Penultimate

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I've returned from the depths of Dublin to write another Chapter (Fina ALLY) I'm sorry it's taken me so long, though. Now, are you all sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. Also I have recently written a short story called Incomplete for beauty and the beast's writing challenge and I'd really appreciate any votes/comments x

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Bucky's arms tightened slightly around Erin, who was now beginning to groggily wake up. Her hazy brown eyes flickered from Bucky's shocked face to the twisted smile of Pine, who had not yet lowered his gun, the barrel pointing directly between Bucky's eyes. There was only one thing she was thinking.

"Fuck." the word was muttered out of her mouth before she could stop it.

Pine smiled at her response. "I've missed your vocabulary, Jefferson."

"This is between you and me, Stephen. Leave her out of it." The voice came from Bucky, his chest vibrating with it. His face was as hard as a rock, his blue eyes icy. Pine shook his head.

"Not exactly true, Soldier,"

Pine gestured with his head to behind Bucky's left shoulder. He stiffened and whipped his head around as he saw four men emerge from the shadows, in the classic black padded uniform of a HYDRA soldier. His eyes flickered from side to side, wondering which assailant to deal with first. In any other situation, he would have already taken out the four men behind him and would be moving on to Pine now, but in this hypothetical situation, he didn't have a hundred and thirty pounds of chemist in his arms.

"Let me down," Erin's order would have been a lot more convincing if she hadn't ended it with a coughing fit that sounded like she was trying to expel her lungs from her torso.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Erin," Bucky responded, hyper-aware of the fact that the men on each side of him were slowly walking forwards, guns drawn. His mind was working on overdrive, thinking and rethinking, analysing all possible ways to get out of his situation, and he was coming up blank. He could fight all these men off in a heartbeat, but not with Erin in his arms. He looked up at Pine, who still had his gun pointed at Bucky, and was still smiling. He'd been waiting for this moment, and now it had finally come, he was going to enjoy it.

"I can stand, Bucky. Just put me down and you can take care of them." Erin's voice was getting desperate now, and Bucky had to admit he was considering her offer. He looked down at her, saw those deep brown eyes, those eyes that he couldn't seem to forget. She nodded up at him. The amount of trust on her face broke his heart. He didn't deserve that. She had a point, though. If he put her down, he could make fast work of the four HYDRA agents surrounding him without Erin in his arms, and that would only leave Pine. This could work.

He nodded his head imperceptibly, but she understood. Get ready. Bucky's thumb rubbed up and down once on her upper thigh, something that was hopefully a reassuring gesture, and proceeded to place her, feet first down on the floor. It was a little faster than she expected, and she wobbled slightly before grabbing onto the wall next to her for support. Bucky, on the other hand, had spun around faster than Erin could compute. He elbowed one of the HYDRA agents directly in the face, sending him to the floor like a lead pipe. A bullet was fired and Bucky ducked out of the way with superhuman speed, letting it crash into the drywall behind him, dangerously close to Erin's head. She let out a high-pitched scream in surprise.

"Get down," Bucky yelled at her, as his metal fist sunk into the stomach of another of the men, who bent double with the pain, giving him the perfect opportunity to knee him in the face. Erin didn't need to be told twice, she slid down the side of the wall and curled up into the fetal position on the floor, her shoulder, the one that had been shot earlier, burning in pain at the unexpected movement. She felt slightly useless, crouched down in a corner whilst Bucky sent a roundhouse kick into a HYDRA assailant's sternum, sending him flying. This was Bucky's thing, this was what he did. It was the first time she had ever really seen him fight, and she had to admit, it terrified her a little bit. He was like a machine. Not just because of the metal arm, shining and powerful, almost with a mind of it's own as it sailed into the ribs of one of the men who had been foolish enough to get back up off the floor and try again. It was the way that he moved, like a dancer, each step perfectly executed with maximum efficiency. She understood now why he was so dangerous, so feared. He took out the last man with a firm kick to the chest, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a wall behind him.

Honesty ♧ Bucky BarnesWhere stories live. Discover now