The Winter Warrior // Captain America

«Chapter 12»

Steve Rogers was cooped up in a small gym, letting out all of his anger, frustration, and stress on a punching bag. He felt completely and utterly alone. Snippets of memories of the war flashed before his eyes. Anna falling off the train. Fighting Hydra. Peggy's picture in the compass. Defeating Red Skull. Crashing the plane. Waking up 70 years later.

There's not enough time.

We gotta put her in the water.

You won't be alone.

With a final blow, the punching bag flew through the air and landed a few feet away from the supersoldier. Steve breathed heavily as he watched the sand pour onto the ground.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead before turning around and grabbing a new punching bag from the floor, hanging it at the ceiling.

A few punches in, a voice spoke up, "Trouble sleeping?" It was Nick Fury, standing in the doorway with his hands behind his back.

"Slept for 70 years, Sir. I think I've had my fill," Steve replied, continuing to land punches on the punching bag.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world," Fury stated.

Steve stopped his hands and stepped back, sighing. He began to unwrap the bandages around his knuckles. "When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won," he said while walking over to his bag where he dumped the bandages. "They didn't say what we lost."

"We made some mistakes along the way," said Fury. 

"You're here with a mission, Sir?" asked Steve. 

"I am." 

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it." Fury held out a brown file, revealing a picture of a blue cube that Steve knew all too well. The Tesseract. 

"HYDRA's secret weapon," Steve muttered. 

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you and Barnes. He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy," Fury explained. "That's something the world sorely needs." 

Steve handed the file back. "Who took it from you?"

"He's called Loki," answered Fury. "He's... not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. We already talked to Barnes." 

"What did he say?" Steve questioned, wondering why Bucky hadn't said anything to him yet. 

Fury didn't answer to that. Instead, he said, "The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." 

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve said, collecting his bag and walking over to the punching bags on the floor. 

"Ten bucks says you're wrong," Fury stated. 

Steve heaved one punching bag on his shoulder. "There's a debriefing pack waiting for you back at your apartment," Fury told him. As Steve made a beeline for the exit, Fury called, "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" 

"You should've left it in the ocean," Steve stated without looking back or stopping. 

***

"What do you mean you're not coming along?" Steve inquired, holding up the file Fury had left him. 

"Just like you said. I'm not coming with you," Bucky stated as he continued to shove his belongings in a duffle bag. 

It wasn't much, just some clothes and objects he had collected over the past two weeks he had been living in 2012 after spending almost 70 years frozen in ice. The dog tag around his neck clanked cheerfully as he moved. He had not taken them off at all ever since finding them again. It was the only physical reminder he had of Anna, the girl he had loved but whom he had lost tragically. 

"Fury gave me a choice. Either I join you on this mission or whatever it is, or I go to Brooklyn where I move into a nice apartment so I can try to live a semi-normal life after all of this. And that's exactly what I'm going to do," Bucky continued. 

"Buck, come on. Let's talk about this," Steve pleaded, grabbing Bucky's arm to stop him from packing his bag.

"We have, and I'm not changing my mind," Bucky said stubbornly. "This is not me, Steve, and you know this. When I joined the army back in the day, I knew that when the war was over, I'd get to go home. Well, the war is over, and I want to go home."

"Buck..." Steve softly said. "You're all I have left." 

Bucky sighed, stopping his movements. "I know. And I'm not leaving the country, you know? We'll still see each other. You can stay with me anytime." 

"I know that," Steve grumbled, running a hand through his blond hair. 

"Steve," Bucky said, and his friend looked up. "It's gonna be okay." 

Steve sighed before nodding. "Yeah... Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." 

"It's fine," Bucky said, patting Steve's shoulder. "I should get going." 

Steve nodded his head. "Okay." 

Bucky finished packing quickly after and zipped the bag shut, heaving it on his shoulder. Without saying anything, he placed his hand on Steve's shoulder, nodding once. Steve smiled softly. 

Bucky left the apartment and stepped into the black car that stood outside waiting for him. The car drove him to the address Nick Fury had given Bucky. The beginning of his new life. His fresh start.

The car stopped in front of an apartment complex just outside the centre of Brooklyn. Bucky stepped out and looked at the note in his hand. Apartment 3c. He stepped inside the complex and looked at the directions sign hanging over his head. Third floor. 

He walked up the stairs, even though there was an elevator. He had encountered an elevator in his first week back, and he had not trusted it one bit. A metal box that takes people to different floors of a building. No way he was getting inside of one. 

He used the key Fury had given him to open the door of apartment 3c. He stepped right into a nicely decorated living room. He had a couch, a coffee table, a shelf filled with books, a tv, and a rather large stereo with a collection of CDs next to it. 

Bucky placed the duffle bag on the couch while he ventured out to see the rest. One bedroom with a double bed and a closet. A small kitchen with a fridge, a stove, and a microwave. A bathroom with a shower, a toilet, and a sink. And a spare room that held an empty shelf and a desk. 

He smiled softly. He could make a home of this place.