UNRAVELED ~ STEVE ROGERS [3]

Chapter Sixteen

"They all turn out like you?" Steve asked, his voice blank.

"Worse," Bucky admitted, almost shamefully. Steve looked at me, and I widened my eyes.

"The doctor, could he control them?"

"Enough."

"He said he wanted to see an empire fall," Steve recalled. My shoulders slumped.

"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad. He means us, right? The Avengers and the UN," I realized, drawing attention to myself. Bucky paused and stared at me for a moment, his eyes glinting. A rush of memories filled my head, but I ignored them. It hadn't been Bucky who hurt me. It had been The Winter Soldier. HYDRA was to blame, not him.

"With these guys he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take down a whole country in one night and you'd never see them coming." Bucky sounded distraught, maybe even scared. Steve was silent, but Sam stepped up to him.

"This would have been a lot easier a week ago," he muttered.

"If we call Tony-"

"No. He won't believe us."

"Even if he did-"

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," Sam sounded dejected, a mood I didn't like on him.

"We're on our own." Both Steve and I spoke in unison and we glanced at each other, sober. Sam sighed, and shook his head.

"Maybe not. I know a guy," he said reluctantly. I perked up.

"By 'I know a guy' do you mean...that guy?" I questioned, moving closer to them. Bucky's stare coming at me from the corner of my eye. Sam glared at me.

"Yes, that guy," he groaned. I broke out into a grin, the first one in a long time.

"Man, I love that guy. He totally whipped your ass-"

"Hey!" Sam pointed at me. "I thought we agreed not to bring it up again."

"Oh man, come on. It's the funniest story I got, and you won't even let me tell it," I pouted, doing my puppy eyes at him. He sighed.

"Go ahead then."

"Yes! Ok, so a while back, you guys were all, I don't know, out or something. I was taking one of my days off, you know, for stuff. And Sam stayed home with me, made me pancakes and shit," I looked over at Steve who looked equally confused and intrigued. "Anyway, so I'm sitting watching Supernatural and eating pancakes and then F.R.I.D.A.Y goes nuts, something about an intruder in the old storage unit. So, I'm like, 'Sam, go sort it out I can't be bothered' so he suits up and goes out to have a look. And there's like, nothing there, because I'm watching through Sam's camera. Then suddenly on the roof this guys appears, but not like appears. He grows up to normal size from tiny, super tiny. And he's kinda cute, really pretty eyes, and he's like 'I'm Ant-Man.'" I looked over at Sam who had one hand over his forehead, embarrassed. Steve looked close to laughter, so I continued.

"I'm pissing myself with laughter, but then it gets even better because his grows small again, and Sam is trying to fight him, but keeps getting thrown around by what seems like nothing but it's this tiny little ant guy, and eventually he flies away or something and Sam comes back in, covered in dirt, and he's like 'We will never speak of this again' and F.R.I.D.A.Y deletes the footage but that's how the lawn got all messed up that one time." I finished, breathless.

The first person to laugh was Bucky, a cute little chuckle that turned into breathless laughter, pure and sweet, like he hadn't laughed for an age. I looked over at Steve, who was staring at Bucky in awe, his eyes bright with happiness, the kind I hadn't seen in a long time.

He really loves Bucky, and I knew there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for him.

So, to make sure I saw that happiness on his face again, I decided I would protect Bucky at all costs, because if he was important to Steve's happiness, then he was important to me.

"I'm sorry, but that...that was so funny," Bucky wheezed. Sam glared at him, the start of their love/hate relationship blooming.

"Let's get you out of that," Steve said, shaking his head but smiling. His eyes twinkled at me, an unspoken gratitude. With the help of Sam, they released Bucky's arm from the vice. He stood, rolling his metal shoulder and wincing. I couldn't imagine what kind of pain we felt every time he moved it, or even every time he looked at it, a constant reminder of all the things it had done. He looked over at me, his eyes dark and alluring, nothing like the cold ice colour they became when his mind was not his own. I smiled at him, just a little, but he looked away, his eyes wandering the way they do when you try and remember something. Steve caught me staring at him, and when my eyes met his he shook his head.

He was right. I shouldn't tell Bucky he was the one who scarred me, who started me on this course. He had enough on his mind and didn't need my burdens too.

"You doing ok Pickle?" Sam said, brushing up against me. I shrugged.

"If things weren't so horrible, I'd probably say yes. But now, I can't lie, I don't feel so good," I admitted, relieved that I no longer had to lie about how I felt, or who I was. Sam rubbed my shoulder and I smiled at him.

"I'd be surprised if you were doing ok. All this, it's crazy," he said, glancing at Bucky with a scowl.

"Thanks Sam," I said, annoyed I couldn't hug him to show my gratitude.

"For what?"

"I don't know. Always being there for me. I mean, it took a while. You punched me in the nose the first time we met," I joked, nudging his arm. He chuckled, remembering a time that seemed so long ago, and so simple compared to now.

"Yeah, well, there are still sometimes I want to punch you in the nose. But you're welcome," he bowed, wobbling on his legs. I laughed out loud, and when I turned to Steve his brow was furrowed, and he looked almost irritated. Before I could ask what was wrong, suddenly his phone pinged, and he pulled it out swiftly, checking the message. He grinned, and I watched the curve of his lips, wondering how weird it was and would I ever get to kiss them?

"Who was it?" I asked, shaking my head to distract myself from his, well his everything.

"Sharon. She has our gear. She's meeting us under the pass in half an hour," he explained, slipping his phone back in his pocket. I groaned, my dislike for Sharon not a secret.

"You couldn't have chosen a bigger car Steve?" Bucky said, gesturing to the Mini parked outside.

"I like it old fashioned," Steve said, grinning at his best friend.

"Well I, for one, am going to have a bit of trouble getting in," I held up my metal hands, the chains banging against me legs.

"I call shotgun!" Sam exclaimed, and both Steve and I groaned in unison.

"I can help you, if you want. Steve's driving, so it will be you and me in the back," Bucky offered, holding out his flesh hand, his face tired but kindness in his eyes. Steve looked at me, alarmed, but there was something about Bucky that made me want to accept his offer.

"Sure, I'd love your help. Shall we?"