We're more alike than you think

5. Super, but not alone.

Sam held you close. "Are you sure you're fine?" he said as he brushed his fingers through your hair. You gave him a small nod before letting your head lean on his shoulder. The three of you were quiet for hours, either sleeping or staring at the wall. The Flag Smashers were surprisingly good organized to be in the early stages, this should've been an easy in & out mission and even with help from the new Captain America, John Walker and Battle Star the five of you didn't stand a chance. More than anything, you put the blame on James. If it wasn't for him and his words, you wouldn't have lost balance and at least be helping out for longer. James was clearly in his own thoughts when Sam asked how he was doing.

"Let's take the shield. Let's take the shield and do this ourselves." James said with a cold tone.

This sounded more like the person you once knew. Emotionless, yet still full of anger and determination. It wasn't the guy Steve had told you about, he would never be so irrational. This was how the Winter Soldier acted. You admired the will the Winter Soldier had, but it was no way to live your life.

"In that case, I'm leaving. I can't risk getting in trouble with the government." you said as you cleared your throat.

"Bucky, we can't just run up on the man, beat him up, and take it." Sam said as he took off the arm around you. "Do you remember what happened the last time we stole it?"

"Maybe." James said as a little child.

This was before your time with Stark, but you already understood where this was going. Tony had told you about the split of the Avengers thousands of times, trying to teach you a lesson. Of course as a bounty hunter of your scale, you had a pretty good image from the outside looking in at the conflict. You wanted to have more than Tony's perspective so you could be able to make up your own mind about it. You had loads of opinions about it, but you knew that this was not your time to share them. It was better to sit quietly down and observe the two of them.

"I'll help you in case you forgot." Sam said as he leaned forward.

"Sharon was branded an enemy of the state, and Steve and I were on the run for two years. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna live the rest of my life la vida loca." Sam said, trying to sound as clear as possible.

"We just got our ass handed to us by Super Soldiers, and we got nothing," he continued with a more frustrated and tired tone. James didn't even look at him as it got quiet.

"Not entirely true" James said and grabbed our attention.

"There is someone that you should meet."

___

"Hey, it's black falcon. What's up?" a kid yelled in excitement of seeing Sam. You couldn't help but let out a little laugh. You liked being the one in the background of the missions. You never wanted to have the public face of an Avenger, but you had to admire the kids enthusiasm when they meet their favourite heros. "It's just falcon, kid." Sam said with a gentle smile.

"No, no. My daddy told me it's Black Falcon." the kid continued as we caught up with him. You looked up at Sam who handled the situation like a true champion.

"So are you, like, black kid?" he continued after pointing out the hypocrisy behind the nickname. The kid rolled his eyes at Sam, while his friend laughed in embarrassment. "I got him, right?" Sam said to his friend as we moved along.

"I love kids." you said in the heat of the moment. James lifted his eyebrow in confusion at you. He either tried to annoy you or put you off, so for the sake of the mission you ignored his childish reaction. You leaned forward and knocked on the door. Opening the door a kid in his teens came out. James asked for a guy called Isaiah, but the kid was quick to shut him down, repeatedly. It wasn't until James explained that the kid should tell Isaiah 'a guy from the bar in goyang' was on the door that the kid went in to check.

"How do you know this guy?" Sam asked, a little suspicious of the whole situation.

"I used to." James said and laid his eyes on you. You could feel your body getting tense and a cold stone face appeared on you.

"No, no, no, you mean that the Winter Soldier knew him?" your tone got harsh as you tried to correct him. If James continue to play with you couldn't promise Sam that you wouldn't try to hurt him. Not that Sam would mind if James got some bruises from you.

"We had a Skirmish during the Korean war, you don't know him. Relax" he snapped back at you as you breathed out. Sam looked confused at the two of you, but he had no time to ask questions as the kid came back and opened the door for us.

___

You could see the pain in Sam's eyes when he rightfully stormed out the stairs. From knowing Sam you knew that he had more than enough pressure and around the shield and it's responsibilities, and now he met Isaiah. You knew that Sam must have seen something of himself in Isaiah, and it was like reality kicked in on him. This was what his sister was talking about, but he always just pushed away her words in annoyance.

"Sam, wait" you said softly and tried to take his hand, but he just took it away. You and James only tried to follow after him, but give him the distance he needed.

"Why didn't you tell me about Isaiah? How could nobody bring him up?" he said as he pointed at Sam in anger, even James didn't know how to answer.

"I asked you a question, Bucky." Sam demanded.

"I know," James said, searching for words.

"Steve didn't know about him?" Sam asks as he was getting closer and closer to James before we stood still

"He didn't. I didn't tell him." James said with guilt on his face. Slowly around the corner you caught a glimpse of a police car. "Boys, I'm so sor.." more couldn't you say before Sam yelled at James

"So you're telling me that there was a black Super Soldier, decades ago and nobody knew about it?" and the sirens were ringing.

You wanted to run away, but you knew that was no solution as the police already had seen the three of you. Living under a fake alias in public could often cause trouble with the law enforcement and government, therefore in general beside work, you always tried to keep your profile low and your circle of people small. Anything else felt like too big of a risk.

"Is there a problem here?" the police officers ask and look specifically over to you and James. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at the. You were unsure if the man over 100 years old beside you understood what was happening, but you couldn't help but feel sick to your stomach. "Is this guy bothering you?" the police officer hinting to Sam as he was looking at you.

"No, and if anyone bothered me I promise you it would be this guy" you said and pointed at a confused James Bucky Barnes.

"Look, were just talking" Sam said with all his good will.

"We're fine" James added shortly

Out of the blue they asked Sam for his ID, which of course didn't have on him. The other police officer went back to the car to search him up.

"This is pathetic, he doesn't need to show you an ID, he is an Avenger, he has saved your planet more times than you can count" you said in anger, as you got frustrated at their tone and behavior. All four of them just stared shocked at you without even saying anything for a minute.

"Sam Wilson, you're good to go, but the two of you need to get in the car" the police officer said, trying to show off his little authority role.

"C'mon, why?" Sam asked, looking at the two of you. You could hear a second siren from a car driving up behind you. The people in the neighborhood may act like they just stood there by coincidence, but they were all staring at the three of you for way too long.

"Mr. Barnes, there is a warrant out for your arrest since you seemed to have skipped your therapy session" the police officer said before he looked at you with a little smirk on his face. "I know, you don't need to expl.." more couldn't you say before he interrupted you "My partner here couldn't shockingly not find enough of you when he ran a face scan, so we need to have a check at the station." he said as you were sure he secretly was enjoying the moment. Your hands turned into a fist, but before you could do anything James already took your hand to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. It was the first time James looked at you with any form of real emotion, with empathy. You couldn't help but feel a little taken back. "Fine, we'll go." He said with a little smile letting go of your hands, walking toward the car as the two of you sat down he looked over to you. "I had almost forgotten how stupid you were" he said as he looked out the window.