The Broken Family

|8| Two Families Become One

——June, 2014——
——5:25pm——

Around a month or two had passed since S.H.I.E.L.D fell along with HYDRA, and I was a mess. Worry over my pups had begun to drive me insane as Bucky and I traveled slowly over Europe. I wouldn't leave him though, he was like one of my pups himself. So we stuck together like glue, no matter where we went or what happened.

The rain gently dripped off the shingles as the few people still around rushed for shelter. The distant Eiffel Tower was scoured by clouds as the rain slowly intensified.

Bucky had left the run down building to go get food for himself —with a bit of arguing about getting food for me as well, which I won by the way—, and I stayed inside. The walls were suffocating to me, mostly since I was used to wide open spaces or large forests.

I had been pacing back and forth, wall to wall, for quite a few hours now. Worry overcoming my mind, both for Bucky being alone for so long and for my pups back at home. Footsteps approached the building and I recognized them to be Bucky's, but something was wrong... they were hurried and slightly louder than usual. I quickly went to the door as it opened and Bucky entered, quickly shutting it behind him. His eyes were wide with fear as he calmed down next to me. I went over to the window and peered out, looking for anything suspicious in the rain.

"The hell..?" Bucky's quiet voice reached my ears, and I felt him lift one of my forepaws. The metallic scent of blood hit my nose as I looked down. He gently ran his hand over the pad of my foot, a slight sting making me wince as his hand came back with a bit of blood smeared over his fingers. I watched him look around the room, and noticed for myself that there were blood smears over the floor where I was pacing. The hard concrete floor had rubbed away at my paws until the pads had begun to bleed.

"It's nothing, don't worry. I'll heal within a day." I quickly consoled him before sitting down and beginning to lick my paws, the tang of blood smearing over my tongue.

My ears perked up and I stiffened as voices reached them. Bucky looked at me confused for a moment before understanding and crouching down. I began to crouch down and move to the center of the room while my ears swiveled around, pinpointing the sound's location. "I tried to lose them, but it looks like they found us anyways..." Bucky's low voice just barely registered as I focused on the number of enemies.

'Two in front, three to the sides, five in back, two on the roof. That makes twelve, a lot less than I thought there would be.' I growled softly, a signal to get close. The footsteps were now loud enough for Bucky's hearing to pick up and we braced to fight.

The doors all opened at once and men came into the room. I ran forwards, wasting no time in killing the two in the entrance while Bucky fought three. The sound of a gun cocking caused my head to whip around. I head to take care of them, but Bucky got there first with a hard punch from his metal arm. My ears swiveled around and I began to growl as more footsteps registered to my ears. I pushed Bucky to one of the exits and we burst outside. There were at least 50 men all running forwards with their guns drawn, moving to surround us. "Stand down!" One of them yelled out and I saw Bucky looking over the group before tensing up even more.

I began to snarl as I moved to block them from Bucky, my dark eyes flicking around in search of an escape. Something clicked in my mind and I lowered my muzzle so my head was really close to Bucky. He grabbed my mane that lay on my neck and shoulders and I waited for the group to get closer. My eyes flicked up to gain a sense of direction. Bucky's grip tightened as the group advanced, step by step. 'Just a bit closer...'

I quickly turned and shoved my head under Bucky, forcing him onto my shoulders. My hind legs bunched beneath me and I jumped over the HYDRA agents. I felt Bucky's hands grip my fur tightly as I began to run, my stride lengthening until we were almost flying over the ground. The buildings were a blur as I left the city, the cool feeling of grass replacing the hard road beneath my paws.