Winter's Redemption [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Chapter Twenty Nine

**I would recommend watching Agents of Shield before this, or at least understand the characters in the show, so it'll make more sense. But if you really don't want to watch the show than it shouldn't be that hard to understand**

*Bucky's POV*

I trudged ahead through the thick foliage, attempting to find a decent spot to rest. I pushed aside a tree branch and held it aside for everyone else, and followed them.

We were probably about a mile from the destroyed neighborhood, and I thought we might finally be far enough. I caught up to Steve, who was now leading the group.

"Do you think we've gone far enough?" I asked him. He stopped and looked behind us, then turned back to me and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's stop here." He said. Sarah sat down against a tree, and Sam and Tony sat down, too.

"Can we start a small fire? It's getting cold, and it'll probably get colder. I don't want anyone to freeze." I asked Steve and Nat. They glanced at each other.

"If we put it out soon, then I don't think it would do any harm." Tasha said, and I nodded, heading over to a tree to get some branches. I snapped them in half and got them off the tree, and then put them in a pile on the ground next to where everyone was sitting. I took two of them and rubbed them together fast with my metal arm, and started a fire in five seconds. Sarah came closer to the warmth of the fire, and so did everyone else. We sat in a circle around the flames.

There wasn't really anything to say, an we sat in a comfortable silence. We didn't really need to talk about the events today, because we already knew the details. We didn't need to go over the plan, because we already knew it and we're doing it tomorrow. It was strange, though, how I felt as if I belonged with these people. As I looked around, I realized that in a way, they were all broken people like me. They were superheroes because they turned that rage and sadness into strength, and my goal was to do the same. I can no longer let my past effect me, not if I want to be who I used to.

Suddenly Tony's phone buzzed in his backpack, and he took it out, sliding his thumb across the screen.

"You're supposed to be dead." He said, frowning at the phone. I looked at Steve, and he was just as confused as me. Natasha got up and sat next to Tony, also frowning.

I heard a sigh from his phone, and I stared at it in bewilderment.

"I know. Fury decided he wasn't done with me yet. I'd rather not go into detail as to how they brought me back, but I will tell you that it still haunts me." The screen said. I stood up and walked around to see the screen, and saw a slightly balding man wearing a suit. Steve got up and followed me, and then smiled wide.

"Coulson! You're alive!" Steve exclaimed, and the man beamed so wide I thought he was going to faint.

"Yes I am!" Coulson replied.

"Coulson, where are you?" Natasha asked, and Coulson looked behind him before replying.

"Stark, are you positive this network is secure?" He asked, before he said anything that was confidential. Stark nodded firmly in reply.

"We are back on our airbus, headed to DC. Fury has given me the task of rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. from ground up. He's made me director." Coulson said, smiling.

"Coulson I'm so happy for you! We will help you rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. in any way we can once we take care of this Hydra base." Natasha told him, and he nodded in understanding. Suddenly a young girl, probably in her twenties, popped up on the screen.

"Who are you t- oh my god. It's the AVENGERS!" She exclaimed, making Coulson groan and cover his ears. She stared at the screen in excitement, and Steve, Natasha and Tony waved. I was partly on the screen but not totally, so I didn't move.

"Iron Man, Black Widow and the Captain America?! I can't believe what I'm seeing!!!" She yelled. Tony laughed, and her smile grew even wider.

"What's your name, beautiful?" Tony asked. He was flirting with her, I noticed. It was something I supposedly used to do all the time, back in the forties. The girl blushed.

"Skye." She replied. Then she frowned, looking at the edge of the screen where I was. I inwardly groaned.

"Who are you?" She asked curiously. I looked up at the screen.

"Bucky. You probably know me as The Winter Soldier." I said. She needed to know what I had done in order to know who I am. Her eyes grew wide, ever so slightly, and I looked down.

"He was my best friend, back in the nineteen hundreds, when we were born. But Hydra got a hold of him, giving him a metal arm and brainwashing him so he didn't know anything except how to follow orders." Steve told her. She nodded, then gave me a warm smile.

"If Captain America trusts you, then there is no reason why I shouldn't." Skye replied. I gave a half hearted grin in return and Coulson came back onto the screen.

"You guys let us know if you need any backup. I trust that you know what you're doing." Coulson told us, and Tony nodded, saluting him.

"Bye Director Coulson." Natasha said, giving a wave and a smirk. Steve sent him and grin and a simple, 'bye,' that almost made Coulson swoon.

Tony clicked a button on the side of his phone. I was going to ask what the heck that thing was, but I decided to let it drop. I stood up and walked over to the fire, looking back at Natasha and Steve.

"Time to put it out?" I asked, and they nodded. I smothered it with moss from a near by tree, and the fire vanished. I went and sat next to Sarah, who was sitting against a tree. Steve and Natasha sat across from us, talking in low voices. Probably about Coulson. Sam was lying on the ground to the right of us, attempting to get some sleep, and Tony was to the left of us, looking at his phone. Eventually everyone laid down, and we tried to get some sleep before tomorrow, the day we begin taking down this Hydra base.

"You ok?" I asked Sarah. She glanced up at me and nodded, leaning against me and spreading her legs out. She leaned her head on my shoulder and I leaned my head on hers, and she fell asleep quickly.

I absentmindedly stroked her hair, and took a quick glance at Steve and Natasha. Steve and Tasha were facing each other, pulling themselves closer and closer.

They were perfect for each other- the captain, leader, symbol of hope for all mankind, represents America's patriotism. The spy, with a not-so-good past, that knows how to follow orders and get the job done, the symbol of how America gathers intelligence. They are a perfect team for a mission, perfect combat team for fighting.

At some point during the night, my eyelids actually began to get heavy, against all odds. I didn't fight it, and instead fell asleep for the first time in a few days. It was probably the best nights sleep since I woke up as The Winter Soldier.

And when I wake up, we begin.

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