Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Thirty Five

Steve Rogers' ability to steal cars was a new and valuable thing she learned about him. She didn't care how he learned it. All she cared about was getting Bucky out of there before they had to deal with Special Forces again. She doubted they would be friendly the next time. They had managed to find an abandoned warehouse a few miles from the holding center they had been at. Their plan was to wait for Bucky to wake up while they formed a plan.

She had volunteered to stand in the same room where Bucky was attached to a giant magnet and watch over him. Mostly because Sam was uncomfortable with being alone with him. Her eyes traced over his wet hair that stuck to his face, the maroon shirt that clung to his body. He had more facial hair than the last time she had seen him, but he still looked the same. She wanted desperately to reach out and touch him. She wanted to know if he was real.

She heard the sound of his metal arm contracting which meant he was starting to wake up. His head that had been hanging low, rolled back slightly and his eyes found her's.

"Hey, guys!" Catherine called out.

Steve and Sam came running inside.

"Steve." Bucky said.

"Which Bucky am I talking too?" Steve asked.

"Your mom's name was Sarah...You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." Bucky said with a smile.

"Can't read that in a museum." Steve admitted.

"Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?" Sam asked shocked.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked.

They all three looked at each other. "Enough."

"Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words." Bucky said.

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

"I don't know." Bucky said.

"He had a book. It's a list of words to activate the Winter Solider. Last time I saw that book, Karpov had his hands on it." Catherine explained. 

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where." Bucky told Steve.

"Why would he need to know that?"

"He's not the only Winter Soldier." Catherine's admitted.

Steve looked at her. "Who were they?"

"Hydra's most elite death squad." Bucky spoke up. "More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum."

"Sounds like someone else we know." Sam directed his statement at Catherine. "How did they all turn out?"

"They were worse than Bucky. They could barely be controlled." Catherine said. She turned to look at Steve. "What did that doctor say?"

"That he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize, They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming." Bucky told them.

"This would have been easier a week ago..." Sam said to Steve. "Can we talk?"

Catherine watched the two of them go and looked back at Bucky. She had no idea what she wanted to say to him. The last times she had seen him were so brief. She barely had time to speak to him. She walked over to the device holding him in place and knelt down next to it. She flipped the switch off and Bucky pulled his arm down. She noticed a cut near his cheek. She reached out with a shaky hand and brushed her fingers against it.