Obsession-Book Three (Steve Rogers)

8. MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Well I know what's right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground

-I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty

*Bucharest*

Walking along the farmers market, Bucky was shadowing his target from 50 yards away.  The tension in his shoulders killing him as he takes note of his habits and who he talks to.  Five days of this op and he was ready to be home with his family.  Being away from Steve, Sophia and Peter took its toll on him.  He stopped to purchase some plums from a shopkeeper.  He pulled his hat lower on his face.  He may not be the Winter Soldier anymore but that didn't make him less recognizable.  His hair had grown out again and he tucked a strand again behind his ear.

Suddenly, Bucky felt like he was being watched.  He looked over his shoulder to see the newspaper shopkeeper staring at him with a paper in his hand.  Bucky starts to approach the man and the man takes off away from his booth.  Bucky picks up the paper and reads the report of the bombing in Vienna.  His face and name are plastered as the suspect wanted for questioning on the bombing.

"Oh shit," he mutters under his breath.  He drops the paper and races back to his makeshift apartment base a couple of blocks away.

Meanwhile Steve made it to the apartment.  Bucky was a man of few needs.  A mattress on the floor with a sleeping bag, simple food in the fridge and his gear on a table.  He picked up a journal filled with notes and flags. A voice is behind him. "Steve. Are you here to arrest me?"

Steve turned and smiled at his friend. "Of course not.  I knew you were here.  But we need to go, pal.  German Special Forces are on their way to arrest you and they have order to take you in dead or alive."

Bucky snorted.  "That's smart.  That is a good strategy."

"Come on.  Sophia and Sam are waiting so we can get you to safety while we work out how to prove your innocence."  At the same time, he hears Sam over the comms They're entering the building.  I'm compromised.

A bomb is sent through the window. "Bucky!"

Bucky kicked the bomb towards Steve who covers it with his shield.  Bucky uses a mattress to cover himself as other soldiers try to get Steve through the kitchen door.  Bucky kicks the soldiers down and flips Steve down to avoid being shot.  He punches the floor near Steve's head with his hand to grab his emergency go bag.

"Get to the next building over," says Steve.

As the duo fights their way down lower to jump to the next building, Sophia, in her full tactical gear, is waiting behind an air conditioning unit to avoid being seen.  She hears the fighting between the Germans and her boys. Suddenly she sees Bucky jump from a balcony and onto the roof.  "James!" she calls out to him from her hiding spot.

"Angel!" He turns towards her as a man in a black cat suit appears. He attacked Bucky and Sophia.

Sophia tries to user her power to force the man away from Bucky as a helicopter comes out of nowhere and starts firing.  Sophia puts up her shield over herself and James.  The other man just has the bullets bounce off of him. Sophia sees this and think Vibranium? The shooting stops and Sophia lowers her shield into a force and knocks over the man.  Run, she mentally tells James.  He picks up his bag and jumps down off the roof.

Sophia tries to distract the man.  "Please, he's innocent," she says pleading.

"I don't care," she hears with an accent that sounds familiar to her.  She goes to hit him with a kick but he grabs her, twist her in his arms so her back is to him and stabs her in the neck. She collapses, unconscious.  The man puts her behind the air conditioning unit again, so she is not shot at again and takes off.