Hallowed (B. Barnes)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sydney sits on her couch, her ears focused on the stairway beyond the front door. Something is happening. Something is in the air. She can feel it. Something is coming and it is going to ruin everything they have built here. She flicks at a bit of fluff on her jeans and then snaps her eyes to the door as it opens, a figure that is definitely not Bucky walks in, closing the door behind him before he turns to survey the room, his eyes landing on her. He's huge and blonde and wearing red, white, and blue. She cocks her head a little as he studies her. Trying to figure this out. He takes a step closer to her, her eyes scanning over his suit, he's American, that is clear, it's plastered all over him. Something in the back of her mind tells her she knows who this is, some news story from the States years back, but she doesn't care who he is, she only cares about why he is here, and she can put two and two together. She knows what he wants.

"I'm looking for someone," he tells her then realises that she might not actually speak English. "Romanian?" He asks her.

"I'm American" She assures him. He relaxes slightly, reaches up and takes off his mask, trying to appear less threatening to her.

"I'm Steve Rogers..." He offers, she glares at him and stands from her couch, adjusts her shirts slightly and lets out a breath. That name she knows. Bucky has whispered the name in his sleep, talked about him when awake. He is here for Bucky. But she is not giving him up. Because if Bucky goes with Steve, she will lose him.

"You can't have him" She warns him. He straightens, knows who she is talking about.

"Bucky is my friend and I am trying to help him," Steve tells her.

"James" She corrects him. Whilst she knows he was formerly known as Bucky, the man he is now, is James. Her James. And no one is going to take him away from her. They've been through too much to get here, she is not losing him. "Just leave him here...where he's happy"

"I wish it was that simple" He admits. "But people are coming for him....to take him in"

"They can't have him either" She quickly snaps at him. Steve steps closer to her, Sydney holds up her head, standing strong and unafraid before him, she is not afraid of him, and she can take him if need be.

"Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces, approaching from the south." A voice states into Steve's ear, Sydney cocks her head listening. He might be telling the truth about people coming for Bucky, but she can protect him just fine without his help. Steve presses a finger to the communication device in his ear.

"Understood" He relays to his teammate. He pulls his finger back and sighs a little. "Look" He starts for Sydney. "I know you mean well..."

"Get away from her" Bucky warns from behind Steve, his gun trained on the back of Steve's head. His voice is hard and firm. He reads it as a threat against Sydney. And that's not happening on his watch. Nothing and no-one is going to hurt her.

"Do you know me?" Steve asks him, Bucky glares at him, still unhappy that this man is stood between him and Sydney.

"You're Steve. I read about you in a museum." Bucky answers though.

"They've set the perimeter." The voice tells Steve again.

"I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying." Steve points out, Sydney looks between them before she moves to the window, she brushes the curtain aside and peers down to the street, armed men are approaching the complex.

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." Bucky defends himself, his eyes flicking to Sydney who glances back at him. He can read it in her eyes. What she's seen. He's brought this on her.

"They're entering the building." She hears from Steve's earpiece, her mind working to figure out how to deal with this.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive." Steve warns Bucky who nods.

"That's smart. Good strategy." He offers.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck," Steve tells him, Bucky adjusts his grip on his gun.

"It always ends in a fight." Bucky corrects him, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

"You pulled me from the river. Why?" Steve asks Bucky.

"I don't know." Bucky answers.

"Yes, you do," Steve argues, Bucky takes a step closer to him just as a grenade crashes through the window. Bucky kicks it to Steve, and he smothers it with his shield. The cop slams the battering ram against the door. Bucky shields himself with the mattress against an attack from the window. Sydney blocks the door with a table as cops swing in on cables. Steve pulls the rug from under a policeman, sending him flying. Bucky slams another policeman into the wall.

"Syd!" Bucky shouts as she throws a policeman back out the window he came through. Bucky spins looking for her, she blows her hair from her face and looks at him, she nods, she's with him. And that's a problem for him. She's going to get hurt here. These people aren't messing around. They're here to kill. And it's all his fault.

"Buck, stop! You're gonna kill someone." Steve snaps. Bucky slams Steve down and punches a hole in the floor.

"I'm not gonna kill anyone." Bucky counters as he grabs a backpack from under the floorboards and throws it out of the window. Bucky moves to Sydney and grabs her face in his hands before he kisses her. Really puts his everything into this kiss, he pulls back a little. "You need to run" he whispers to her.

"No, I'm not going anywhere" She argues, he nods.

"Yes," He counters and nudges her nose. "They can't have you" He assures her. They both know that if the government, any government get their hands on her and figure out what she is, it would mean experimentation. And he won't allow that. Sydney spins them both out of the way of gunfire, Bucky raising his hand to repels the bullets. He knows she's not going to run, she is not going to leave him to this. He needs to make sure that she's going to be safe. And he can only think of one way to stop her from getting involved. She isn't going to like it, and neither is he, but it's the only way now. He hugs her tightly. "I love you" He whispers in her ear, his hand coming up to her neck. He snaps her neck and she goes limp in his arms. He closes his eyes and sets his forehead to hers.

"Buck" Steve scolds him. 

"She's fine" Bucky argues, quickly, as he sets Sydney on the couch. "She will be fine" He whispers and then shoots Steve a look, he then moves as more policemen enter the apartment. Bucky shoves Steve and he knocks a cop over. Bucky holds up his metal hand and repels bullets, then slams a cop into shelves. Bucky picks up a large cement brick and slams it into a cop whilst Steve fights a cop on the balcony. A cop shoots around the door outside and Bucky punches through the wall beside the door. He lays into the cops waiting for him, letting out his anger and hurt on them, knowing he's lost Sydney now, he can't come back, he can't return to her. A cop descends through a sky-light on a zip wire. Bucky grabs the cop's gun and slams him into the wall. Bucky bashes a couple of cops with the battering ram as more of the police team hurry up the stairwell.