I do not own Captain America anything.

Or a Bucky. It's probably for the best.

Pieces of a Broken Puzzle

Clothes Make The Man

Outward appearance affects people's interpretation of who you are.

Guides them to make certain assumptions about you and your character, your personality.

Prewar Bucky Barnes donned suits and ties and dress shoes upon necessity.

Slicked back hair.

Proudly presenting himself as society's poster boy of the acceptable man.

Hello, I am exactly who I am expected to be.

Competent, intelligent, a gentleman.

I am everyman.

Nothing out of the ordinary at all.

The man who went off to war was draped in the uniform of a sargeant.

Complete with pant creases and broad shoulders.

Visored cap smartly tilted and proud upon his head.

I am respected. I am authority.

I am in service to my country.

I will not be moved.

The man who was dragged from the crumbling, burning compound was disheveled, ragged.

Two steps away from being a man broken upon the rock of HYDRA.

Bruised and battered.

His blood, his organs, his cells, coursing with strange chemicals injected into him by a round little toad of a man with an unassuming Swiss accent and a mind of a genius mad scientist.

He forced himself up right and clung resolutely to his sniper rifle.

Walking next to the man who had saved him, the little guy who wasn't the little guy anymore.

I'm alive, I'm alive, we're all alive.

We're all alive and free because of Steve.

I still don't know what the hell happened to him exactly.

But he's here. He's not the little guy anymore.

But he's still Steve.

So I'm following him.

The clean-shaven, grim-faced man wrapped in a heavy, belted blue trench coat thereafter was leaner, more solemn.

More hungry and determined and focused.

To prove his worth once more.

To do his part.

To stop the monster that was HYDRA.

And, of course, protect his pal.

Captain America, super soldier.

Who, as Sargent Barnes still reckoned, wasn't entirely bulletproof. Yet.

He smiled from time to time, the light and life reaching not only the curved mouth but the sky blue eyes as well.

Mostly in the company of his leader and friend.

But in the quiet moments, in the dark of night, those same eyes could become shadowed and haunted.

Still fighting the horrors of that forgotten, lost room deep within Shmidt's compound.

No more.

Not again.

They've got to be stopped.

And we're going to do it.

Whatever it takes.

The Winter Soldier was swathed in black. Intimidating leather cuirass covering his chest. Straps tight and constricting.

Black mask muzzling his lower face, blackout goggles obscuring his eyes, the windows to the soul.

Unkempt, tangled hair.

Black pants. Heavy boots.

Weapons, hidden and in plain sight.

Always within easy reach, riddling his menacing form.

I am not a man. I am not human.

I am a wild animal.

Dangerous. Deadly. A force to be restrained.

Fear me.

I coming to destroy you.

And I will not stop.

Powerful metal arm on display for all to see.

Red star of his makers, his handlers.

Their tag of possession.

This is our animal.

We made him.

He belongs to us.

He is our property.

And he is going to kill you.

The man with the plums had been all these men within his long, century spanning lifetime.

And now he something else.

Unassuming hoodies on jackets and soft cotton shirts.

Jeans. Baseball hats.

Comfortable, well cushioned sneakers, one of his favorite marvels of the modern age.

Who am I? Nobody of interest.

Just another nameless, forgettable face in the crowd.

I'll talk with you if the necessity arises, be nice.

But do me a favor, don't look too close.

I don't want you to see me.

I don't want to be found.

He looked young but his eyes were old.

Ancient.

Closed off to the world .

And yet, still kind.

Capable of mirth.

Secretly yearning for hope.

And redemption.

My name is James Buchanan Barnes.

I'd rather be called Bucky.

I know a little of who I was, I'm remembering more.

I know what I can be.

But I don't know who I am now.

I do know what I want.

I want peace.

But I don't think I'll ever get it.

Okay, this ends another foray into the world and mind of MCU's Bucky Barnes.

Thanks to brigid1318, brynerose, and cairistone7 for your reviews.

Thanks also to the silent readers as well.

I hope you enjoyed. Thank you for reading. :)