The Feeling's Mutual | Bucky x Reader

12 | Reckoning (Part 2)

The effect was instantaneous. Your strength left you and your pain doubled, leaving you gasping on your hands and knees. Completely human and vulnerable.

Drozdov was pleased at the sight. Bucky was horrified.

"You see what you have wasted, daughter? The power I gave you? Without it you are nothing."

It was true. It had to be, if you were this weak and defeated without it. You were nothing and there was nothing you could do.

But that's not how Bucky saw it.

You don't know how or what exactly happened - it was a blur of chaos, Bucky breaking free and Drozdov shouting the remaining Russian words - but by the time you finally got to your feet you were faced with a figure that you knew at once wasn't Bucky.

Still you tried. "Bucky...?"

His eyes. You knew them so well, yet they seemed to stare right through you.

You stumbled back. "Bucky, I-"

"Bring her to me." Drozdov stood a few feet away, like he too was keeping his distance from... from... "Alive."

The Winter Soldier took a slow, calculated step towards you. Then another. You moved back, breath stuttering.

"Bucky, I know you can hear me. You have to listen to-" Another stride and he lunged with one arm. You barely evaded his metal grasp, nearly tripping over your own feet. "Bucky, stop! Goddammit, it's me! Please!"

He didn't. You knew he wouldn't, so you ran like prey from a wolf. Drozdov's laugh tortured you, as did the pain in your body. You were in no condition to fight, but did you have a choice? What could you even fight him with?

Abandoned blueprints and construction equipment on a nearby table. You snatched a wrench, only for a large hand to snatch your wrist. The Winter Soldier towered over you with cold, ruthless eyes. You gritted your teeth, driven by a sudden desire to live. You'd show him ruthless.

You kicked at him, landing one in his gut. You grabbed the wrench with your free hand and struck his arm with it. Again. You broke free - only to receive a metal backhand to the face. You spun, dropping the wrench and nearly losing your balance. The Winter Soldier didn't give you a second's rest.

You could barely keep up. You were human against a super soldier, feeling pain your opponent could ignore. But you had one thing to your advantage: Bucky had trained you. Trained you to fight with your bare hands, without your powers. For a moment you could pretend it was another one of your training sessions (only with infinitely higher stakes). It just needed to work long enough for you to get back the wrench.

You deflected one punch. Missed the next. His metal fist was like a sledgehammer, brilliant black and white flashing across your vision as it struck you. The wrench. You spotted it on the ground.

Adrenaline at an all-time high, you somehow managed to fell him, the two of you going down in a heap of limbs. You twisted his metal arm behind his back, putting your weight on it and temporarily stunting the calibration. You lifted your head. The wrench wasn't far, so let go of him and threw yourself at it. A hand seized your ankle and pulled. You struggled as you were flipped onto your back and straddled, thighs squeezing your sides and hands suddenly squeezing your neck.

Your eyes went wide. You kicked and bucked under his weight but it was no use. He had you pinned.

Your lungs burned and you gasped uselessly. Empty eyes bored into yours. He wouldn't kill you, but if you passed out you were as good as dead anyway. Game over. You couldn't reason with him and you couldn't fight him. But maybe, just maybe, you could reach him. Your oxygen-deprived brain scrambled for a memory, something-