Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight car
Тоска, проржавевший, семнадцать, Рассвет, печи, девять, доброкачественная, встреча выпускников/корпоративы, один, грузовых автомобилей
My hands sting and I can already feel the bruises beginning to form.
I sit and catch my breath, in the deafening silence I hear a drop of my blood hit the scuffed wooden floor.
Looking back, not wrapping my hands was a bad idea.
I get onto my feet and hook another bag up. This time, being careful to wash and wrap my hands.
Letting out years of pent up anger felt good after a long day of dealing with idiotic people.
"You should probably take care of that first." Steve comments just as I knock another bag off its chain, the sand spilling across the floor.
"If it isn't the star-spangled man with a plan, why are you here? What do you want?"
"I don't want anything -" he says obviously finding humour in his joke. My patience is running thin and I shoot him a glare.
He clears his throat, regaining his composure. "Fury wanted to see you."
"Fury? Nick Fury, the one that relieved me of my title as field agent?-" Steve tries to cut me off
"-All because yours truly made one little mistake-"
"You almost got us killed." He cuts in
"But I didn't! I came in and saved your ass, again!"
"You wouldn't have had to save us if you stuck to the orders!"
"It was my brother! What would you have done! I fixed my mistake, but Fury didn't give me my second chance, why should I give him his?"
"Camryn I-" he sighs "I need your help."
I shoot him a questioning look. "My silence is your cue."
"Do you remember Bucky?"
"Bucky. Barnes?...The Winter Soldier? Yeah, why?"
"S.H.E.I.L.D wants to recruit him"
"Why? He tried to kill us. You were his mission-"
"I was his friend."
"Steve, Bucky was your friend, the Winter Soldier, he's your enemy. You can't save him. He's long gone. And he tried to kill us."
"He remembers." Steve argues "H-he's still the Bucky I used to know, deep down." He clears his throat again.
"Fury said that if you brought him back successfully-and alive- he'll give you your job back."
"Fine, but I'm doing this for me, and only me, not for you or your issues with your broken boyfriend." Steve barely contains his excitement as we walk to the jet waiting outside. After a short flight to Stark tower and many questioning glances, we're sat around a table discussing the terms of the mission.
"There are tracking devices in all the weapons in case you decide to go rogue."
"Stark, I take my job very seriously."
"Don't flatter yourself, it's just a precaution."
I glance over the weapons layed out in front on me and pick a few, stuffing them in my duffle bag. I pause when I see an unfamiliar weapon. "Hey, Stark, what's this?"
"Turn it away from you, press the green button, it vaporizes whatever its aimed at."
"Woah. That's awesome!"
"Thank you."
"Tony, if only you were as big as your ego, maybe you'd be able to reach the top shelf." Although he was a few inches taller than me I still liked to tease him about his height compared to the others.
I sat back down looking over the Winter Soldier's case file once again, taking in all the details, adding them to what I already know. In his military picture he looks young, determined, sweet, definitely handsome, probably a ladies man with his hair neatly cut and gelled.
In the other two he looked different. There's one of him in cryo. Even in his frozen state you can still make out the crease in his brow, he looks like he's... in pain. The one of him in action, a majority of his face is covered by a black mask, his hair long and messy. His metal arm stood out against his black uniform. The vibranium caught the sun and made the red star stand out even more. The way I recognized him best, as the Winter Soldier.
"Camryn!"
"What?" I say snapping out of my stupor
"You spaced out, it's time for us to leave, you're headed to Shelbyville, Indiana, that's where the target was seen last."
"He's not a target." Steve yelled from down the hall
"Actually, Sam? Wilson, right? Alright bird-boy. I say we head to Washington. I was thinking metal-man grew up in Indiana, maybe he went looking for answers he couldn't find. If you're a fossil who doesn't know how to properly use a computer, where would you go to search for the past?"
"The Smithsonian." Bruce chimed in when we walked past him lab. I shot him a smile, seeing as he was the only one who sided with me when I almost got them killed, he's one of my favorites. Him and Natasha that is. Agent Romanoff was always one of my favourites.
