Hunt for the Winter Soldier – Ch 3 The Ghost and The Starkness
Avengers run in to the WS again, a fight ensues but Steve tries to get through to him, promising him assistance to break free from his captivity
When the team's plane landed on a grassy airstrip in an agricultural area of Bjelovar, they were immediately met by a team of Fury's strike team. A quinjet sat behind the large barn structure that was central to the county's agricultural fairs.
"He's already been through here," one of the agents told them.
"What does that mean?" Stark asked.
"According to information gathered from various witnesses in and around Bjelovar, every indication is that the Winter Soldier has already passed through the city. Intelligence gathered also suggests he's heading north, toward Slovenia."
"He's going for Verazdin," Natasha informed them. "He may be on foot or has appropriated public transportation."
"You think he could get a ticket for a bus?" Bruce asked her, half-joking.
"You think he'd have to pay for a ticket?" she asked in return. "He's carrying high powered weaponry and looks like a terrorist. All he'd have to do is step on and they'll take him wherever he says. Verazdin is accessible by three major highways and the bus system is of high quality and offers regular service to many local and international routes. If he's on a bus, he's a ghost."
"And if he's on foot?" Steve asked her.
"Then we can try to get to Verazdin before he makes it there and cut him off."
Steve turned to the strike team. "Can we borrow your ride?" he asked.
"You want us to come with?" the strike team leader asked.
"No. We got it," Steve told them and wove his way through the team toward the waiting aircraft. The quinjet could land like a helicopter so it made more sense to take that into areas of unknown topography than Stark's private jet.
It took less than an hour to fly to Verazdin and find a good landing spot. They found a rolling hilltop in a beautiful farming area to land just outside the central city and it was a short walk to the main highway leading in to the city from the direction of Bjelovar. They figured whether he appropriated transportation or was moving to the city on foot, he'd stay on this heading.
Tony, Sam, Clint and Vision stayed behind at the quinjet. They were suited up and ready to move at a moment's notice, but they agreed that their particular appearance, protective apparatus, and weaponry would be too high profile to keep the team's presence as covert as possible. If the Soldier got a hint that the Avengers were hunting him he'd go to ground so fast, they'd never find him.
So, it was Steve, Natasha, Wanda and Bruce who went in to scope the area. They hoped to be able to hear snippets of conversation; perhaps someone had seen a stranger fitting the Soldier's description. Verazdin was a beautiful tourist center with centuries of history and culture, but even someone who looked like the Soldier couldn't go unnoticed for long.
Steve wore his spangled outfit under a brown leather jacket, but had left his shield in the quinjet with Tony, in order to be less conspicuous around the throngs of tourists and travelers. Natasha also wore a black leather waist jacket over her Widow's garb, while Wanda and Bruce simply wore everyday civilian attire. The four Avengers wandered the city doing their best to pretend to be ordinary tourists, but they kept in constant contact with the others on the jet via their earwig two-way radio communication system.
Three hours had passed since they landed and they hadn't heard even a whisper of anything strange. Steve sighed and sat down on the perimeter wall surrounding a beautiful fountain in the center square.
"This is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Bruce mentioned as he casually searched the crowd of tourists moving around the area.
"We need a better plan," Steve said.
"We're all ears if you have a better plan," Tony stated over his ear piece.
"I don't," Steve admitted.
Just at that moment, a commotion on the other side of the public square broke out. Steve stood up and turned around as Nat, Wanda and Bruce also looked in that direction. They could see dozens of people hastily making their way out of the area and in the distance a few screams and then gunfire could be heard.
"What was that?" Tony asked.
"I think you guys need to get here… right now," Steve told him.
"On our way," Stark replied.
The four Avengers moved in the direction of the commotion and, as more and more people ran toward them in terror, like a human tidal wave, they broke into a run.
They could hear shouting, but Steve didn't understand the words. Nat offered a translation before he could ask, "It's the local security force. They're saying "drop the weapons"."
"That's our boy," Steve said.
"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Bruce quipped.
"Let's go!" Steve called out as he ran toward the shouts. "Tony?"
"We're almost there!" Stark replied.
As Steve, Bruce and Nat pushed through the fleeing crowd shots rang out. Wanda had stopped a short distance behind the others to conjure up a protective force shield to keep the retreating crowd safe. Dozens of civilians screamed as the sound of high powered automatic gunfire echoed through the streets with bullets ricocheting off the walls of the historic buildings lining the square.
