Saving Bucky (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 49 - Lulu

Your fingers trace the fabric patterns of the small sitting sofa anxiously as Kentay paces, hands clasped behind his back. You've told him everything there is to know up to now - save a few details like the bullet in your back. And now you wait. Wait for his reaction. For his willingness to either stay and help, or to turn his back and walk away. 

After several long minutes he finally stops pacing.

"So it all comes down to him," Kentay says, rife with suspicion as he glances over your head towards James, who lingers in the far away darkened corner of your room near the door - keeping watch. "This organization, the Tressis, they've killed our leaders. They've planted themselves somewhere in our ranks. And they're after him. To make more of his kind. With this biofile. That only he can access."

"Don't," you says, edge of your voice sharp as a razor. You know where his mind is going. 

"You realize," he says, his deep baritone distraught and uncertain. "That this would be categorized as a Tier 10 threat, Y/n," he says quietly, glancing to you. "You know what the protocols are."

"I don't work for the Company anymore, Kentay," you shoot back, rising slowly from the sofa. "If you want to eliminate the threat, you eliminate me too."

King huffs, rolling his shoulders as he balls his hands into fists. He scowls and once more begins pacing angrily.  You know everything about the situation goes against his training. But he's fighting his instincts and his orders to help. 

"But that's why we're here, Kentay," you say urgently, sitting once more, de-escalating. "To stop it. We need to search the system for the Right Hand. There has to be more that can help us."

Kentay hums, his brow creasing as he crosses his arms tightly against his chest, still irked. "If you're correct about the Tressis retaining a mole in the Company, I will keep watch."

"Thank you," you say. 

"But...I am more concerned about the issue of your medication," Kentay says abruptly, his tone shifting and the anger dissipating, replaced with concern. "There were no records of production here?" he muses. "Not even in our lab?"

"According to the files they just get delivered through the lab. They're made at facility 96," you say, leaning forward on the edge of the small sitting sofa. "Please tell me you know where that is," you beg.

Kentay frowns. "You know the security protocols, Y/n," Kentay says quietly. "Only the Directors know the Company facility locations."

"Would the new director be willing to help?" you ask.

Kentay's brow furrows even deeper, the creases in his forehead deepening as he casts a furtive glance at you. "No," he says firmly. 

"You wouldn't even ask?" you push.

"And what possible explanation would I give?" Kentay pushes back. "You aren't here, Y/n. You didn't come back!"

You recoil at the hurt in his eyes and hear James take an aggravated step forward from his place near your bedroom door, but the moment he does Kentay steps back and raises both hands, relaxing his agitated stance. 

"I'm sorry," he says. "But the new director won't be willing to discuss top secret information right now."

"Why not?" you ask cautiously. 

"There...was a coordinated attack," Kentay says, dropping into an armchair beside you with an exhausted huff. "Shortly after you left. Two of our directors were killed as a result."

"Yeah," you say, casting a glance over your shoulder to James as your stomach churns. "We heard." 

"Then you understand the concern," Kentay says grimly. "No one was caught, Y/n. The Spectres themselves were present in both facilities. Neither attachment managed to even detect the intruders, let alone catch them afterwards."