Recollection ★ Bucky Barnes

Beautiful Alias, Ugly Actions

"Can I have a Coke?" he decided.

Marlena chuckled at him again before heading towards the kitchen. She thought his lack of knowledge regarding this strange, modernized society was absolutely adorable. Her excitement grew, though, when she realized that she would most likely be the one to teach him about it.

She hurried into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of Dr. Pepper out, along with a bottle of Coke and a small bag of potato chips. Once she had what she needed, she headed back out into the living room. Now that she and Bucky were alone and her brother was occupied for an extended amount of time, she could finally talk to him about this entire situation; it was what she had been waiting for since they left the museum, and she was more than thrilled that it was about to happen.

"Here ya go," she chimed as she handed Bucky his Coke.

He studied it for a moment before looking at Marlena who was now sitting down on the couch beside him, a bag of chips and a Dr. Pepper in her hand.

"I think these used to be in glass bottles," he mused as he opened it up, surprisingly enough with a single hand. Marlena narrowed her eyes due to his lack of left arm usage, but decided not to question it. The two had more important things to talk about.

"That they did, sir," she said as she sat her bottle of soda onto the coffee table in front of her.

She moved to grab the remote so she could switch the TV off, but the moment she saw the wreck in the Potomac flash across the flat screen she turned it up; her talk with Bucky could wait a few extra minutes. She had been trying her absolute best to follow the story regarding the situation with S.H.I.E.L.D., but she was either too busy taking care of Mason or too exhausted to even think about turning on the TV.

Bucky's entire demeanor changed as he realized what was now playing on the television. He had been avoiding everything for the past week for this sole purpose: he didn't want to be reminded of the mess the Winter Soldier had caused or the lives the Winter Soldier was responsible for, but something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, although he would have preferred it later rather than sooner.

"And there goes more of my taxpayer dollars to help clean up and reconstruct that mess," Marlena grumbled as she took a sip of her soda.

Bucky frowned at her words and sunk slightly in his seat, averting his attention towards the television screen where images of the wreck in the Potomac and the destruction of the Triskelion flashed across the screen. It wasn't long before a news reporter began speaking, making Bucky feel ten times worse than he already did.

"An estimated total of about seventy-three are confirmed dead after the incident that left three S.H.I.E.L.D helicarriers to lay waste to the Triskelion before plummeting into the Potomac River. Police officers and other rescue personnel are still working on salvaging the remaining bodies from the river as well as the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, so there is no definite amount of casualties as of yet," the reporter explained.

Marlena sighed sadly and pulled her knees to her chest and continued listening as the reporter spoke. She hated nothing more than watching innocent people die, or any living thing actually. She knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was a rather sketchy organization, but she believed the people who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. were good people whose intention was to protect the world—she didn't want to watch them die or hear that so many of them had been killed.

"We've been given new information, however, as to who is accountable for the countless deaths. Due to the recent events on social media networking, government officials have gathered enough information to suspect who they call the Winter Soldier. Not very many details have been given to us regarding the identity of the potential suspect other than the fact that he served as a highly skilled assassin for a terrorist organization known as Hydra. Police are asking anyone with information to speak up as soon as possible—"