Winter's Children /// Bucky B x Fem Reader

Chapter 37: I Lost It

Y/N's POV

Karli started running once she realized what happened. Sam, Bucky, and I shared a look and went after her. No later so did Walker—though he went after one of the goons.

"I hate running like this." I panted as we followed Karli throughout the streets of Riga, Latvia.

"Didn't you force me to go running with you every morning??" Bucky said beside me.

"That's different!" We turned into a corner. No Karli seen. We lost her in the crowd. Why is there a crowd? I thought. That's when I heard a loud noise. A loud repeating noise. I don't know what it was but it sounded ugly.

I took a glance at Bucky and he was thinking the same thing, so I pushed around—as gently as possible—to see what all the ruckus was about. When I finally got a view, I put a hand over my mouth and gasped in horror.

Walker just killed one of Karli's soldiers with Steve's shield. Blood was splattered everywhere, his face, the statue in front of the body was laying on the ground—the shield. It was an absolutely terrifying sight and everyone was watching.

It would hit the news cycle in a matter of short hours. I could already see the diabolical headlines.

When he realized what he did he ran. And we were all too shocked to run after him. I grabbed Bucky's hand so hard I'm pretty sure I would've broken it if it wasn't vibranium.

I was stunned. I couldn't move, couldn't speak—and for the first time in a long time I had no words. I've seen a lot of things that I wish I hadn't—and a lot that keeps me up at night. But I never imagined someone could do something so vile with Steve's shield and disrespect everything he and that title stand for.

In my line of work you see people come and go. People die, and you have to deal with it.

It's part of life. It's part of this life. The whole "hero" thing—this is the bad part. I've had to sit and watch bad people do horrendous things, not being able to do anything—like right now.

You can't save everyone.

"Y/N." My hand nudged. I looked over to my side at Bucky.

"We gotta go. Redwing's tracking Walker." Sam said distractedly. It was clear that what we just saw shook all of us.

I don't know how long we were standing there but it felt like an eternity. We sped walked through the crowds but to me it all seemed like a blur.

"Wow you ok?" Sam said worriedly as we kept almost running.

"It's just—never have I seen something like that." I paused.

"I'm fine. Let's just go get this guy." I lightly panted and he nodded.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Redwing was tracking Walker as he fled the city and we trailed not too far behind. No one spoke. Everything was much louder. Cars, people—even birds. None of us wanted to talk. I think we all just agreed that the top priority was making this right by capturing Walker.

I just wish everyone were here with us. Nat, Tony, Bruce, Clint, Steve, Thor, Aaleyah. Maybe I'd be easier with them. Maybe we wouldn't even be here. But they'd be alive. They were my friends, and I miss them dearly. When I heard about their deaths I was destroyed. Nat didn't get a proper funeral, and I observed Tony's from afar.

I couldn't dare to face them. To see Pepper and Rhodey like that. The only ones who knew I was there were Steve Bruce and Thor because they were the ones who invited me. That was the last time I saw Steve. I wonder where he is now.

"We're here." Sam stopped. I realized we were at a storage facility near the abandoned train tracks. I'd have to ask him about that.

"You good?" Bucky pulled me back when we were about to go in.

I nodded and grabbed his stubbled jaw to kiss his cheek. Truth is that I wasn't. But it's not time for that. The three of us wandered for a little until spotting the man we were after heading towards us—or better yet the exit. The shield was still stained with blood. That sight made me shiver.

"Walker..." Sam warned as we approached closer.

"You guys should see a medic. You don't look so good." He acted like nothing happened. Like he didn't just beat a guy to death with Steve's shield in the town square.

"You need to stop." I seriously said and discretely made sure that my thigh holsters were tightly secured.

"You saw what happened. You know what I had to do. I killed him because I had to! He killed Lemar!" He ranted.

"He didn't kill Lemar, John." Bucky shook his head and tried to reason.

"Don't go down that road. Believe me, it doesn't end well."

"I'm not like you." He seethed in response.

"Listen, it was the heat of the battle." Sam said.

"He's right." I noted.

"If you explain what happened, they may consider your record. We don't want anyone else to get hurt." It's not what I wanted. But what I wanted doesn't matter now. We needed to stop Karli, but we cant do it with Walker in the way.

Bucky and I eyed the shield dripping in blood.

"John..." Bucky warned.

"You gotta give me the shield, man." Sam lowly spoke.

Walker looked down at the shield strapped to his left arm. He stared at it. Then he looked up—slowly—in realization. As if he'd just found out what was Victoria's secret. My jaw clenched. I already knew what was gonna happen.

"Oh," He looked at the three of us with such a peaceful expression it made me even more uneasy.

"So that's what this is. You almost got me." He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. It looked creepy. This whole thing looked like it came out of a horror movie playbook. Abandoned storage, gloomy weather, and the psychotic bad guy with a bloody shield.

"You made a mistake." Sam tried again. Bucky thought for a moment, glancing at the shield.

"Yeah we do." He rasped.

Then the fight started.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I was laying there on the ground. My lip was busted, my cheek was bleeding, my knuckles were bruised, and my entire body was tired and aching in pain. But when he screamed "I am Captain America" I lost it.