THE LEFTOVERS

59. Losing Battle

"James," he heard the desperation, the fear in your scream, before he heard a body being slammed down.

Bucky heart raised. The sound of you shouting his name, echoed in his mind, but worse was the sound he feared was of you being hit. Bucky, or the Winter Soldier was known for his calm manner while fighting, he was cold, but now, he could feel his whole body began to boil as he felt himself loosing grip. It was no logic to his next moves, no tactics, it was pure emotions. His eyes were turning red, as he slowly looked down at Sinthea.

"You better not lay a hand on her," Bucky warned her. In one stealth movement, he threw Sinthea whole body away by her throat, as he stormed towards the door, ignoring her groans in pain.

"I always wanted to fight you," Bucky could even sense Crossbones smile underneath the mask, without even looking at him. A second later, Crossbones hand was on Bucky's shoulder, throwing him back against the wall.

"Shit," Bucky groaned. Not so much in pain, but of the shock of Crossbones strength. It wasn't normal human strength... It was, well, super soldier serum strength.

The dust of the walls, Bucky had fallen through, blinded his sight. His breath finally caught up with him as he stood up, but the moment he was up on his legs, Crossbones tall figure scar through the dust, wrapping his hand around Bucky's neck. Bucky felt his legs lift from the air, and for the first time in a long time, he found himself feeling helpless. Small, beside this monstrous figure. Bucky didn't care if he got bruised, he knew he would somehow get right back up, but the thought of you being in pain, he couldn't bear it. This was his fault.

You had spoken about how you feared his job, the world he surrounded himself in. He had convinced you to trust him, to give him and this world a chance. Not only that, only a few nights ago he had told you that he 'never brought work home', and now you were all stirred up in it. This wasn't like when he was together with Natasha back in his Winter Soldier days, Natasha was similar to him, understood the whole world, and even how to handle it. You... You were just a normal woman. A woman he had promised to protect from harm. The guilt was eating him up alive.

"Taking you down was easier than we thought, the Captain will be no problem-" Crossbones began, but Bucky had enough.

"You talk too much," Bucky groaned. This new outfit Crossbones were wearing made him way taller, than his normal figure, but also bulkier. Bucky gathered his strength, as he got the mask of Crossbones, punishing him in the face, causing him to fall back.

Bucky was done playing games with these fools, he simply wanted to wrap his hands around you, making sure you were alright. He ran up one of the goons, Bucky's elbow hitting his face. Quickly, he grabbed the gun from the man, and shoot the other two, as he stormed for the door. His hands wrapped around the handle, when he suddenly understood the door was rigid. Bucky tried to push the door up, but it wasn't moving. Now, Bucky's blood was boiling as he searched the room for Crossbones and Schimdts daughter. The gun caught the tips of the petite woman, as he began to shoot.

"Open the door," Bucky demanded, but Sinthea sinister laugh filled the room as she ran over to Crossbones, knowing fully well that Bucky couldn't really shoot her, as he would lose his connection to you. It was all too cruel.

"They got the girl, let's go," He heard Sinthea say. If it wasn't for his super-hearing, he couldn't possibly be able to hear it.

Bucky stormed after them, as they stormed to the back. However, this was an all too well planned hit, cause outside, as they jumped in they got a bulletproof car waiting. Hopelessly, Bucky tried to shoot after the car. He was desperate, and logic had left his body a long time ago. He had lost you. Not over a stupid breakup or a fight, like normal couples have, but he had lost you, because of his job.

"Fuck," Bucky swore as he felt his tears pressing. His head fell down, as he hid the gun in his belt to not draw more attention from potentially strangers passing. He needed to calm his mind, he needed to focus to help you, but the tears didn't stop. He lifted his head up, brushing his fingertips through his hair. He stared up at the blue skies, as he began to call Steve. It would've been foolish of him to try to fix this alone, and Bucky was many things right now, but foolish weren't one of them. Bucky had been able to catch the license's plate, maybe they could track it, anything felt like a seed.

The tone of the phone calling felt like forever, as Bucky walked around the street to the front of the café. A glass had been broken, just around where the two of you had sat, but he couldn't see any blood, which was a good sign. He picked up your bag, laying beside it. He lifted his eyes up towards the entrance of the café. Your book was there on the ground.

"Hey Buck-" Steve began to talk, but Bucky froze as he stared at the entrance. Right beside the book, it was a massive rip in the wall. It was fresh wood, meaning it happen recently. Bucky's mouth got dry, and in his head the sound of the body slamming right after you screamed his name went on replay. His eyes began to water up again.

"Bucky, is everything alright?" Steve understood on the long silence, that something was wrong, but it became even clearer when he suddenly could hear his friend unsteady breath through the phone.

"They-They," Bucky tried to speak, but he couldn't formulate any words.

Steve tried to give him space, but right now, he wasn't giving much sense. What Steve knew, however, was that it was not like his friend to be this emotional. Bucky hated speaking about his feelings, but even more, he hated to express them, so Steve knew something was seriously wrong. Steve stood up and began to walk down the corridors of the mansion.

"Give me ten minutes, I'll be there," Steve said, having no idea where he was or what his best friend was going through, but nothing was impossible for an Avenger.

Steve was going to help his friend, no matter the cost.