Road to War Part III: I Would For You

If I Could Be Somebody Else

The apartment is dark when he arrives, sneaking in through the window. Silently, he pads across the wooden floors to make sure it is as empty as it appears. Satisfied, he goes to the living room and sits down on the couch to wait. He doesn't know how long he sits there, alone with his thoughts, before the welcome sound of the door being unlocked brings him back to the present. Rising quietly, he moves to stand against the wall, out of sight.

The door opens and the lights are turned on in the entryway, shining into the living room where he stands. Footsteps can be heard in the front of the apartment, and he waits patiently until they approach his hiding spot. As soon as the figure comes into view next to him, he grabs her and pins her against the wall, covering her mouth with his right hand.

Her eyes are very wide at first, but then she glares at him and doesn't struggle. "I'm sure you have all kinds of security measures in place here. If I let you go, will you disable them?" he asks quietly.

Still glaring, she nods slowly, and he steps back. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demands, moving a few feet away and inputting a code on a wall-mounted keypad.

"I need your help, Sharon," he answers.

She turns to look at him, appraising. "For what?"

"For Steve."

Her eyes close for a moment and she nods. "Alright. What do you need?"

"Are you ready?" he asks Sam, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded over his chest.

Sam smiles up at him with a nod before getting to his feet. "Yeah, I'm all set. You're sure you want to do this?"

His mouth is set in a grim line. "After what he said today to those reporters... I need to talk some sense in him, and he's holed up in that helicarrier all the time now."

Taking a deep breath, Sam looks at him appraisingly. "Can you blame him?"

"For hiding? No. But I can for what he said. He doesn't get to decide when Steve needs someone to take his place. He doesn't get to say who will take up the shield if Steve... when Steve no longer needs it."

Sam nods. "Alright. But, Bucky, don't do anything stupid."

He smiles. "I'll try."

"Those security measures look pretty damn operational," Sam's voice buzzes in his ear. The wind is too loud to be able to hear him without comm devices.

He resists the urge to shift uncomfortably in Sam's grip. "I've got a friend in there," he replies, hoping that it's true.

Sam snorts, but maneuvers them closer to the helicarrier. It is at least as heavily armed as those they destroyed from Project Insight. But Sharon does what she promised, and they manage to land unharmed and unnoticed. The deck is empty of personnel, and hopefully the cameras are disabled, or they will have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Sam grumbles as he puts his wings away.

"It wasn't hard," he replies lightly.

Shaking his head, Sam takes off his pack and stashes it behind some crates away from the door. "Well, try not to get anyone killed in there. See you on the other side."

"Thanks, Sam," he says sincerely, shaking his hand. Sam nods, then heads out toward one of the quinjets. He'll make a nice distraction with it while he goes to find Stark, so he can't stick around to watch.

The corridors in the helicarrier are somewhat familiar, but he must retrace his steps twice when he gets lost. It's a big place. Avoiding the agents inside is also difficult, but he is more equipped to do that. He does wish he'd asked Natalia to help, though. The bridge is well-manned, but a quick glance convinces him not to linger, and he heads toward the quarters on the ship. Those are less populated, but, again, do not contain what he's looking for. So he heads down to the labs on the lower level. Success.