UNRAVELED ~ STEVE ROGERS [3]

Chapter Sixteen

Steve glanced out the window, watching a helicopter overhead. I stood behind a column, staring at Bucky in the vice. My arms burned with the pain of the metal weighing me down, and although I had a few moments of rest with Steve on the skywalk, they soon returned to that heavy, dragging pain I was getting used to. Sam was closer to Bucky, closer than I wanted to get, and he popped his head up.

"Hey Cap!" he said loudly. Steve turned sharply and jogged over to Sam, where we all stood and watched as Bucky opened his eyes. I stood back, hiding slightly behind Steve.

Despite the situation, my mind kept flicking back to the moments before with Steve. The way he had acted, the way he spoke, it was so soft and tender and loving. And in spite of myself I began to wonder if maybe, just possibly, he could feel the same way about me as I felt about him. But I dismissed that thought almost immediately. It was absurd, crazy event to think that after all I put him through he could love me. He forgave me, sure, but he himself said he was still hurt by it. And that was enough for me to say he didn't love me. Not like I loved him.

"Steve?" Bucky's voice was croaky, and he blinked in the harsh light.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve said firmly. Bucky's eyes wandered, his mind ticking away.

"You mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspaper in your shoes," he said thoughtfully, as if recalling a pleasant memory.

"Can't read that in a museum," Steve said conclusively. Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just like that, and we're supposed to be cool?" he said, doubting Steve's judgement.

Bucky's head went low, and his face filled with pain.

"What did I do?" he said mournfully. I almost put a hand to my throat, but the metal stopped me.

"Enough," Steve said, not wanting to make Bucky relive the incident.

"Oh god I knew this would happen," Bucky groaned. "Everything HYDRA put inside of me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words." His head was hung low, and I felt that tickle in the back of my head, the tether that connected my mind to Loki, and even though we were planets away every once in a while, he would twang that string and remind me that part of me still belonged to him. That was how I understood, better than anyone what Bucky was feeling.

"Who was he?" Steve asked, folding his arms.

"I don't know."

"People are dead. The bombing." My chest panged. "The set up. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do a little better than 'I don't know'." Steve grilled, desperate for answers.

Bucky pondered, his head low, his face pained with the knowledge that he had killed again, after so long being free from HYDRA only to be swept back in again. Then he lifted his head, a confused look on his face.

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where," he said thoughtfully.

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked. Bucky sighed, his brow furrowed.

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

I stepped forward, this new information dancing fast steps in my head.

"Do you mean, there are more of you?" I gasped, wary of Steve and Sam's shocked faces.

"There were five of them. One woman, four men. They were created in December 1991," he sighed again, propping his flesh arm up on his knee.

"Who were they?" Steve asked, breaking his silence.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum," he said.