I actually had this and chapter 1 as one big chapter, but it was huge! No one has time to sit through that big a chapter in one hit, do they? Haha.

And for those that aren't familiar with how I right, I do a lot of mindless dribble before my chapters haha

You're welcome.

xo

Chapter 2

I've Had Better Days

Bucky walked through the streets of Bucharest on his way to the market stalls.

Lex had made him a really nice plum jam recently, so he thought he might buy some to eat as well as give some to her for the effort. "How are they? Are they good?" he asked the vendor. She nodded, smiling back up at him. He picked out some nice ones from the fruit stall, before paying and turning to return home.

He stopped as he heard the sounds of sirens in the distance. Even though he had been living in Bucharest for a year without incident now, the sound of sirens still made him anxious.

He waited with bated breath as the police car came speeding towards him, putting his head down for a moment as it passed him by, before he released his breath. His heart was racing, so he took a couple of breaths to calm himself down, before looking across the road to the news stand.

He'd made it a habit to buy a newspaper every day, so he could keep up to date with what was happening in the world, in particular, if HYDRA had reared their head again.

Today, as he looked at the news stand, he noticed the vendor was staring at him. He glanced away quickly, wondering if perhaps he was mistaken, but when he looked back he was certain the man was staring at him. Worse still, he recognised two emotions in the man's eyes.

Recognition. And fear.

Bucky furrowed his brow, before pulling his hat down a bit further, but it didn't shake the uneasy feeling in him currently.

He crossed the road, and watched as the vendor hurriedly left his stand, running away. Bucky arrived at the stand and quickly picked up a newspaper. There, on the front page, was a blurry surveillance picture of a man that looked exactly like him.

The headline read - 'The Winter Soldier strikes again.'

He quickly scanned through the story. A bomb had been detonated outside a political conference in Vienna, killing many, including the Wakandan King, T'Chaka.

Bucky's heart skipped a beat. He had been set up. He didn't take a second thought, hurrying back to his apartment. He needed to leave, before he had the authorities banging on his door, or worse, Steve Rogers.

Bucky hurried up the stairs of the apartment block, careful to keep his head down the whole way home.

Home. That was a lie. It wasn't his home. He didn't have a home. A home was a safe place. No where was safe for him. Or safe FROM him.

He stopped at his door, it had been forced open. He clenched his fist and grit his teeth, debating what to do next. He made up his him and silently pushed it open further, slipping inside and closing it quietly.

There, in his apartment, was Steve. He was dressed in his uniform. Captain America. He considered all the things he had read about Captain America in the Smithsonian, and he thought about all the things he could remember about Steve.

Someone must have been in communication with him because Bucky heard him murmur, "understood."

Steve slowly turned around to look at Bucky, one of his notebooks in his hand.

Steve looked nervously at Bucky, but he was certain he wasn't as nervous as Bucky felt. He stared at Steve, his heart racing a million miles an hour as he considered what he should do next.

"Do you know me?" Steve asked quietly.

Bucky considered how to answer him. "You're Steve," he replied. "I read about you in a museum."

Steve seemed distracted for a second, before he spoke again. "I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

Bucky bit his lip and glanced away for a moment. He looked back at Steve. "I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore."

"Well, the people that think you did are coming here now, and they're not planning on taking you alive," Steve warned.

Bucky grimaced, before giving a small smile. "That's smart, good strategy."

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck."

Bucky could hear the sounds of many footsteps and bodies preparing outside his apartment door. He wondered if Lex was home, he didn't want her to get caught up in what might happen next. He heard the sound of weapons flicking from safe to action.

"It always ends in a fight."

Steve took a step towards him. "You pulled me from the river. Why?"

Bucky felt his adrenaline beginning to increase dramatically, as he remembered the day well. It was the day the hazy cloud had started to lift from his mind. "I don't know."

Steve looked at him pointedly. "Yes, you do."

He didn't have a chance to respond. There was a crash as an incendiary grenade was thrown through the window. Bucky was quick to kick it towards Steve on instinct, turning away before it could explode. He heard the muffled bang as Steve placed his shield over it as it exploded.

Bucky saw more bodies moving outside his apartment windows and lifted a mattress over him to shield from shots fired from outside the window, before picking up the table and flinging it at the front door, causing the table to wedge into the door frame.

Steve pulled the rug from beneath another police officer that had swung in through a window, sending him flying backwards, while Bucky slammed another into a wall.

"Buck, stop!" Steve shouted. "You're going to kill someone!" He moved to grab Bucky, but Bucky threw him to the ground. He balled his titanium hand into a fist, before slamming it down.

"I'm not going to kill anyone."

He had shattered a floorboard near Steve's head, reaching in and pulling out a backpack he kept packed with important documents, ready to go in case something happened.

Something had clearly happened. He threw the backpack out of the window, sending it flying onto one of the adjacent buildings.

Shots were fired through the back door, and Steve covered both himself and Bucky with his shield. Bucky took the opportunity to knock Steve forward, forcing him into the police officer.

He turned then as more cops broke through the front door finally, shooting at him, he was quick to bring his titanium hand up, the bullets shearing away his glove as they ricocheted away, before slamming the cop responsible into his shelves.

