Chapter 16

Bucky POV

The procession of vans unloaded silently. They were on a silent country road in complete darkness, with stars that were twinkling down on them. The cool air flowed over Bucky's face and heightened his senses. The darkness only hindered Bucky and Steve's vision slightly, and at the other end of the field, they could pick out was a shack and a barn. To a casual observer, it was an idyllic scene, but the tension was palpable. The only thing that was out of place was the security cameras that were placed on the borders of the property and the thin wire that was crackling with electricity.

Bucky and Steve moved forward onto the property, guns ready and on high defense. Bucky felt like every single hair on his head was on end, every nerve in his body was crackling with a fire that he focused into observation. They were moving smoothly and silently through the property, but it was too easy. They knew that they were being watched, and the fact that there was no attack yet meant that Simeon was waiting for something. The barn and shack were looming over them now, and suddenly the farm lit up.

There were shots ringing out from every side, every angle. To Bucky it seemed like every square inch of the farm had bullets coming from it and his senses were in overdrive. He fired several shots toward the source of the noise and was satisfied when the spray of bullets from that direction lessened significantly. By now the rest of the agents that came on the mission had overtaken the majority of Simeon's men, but there was still fighting throughout the yard. Bucky and Steve were able to meet, both men slightly out of breath and disheveled but none the worse for wear.

"Buck let's head towards the barn and find Laurel. That's probably where she would be kept. That part of the farm was way too quiet during the fighting." Steve motioned toward the barn and Bucky and Steve sprinted off toward the giant structure, which was faintly illuminated from the inside. They slid into the partially opened door and walked forward cautiously. Bucky was taking into account the walls that looked like they were covered with wiring and small metallic disks with blinking lights, attached up and down the walls. Even the casual observer could have heard the hum of electricity that was seeping through the air. The pit of tension in Bucky's stomach tripled at the otherwise silent and empty room. The gunshots coming from outside had faded away into the background.

"What the hell?" Steve whispered, more to himself than to Bucky. In the middle of the room, Laurel was suspended from her wrists, unconscious. Her frame was hanging heavy, and the amount of strain her shoulders were taking was immense. Bucky followed the ropes from her wrist bindings up to the ceiling and saw that the ropes were actually thousands of copper wires, twisted together into one thick rope that led to the lights and wires on the walls.

Carefully trying to break down the possible threats in the room but with as much haste as possible, Bucky ran forward towards Laurel. Her face was deathly pale, and her breathing was slow and labored. He started to lift her legs, trying to alleviate some of the pressure that her shoulders were feeling but Steve hissed, "No don't! We don't know how she's strapped. Moving her at all could set something off."

"So what do you want me to do? Leave her here? Steve look at her, we don't have much time until it's too late, hell it already might be. We need to get her out of here." Bucky was waving his hands around frantically but stopped suddenly when his heightened hearing picked up footsteps entering the barn slowly, but not attempting to be quiet. He tensed and pulled out his pistol but stayed in his position right next to Laurel's body. Simeon entered into view, strolling as leisurely as a Sunday in the park. He smiled at Steve, who stayed in the offensive position, his hand in his gun and the other protecting his body with the shield. Then his eyes lighted on Bucky and the body, and although his smiled stayed where it was, it was as if there was a fire that was lit in his eyes. He looked positively unhinged, and this was coming from someone who was slightly unhinged himself.

"James, you finally found me! I had been waiting for so long, and I was getting tired of waiting. I considered killing her for fun, but then she would have been a lot less useful. She has a very important part to play, you see." Simeon was walking slowly, like a predator stalking his prey. The tension in the air was crackling like a fire, completely consuming what was an already tense situation.

Bucky refused to show any emotion, but his arms were itching to grab the man with both hands and strangle the life out of him. "What do you want?" He tried to move in front of Laurel, shielding her from whatever this maniac was going to do.

"Now, James, you and I both know what I want," Simeon smiled at him like he was scolding a naughty child. "I want you laying dead in front of me, just like my family was." He stood in front of James and folded his hands in front of him.

"Rush please," Steve interjected, "You have to understand that when Bucky did those things he wasn't himself. He was under the control of someone else, and to take it out on a civilian is just cruel."

Simeon turned his large eyes onto Steve and said, "Don't you think you're a little out of line here Captain? At least I'm not lying to our dear Sargent Barnes like you are." Steve stiffened, and Bucky glanced at him in alarm.

"Should we tell him together Steve? Or shall I just do it?" Without waiting for an answer, Simeon turned to Bucky and said, "I sent this picture two and a half weeks ago, and your lovely hosts only started looking for Laurel two days ago. Don't you think it's odd that Steve sanctioned a massive retrieval operation for one civilian? Couldn't it be because they were simply going to do a body retrieval and tie up loose ends? Then later, they tell you that Laurel moved away, some city that you would never know the name of, and the problem would take care of itself. Very convenient I must say, so my regards to you Captain." He motioned over to Steve, who was standing there like someone who had been clubbed over the head.

