The Kind You Save → Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier

Chapter Two-Abandoned Warehouses

Chapter Two

Malone woke up on the gritty floor of an abandoned warehouse. At least, that's what it looked like from where she was lying. She moved to get up, noticing the clean white bandage on her shoulder.

Mal frowned, who had patched her up? She looked down at her lap, about to move the black leather jacket draped across her body. Dizzy, Malone jumped when she felt a hand on her good shoulder. She looked over; it was the assassin, the Winter Soldier.

He gently pushed her down, shaking his head. Malone's brain was working slowly, but she managed to put it together. He hadn't let her die in that alley.

Mal smiled shyly up at him, and his eyebrows furrowed. "Thank you," she mumbled. He nodded, and she wondered if he ever talked.

"What's your name, Soldier?" she asked. She still couldn't see his face, because he had the terrifying mask on, but he seemed confused. "I don't know," he replied.

"Why did you save me?" she asked curiously. He shrugged, got up, and left.

An hour later Malone got up slowly. She looked down at her white undershirt and black skinny jeans, rummaging around and finding her black jacket. Her nose scrunched when she saw how much blood was on it.

She tossed it away, picking up the large leather jacket she had been using as a make-shift blanket. Putting it on proved to be a challenge and Mal whimpered when she had to move her shoulder. She looked down at herself, laughing at how ridiculous she must look. The jacket was exceptionally too large for her, but she hugged it closer to herself anyway. It was freezing in that building.

She walked around the place, trying the doors. All locked. Forcing down the panic building up inside, she went and laid back down where she woke up. Her arm felt strangely sticky, and all she wanted was a shower.

Malone dozed off, extremely exhausted and weak. When she awoke, she saw Winter about ten feet away, sleeping lightly. He reminded her of a cat, asleep, but still aware. She got up slowly and walked around the warehouse again, trying all the doors again. None of them were unlocked. Mal looked up at the skylights, high above. It looked to be late afternoon, but she really couldn't tell.

Finally, she came back to where Winter was. Malone shrugged off the jacket, wincing when she moved her shoulder. Quietly, she walked over to the Soldier, draping the jacket over him. He mumbled something in Russian, muffled by his mask.

Mal slowly backed up; maybe he wasn't quite as aware as she previously thought. She sat down, her back against the wall, and waited.

The Soldier woke, groggy from the sleep. He hadn't naturally slept that long in ages, probably years. Not that he could remember anyway. He got up, looking in vague discomfort at the jacket draped over him. Hadn't he put that on the girl, when she lay shivering on the floor?

That brought up a whole different subject. Why had he saved the girl? It didn't make sense. Logically, Winter would have better chance ditching her and running. She probably would've died or been so severely injured he wouldn't have to worry about her, it would've been a clean getaway. No witnesses. Even if she hadn't died, he could've been long gone by the time she was discovered.

He was trained to leave no traces, kill civilians if he had too. But Winter had abandoned his training for some random woman.

She was leaning against the wall, eyes closed. He sighed, taking off his mask. Good, now he could actually breathe. Winter wasn't sure why he wore the mask in front of her, it's not like she couldn't give a pretty good description already.

Thinking about it, he decided that it was because of the man on the bridge. If he recognized Winter so easily, wouldn't she? He didn't know if he even wanted to remember his past. Why couldn't people just leave him alone?

He heard rustling behind him, and Winter quickly put the mask back on. She cleared her throat, "You look better without the mask on. Not as," she pauses a moment, "mind-numbingly terrifying." In truth, she couldn't even see him. She was just hoping he'd take off that freaky mask.

The Soldier glared at her, and finished putting the mask on. She shrugs, "Well, since you don't know your name, I'm going to call you Winter." He was still glaring, and she fluffs her hair, "And since you didn't ask, the name's Malone. You can call me Mal."

Winter turned away, gathering his things. As he walked towards the middle of the warehouse he paused, looking over his shoulder, "Aren't you coming?" he muttered gruffly. Malone noddded furiously, scampering over and standing beside him.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

It was hard for Malone to get out of the building. Apparently, Mr. I'm-A-Buff-Assassin didn't mind climbing rickety old crates up to a broken skylight. She watched him as he climbed, he was ridiculously fast. Within two minutes he was looking down at Mal, silently telling her to get a move on.

She sighed in frustration; this would've been hard for her without a gunshot wound. It now took her well over ten minutes to get up there, and she was pretty sure she had busted whatever stitches Winter had sewed her up with.

The Soldier just watched her struggle, not once helping. She wondered if he just didn't care, or if her act of getting up there was the least of his worries. Once Malone got up there, he motioned for her to climb on the roof first. She did, and looked around at the slick metal.

Why was she even trusting him? She couldn't answer that, but she knew she felt strangely safe in his presence. Malone supposed she didn't have much of a choice but to trust him at the moment anyway.

Mal heard him behind her, and she turned, "Are you sure this is safe? It's so dark," she trailed off. Winter looked at her blankly and she laughed quietly. This was probably the safest thing he had done in a long time.

Winter turned and Mal followed him to the edge of the roof. "Follow my lead," he said gruffly. She nodded her head, and he jumped off the building. She stared; slack jawed, at where he had been standing just a moment ago. Easing over to the edge, Mal looked down.

It's too dark to see him, but she didn't hear the sounds of him dying painfully. Malone took a deep breath, and an absurd thought entered her mind. She could almost hear her mother, "If your super-secretive assassin friend jumped of a building, would you?"

Apparently, the answer was yes. She stepped off the roof, and fell.

A/N

Feedback is appreacated! Vote, Comment (!!!), Share, -Lady_Loki_00

(seriously I love comments they make my day)