Necessary Good, Unnecessary Evil | No rest For Wounded Souls [Bucky Barnes]

New York

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal." 
-Mason Albert Pike

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Nova's POV

There's something I didn't miss while being away from New York. The traffic.
We have been stuck here for an hour, and Steve's driving skills are MIA.
I'm sitting in the back seat, holding my arms across my chest.
I glance at Bucky unconscious next to me. He shouldn't have hit me.
"Is he still out?" Steve asks, looking in the rearview mirror.
I sigh, hitting Bucky's arm with my elbow.
He groans, shifting in the seat.
"Wake up, soldat," I utter, and his eyes snap open.
Bucky looks around. His eyes are wide, and his breathing rate increases in an instant.
"Hey, it's ok. You're fine." I try to calm him down, avoiding ending up with him destroying Steve's car. The traffic would get so much worse.
"What happened?" He croaks, shifting his gaze back and forth between Steve and me.
"You hit me. I knocked you out. You know I don't like getting hit in the face." I scold him, and he sighs.
"Sorry." He says, and I look at him, surprised.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that the man I knew for all these years, the same man I was once ordered to fight to the death, is apologizing to me. 
His eyes fall on his hands, noticing his wrists are tied together by red glowing string.
Handcuffs or chains don't work on him, so magic it is.
His forehead creases and I shrug, "you're lucky. I got a shock collar." 
"Did you find him?" Bucky asks, and my face drops. He's talking about our goal. The original plan, my mission. Tony.
I shake my head, pressing my lips together. "As I said, there have been a few changes."
"Why's that?" He mutters, and I sigh, fidgeting with my fingers.
"It wasn't him." I cut off, looking outside.

We get to the Lincoln tunnel, but there are police cars parked to stop the traffic.
"What the hell is going on?" I groan, climbing in the passenger seat.
Steve bends over the wheel, looking at the sky.
"What is that?" Steve narrows his eyes, and my jaw drops.
There's a black tear in the sky above the city, and things are coming out of it.
I get out of the car, and a cop holds up his hand, "Ma'am, the tunnel is closed." He shouts, and his eyes dart behind me, noticing Steve.
"Hey, that's Captain America!" He crows, and I look up, annoyed.
"Yeah, no shit." I huff and peek inside the tunnel, noticing it's packed with cars.
"How do we get to the other side?" Steve utters at the cop, realizing the car won't make it through.
"We had to get the civilians to leave their cars and evacuate safely, sir." The cop explains.
The timing is just awful. I guess I have to make one more act of charity.
"Get in the car. I'm cleaning the way." I glance at Steve and start marching forward.

I stop in front of the entrance, closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing.
The wind blows the hair out of my face as I raise my hands in front of me, my palms facing each other.
"It's showtime." I grin to myself, separating my hands and watching the cars move to the sides.
Metal screeching echoes in the tunnel, and I look over my shoulder.
Steve is back in the car and is moving forward.
I start walking again, car after car, making space as I walk by.
"Good job," Steve smirks as I get back in the car.
"Let's hope their insurance will cover that." I joke, laying back in the seat.

Getting out of the tunnel is like arriving in hell.
The city is completely trashed. Cars are on fire, and the streets are covered in debris.
We get out of the car, and I walk around to open Bucky's door.
"Is that Stark?" I point at the sky, and Tony flies down.
"Where the hell were you two?" He shouts, lifting his faceplate.
"What's going on?" Steve asks, avoiding the question.
"Thor's little brother threw a tantrum." Tony scoffs, but his face gets serious when he sees Bucky staying behind my back.
"And who is he?" Tony nods at him and looks at his tied hands.
"An old friend of Captain America." I sing, freeing Bucky's hands. Tony furrows at my words and decides to let that go. For now.
"We have to go. Rogers, to midtown. You two, wait here." He instructs, and I scoff, stepping away.
"Yeah, no. I'm out. Have fun." I walk away. This whole story with this team of geeks has lasted long enough.
My part was to take Steve to Bucky. Now I have a few men to hunt down.
"Nova!" Steve shouts, and I freeze on the place. "Where are you going?" I turn on my heels, facing him.
"Somewhere where flying lizards won't try to kill me?" I ask ironically.
What did they expect? That I would put my life in danger to help them?
That's just stupid.