Titanium ~A Bucky Barnes Love Story~

Chapter Thirty-Four

A/N: I am absolutely in awe of the overwhelming love and support this story has received recently. I never thought I would reach 100k reads. You are my motivation to continue this story. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. 
~~~
Rogers and Caden had floated down the river a little bit, hiding behind a few floating pieces metal left over from the crash. When they building they jumped off of was out of site and the sounds of helicopters and sirens had dimmed, they pulled Bucky out of the water and onto the shore. They fell to the ground, sighing in exhaustion. 

"Are you okay," Rogers panted, looking over at Caden. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

Caden shook her head, too winded to say much else other than a forced "I'm fine."

Rogers accepted her answer. "We need to get him up and out of here," he motioned to the downed super soldier.

Caden struggled to sit up. "If any of my gear survived that play date I would be able to contact my team for a safe house, but unfortunately..." She trailed off, holding up her fancy watch - it was sputtering out water. "Completely useless," she groaned, ripping it off and throwing it on the ground beside her.

"Perhaps I can help," a voice behind them said. They both jumped up, Rogers grabbing his shield and standing in-between the intruder and his two companions. 

"Relax!" Sam held up both of his hands. "You really think I would just abandon you like that?"

"Glad you're here," Rogers said with a sigh of relief. 

"We need to get Bucky hidden as soon as possible," Caden explained. "We can't let them find him again."

"I know just the place," Sam said, looking up at the sky. "Perfect timing, the sun is setting. They won't be able to find us as easily in the dark. Follow me."

~~~

Sam took the three to a huge abandoned warehouse. Out of safety, they clamped Bucky's arm in between a large industrial vice. Caden and Rogers had objected to Sam's suggestion at first, but agreed when Sam said aloud what everyone was thinking.

"We won't know if he will be Bucky or Winter Soldier until he wakes up. And if he's still the Soldier, I'd sure as hell not like to be first in line for a meeting with that fist."

Together they clamped his arm down without crushing it or causing damage. Then the wait for him to wake up began.

"He took in a lot of water," Caden said worriedly to Sam as they took watch over Bucky while Rogers took watch over the building. "It made it even harder for his body to go without oxygen for so long."

"Hey," Sam said. "I know what you might be thinking, but remember, Cade. He has that same serum running through his blood as Cap. I don't think Bucky going without oxygen for a few minutes is the kryptonite of that shit. Look at Cap - he was without oxygen in the ice for 70 years and his brain damage is minimal."

Caden couldn't help but snort at that last comment. "You know what, I'm not even going to try to counter that," she laughed in what felt like the first time in forever. 

It was as if her laughter was all Bucky needed to come to. "Caden?" He moaned, struggling to look up and open his eyes. 

"Oh my gosh!" Caden jumped to her feet and started to run to him, before remembering that he might still be dangerous. 

"Hey, Cap!" Sam called out, causing Rogers to jolt into a run in their direction. He was next to them in seconds, and all of three of them looked down at Bucky, unsure what to say to him.

"Steve?" Bucky asked, giving a half-hearted tug on his arm.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Rogers asked sternly.

"Your mom's name was Sarah," he said quietly, his head hanging as if his body was too exhausted to expend the energy to hold it upright. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

"Can't read that in a museum," Rogers said, a smile appearing on his face.

Bucky turned to look at Caden. "I'm sure I can think of plenty of stories to tell about you, if you just give me a second."

"That won't be necessary, Buck," Caden smiled softly, kneeling down next to him and placing her hand on his real arm. 

"Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?" Sam asked, unsure of the whole situation.

"Sam I have been working with Bucky for months," Caden reassured him. "I promise we are safe."

"Safe?" Bucky asked with concern. "What did I do?" He asked, looking urgently at Caden.

"Enough," Rogers said shortly, looking away from him. 

Bucky's head dropped in defeat. "Oh, God. I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there." Caden felt his arm tense at the word, and she tightened her hold on his arm ever so slightly. "All he has to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Rogers asked.

"I don't know," said Bucky simply.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know.'

"He wanted to know about Siberia," Bucky started cautiously, instinctively looking around as if to make sure no one was listening. "Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

"Why would he need to know that?" Caden asked gently, touching Bucky's face to get him to look at her. 

Bucky swallowed hard before saying: "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

"There were more of you," Caden breathed. Bucky nodded at her. "I read about their experiments and studies in college when I was studying history. It was never proven to be true, though. Just tall tales"

"They aren't tall tales, sweetheart, I can tell you that," Bucky said coarsely.

"Who were they then?" Rogers inquired, looking at Caden.

"Their most elite death squad. Said to have more kills than anyone in Hydra history."

"And that was before the serum," Bucky added. 

"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.

Bucky shook his head. "Worse."

"Could they be controlled?" Sam asked.

"Enough," Bucky said. 

"Before they turned too strong?" Caden asked, recalling the stories she had been told. 

Bucky nodded. "The doctor used me to get him out of there safely when they turned on him. It wasn't pretty."  A look of pain swept across his face momentarily before it turned back to stone.

"Can the doctor that did this to you, do the same thing to them? Control them?" Rogers asked. 

"Yes."

"Bucky," Caden cut in. "The doctor today said he wanted to see an empire fall. Could these other Soldiers help him do that?"

"With these guys he could do that," Bucky looked at all three of them before continuing. "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take down a whole country in one night. You'd never seem them coming. 

Sam went up to Rogers. "This would have been a whole lot easier a week ago."

"If we call Tony-" Rogers started, but Caden cut him off. 

"No. My cousin won't believe us. And even if he did..."

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," Sam finished

"So we're on our own," Rogers said, a hint of defeat coming out in his voice. 

"Maybe not," Sam mumbled. "I might know a guy."