Bucky could only stare in horror at Steve. There was no way that it could be true, it just simply was not possible. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. "You knew that if I knew she was kidnapped, I would try to escape and hunt her down. You couldn't risk me going rogue and being out in public. That's why you wanted all of these men to come with us."

Steve was shaking his head, trying to deny it, but Bucky could tell that it was half-hearted. "Buck please believe me, I was just trying to keep you safe, even if it was safe from yourself. If you got caught by anyone else other than me you would be killed."

"No, you do not get to play the good guy in this situation. Just shut the fuck up Steve. I don't even know who you are anymore." Bucky rolled his shoulders out, desperately trying to rid himself of the suffocating feeling he had, but it was only getting worse. There was a narrowing field of vision and the urge of the Asset was way too strong for him to fight. The critical and mechanical mind of the Asset provided his body significant relief and he tensed into a fighting stance. The Asset knew that he had one objective, and that was to get the small female out of the barn safe and sound, and nothing else mattered. He also acknowledged that killing the man who had harmed his objective would be supremely satisfying, but it was not his main goal.

Holstering his gun for a moment and pulling a knife from his boot, the Asset began searching for a way to cut the wires. Suddenly Simeon chuckled and said, "You might not want to do that Sargent Barnes."

"Tell me how to deactivate the device, the alternative for you will not be ideal. In fact, after I remove the objective from here I might just come back and kill you for the hell of it."

Simeon smiled at him, "Oh, I hope you do. I'd love to see you come back after carrying her dead body from the barn, another failed mission, just like I was. How long did you spend in the freezer when Hydra found out I had survived? Two months, five? Plus, all the torturing for failing your mission. You managed to take out some of the worlds most important leaders and you missed little old me, a nobody. I bet that didn't end well for you." Simeon was smiling now, like he was sharing an anecdote about a family member rather than taunting an assassin. It was as if he could sense the unbearable tension in the body that held the Asset and was digging into it.

Steve walked toward Laurel and the Asset and said, "Buck, don't listen to him, he's just trying to get inside your head and make you do something rash. Focus on what your goal is."

"Yes Bucky," Simeon taunted, "Focus on the goal, but not on your goal with me, where you failed and rather than killing your intended target, you killed an innocent family and your target got away. Don't focus on the fact that the only real relationship you've had in the last decade was going to be left to die by the man you thought was your best friend." The weight of the memories of that mission brought Bucky back into his own head, and he shook it ever so slightly, attempting to calm himself down. He knew that Simeon was trying to get into his head, and he was even more infuriated that it was working. Bucky was trying to focus on his objective, and the amount of turmoil in his head was overwhelming. All he could hear was his own breathing and all he could focus on was the small woman who was struggling to breathe a few inches in front of him.

Steve looked towards Bucky, and Bucky flinched. "Bucky, please. Trust me." Bucky snorted defensively. Steve changed his tactic. "Bucky, I knew you don't trust me, and you have good reason not to. But right now, we need to get you out of here. You are in danger."

Bucky turned, "And what about the woman you were going to let die, isn't she also in danger? I trusted that you were going to take care of her, you promised me you would. Well just because you won't keep your word doesn't mean that I'm not going to."

Striding forward, he aimed carefully at Simeon's head, who didn't look frightened, rather he smiled and raised his eyebrows, taunting Bucky. At the last second Bucky changed his aim and fired into Simeon's gut, ignoring as the criminal dropped to the ground with a grunt of pain. He didn't want Simeon to die, but merely experience the pain that he had put Laurel through until they could arrest him. Turning his attention to the wires around Laurel's wrists he felt incredibly doubtful that the wires actually had anything to do with the bomb. Something in his gut told him that there was more to the explosives than what he could see and he began cutting down the limp body. The second his knife touched the wire that bound her wrists, the lights that covered the walls began blinking faster. Bucky ignored them and continued cutting, even as small alarms began the go off.

"What the hell are you doing Bucky? Can't you see that you're going to cause the bombs to go off? We're all dead if that happens!" Steve moved forward and tried to stop him, but Bucky was ready and with a powerful side kick sent him slamming backwards into the wall, which were lighting up like crazy now as he continued to cut through the wires. Steve ran up to him and punched him, knocking the knife out of his hand as he did so.

"Are you trying to kill us Buck? What is the matter with you?" Steve was staring at him and even though he knew it probably wouldn't do much good, Bucky said, "I don't think that the wires on her wrists have anything to do with the lights and the bombs, it just seems too obvious to me. We need to focus on getting Laurel and ourselves out of here."

"No, if we get Laurel out of here, we will die. The second that last wire is cut we're going to be blown up, all 3 of us. We need to get a bomb squad in here and stabilize the bombs, so we can get her out of here safely." Steve started moving towards the door, and when he realized that Bucky wasn't following him he turned questioningly. The two of them were ignoring the grunts of pain that were coming from Simeon, who was still on the ground.

