HEAVEN IS HERE

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The door swings open.

Steve. Mother. Fucking. Rogers.

Captain America

Oh Annalise has heard all about this guy. All about all of them, actually. Heard about the traitor, the defection. She clears the thought from her head, because the truth is, she's not sure whether to feel envious or disgusted.

"Who are you?" Steve asks.

Annalise's response is to jump onto him, flipping herself over and climbing all over his torso like a little spider. A black widow, to be exact. She yanks, hard, on his neck. To her surprise, he flips her over, and a loud smack echoes in the room as her back cracks against the hardwood floor.

Her first feeling, or even thought, isn't pain. No, it's surprise. No grown man has been able to do that to her in a long, long, time. She blames it on the super soldier serum.

She's grown mostly numb to pain, though sometimes it's not avoidable. Not like she doesn't feel it, every sting, punch, scratch, kick, and more. She's just learned to power through it, complete the mission.

"Where is he?" Steve yells.

"Fucking moron." Annalise mutters as she straights out her back before hopping back up.

A look of confusion passes over Steve's face, but as he finally takes a few more steps further, their eyes meet.

"Buck."

While Steve is in his la la land trance, as Annalise likes to think of it, she grabs a plate, jumps back onto Steve's back, and smashes it over his head. Pieces still shattering, Steve does a twisty flip in the air, hoping to catch Annalise off guard and shake her off. Obviously, it doesn't work. Who does she think she is? Of course, right now, he has no idea. Annalise would like to keep it that way.

As Steve attempts to wriggle the girl off, stubborn to admit that this girl is actually getting the upper hand, he runs over to Bucky, and luckily for him, Annalise is to focused to realize what he's doing. He quickly cuts the ties, pretending that he's just reached for a knife as a form of defense against this feral little thing incessantly pounding on his back, every time she almost gets to his neck she's someone flipped around. He's got one of her arms in his grasp, firm grasp. She's still trying to push her knife, clenched into her other fist, straight into his flesh. At this point, anywhere would be better than what she's at right now.

"In my right pocket!" Steve yells.

Before Annalise can see what's going on, something is plunged into her neck.

Her grip loosens, and Bucky catches her just in time.

"Who the hell is this girl?" Steve murmurs to Bucky, not even getting a chance to fully absorb that Buck was there, and what had just happened.

"I don't know, but I think I might have an idea."

                              ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The air is thick with silence. Steve and Bucky, Bucky and Steve. Steve is the first to speak.

"Do you know me?" He asks, uncertainty in his voice.

"You're Steve." Bucky states.

He goes on, "I read about you in a museum."

Steve hesitates, before continuing.

"I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying." Steve says in a gentle, yet firm tone.

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." Bucky responds, a serious tone to match his equally serious face.

"They're entering the building" A man says over coms, quiet but loud enough for Bucky to hear.

"Well the people who think you did are coming here now, and they're not planning on taking you alive." Steve continues, a hint of urgency in his voice.

"That's smart. Good strategy." Bucky says in response, slowly backing away.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." Steve speaks.

"It always ends in a fight." Bucky says somberly, pulling down his shirt sleeve to reveal his metal arm, and swiftly picking up Annalise into his arms.

"You pulled me out from the river! Why?" Steve questions, his voice slightly raised.

"I don't know." Bucky says in response.

"Yes, you do."

"Breach, Breach, Breach!" The man on the coms shouts.

The windows shatter, bricks thrown through. Bucky's grip on Annalise protectively tightens, ever so slightly.

A grenade is thrown in, and Steve quickly covers it with his shield.

Men, crashing in through windows, shouting, breaking things.

Steve and Bucky, fighting off the men. Bucky heads for the door, and Steve pulls him back.

"Buck stop! You're going to kill someone." Steve says in a rush.

Bucky pulls him to the ground, and punches the floorboard right by his head, and pulls out a backpack.

"I'm not going to kill anyone." Bucky says in retaliation, adjusting Annalise onto his hip and throws his backpack out the door, the bag landing onto a rooftop.

More men filter in, and both Steve and Bucky are back in action. Bucky jumps down the gap between the stairway, catching onto a railing before hoisting both him and Annalise up. He props her up bridal style, supporting her small body with his metal arm, grip firm.

He barrels out the door, jumping off onto the rooftop, lifting her slightly so that she doesn't hit the pavement too harshly, and slings his bag over his shoulder.

Before he can get far though, he's tackled down by, by a cat? A man, in a black cat suit, T'Challa, King T'Chaka's son, and Bucky is the very the man who has been thought to be responsible for his death. Oh boy, this will be fun, Bucky thinks to himself, before jumping into the fight.