Complicated Love (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 27: The Shooter

"How was Peggy?" I asked as Steve walked towards the motorcycle I'm currently sitting on. I found out where Peggy was staying through one of her daughters. I visited her the other day and wanted to give Steve a chance to talk to her by himself.

"It was nice," he says and I hand him the keys. "Did she forget you? Like mid conversation?" He was trying not to be hurt, I could tell.

"Yea. She said how much the SSR was stressful without me," I say. "Always having to deal with men trying to get into her way." This made Steve smile and he got on the bike.

"I have one more stop. I think you will like this place," Steve says and starts to drive. We made our way through the city, approaching a building. We both got off the bike and made our way inside.

In the distance I could hear someone speaking and we followed the voice. We got to a room, seeing a room full of people and Sam up in front of everyone. They were all listening to this one girl speaking in the audience.

"The thing is I think it's getting worse. A coup pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag," she says. "I thought it was an IED."

"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse. It's up to you," Sam says to everyone in the room.

The group meeting ends soon after that and Steve and I wait for Sam to finish saying his goodbyes. "Look who it is. The running man and the ice queen," Sam says.

"You might want to watch out, when her ice side comes out it's scary," Steve says, and I nudge him in the arm.

"Funny, funny," I say and we all chuckle.

"We caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense," Steve says.

"Yeah, we all have the same problems. Guilt, regret," Sam says.

"You lose someone?" I ask.

"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch," Sam says and I give him a sympathetic look.

Steve and I both say sorry and Sam says, "After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"

"But you're happy now, back in the world?" Steve asks.

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So hell yeah. You two thinking about giving out?"

"No, I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did," Steve says.

"Ultimate fighting?" Sam asks, and we all laugh. "It's just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

"I don't know."

"Hanging out with me," I say, while coughing.

Steve laughs and says, "Oh, definitely hanging out with my wonderful cousin is the highlight of my life."

"Aw thanks," I say, making us all laugh.

"I actually have another group meeting in a half an hour if you guys want to stay," Sam offers.

"Maybe another time?" I offer, and Sam nods.

"Of course, I'll see you guys later then?"

"Seen you then," Steve says, and I send Sam a smile. Steve and I made our way back to the motorcycle and back to our apartment. We made our way up to our floor and we saw our neighbor outside her apartment.

"That's so sweet. That's so nice. Hey, I gotta go. Okay, bye," she says and turns to us. "My aunt, she's kind of an insomniac." They both smiled at each other, and I could tell I was going to ruin their moment.

"I think I left my jacket on the motorcycle, I'll be right back," I said, and ran before either of them could notice the jacket in my arms. I stand at the corner of the hallway, and may or may not be eavesdropping on them.

I then hear footsteps coming my way and I give our neighbor a small smile before making my way back to my apartment. I see Steve standing there, his ear to the door. "What are you doing?" I ask, before he walks up to me, putting his finger to his lips telling me to be quiet.

"Remember that stereo that Tony got us for a housewarming gift that we don't know how to turn on," he whispers, and I nod. He points to the door and opens it slowly, and I could hear the 40s music playing.

Steve and I slowly maneuver through the apartment. Steve found his shield laying, and I grabbed my loaded handgun that I hid in a book I hallowed out. We turn the corner seeing Fury sitting in the dark. "I don't remember giving you a key," Steve says.

"You really think I'd need one?" Fury asks. Of course not, he's the spy. "My wife kicked me out."

"I didn't know you were married," I say.

"A lot of things you don't know about me," Fury says.

"I know, Nicky. That's the problem," Steve says, and turns on the light. I see Fury was injured. He's lip and face were cut up and he was holding his stomach in pain. Someone went after him. Fury turns off the light and types something into his phone. He shows us and it says 'ears everywhere'.

Steve and I look at each other, both confused and worried. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash," Fury says, and shows us his phone again. This time it says 'SHIELD compromised'. Damn, and I thought I wouldn't have to fight for a while.

"Who else knows about your wife?" I ask, playing along.

Fury shows his phone and this time it says 'Just Us'. "Just my friends," he says, and gets up from the chair.

"Is that what we are?" Steve asks.

"That's up to you." Then I hear three gun shots and Fury falls to the ground, groaning in pain. Steve drags Fury to the hallway and I catch a glance of the shooter. Fury holds up his hand, holding a flashdrive. "Don't trust anyone."

I hear the door open and I hold up my gun in that direction. "Captain Rogers? Agent L/n?" I see our neighbor Kate walking in our apartment with a gun held up. "Captain, I'm Agent 13 of SHIELD Special Service. I'm assigned to protect you."

"On whose order?" Steve asks.

Kate, or should I say Agent 13 approaches Fury and says, "His." She checks his pulse and gets a walkie talkie out and says, "Foxtrot is down. He's unresponsive. I need EMTs."

"Steve," I say, still seeing the shooter outside the window.

"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" a SHIELD agent says through the window.

"Tell him we are in pursuit," Steve says. I ran over to the window, throwing an ice blast at it, making it shatter. Steve and I bother jump through the window, crashing through another in the building next to us.

Steve and I ran through the building, following the shooter as best we could. Steve was breaking through walls, me closely behind him. We could see the shooter through a window, landing on the roof of the building next to us.

Steve breaks through the window, and we both jump onto the building. Steve takes his shield and throws it at him. The shooter turns around and catches the shield smoothly with one hand.

I got a good look at the shooter, well that best that I could because he was wearing a mask. He had a shiny, metal arm that glistened in the moonlight. He was tall, probably as tall as Steve. He had shoulder length dark brown hair and ice blue eyes.

The shooter threw the shield back at Steve and it made him slide back from the force. When I looked back and got ready to stop him, he was gone. Steve and I ran to the edge of the building and there was no sight of him.

He disappeared in thin air.

"How did he do that?" Steve questioned, in awe of the whole situation.

"I don't know."