Y/n groaned as she strained to open her eyes, her ears were still ringing and it felt like the world was far away, Like her head had been shoved underwater.
She managed to open her eyes for just a second and saw two blurry figures racing towards her.
She tried to open her eyes again, she strained to gain consciousness again. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the blurry figure of Bucky crouch down by her side. She could just about feel the weight of his hand resting on her shoulder.
Y/n took in a deep breath and fully opened her eyes, her hearing finally cleared up and the horrible ringing slowly subsided.
"Y/n!" She heard Bucky shout
Y/n groaned and rolled onto her back, she stared up at the gray, cloudy sky as she thought back to what happened. They had been fighting a group of supersoldiers on a truck. Hadn't Bucky fallen off?
Y/n reached her hand out and held onto Buck's forearm lightly. "Hey...are you ok?"
"You were just unconscious and you're asking about me?" Bucky asked, he sounded baffled
"You feel off the truck." Y/n muttered as she attempted to raise herself off of the ground.
"So did you, hot shot." Sam said as he kneeled down next to Bucky and placed a hand on her back.
Bucky placed his hands on either side of her face, cupping her cheeks gently. "Are you okay? I need to check for a concussion. Here, follow my finger." Bucky said as he took one hand off of her face, lifted his vibranium arm and held up one finger.
"Buck, I'm fine." She said, but she followed his finger with her eyes anyway.
"Okay...doesn't look like you have a concussion." Bucky stated.
"Great, thank you doctor Barnes. Y/n, can you stand?" Sam asked her
Bucky rolled his eyes at Sam's sarcastic statement.
"Yeah, I think so." Y/n said as she began to try and stand up. Bucky wrapped his arms around her gently as he helped her stand up while Sam supported her from her right side.
Y/n groaned as she stood up straight, her head spun for a moment before settling down. "Woah." She muttered as She wobbled slightly.
"You good?" Sam asked her in concern
"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. My side hurts, I feel like I've fallen off a truck." Y/n joked lightly.
Sam chucked with her, but Bucky had a hard expression on his face. He was staring forwards with his jaw clenched and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Buck? Are you okay?" Y/n asked
"I'm fine. Let's go." Bucky said as he secured his arm around her waist and began to lead her forwards.
Sam let go of y/n and began to walk next to her. The trio began to make their way down the empty road, fields surrounded them on either side.
Y/n limped as she walked alongside Bucky and Sam. "Can't believe I got knocked out by a rookie supersoldier...and I fought Thanos." Y/n stated in annoyance.
She shouldn't have gotten so distracted, Steve would chastise her for a move like that. Always be aware of your surroundings. Even though her senses can sometimes hinder her, surely she shouldn't have let that supersoldier knock her out.
"It can happen to anyone. Don't beat yourself up." Sam said encouragingly.
Y/n glanced at him and gave him a small smile, she appreciated that he was trying to cheer her up.
They walked side by side in silence for a few minutes. Sam took his arm off of y/n as she walked along side them, but Bucky kept his hand resting on her back.
Y/n limped with every step she took and she continued to barate herself in her head. Her entire right side and her back were in agnony, and her tight suit was not helping. It kept rubbing up against her side. She definitely had bruises, if not road rash.
"I'm sorry about redwing." Bucky said to Sam, breaking the small moment of silence.
"No, you're not." Sam replied. "What's going on in that big cyborg brain of yours?"
"It's computing." Bucky replied. His response caused both y/n and Sam to chuckle.
"You know what? I can actually see it. I can see the gears turning. Oh, they're malfunctioning, shutting down. Yep, they're on fire." Sam joked
"We gotta figure out where the serum's coming from." Bucky said
"Yeah. And how in the hell after 80 years are there eight super soldiers runnin' lose." Sam said
A noise caught y/n's attention, a car was approaching them from behind. she glanced over her shoulder and sighed dramatically. It was a military vehicle and inside the car was John Walker and Lemar Hoskins.
The car drove up beside them and honked its horn. The car then came to a stop a few feet ahead of them.
