We Rise, Only To Fall / Steve Rogers

27

The Panther

We entered the apartment that was supposedly Bucky's, dressed in our full suits, Steve's shield around his arm. The apartment was small, bare. Newspapers had been taped to the windows, blocking out the view and dimming the light. Makeshift shelves had been built from breezeblocks and long planks of wood, but those too were bare. There was fridge that, when I looked inside of it, only contained orange juice. A small cooker looked untouched beside it. 

"This is awful." I commented as Steve and I stared at the bed, a mattress shoved against a wall with thin sheets. "Does he really live here?"

Steve didn't reply, looking too horrified and concerned for his friend's living arrangements. It truly was dingy and grim, strange when the pair of us were used to the Tower. Despite everything Bucky - or, technically the Winter Soldier - had done, I found myself feeling sorry for him, having to live here, hidden from the world. Now everyone thinks he's responsible for the explosion in Vienna. 

I frowned as Steve picked up a notebook from the top of the fridge and I crossed the room to peer into it as he opened the book. There were several pages covered in writings in different languages. I could decipher a few, but Steve turned the page too fast for me to properly read it. He landed on a page marked by a photo of himself as Captain America.

"Heads up , guys" Sam's voice came through the radio. "German Special Forces, approaching from the south."

"Understood." Steve replied.

We both felt it at the same time - the feeling of someone behind us. We lifted our heads and turned to find Bucky, dressed in casual clothes, staring at us. He hadn't even made a sound as he entered the apartment.

"Do you know me?" Steve asked, his voice guarded.

"You're Steve. I read about you in a museum." Bucky said, his gaze then flicking to me. "And you're Rosalie. You're in magazines."

I frowned, wondering which gossip magazines I'd managed to find my way into thanks to the Stark name. 

"They've set the perimeter." Sam told us.

Steve put the book down on a table. "I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." Bucky defended himself.

"They're entering the building."

"The people who think you did are coming here. Now." I told him and his eyes seemed to grow afraid. "They're not planning on taking you alive."

"That's smart," Bucky said resignedly. "Good strategy."

We heard footsteps in the distance. "They're on the roof. I'm compromised."

"We don't have much time," I whispered to Steve and he nodded. The footsteps were getting closer, coming up the building's stairwell. 

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve told his friend.

Bucky moved away from us, closer to the door. His expression was entirely heartbreaking, sad. "It always ends in a fight."

"Five seconds."

I found out my gun from my belt, readying it. I didn't know what I'd use it for, but I was prepared. Steve glanced to the blocked-out windows and then back to Bucky. "You pulled me from the river," his voice was louder now, more desperate. "Why?"

Bucky removed his left glove, revealing the metal fingers beneath it. "I don't know."

"Three seconds."