know that name. I know she was given to me as a target just before DC, but it's something else. I know that name from something other than the Winter Soldier.
"You okay, Buck?" Steve asked, glancing at me through the mirror.
I nodded. "Just thought I knew the name."
"Well, she's a former Russian assassin who worked for SHIELD," Steve offered. "That's all she'd tell us about herself, though."
"Is that her real name?" I blurted out.
"I don't think so," Steve answered. "Why?"
Natasha is similar enough to Natalia. They know her? How is she alive?
After a few more minutes of driving, we drove up into a parking garage of the airport. Steve pulled into a parking spot next to a white van and stopped the car with a dark-haired woman in the front passenger seat. A man in a black jacket stepped out of the van as Steve did got out of the car. Wilson and I followed his lead as the man approached us. "Cap," he greeted. Must be the Clint that Steve contacted.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice," Steve apologized, shaking his hand as the dark-haired woman got out of the white van dressed in red leather.
Wilson crossed in front of the car and stood by Steve, and I waited where I was, watching the new people.
"Hey, man. You're doing me a favor," Clint dismissed. "Besides, I owe a debt." He glanced at the young woman behind him.
"Thanks for having my back," Steve muttered, nodding to the woman.
"It was time I got off my behind," she shrugged in a thick foreign accent that nearly made me jump.
"How about our other recruit?" Steve wondered.
"He's rarin' to go," Clint announced, walking back towards the white van. He grabbed the handle and turned back to Steve and Wilson. "Had to put a little coffee in him." He pulled on the handle and slid the door back, revealing a dark-haired man sprawled across the back seat of the van with his hands behind his head. As the van door slammed, the man sat straight up with a jump. "But he should be good."
The newest man groaned as he stood and ducked through the doorway of the van. "What time zone is this?" he sighed.
Clint pushed him forward and slid the van door closed again. The new man took one look at Steve, and his expression went entirely slack with shock. "Captain America," he gasped, shaking Steve's hand vigorously.
"Mister Lang," Steve greeted calmly.
"It's an honor," Lang continued, still shaking Steve's hand. After a moment, he glanced down at their joined hands and announced, "I've been shaking your hand for too long." He let go. "Wow. This-this is awesome." He turned back to Clint and pointed towards Steve. "Captain America! I know you, too," he added. "You're great." He looked back at Steve and looked him up and down then suddenly grabbed Steve's shoulders. "Jeez," he gasped, and Steve glanced at me with an incredulous expression. "Ah, look. I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so thinks for thanking of me." Lang turned to Wilson and pointed towards him. "Hey, man!"
Wilson jerked his chin towards him. "What's up, Tic-Tac?"
"Uh...good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-"
"It was a great audition, but it'll never happen again," Wilson cut off with a huff of a laugh.
"They tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked.
"Something about some psycho assassins?" Lang clarified.
Psycho assassin? Is that how Clint talked about me? Fair, considering that I don't know him and that I probably did qualify as mentally unstable by now.
"We're outside the law on this one," Steve cautioned. "So if you come with us, you're a wanted man."
Lang shrugged. "Yeah, well...what else is new?"
Enough with the introductions. If we stayed still for too long, they'd find us. "We should get moving," I announced.
"We got a chopper lined up," Cling offered.
A siren started to wail, and a voice came over the PA, almost shouting in German. "There is an emergency that can't be avoided. Everyone must immediately remove themselves from the building in a calm and orderly fashion."
"They're evacuating the airport," I translated, straightening my posture.
"Stark?" Wilson suggested.
"Stark?" Lang exclaimed.
"Suit up," Steve ordered.
"So you're Barnes," the dark-haired woman with the accent said as she walked up to me.
I nodded.
"I'm Wanda," she introduced, holding her hand out.
Her accent made me cautious of her-just the sound of it reminded me too much of Siberia-but I shoved the paranoia down and took her hand as gently as I could.
"Cap has spent the past two years looking for you."
"I know," I sighed. "That's why I was in Bucharest to begin with."
