My Name Is Bucky [FemBucky&Sam]

Pain

"Karli Morgenthau, you are under arrest..."

Just as she promised, Bucky waits for Sam.

Or tries to anyway.

As she predicted, it's Walker who is the problem and Bucky is more annoyed with herself over letting herself get distracted. For that split second she does - she's walking over to the way they all came through, just to make sure they have more than one exit - Walker takes immediate advantage.

Zemo watches them go with a smirk, and Bucky doesn't have time for him as she rushes in after Walker. Lemar is right behind her then, and Bucky gives him both a glare and a small shove out of her way. The little shit is persistent, though, as he runs after her, even tries to hold her back, and Bucky does her best not to just curl up her metal fingers and launch her fist into his gut.

Her eyes land on Sam first and Bucky is beyond relieved to see that he's unharmed. She wants to smile, because she knows that this is proof that Sam was actually probably getting to Karli.

As usual, John ruins the moment - ruins everything he seems to touch, in Bucky's mind. He's holding Steve's shield like it actually fucking means something and Bucky grits her teeth hard as she watches him.

"So, this was ya plan all along - stalling me until ya back-up arrives!?" Karli scoffs out - in some English accent that Bucky doesn't quite recognise. The young supersoldier is glaring between Sam and John, and Bucky now keeps her cautious eyes on her instead.

"No." Sam shakes his head, hands up in a non-threatening stance. "John, wait -"

"Absolutely not. You're done. And so is she."

John charges at her, and Sam tries to cut him off, and in the process, Karli shoves them both back as hard as she possibly can before running off. Bucky thanks Karma when Sam ends up landing on John and this time, she shoves Lemar out of her way without a second thought.

Bucky then darts after Karli, but not before she checks - "Sam?"

"I'm good. Go." Sam calls out - and thankfully, he doesn't sound too hurt.

Bucky hears the others following behind her, for all of three seconds. She's then speeding up until she's at her fastest and this place is a fucking maze, but she's easily able to keep up with Karli. Though, Bucky knows it's only because she has lived with the serum for decades - unlike the mere weeks Karli has. On top of being a supersoldier for so very long, she's also a trained assassin and knows just how every inch of her abilities and body works.

Bucky uses these advantages - Karli skips the bottom half of the staircase, leaping up with no problem, but landing with only a little less grace than the average supersoldier. Bucky follows her, but has to use part of the metal railing as a leg-up, though doing so allows her to land even further up and waste less time.

Bucky knows she is fast. Faster than even Steve, where he always out-matched her in strength.

Karli, however, is faster, but she's less agile with it, moves just like a wolf cub trying to find its feet. She barrels through whatever she needs to and she's breathing hard in panic more than anything else when she glances behind to see the Winter Soldier keeping up with her.

Of course, Karli has heard the stories of both Sargeant Jane "Bucky" Barnes, Captain America's best friend and Second in Command and the stories about the Winter Soldier. She had admired them both, still does.

Bucky, in particular for her, the Winter Soldier parts of Bucky were always such a tragic and sad story for her. She doesn't know much about the Winter Soldier, only that now she knows she was right to be afraid and so very wrong to underestimate Bucky without the Winter Soldier.

Maybe Karli is out of her depth here - with all of this fucking mess she's trying so hard to clean up for so many people who rely on her or look up to her or goddamn trust her. But it doesn't matter now, she's too far in and she reminds herself of that as she forces herself to keep moving. One advantage she knows she has right now is that she knows this building like the back of her hand.

Bucky keeps her eyes glued to the gangly and uneven movements of the younger supersoldier. The little bitch is slowly starting to gain speed on her, but Bucky is grateful she's more in tune with her body than Karli as the youngster wobbles on her landing. Bucky is right behind her, almost anyway. She's hopping over some balcony and falling some forty feet and landing ever gracefully.

Bucky doesn't know how (because she just had her sights on that big bushy red mane) but when she rounds the next corner, Karli is nowhere to be fucking seen!

Bucky instantly halts. She is barely even out of breath, she's just standing there in disbelief. Then she's glaring to herself and shouting; "FUCK!"

But what pisses her off the most is the stupid voice of the Winter Soldier in the back of her mind as she smugly tells her; "Nothing without me..."

Bucky is then glaring at the stupid voice and for once, she's pissed off enough to fight back with; "I'm nothing when I am you."

...And now, she's talking to herself.

Great.

[12 Minutes Later.]

Bucky searches as much of the building as she can and in times like this, she's actually thankful for her photographic memory, because it keeps her from getting lost. Well, too lost. Her sense of direction is pretty fucking spiffy, too, which is probably why she ends up meeting up with Sam first.

Bucky gives him a quick once-over, pleased to see he's still "good" before she’s telling him, "I lost her."

Sam sees the scowl - not a glare - and holds back on smiling in such a shitty situation. He can tell she's annoyed with herself, definitely annoyed with John. He definitely feels the same on the latter party.

"This place is a fucking maze. Don't worry about it. I don't even know where we are right now."

Bucky smiles faintly to herself as she watches him glance curiously at their surroundings. She's suddenly scowling again, though, when she sees him flinch very slightly after turning around too quickly. "You're not good. She got you."

"It's probably just a bruise. Doesn't hurt that bad." Sam doesn't know if that's concern for him in her voice or just anger for John or Karli, but he's touched either way.

"Probably." Bucky nods, then reaches forward with her flesh hand and pokes the left side of his chest just hard enough for it to hurt - but not to cause any more damage.

"Ow-wah!" Sam grunts, his expression cataloguing first pain, then shock, then outrage.

Bucky takes a small step back and smiles ever innocently back up at him. She's not the shortest woman at 5'10, and it's only taken her until now to finally admit to herself that she loves how his 6'2 frame towers over her ever so slightly and that she doesn't have to crane her fucking neck to look at him, like whenever she did with Steve - or rather, with Captain America.

"Why?"

Bucky saves the feeling of his hard muscle beneath her flesh fingers for a "more private time" for herself and simply shrugs and grins. "It's funny."

"Oh, my pain amuses you?" Sam arches a brow and tries to look upset, but she can see he's fighting a smile.

It makes her want to smile even more, but Bucky looses her grin and shrugs again. "Only when I'm the one causing it..."

Slightly stunned, Sam simply stares after her, watching her turn on the heels of her boots and walk back the way he came. He doesn't know exactly what she means by that, but he definitely wants to find out...