RAISON D'ÊTRE ( bucky barnes ) 一 under editing

THIRTY-EIGHTH

RAISON D'ÊTRE
THIRTY-EIGHTH

THEY EXPLORED THE FACILITY as best they could, occasionally having to break down the doors to get into new rooms. Several of them led to small offices, with information that wasn't useful to them. While some of the documents and information they'd found pertained to important and top secret projects, Rome doubted they'd be of any use; all of this dated back to the nineties, and she highly doubted any of this information was either currently accurate or still in use. There wasn't much they could find about the Winter Soldier or any of the others they'd try to make. A part of her felt uncomfortable walking through the halls, hands curled into tiny fists. It was as if all life in this place vanished, like everyone who'd been here suddenly disappeared and left everything behind. She'd spotted some old and rotten food lying about, and it made her wonder what could have made people leave in such a rush. Perhaps the people had grown nervous that one day the other Winter Soldiers would rise up and kill them all, or perhaps they'd gotten information their base had been leaked. Either way, it felt like something was going to pop out any second and kill them all.

She pressed her lips together as they continued walking down a long corridor. There were so many things going on in her head, one of which being what would happen when this was all over. Of course Steve, his friends, Bucky, and Rome had known that it hadn't been Bucky who bombed Vienna but someone else, a fake wanting to target Bucky. They knew the truth but who would believe the word of fugitives? Her and Bucky had been on the run for years, been people forced into criminal lives, and Steve and his friends had just broken international laws to help them. And Stark had told them he'd arrived on a whim, a sudden theory that they could be telling the truth. There was no proof, so who would believe them? Rome wanted to believe that they could be set free and pardoned for everything that had happened, but that sounded like a dream.

"I got heat signatures," Stark said from up ahead. Together, they left the hallway and into a large open room, the lights completely off. However Rome could spot a few large pods lined up, the glass too dark and fogged to see inside.

"How many?" Steve asked, shield still held tightly against his arm. 

"Uh..." Stark paused, unsure of his answer and confused. "One."

"One?" Rome echoed, brows arched high and one hand reaching to clutch the pendant at her throat. She twisted the maroon colored jewel between her slim fingers. "What about the other Winter Soldiers?" The witch didn't want to think about how they could all be awake and long gone, or were just sitting in wait for them. Slowly, she glanced at Bucky but she couldn't read his face. 

Her question remained unanswered as they slowly stepped further into the room, fingers twitching against their weapons. She'd never felt so cautious in her life; every hair on her body stood on end with her anxiety rising with each step. Her heart was thundering beneath her ribs, a wild beating rhythm in her chest. When several lights suddenly popped on, lighting up the room and the pods around them, the blonde had nearly jumped in her spot and whirled around.

Rome pressed her hand to her mouth when she walked towards one of the pods. Inside was a well built man, slumped over in his chair with a small circular hole in the middle of his forehead. A bullet hole.  When she turned to look at the other pods, she saw the same result 一 a dead person with a gunshot wound in their head.

"If it's any comfort," a startling voice said, "they died in their sleep." She snapped her head to her group, eyes wide. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

Rome walked closer to Bucky, feeling his hand tug her body closer to him. She tightly clung to Bucky's arm, hearing his confused muttering quietly in her ear.