"Ready?" Steve's voice wondered.
I looked up to find him in his Captain America get-up with his shield griped in his hand.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Then let's go."
Steve walked off, and Wanda and I followed, the other members of our "team" joining us in full gear. I never wanted to wear anything even remotely resembling the Winter Soldier uniform again, but I had to remind myself that I'm fighting for myself this time. Not HYDRA. I can't go into any battle in a t-shirt and jeans. This uniform that Sharon got for me was dark and stiff, but it was looser than HYDRA's Kevlar vest. She even ripped off the left sleeve so that the panels of my arm wouldn't get tangled up in the fabric.
"Stark is definitely on his way, and he'll probably take out that chopper," Steve explained. "We need to make it look it's just me. The rest of you provide cover. I'll take them head on. We'll surround him and anyone else he's brought with him and subdue them. Lang, you're with me. Get small and provide next to invisible cover. Barton, you go with Wanda and cover her six. She's one of our heaviest hitters. Sam, Bucky, you're our sharpshooters. You go up top. Provide us cover fire, and Bucky, protect Sam's back as he locates the transport they'll use to get here. That'll be our ticket out of here and to Siberia to take out the doctor and the other Winter Soldiers."
I didn't like the idea of Steve taking on anyone alone, even if it is just Stark. He'll have Lang, yes, but he'll be the size of an actual ant. What can an ant do in battle?
The group split off. I went with Wilson, and Steve ran ahead towards the chopper. By the time we got in position inside the halls of the airport, Steve was already facing two people in metal suits with their glowing hands trained on him.
I couldn't hear them through the window glass, but the moment the red one took off his helmet, I could read his lips. It was Stark. "Don't you think that's weird?" he asked.
I had a communicator in my ear, but I had it turned off. I don't want someone else's voice in my head. Especially during a fight. It was too distracting.
A black shape jumped in and landed on Steve's right side. It's that stupid Cat Guy again. What is with him? Steve explained it to me on the way here, but can't T'Challa put two and two together and realize that I was running from him because he was trying to kill me?
"Anyways," Tony continued, "Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in. That was twenty-four hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"
There was a pause as Steve responded. I couldn't catch it because his back was to me, but I got Tony's answer. "You're judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."
The red-haired woman-Natasha Romanoff-came out from behind one of the planes and blocked off another one of Steve's escape routes. "Steve," she said. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?"
I recognized her instantly. She is Natalia. It took all I had not to rush out to her and ask her all of my questions. How is she alive? What did they do to her? Is she okay?
But I can't. She's on the opposite side.
But I can't hurt her again, either.
"Alright. I've run out of patience," Tony muttered before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Underoos!"
Steve glanced up at his shield as it was ripped from his grasp and his hands were tied together. A red shape flipped through the air and landed on top of a nearby truck. And now there's that guy.
Tony turned to him, and they had a conversation, but I couldn't catch any of it.
After a moment of gesturing, Tony turned back to Steve and said, "And you've been a complete idiot." A vein stood out in his neck, so he must have said it tensely. "Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place that she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place? I'm trying to keep…" he seemed to sigh and trail off, as if he was keeping his emotions in check. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."
There was a pause as Steve responded, and Tony shook his head. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, now, because it's us or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite."
Wilson put his hand to his ear and said, "We found it. Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway."
Steve put his tied hands up, and an arrow flew out from where Barton and Wanda were hiding. The arrow sliced through Steve's binds, and Tony's helmet instantly reformed as he turned around.
The guy in the red suit with Steve's shield was suddenly thrown backwards off of the truck, and Lang resized himself to a normal human, shield in hand. He backed up and handed Steve his shield.
Wilson and I got up and started running back the way we came. Screw Steve's plan. He was surrounded and needed help.
Hope you all like that! Yes, it's a cliffhanger, but at the same time, it's also not a cliffhanger because I don't know why you would be reading this if you hadn't seen "Civil War". We know how it all ends, but Bucky doesn't. Hope to see you soon for the next chapter!