The Hurt And The Healing: Bucky X OC

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Mind's Eye

If Bucky had had his way, he and Mara would have never gotten out of that bed. It was nearly half an hour until they pulled themselves apart, the separation from her hurting like ripping off his own skin. As soon as dinner was put away and they had both showered they were back under the covers, holding onto each other until mid-afternoon the next day. All they did was talk, but damn if Bucky didn't want to spend the rest of his life watching the moon fall and the sun rise over her. How he got lucky enough to get a woman as wonderful as her he did not know. But he did not want to ever take his eyes off of her again.

Yet life continued on, and they both had jobs to do. Mara was finally back at the VA Rehabilitation Center and loving every second of doing what she had always planned on doing. Bucky was still the boogey man of criminals in the city, and also loving every second of doing what he was meant to be doing. And when they saw each other at the end of a long day it was like they had never gotten out of that bed.

It was thoughts of their bed that kept him from falling asleep as he sat on a rooftop watching the burned out husk of a building before him. According to police reports, the abandoned property had seemed to spontaneously combust last September. He vaguely remembered Mara mentioning something about working in an ER when it happened. But that had been right around the time the Movoniv shit began, so his memories of the specifics were hazy. Mara had come out of it all unscathed, and that was all that mattered to him, even back then.

It was strange to think about how long he had loved her for. It was like she'd said, their first month of knowing each other hardly counted. He had spent most of his time lying to her and she had understandably hated him for it. But even then, there had been something about her he couldn't let go of. Her strength had intrigued him. Her rage had worried him. And her love for everyone in her life had amazed him. From the moment she grabbed her baseball bat and all but told him she'd kill him if he hurt her family, he had been a goner. It just took him a while to realize it.

Bucky might have been slow when it came to matters of the heart, but tactically he was still good for something. Which was why when whispers started to fill the streets of a new player in town, Bucky had listened. And when those whispers turned to shouts of something happening in that old building, he'd decided to investigate the matter himself. No one had much information when it came to this new player. And the pieces Bucky had been able to pull together weren't making much sense. Unhoused people were disappearing off the streets at a rate that alarmed even the most jaded of NYPD officers. There were reports of people going into the building but never coming out of it. The power grid was lighting up like the Empire State building on Christmas, but there wasn't supposed to be so much as a generator left in the rubble.

So here he was, perched on a roof, sniper scope trailing over the windows, senses on high alert for any sign of trouble, and heart roughly seven blocks away in their apartment with Mara.

A strange high pitched whine reached his ears and he strained to identify it. It came and went randomly, and it was muffled and over as soon as it began. But the more times he heard it the more he was convinced that it was screaming. Bucky was far too acquainted with the sound to mistake it. So, when it ripped through him again, soft and dampened, like his always sounded in his nightmares, he shouldered his weapon and slipped down the escape route he had laid out days ago.

Bucky crept into the building like a shadow on an oil spill. He managed to find a staircase that wasn't entirely destroyed and made his way up, pausing at every floor he could gain access to to search for evidence. Warped remains of machines and filing cabinets with only ash in their drawers littered the rooms. Something about the machines was familiar, but he couldn't place it. They looked medical in nature so he snapped a few pictures on his phone, hoping that Mara would be able to shed some light. He texted them to her and continued on.