Bad Blood {*Pietro Maximoff*}

*19* - Bucky Barnes: Super Idiot

Since Wanda and I returned from breakfast, I was bound and determined to find Bucky. I needed to see what was going on, if the rest of the team hadn't started up that mission already.

I figured the best place to start was a training room, one of the many in the tower. I was hoping he wasn't with Gen. But I would be more than happy to crash their training session and try and stop...whatever the hell was going on with them.

Fortunately, I find Bucky in one of the training rooms, by himself.

"Tired of training solo?" is my greeting to him as I enter. This room is more like a gym, and of all the things he could be doing, he's trying to throttle a punching bag off its chains.

Bucky stops, sweating dribbling down any visible skin that I see (which is his face, parts of his shoulders due to the wife beater he's wearing, and his one flesh arm). His mane of hair is pulled into a ponytail, away from his face. While he's worked up a sweat, he doesn't seem to be breathing heavy.

"Remember the last time we trained, Rory?" he pants.

I flinch, remembering. "I'm not that same person. Unless you still don't trust me, after all this time." I cross my arms over my chest.

"Sorry for being a little less trusting than everyone else. We came from the same place, sort of."

"Come on, Barnes. Let's blow off some steam, unless you ran out of gas?"

He scoffs. "I got a little more in me."

He puts the power-cancelling cuffs on my wrists, leveling out the playing field, mainly for him. I don't press him about Gen just yet, I let us get the training in.

Boy, does he kick my ass.

I'm thrown onto the ground, my back taking the brunt of the fall. The air is knocked from my lungs, and I remain on the floor, with him standing over me. "You cheat," I huff.

"No, I'm just that good, and you're just that lame." He offers his metal hand so I can spring to my feet. Trying to be sneaky, as I do, I try to aim a kick for his abdomen. He blocks it easily and nearly throws me back on the ground. "Those tricks don't work on me, Rory."

"Worth a shot." I take a few steps back, feeling my powers already cooling off my skin. "Surprised Gen's not here with you."

"Everybody's been splitting us up since breakfast."

"Well, you almost did contaminate a place where we eat food," I say. "Can't say I blame them."

"I don't get what you guys don't see with her. She's changed."

"Yet you think that I haven't? That really hurts. What has she done to show for her change? I saved Pietro's life in Rio!"

"She's never been in the field with us. We share life experience."

"Yeah, well, big difference there is she volunteered for that procedure, you didn't." I squint at him accusingly. "If she's told you she was coerced and subjected to tests against her will, I can tell you she's a liar. Back in our base, she practically boasted how she was seen as one of the better subjects because she volunteered." She always threw it around to show that she was the top dog in the facility. If anyone challenged her, god help them. There were a few instances in training sessions were things got really messy. Thankfully, no casualties, although one was a close call.

"She hasn't done anything since we brought her back. She hasn't used her powers to escape."

"And that doesn't seem sketchy to you?" I raise a brow. I take a good look at Bucky, especially his face. He doesn't seem to be under any sort of control. "Look, yeah, it's nice to have somebody who has an idea of what you've gone through. But you guys are different. She's still loyal, you're definitely not."

"And how do you know that she is? Can you read minds now, too?"

"No, but I'll bet Vision can. If I got him and Gen in the same room, the things her mind could tell us."

"Why do you think she can't change, Rory? You have."

"We're not the same person, Bucky!" I'm getting a little angry now. "Her loyalty to Hydra is unyielding. She won't cave and join the superhero squad!"

"She's coming from the same difficult place that you are."

I'm mildly annoyed now with this super soldier. "Whatever she's done to you, it's not working on the rest of us. She's up to something, Bucky. You need to stay away from her and not treat her as a friend."

"Then you want me to treat her like an animal? Like the enemy?" he growls.

"As far as I'm concerned, she is the enemy." I sigh.

I'm expecting a longer verbal fight with Bucky. Instead, he storms out of the room without a backward glance. Fuming, I rip off the power-cancelling cuffs and stomp out after him. I make way to my room, my body on autopilot.

I want to scream to the heavens for Bucky Barnes being such an idiot to trust Genevieve. What is he seeing that we don't? Nothing. She's done something to him. There's more going on behind the scenes that we haven't dug up yet.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, hey, Speedy," I say to Pietro. I manage the nicest tone that I possibly can.

"Rory, what is it?"

"By now you've heard Bucky and Gen are...are a thing." I almost gag.

"Yes, Wanda told me they almost screwed each other in the kitchen." He makes a face of disgust.

"Not a sight you want to walk in on, believe me." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I don't get it, Pietro."

"Nobody does. Nobody likes it, but if this is real...then maybe we should just...accept it."

"You're taking their side?"

Pietro's hands are out in a cautious gesture. "I'm seeing it from my perspective. Maybe Barnes is the only person who gives her comfort. She might not get along with us, because we're Avengers, and she sees you as a traitor."

"Thanks for that reminder, Speedy."

He snorts. "You're welcome."

"So you're saying Bucky isn't an Avenger?"

"I'm saying that maybe we need to look at it not as much as a bad thing, but maybe as a good one." He shrugs.

"I thought you were here to make me feel better. You did the opposite."

"I'm sorry." He takes me into his arms. "How about we do something fun tonight? Go out for a...a walk or something?"

I look up at him. "Think you can deal with that slow pace?"

"When I'm with you, I can." He smiles.

Blushing, I push my head into his neck.

"Why are you embarrassed?"

"This might shock you, but, you're the first real boyfriend I've ever had." I look at him softly. "We went from enemies to...this. It's crazy, isn't it?"

"In this world, Rory, almost everything seems crazy. So, how about after dinner tonight, we take that walk in New York?"

I kiss him. "I'd love that."

**I love Bucky, you guys. Chill out about the chapter title.**