Destruction ━ Bucky Barnes [2]

23 ━ BAD HABITS

DESTRUCTION.
( chapter twenty-three. )

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"IF I ASKED YOU TO STAY, WOULD YOU?"

Andrea met Steve's gaze, "No."

His sigh cut through the silence. Tony had already left for Oslo, leaving the rest of the team to find Helen. A lack of response to their countless attempts to reach her was enough for them to decide to make a trip to South Korea.

They'd just arrived in New York to drop off Bruce at the tower. He deserved a reprieve from the field and she couldn't blame him for taking it. Their job wasn't easy and she could never delude herself into thinking it was. The consequences and the demands were enough to break a person.

However, Andy was a different case; she didn't know when to quit.

"If we do this, we do it together," Steve told her, "I don't want to look away one second and find you gone the next. Not again."

Andrea felt her resolve shake, just a little. She had never seen him look so pained. Not since that day on the bridge— not since Bucky. It still wasn't enough to stop her from wanting to make things right, but she faltered. Just for him.

  "'Til the end of the line," she promised.

  Steve nodded, taking the familiar words as a comfort. "'Til the end of the line."

  They left it at that while they prepared. Andy deigned for some breathe-able pants that were flexible enough to move in, pairing it with a long sleeved shirt. She wasn't exactly aiming to make herself recognizable, so ditching her suit was the wiser choice.

  From the selection of weapons, Andrea chose one of Clint's collapsable bows and a quiver full of special-grade arrows. Both designed for Avenger-use only. She figured if it came down to facing Ultron again, laying off her powers would be another smart choice. There was no telling what the effects of the antidote were and she wasn't keen on testing the waters so soon.

  Taking another glance at the weapons, she added a knife and a gun. It wasn't much, but they comforted her. There was a sense of security in being prepared. Best case scenario, she wouldn't have to use them.

Worst case... she would have to rely on her powers, regardless of the cost.

Once she was back on the quin-jet, Andrea took the rest of the trip as a chance to rest. She had already slept at the safe house, but the nap was still much-needed. Her body was exhausted. It took enough out of her to survive the poison, but healing it out of her system had done a number on her strength.