↳ 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 - B.BARNES • 1 •

Longing, Rusted

Lila woke up and instantly regretted it.

Do you wake up as Lila does, having forgotten what hurts or where, until you move? There is the sun dissolving the dark and light as clear as music, filling the room where she lay and the other rooms behind her eyes. Every time someone comes in and says to her 'rise and shine' , she thinks to herself about how lucky dead people are.

The air in her face was so cold that the exposed part of her face felt like ice. The room was bare, only four metal grey walls surrounded her whilst she was embedded in a silky bed. Doors behind her shot open, and in came bustling three people, Steve, Sam and Tony, pushing and shoving each other to get to Lila.

'Stark, why are you even here? You showed your true colours when you restrained her.' Sam muttered, dragging up a chair to Lila's side. 'How you feeling, hot stuff?'

Lila forced out a small chuckle, whilst Tony just looked at her and stared. 'I'm sorry kid. It was a necessary precau-'

'Steve!' Lila tried to shout, sitting up swiftly in her bed. 'Are you okay?'

Steve nodded. 'I'm fine, thank you Lila. How are you holding up?'

'Meh.' She shrugged. 'Looks like I have a few hickeys here and there from that restrainer thing, but apart from that I'm as good as new. Hopefully.'

'Well you're not dead so that's a good thing.' Sam laughed, resting his hand on her shoulder. She looked around like she was searching for something, or someone.

'Where's-'

'Barnes? Been taken away. Sorry L, no sex for a while.' Tony interrupted, earning a glare from Steve.

'T-taken away? What do you mean?'

'It was for your own safety.'

'Fuck off Tony! You're the last face I want to see right now.' She jumped off her bed and headed for the exit, before Steve stuck out his hand and blocked her way out.

'What the fuck?'

'Don't, Lila. Don't go and get yourself killed.'

Before Lila could argue back, Sharon Carter came in, carrying a piece of paper heading towards Sam.
'The receipt for your gear.'

''Bird costume'? Come on.' Sam cried.

'I didn't write it.' She pushed a button on a computer in the far corner of the room, which stopped the restriction on the audio from Bucky's evaluation.

Helmut Zemo's voice boomed from the speakers. 'I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James.'

Bucky's eyes looked up towards him. 'My name is Bucky.'

'He looks so different,' Lila sighed, obviously upset.

Sharon passed Steve a photograph. He studied the blurry photograph of the man who bombed the congress in Vienna.

'Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?'

'Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?' She shrugged.

Lila tilted her head. 'Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of 'hiding'. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier.'

Sharon turned to her. 'You're saying someone framed him to find him?'

'We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads.' Steve interrupted.

'Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would.' Her gaze fell on the evaluator in the screen, and her eyes narrow.