the escapees || bucky barnes

XVII: nowhere to change

"Bucky?" I took a shaky breath. "No. No, you're not here. You're another illusion. A guard again. I TOLD YOU, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE SEX!"

My voice broke. I shuddered, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to get away from someone who was stronger than I was. I prepared myself for what I thought was to come next, but was caught off guard by a very real Bucky holding me closer to him.

"What did they do to you?" He murmured.

My breathing slowed as I realized that this was the real Bucky. Not some hallucination that HYDRA had made me see. He was here, and he was here for me. Then it hit me. Bucky couldn't be here. He was going to get caught. I couldn't be the reason that he did.

"No," I struggled in his arms, but he kept an annoyingly tight grip on me. "You can't be here, Barnes. You need to go."

"And you're coming with me," He tucked me closer to him, and broke into a run.

No matter how much I moved to get away from him, Bucky kept me in his arms, and that pissed me off. He was aggravatingly stubborn about making sure I got out of the HYDRA base with my entire body that he'd started to become careless about his wellbeing. I counted two bullets; one to the side and another to the shoulder.

I wanted to say something, to protest me getting picked up and carried like a child, but my world was spinning. The walls felt like they were closing in, and my head felt like it was about to explode. Have you ever had your head exploded? Well, imagine you go down to the bottom of the ocean, only to realize: Wow, I screwed this up. I can't get back up. The pressure would quickly kill you. Boom, head and life gone. That's what I felt like.

I brought my hands to my head and closed my eyes in a weak attempt to calm my headache. It didn't work. Instead, my screams began to fill the hallway. Bucky took notice in this and looked down at me, concern written all over his face. He stopped for a second, and that was almost the death of him and me. A bullet whizzed past his face, and he started to run again, dodging corpses of HYDRA agents that laid on the floor.

No amount of screaming that came from me made Bucky plop me down on the floor and leave. He seemed set on getting both of us out alive, a feat that would be amazing if actually accomplished. My fingers clawed at my scalp as more bullet holes appeared on the wall in front of us. Bucky was putting me out of the way as much as he could, though it was a bit hard with him trying to dodge bullets on top of it.

One thing was obvious; He was getting me out alive, whether that cost him his life or not.

A few minutes passed, and the only thing I heard was the alarm and the stomping of Bucky's boots. There was no gunshots, no guards, and no people in general. That is, until we ended up running into my good old friend, the ringmaster. Bucky slowed a bit when he saw him, though one look at me made him press forwards.

He was stopped by the ringleader, of whom tossed a dagger that embedded itself into Bucky's suit and pinned him against the wall. I had to admit, he was good at that. I was still having trouble moving, and my head was trying to murder itself, but I decided to channel my inner self-destructive tendencies. Shifting in Bucky's arms, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled out the knife. I tried my best to aim for the heart, and lucky me, I hit the man's neck instead. The point of the knife passed right through his jugular and pierced the bottom of his head.

Bucky started to walk past him, and the man looked up at me. He pointed at my neck, where the dotted line he'd drawn was still making me nervous. Smiling, he spat out one more biting retort before we left.

"We'll find you, and kill you."

"Not going to happen," Bucky retorted, hugging me tighter.

"That's what they all say," The man crumpled to his knees. "Hail HYDRA."

We didn't stick around long enough to find out if he was dead or not. I hope that he did die there, cold and alone. He deserved it, the little bastard. After keeping me in a below-freezing cell for days, not giving me food, and constantly sending men in to hurt me, someone as despicable as that deserved to feel what I had felt.

My head pain had begun to cease by the time we got out of the HYDRA base. Bucky clambered into the Quinjet and set me down on a bench. He sat down next to me, already starting to worry about my injuries and pain instead of his own. For gods sake, the man had his blood running down his side and he was worried about me. I watched as his eyes grazed my leg, and I was about to say something when he lightly touched a spot that I'd felt a bit of blank pain before.

My breath hitched when he did, and I realized that was the snap I'd heard a few hours earlier, when there was some testing being done on me. It took all my willpower not to shout out in pain, though a small whimper squeaked out. Bucky noticed and grasped my hand with his own as Sam walked through the front.

"Oh, thank god. Char, you're alright," He immediately moved over to my head, helping me sit up straight when I wanted to. "I was so scared when I saw the alert. Are you hurt?"

"Uh," I felt another sharp pain as I moved, remembering what Bruce had said about my injuries. "I think I may have broken something."

Sam took a deep breath in before going to get the first-aid kit. I doubted that would help with what I assumed to be a broken ankle, though it was nice to know that he was trying. Bucky shifted his hand to lay mine in his. He caught my eyes, trying to gouge some sort of expression from me.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" He whispered, closing his hand. "I can try to help."

"No," I stiffly said.

"Are you sure? I really do want to-"

Bucky was cut off by Sam setting down the box next to me, and crouching to see what was going on with my ankle. He pressed his lips together and pulled out a roll of bandages. Starting to wrap lightly around the break, he made sure it was tight enough to keep it in place but not cut off my circulation. Another figure came from the front, and a red-haired assassin sat down on the other side of me.

Smiling, Natasha let out a deep breath. "So, I suppose you're going to be in a bit of trouble, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I said, tightening my grip on Bucky's hand with every sharp pain. "Probably am. But hey, how bad could Tony possibly be?"

"Bad," Nat's face drew tight, trying to give me a supporting look. "He didn't realize you were gone at first. Though you were up in your room. Then the alarm came up, and he assumed it was a prank. Still doesn't know we're here and getting you."

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Nice to know that Tony couldn't be bothered to help me even when I raised the alarm, of which had been designed for situations exactly like this. Nevertheless, I could kill Tony once I was okay. Right now I had to focus on Sam finishing my wrap.

"There," He started to pack up the first-aid kit. "We'll get you to Banner as soon as we get back to the compound. I think we have better supplies there, though I'd say I didn't do too bad myself."

"Thank you, Sam," I said, trying for a smile. "So, Nat, anyone else come?"

"I'm here!" I heard Clint's voice sound out from the front, where I realized he was piloting the plane. I didn't even notice we were in the air.

"Yeah, that idiot's here," Nat rolled her eyes. "But that's about the extent of people who came. Bruce wanted to be here, but he decided to stay instead. Something about preparing the equipment? Took us a few hours to get here, since we're in California at the moment, but we're here. Had to sneak out."

I mouthed a silent oh, and felt Bucky squeeze my hand. I looked over to the man, and he smiled at me. He was trying to comfort me. That was nice. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and taking in everything that had happened in the past few days. It was disastrous, to say the least. I had a broken ankle, wounded pride, and a fractured emotional state. What a nice place to be in! At least I had friends that would take care of me, stitch up my wounds when need be.

At least I had my found family.