Trying Your Luck - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 69: we can be heroes

A/N: Wrapping up TFATWS storyline in this one. Don't worry, I have more plans. Lots of plot, smut, and feelings!

It's chaos. Bucky strides down the hallway of the GRC building while everyone is scrambling to leave. Alarms are going off, and he can hear people shouting and murmuring in confusion and terror. He's looking for Karli, or any of the Flag Smashers. He's prepared for a fight, but he'd rather not do that. There have been enough lives lost. What he needs to do is reason with them. Bucky isn't used to solving problems this way.

A woman steps out of a room with a cell phone in her hand.

"Mr. Barnes? It's Karli."

He takes a deep breath.

"Karli."

"Aren't you tired of fighting for the wrong side, Mr. Barnes?"

He scoffs.

"I've done this before, kid. I know how it ends."

"It doesn't matter if I don't survive this," Karli insists. "I'm fighting for something bigger than myself, and with all the bodies you've collected, have you ever been able to say the same?"

"You don't think I ever fought for something bigger than myself?" Bucky counters. "That's all I ever tried to do. And I failed twice. I won't fail again."

"Ah. Your fiancé, right? Shannon Meyers? Is she who you're fighting for?"

His blood runs cold.

"Don't you dare bring her into this."

"I will if you don't back off," Karli warns him. "I'll propose a truce. I want you with us. We can build a better world. All of us."

Bucky remembers Alexander Pierce, sitting in front of him, examining him like some kind of zoo animal.

"You shaped the century."

He didn't. He destroyed it. HYDRA had to convince him that he was doing the right thing. For 80 years. They told him that he was building something greater than himself, than all of them. It was all a lie. Karli is just falling for the same shit, except now she's the one spoon-feeding it to the others.

"I've been fed that bullshit before. In your dreams, kid."

Karli scoffs.

"Have it your way, then."

"You think your cause justifies all this death, but in the end, the nightmares won't go away," Bucky tells her calmly. His mind is racing. He has to call Shannon. Fast. He has no idea if Karli has already sent people to the house, or if it's an empty threat. Either way, he doesn't want to find out. He maintains a calm demeanor with her, trying to encourage her to do the right thing.

If he can stop her this way, nobody else dies tonight.

"You're going to remember all the ones you killed. Trust me." His throat feels tight. "Don't do this. Don't go down this path."

Karli is silent for a moment. He prays that she's taking his words into consideration.

"If that's how you feel, you should sit this one out."

"Well, you know I ain't gonna do that," he laughs.

"Well, thank you. I'm glad you took my call. You've been a big help."

The line goes dead.

"Shit!" Bucky hisses. He dials Shannon's number as he darts after the hostages.