"Heads up!" Tony's voice sounded in his earpiece and Steve looked up just in time to catch the shield Iron Man tossed his way as he flew overhead. Falcon was alongside him and Vision; carrying Hawkeye beneath him, brought up the rear.
As the three flyers came in to land beside their ground pounding teammates, Vision carefully let go of Clint who landed easily on his feet. He held his bow in one hand and cocked his arm quickly to flick open the bow for use. Vision spotted Wanda doing her best to shield the civilians so he went to assist her.
As the throngs of retreating civilians began to clear, the Avengers slowed their advance to get a good look at what they were walking into. The Soldier was there; facing off with a squad of local police. Steve was both relieved to have found his old friend and worried for the security officers trying to stop him. They had no idea what they were getting into.
The Soldier fired another burst toward the officers and they retreated further to shelter behind some parked cars. The Soldier walked steadily toward them as he loaded an explosive round into his grenade launcher. His actions were calm and fluid as he shoved the grenade into the tube; locked and loaded. He dropped the barrel of the weapon to aim in the direction of one pair of officers.
Steve understood what the Hydra agent intended to do and flung his shield at the Soldier. His aim was perfect, as usual, as it hit the Soldier on the right side of his head, knocking him off balance just as he'd pulled the trigger. The explosive round went wide; missing the two officers crouched behind the vehicle, but it took out a corner of the stone building twenty feet to their left, pelting shards of stone and masonry around the officers and onto the ground.
The Soldier caught his balance and spun around. He was wearing the same black mask and goggles that they'd seen on him in Washington, D.C. It reminded Steve of a muzzle a vicious dog would wear. He still wore a full black leather outfit along with shin, knee and elbow pads to protect him from falls and impacts during hand to hand combat. He also wore combat boots and black leather gloves on both hands.
Steve noted and corrected his thought; that he wore one elbow pad on the right arm… the left arm was solid metal, but behaved as a natural arm. It moved to do tasks just as a natural arm would, right down to fine motor skills at the finger tips. He wondered if the arm was an armored covering or a prosthetic. He'd never seen any artificial prosthesis behave in that manner. He also wondered for a moment why there was a glove on the left hand, but then realized it was probably to give the smooth metal hand more grip on objects… or people.
The Soldier glanced at each Avenger as they marched toward him. Then he raised his weapon with the intention of firing on them, but was hit by an energy pulse from Iron Man that pushed him backward a few steps. He turned away from them and ran for a side street.
"Bucky, stop!" Steve yelled as the Soldier turned away to make his escape.
The three flyers went airborne again to try to get eyes on the target as the others ran toward the side street. As they flew across the tops of buildings, they searched the streets below.
Sam and Tony activated their heat seeking displays as they searched, but couldn't distinguish the Soldier from any other person on the ground. So they simply searched for the solo one on the run.
"Got him!" Sam declared as he passed over the top of a restaurant. The Soldier broke cover below him and ran a few yards down the street before ducking into another building.
"Where is he?" Steve asked, as he ran down the street.
Sam watched the team's progress below and directed them. "He just ran into the building on your right… a few more yards. There."
Steve opened the door and ran inside with the others entering carefully behind him. They searched the ground floor quickly and then more screams alerted them that their target was no longer inside the building. They ran to the opposite door and ran in the direction from where the stampeding crowd was coming.
Iron Man hovered over the intersection a few blocks down the street to watch for signs from all the people below to indicate direction. As Cap and his team came toward him, below him on the left, a group of diners exited a café in a big hurry to his right.
This was getting confusing, Tony thought. It seemed that the Soldier was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
"Take a left at the corner," he told the team below.
"Got it!" Cap replied as he turned the corner.
"I think he's in that café directly ahead of you across the street," Tony told him.
People continued to exit the café, some screamed in surprise to see the Avengers racing toward them and flying above them. Wanda and Natasha told them it would be okay and directed them to keep running to get out of the immediate area.
Sam circled around the neighborhood and made his way back to where he saw Iron Man hovering over the street. As he glided across the rooftop of the café something jumped out at him and nearly got a hold of him.
"Whoa! What the hell?" Sam exclaimed as he dipped his wing to veer away from the object he nearly collided with. As he maneuvered up and away from the rooftop to come back around for another look his heart jumped into his throat.
