The Viper || BUCKY BARNES [2]

15 ― The Truth

2016 ― Siberia, Russia

STEVE WAS ABLE TO GET THE JET IN THE AIR, but then Rhodey came after them, so Sam was on his tail to stop him. Vision used his stone to shoot out at Sam, but Sam moved out of the way, and he hit Rhodey instead, who now went plummeting through the air, and Tony flew after him, but he was too late, he didn't get to him before he crashed to the ground.

Steve was still piloting the quinjet while Bucky and Holland were seated behind him. "What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked. Steve sighed, and Holland looked down. She knew if they got locked up somewhere, she would try to break them out. It wasn't their fault. She and Steve started this crusade, and while she doesn't regret it, she doesn't want anyone suffering because of her.

"Whatever it is... we'll deal with it," Steve said.

"I don't know if I'm worth all of this, guys," Bucky said. Holland looked over at him, and his eyes were focused down on the ground, and she shook her head. She got out of her seat and knelt in front of him, and grabbed both of his hands. His actual hand and his metal one.

"Don't say that Buck... what you did for all of those years... it wasn't you. It wasn't your fault; you were being controlled. You didn't have a choice." Holland said. She knows that it was still Bucky who did the atrocities, and she wasn't excusing that, but he didn't do them of his own free will; that's the difference. He's a victim.

"I know... but I did it." He said as he looked down at her, and he squeezed her hand with his actual hand.

"I know... I know exactly how you feel... I may have murdered my own brother, and I have no idea. It's haunted me for years, and I don't know if I'll ever come to peace with that situation if I'll never know the truth about it." She said. Bucky felt horrible guilt when he saw the tears in her eyes. She doesn't remember her HYDRA missions, but he remembers all of his, and he knows that Holland wasn't the one to kill Howard and Maria.

Because it was him.

He knew he had to tell her, but he didn't know how to form the words. Would she hate him? Would she walk out on him? He didn't know what to do. But they soon approached their landing, and Bucky grabbed a few guns, and Holland checked her clips and saw they were full, which was what she was expecting since obviously, she wasn't going to use poison bullets on any of the other Avengers.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asked.

"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky asked, which made Holland laugh.

"That sounds like something two idiots like you would absolutely do," Holland said as she shook her head.

"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead," Steve said, and Holland's eyebrows arched as she looked over at Bucky.

"Oh, really?" She asked, and Bucky shook his head while wrapping his arm around Holland and pulling her close, and then he looked at Steve.

"Hey, don't say things like that," Bucky said.

"What was her name?" Holland asked.

"Dolores, but Bucky called her Dot," Steve said, which made Holland laugh.

"So you just come up with nicknames for everyone, don't you, Mr. Barnes?" She asked, and Bucky shook his head as he hugged her to his side.

"She's gotta be like a hundred years old by now," Bucky said.

"So are we, pal," Steve said, and he had a point. Well, Holland wasn't quite 100 yet; she was 95. The three of them all laughed before they got off of the jet and went into the cold. They found a bunker and saw that the lock was broken off, and the door was open. "He can't have been here more than a few hours."