𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 | " You're just a kid! "
" Yeah? Well this kid is willing to go through hell and back to save your stubborn ass and die for you, asshole. "
- in which STRIKE's strongest asset with a ridicul...
❝'until when?' he asked, 'to whatever end.' I answered without hesitation. ❞
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
We were directed back to our unofficial jail cell—an office that had been repurposed into a holding area. As I entered, I found Steve and Sam already there with Sharon Carter. The room was filled with screens, most of them displaying Bucky Barnes, still restrained inside a pod.
Sharon handed a receipt to Sam and Steve. "Receipt for your gear," she said, and then turned to me, handing me a similar slip. "Here's one for you as well, Levi. Although Tony Stark is trying to get your gun back from Secretary Ross's possession." She gave me a small smile, and I returned it with a simple thanks.
"'Bird costume'? Come on," Sam muttered, looking at his receipt.
Sharon smirked. "I didn't write it."
I couldn't help but chuckle, taking a seat beside Sam. Sharon then pressed a button, stopping the restriction on the audio from Bucky's evaluation.
The evaluator's voice came through the speakers, clear and authoritative. "I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."
Bucky's voice was firm, defiant. "My name is Bucky."
Sharon handed us a series of blurry photographs of the man who bombed the congress in Vienna. Steve and I stood side by side, silently studying the photos, but I kept my ears open, listening to every word Bucky said.
"Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?" Steve asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon suggested.
"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier," Steve mused.
"Pointing everyone's eyes, all attention to him," I added, understanding Steve's point.
"You're saying someone framed him to find him," Sharon concluded.
"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing," Sam pointed out.
"But he wasn't missing, was he? He's always been there, around us even. Remember the letters and gifts I got, Sam?" I reminded him.
Sam's eyes widened slightly as realization hit him. He nodded, still a bit unsure but understanding my point.
"We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads," Steve said.
"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would," Sharon said, her gaze falling on the evaluator in the screen, her eyes narrowing.
