Who Am I? » [Stucky]

104. Winter

“They’re hunting you down too?” Bucky inquired, an essence of distrust in his invasive question.

The three of them strolled wistfully over to the blazing fire pit that Ward had prepared on the gaping dusty ground of the barn. The barn was completely empty, the poorly stocked wares having been exhausted in the cold months; no remnants of the sparse harvest remaining. Only a few straggling snags of hay remained, small strands littering the floor, the gossamer-like featherweight strands bouncing around like tumbleweed and floating on the breeze that slipped in through the cracks of the barn.

Bucky and Steve sat close to one another, with Grant parallel to the pair on the opposite side of the roaring inferno. His face was just visible amongst the dancing and weaving laces of flame that flickered and waved in the wind, the flames climbing high as they usurped the logs fuelling them. Weightless glowing orange embers rose from the fire pit, hanging in the air above them. The charcoaled logs crackled and sputtered as they were torn apart by the flames. The fire radiated an intense heat which was enough to burn even without skin-to-flame contact and they instantly absorbed the heat it fed them.

“Yeah. But every exposed agent of SHIELD is on the run. We’ve been dubbed criminals since HYDRA infiltrated; in the eyes of civilians, we’re one and the same…” Grant explained, shaking his head solemnly and baring his palms to the orange flames, attempting to regain the heat he’d lost answering the door.

“How long have you been running for?” Bucky prompted more invasively, investigating the stranger they had whimsically trusted further.

“Ever since the fall of the Triskelion and the helicarriers.”

Bucky and Steve exchanged a small glance of amusement, both thinking on the events they played a part in.

“Sorry about that,” Steve said, humiliation in his tone, a subtle smile on his lips.

“No need to apologise, Captain. You’re a hero. You saved three million innocent people.” Grant smiled pointedly at Steve, disingenuously. It was brief and it appeared to be more of insulting derision than of pride for his comrade.

“I didn’t realise that figure was released,” Bucky commented casually, crossing his arms defensively over his chest.

A flicker of panic, so microscopic that you could’ve missed it if you blinked, flashed across Grant’s face. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed with a struggle and he blinked frenetically. “Everything off the SHIELD mainframe was leaked on the internet, it isn’t exactly hard to find out,” Grant said in an icy tone, his threatening, narrow eyed gaze focused intently on Bucky.

Grant slipped a hand into his pocket surreptitiously, carefully scooping up his phone and texting a message, eye line to his lower body shielded by the flames that separated them so the movement went unseen. ‘I have them. Coordinates attached. –GW’.

“Where were you when SHIELD fell?” Steve asked, curious as to the story of the man.

“With my team… Fitz, Simmons, Skye, May and Coulson, we were on the-“

“You know Phil Coulson?” Steve interjected, cutting him off.

“Yeah, he was our team leader… We got separated by some unfortunate circumstances, and now I’m just trying to survive out here alone,” Grant said sadly, something malevolent burning in his eyes.

“Phil never mentioned you,” Bucky stated monotonously, not entirely trusting of the shady man before them with his dark eyed gaze and his rough voice. For someone who had been living rough, he looked very well washed and clean cut.