Winter's Redemption [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Nine

STEVE'S POV

At some point I must've dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I felt the tingling pain of a slap on my cheek. My eyes shot open and I found Natasha standing next to me, outside of the car. One look around told me that we were parked at a mini mall. Why on earth were we at a mini mall?

"Steve!" Natasha exclaimed, frowning. My eyes focused in on her.

"What the hell was the slap for?!" I asked, suddenly ticked off. She really needed to find nicer ways to wake people up. She ignored my tone, rolling her eyes.

"Tony assigned me to 'wake up Rogers' duty and, I kid you not, I've been trying to get your ass up for ten minutes." She hissed. Something told me that 'wake up Rogers' duty was not her favorite pastime. I shrugged.

"You know, I did sleep for seventy years," I replied. She cracked a sly grin.

"Yeah, which means you don't need any more. Now come on and get up, we have a long hike ahead of us."

I got up, grabbing my shield and followed her out of the car. We began walking in the woods, and I noticed there were two scorch marks on a tree. They looked suspiciously like marks from a certain arc reactor and I rolled my eyes at the sight of Tony's obvious laziness.

"You know, I'm not seeing any signs of civilization here. Where would he have gone?" Nat asked. I frowned and shrugged.

"I have no idea. Who knows what he remembers, or what's on his mind," I replied. Suddenly, our earpieces burst to life.

"HOSTILES!!" Tony yelled into our ears, instantly sending me into battle mode. I could hear gunshots and yelling, and suddenly a man appeared ahead of us, hefting a huge gun. I dove in front of Nat automatically, blocking us both from the onslaught of bullets with my shield. We crawled to the nearest tree and I stood up, standing over her smaller frame.

She got out her guns and began trying to hit him from behind the tree, and I threw my shield at his head, knocking him out. I ran and retrieved my shield, me and Natasha running towards the gunshots.

We dodged more bullets and hid behind another patch of trees, looking around and analyzing the situation.

"Ok. Twelve men in a circle around Tony and Sam. If we can take down at least three, the circle will be broken and we can turn the attention towards us," I said to Natasha, who nodded in response. "Leave at least two for questioning. I'm almost positive they are with Hydra."

Natasha nodded, reloading each of her guns.

"Be careful, Steve." She told me. I cracked a grin.

"Careful isn't really in my nature," I replied, and together we sprang into action.

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BUCKY'S POV

"Look, I need clothing. I have nothing left to wear except this outfit, which is bloody and torn and will definitely catch some unwanted attention. You need new clothes too. Why won't you come shopping with me?" Sarah asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously? You have to ask that? I have a metal arm. I've killed hundreds of people, possibly thousands. I'm a fugitive on the world's most wanted list and over half the world wants me dead," I fumed. I was incredibly reluctant to go anywhere where there might be lots of people- it was like willingly walking into a trap, and the more people there were, the fewer I could protect if someone came after me. "You really don't know why I don't want to go in public?"

Sarah's eyes turned soft, and she looked at me like I was a kicked puppy.

"Bucky-"

Anger coursed through me. "Stop! I don't want your pity! I'm sick of feeling sorry for myself!" I yelled, kicking the chair a little too hard. My foot went directly through the frame, and I yanked it back out angrily.