The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter Seven: Throw The Whole Man Out

Bucky did not mean to listen in on their conversation. He couldn't help it. No matter how many times a gun had been fired by his ear, his hearing was more than good. It was unnatural. Which was why as he turned away from the door that Nonna had closed in his face he couldn't help but hear what Mara said. And once he heard, he couldn't stop listening.

Someone had tried to hurt her. She had gotten away, but she was clearly frightened by the whole ordeal. Bucky remembered how it was when he came crashing down from the adrenaline high that came from a fight. He felt like he would throw up his own heart. And the shaking. The shaking just would not stop. Years of fights had worn away his withdrawal symptoms, but Mara wasn't a soldier. She was a woman with trust issues that were clearly justified.

Bucky waited in the hallway until Mara's crying subsided. He quickly made his way down the stairs and towards the nearest bus stop. About a block from the apartment he found a trail of destroyed groceries. Nonna had mentioned that Mara was coming home from the store, but she hadn't been carrying anything other than her purse when she came in. Judging by the powder in her hair and the smashed food that littered the sidewalk, she had used the groceries to defend herself.

He followed the trail of dented cans, bruised fruit, and torn flour bags. It ended after a few feet, but Bucky spied a dusting of flour leading into an alleyway and followed it. There was a man sitting on the ground and leaning against one of the dumpsters, white powder all over his dark hoodie. Bucky slowly walked towards him. Rule Number One didn't apply to dealing justice. Rule Number Two had always been more of a suggestion. And Rule Number Three? Bucky didn't need to leave his name for this.

"Hey man," the hunched over figure said as Bucky neared him. "You gotta help me. Some kids, they jumped me, smashed my food." Bucky stopped and stood over the man, looking down at him with disgust. The man looked up at him, his palid face gleaming with sweat. Bucky removed his glove before reaching down and plucking the man's wallet from his inside coat pocket where it had been peeking out. The man watched him with wide eyes.

"Do you like scaring women, Tanner?" Bucky asked, reading the man's name from his ID. "Do you like making them think they're going to die in a back alley?"

The man looked up at Bucky, his eyes large with fear as he stared at the metal hand holding his drivers license. "I- I don't know what you're talking about," he said breathlessly. Bucky laughed

"Right, a bunch of kids are the reason why you got hit over the head with a bag of flour," he scoffed. He pulled out the cash in the wallet, counting it before frowning and adding several twenty dollar bills from his own wallet. "Listen, man," he began. "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf here. Stop beating the shit out of people who piss me off and all that." He pocketed the wallet. "But you know who pisses me off more than anything else in this world?"

The man shook his head, his breath hitching. Bucky squatted so that they were looking each other in the eye.

"People who use their power to punch down. You know what I mean when I say punch down?" He paused and cocked his head, staring down the almost crying man before him. "I mean asshats like you who follow women carrying groceries off of their buses because they think they'll be an easy target. Tell me, was she an easy target?"

"I- I-" the man began to protest but Bucky put his metal hand over his mouth, shushing him.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," he said, smirking. "And listen, I think getting the shit beat out of you by a woman using a grocery bag as a bludgeoning object is a pretty good punishment for the stunt you tried to pull. But then again, you're still alive which means you might not have learned your lesson." Bucky squeezed his hand a little tighter around the man's lower face. "Have you learned your lesson?"

The man began to cry and nod his head. Bucky glanced down and realized with satisfaction that the man had soiled himself. "Yeah," Bucky removed his hand and sighed. "I don't believe you."

He waited a moment in order to ensure that what he had just said registered in the man's mind. Once the man started sobbing and begging for his life, Bucky wound back and clocked him in the side of the head, knocking him out cold. He stood and looked down at the slumped figure below him. The garbage trucks wouldn't be coming around until two days from now. Bucky scooped up the unconscious man and chucked him into the dumpster behind them. Judging by the smell there were several full trash bags to cushion his fall.

Bucky headed back towards Mara and Nonna's building. They had both made it clear that Mara was in no frame of mind to put up with strange men, and the last thing that he wanted was to make her night worse. As he neared their door he paused. Nonna was cooking something and talking to herself. The shower was running. Mara was probably trying to clean up from her ordeal.

He pulled out the wallet and looked at it's contents once more, memorizing the man's address. He thumbed through the bills, checking his math. It couldn't be too much or Mara would suspect that someone had added to it. It was better if she thought someone was just leaving his ID in case she wanted to press charges with the added bonus of having enough cash in the wallet to cover the groceries that have been destroyed. He placed it close to their door, hiding it behind the potted plant that they had sitting out.

Bucky took a step back and stared at his handiwork. He doubted Raynor would approve of his take on making amends, but it would have to do. He turned on his heel and walked away, slipping his glove back onto his metal hand.