ultralight beam ੈ✩‧₊˚ bucky barnes

chapter five: radiation

When Bucky Barnes regained consciousness, he immediately tried to rub his face. Of course, he couldn't since his metal was stuck in some machine, purposely he presumed. Once his eyes settled on his artificial limb, he tried to remember the chaos he had caused earlier, making him close his eyes again, exhaling deeply. He hated the fact that someone could have control over him so easily, it scared him to be honest. A few words and he could be someone's slave. He'd turn into a killing machine, again.

Bucky made a promise, to himself -and to Maia- that he wouldn't do that anymore.

The tired man didn't even glance up when he heard footsteps approaching, too embarrassed to look at anyone. He managed to get out a small, "Steve."

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" the blonde man was holding back, trying to keep his composure. The man sitting in front of him had tried to end his life multiple times, not holding back in the slightest, and it was only a few hours ago.

Bucky shrugged, trying to think of a way to prove that he was 'himself' at the moment. "Your mom's name is Sarah..you used to wear newspapers in your shoes." There was a weak smile that crossed his face but it was gone in a few seconds.

Steve smiled at that, knowing that his best friend remembered something that seemed so unimportant. "You can't read that in a museum."

Sam sent Steve an annoyed look, looking between the two best friends before he scoffed loudly. "Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?"

Steve ignored the man beside him, listening to Bucky instead. "What did I do?" he asked hesitantly, leaning up against the machine that kept his metal arm in place.

"Enough," Steve simply stated, not wanting to explain any details to his distraught friend that sat helpless in front of him.

This didn't ease his nerves in the slightest though, and Bucky shut his eyes tight. "I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside of me is still there. All he had to do was say those goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve inquired, staring Bucky down while Sam watched. The dark-skinned veteran glanced behind his shoulder to see that Maia was still sleeping in the corner with her knees brought up to her chest and her head leaning against one of the hard, solid walls.

Bucky thought the question was stupid. If he had known who the man was, he would've said something sooner. He was just as clueless as the two men in front of him. "I don't know."

The blue eyed man that watched his every move was clearly unimpressed, shifting all of his weight to his left side, placing a hand on his hip and sighing in disappointment. "People are dead-"

Bucky winced but that didn't stop Steve from continuing. Part of him knew that Bucky didn't need to hear what he was about to say but he didn't really have a choice. He needed answers and he needed them now.

"The bombing. The set up. The doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you," Steve told his old friend, "I need you to do better than 'I don't know'."

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept," Bucky admitted, his head aching from being knocked out earlier. "He wanted to know exactly where."

Steve's eyes narrowed, the confusion written all over his face. "Why would he want to know that."

Bucky bit his tongue, looking away from the man in front of him. "...because, I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

"How come you never told me that?"

All three men glanced over to see the curly haired woman who stood with her arms hanging loosely by her side. Sam had jumped at the sound of her voice, since he had just seen her sleeping peacefully a moment ago.

"Damn, somebody's a light sleeper," he commented under his breath, rolling his eyes when he saw that she had heard him.

"I wasn't sleeping, sleeping is ineffective. I was absorbing energy," Maia corrected him, glancing around the building that they were currently seeking shelter in. "This building has quite a lot of radiation in it."

Sam touched his chest gingerly, also glancing around. Steve heaved out another sigh, his hands combing through his blonde hair.

"Can the doctor control them?" he asked, changing the subject. Bucky looked away from Maia, who was watching him intently.

Feeling Maia's eyes on him, he held in a breath, looking the other way. He had told Maia almost everything he remembered, when he just so happened to remember it, but he had forgot to mention the other Winter Soldiers to his close friend. "He can control them, enough."

Bucky's hair fell in front of his face, blocking his view of Maia, with only Steve in sight. "He said he wanted to see an empire fall. With them, he could do it. These guys could take down an entire country in one night."

Maia heard Sam mutter a faint 'shit' under his breath, making her glance in his direction briefly before her attention turned to Bucky once more. As Steve and Sam started up their own, private conversation, she made her way over to her friend. Bucky heard her coming and he looked the other way, biting his tongue.

"Are you not going to talk to me?" the brunette questioned, bending down so that they were on the same level once she had freed his hand.

The former assassin let his left hand fall limp at his side, still refusing to meet his best friend's gaze. Maia frowned, not understanding why Bucky refused to talk to her. Using both hands, she moved his face so that he was looking directly at her.

As Bucky stared at Maia, looking deep into her dark brown eyes, he wanted to apologize for not telling her about the other Winter Soldiers, he wanted to tell her how happy he was to see her since he believed that she had left him, like everyone else. But, he was tired of talking, so instead, he placed his head on her chest, allowing her to run her small fingers through his tangled hair while he kept his arms wrapped securely around her waist, afraid that she would leave him again.

Awkwardly and hesitantly, Steve cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the two friends that were in their own world. As they waited for him to say something, Steve shoved his hands into his pockets. "We have to leave, now." Maia shrugged, not understanding why Steve seemed so uncomfortable.

"Okay, that's fine. You don't have to act so weird about it."