He could hear Steve fighting more cops behind him, and opted to head down the hallway instead.

He punched through the wall beside his front door, knocking out one cop before he burst through and began fighting through the large number waiting there.

Just as he knocked one into the wall adjacent Lex's door, it opened.

"What the hell is-" her voice trailed off as she saw Bucky and looked at the carnage at her feet. "Bucky?"

A police officer went to grab her and push her back inside, but she was quick to grab his hand, twisting it and causing a sickening crack, before she kicked the rifle he was holding up so it fell from his hand and pulled him forward fiercely, knocking him into her door.

Her movements were quick and proficient, and she looked from the police officer back to Bucky with a questioning look. "Are they here for you or me?" The question had Bucky stare at her for a moment, trying to understand what she meant.

"We've got a third hostile," a police officer said into his radio, drawing Bucky's attention to him. He saw him raise his rifle at Lex and immediately stepped in front of her, kicking out at the officer with such force he went flying into the wall on the opposite side of the stairs.

"Come on," Bucky said, grabbing Lex's arm and dragging her along behind him. Together, they fought their way down the stairs. She held her own easily, ducking and weaving as police tried to stop her. She was also incredibly flexible and agile, moving quickly and jumping from officer to officer within seconds of disarming and subduing them.

They weren't moving fast enough though, more and more police officers were coming through. He looked to Lex, who must have had the same thought as she turned to look over the banister. Just then, a police officer dropped down on a zip line in front of her.

Bucky saw her smirk, before she launched straight at him, an elbow connecting with his nose with great force, while her legs wrapped around his body. She used her momentum to swing down and while still holding onto the officer with her legs, swung her body upside down as they dropped a few levels down. She grabbed onto another banister and released the officer's body with her legs, swinging into the stairwell below and smashing into several police officers at once.

Bucky was mildly impressed, before he too jumped down, catching the zip line and swinging down to her, where she was proceeding to subdue several officers on her own.

Clearly, she hadn't told him something.

Bucky grabbed an officer that ran at him, punching him once, before throwing him over the banister. He looked down to see Steve catch the officer a level down, before looking up wearily at Bucky. "Come on, man."

Bucky and Lex jumped down a couple more levels, but Bucky wasn't as nimble as Lex, as she easily leapt onto the banister at her desired level, before jumping onto the landing. He caught the banister with his titanium hand, a shout of pain leaving his lips as it jarred at his shoulder, his weight shearing it away from the floor.

She turned around quickly, reaching out for him. She furrowed her brow when she noticed his metallic hand, but took barely a second to recover from the surprise as she grabbed him and began to hoist him back up onto the landing.

"Come on, this way," she said, running down a corridor as several officers ran towards them from the stairs ahead of them.

He followed her quickly and saw that that the corridor opened up to one of the balcony floors of the apartment block. "Lex..." he warned.

"Jump!" she shouted, as she did so herself. He planted a foot onto the balcony wall and pushed off, sailing over the street below.

He saw Lex land and roll several times onto the roof of the opposite building, lying still for a minute, as he easily landed with a tuck and roll.

He scooped up his bag that had landed not far from them when he had thrown it out the window, before running towards her as she stiffly began to roll to one side. "I am really not designed to pull stunts like that, these days."

As he approached her, he was knocked aside roughly, rolling to his feet and looking back in surprise. He turned to find a man dressed in what appeared to be a fitted, all black armoured suit, with what appeared to be a cat's face on his helmet standing between him and Lex.

"What the hell?" Lex groaned, struggling to her feet.

The man in the cat suit extended his fingers and metal claws appeared. The man ran at Bucky, with sweeping kicks and slashing arms. Bucky tried to fight back but was kicked into a wall. His attacker swiped his claws and spun through the air, Bucky leaned back and narrowly avoided being slashed, before reaching for a metal bar and holding it up to protect himself from the sharp claws.

Bucky managed to push him away, but the man kicked away the metal bar he had used, before continuing to try and slash away at him with his claws. Bucky ducked and weaved, trying desperately to avoid being struck.

He lunged at Bucky again, claws aimed straight for his throat, but Bucky grabbed his wrists and held them at bay, although it took a great effort. Behind his attacker he could see a helicopter hovering in the distance, seeing a soldier fire a machine gun from the chopper. The ammo bounced off his attacker's armoured suit.

Bucky focused back on his assailant and tried to force him backwards, but he was strong. Suddenly, Lex launched herself onto the man's back, wrapping her legs around his upper body, before flipping herself backwards. The man was pulled away from Bucky, as she flung him backwards.

As she did so, she released the man, and he flew away from them, nearly landing at the edge of the rooftop. She quickly scrambled back to her feet, moving to stand beside him. "Bucky, I don't know how I feel about your mates."

"He's not my mate," he replied, regathering his bag and slinging it onto his back. "Come on."

He turned and ran again, jumping down a level to the next building, Lex quick to follow. They kept running until they got to the end of the building, Bucky jumping down and landing in the street.

He looked back to see Lex had hesitated. "Lex!"

