Sergeant Barnes: The First Avenger

Finish his mission

Bucky's POV:
I sit inside a pub that had been bombed almost down to the bone. An untouched glass of alcohol sits on the table as I stare down at an image of me and Steve before the serum, not realising that Agent Carter has walked in. "I'm not thirsty." I say dryly, finally seeing her out of the corner of my eye as she walks closer to me. She pulls out a chair from the bar and sits on the other side of the table. I avoid her eye contact.

"It wasn't your fault." She says after a moment of silence. "Did you read the report?" I ask, still not meeting her eye-line. "Yes." She replies "Then you know that's not true." I state, my throat crackling with every word. "You did everything you could." Agent Carter says. Silence fills the room for a brief moment.

"You and Steve were close, weren't you?" She asks, breaking the silence. I simply nod. "Then stop blaming yourself. Allow Steve the dignity of his choice. He damn well must have thought you were worth it." She states

I still look down at the image, trying to figure out what I want to say. "I'm going to finish his mission. I'm going after Schmidt. I'm not gonna stop until all of HYDRA is dead or captured. It's what he'd want me to do." I state.

"You won't be alone." Agent Carter says. I look up at her and give her a mental 'Thank you'.
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Multiple curved lines make out the fading maps that Colonel Chester Phillips briefly studies. Due to the little light that there is in the room, it's almost as if the world maps have been put under a spotlight, covering the rest of the people in the room in a shadow of darkness. "Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse. He thinks he's a god, and he's willing to blow up half of the world to prove it. Starting with the USA." The Colonel states, turning his back to the maps.

Howard Stark strides over to the main table and takes a seat, "Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he'll wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour." I lower the papers in my hand back onto the table, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms.

Silence filled the room, except for the faint whirring of the machines behind me. "How much time we got?" One of the men in the room asks, facing the Colonel. "According to my new best friend, under 24 hours."

"Where is he now?" One of the men in the room asks. "HYDRA's last base is here. In the Alps, 500 feet below the surface." The Colonel states, dumping an image of the Alps onto the table. "So what are we supposed to do?" Morita asks. "I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door." Jim Morita states, glancing over the image and dropping it back onto the table.

That's when I speak up, "Why not." Everyone turns to face me, multiple eyes all staring at me as if they were staring into my soul. "That's exactly what we're going to do. It might seem risky, but it's what Steve would do." I state, looking up at everyone.
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As the other men leave the room, Agent Carter strides up to me, holding something in her arm. "Sargent Barnes," she states, "I think you'll be needing this." She hands me Steve's shield, the red, white and blue still in tact after everything that happened to it prior to this moment. "Why are you giving it to me?" I ask, looking up from the shield to meet her gaze.

"I feel like he'd want you to have it. At least then it'll probably feel like he's on the mission with you." She explains. I take the shield in my hands, looking down at my reflection in it. "Thank you."