It was the Winter Soldier… again. He'd almost gotten his hands on the Falcon… again. Sam took a moment to catch his breath as he circled overhead, but out of reach of the assassin. The realization that the Soldier had almost taken him out again froze Sam's thoughts. He couldn't think. He just stared down at the Winter Soldier and the Winter Soldier stared back.
Sam couldn't see the man's eyes through the dark lenses of his goggles but the way his head moved slightly to track the Falcon's flight, made Sam very uneasy. It was as if that killer had his sights on the winged Avenger, specifically. Sam swallowed hard and got his wits about him.
"He's on the rooftop!" he told the team. "Damn, if he didn't almost take me out again."
"You okay, Sam?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Sam assured him, then shouted, "Oh, shit!"
The Soldier had his weapon up and aimed right at him. He pulled the trigger and the sound of automatic gunfire rang out over the city.
Tony could see the tracks of the bullets as they followed Sam's flight as he tried to get out of range or out of sight of the killer. As Ironman hovered a short distance away, Tony armed the rocket propelled grenade housed in his left forearm and fired. The smart missile targeted the Soldier, but the sound of it being launched caught the man's attention. He stopped firing at Falcon and bolted for cover. The missile impacted an HVAC unit on the rooftop.
"What's going on?" Steve called out.
"I tried to blow him up," Tony told him.
"What?" Cap exclaimed in alarm. "We're trying to capture him, not kill him!"
"Hey, I missed," Tony told him. "He was trying to kill Sam, forgive me."
"Sam, you okay?" Steve asked as he made his way to the rooftop from an internal stairwell with Clint right on his heels.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Cap and Hawkeye made it to the roof. They burst out the door and onto the flat roof to see Ironman overhead.
"Where is he?" Steve asked.
"I don't know. I lost sight of him," Tony stated.
"What? How?" Steve was amazed at how Barnes was able to vanish right under their noses.
"Doing my best, Cap," Tony told him. "Nat was right when she said this guy is a ghost. He disappears in plain sight."
"Sam? Can you see him?" Steve asked.
Falcon kept to a higher altitude as he searched the rooftops, but low enough for his sensors to pick up their target, even hidden. The strangest part was he wasn't picking up anything at all.
"Negative. I don't have eyes on. Be careful down there," Sam advised.
As Cap and Hawkeye moved slowly across the roof, searching carefully for their ghost, Tony and Sam watched from an elevated position. Since nobody was shouting out directions or warnings to duck, the two man team was taken by surprise when the Hydra agent sprang out from cover.
The Soldier slammed into Cap hard, as he came over the a/c unit like a gymnast vaulting a gym horse. He pivoted in the air with his right hand down on the unit and holding himself up as his legs wind-milled in the air, catching Steve right in the face and sending him flying through the air.
"Holy shit!" Clint shouted, as the assassin broke cover not ten feet away from him. He turned quickly and nocked an arrow to his bow, but the Soldier had landed and spun around on him. As Clint loosed the arrow, the Soldier simply raised his left hand and the arrow exploded against his palm. The Soldier never hesitated in step as he walked right up on Hawkeye and punched him in the face. Clint fell backward and landed hard at the Soldier's feet.
"Not good!" Tony yelled out and dove toward the roof to provide assistance to his teammates.
The Soldier grabbed handfuls of vest and lifted Hawkeye to his feet, he let go with his left hand and drew a long bladed knife from its sheath on his left thigh. He twirled the knife in his hand, intending to plunge it into Clint's right eye. Just as the knife stopped spinning, the Soldier raised his arm to strike, but the knife was blasted out of his hand with a small explosion.
He looked up to the sky to see Iron Man diving toward him at high speed. At that moment Clint connected the side of the Soldier's head with a back-handed fist and then kicked out with his feet against the man's thighs. The momentum was enough to dislodge the Soldier's grip on him and Clint hit the ground rolling and got clear as fast as he could. His fist had struck the side of the Soldier's head and activated the clasp that held his goggles to the mask assembly. As they came loose and threatened to impede his vision, the Soldier tore the goggles off.
As Tony came in close proximity he directed a pulse barrage at the Soldier. On impact, the multiple bursts disoriented the man long enough for Cap to get back into the fight.
