James Bucky Barnes, the former soldier, doesn't think he's got any gentleness left in him. But Grace Juniper Cunningham, the former child prodigy, strongly disagrees.
;
"𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴�...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Bucky's POV
Grace was in Nevada, apparently. In the middle of the desert. In a gas station off the highway.
At least, that's where Wanda swore she was. She'd dragged us all here—me, Steve, Stark, Sam, Natasha, and Vision.
We were a few miles outside the gas station. Again—in the middle of the fucking desert. The sun was just rising, 3 hours behind New York. The sun happened to be the subject of Stark and Steve's argument.
"We need to treat this like we would any other mission," Steve was saying.
"Okay, fine. Great," Stark shrugged. "For me, that means coming in hot. So I'm gonna do that."
"You know what I mean. Scope it out. Wait for nightfall. Proper procedure. It's safest for everybody."
"Steve?" I said. "I'm with Stark."
"Did you hear that? Did you just hear him agree with me?" Stark said. "Please tell me I'm not hallucinating. I can't deal with him out here and in my head."
"Buck," Steve began. "I know how important this is. I'm trying to—"
I quit listening when my phone rang. A number from this area code.
"Grace?" I answered. Everyone got quiet around me.
"Dammit!" Swore someone on the other end, distinctly not Grace. "I was hoping she'd throw me a bone and give me Natasha's number."
"Who is this?"
"It's Colin Cross. Remember? I used to put my tongue in Grace's mouth? All up in there."
"I know who you are." I switched the phone to speaker so the others could hear. "Where's Grace?" I pressed. "You're in Nevada?"
"Yeah. In a gas—"
"I'm a few miles away. Tell me where Grace is."
"There's a whole HYDRA base underneath this gas station. I just came up and saw. Listen, man, you gotta get here. I don't know where Grace is. She was supposed to come with me, but she stayed back and sent me ahead. She never caught up with me. But I gotta go before someone comes up and finds me. Fuck—yeah, gotta go." He lowered his voice. "You gotta hurry. I don't know what they'll do if they catch her. Or if they already have."
He hung up.
Steve changed his mind. "Let's go."
;
Stark and I went in first. Stark, to have FRIDAY hack their system, to make sure nothing was set to detonate. Me, because I wouldn't stay behind. The others stayed back, in contact.