"Great." Y/n muttered
"So that didn't go as planned, huh?" Walker said, but no one replied to him.
"Okay." He said as they continued to walk past them. "Let's keep going." He said to the driver.
The car then drove ahead so Walker could talk to them again. "Look, at least we know what we're up against now, huh? And we're pretty sure it's one of the big three, so..."
"Aliens, androids and wizards?" Sam said
"Pretty sure." Walker said
Y/n glanced over at Bucky briefly. "Told you it was a thing." She muttered jokingly. He responded by rolling his eyes playfully at her.
"There's no such thing as wizards." Bucky stated. He was very sure about that.
"Then it's aliens or androids..." Walker said
"Or super soldiers." Sam said
"Yeah, none of those guys reminded me of Vision or ultron." Y/n stated. They were definitely super soldiers.
"Shit. Super soldiers, for real?" lemar asked
"Yeah." Sam said
"Wow. All right, well, then we gotta work together." Walker said
"That's not happening." Bucky said
"I think we stand a much better chance if we all just..." Walker tried to say
"Just 'cause you carry that shield, it doesn't mean you're Captain America." Bucky stated harshly
"Look, I've done the work, okay?" Walker said
"You ever jump on top of a grenade?" Bucky asked
"Yeah. Actually, I have. Four times. It's a thing I do with my helmet. It's a reinforced helmet. It's a long story, but, any...look it's 29 miles to the airport. You guys need a ride." Walker asked
Y/n didn't like the guy very much. But she really wanted a ride. Her body was aching from the fall she had taken.
"Guys. Gary, Stop. Get in." Walker said as he opened the back door of the vehicle. The car came to a stop which caused the three of them to stop walking.
"Come on. I mean, look at y/n. She's hurt." Walker said, gesturing to her. Bucky and Sam glanced at each other before they sighed and gave in.
Lemar moved to sit next to Walker while Sam climbed in first. He turned and held his hand out to y/n who gratefully took it, she allowed him to help her up while Bucky held onto her waist from behind in case she lost her footing.
She stepped up into the truck and took a seat next to Sam. She sighed heavily as she sat down, groaning in pain as her sides complained. Bucky hopped up and sat down next to her, he gently placed his hand on her thigh again.
Once they were situated, the vehicle began to move again.
"Okay, so we've got eight super soldiers on a bulk supply run. Why?" Walker asked
"They say their mission is to get things back to the way it was during the blip. Maybe they're just trying to help." Sam said
"They had a funny way of showing it." Bucky stated
"That serum doesn't exactly have a great track record. No offense." Walker said to Bucky.
"We need to figure out where they're going. How'd you track 'em here? The flag smashers?" Sam asked
"Uh, no, we didn't track them, we tracked you, uh, through redwing." Lemar stated awkwardly
"You hacked my tech?" Sam asked in offense and annoyance
"Sorry. It's not exactly hacking. It's government property. Kind of the government." Walker chuckled.
"Does he always just stare like that?" Walker asked about Bucky. Y/n turned his head and saw him intensely staring at the man
"You get used to it." Sam stated
"Okay, look, you know, things have gotten kind of, uh..." Walker started
"Chaotic." Lemar added
"Yeah. The GRC, they're doing the best they can to get things up and running smoothly, post blip." Walker stated
"Reactivating citizenships, social secretary, healthcare. Basically just managing resources for the refugees who were displaced by the return." Lemar said
"The global repatriation council does all that. I get that. So why exactly are you two here?" Sam asked
"Well, they provide the resources and we keep things stable." Lemar said
"Yeah, violent revolutionaries aren't usually good for anyone's cause." Walker said
"Usually said by the people with the resources." Sam said
"We got a lot of resources. If you guys, if you joined up with us, we could..." Walker started to say, but he was interrupted by Bucky.
"No."
"I got mad respect for all three of y'all. But you were getting your asses kicked until we showed up." Lemar said. "I mean, I'm super surprised that they managed to knock you out, y/n."
Y/n furrowed her brows. "Why?"
