New Mission

Helping Hand

Bucky's POV

It might have went against my better judgment but I was brought up to respect a lady's wishes; besides Star had given me a lot of evidence that she was capable of winning so I decided to give her 1 day.

I wasn't planning on leaving Russia but I couldn't get my mind off of it and the other favour I'd asked of the Wakandans was ready. So, to take my mind off of Star's fight I decided to go back to the States and drop off Sam's gift.

When I reached the Wilson family dock it was a flurry with people. It reminded me of when I worked on the docks in New York before I went off to war. I listened out for the voice I was looking for:

Sam immediately ran over and tried to stop it with a wrench but I could see from here that he was doing it wrong.
"Hi." I greeted Sarah as I walked past.
"Hi." She said back.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on. You gotta go up." I told Sam taking the wrench from him and doing it myself.

I formally introduced myself to Sam's sister "I'm Bucky."
"Sarah."

Although it was a big job it was certainly faster and easier now with these new power tools.

As calming as domestic life was I found myself getting bored as I twirled and flipped a tool around like I normally do with a knife. My super strength was also a big help in tearing the boat apart much to Sam's annoyance.

"Well, Zemo says there's only one way." I told him.
"You find him?"
"Yeah. Made things right with Ayo by giving her custody of him, they took him to the Raft."
"What about Star? Did you find her?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."

Later on, in the evening, we stopped for some beer to congratulate ourselves on a hard day's work. "Well..." I said standing up and clinking my beer against Sam's "gotta catch my flight tomorrow." I chugged the last of my beer "Get a hotel room for the night. Crash, you know?" I said grabbing my jacket.

"Hey! Wait." Sam said and I looked at him questioningly "You've been acting weird ever since I brought up Star. What happened?" He asked.
"I told you I don't wanna talk about it." I said darkly.
"Yeah, well I do. Because do you know who's gonna have to deal with the consequences of bringing a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in on a U.S. military op? Me!" Sam exclaimed "Plus, I don't know what was really going on with y'all... but she clearly means something to you." Sam caught me off-guard with that comment and it must've shown on my face because his eyebrows shot up his forehead.

"Why does everybody think that? You, Zemo, even Walker!" I complained.
"Because it's blatantly obvious! You were a brainwashed, emotionless assassin for 90 years, now you have access to your feelings and you haven't learnt how to hide them like a spy yet."
"What do you want me to say counsellor, because I really don't know." I said feeling completely lost.

"Did you find her?" He repeated.
"Yes." I stated. Sam just looked at me expectantly awaiting the full story "Like I said, I didn't know where to start to looking for the League so I asked some people to keep an eye out for her whilst I went after Zemo. I tracked her down to Russia. That member of the League on the CTTV found her super soldier friend; the guy that kidnapped him as a baby and the Bratva had him fighting in an illegal fight club. Star went to get him out; the fight for his freedom was today. She wouldn't let me help or stay."
"She beat a member of the Dora Milaje I'm sure she can handle a couple of Russian mafia thugs." Sam's words did nothing to comfort me which he must've noticed because he asked "What is it?"
"I liked her as soon as I saw her and when we started working together and I learned more about her personality I liked her even more, she seemed so innocent working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and getting caught in the crossfires. Then, when I realised she was LOA and I kicked off because that I realised that meant she had darkness in her. But now, I see her using those skills to try to help Karli, save her friend and basically be good in general and I think... I think..."
"You think what?"
"This is gonna sound stupid. I mean, I know we've only had 3 meaningful conversations, and there's still so much I don't know about her... and a lot she doesn't know about me - but I feel like we have a connection. Like soulmates, maybe. Is that still a thing nowadays?"
"You're right that did sound kind of stupid. It sounded like something someone from the 40s would say." Sam said nearly bursting out laughing at the end "But I've got to admit you two do seem kind of made for each other. You were both assassins and are now trying to be good people."
"Well, I'll admit things are a lot different now. I'm still kinda confused over her kissing me-"
"Whoa, whoa! She kissed you!"
"Yeah."
"First?"
"Yeah."
"Damn! Girl's got balls."

Thankfully, I was saved from whatever else was about to come out of Sam's mouth by both my flip phone and iPhone dinging. I looked at the flip phone first feeling more comfortable with it:

Heard you boys were in Delacroix. I'm in NOLA. Come find me. ? ?

"What the hell is this? Is Karli calling us out?" I asked confused as it was a blocked number. Sam chuckled looking at the iPhone version "I don't think it's Karli... Look at the emojis."

Heard you boys were in Delacroix. I'm in NOLA. Come find me. 🖤⭐️

"Black-"
"Star." I finished.

A second text came through on my iPhone with Star's current location. "Go get your girl, man." Sam said to me as I felt relief flood over me knowing she was alive.