Resounding Grace

2: 04

BUCHAREST

Bucky was in civvies at a fruit store. He bought some plums and spoke in Romanian.

(assumed translation: How are they? Are they good? Give me six, thank you.)

In a black cap and casual jacket, Bucky walked along, scanning around. Across the street, he spotted a twenty-something vender at a news-stand watching him. Bucky glanced away, then looked back at the vender who was still watching him. The vender ran from his kiosk. Bucky went over and picked up a paper. On the front page there was surveillance-photos of a man and the headline: 'Winter Soldier cautat pentru Bombardmentul din Viena'. Bucky glanced around tensely.

---

In his dark blue armored suit with his shield on his arm, Steve and Delia were in a small apartment. They looked around. There was a mattress with disheveled covers and various bits of cheap looking furniture. The kitchen and bedroom were in the same room. Steve found a notebook on top of the fridge. He picked it up and opened it. There were tabs of varying colors sticking out from amongst the pages.

Delia noticed one page in particular and frowned. 'I love her but I can't have her.'

Sam over the radio said, "Heads up, Cap, Oracle. German Special Forces, approaching from the south."

"Understood," Steve and Delia replied. Bucky was standing behind them.

Steve and Delia slowly turned to face him and the former asked, "Do you know us?"

Bucky stared at them as he replied, "You're Steve. I read about you in a museum. Delia was... She was my partner of sorts."

"They've set the perimeter," Sam warned.

"I know you're nervous," Steve said. "And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

"I wasn't in Vienna," Bucky told him. "I don't do that anymore."

"They're entering the building," Sam informed.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now," Delia stated in a gentle tone. "And they're not planning on taking you alive."

"That's smart," Bucky noted. "Good strategy."

"They're on the roof," Sam said. "I'm compromised."

Armed cops ran upstairs.

Steve shook his head and said, "This doesn't have end in a fight, Buck."

Outside the door, a cop readied a battering ram.

"It always ends in a fight," Bucky replied in a tired tone.

"Five seconds," Sam warned.

"You and Delia pulled me and Jamie from the river. Why?" Steve asked. "I know why she did so."

"I don't know," Bucky answered.

"Three seconds!" Sam cried.

"Yes, you do," Steve said.

"Breach! Breach! Breach!"

A grenade crashed through the window. Bucky grabbed Delia and kicked it to Steve who smothered it with his shield.

A GSG-9 Soldier yelled, "Schieß die Tür auf!"

(Shoot the door!)

The cop slammed the battering ram against the door. Bucky shielded himself and Delia with the mattress against an attack that came from the window. He blocked the door with a table as cops swung in on cables. Steve pulled the rug from under a policeman, sending him flying. Bucky slammed another policeman into the wall while Delia did so to another.