"I mean...come on, you're one of the top avengers." Lemar said
"What do you mean?" Y/n asked
"Well, Y'know...Thor, Wanda, Doctor strange, you...you're like one of the most powerful. And you can't take on a couple of supersoldiers." Lemar Said. Y/n signed uncomfortably and shifted in her seat. Like she didn't already think that and had been doubting herself since then.
"Okay, Who are you?" Bucky asked, interrupting him.
"Lemar Hoskins." He replied
"Look, I See a guy hanging out of a helicopter in tactical gear, I need a lot more than Lermar Hoskins." Sam stated
"I'm battlestar. John's Partner." Lemar Said
"Battlestar?" Bucky asked exasperatedly. "Stop the car!" He yelled
The car came screeching to a halt and pulled into the side of the road.
"Look, I...I Get it, okay? I get the attitude, I do. You didn't think that the shield was gonna end up here." Walker yelled as Bucky got out of the car. "I get it, Bucky. And I'm...I'm not trying to be Steve. I'm not trying to replace Steve. I'm just trying to be the best captain America I can be."
"That's it. It'd be a whole lot easier if I had Cap's girl and wingmen on my side." He said. Y/n raised her brow at that, Cap's girl. She was not anyone's girl...but Bucky's.
"It's always the last line." Sam scoffed
Y/n stood up from her seat and opened the back door, she hopped down from the vehicle and began to walk slash limp along the path. She could see the back of Bucky as he stormed down the path.
Once Sam hopped out, the car drove off, leaving them to walk the rest of the way to the airport.
Y/n huffed as she limped along the path, she had an intense feeling of anger in her chest after her interaction with Walker. She couldn't help it. He wasn't Steve, he never would be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y/n sighed as she stood in the small bathroom on the military place. She watched herself in the mirror as she slowly unzipped her tactical suit.
She winced as she tried to pull her arms out of the suit. Eventually, she managed to wiggle to suit off of her arms and down to her waist all while groaning in pain.
There was a light knock on the door of the bathroom. "Let me know if you need any help, sweetheart." Bucky's voice traveled through the door.
"Thanks, Buck." Y/n replied.
Y/n winced as she stared at herself in the mirror. There was a purple and blue splotchy bruise that ran from her shoulder to her hip, and it probably ran even further down her legs.
She ghosted her hand over the bruise and flinched at the pain. She sighed and bent down to pull the rest of her suit down and off of her body.
Y/n got changed into the clothes she had been wearing this morning with great difficulty. She then opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
Sam and Bucky had already gotten changed out of their tactical gear. Bucky was perched upon a crate with his hands folded on his lap and a sad expression on his face.
Sam was laying across the red seats, everyone was exhausted after fighting the flag smashers.
Y/n shuffled over to the bench that was opposite Sam and took a seat. She uncomfortably lowered herself down onto the seat and pulled out Ibuprofen from her bag.
She grabbed a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap. After she swallowed the pills she sighed and attempted to relax into the chair. It was difficult considering the pain in her side.
"You all right?" Sam asked Bucky
"Let's take the shield, Sam." Bucky said after a beat of silence. "Let's take the shield and do this ourselves."
"We can't just run up on the man, beat him up, and take it." Sam said.
"I could take it without beating him up. Just wait till he's asleep and like, fly it out his window or something." Y/n muttered, trying to think of a way to get the shield back.
Sam then sat up from lying down. "Do you remember what happened the last time we stole it?"
"Maybe." Bucky said
"I'll help you in case you forgot. Sharon was branded enemy of the state, and Steve and I were on the run for two years. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna live the rest of my life la Vida loca. We just got our ass handed to us by super soldiers, and we got nothing." Sam said
"Not entirely true." Bucky said. He placed his hands on the side of the crate and pushed himself off. He then walked over and sat next to Sam.
"There is someone that you should meet." Bucky said.
Y/n sighed as she slumped in her chair. She was in agony and her head was still spinning from hitting it hard against the concrete.
What y/n thought would be a short trip to talk to Sam has very quickly turned into another mission. She just hopped that it wouldn't end up like the last mission she went on.