It had been a year since Bucky took leadership of the Avengers and he had gotten close to some of them, especially Sam.
Sam and Rhodey had given him the most respect after all his work of WWII, SHIELD and everything he's done being Air Force workers themselves.
When he learned Sam was a certified Councilor Sam offered him a few sessions if he ever needed them and Bucky automatically accepted them.
Hearing how much Bucky had been through broke Sam's heart but as a professional therapist did his job.
He now saw Sam ever Monday and Friday. If he needed to sooner all he had to do was walk up to him and he'll be there.
Bucky still works for SHIELD even being in charge of the Avengers now.
He would visit Steve every night, moved into the Compound but kept his apartment for SHIELD missions or other things.
Bucky, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Falcon were at Lagos right now on a mission and Scarlet Witch was adding sugar to a cup and stirred it while looking around.
"All right, what do have for us Scarlet Witch?" Bucky asked on the radio.
"Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target." Scarlet Witch said.
"There's an ATM in the south corner, which means..."
"Cameras."
"Both cross streets are one way."
"So, compromised escape routes."
"Meaning our guy doesn't care about being seen just like last time, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out. You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"
"Yeah, the red one? It's cute."
Meanwhile Black Widow was sitting two tables from Scarlet Witch.
"It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us." Black Widow said on the radio.
"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?" Scarlet Witch asked.
"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature."
"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" Falcon asked.
"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?"
"Enough! Focus on the target, Sergeant Wilson, agent Romanoff, Scarlet Witch." he ordered getting Falcon to twitch a little. "This is the best lead I've had on Rumlow in years and I don't want to lose him."
When he gets annoyed at them he calls Natasha and Clint Agent and their last name, Sam and Rhodey their Air Force position and last name and the others their last name or codenames on a mission.
"If he sees us coming that won't be a problem s-sir." Falcon said automatically.
Meanwhile a garbage truck was pushing its way through traffic, with no regard to pedestrians or other vehicles.
"Falcon, I need you to tag that trash can." Bucky said and from the back of Falcon's jet pack, a small drone, launched and flew down to scan the garbage truck.
"Give me X-ray." Falcon said and read the weight analysis: Cargo Weight: 13825 kgs. Max capacity. "That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."
"It's a battering ram." Black Widow said.
"Go now." Bucky said.
"What?" Scarlet Witch asked.
"He's not hitting the police."
INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES
A man was sitting in the guard station and looked over as the garbage truck was coming towards the gate when the driver jumped out, and the truck slammed into the gateway. Two trucks rushed into the compound through the newly-made entrance.
Soldiers in black armor emerged from the trucks, firing their rifles around the courtyard. Four soldiers fired gas canisters into the building and soldiers wearing gas masks entered when Bucky arrived and took out several of the soldiers.
"Body armor, AR-15's. I make seven hostiles." Bucky said and Falcon flew in and up to a rooftop, spinning, using his wings to block gunfire and took out two soldiers.
"I make 5." Falcon said when Scarlet Witch arrived, flew over the rooftop, into the courtyard, blocking fire with her powers taking control of one soldier and lifted him upward.
"Sam." Scarlet Witch said and he glided down from the rooftop, catching the soldier on one of his wings.
"Four." he said and his drone flew by, scanning the inside of the building. "Rumlow's on the third floor."
"Just like we practiced Wanda." Bucky said.
"What about the gas?" Scarlet Witch asked.
"Get it out." he said and she used her powers to lift him up, through the window and he grabbed a soldier and pulled off their gas mask.
Meanwhile Rumlow was inside, punched down the door, knocked aside a technician and entered a room with a container labeled "bio-hazard."
"Pack it up." he said.
In another area Bucky was behind a pillar shooting at the soldier.
Meanwhile Scarlet With was using her powers to remove the gas from the building while Falcon was exchanging fire with several soldier when Rumlow walked outside onto a balcony and saw them there.
"He's here." Rumlow said. "And with a new team that's not the Howling Commandos."
Inside the building Bucky saw the vial missing.
"Shit! Rumlow has a biological weapon." Bucky said.
Meanwhile Black Widow was riding in on a motorcycle.
"I'm on it." she said on the radio, jumped off the motorcycle and it skid toward a soldier.