"Exactly, there's a big plaque dedicated to Barnes there. I say we check it out. I don't think Barnes would stay in one place too long, he knows he's wanted."
"You really think he's there?"
"Wilson, I'm a spy, its my job to know where people are." I send over my shoulder on my way into the quinjet. I'm met with a light chuckle from Mr. Patriotism himself. "What're you laughing at?"
"You know, you're quite funny, agent Mills." I'm slightly startled by the title, not being used to it anymore. Does he just have that much faith that I'll succeed? Although, I've only failed one or two missions. "Alright Rogers, we've got three hours on the jet, try to behave."
Three hours later I'm dropped off at one of Stark's safe houses a few blocks from the Smithsonian.
"Call when you've got him, we'll send a jet. And Cam, please, don't hurt him unless you absolutely need to." A quick nod and a small smile from the Captain is my parting, from here I'm on my own. I head into the small rundown house, it's bigger on the inside, cleaner and brighter too. There's a bed to one side and a bathroom on the other.
"There's no place like home."
I drop my duffle and slip a gun into the waistband of my pants. I also grab a knife and slip it into the holster in my jacket, you can't be too careful.
I decide to take the small 'getaway' car in the garage. Its not as great as Steve's bug though.
The first few days go by with no sign of the infamous soldier. I'm caught off guard to finally see the one and only sporting a baseball cap, jeans and a sweatshirt. He has gloves on too, it seems. Its not too cold, it's only late October, he's most likely trying to hide the metal that could set civilians into a panic and most certainly give him away. He's standing near the plaque dedicated to the one James Barnes of the 107th.
I stand and observe him for a little while. He reads the words over and over again. Its a good ten minutes before I finally walk over, careful not to startle him. I stand next to him and read the plaque for myself.
"Bucky seems like he was a great person, definitely someone you'd want to befriend." He seems caught off guard by my words and he takes a second to comprehend my sentence.
"Yeah I bet he was a great person." He says. "Was." He says. I don't comment on it because I know I wasn't supposed to hear it. After another few minutes of silence I start again.
"You know, Steve really misses you." His head shoots up and his eyes are dark and guarded. He recognized the name.
"He remembers." Steve's words play over in my head.
"Who sent you?" He questions obviously ready for a fight.
"S.H.E.I.L.D." the look on his face tells me he doesn't believe me.
"They want to recruit you." No response.
"Bucky-" recognition crosses his features, but is gone almost immediately and his eyes soften, barely. He looked like he was thinking hard, remembering.
"-Steve wants you back, he wants you to remember and I can help." I show him my S.H.E.I.L.D badge for proof
"Okay."
"Let's go because that guard hasn't stopped watching you since you came in." We head towards the street making our way to my car.
A tall man blocks our way. I pull out a gun and shoot. I clip his shoulder and he gets my leg, I collapse, but shoot again, this time its a head shot. The car's gone and I can't walk.
"How'd you get those through security?"
"Same way you got your arm through. Can you carry me, I can't walk." He picks me up as if I weighed nothing while I made a makeshift tourniquet.
I call Steve and then Romanoff and Banner, but none of them answer. He sets me down in a chair when we reach the safe house.
"Well, Earth's mightiest heroes aren't answering, I guess we'll spend the night here. I'll take first watch. You rest." He hesitates, obviously not trusting me.
"If Steve trusts me, you can too. I promise." He gets up and heads towards the bathroom. I hear the water start to run. I decide to make something light to eat for us, assuming he hasn't had much lately. I hear the door click open.
"Hey, I made us dinner-" he standing in the doorway with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "I uhm, left my clothes."
I hand him his clothes and try to keep my gaze from wandering. The door clicks shut again and I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding in. I sit on the bed and begin eating my sandwich. Bucky comes out, fully clothed with his hair neatly combed. I hand him his plate.
"You know, if there's anything you want to know about yourself, I could try to answer, the basics at least. You'll have to ask Rogers on the rest."
"You know, that wasn't me. None of it was me, I killed... So many people b-but, it wasn't me."
"I know Bucky." I say taking his plate as he lays down.