Steve approached Barnes from behind with his shield held up in front of him for protection. Just as he got within arm's reach of his friend, the Soldier sensed his presence and spun around blindly with a knife in hand. 'How many knives does this guy carry?' Steve thought briefly. As the blade came down, the shield came up, and the two super soldiers found themselves in a duel that neither would win.
As Cap did his best to hold off the Soldier's attacks, Steve kept thinking about the last time they fought, on the bridge. Bucky had always been a good fighter, but usually he was using his skills to defend Steve, not end him. The super soldier serum and brainwashing only made Bucky Barnes that much more dangerous.
He also knew that the reason the Soldier always got the upper hand on him was because Steve would pull his punches… the Soldier didn't. The Winter Soldier had no reason to feel mercy or compassion nor a need to hesitate in his actions. These people were his enemy and they were trying to stop him. That's all he needed to know. He was strong and fast and deadly and he used it all to try to take them down.
Steve, on the other hand, didn't want to hurt Bucky; even as the Soldier. This was his friend, not his enemy. He had to try to get through to him now, before anyone on the team had to take him out permanently or he takes one of them out. As Barnes attacked him again, this time Cap could see the steel blue eyes of his childhood friend. Those eyes used to be full of love and life; now they showed only anger and hate. He used all his strength to push the Soldier away and get some distance between them.
"Bucky… please stop. Listen to me!"
"Perestan' govorit' I srazhaysya!" -Stop speaking and fight!- The Soldier spoke through the mask. His voice was unrecognizable to Steve.
"I don't speak Russian!" Steve told him. "Talk to me, Bucky! In English! You speak English!" Steve pleaded with him.
"Stop calling me that!" the Soldier yelled as he kicked out at Steve. His voice was slightly muffled coming through the slitted vents in the mask.
"That's your name!" Steve tried to tell him as he deflected the kick and spun back around to keep him in sight.
"No, it's not!"
"You're my friend! We've been friends our whole lives!" Steve told him as he brought the shield up to deflect a blow from the metal arm. The sound the arm made on impact with his shield was deafening
"Shut up!" the Soldier screamed and swung the knife, nearly slicing Cap across the chest but Steve shifted the shield enough to deflect the attempt. "I don't know you!"
"Yes, you do! You've just forgotten."
"No!" Each time the Soldier denied the truth of what Steve was saying he lashed out at him with a physical attack. He charged at Steve and threw punches and kicks that Cap had to deflect quickly. He caught a foot in the rib cage and it almost put him down, but he managed to stay on his feet. He held the shield in front of him with both hands now in desperation.
"Yes!" Steve continued to plead with the unrecognizable, but oh-so-familiar man in front of him, "You're name is James Buchanan Barnes. They made you forget who you really are. Hydra took that away from you! They took away your freedom and your life! Bucky- please," Steve nearly begged of his old friend.
The Soldier shook his head slowly, refusing to believe… refusing to even try to believe that who he was now was not who he was ever meant to be. He stood before the Avengers, his chest heaving as he gasped for air through the mask. His gaze dropped as he searched his memories, as limited as they were, but he saw nothing of any former self.
"You're my friend," Steve told him and the Soldier's gaze shot back to him with an intensity that was palpable. "You're my best friend, Buck. You have always been my best friend. Please -"
The Soldier averted his gaze. His thoughts focused inward, trying to find even the smallest inkling of recognition of the person this man wanted him to be, but there was nothing except The Soldier for him to find.
"You're wrong!" the Soldier declared and drew his automatic pistol from its holster in a lightning fast move that surprised Steve and he was just a second too slow to bring up the shield. As fast as the Soldier drew on Cap and fired, Ironman was just one step ahead of him.
The scarlet and gold armor of the Ironman slammed into the Soldier like a missile dropping out of the sky. The impact surprised even Steve who never saw Stark flying toward them with the sun at his six. Tony latched on to the Winter Soldier, lifting him into the air. The Soldier wrestled with the Ironman until he was able to twist around in his grasp. He reached up and wrapped his bionic arm around the Ironman's head and began to squeeze.
A pop and sizzle inside his helmet told Tony that something wasn't right. "Friday?"
"It would appear, sir, the suit has come into contact with a vibranium object. A plasma discharge is building," Friday informed him.