Then she took out soldiers through hand-to-hand combat when Rumlow came up behind her and grabbed her collar, dragging her onto an armored vehicle but she electrocuted him.
"I don't work like that no more." he said, threw her through the roof hatch into an armored vehicle, dropped in a grenade, and shut the hatch. "It worked with a Commando in the 70's but not you." he said. "Fire in the hole."
"No!" Mercenary said and Natasha took out the soldiers inside, grabbed one to shield herself from the grenade and the doors blew open and she was thrown out.
Meanwhile Bucky ran s out onto the balcony and saw Rumlow.
"Sam. He's in an AFV heading north." he said.
Inside the AFV, Rumlow secured the biological weapon and handed it to a soldier.
"Take this to the airstrip. We're not gonna outrun them. Lose the truck." Rumlow said and the truck crashes into a nearby structure and he and the soldiers emerged.
"Where are you going to meet us?" Mercenary 1 asked.
"I'm not." Rumlow said and Falcon landed on the roof of a structure, scanning the area with his goggles.
"I got four, they're splitting up." Falcon said.
Meanwhile Black Widow rode through the crowd, back on her motorcycle abandoning it again and ran across the hoods of cars, in pursuit.
"I got the two on the left." she said.
Meanwhile Bucky was also running across cars when he saw a vest in the middle of a crowd.
"Damnit." je muttered. "They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload." he said when someone threw a bomb at him.
It stuck on his gun so he threw it in the air and the bomb detonated safely away from citizens when Rumlow came up behind him and tried to punch him in the back but Bucky grabbed his hand first and punched him instead.
"You really are old if you forgot what I am." Bucky said and looked him.
"I never forgot what you are. I've been waiting for this!" Rumlow said.
Meanwhile Falcon was still chasing the other mercenaries so flew up and took out his two, then searched their bags for the payload.
"He doesn't have it. I'm empty." he said.
Meanwhile Black Widow was chasing the soldiers through the crowd.
"Out of the way!" she said, tackled one soldier and engaged him in combat.
When the other soldier arrived, she hurled a basket at him to distract him, used her skills to fight them and ended up face-to-face with one soldier. They pointed their guns at each other and a moment passed when the other soldier produced the vial.
"Drop it. Or I'll drop this. Drop it!" Mercenary 1 said.
"He'll do it!" Mercenary 2 said.
Suddenly Redwing descended, fired at the soldier with the vial, dropped, and in the moment of distraction, Black Widow fired at the other soldier, then caught the falling vial.
"Payload secure. Thanks, Sam." Black Widow said.
Sam Wilson: "Don't thank me." Falcon said.
"I'm… not thanking that thing."
"His name is Redwing."
"I'm still not thanking it."
"He's cute. Go ahead, pet him."
Meanwhile Bucky and Rumlow were still fighting, neither one seeming to have the upper hand.
"Come on!" Rumlock said, pinned Bucky to a building and extended a blade from one of his gauntlets. "This is for dropping a building on my face." he said and Bucky grabbed Rumlow's arm and pulled the gauntlet off, only for Rumlow to reveal another knife but Bucky best him.
Defeated, on his knees, Rumlow removed his mask, revealing a scarred face.
"I think I look pretty good, all things considered." Rumlow said and Bucky grabbed him by the neck..
"Who's your buyer?" Bucky snapped.
"Like I'd tell you." Rumlow said, activated his bomb vest and Bucky flinched as Rumlow's armor ignited, but Scarlet Witch kept the blast contained around Rumlow who grimaced in agony.
She lifted him into the air and Bucky used his extra gun to hit Rumlow in the chest killing him.
"Finally!" he said. "After forty two damn years of searching for that bitch I found him and ended him!" he said and looked at her as Scarlet Witch gently put him to the ground. "Thank you!" he said and she smiled and nodded.
'The Howling Commandos, Colonel Phillips, Howard, Peggy and Steve would be proud.' he thought.
A few day's later Bucky was chilling with the others when his phone buzzed so he pulled it out to check it to see a text reading 'She's gone. In her sleep.' and closed his eyes for a second while the others looked at him.
Then he opened his eyes.
