[2] instability ▷ bucky barnes

[7] ▷ language

AT about 11:30 that night, Artemis and Brexa left Cruzky's in a messy heap of broken tables, broken glass, and slippery, wet floors of alcohol. The two walked side by side down the occasional ally that led to Artemis' apartment, Brexa wincing every once a while at her busted and bruised lip.

"The man may have been a pussy but he had a mean swing." Brexa said, touching it out of instinct, immediately wincing afterwards. Artemis smirked from beside of Brexa, taking the cigarette from her mouth and blowing the smoke out before saying, "So that's why you had a look of sheer terror on your face when he stood over you? Because you thought he was a pussy?" Artemis tried her best to hide the laugh.

Brexa only rolled her eyes. "You know, if you weren't who you were I could definitely punch you so hard right now." Artemis only chuckled at that and so did Brexa. The two were too into their time of actually getting along that they didn't even realize the man watching them from the shadows, crouched down behind a blue trash dumpster.

If Artemis would have felt his heat signatures, she would have taken him out then and there, but she was too occupied to use them, which was a stupidity of hers.

The two made it back to Artemis' apartment, still chatting and Brexa occupying Artemis to where she never even heard the heartbeat trailing them.

Once the two walked into the building and up to Artemis' apartment, the man stood watching them, waiting until a light was cut on in the corner of a room on the 2nd floor. At that, the man smiled in triumph, pressing his finger to his ear as he turned and walked away.

"I found the whereabouts of Sin, and there's someone special with her." He spoke in a hushed voice, and a female voice came from the other line.

"Barnes?" She spoke, her red hair falling into her eyes as she pressed her own finger to her ear to speak back.

"Not quite. Sin called her Brexa, but I know that face. She went down in Hydra history." The man spoke again as he passed under a dim lit street light.

"Well? Who is it?" The red head asked, her patience wearing out by the second.

"Most of the intelligence committee called her Angel X. She's a wanted criminal now since the Black Widow released all of our information onto the Internet, but you know her. You nearly worked alongside her many, many years ago; you, Barnes, and Sin, but she refused." Hearing that, the red head balled her hand into a fist, her teeth clenching as the memory of her face resurfaced.

"I know her." And with that, the ginger took the ear piece from her ear and dropped it on the ground beneath her feet, then stepped on it to earn a crunch of plastic, metal, and sound.

***

"Bucky, you have to get some sleep." Steve said, attempting to lay a hand on his best friend's shoulder, but Bucky moved before he could, shaking his head in refusal. "I'm so close, Steve. I know I am." Bucky rambled, his voice wavering as he spoke. Steve pursed his lips sympathetically.

"I know you are, but you need sleep. Sleeping will arrange your brain back into its right place. When was the last time you actually rested anyway?" Steve asked, now looking at the messy bedroom of Bucky's. Bucky shrugged his shoulders as he simply replied, "Five days." Upon seeing Steve's wide eyes, Bucky quickly defended himself in saying, "I've gone nearly two weeks without sleeping, I'm sure I can handle five days without it. Plus whenever I close my eyes I see shit that I don't want to, so I'd rather not sleep." Bucky said.

Steve sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, you want to look for Artemis? We'll look for Artemis. But if you lag, I'm making you go to sleep." Steve said sternly, and a laugh echoed out of Bucky's throat.

"The old you would never have threatened me like that." Bucky said, and Steve smiled lightly as he took the coat off of the back of the chair, tossing it at Bucky who caught it with curious hands. "Well, I'm a big boy now." Steve joked as he walked towards the door.

He stopped at the door frame, turning back to Bucky with raised eyebrows. "You coming or not?" Steve asked. Bucky only smiled lightly as he walked towards Steve, shaking on his coat in the process.

The two spent a couple of hours searching around Brooklyn before stopping to grab a bite for lunch. They walked into a low, run-down looking place that looked like it needed a freakish amount of service. The two super soldiers ate there just to make sure no attention was drawn to them on their break.

"You really love her, don't you?" Steve asked, wiping his hands on the napkin after finishing the fries that he had ordered alongside his bacon cheeseburger, which he gobbled up in under 2 minutes.

Bucky pursed his lips as he played with the fry in his hand, rubbing it into the ketchup on his plate continuously. "Obviously," Bucky replied lightly, no humor laced in his voice. Steve sighed.

"I know how love goes, Buck. We'll find her, you just have to be patient. Maybe she's trying to work things out her own at the moment, but we will find her, and if she doesn't want to come back right now, just give her the space she needs. She died, for Pete's sake." Steve defended and Bucky sighed, dropping the fry and leaning back in his chair.

"I'm just worried about her, Steve. What if she's out there starving, or sleeping in a box somewhere? I know she's not that poor in strategy but you can't blame me for thinking that way." Bucky fought back, now crossing his cloth covered arms over his chest, the leather glove over his metal hand clenching over the bicep of his other arm.

"I get that. But I have a feeling we're close to her. Hell, maybe we'll run into her." Steve said as he took a sip of his water, making a smile form onto Bucky's face.

"Language," Bucky scorned playfully, Steve immediately cutting his eyes at him. "Who told you about that?" Steve asked skeptically, trying to hide the smile in his voice but failing.

"Clint," Bucky said and Steve only rolled his eyes. "He's the actual old man." Steve said, and the two super soldiers chuckled beyond the glass walls of the small diner.