The Long Game

Chapter Ten: It's ok..

Bucky tightens his hand around the gun and glares at me, his eyes shining with tears. "Why are you lying?! I know my past! I know it all!!" The world has blurred out, I'm not paying attention to Steve, Tony or Clint. My sole focus is on Bucky. "Buck lower the gun.." Steve spoke softly, trying to coax his friend around, none of them dared move to take the weapon away. I didn't move either, I could have disarmed him, but no, right now he was unpredictable, who knows what would happen if I went for the weapon, besides he needed to hear this. "I'm not lying and somewhere inside, you know that." My voice is surprisingly calm for someone that has a gun pointed at their head, not that it's the first time this has ever happened. "No!" Bucky shouts, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. "I would never.... Not with you!' those words stung, I sigh. "Shall I show you?" Before he even has a chance to ponder the question or answer I've moved to action.

My left hand rose, wrapping around the gun and guiding it out of my face, as I did that I stepped forward, my other hand sliding up and to the back of Bucky's head. It all happened too quickly for him to even react, I pull him in and our lips collide, much to the surprise of everyone else, Im faintly aware of the collective gasp from the other three. I let my eyes fall shut as I curse myself for what I'm doing but this is the quickest way for him to see the truth. I feel his body stiffen slightly, the grip on the gun loosens, I take advantage of that and take the gun, tucking it into the waistband of my trousers. Muscle memory takes over and Buckys reaching for me now, his flesh hand sliding up my face and into my hair while his other hand is wrapping around my waist, pulling me tight to his body. There's my Soldier. I pull away after a second, the kiss breaks with a gasp, Bucky releases me and takes several steps back, shock written all over his face. I can see it, he's consumed with the memories of us, they're filtering through his mind, one after the other. So many different times we were together, bodies moving as one, hands exploring every inch of the other. "It wasn't supposed to happen.." I say, uncertain as to whether he heard me. "They found out and took me out of your rotation... Wiped your memories of.." I take a breath, fuck this actually hurt.. I missed him... "The next time I seen you, you were The Winter Soldier again with no recollection of me at all.."

"I don't understand." The words come from Tony, that's when I remember we weren't alone. I move my gaze from Bucky to Tony, raising a brow and waiting for him to continue but he doesn't, he's just looking at me. "What don't you understand?" I demand, Tony flinches slightly, I suppose I'm not the same little girl he remembers, too bad I guess. "You said you came here to kill him but you were his lover?" He looks to Steve and Clint to confirm that he had gotten it right but neither of them had spoken, Steve was just staring at Bucky who had his back to me once again, his hands on the table, knuckles white from how tightly he gripped the edge. Fuck sake, do I need to spell it out?! I address my response to Tony. "They thought I was the perfect soldier, I always followed orders, they never had to wipe me so there was no way that I could be compromised while spending time with him." I jerk my head towards Bucky. "And for months that was the case. We did our missions, returned to Hydra, I gave them the reports and that was it until one mission. The cracks started to show, he was changing." I close my eyes briefly. I don't want to do this... I hate emotions, this is meant to be straight forward, kill him and be done with it. Why did it get so fucking complicated?!

I don't have to do this..

I grab the gun from my waistband and raise it, everyone tenses. "I loved you once, but that love is long gone. You are my mission and I will complete it" My words made Bucky look at me, his jaw tense. "Do it!" He yelled, Steves eyes widened "Buc..." I fire the gun, Clint kicked Steves shield up in time to block the bullet from hitting Bucky in the chest, Steve caught the shield and tossed it towards me, I ducked, the shield hit the wall and flew back to Steve, who caught it with ease, I fired another shot as I dived back through the doors. Fuck this. I'm out of here! I run up the stairs with the three of them in pursuit. Three? Where the fuck is the fourth?! No matter. I'll return to base and deal with this later. I reach the roof and kick through the door. I run to the edge as Steve, Bucky and Clint skid to a stop. Clint has his bow, an arrow notched and aimed at me. They all pause to assess the best situation.

"Don't do this, Echo.." Bucky says, holding out his right hand to me, there's blood on his cheek. Did my bullets hit him? Such a shame to scar a pretty face... The way he says my name as though it's familiar to him, I wonder how it feels to remember me, to remember how he used to moan my name. Fuck! Stop these thoughts!!

"It's ok..." I say to him, blinking back my tears and smiling to hide my pain. I raise my arms and let my body fall back off the roof.