The Distance - A Bucky Barnes x OC Story

Prologue

Torfa, Outskirts of Greater Magellanic Cloud - 2025

Bucky looked up from his seat in the quinjet to see a mostly brown planet adorned by silver rings around it. The planet looked somewhat similar to Saturn. They had arrived at Torfa, a planet located on the outskirts of the Greater Magellanic Cloud. Part of the Sparta star system, the planet was fourth from its star, making it a habitable planet by beings similar to human beings. Like earth it had a large body of water, but the land was more barren than earth and consisted mostly of mountains, rocks and sand.

Sam steered the quinjet into a smooth landing on one of the four moons of Torfa. He didn't dare land directly on the planet yet before figuring out whether the inhabitants were friendly or hostile.

Bucky, Sam, Clint and Kate were on a mission to find the Forever Crystal. An object of immense power capable of manipulating timelines and realities. An object that could help them win the war with the Kree.

Wanda had gotten a vision where humans won the war against Kree, but she envisioned humans using the Forever Crystal. The object was last heard to be kept by Kang The Conqueror. But his whereabouts was not known. Carol had heard whispers of those who had worked or met Kang, but they all spread across the universe. So the Avengers split into five groups and spread across the universe in search for Kang and the Forever Crystal.

Bucky, Sam, Clint and Kate were in one group tasked to go to Torfa, where a Torfan was rumored to have met Kang.

"So, who wants to go down there and check the surroundings?" Sam asked as he switched some buttons on top of him, turning the quinjet machine off.

The quinjet was equipped with a small pod. They usually use it to land on a planet's surface because it was small enough and wouldn't be easily detected by the inhabitants of the planet. The pod was a special pod capable to launch itself from a planet's surface. So once the initial scouting was done they could use the pod to go back to the quinjet.

"I'll do it." Bucky said as he unbuckled his seat belt and stood up.

"You sure about that, Buck?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. I'm stiff from sitting down too long anyway." He said as he did some stretching.

"Okay. Let us know if you need any help." Sam said.

Bucky nodded and proceeded to put his ear piece on. He then went to the back of the quinjet and opened a storage box filled with weapons. He picked a small revolver and some knives and put them on holsters on his back and thighs.

"See you guys later." he said, turning to face his friends and saluted them.

"Don't kill yourself, Bucky." Sam teased.

Bucky rolled his eyes. After what happened in the past year he couldn't believe Sam could still tease him about it. He knew he was just joking but it still hurt because he really did think about killing himself. Especially after what happened to Adriana on that fateful day when the Kree attacked earth for the first time. But his friends had helped him get back on a healthier state of mind. He rarely had suicidal thoughts these days. Doing this mission helped distract him of thoughts of Adriana. He couldn't deny that he missed her so much. His only consolation was that she was safe from the war and most likely at peace looking down on him from the after life.

"Sam, how can you be so callous." Kate protested.

"Sorry, I just meant he should be careful. Don't want him to accidentally kill himself." Sam shrugged.

"You could've just said be careful." Kate reprimanded Sam.

"It's okay, Kate. I'm used to his cynical ways. I know he meant good." Bucky smiled and Kate blushed. He really loved looking at Kate and Kamala blushed whenever he smiled at them. It's not like he had feelings for them. There was no one that could replace Adriana. He was just flattered by their reactions and it helped make him feel better about himself.