"Keep going, I'll try and slow this guy down!" She said turning away from him. "Go!" He stood waiting for a moment, contemplating going back to get her, but he heard sirens approaching and quickly turned and ran.

Lex wasn't the one they were after, even if she did get caught, surely her crime would only be minor. He could always try and get her out too, if he managed to get away that was. He'd owe her that much. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing both the strange man and Steve pursuing him, and wondered if Lex was okay.

Bucky jumped down through an opening and landed in an underpass, turning and continuing to run through the traffic. The man in the black armour and Steve both dropped down and chased after him. Bucky clenched his teeth and kept running.

Some tactical police SUVs were also pursuing them, calling out for them to stop, but it just made him run faster. He was currently out running cars, occasionally running over the top over them in a bid to get ahead. He didn't look behind him, focused on dodging traffic.

He reached a fork in the road, seeing oncoming police cars ahead of him and quickly detoured, leaping over a barrier and onto the other side of the road.

As he continued running he heard the sound of a motorbike speeding up behind him, he glanced over his left shoulder to see Lex, riding quickly through the traffic and giving a wide berth to the man in the armoured suit.

She caught up to him, taking one hand off the handle bars and leaning towards him. He was quick to catch her hand, and she used the momentum of her speed to swing him onto the back of the bike. She continued to speed away.

Bucky glanced back over his shoulder, to see Steve was keeping on his tail with their mystery attacker holding onto the back of the 4x4 Steve was driving.

"Bucky, who the hell are these guys and what's their damage?" Lex demanded as she wove in and out of the traffic.

"You shouldn't have got involved, Lex," he answered ruefully, looking forward again.

"Now you tell me," she said through gritted teeth. "Sorry, I've kind of got an affliction to having a gun shoved in my face." He could hear the sarcasm in her voice and it made him give a small smile.

They all rocketed through another underpass. As they came out the other side, Bucky looked back again, just in time to see the armoured man leap off the front of the 4x4 towards the motorbike.

"Hang on!" Bucky shouted to Lex, catching the man and flinging him over his head.

"Shit!" Lex shouted as the bike leaned down on its side. Bucky reached around Lex with one arm to grab onto the handlebars, before kicking his assailant away. He straightened the bike upright, and Lex continued to ride on.

"Are you okay?" he shouted as Lex continued to weave in between cars.

"Well, I've had better days, I'm not going to lie!" she shouted back. She glanced over her shoulder to look behind them. "Bucky, at this rate we aren't going to outrun them, that guys suit seems to be powered and the other guy... well..."

Bucky pulled his backpack to the front of him, pulling a small detonating device he had put together for emergencies.

He looked back over his shoulder. "Whatever you hear, keep driving."

"What?"

"Just do it."

Bucky threw the sticky bomb and it attached to the roof of the underpass, taking only a couple of seconds until it blew up. The ceiling of the underpass began to crumble and collapse, bringing down tonnes of rubble. The man in the armoured suit leapt from the man wearing the winged jet pack he had been hanging onto, throwing himself at Bucky and Lex.

"Watch out!" Bucky shouted, leaning forward and grabbing Lex around the waist with his titanium arm. The man knocked them both from the bike, Bucky holding tightly onto Lex as he fell to the road, being cautious to try and make sure she didn't hit the pavement too hard.

Steve swerved the 4x4 through the rubble, leaping out and pulling the armoured man away from Bucky as he tried to attack him again.

Bucky rolled as the man was pulled from him, releasing Lex who groaned as she tried to get to her hands and knees. She was bleeding from her elbows and had a small cut on her cheek. Steve stood between Bucky and the sleek and muscular armoured man, facing off as Bucky stood up.

Armed police arrived, surrounding them with their weapons drawn and poised on them.

Before anyone could move, War Machine appeared, dropping between Steve and the armoured stranger.

He aimed both his arm cannons and a few extra weapons in his arsenal at all four of them. "Stand down, now."

Bucky moved to stand next to Steve, as he put his shield back onto his back, not saying a word.

"Congratulations, Cap, you're a criminal," War Machine said sardonically.

"Wait... what?" Lex asked suddenly, struggling to her feet and trying to stand near Bucky. She collapsed to her hands and knees and Bucky went to help her, but the police moved in, forcing him to his knees beside her. "A criminal? You mean he was trying to help you?"

"Sorry, Lex, you weren't supposed to get involved," Bucky said apologetically, as the police surrounded them both.

Bucky looked to the stranger. He was raising his hands above his head and retracting his claws. He slowly reached for his head, before removing his helmet.

War Machine looked at him, before lowering his weapons trained on him. "Your highness."

Bucky was pushed down to the ground, his arms pinned behind his back, but he didn't fight back. He glanced sideways at Lex.

Police surrounded her too, forcing her arms behind her. "Ow! Do you mind?" She elbowed one of the armed police officers in the head, earning her a baton to her ribs. "Ugh."

"Just do as they say, Lex, don't get yourself in anymore trouble on my account."

"Don't flatter yourself, Bucky," she retorted as she was pushed to the ground, causing him to look at her in confusion.

xo

Krayzee