"I have to go." he said, got up sharply, put his phone in his pocket and went downstairs.
When he got there he stopped at the bottom of the stairs, leaned against the banister and bowed his head.
"Goddamnit Peggy!" he said and cried quietly. "Now it really is just me." he whispered.
A few days later Bucky was at London in a cathedral, packed with mourners where a choir was singing an Bucky was one of six pallbearers carrying a coffin draped with the Union Jack. His eyes are red from crying.
At the altar was a candle burnt by a framed photograph of Peggy Carter in a military uniform. The label read "Margaret 'Peggy' Carter" and the priest addressed the mourners.
"And now, I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words." The priest said and Sharon stepped up to the podium.
Bucky sat beside Sam in a pew at the front looking down and didn't see Sharon walk up while Sam watched, and nudged him so he looked up to see Sharon glancing at him and took a breath.
"Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD... but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy." Sharon said. "She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related." she said and looked directly at Bucky. "I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move... it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in they eye and say " No, you move.""
"Thank you." The priest said. "And next I would like to invite one of the people that has none her the longest, James Barnes to come up and say a few words." he said so Bucky took a deep breath, got up and stepped up to the podium.
"Out of everyone here other than Steve, I've known Peggy the longest. In a way, I've known her longer because Steve was in the ice for seventy years while I was busy leading the Howling Commandos, working with Peggy, Howard and Colonel Phillips on SHIELD, or back then SSR. Peggy was probably one of the strongest women I've ever met in my entire life. When we lost Steve, we helped each other. Gay relationships were illegal at the time so me and Steve kept our relationship quiet. Steve used Peggy as code and I used just about any girl that was after me. When the 107th was captured and I was given my own serum, I found out that I could um, r-reproduce and right before the Russia mission I found out I was pregnant and when Steve went into the ice I had a miscarriage." Bucky said and took a deep breath while everyone looked at him in shock and heartbroken. "Only Pegs and Colonel Phillips knew. She kept that quiet until this very day and that, I'll forever be grateful for." he said shaking his head. "We stuck together for years after we lost Steve. We'd whine about newbies at SHIELD, how annoying some staff were, stupid some of the rookies were and all that." he said chuckling and some people joined. "When she started getting older and her kids decided it was time for her to go to a nursing home, they called me and asked me what I thought and I agreed so we decided where to send her and I said since they were getting older themselves, had their own kids to take care of, houses to pay for and stuff while I lived in an apartment by myself, getting paid for being a veteran of WWII, working for SHIELD not to mention taking the step up of taking first Chester's place when he retired, then Howard and Peggy's when they retired I told them I'd pay every month. They offered me to pay them back but I said no. Peggy was to much of a family to me and a close friend and teammate to not help them. Hell, I babysat them for her! Along with Tony for Howard!" he said and chuckled again. "Now that she's gone, I'm officially the last living SHIELD founder, so this will be hard to adapt to but I'm glad she can be with her husband, parents and whatever family she has left other than Sharon and such of course." he said and left.
When he sat down Sam patted him on the back proud of what he just said and knew now knowing about the miscarriage he was going to need a lot of therapy.
"We can talk as much as you want when we get home, OK?" Sam whispered gently and Bucky nodded.
It broke Sam's heart seeing so much pain in those eyes.
Later Bucky was standing alone in the isle, still dressed in black when Natasha walked up to him and he turned to her.
"When Steve went missing, she was like a best friend to me and I was like a best friend to her." he said.
"She had you and you had her." Natasha said.
"What are you doing here?"
"I didn't want you to be alone." she said and pulled him in for a hug. "Come here."
Later at a hotel.
"My mom tried to talk me out of enlisting, but, um, not Aunt Peggy. She bought me my first thigh holster." Sharon said.
"Very practical." Bucky said.
"And stylish." she said and they waited by an elevator facing each other.
"CIA has you stationed over here now?"
"In Berlin, Joint Terrorism Task Force."
"Right. Right. Sounds fun."
"I know, right?" she said and he nodded and smiled at her when the elevator arrived. "Thanks for walking me back."
"Sure."
A few days later they were back at the Compound and Sam had been having Bucky see him every day while the rest of the team tried and comfort him the best they could.
