Who are you? Bucky Barnes

Chapter 6

"The mission is to capture the Winter Soldier and bring him to headquarters," Nick explains, looking at each of us in turn. We sit around a table on chairs and look at Nick, who is standing opposite us. "We will search for him and if anyone has found him, everyone else will be notified before you attack. We don't know how strong he is or what weapons he will use to attack us. It is possible that he knows we are looking for him," Nick explains further.

We listen to him as he explains the points of our safety before each mission. It's as if he has learned it by heart and stands in front of a class every time to give his lecture. That's how he looks, like the people who can give the lectures without cards, looking at everyone while still mentioning everything.

"Ok, well good luck and take care, I'll see you tonight." says Nick, taking a few steps back. We stand up and walk towards the door to get to the limo in front of the hotel.

"Luxury car here I come," I say enthusiastically and walk towards the limousine. As I open the door and sit inside, I look around. No snacks. "Where are my snacks?" I ask, being pushed backwards by Steve. The back of my knees press against the seat and I fall onto the seat. "You know we're looking for the Winter Soldier, not snacks." Steve whispers. I nod and watch as the others also get into the limo and sit down.

The car is started and I notice we are starting to move. I look around the car, where the snacks were, this time there are our weapons. Some knives and pistols. While I read the signs with our names in front of the weapons, I listen to Steve and Natasha talking.

"In 80 years so many assassinations and I think there are many more than we know so far. Who is this guy and where did he come from?" asks Natasha, looking thoughtful. Her hair is tied in a braid and she is wearing her combat gear that accentuates her body. How her opponents can concentrate on attack or defence is a question in itself.

"I don't know, but he's still in good shape for his age," Steve replies, watching Natasha. "Neither of us are necessarily younger than he seems to be," I say, getting Natasha and Steve's attention. "True, but there aren't many besides us who also have the Super Serum in their blood."

It's quiet for a moment, only the conversation, between the others can be heard softly. Then Natasha speaks up again. "He's under the control of Hydra, so apparently they have some methods of making people stronger, like with you." I nod, thinking of Bucky, who was strong even without a serum.

"Remember Buck with his methods of being able to live forever?" I ask Steve with a smile, feeling the tears well up in my eyes at the thought of Bucky. Steve nods and puts his arm over my shoulder. "I know you love and miss him just as much after all these years as you did then," he says, pulling me closer to him.

"Got it!" Bucky exclaims, suddenly standing in front of me laughing. "I know how to live forever." he explains and takes my hand. Together with me he goes into the living room and drops onto the couch. I sit down on his lap and clasp my hands behind his neck.

"Then tell me your theory of how people live forever." I say smiling and looking at him his blue eyes capture me and put me under a spell. I could look into his eyes for hours without doing anything else.

"Imagine if you froze people. Then you wouldn't age, but when you're thawed out, you age again. So we need another something, which then doesn't make you age. What do you think about that, you get a serum and then you have to be frozen for, say, two days for the serum to work. If you get thawed out after two days, then you live forever." says Bucky enthusiastically and then looks at me questioningly. "What do you think of the theory of living forever?" "It sounds like you're the inventor of it," I say proudly to Bucky and kiss his cheek.

"He was so excited about this idea and the idea was really good. Maybe he should have been a scientist rather than a soldier. Although he looked perfect in his uniform," I say and smile.

The car brakes and a moment later the door next to us opens. "Take your weapons and then as discussed, everyone to their posts." says Nick, poking his head through the door. I take the knives and the pistol lying above the sign with my name on it. Then I follow the others out of the car. The bright light of the sun blinds me for a moment and I hold my hand over my eyes. "It's so bright," I mutter and blink a few times until I get used to the brightness.

Most of them move to their posts as I look for Steve to follow him. When I find him a few metres away, I quickly run after him. "We have to go that way so he doesn't see us," he says, pointing to a small alley. The houses are just two or three metres apart and there are several bags of rubbish on the ground.

Steve walks ahead of me as the alley widens a little and leads into a small house. Our post. The house has a small wooden door through which we pass. Inside is a counter with a shelf holding old bottles. The whole house is dusted. "Is that a minibar?" I ask Steve, walking to the window in front of us. "Yes. Come here, we have a good view from here." he says and moves a little to the side so that I can look out the window next to him.

A few cars keep driving on the road in front of us, but the Winter Soldier is not between them. Steve has sat down on the floor after a few minutes and looks at the door we came through.

"Steve?" I ask suddenly, staring out the window. He looks up at me and slowly turns around. "Steve." I say again and continue to stare out the window. He looks out the window beside me and stares ahead of us at the road as much as I do. "That's him." he whispers, pulling me down as the man in the street turns to us.