To the end of the line - stucky

Gaining Attention

Steve started to feel a dull ache in his body. He was confused and disorientated as he began to move his arms and tried opening his eyes.

"Hey, don't move too much, okay", he felt someone gently take hold of his hand and stroke it reassuringly.

He groaned slightly, trying to sort out the jumble in his head as he started to wake up more.
Looking around, he noticed it was kind of dim and funny smelling. The walls were a dark stone, glistening slightly from the small drips that appeared through the ceiling, and the smell of bonfire drifted around what was apparently a cave.

He looked up to see a worried Bucky sitting in front of a small fire. Its flames flickered around, making it hard to see much of Bucky's expression.

Steve really didn't feel like speaking, but his mind was foggy, and he needed answers.

"What happened", he groaned out.

"You passed out when I was trying to get the metal out of your leg", he replied, putting a hand on his face and gently wiping the blonde hair to the side.

Steve had forgotten about that and flicked his head down to look at his legs. His right had been strapped between two metal rods to hold it still, and the left was covered in all sorts of stuff. What must have been layers of bandages wrapped tightly from just below his knee to his toes. More metal rods had been fastened around his leg to hold it completely still. He could barely remember hurting it, but his body must have known as he lay rigidly still, refusing to move at all.

"It's good you passed out. I had to cauterise it, clean it and do all this", he gestured down. "I didn't want to hear your screaming anymore". He lay down next to Steve, careful with his feet, and rested his head on the others shoulder. He didn't know how long it had been since they crashed, but he was exhausted and just wanted to be near his friend.

Steve hugged him back and gently placed a hand on the side of Bucky's face just like he loved. They stayed like that for a while and looked out the entrance of the cave at the dense layer of trees. A light amount of snow had started falling, and if they were anywhere else right now, it would have been perfect.

*

A part-time Canadian park ranger sat at his desk on another boring winter day. It was almost lunch, so close in fact, that he could already taste the cheesy bacon goodness coming from his sandwich. So, when his phone rang, he huffed, annoyed someone would bother him at this moment.

"Hello, Park Ranger Renolds speaking, how can I help?" He said in a voice mixed between chipper and gloom.

But just seconds into the call, he knew it was an interesting one. An agent claiming to be calling from a S.H.I.E.L.D office in New York informed him of something completely mind-blowing. His lunch had been instantly forgotten, and he became more alert.

"Yes, yes, we'll have all our men searching immediately, the locals will be informed and I'm sure many of them will be able to help".

He hung up the phone and couldn't quite believe what had happened. In the small town he was in, the most they dealt with was an occasional missing hiker. But seeing as most people who lived here also grew up here, they were all very good about sticking to the trails and taking the necessary precautions. So he spent most of his days filing paperwork or monitoring the local wildlife.

This, though, had never happened. Ranger Renalds left his office and walked through the large wooden hut they were stationed in until he reached the main room with a handful of people. Some working and some laughing together, sipping hot drinks.

"Attention, everyone!" He shouted. The noise died down slightly, but people quickly finished their conversations first, most of them young enough to have never encountered an actual emergency before.

"I have just had a call from New York, stating Captain America and Sergeant Barnes have crashed their plane in the Alberta wilderness on the way back from a classified mission", he shouted.

There were murmurs and gasps among the group, trying to see if they heard him right. Renalds gave them all a moment before speaking again.

"They were unable to locate exactly where the crash occurred, so S.H.I.E.L.D has asked for our assistance as we know the terrain a lot better. Of course, we will be helping them, starting right now". He began to appoint different roles to different people, shouting over the commotion as everyone got to work immediately.

"Jones! I want you to inform the residents and ask for any extra help they can give, and remind them a few black bears are late into hibernation this year, so be careful.

"Carter! You're organising the search groups, and McCarty, you're in charge of the map, marking down where we've searched already. Groups of twos or threes, please, no one alone!

"And Henry, as our newest recruit, you're going to be staying here and monitoring the phones, the news, anything you can do here to be helpful. I can't have you getting lost on our first search".

Within minutes everyone had changed into their gear to keep warm in the cold climate and was heading out the door in different directions.

Not even an hour later, multiple big, white gazebos had been put up and tied down to hold foods and drinks for searchers. Everyone jostled around, signing up for search parties and asking where to look next.
They estimated over two-thirds of the whole town were currently out looking for the super soldiers, carrying shotguns and survival bags, insistent on finding them.

*

The news had spread fast. Within a couple hours of calling every town possible around the area, everyone had jumped into action, and the word was still spreading.

The team sat in a room adjoining the main S.H.I.E.L.D computer room and couldn't do anything but watch the news. An older woman sat behind a desk with a giant banner reading, 'breaking news'.

"We have just had an emergency story brought to us", she spoke. "It has come to our attention that Captain America and Sergeant James Barnes have gone missing in Canada on the way back from an important mission. The avenger team had to abort the mission and were separated by their teammates before the second plane went down shortly after takeoff, and there has been no contact since".

"How do these people even get all that information", sighed Wanda. "Why can't we go and help!"

"Because apparently they don't want more bad guys to use this as a distraction to do something; they need us on stand-by, and if we were all crowded in Canada, it might give the terrorists more incentive to come find us", answered Sam, still glaring at the tv.

"They'd actually send us on another mission while all this is going on?" She laughed at how unbelievably stupid it all was. But she knew they couldn't just not do anything if someone did need their help; she just felt helpless right now. "Wait. What if the terrorists that were left after the explosion go looking for them?!" She started panicking.

It had dawned on Sam and Nat, but they didn't want to think about it. The only hope they had was that someone else found them first. After all, it was a big area.

"At least we have enough help", Sam said in a monotone voice and looked at the screen where the woman continued speaking.

"Flights from all over the world to Canada are fully booked, and charter flights are carrying as many people as they can allow, all in the hopes of joining the search. For the first time in a long time, people are putting aside their differences and helping each other".

"I'm going to see if Clint's finished in surgery", said Nat as she stalked out of the room, ignoring the tv.