Titanium ~A Bucky Barnes Love Story~

Chapter Thirty-Two

"So you like cats?"

The words broke through the rushing in her ears, waking her from unconsciousness. It was difficult to breathe, and her eyelids felt as if they were being compressed with ten pound weights. Worst feeling ever.

Not! She mentally cursed as she tried to rouse herself awake, only to be met with a white hot pain that shot from her side and down her legs. She wanted to scream, to let the whole world know of her agony.

But she couldn't. Her mouth wouldn't open, and her tongue felt heavy. Her lungs felt limp and empty, her bodying aching for the oxygen she could not give it. She started to shake uncontrollably, hyperventilating as her body was giving up on her. 

And she couldn't tell anyone.

"Sam," Rogers voice brought her briefly back to reality, his tone calm and collected. It soothed her in a way, knowing that he was close by, regardless of whatever the hell was going on.

"What?" Sam said again. "Dude shows up dressed like a cat, you don't wanna know more?"

Cat? What was he saying? The questions began to flood into her barely functioning mind, but she couldn't process any of it.

"Your suit... it's vibranium?"

Suit? Vibranium? The man chasing them... He had had a suit with metal.

"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations."

Who was the Black Panther? Is that what he called himself?

"A mantle passed from warrior to warrior. And now because your friend murdered my father, I also wear the mantle of king. So I ask you, as both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?"

Who's friend? Who did he kill? And what did he mean by safe?

Her eyes suddenly shot open and her lungs filled with the air it so desperately craved.

"Bucky!" She screamed, bolting up before letting out an agonized moan of pain. Crying out, her hands flew to her side, clutching it desperately. Her vision grew hazy as the pain only worsened, and she began to thrash around, the need to flee taking over her body.

"Easy, easy!" Rogers grabbed her shoulders to steady her. "Caden, it's me. You're okay."

"Where are we, what happened, and where the hell is Bucky?" Caden screamed, hot tears falling down her cheeks.

"We're in Berlin, Caden," Rogers said. "I need you to calm down, you've lost too much blood already." He grabbed what looked like gauze and pressed it into Caden's side, where the stitches that had been hastily sewn in had ruptured. Blood poured out of her like a faucet, forming a little pool of it on the floor of the vehicle they were in.

"I will NOT calm down until you tell me where Bucky is!" Caden screamed with all of her might, before she finally gave up and slunk into Rogers' arms.

"He is in another car, he's... safe."

"They ambushed us," Caden cried, her sobs wracking her body. "They came out of nowhere. I got shot, he was only trying to get me out."

"I know," Rogers said gently. "You were pretty beat up kid, that bullet went straight through you. They took your kidney as a souvenir."

"My kidney?" Caden rasped, forcing herself to find the energy to hear what happened to her. "When was I operated on?" 

"They took you in for emergency surgery after they arrested us." Rogers pushed the sweaty hair from her eyes. "You're tougher than you look, that shot would've killed anyone else."