Gold to Airy Thinness Beat

Chapter Thirty-Six

Bucky had been trying to protect civilians.

Trying.

It was nothing like a normal operation, set in enemy territory, surrounded by trained and armed combatants.

Howard Stark developed weapons but he wasn't military. He was a civilian and so the event he'd gone to had been civilian in nature, filled with people wearing suits instead of armor and carrying programs instead of weapons.

People had been hurt.

People had died.

The guilt, and outright frustration of being outnumbered by both civilians and enemy combatants, of being literally unable to protect them all ran deep.

He'd seen the doppelganger when she'd come in, the sound of shattering glass drawing his attention. He'd watched her walk toward the podium and had realized her target but he'd been pinned down and unable to move on her. It had only served to add to his overall frustration. He'd been waiting a week and when she finally showed up all he could do was watch her walk past.

He'd managed to clear the way for his men to go after her and Stark a few minutes later but had chosen to stay behind. Going would have left Carter on her own in a dress and heels with a borrowed gun. As capable as he knew her to be, not even she could hold her own against a room full of enemy soldiers while protecting the innocent at the same time.

So he'd sent his men and they'd come back with a pale and silent Howard Stark but not the woman who they reported had escaped under cover of a smoke grenade. By the time the Commandos had made it to the back door she'd vanished through it had been barricaded from the outside forcing them to go back and around. They'd made it outside finally, only to find that Hydra, and the woman, were long gone.

Once he was sure things were well in hand inside, Bucky went to check on Stark who was sitting on the edge of the stage with Dum Dum. The man barely seemed to notice as Bucky walked up, staring into the distance and mumbling under his breath.

"What happened?" Bucky asked Dum Dum. Stark, from what he'd been told, had flown Stephanie and Carter over enemy lines to rescue him like the whole thing was little more than a lark. Fear wasn't exactly something that tended to overwhelm him.

"No clue," Dum Dum said with a shrug. "Started screaming at us not to shoot her, or him, then she shot out the lights, tried to shoot us and threw a smoke grenade. Next thing you know Stark comes stumbling up and she's a phantom."

"He didn't want you to shoot her?" Bucky asked in confusion. "Why?" It wasn't that he intended to go out of his way to kill the doppelganger but her being alive wasn't exactly necessary to help clear his wife's name.

Dum Dum simply shrugged again in answer.

Stark stood up in a move so fast it startled both men. "I'd like to go back to headquarters now if that's all right."

"Sure," Bucky said slowly. The local police had arrived along with backup from the SSR and the place was well under control. "We'll escort you." The last thing they wanted was Hydra making a second attempt on the way to headquarters, not that Bucky wouldn't relish a second chance to grab the doppelganger.

Stark agreed and, after collecting Carter and the rest of his men, they headed out. Phillips had sent a truck to get them and Carter offered Stark the passenger seat before moving toward the back to sit with the rest of them on uncomfortable benches.

As Stark grabbed the edge of the door to pull himself in, Bucky idly nodded at the other man's hand. "What color were her eyes?" he asked curiously.