Always Fight | Bucky Barnes |

20

It's been 18 hours since Carol blasted off into space to find Tony and Peter.

As soon as she described to me how she could navigate the stars and planets like the back of her hand without a helmet, my heart leapt into my throat and for the first time since the snap, I've been able to grab ahold of something good. When I told the rest of the group, Rhodes left to call Pepper while Carol prepared herself for a rescue mission in space.

With every hour that passes by, it gets harder and harder to wait.

As the time ticked on, I could feel my eyelids growing heavier. None of us have slept well since the snap, and it's beginning to catch up with me. Steve glances over at me in the conference room and sighs, standing up and putting a hand on my shoulder.

"You should get some sleep, Dawn. We'll wake you when Danvers gets back" he urges. I open my mouth to protest, but he cuts me off with a gentle shake of his head.

"You need sleep. We all do. I'll make sure that you're awake to not miss a thing" Rogers assures. I cast a glance around the room to already see a few of our remaining team members dozing off and let out a sigh. I turn back to Steve with a small smile and nod.

"Okay," I concede, watching him nod in approval before walking back to his perch by the holograph of the earth in the center of the room.

I let my eyes slip closed, begging somewhere deep within me that when sleep does come, that my dreams won't be of him. Then again, in the same measure, I want them to be of him. It's the only place I can see him now.

Sleep comes on swift wings and pulls me under before I can figure out which opposite I desire more.

|||

"How many are left?" T'Challa's busied voice calls out over my ear piece.

"Barnes and I have them cornered" I reply, casting a breathless look over to Bucky who stands beside me in the palace of Wakanda.

Before us, seven fully-armed assassins who had just recently infiltrated the palace and tried to make an attempt on T'Challa and Shuri's lives sit tied up around a column. When I came to visit Bucky for a few months, I never expected to be stopping an assassination attempt. I'm more than happy to help, though, and didn't hesitate when Okoye burst into my room and announced that the palace was under attack.

"Good, I will be there shortly with the Dora to take them into questioning" T'Challa informs.

I pull a hand through my now messy blonde hair and survey the assassins before me, my brows furrowing slightly as I recount.

"Hey Buck," I begin, dragging my confused gaze from the people before me and to my boyfriend, "Weren't there 8?"

Bucky freezes, furrowing his brows and recounting like I did before a look of apprehension crawls over his features. The look we share for a brief moment is all the confirmation I need. One is still out there.

"T'Challa, be on alert. There's one more somewhere in the palace" Bucky informs over the comm link.

Halfway through his words, though, my eyes catch on movement over Bucky's shoulder at the same moment I register the heat signature. A flash of metal darts my gaze down to the gun readied in the assassin's hands and my eyes widen, sudden panic flaring through me.

"Bucky, move!" I shout out, making his crystal blue eyes widen as he whips around to see what I do. Before the last man standing can make a shot, though, I summon my venom and step forward, slamming it into him so hard that he goes flying back and the gun clatters from his hands.