Bucky Barnes Random One Shots

What If...

WARNING: Triggers, death, I don't know why I ever wanted to write this.

What if Steve never ripped off The Winter Soldier's mask so he never found out it was Bucky and ended up killing him. Then when he did remove the mask he realised what he had done.

Steve flipped the mysterious masked man over and sent him rolling across the concrete. In a matter of seconds though he had regained his feet and stood there glaring with those terrifying eyes right at the Captain. With no shield, Steve stared right back at him thinking of what move to make next. Just then a grenade came flying over his shoulder and exploded right by The Winter Soldier. Cap turned to see Natasha leaning against a car with a grenade launcher. When he looked back, the assassin had disappeared.

Time Skip: To the helicarrier

Captain America ran along the landing, he could see a dark figure looming in front of him. As he came closer he recognised the glint of the metal arm and knew that it was The Winter Soldier, standing right where he needed to get to. He came to a halt.
"Look." Steve huffed. "I don't know who you are. I don't know what your story is. But I'm asking you to please step aside."
Those intense eyes just looked at him with no response from the mask.
"I will hurt you if I have to. Peoples lives are at stake." Steve continued to warn him.
Still no sign of anything from the asset.
"So be it." He sighed with a shrug. "Have it your way."

The minute Steve ran towards him The Winter Soldier sprung forward, pulling a knife from his belt. He lunged at Cap but Cap had a gun at the ready. To deflect the shots the soldier threw his metal arm in front of his face until the shower of bullets stopped. He lunged at Steve who somehow got a hold of his arm and threw him behind him. Now with a clear run, Steve made a break for the chips and opened the lock and pulled out his own chip. Just as he was about to remove the other one he felt strong hands grip his shoulders and he was thrown backwards, over the edge of the banister. Stunned, he was just collecting himself when The Winter Soldier jumped down, landing right with his feet straddling Steve. All too soon he had a gun pointing right at Steve's head. He could see nothing but those fierce eyes looking right at him. But for some reason they suddenly flicked away. He had noticed the chip. Realising that in order for Project Insight to be successful he needed to get rid of this chip, he dropped his gun and grabbed at Cap's hand for it. But Cap was just as quick a thinker as the assassin and caught him by surprise when he wrapped his arm around his non-metal one and flipped him over so that he was in a defenseless position with his arm being held behind him. Seeing the gun beside the soldier, without thinking, just thirst for revenge, Steve picked it up since the mysterious man wasn't able to reach it and didn't hesitate to shoot him right in the back of his skull. Feeling the heavy weight of the asset as he went limp, Captain America let him drop to the ground, dead.

He quickly clambered back up and switched the chips with ease.
"Maria, how long do we have?" He huffed into his earpiece, trying to catch his breath.
"About one minute max." She replied.
"Give me thirty seconds." He gasped and ran to jump off the helicarrier.
All of a sudden though he had a second thought. Who was The Winter Soldier? He had to find out who the man behind the mask was. Quickly, he sprinted back to grab the lifeless body before running and jumping off the carrier without a second thought.
"Fire when ready!" He yelled into his com as he plummeted into the water below him.
As he hit the water he started to sink down with the weight of the dead soldier in his arms. He grabbed the mans collar and pulled the both of them to the surface.

Gasping for breath, he swam over to the nearest bank and pulled the body up through the mud with him. Turning it over so that he couldn't see the bloody hole that he had made in the back of his scull, he noticed that his eyes were still open. It was the first time that Steve had gotten a proper look at them. He realised that rather than crazy, the man's eyes really just looked completely terrified. The bright blue, although now dull and empty seemed somewhat familiar and comforting even for some reason.
"Who are you?" He mumbled under his breath as he prepared himself to remove the mask.
For some reason, he didn't know why, but he felt sad. Even though this was a ruthless assassin who worked for Hydra, something didn't seem right. It didn't seem fair. The look frozen in his eyes was one as if he didn't want to be doing this. Carefully he removed the mask, immediately he gasped in shock and unintentionally dropped the mask as dread washed over him. He knew exactly who this man was. No wonder he found the eyes comforting and familiar. The plump, pink lips, the strong jaw and chiseled cheek bones. This was his childhood best friend, James Buchanan Barnes.
"W-what?" He gasped. "How?"
There was no mistaking it. Not even the stubble and long hair could disguise that face. He had just killed his best friend
"Bucky?" He whispered incredulously.
It didn't make any sense. Steve had seen him fall off the train right in front of him with his own two eyes. How was he still alive? How did he still look young?
"What have I done?" He asked himself quietly.
Tears of confusion and guilt sprung to his eyes. He collapsed down on top of his best friend and started crying as he hugged him.
"Oh Bucky, I'm so sorry, I should've known. This could have all been prevented and I could've stopped this." He sobbed. "I promised you till the end of the line and I wasn't there."

But after a while all that Steve had left was anger and rage. He was right. This could have easily been prevented, a long time ago, with the help of one person. And whatever the hell had happened for Bucky to end up like this could've been stopped and Steve could've helped him. Furious, he pulled Bucky's body up so that it was hidden in the bushes where he could come back for it later and stormed off to the rendezvous point. As he expected when he got there, Sam was waiting outside for him.
"Hey man! Aren't you-" He started excitedly coming over to him but Steve wasn't having any of it.
He just shoved him aside and kept walking.
"Where is she?" He growled.
"Um, where is who?" Sam said unsurely as he trailed behind him.
"Natasha! Where is Natasha?" He snapped impatiently.
"In the meeting room." He said quickly.
Steve picked up his pace and charged into the room.
"Steve! We did it!" She stated proudly when he entered.
But he didn't reply, just grabbed her by the collar, consumed with so much emotion, and shoved her into the corner of the room where she couldn't escape.
"Wha-what are you doing?" She exclaimed caught off guard.
"You knew. You knew this whole time." He spat.
"Knew what?" She shouted back in his face aggressively and tried to shove him off of her.
"Who The Winter Soldier was." He snarled.
Her face dropped and went pale.
"Oh Steve, I'm so sorry." She mumbled.
"You knew all along and left me thinking that it was just some random, unimportant face and didn't even think once to tell me?" He said weakly.
"I'm sorry Steve, I should've told you." She sighed.
"You think?!" He exclaimed sarcastically as he unpinned himself from her and started pacing the room in distress.
"I'm sorry! I just thought it would distract you from the more important mission!" She explained defensively.
"Well congratulations, you sure as hell succeeded in that. You know it could've ended up so differently! We could've stopped Insight and I could've helped him. It wouldn't have been hard to avoid." He cried getting increasingly upset.
Both Nat and Sam looked at him confused from where they each stood.
"What's that suppost to mean?" She asked darkely.
"I just killed my best friend." Steve whimpered.