"Okay," Tony realized this was not a good situation at all. If the Soldier's arm is made of vibranium, his suit would release a plasma discharge that would kill both the Soldier and he, trapped inside the suit. Another loud pop and a tightening sensation inside his helmet caused him more concern.
"Helmet integrity failing. Crush pressure limit nearing maximum entropy. You must dislodge him," The AI built into his suit replied.
"Yep, I got that part," Tony agreed.
Through his visor, Tony could see the gleaming metal of the Soldier's bionic arm curved up around his helmet. He realized that the Soldier had him in a deadly headlock and was using his bionics to crush the protective helmet around his head. The Soldier, of course, had no idea that the Iron Man suit, when in contact with vibranium metal, produces dangerous and lethal levels of plasma energy.
Tony had the Soldier wrapped in his arms and now tried to push him away; but he was hurtling like a rocket through the air a couple hundred feet above the ground, and the Winter Soldier's arm was like a vise around his head.
Tony pulled back his right arm and angled his palm toward the Soldier's torso and fired. The energy pulse hit the Soldier's sternum at point blank range and he cried out in pain and rage. He twisted his body around Stark's shoulders and maneuvered his legs up and around Tony's body. Encircling his legs around Tony's hips he tried to drag the metal man to the ground.
As he lost altitude quickly, Tony realized the only way to save himself, and detach the Soldier at the same time was to ditch in the water. Tony changed his trajectory and now headed toward the reservoir nearby.
Lake Varazdin was a large body of water on the Drava; formed by a wide flat dyke encircling it. The reservoir was so large that it was administratively divided between Medimurje County and Varazdin County in northern Croatia. The reservoir was bordered by three municipalities; Varazdin, Trnovec Bartolovecki and Cakovec and was a favorite spot for swimming, fishing and a variety of other water related activities.
As Iron Man flew out of the city limits toward the lake in the distance, Steve and the rest of the team raced toward the reservoir to hopefully be of service; whatever happened. Steve reached the dyke first, looking up to the sky to keep them in sight.
Falcon was in the air and close behind, trying to get close enough to be of any help to Tony, but the Soldier pulled a pistol from between his shoulder blades and fired a few rounds at Sam, causing him to veer away.
Circling back around to come at them from another angle, he tried to use one armored wing to swat at the Soldier. The Soldier reached out; trying to grab the metal wing and Sam pulled up quickly, not wanting a repeat of the last time the assassin got a hold of his apparatus. A few seconds behind Steve; Natasha, Hawkeye, and Banner appeared beside him at the railing.
"What's he doing?" Clint asked, unsure of what Tony was planning, as he angled further away from them.
"He's going to ditch in the water," Bruce replied.
"Be ready," Steve told them.
Wanda and Vision were watching from an elevated walkway half a block away; too far away for either of them to be of service. They had been lending assistance in the city to help guide civilians away from the area of danger.
Tony found himself over the water and tried his best to tuck his chin to angle for a dive, but the metal arm around his neck kept him from doing so. The Soldier's attention was split between the metal man-shaped rocket he was riding and the winged man trying to take him out.
"Sam! Get him off me!" Tony growled.
"I'm trying!" Sam replied.
"Try… harder!"
Sam steeled himself for the worst of what may be a bad decision. He tucked his wings and curved around into a shallow dive. Hitting the Soldier hard enough to nearly dislodge the man from Stark's back; Sam was sent into a somersault. The Soldier gripped Tony's shoulder with his bionic hand, to keep himself from being unseated from the armored man's back.
That movement freed Stark's head and allowed him to tuck his chin and go into a sharp dive. At terminal velocity, the Soldier barely had time to acknowledge the change in direction and turned his attention away from Falcon. He turned his face forward, just in time to get slammed into the water's surface at breakneck speed. The impact, like hitting cement, dislodged the Soldier who was rendered unconscious by the impact.
"Object dislodged," Friday informed him.
Tony slowed beneath the surface and turned to get eyes on his assailant. In the murky environment he couldn't see anything but silt and debris. He turned on his HUD and used the targeting system to try to locate the assassin.
"Friday?"
Working on it, sir."
"Tony!" Steve's voice rang out inside his helmet over the two way communications. "You okay?"
"I'm good," Stark replied. "Searching for your friend," he added hastily.
"Metal object detected… bio-readings detected…."
"Where?" Tony demanded.
