Viper's Bite: The Other Rogers

10.

After he bounced around on flight after flight and avoided most of the cameras around him. Bucky went to the safehouse he had set up for just this type of incident. He stayed inside for the most part and only went out if absolutely necessary. By week two, he was thinking he would need to move again but instead, when he walked into the apartment, he felt a presence behind him. "Hi Buck." 

"Steve."

"So you know who I am now?"

"Yes, I remember. I just can't do this here or now. I have too many people after me. I have people I need to..."

"People you need to what Buck? If there are bad people still out there, we can work together and get them behind bars."

"I didn't mean it like that Steve."

"Killing can't be your only option Buck."

"It isn't. I didn't bomb that place. I have no desire to hurt anyone. I just want to live in peace."

"I believe you, but people want to know where you were during that bombing if you weren't there."

Bucky was about to say in Queens but shut up quickly. He had almost outed Sally without thinking. Instead, he shook his head and said he wasn't there. Steve knew there was more to it than he was letting on. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to address it because the authorities were now surrounding them. Bucky tried not to hurt any of them as he fought them off, getting the stash bag he had put there during his Hydra days, he ran and eventually made it to another roof. While running, he noticed there were more people than just the authorities and Steve. 

The man with metal wings seemed slightly familiar but he couldn't place him while running. Cat guy was definitely a new player on the board. Steve seemed surprised too so it was useless to ask him anything. Bucky knew he had to get further if he wanted Sally to stay anonymous. There was no way she would sit it out if he was captured. Getting a bike, he turned around to ride off but found himself surrounded. He threw the backpack down and stomped in a circle before yelling at the top of his lungs and kneeling with his hands behind his head. The cat guy was addressed as some form of royalty while Bucky was loaded into a portable cell. He knew something else was going on but he didn't know how to fix everything. 

Once he was at the new building, he sat quietly knowing someone would be along to ask him questions. He watched as the guards came and went, the way the door had a window so he could see others walking. This was going to be difficult but he would have to get out of this otherwise Sally would definitely show up to absolve him and she hadn't come to terms with the fact that her brother was alive and that she was with his best friend now. He knew she had some other stuff in her past that she didn't really discuss with anyone. He had his own secret that he needed to tell her before she found out from someone else too. Maybe he should have stayed with her and not left. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he saw the image of her coughing slightly with red marks on her neck from him and he knew he would never regret leaving her for her own safety. 

He saw a new man come in and ask the guards to leave. Once he saw the book though, Bucky tensed. He needed to get out of here, now. He hit as hard as he could, trying to block out the trigger words as they seemed to surround and fog his mind. He needed out! He kept pushing forward, trying to think of Sally and getting back to her. He felt the door give just as the last word registered and he knew he was lost. 

The next time he was aware of his surroundings, there was a gun in his hand pointed at a man in flashy glasses. That face though, it was too similar. He registered the gunshot a moment too late and was glad the man wasn't hurt. The brainwashing was still too strong. He was trying to push through though. It wasn't working. He couldn't do it. Bucky pushed himself to run to the roof, to get away. He needed to be away from people. Finding a bird there, he got in and was almost away. He was almost there. He, was stopped by an obstacle yelling for him to stop. The helicopter wasn't moving the way he wanted, fine. He turned it back towards its origin, now unusable to chase him, he needed out of it. Then there was the face of the obstacle. He hit the man. Until he realized they were falling. Bucky looked at the man stretched across the windshield of the chopper and realized it was Steve. He had hurt Sally's brother, his best friend, again. He suddenly welcomed the dark of oblivion as he considered those who he had just hurt while unable to help it, again. He was still a Hydra weapon and that was a problem. His last thought was of how not to hurt Sally again.

Steve was left looking at the mess he was now in. He didn't know if there was a way to help his friend but it was made apparent that there was an element of brainwashing involved. He needed to get to the bottom of it. Then there was the sudden passing of Peggy. With a heavy heart, he asked Sam to keep an eye on Bucky while he went to the funeral. Hugging Nat in his grief reminded him that there were those who cared for him here and now. Maybe, just maybe it was time to move on in life. He thought about all of the things that were currently wrong in the world. He and the others couldn't be a weapon to be used on those who oppose them. Their job was to protect the world, as a whole. He wouldn't be signing their freedom away. Tony had to understand on some level, though he doubted it.