Prologue
"...Bucky?" I don't know you. Don't get in my way.
"I don't want to fight you!" You're my target. It doesn't matter what you want.
"You are James Buchanan Barnes!" No, that's not me. I'm a hunter. You are my prey.
"I'm with you 'til the end of the line." ...Steve?
Falling. It's a sensation I'm quite used to, strangely enough. I often have to jump from buildings or helicopters to carry out my missions. I've never fallen this far though. It feels kind of good. The Potomac seems to move slowly up towards me. The wind against my skin is soothing after the long fight with him. Even more than that, I realize that this is the first decision I've made on my own in a very long time. Nobody ordered me to jump. I just did. That feels pretty damn good. Also terrifying. Especially seeing as I'm going to land in about... right now.
The mighty splash caused by my skyscraper-high dive is muffled out by water. I manage to curl myself into a tight ball in time to break the surface with as little drag as possible. As a result, I find myself in cold, deep water and effectively disoriented. On the plus side, I'm a little less dead than I otherwise would have been without the effort. Scratch that, I'm not sure if that's a plus side after all. With no way to tell up from down, and barely a breath of air in my lungs, perhaps blunt trauma would have been a better way to go than drowning. Suddenly a flash of red catches my eye. Good, a bright color like that will make an easy point to navigate off of... It's him.
Ignoring my previous logic, I swim swiftly toward the blue-and-red swaddled figure. Reaching out my metal arm, I snag that brazen (and weirdly familiar) uniform. Now with about one-and-a-half times my body mass in dead weight dragging me down, it's a little easier to understand which way that is. Now, lungs burning, I force my way up.
And so here I am. I throw the man that was once my prey to the dirt, just above the high-water line. Completely drained, I give him one last look before limping away. Whoever he is, he's no longer my responsibility. I don't take orders from anyone anymore. I don't have to kill anyone anymore. I'm no longer the Winter Soldier, no longer the Asset. Now I'm just me.
Now I'm alone.