The Sergeant, The Soldier, The Survivor

26: A Condition of Release

 "What the hell are we doin' here?" Sam asked for the sixth time as Bucky took us down a residential street in Baltimore, Maryland. Once again, and unsurprisingly, Bucky didn't answer. I didn't know what we were doing here either but still I followed him, intrigued as to what we'd find. We walked up the steps to an old, rustic home that looked like it had been neglected and Bucky knocked on the metal netting that covered the door.

"We're here to see Isaiah," Bucky said as a kid answered the door, but he denied anyone living there. "We just wanna talk to him," Bucky enforced but the kid wouldn't budge. "Just tell him the guy from the bar in Guyang is here."

The kid closed the door, Sam and I looking at Buck inquisitively. "How do you know this guy?" Sam demanded.

"I used to, we had a skirmish in the Korean War," Bucky said lowly. I thought for a moment and realised that the Korean War was in the 1950s, meaning that Bucky would've been the Winter Soldier.

"A skirmish? In the 50s?" I questioned and Bucky nodded slightly. He knew I had figured it out. It took Sam a second longer, but by that point the kid opened the door again and let us into the house. An elderly gentleman stood by an old dining table in the simple, run-down house. There was something off about him though, something that made me uncomfortable.

"Look at you," he scoffed, glaring at Bucky.

"This is - er - Sam. And this is (y/n). Guys, this is Isaiah," Bucky introduced us but I knew I needed more information. I had a bad feeling about this, especially if they knew each other during Bucky's... old days. "He was a hero. One of the ones HYDRA feared the most. We met in 51-,"

"If met you mean I whupped your ass then yeah," Isaiah said, his eyes not leaving Bucky. "We heard whispers he was on the peninsula. Everyone they sent after him never came back, so they sent me to go deal with him. I took half that metal arm in that fight. See you managed to grow it back." Next to me I noticed Buck stiffen. "Just wanted to see if he got the arm back, or if he came to kill me."

"I'm not a killer anymore-,"

"You think you can wake up and decide who you wanna be?!" Isaiah exclaimed.

"Isaiah the reason we're here is because there's more of you and me out there," Bucky said.

"I'm not gonna talk about it anymore!" Yelled Isaiah, throwing a tin that sat on the dining table into the wall with rage. Sam and I glanced at each other, shocked at the power and we both knew what that meant. Isaiah was a Super Soldier like Bucky. "You know what they did to me for bein' a 'hero'? Put my ass in jail! Running tests on me, taking my blood like some lab rat!"

"Isaiah-," Sam attempted to speak

"Get out of my house!" He screamed. We did as was told very quickly, running down the steps and back onto the street.

"He's a Super Soldier? Bucky are you serious?!" I hissed at him.

"How could no one tell me about Isaiah?!" Sam was furious. "You're tellin' me there's been a black Super Soldier this whole time and no one knew?!"

"He'd been through too much, the last thing I wanted was people banging on his door," Bucky defended himself.

"Did Steve know?" I asked.

"No I didn't tell him," Bucky sighed. The sound of a siren caught our attention and we turned to see a police car approaching us, two officers getting out and standing between Sam and me and Bucky.

"Hey! Is there a problem here?" They turned on Sam and I sighed. "Can I see some ID?"

"I don't have ID," Sam said bitterly.