He tosses and turns for hours. And when his breathing finally evens out I'm relieved to know he's at least resting. I know what torture can do to a person. He sleeps for about an hour before he wakes up, immediately on guard. He wraps his metal hand around my throat
"Кто тебя послал?" Who sent you?
I've never been caught like this before, I could get out easily, but that would only make him more nervous,
"Bucky." I choke out. "Its me, no one sent me." His eyes soften and he drops me.
"I'm so sorry." He says softly, glancing at the forming bruises.
"Its okay, I have them too, you know." He looks surprised,
"You do?"
"Mm." He looks at me for another second before going and sitting on the bed. He mutters quietly in Russian, but I can't make out the words. I sidestep my bag and go to the sink.
"Drink." I say handing him the glass. "What were you just mumbling?"
"Пытки равна прочности."
"Torture equals strength." We say together.
" It was written on every surface back at Hydra." I sit on the bed next to him, a bit closer than necessary.
"Все это будет нормально." It'll all be okay
He looks up at me and for the first time I see the ghost of a smile grace his features.
My phone rings interrupting our conversation.
"I'm sorry, we had a mission, I'll come out to pick you up now."
Thanks Clint, see you soon."
"Katniss will be here soon, just throw your stuff in my duffle, I got it." He does as he's told, obviously confused, and goes back to his spot on the bed. It kind of set me off that he was trusting me. I knew well enough that it was an act. That he would try something. It was almost too easy.
×××
Bucky became my new partner on all my missions and he's remembering more and more.
With the help of Steve of course.
Its been about 2 years. I'll fill you in on the details.
I was right, when Clint came, Bucky tried to escape. To kill us. He didn't succeed. He was locked up for a while, with only minimal visits from me or from Steve. Steve helped him to remember, I was like a therapist. Maybe it was because I didn't remind him, maybe because I was, in a sense, a stranger, but nevertheless, we grew closer. Eventually, I got Fury to agree to let Barnes roam, with me as an escort. Once he was stable enough, he began training, which, in my opinion, he didn't need. And then he was recruited.
"Hey, Buck, we gotta go, we're on our way to Vegas, remember?"
Finally, a mission in a nice place. We drop down and check into a nice hotel, that's a new one. There's a Hydra base under one of the abandoned casinos in town and its our job to take it down.
×××
"Hey Buck, we're in Vegas, we should do something fun."
I say as we walk away from the burning building, cliché am I right?
"Why don't we go back to the hotel and order room service? Watch a few movies, I'm still not caught up with the 21st century." I laugh and nod my head in agreement.
I collapse on the bed and bury my face in the pillow.
"Are you tired, Мой ангел?"
I feel a rush of warmth at the name. Did he just call me his angel?
"No, just getting comfy." I reply, my voice muffled my the pillow.
"I can make you comfy." He says climbing in beside me and pulling me to him. He trails kisses up my neck to my jaw. I turn over to face him and give him a puzzled look. I'm not denying my feelings, everyone knew they were there, we've just never... confronted it, or even talked about it. And he's never this carefree.
He smiles and captures my lips with his, a soft, yet hungry kiss, like he'd been waiting to do it. He wanted me just as badly as I wanted him. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he instinctively put his hands on either side of my head to hold himself up. I tuck my hand up under his shirt and he pulls away only long enough my me to slip his shirt off and throw it across the room. I trace the skin where the metal meets, its still red, but not as bad as when I caught him watching his own reflection. As if he were a monster, a few weeks after I brought him to S.H.E.I.L.D. he slipped my shirt up over my head and trailed kisses down my neck, to my chest and onto my stomach, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. He brings his mouth back up to mine and his tongue skims my bottom lip. The moment ends when my phone rings insanely loudly. Bucky curses under his breath.
"What?" I snap at the person on the other line.
"Did I interrupt?" Comes the snarky voice of Tony on the other end.
"Why are you calling, Stark?"
"I sent Natasha to come get you guys, she'll be there in a few hours."
I end the call without a goodbye and look to the soldier piercing me with his blue eyes.
"I'm sorry." He just chuckles and places a light kiss to my forehead.
"We'd better get dressed." He muses a playful smirk on his face.
"To be continued, Кукла."
Doll.