Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Seventy-Seven: New York, It's A Helluva Town

He doesn't even have to do his own laundry!

*

It is four hours later when Bucky comes around. The wound has stopped bleeding for now; the stitches are covered in a gelatinous mass and as he tries to get up his body actually has to unstick itself from the floor. He stands unsteadily. He feels light headed and woozy. It takes him a moment to realise where he is and what has happened. He staggers through to the bedroom and sits on the edge of the bed. He needs to eat, needs to drink and then he needs to plan.

He raids the kitchen for food, eats bread and milk. It's all he has. Not perfect but it will do for now. He showers but realises he has no clean clothes to change into and is forced to put on dirty ones. The bloodied ones he will have to toss. He cleans and covers the wound, takes a handful of Advil, and it then takes two hours to clean up as much of the mess as he can. He is going to have to find somewhere else to stay, somewhere more permanent, but he doesn't know if he can cope with thinking about that for now. Just surviving the day would be good. He sinks in to bed and is asleep in minutes.

The next morning he awakens knowing he needs supplies. Just down the road from the motel is a line of shops. A cheap clothes store, a 7/11 food shop and the pharmacy he previously used. There is also a launderette and a coffee shop. The fresh air makes his head better and another shower has cleaned him up. He even had a go at shaving. The wound looks angry but isn't bleeding which he sees as a good sign. He pulls his baseball cap down and heads out again leaving a note for the cleaner not to go in.

When he finally returns to his room he feels better despite the exertion. He has eaten and has a new change of clothes and groceries. When he enters his room he realises that he is going to have to cut his stay short; it still smells of blood, looks bad. His good mood is fast fading and in a moment of panic he thinks he cannot cope with this any more. Trying to shake himself out of it he switches on the TV, has it playing in the background on the news channel. He watches but there is nothing new in the coverage on Hydra and their failed coup. It's nothing that he hasn't already seen, but his attention is caught again by a familiar name. The news lady is giving out the story that Steve Rogers has been released from hospital to an untold location however the reporter covering the story assures her that it is believed to be Stark Tower in New York.

And this time Bucky knows that he recognises the name Stark. But he still doesn't know why.

*

The next day, Bucky Barnes is bound for New York on the Greyhound bus. It should take just over four hours. Despite all that is happening to him at the moment he still has a twinge of guilt for the state he left his motel room in; taped to the bathroom mirror is an envelope with $200 and an apology – it is the type of thing Steve Rogers would do and Bucky wanted to do the right thing. He is hoping they won't realise for a while that he has gone and that after seeing the money they will decide not to call the police.

All he has with him is his backpack and another bag containing his clothing. The money is safely at the bottom of the pack with the notebook and letter and all the other things she packed. The gun is just in the top for easy reach. He doesn't know how long he has until they come for him, until the tracking device in his hip betrays him and gives away his whereabouts.

In short, he has no set plan.

He finds a hotel and is given a room on the third floor. It's fairly decent, clean, and more importantly has a fire escape just outside of the window. It is half a mile from the famous Stark Tower and he can actually see it rising up out of the landscape. Now that Bucky looks at it, he wonders how the hell he is going to get inside. He can hardly walk up to the receptionist and ask to speak to the world-famous Steve Rogers.