"At your two o'clock position, twelve meters down and falling one meter per second."
"Great….." Tony replied sardonically and dove in the direction Friday indicated. Putting on the speed, his boot rockets propelled him through the murky atmosphere. A glint of metal through the murk and he aimed for it. Tony reached out and wrapped his arm around the Soldier's torso. The assassin was unconscious and Tony made speed to the surface, he prayed he hadn't just killed Cap's friend.
He breached close to the fishing docks and the team ran down to meet him. He struggled to keep the man's head above the water; his iron suit making it nearly impossible to maneuver his arms properly to do so. Steve saw Tony's struggle and vaulted off the dyke wall into the water to assist him; landing feet first in the water with Hawkeye right behind him.
"Take him," Tony instructed Rogers. Steve swam up to them and wrapped his arm around Bucky's shoulders, holding his chin up out of the water as he swam toward the small fishing pier. The others ran down to the pier, following Cap's direction of travel. Once on the fishing dock Natasha and Banner watched their teammates' progress, waiting for the opportunity to assist in pulling the unconscious man out of the water.
Sam landed on the dock, retracted the wings and moved to help his teammates. Kneeling on the dock, Sam, Bruce and Natasha reached down as far as they could. Steve made it to the dock and adjusted his grip; wrapping his arm around Bucky's torso and with his other arm he reached up to grab onto the pylon. Steve was able to pull himself and Barnes out of the water, trying to angle his friend toward outstretched hands.
"Grab him!" Steve said as he held the Soldier aloft as best he could with one arm. The weight of the man was completely unfamiliar to him. Bucky had always been strong and in good health; but his physical size and weight now, pushed it home for Steve just how much his old buddy had been altered. His teammates grabbed onto the webbed harness around the Soldier's chest and pulled him up onto the dock.
"Geez, he weighs a ton," Bruce ground out between clenched teeth.
Tony made it to the dock with little assistance from Clint and, as Steve pulled Barton up to the pylon so he could climb to the top, Tony took his leave of the two. He ignited his boot rockets to propel himself out of the water and landed on the dock behind the others.
As they pulled Barnes to safety, Clint climbed up the frame of the dock, followed by Cap. Once up top, Steve knelt beside his friend as they all looked down at the unconscious man. Steve reached out to pull away the long dark hair now plastered to the man's face.
Steve stared down at the mask hiding his friend's face. Natasha looked at him and realized he was hesitant about touching it so she reached out and unhooked the mask and pulled it away. She looked at the face covering up close for a moment and then handed it to Bruce. He immediately handed it off to Clint.
Now with the mask gone, Steve looked down at the familiar face of his childhood friend. Unconscious, his facial features were relaxed and gave him a peaceful appearance. Steve could see Bucky in that face.
"He doesn't look that dangerous now, does he?" Stark observed; offering a bit of dark humor as his helmet retracted to show his face.
Natasha, kneeling beside Barnes realized something was wrong. She leaned down close to his face and listened, watching his chest. She couldn't hear breaths and his chest wasn't rising.
"Roll him," she told Steve as she began to pull on Barnes' shoulders. "He's taken in water."
"That may be the least of his problems," Banner mentioned. "He'll be lucky if he didn't break his neck on impact at that speed…"
Steve looked up at Bruce with concern etched on his face then glanced at Tony. Stark, at least, had the good manners to look apologetic for his part in that, if that ended up being the case.
Following her direction, Rogers helped her roll Barnes onto his side. Nat rubbed his back and gave it a few blows. Water began to trickle out of his mouth and Natasha slapped him on the back a couple more times. He began to gurgle and cough, and water began to pour out. He coughed again and water exploded from his lungs. They kept his face angled toward the dock boards until the water stopped coming out so he wouldn't aspirate it again.
Once his airway was sufficiently clear they rolled him onto his back. The Soldier's eyes opened briefly and Stark energized the pulse weapon in his armor's right palm, aiming it at the supine figure. The Soldier's blue eyes settled on Rogers for a moment and then closed. Steve looked up at Tony, hearing the whine of his pulse weapon charging.
"Just in case," Tony said with a shrug.
"Let's get him home," Cap said and pulled Barnes by the arms into a sitting position, before lifting him up over his shoulder.
"You need help with him?" Clint asked, offering to help carry him.
"I got him," Steve told him and walked down the dock.
TBC