[2] instability ▷ bucky barnes

[11] ▷ house of wolves

DAYS went by and the dark brunette had still found no trace of her friend. By now, her hair had become greasy and the bags under her eyes seemed to have become more in depth than a Gucci handbag. She sighed as she sat at the table of a coffee shop in the middle of New York City, her head hanging low as the hood over her head hid her facial features. She had to admit, this entire situation had made her want to stop and drop to the floor in a heap of sobs.

What could she do if she couldn't have done something in that exact moment?

But she wasn't going to give up. She wasn't going to get any sleep until she knew that Brexa was safe, so there was no use in her trying to.

She ran her pointer finger around the rim of her coffee cup, her livers aching for a bottle of Jack Daniels or for some type of liquor that was powerful enough to get her as drunk as a skunk, but none of those could even effect her.

She was like a void, anything she put into her mouth, anything she consumed, seemed to just be props in a musical to help sell the deal that she was actually a person, when really, all she really knew of herself was that she couldn't get drunk, no matter how hard she tried.

She slowly threw her head back and downed the remaining coffee in her cup, then standing from her seat and heading towards the exit.

Before her hand could grab the handle and pull the door open, a woman speaking in a sophisticated way, obviously heard to her from a television considering the crackle and pop in her voice, caught her attention.

She turned towards the noise, looking at the small television that hung over the desk of the coffee shop, her eyes glued and her stomach unsettled by what she felt was to come by watching this tv.

"Breaking News report in Hell's Kitchen this morning. This is Halle McCory here with you on the scene, and as you can see behind me there is absolute chaos on the streets. Witnesses say a bomb squad has terrorized the uptown parts of the city, as you can see the many buildings behind me are nothing but debris now, but others theorize that it is none other than Hydra's golden child, Artemis Schmidt. Her attacks have not happened in months, and maybe she thought that it was her time to strike again-"

By the time the powdered-up blonde bitch could finish her sentence, Artemis had fled the coffee shop, her hands in her pockets as she walked down the sidewalk, heading towards Hell's Kitchen.

Tears of anger and regret rolled down her cheeks, nearly freezing due to the cold nipping at anything it could find to terrorize.

She had killed a child.

She killed innocent civilians.

She promised herself that after her and Bucky finally escaped Hydra that they would live a no-killing-unless-in-dire-need-to life, the American Dream. Maybe even have a couple of kids, buy a house in a beautiful neighborhood, drink tea and gossip over old-lady shit. Be a fucking soccer mom.

But none of that was possible. Nothing could have been normal in their lives. They could have never, ever, experienced the death trap of normality.

By the time that she could think, she was getting off the train in the subway station that led to Hell's Kitchen.

With a new interest in mind, as soon as she got off, she began to search the entire subway station for bombs and hoping to even find the culprits guiltily hanging their heads over these fiery devils.

With her sneaky ability, she walked down many dark corridors, went into multiple doors, and even picked a couple of locks while no one even noticed.

Although one door had led her to many corridors, hooked to a very long and dark hallway. Considering she didn't want to get caught for being an idiot and cutting all the lights on, just in case someone was actually in there, she used her echolocation abilities, hearing the sound waves bounce off of every dash and corner of every wall and door fame.

So she shut her eyes and listened, and then she felt them. The sound waves of her heartbeat vibrated through her, and out of her body, and across the corners of these walls, and back to her, and she finally knew where she was going.

Walking along the walls in the blank darkness, she came to an abrupt stop when she heard another heartbeat.

This heartbeat was full of nervousness, the beating so heavily fast that it nearly made her think the owner would have a heart attack. Walking more towards the culprit, dim light began to surround her and she sighed as she wiped the blood from her nose, her punishment for using the most strained ability for too long.

As she walked further in, this heartbeat became slower and slower, and then she heard the heavy breathing of a man who seemed to be out of pure breath. She quietly progressed forwards, only seeing a silhouette of this man that she suspected to be one of the criminals, considering his almost guilty heartbeat.

With the smallest step forwards, the heel of her shoe clicked too loudly and she heard the heartbeat stop only for a split second. She felt the air tense, along with the nerves and, — wires? — inside of his arms.

Now that she knew that it was obvious to him that she was there, she opened her mouth bravely to speak. "So are you one of the assholes that's bombing Hell's Kitchen, putting it off on me?" She spoke, her voice full of fire and almost nervousness, considering when she spoke, this tension began to gain more and more.

The silhouette, now a man that she could decipher, cocked his head to the side. This caused Artemis to now walk to the front of him, but slowly as he now hung his head.

She looked down at the man now, her eyes widening in seeing crimson blood pooling from a deep wound in his abdomen. "Oh shit," she muttered as she kneeled down to the man's level, her hands questioningly hovering over his wound. "How did this happen? Street fight? Were you stupid and got shot?" Artemis rambled, not once looking up from the wound.

But the man on the other side only smiled deliriously, his eyes filling with tears. "Getting shot is an everyday thing for me, doll." He rasped.

Artemis' breath hitched as hearing that voice pushed her back, almost as forcefully as a truck as she stared down at the stubble running along the lower half of his face, the deep blue eyes that she had loved so much, she looked into every chance that she got, and those beautiful lips that she had sadly only touched with her own once.

Her heartbeat was spinning a million miles a minute as the coffee she had just consumed wanted to come back up in a disgusting heap, and he smiled below her as her lips finally parted in disbelief.

"Bucky?"

_____

a/n :

hola beans!!

i'd like to take a moment to thank desolatedarling for making me the awesome crackship gif in the beginning of this chapter! this chappie is dedicated to her as well because she has mad skillz and i love my fren so much! :D (thanks again kat!)

anywho, i really hope you all enjoyed!! i love you all so much!

much luv,
~KatXoXo