Perfect Alliance (Bucky Barnes)

Part Eighteen

*I nearly wasn't going to post again until Monday bc I don't want to force anything, but this story just keeps rolling off of my fingers.... IT'S AMAZING

"You sure about this?" Steve asked Bucky softly, standing to the side of his medical bed. The brunette was dressed in a white vest, matching pants adorning his lower body. As Kat observed from the far side of the room, she thought he looked like an angel, soft and innocent. 

"I can't trust my own mind." Bucky returned, a resigned smile on his face. "So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing..." He looked toward the widow, who was battling with her emotions, a mix of anger and sadness welling in her chest. "For everybody." He finished, another sad smile lifting his lips. 

Steve nodded, placing a hand on his best friend's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I'll be right here when you need me, just like always, pal." Bucky chuckled, using his one arm to pull Steve into a hug. 

"Thank you, brother." He whispered, closing his eyes for just a moment. 

When Steve had left to speak with T'Challa, Kat stepped up to Bucky, her green eyes staring directly into his. "You know," she started, pursing her lips together before continuing, making Bucky chuckle quietly. "I really hate that you're doing this..."

"Kat-"

"But I get it." Bucky nodded, looking down to his hand. "And, I'm going to really miss you." Bucky couldn't help the grin that spread over his mouth at the words, his blue eyes lifting to meet Kat's once more. 

The woman was standing straight, but not her usual defensive posture, her shoulders were back but relaxed, her head cocked slightly. Her hair was pulled back from her face, a few bits straying from the band and dangling by her face. Bucky's hand lifted to brush them from her eyes, watching with fascination as Kat's skin blossomed in a pink blush. 

"I'm going to miss you, too." He whispered, curling his arm around her neck to pull her close, their lips already working together the second they touched. They kept it brief, even as Kat's eyes began to water. "Stay safe." 

Kat nodded, stepping back and watching the machine lift Bucky into the tube, his eyes closing as he was sent to sleep. A tear fell from her eye as a hand was placed gently on her shoulder, the woman already sensing Sam's presence. 

"You okay, kid?" Kat nodded, swallowing thickly as she raised her hand to sit atop of Sam's. "Need anything?" 

"Is there a gym in this place?" Sam laughed, turning Kat by her shoulder and wrapping an arm around her as they walked toward the ext. 

---

"Wilson, she's gone for the roof!" Kat called as she sprinted through the carriers, pushing people aside as she did so.

"Kira, I'm down," Kat groaned as the pushed the hatch open, lifting her body onto the roof, careful of her footing. 

The wind whipped around her, forcing her to lean forward to stop her from blowing away. The train tore though the mountains, the scenery beautiful, not that she had much time to notice. She grunted as she took a knee to the stomach, the blonde woman on the offense. Kat blocked another onslaught of hits, desperate to try and get them both into a carrier to make sure that no one fell the hundreds of feet to the ground. 

"Ty zbyrayeshsya vbyty nas obokh! (You're going to get us both killed!)" She shouted, the Ukrainian words falling from her mouth with ease. The woman growled as she spun on her foot, racing toward the back of the train. Kat took off after her, cursing Steve for even thinking going against the Ukrainian wing was a good idea. Finally, Kat managed to grapple for the woman, throwing them both down between carriers. Kat grunted as they hit the metal deck, the other woman already stumbling to her feet. "Ty zbyrayeshsya vbyty nas obokh." She muttered, jumping to her feet.

"Vy ne uyavlyayete, z koho robyte voroha! (You have no idea who you are making an enemy of!)" The woman sneered, stepping away from Kat who narrowed her eyes. "Vitay, Hidra." The blonde woman smirked, stepping back toward the ledge. 

"Wait!" Kat screamed as the woman leant backward, her body tumbling from the tracks. Kat sighed, her head tilting back as she tried to banish the images of what had happened from her mind. 

"Well, that went well." Sam commented as he dropped beside Kat, the woman turning to him with a bland expression. "What?" 

"If Cap wants Ukraine done, he can do it himself. They're so... agile." Kat huffed, bending at the waist, her hands on her knees. 

"Don't tell me you're finally getting some rust on those bones?" Sam chuckled, following Kat from the train as it stopped at a landing station just outside the Ukrainian city. 

"And what were you doing? Flying around with the rest of your flock?" 

"Funny, K." Sam rolled his eyes, getting into the passenger seat. 

Kat started the vehicle, sunglasses on her nose and a baseball cap adorning her head. She had made multiple comments to Steve about their severe lacking in the disguise department, but Steve had said that the classics had never failed him yet. Resulting in an eye roll from the widow. 

It had been nine months since they had escaped the raft, nine months since Bucky had been placed back in cryostasis. Kat had managed to finally open herself up to Steve and Sam, not completely, but she was able to at least show some emotion here and there. 

She and Sam had been working together taking down the stragglers of Hydra, mostly in Europe. It had meant that a lot of the time they were hiding from CCTV and local police, but it was also giving their muscles a stretch, after being cooped up in Wakanda for so long. 

"Shuri said that Barnes is getting close, that he's nearly ready." Kat nodded, pushing down the feeling of hope in her chest. "It's okay to hope, K." 

"It's not the first time she's said this," Kat said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't want to get my hopes up, like I did the first time." 

Sam grimaced as he remembered the rage induced 'temper tantrum', he called it. Kat had been told Bucky may only need a few weeks more in the tube, but weeks turned to months, and that made Kat furious. "Yeah, not pretty."

Shrugging again, Kat sighed. "It's just playing the waiting game for now." Sam smiled, nodding his head. In truth, he was really proud of how far Kat had come. Her expressions weren't always cold, she didn't seem distant and separated from everything and everyone around her. It wasn't as if she'd changed completely, she was still the same cool faced, controlled black widow, but now... she was at least slightly animated. 

"I'm proud of you, kid." Kat frowned, glancing at Sam with a raised brow. 

"Say that again, I'll throw you from the car." 

"Noted."