Steve Rogers walks into their empty apartment and looks around at its state. It's tidy, but certainly lived in. He knows he has the right place. Steve looks at the couch and the kitchen, he sees the storage units running the length of the wall. He turns around and sees the mattress on the floor. Steve's face is questioning as he looks back at the kitchen. He spies a small black notebook on top of the fridge which he reaches to. Steve flicks through the pages and lands on a picture of himself
Sam's voice comes through Steve's earpiece. "Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces, approaching from the south."
"Understood." Steve says.
Bucky opens the door and they both creep in silently, untracked. The pair spy the tall man with the shield standing in front of the fridge. Leia's heart races but she doesn't feel uncomfortable. Bucky stands tall and Leia stands beside him, slightly behind. The two of them stare at the man intrigued. He must've sensed their presence because he jolts, turning around to see them, looking the pair up and down.
"Do you know me?" He asks.
Bucky looks at him hesitantly before speaking. "You're Steve. I read about you in a museum." Bucky's chest rises and falls heavily and Leia grabs his arm gently.
"What about you?" Steve asks Leia, but she gives no response.
"They've set the perimeter." Sam's voice comes through Steve's ear again.
"I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying." Steve takes a few steps towards them and her heart skips a beat.
"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." Bucky breathes out unsteadily. Leia squeezes his forearm gently, trying to get him to calm down.
"They're entering the building." Sam says.
"Well the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive." Steve keeps stepping closer.
Leia's heart beat is in her throat. No.
"That's smart. Good strategy." Bucky says and Leia feels her heart drop. Bucky starts to move and his eyes glance around the room.
"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve tells his old friend.
"It always ends in a fight." Bucky breathes out inching closer to the doorway. He pulls his glove off his metal hand and turns to Leia.
"You gotta run." Bucky whispers to her.
"You know I can't do that Buck." She whispers back.
"You pulled me from the river. Why?" Steve says again as Bucky looks down at his de-gloved hand.
Bucky breathes out, jaw clenching.
"I don't know." Is all he says.
"Three seconds." Sam's voice comes through once more.
"Yes you do." Steve's eyes are on Bucky, and his eyes are on Steve.
"Breach! Breach! Breach!" Sam yells. Their attention turns to the window where an object flies through. Steve deflects the first one with his shield, but the second lands on the floor. Bucky thinks quickly and kicks it towards Steve, who smothers it with his shield. Bucky pulls Leia behind him and throws the mattress between them and the window deflecting another bomb. There's bangs and the door shakes from the battering ram. Bucky pushes the mattress back and runs towards the table launching it at the doorway, disabling the door from being opened.
Leia turns to the windows to see men kicking them down and flying into the room. Bucky, Steve and Leia fight the men knocking them off their feet. Bucky sends the mans bullets flying through the air and Leia ducks quickly avoiding them. Another man tries to enter the apartment through the balcony door but Bucky grabs his gun kicking him in the gut.
"Buck stop! You're gonna kill someone!" Steve grabs Bucky's shoulder and he twists around to face him. Bucky slams Steve down onto the floor and punches a hole in the boards right next to his head. Leia knows exactly what he's doing as he pulls out their backpack.
"I'm not gonna kill anyone." Bucky growls. He chucks the bag out the door and down onto the nearby rooftop. "Leia go!" Bucky says and she runs out the door quickly jumping off the roof.
Back in the apartment more men sneak in firing bullets through the air. Bucky deflects the first two with his metal arm before grabbing Steve and shielding both of them with the shield. Bucky pushes Steve out the door knocking out the man approaching. Then he walks towards the other man deflecting their bullets with the palm of his hand. He throws the man through the bathroom door knocking him out too.
Bucky sends his fist through the wall knocking the man outside out. He kicks the door off its hinges and runs out attacking the men in the stairwell. Bucky knocks each of them out as more men crash through the glass roof. He looks down the stairwell and sees more and more men running up the stairs. He jumps down the stairs right as Steve runs out the apartment following him closely. Bucky hits one of the men sending him over the railing but Steve catches him before he falls too far.
"Come on man." Steve says. Bucky just elbows another man knocking him out. He then bends the railing and uses it to get down to the next level, kicking a man through a door.
Bucky disables several men until he hears a gun click. His eyes widen for a moment before Steve's shield flies through the air knocking him out. Bucky looks at his old friend for a short moment before jumping over the railing. He falls for a few seconds before catching himself on the railing.
"Ahhh!" He cries out using his strength to pull himself up. He kicks down the door to the long hallway that leads to the balcony.
Bucky sprints as fast as he can and vaults the edging. He barely makes the jump down to the roof where their backpack lays. He scoops it up and starts to sprint away. He sees a shadow approaching him and ducks but the figure knocks him over. Bucky's heart races as he looks up at the man wearing a cat suit. The two go hand to hand and T'Challa starts to get the leg up on him. The prince launches Bucky into an air conditioning unit and bars his claws, slashing at him, but Bucky dodges his efforts.
T'Challa pins Bucky down and tries to slice him but Bucky stops his hands. Bullets interrupt them stealing the Black Panthers attention, giving Bucky the opportunity to kick him away. Bucky scoops up the backpack once again and jumps off the roof with T'Challa hot on his heels and Steve following. Bucky runs along the streets and jumps down one of the holes, into the underground motorway.
Sirens wail in the distance as the three men chase each other down the roadway. Cars scream past them, the authorities yelling for them to stand down. Steve commandeers one of the vehicles and speeds after the two men ahead of him. Driving past T'Challa the prince jumps onto the car. Steve tries to swerve so that he falls off but he just won't let go. More and more authorities flood the roadway, sirens blaring as they come.
