The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter Eighty: The Soldier Always Completes His Mission

Before he had been anything else, Bucky had been a tactician. It was why he was promoted to Sergeant over three years before he was due for the rank. It was why he was the defacto leader of the Commandoes behind the scenes, even if Steve was the one who got the credit in the news reels. And it was why he had made a damn good assassin without Hydra having to tell him any more than who he was supposed to kill. No matter where he was or what was happening around him, Bucky had been a tactician first and foremost.

But now being a tactician was secondary to being a man in love. And try as he might to assess his surroundings and make a plan, Bucky could not focus on anything other than Mara. He should have been watching Movoniv pace and wave around the remote control in his hand. But all he could see was Mara's bloody face in the reflection of the window. He should have been listening to Movoniv switching back and forth between English and various Slavic languages as he ranted and raved against Zemo, and the Supreme Leader, and anyone else who had crossed him. But all he could hear was Mara's gasps for air behind him and her breathless whispering of his name over and over again like it was the only thing keeping her from succumbing to her pain. And he should have been thinking about how in the hell he was going to get them out of this alive. But all he could think about was how she was going to die because of him.

"The Supreme Leader is afraid of progress!" Movoniv raged. "He knows I am smarter than him! He knows I could bring my country out of the shadows and into the light! But he knows the people will reject him if they see him for the weak fool he is! So, I am the one who is cast out! Me!"

Bucky watched the madman storm back and forth in his peripheral vision. He made eye contact in the window's reflection with Mara. She tried to smile at him, but all he saw was the thin stream of blood coming from her mouth. She must have bitten through her cheek.

"I will show him! I will show all of them! Once I have killed the Supreme Leader, I will take charge! I will bring a new age to Latveria!"

"So, he- he's crazy," Mara whispered with a voice so weak only someone with superhuman hearing could make it out. Bucky nodded slightly.

"How badly are you hurt?" he asked, now watching Movoniv only to ensure their captor didn't hear him speaking. But the man was too engrossed with his own brilliance to notice.

"I've ha- had wor- worse," she lied.

He frowned.

"Don't- t worry about m- me. Worry abou- out y-you," she stuttered out, the pain of dozens of volts of electricity not enough to keep her from putting his needs above her own. The words were halting, but he knew it wasn't because of brain damage. At least, not yet. The more likely culprit was her muscles spasming from the pain and residual electricity. Bucky remembered being electrocuted so badly his jaw muscles clamped shut and he couldn't even scream. Yet here she was, talking and trying to convince him to forget about her and keep himself alive. God love her, she would let herself die for him.

The pain she must have endured before he'd gotten there- He could hear her screaming from over a hundred feet away, and when he'd made it to her side the sight of her in the damn chair had taken over his mind. It hadn't been strategy when he tried to break her free from the chair with only his hands and not a single thought as to whether the electric current flowing through the restraints could kill him. It hadn't been strategy that made Bucky surrender when Movoniv had stepped forward and said Mara would die if he did not. And it certainly hadn't been strategy when he knelt to the ground and raised his hands in defeat to the sound of Mara begging him not to. But those had been the fastest ways to protect her, and that was all that mattered.

Keep Mara safe. That was the mission objective. Keep Mara safe, no matter the cost. And pray she could forgive him for paying it.

"He- he can't-t make you the- the- Wi-Winter Soldier aga- again," Mara said as firmly as she could considering she was still shaking from the pain. Bucky resisted the urge to lean back and rest his head against her spasming fingertips. The movement could attract attention, but he wanted to provide her with some comfort. Some grounding reassurance that he was there, and he was going to get them out of this.