DECADES OF LOVE ☾ bucky barnes

17 | bounty hunters

"I thought we were going to go left." Bucky exclaims.

"You guys went the wrong way!" Sam snaps.

"We were clearing the way!" Bucky argues.

"I came out first, so you were meant to follow me." Sam informs.

"And where are we now?" Bucky fires back.

"I'n out." Sharon shouts, ducking down as she drops the empty gun.

"Guys, right now isn't the time to be arguing." Keela tells them both.

"This is a barricade." Bucky continues, angered gaze resting on Sam still.

"It's in every action movie!" Sam says.

Nearby, a man is scaling the top of the containers with a purple mask that is unknown to the four due to the attention being towards the argument. He pulls his gun out and aims it as one of the tubes located down below beside the enemies, sending yet another explosion within the area. A blast of flames erupt out of it like a volcano becoming active from years of being dormant, sending a forceful blast into the atmosphere that knocks back people around it — all but the four hiding and the man in the mask seems to have survived it.

"Go." Bucky urges.

And so the four adults leave their hiding place with caution, keeping an eye out for more bounty hunters entering the area as they sprint through the maze of containers in a desperate attempt to escape without losing their lives. However, two of the hunters seemed to have slipped last without any of them noticing, weapons gripped in hand as bullets are fired straight towards the four. Keela instantly pulls open the nearest container and ushers her friends inside of it.

"Buck!" Keela shouts, trying to get him to follow them.

Bucky ignores her call, using his vibranium arm to rip off a metal bar from the container to use as a weapon — they no longer have guns for their own protection, so he had to resort to this. He turns around and smacks one of the men around the head with it, knocking them unconscious to which their body falls to the ground. Then, he lifts the metal bar over his shoulder and launches it into the air where it then impales itself into the woman's shoulder. Her face scrunches up as she groans loudly in pain, gun dropping to the floor.

Keela reaches forwards and grabs ahold of Bucky's hand where she then pulls him inside of the container. This keeps them hidden from more bounty hunters possibly arising and interrupting their path to safety, giving them more of a safer route of escaping. They walk through the darkness of the container before coming to a dead end and resulting in Bucky bursting open the door with a slam, using his metal arm to do so.

Tires are then heard pulling up alongside them as they exit the container, causing their heads to snap towards the sound. They find Zemo sitting there inside of a stolen car, looking peaceful and unharmed. It's almost like they didn't just go through the chaos of multiple of explosions and bullets being fired their way.

"Supercharged." Zemo comments.

"You're going back to jail." Sam sternly states, anger laced in his voice.

"Do you want to find Karli or not?" Zemo fires back.

"He's right. We need him." Bucky tells the others. "There's three of us and at least twenty of them."

"Fine." Sam gives in. "But if you try that shit again—"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Zemo informs, interrupting him.

"No, because I will beat your goddamn ass again and throw you in prison myself." Keela threatens.

Zemo nods. "Fair."

Sam opens one of the front doors and climbs into the passengers seat beside Zemo, which then leaves Keela and Bucky basing to sit in the back seats together. Sharon just stands around nearby, a small sigh falling out of her mouth as she glances between each one of them.

"Well, that was one hell of a reunion." Sharon comments.

"Come back to the States with us." Keela says.

"I can't." Sharon replies. "Sam, just get me that pardon you promised."

"Thanks for everything." Sam tells her.

✦ ·  ·  ·  · ──────────── ·  ·  ·  · ✦

The group, excluding Sharon, can now be found sitting back on the private jet that they first travelled to Madripoor on. Zemo is pouring himself more alcoholic drinks to treat himself after that fight they just put on, listening to Sam phone Torres and inform them about Donya Madani — a woman that Dr Nagel had talked about before being murdered.

On the other side of the room on some double seated, Keela can be found seated upon it with Bucky right beside her as their bodies are extremely close together. A rag is gripped in one hand as she holds his metal arm in another, helping him clean the blood and dirt that's gotten trapped inside. Her actions are gentle and caring, his blue eyes focused her every action with warmth in his heart.

"Better?" Keela questions, watching him flex the vibranium fingers.

"Better." Bucky repeats. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Keela replies.

As she says this, the brunette feels brave enough to lean forwards and press a gentle kiss to his cheek where she then watches him melt slightly. She just smiles in response before tossing the rag to one side. Leaning back in the seat, Keela drapes her legs across Bucky's as she chews on some snacks Zemo's assistant provided for them. He just places a hand on top of her shin, holding her there as he turns his attention towards Sam.

"You okay?" Bucky questions.

"Yeah." Sam quietly replies. "Just thinking about all the shit Sharon had to go through. And Nagel referring to the American test subject like Isaiah wasn't even a real person. It just makes me wonder how many people have to get steamrolled to make way for this hunk of metal."

"Depends on who you ask." Keela tells him. "That hunk of metal saved a lot of lives."

"I get that." Sam says. "Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I shouldn't have put it in a museum. Maybe I should've destroyed it."

"That shield represents a lot of things to a lot of people, including me." Bucky states. "The world is upside down and we need a new Cap, and it sure as hell isn't going to be Walker. So before you go and destroy it, I'm going to take it from him myself."

Sam doesn't get a chance to reply at first, phone ringing in the pockets of his jeans. He pulls the device out to see that Torres is calling him back, causing him to accept the incoming call due to the importance that it would have. But Sam's face only falls at the information being given towards him, a sigh leaving his mouth before he hangs up.

"What's wrong?" Keela asks.

"They found Madani dead." Sam replies. "She died in Riga, a city near the Baltic sea."

"I have a place we can go." Zemo informs as he walks into the room, taking a seat. "I, for one, am looking forward to coming face to face with Karli."