Meanwhile Leia runs as fast as she can off the roof. She runs through the city of Bucharest trying to find someway to help Bucky. Her heart races as she sprints, 'god I hope he's alright' she thinks.
She comes across a row of motorbikes in a side alley. That'll do. During the six months where Bucky was actually conversing with her, they'd taught each other different things. Like Leia taught Bucky Romanian (among other languages) while he taught her how to hotwire a vehicle. Perfect. She quickly commandeers one of them and speeds off down the road. Now the tricky part, where the hell is he. She zooms through cars and eventually hears sirens in the distance. Not so hard after all.
Please be okay. Please be okay. Leia accelerates even more and rides down into the underground roadway, where the sirens are much louder. Bucky sprints as fast as he can until he sees black vehicles coming his way. He slows down just a touch, vaulting over the medium strip separating the two sides of the road. Steve drives behind him still trying to shake the Wakandan prince. He drives through the strip still chasing Bucky, avoiding all the cars in the process.
The cars are now driving right towards Bucky but he just keeps going. That's when Leia sees him sprinting right towards her.
"Bucky! Jump on!" She yells loudly riding right towards him. He sees her and relief washes over him. Leia turns the handle bars aggressively and the bike tips on its side, sliding as it turns. The bike has turned 180° and balances itself back out. Bucky keeps running almost able to reach her, but she doesn't wait for him. She revs the bike and takes off quickly.
Bucky keeps sprinting and he almost reaches her.
She looks over her shoulder at him. "Come on!!" She yells. Bucky huffs and puffs as he runs, finally jumping onto the back of the bike.
"You okay?" Leia asks as he grabs her waist.
"Yeah, you?" Bucky asks.
"I'm fine." She says. Leia revs it again upping the speed once more. She steers the bike back onto the right side of the road so they're not facing oncoming traffic.
"How the hell do you know how to ride a bike?" Bucky yells.
"I have no idea!" Leia yells back laughing a bit. Bullets fly past through the air and they both duck.
"Take the bars!" Leia says and Bucky does what he's told.
Leia swivels in the seat and turns around so she's facing Bucky, basically straddling him. She fires blue currents from her hands at the cars, which men lean out the windows firing at them. Leia hits every single one of them but the drivers still chase after them.
"How do we get ourselves in these situations?" Leia asks rhetorically, laughing.
Bucky just laughs loudly along with her as he drives the bike. "I love you." He chuckles.
"What?" Leia looks down at him.
"I said I love you." Bucky repeats eyes up ahead. Leia just looks at him in disbelief. Did he really just say what she thinks he said?
Bucky glances up at her quickly and sees her non responsive expression. Maybe he shouldn't have said that.
It's not that she doesn't want to say it back, but she feels like she can't say it, like there's something inside stopping her. But before she can think much of it she sees a figure launching towards the bike.
She grabs the man in the cat suit by his throat, over Bucky. He twists out of her grip, grabbing onto the back of the motorbike, pulling it down. It leans down to the left but Bucky prevents it from falling completely with his arm. The metal on the bitumen sends sparks flying backwards.
Leia's eyes are wide as she sends a bolt towards the man, pushing him backwards. Bucky pushes the bike back up to normal and keeps driving it down the road. Somehow Leia maneuvers around her partner and sits behind him, holding onto his waist.
Sam flies into the tunnel and T'Challa jumps up, holding onto the Falcon. Sam tries to lose him but it's no use.
Leia grabs a hold of the small round object on her belt, throwing it up and it attaches itself to the roof. The bomb explodes and Sam pulls back accidentally sending T'Challa forwards through the wreckage. Steve skids the car to a halt and the force launches him out and through the wreckage also.
T'Challa's propulsion sends him far forward and he nicks the motorbikes back tire. The bike turns abruptly and Leia and Bucky come flying off, tumbling across the asphalt. The pair lay on the ground and T'Challa manages to pick himself up. But just as he's about to launch at Bucky, Steve comes through and tackles him away. The four of them stand up quickly and the sirens engulf them, different vehicles surrounding them, nowhere to go.
Steve holds his hand out in front of Bucky so he doesn't do anything, while Bucky steps in front of Leia protectively. Suddenly a man made of silver metal lands in the middle of them. His chest and palms glow and there's a gun that sits up on his shoulder.
"Stand down, now!" The man in the suit says. The four of them breath heavily as dozens of men wearing all black point guns at them. Steve slings his shield over his back while the man in armor speaks again. "Congratulations Cap. You're a criminal."
Steve puts his hands up in surrender as does the Black Panther. Several men approach Bucky and grab his arms.
"No!" Leia yells before more men grab her arms too. The men push Bucky and Leia onto the floor hand cuffing them aggressively. T'Challa, Steve and Sam being treated far more fairly.
They push Bucky and Leia into one of the cars while the other men go elsewhere.
"Where are they taking us?" Leia asks even though Bucky won't know the answer. He stays quiet breathing heavily from the adrenaline. Leia shuts her mouth leaning backwards, sighing heavily.
-
Hours later the pair sit in separate glass cells.
Unbeknownst to them they'd been flown three hours to Berlin. Now in the back of separate trucks they're captured completely. Their arms and legs are held in place by metal clamps, and there's more over their shoulders and chests. Bucky leans his head back in defeat. He didn't do anything. He'd been with Leia the whole time. They were just starting to feel normal.
Escorted by a parade of police cars and motorbikes they travel towards the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Building. Both their cells are unloaded with forklifts and transported through the building. Bucky looks over at Leia with saddened eyes. He can't help but think that this is all his fault, that he got them in this mess. Leia's face stays emotionless as she looks ahead. Bucky spies Steve who is free to walk about, understandably. He looks at him with sad eyes as the sliding doors close, separating them.
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