𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐄 | barnes¹

xxiv. letters from home

"Tell me about it," Lucy groaned, also crushed underneath Steve's bulky body.

"Sorry," Steve apologized, climbing off of them and going to stand at the end of the bed instead. A dorky smile was on his face as he outstretched his arms toward them, offering a gentler hug this time.

Lucy giggled and dove into his arms first, smiling as she felt Bucky's arms wrap around the two of them soon after. The trio embraced each other with a type of love that could never be replaced and laughed like they were still three clueless kids living in Brooklyn.

"What, you're just going to leave us out?"

Lucy, Bucky, and Steve all turned around to see Peggy and Howard standing in the doorway. They had clearly come with Steve to see if Bucky had proposed as he told them he would.

"Well?" Peggy asked, the anticipation nearly killing her.

With a wide smile on her face, Lucy held up her left hand, showing off the diamond that inhabited her ring finger. Howard and Peggy both threw their hands up and cheered, joining the hug to celebrate.

───

"What's all this?" Lucy asked Howard, her eyes immediately falling to the tables covered with weaponry as they entered the lab.

Bucky had gone to go help the Howling Commandos with a few things, promising to take Lucy to lunch right after he finished. Howard insisted that he had something to show her in the lab, so she reluctantly followed him into the facility and down to the basement level.

"Do you want to fight?" Howard asked her, leaning against one of the tables while intently studying her reaction.

His bluntness caught Lucy off guard. "What?"

Howard was one of the few people who knew about what had happened to Lucy and Bucky inside the HYDRA facility. He took some of Lucy's blood and tested it, the traces of serum found proving that Zola wasn't bluffing after all.

He looked at her with care, dropping his voice to a low whisper despite them being the only two in the room. "It's your decision but we've been training you for a while and now that you have the serum..." he trailed off, pausing for a long moment. "I think that you would benefit Steve's team. And it would give you the satisfaction of getting revenge against those bastards."

Did she want to fight? One part of her was terrified. Sure, she had the serum running through her system, but she didn't exactly know how to use it. She used to practice her weaponry with Peggy while she still worked for Howard, but after the incident with HYDRA, she hadn't picked up a gun since.

The other part of her itching to fight, itching to get her revenge for what HYDRA did to her and Bucky. And Howard was right, months of training and practice helped her become handy with weaponry, the very quality that helped her escape her restraints and take down two bulky men in Azzano.

"I... I don't know," she told him, the crease between her brows prominent as she contemplated the offer. "I should probably talk to Bucky about it."

Howard nodded in understanding. "Okay, take your time. But just remember that this is your decision. Not Bucky's. Not anyone else's. Yours."

"I'll think about it," Lucy promised him.

"Good!" Howard clapped his hands together. "If you do choose to fight, I've been working on some new weaponry and made a few things that I thought you would like."