"Why can't you just trust me? I thought we were supposed to be friends. I didn't ask for all for this to happen to me, and instead of helping me recover, you're treating me like I'm the bomb." Bucky went and picked up the knife once again, then moved towards Laurel's body. Steve ran up to him and tried to grab the knife once more.

"Bucky, I want to trust you more than anything. We are friends, we will always be friends. But I have a responsibility to keep others safe."

The two men were facing off, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around them. The lights and alarms were blinking and beeping, and Simeon was on the ground trying to move to a sitting position, but none of that seemed to register with Steve and Bucky.

"Steve, please let me help her. I need to help her the way she's helped me."

"You know I can't let you take that risk." Steve made a move to grab the knife and Bucky blocked him. Suddenly it was just like one of the sparring sessions that they had practiced over the last few weeks, but the change in the tone made all the difference. Starting lightly, almost unwilling to make the first move, Bucky swung his arm out and when Steve put his hands up to block the punch Bucky swung his foot around and connected with his midriff, pushing him backwards. Suddenly the pace changed, and the two men began fighting furiously in what seemed to be more about their friendship than anything else. Steve stumbled backwards from a kick but was quick to comeback and landed a punch that split Bucky's lip and sent a trickle of blood down the side of his mouth. Bucky growled and wiped off his face, smearing the blood across his chin. He sent a flurry of blows Steve's way, landing some, others getting blocked. Finally, with another massive kick he sent Steve flying across the barn towards the doors, where he slammed into them and slid down to the dirt, groaning.

Bucky strode over and grabbed his knife, then with one final cut, severed the last dozen wires and grabbed Laurel's limp body before it fell to the ground. There was a crescendo of noise as all of the discs starting beeping all at once, increasing their pace and the rate that the lights were blinking at as well. For a moment, Bucky was worried that he had miscalculated, maybe the bomb had been that simple and obvious, but then abruptly, the lights and the noise shut off and there was an over whelming silence.

Then Simeon, who was struggling to breathe, starting chuckling. "I knew you wouldn't fall for that shit. Captain over here is dumb enough to believe that things are always that straightforward, but you knew. But you don't know everything. There is a bomb, and you already activated it." Bucky stiffened, and pulled Laurel's body closer to him, tucking her head onto his shoulder for comfort. He could still hear her ragged breathing, but it was getting fainter and he knew he didn't have much time.

"Where is it Simeon?" Steve came up, looking disheveled and furious. Bucky could sense the hostility coming off of him but couldn't find it in himself to care.

"Right here." Simeon gestured to his midriff and Bucky felt a thrill of horror creep down his spine. "You did exactly what I thought you would. I played on your fears of Bucky," he motioned to Steve, "and the Winter Soldier's memory of the failure he had gone through and it worked," he stopped for a moment, choking and gasping, "like a charm. I am the detonator, and you pushed start. I would say you have about a minute before I die, and the bomb goes off. I had hoped you would shoot me sooner, but you two wasted so much time fighting that it worked out and the bomb has a 600-meter radius, so I would doubt you're going to get far enough away, especially holding her. But go ahead, try. I can't wait to watch you run out of here. Good luck." His breathing got more labored and without another word, Bucky and Steve sprinted out of the barn. Thankfully Laurel was light enough that it wasn't too much of a burden to carry her as Bucky hurtled across the field, desperately trying to get far enough out of range.

There was a sound from behind them, and suddenly it felt like the world was ripping itself apart. The sound of the explosion split the night air and the whole field was lit up with the fire of the blast. Bucky stumbled, but just focused on running, into the fields and father away from the destruction that what happening.

Despite all the chaos was going on, he knew that the minute it was over, he was going to go back into his cage, and he would never see Laurel again. That was not an option for him. Carefully maneuvering his hand down into his pocket without dropping Laurel, he pulling a smoke bomb out of his pocket and preparing to throw it in front of Steve. He threw it and it hit the ground right in front of the blonde man before exploding into a thick cloud of smoke.

Bucky turned tail and ran the opposite direction, across the fields and into the surrounding woods desperate for cover. He ran until his feet were numb, only stopping when he came to the small town of Mora. The town was dark, and Bucky was able to make his way to a convenience store. Wrenching open the back door of the building he slid in and walked through the aisles, searching for what he needed. He changed his clothes and stuffed food, water and medical supplies into a backpack. He then grabbed clothes and blankets for Laurel and wrapped her in them, trying to keep her as warm as possible. She was still breathing, even if it was faint, and Bucky allowed himself a moment to marvel at how strong she was. Then he got moving again.

Wow, it didn't take me another 6 months to upload, it's a miracle! Anyway, here is chapter 16. If you liked this chapter, feel free to favorite or follow, and if you really liked it or have any suggestions, please let me know by leaving a comment :) thank you!

kath