Embered Coal ° BUCKY BARNES | VOL. 3

seven; the winter soldier

Lara had been sitting in the room with Steve and Sam when Sharon walked in. Well, Lara assumed Sharon because her head was down on the table, feeling like a complete dick after saying that stuff to Tony. She wanted to somehow get him to forgive her, because he was family, and Lara was never the person to do that.

Her head left the table, however, when she heard an accented voice start talking. Lara's eyes met the screen in the corner, one that had been muted and censored, now showing Bucky locked in the container. Her eyes watched him closely, seeing if there was any discomfort or anything. He seemed at ease, silent as he stared at the man that sat in front of him at the table.

"-I'm not here to judge you," it said, and Lara felt herself sigh. Hopefully, he wouldn't be diagnosed with something too bad, and she would be able to visit him occasionally. She just wanted to hold him for a second, tell him that everything was going to be okay. "I just want to ask you a few question. Do you know where you are, James?"

Bucky didn't respond, and Lara sighed. He needed too, or else this could probably be a lot worse for him than it already was. Being framed sucked, especially when only a few people really believed you.

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky," Bucky finally spoke, making Lara's heart skip a beat. He remembered. A content sigh left her mouth as she kept her eyes focused on the screen, a smile on her face. He remembered.

Steve picked up a photo, looking at it for a second, before he dropped it back on the table. "Why would the task force release this photo to begin with?"

Lara noticed that it was the picture that framed Bucky, his face covered by a black mask except for his eyes and nose. It was easy to recognize him for Lara, but she bet many people didn't know until the news had announced it. Lara closed her eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of her nose as she listened to Sharon's response.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can."

"Right. That's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding," Steve said, Lara's eyes flashing open, her eyebrows furrowing. It was piecing together in her mind, she just needed more to go on. "Set off a bomb, get your picture taken, you got seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"Are you saying someone framed him to find him?"

"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing," Sam said, making Lara look at them in confusion. They were already looking for him before this. Why didn't she know about this?

"We didn't bomb the UN, that's a lot of heads," Steve answered back to Sam, Lara's brain starting to hurt as she tried to process everything. Memories flashed in her mind. Dancing. Steve and Peggy. Wesley. Her sister. Army Ribbons. The ring on her finger. Lara clutched her head, wanting to scream, when suddenly, it all stopped and her eyes were focused on Steve, who was looking at her with a concerned look.

"Lara, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just not used to having multiple people's memories in my head," the girl answered, before turning back to the screen.

They were all staring at it now, listening to what the psychologist was saying. "Tell me, Bucky, you've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Bucky answered, glaring at the man. Lara didn't trust him, having a bad feeling in her gut. She made sure to look at the details of the table, getting ready to land on it in case she needed to.

"You feel that if you open your mouth that the horrors may never stop? Don't worry, we only have to talk about one."

Suddenly, the place went black, Lara's eyes widening. She couldn't teleport, due to the fact that she didn't want to land in the wrong place. Sharon and Steve met eyes (from what Lara could see in the small amount of light coming through some windows) and the blonde woman told the three where Bucky was being kept.