Ultraviolence ☢ Steve Rogers

1.5

PART ONE CHAPTER FIVE

    THE PAIR STUMBLED THROUGHOUT THE SMALL PATCH OF WOODS UNTIL THE ADRENALINE SUBSIDED AND THEY EVENTUALLY REALISED HOW TIRED THEY WERE. A heavy sigh escaped cracked and bruised lips as the two came to a rest against a fallen tree trunk. They sat in silence as they stripped themselves of their wet clothing. Hisses seethed through teeth as the pair of them examined abrasions, bruises and gashes that littered their skin. In only their undergarments, they slumped onto the floor as the last light of the day filtered through scattered leaves, barely enough daylight left to dry their clothes overnight. Bucky let out a yawn.

"What now?" Violet asked as he lay his head against the trunk.

"I want to know who I am. Who Bucky is... who he was." He replied. He stretched his legs out in front of him, and Violet took it as an opportunity to rest her head on his bare, bruised thighs.

"Before we even go anywhere we will have to find shelter, clothes and a disguise first. We cant go out looking like this, duh." She chuckled. "And I overheard a comment about a Captain America museum somewhere. Maybe there will be information about you... Who you used to be..." Violet trailed off with a yawn. Absentmindedly, his right hand came to rest on the side of her face. Absentmindedly, he slowly drew his fingers back, and, absentmindedly, he let his fingers play with her hair. Violet's eyes fluttered shut as he began to unknot tangles from the braids at the side of her head.

"Yes. But lets just sleep first." He murmured. He then shuffled further down, where he lay on the soft earth beneath him. Violet repositioned her head so it was on his chest, and with a few twitches of her fingers,  a forcefield was created around them, along with an illusion to hide their vulnerable position. The constant, steady thrum of his heart was their lullaby as they both drifted off into a numb sleep.

When they woke up, the sun was low. It was late afternoon and they woke feeling better than they did when they fell asleep. Wordlessly, they picked up their weapons and equipped themselves quickly in silence, their clothes still damp. Once they were ready, they nodded and set off again.

"Pierces?" Violet inquired as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Despite the setting sun, they still felt the plusing heat of a DC summer. She knew, a gut instinct, that something had happened the day before, and thus believed his house to be available at their disposal. The soldier just nodded. The orange tinge of the forest briefly turned purple as the two stepped through a portal into Pierce's garden.

The Soldier sat behind a tree on the perimeter of the property, his arms crossed and face stoic as he watched Violet scope out the area. He would've argued against her doing the job alone, but, truthfully, his head was still reeling and he was thankful he got a break. It must've been half an hour spent trying to piece the jigsaw of his mind back together as he waited for her. Foolishly, he didn't even bother to look up at the sound of heavy footprints approaching him. When he looked up, Violet dumped several items of clothing on the floor in front of him.

"Get changed." She ordered. She had already changed herself; she wore a long black dress that was too big for athletic frame, but the bohemian style seemed fitting for the summer afternoon. Bucky had no idea that Pierce had a wife or whatever, but she must've been significantly larger than Violet, who still wore her thigh high boots under the ankle length dress. He wondered if that woman would return to the home to find the two assassins there. He squinted through a beam of golden sun up at Violet as she continued to speak. "They're just some of Pierce's clothes I found. The building has been untouched but there's no doubt this is the first place they'll look for us."

She turned around and allowed Bucky to change. When he coughed uncomfortably, she nodded at the sight of him in blue jeans, a navy top, hoodie and baseball cap, his hair tucked behind his ears. The clothes hung off of him, too, but he was bulky, so it didn't look too out of the ordinary. They then both hid their weapons in the shrubbery. Soon, the two were unrecognizable and ready to go.  Violet decided against using her powers again. If they were to blend in with the public, then that usually meant not exposing their supernaturality. She positioned a large black sunhat on her head, and slid on some large black sunglasses. They looked normal. 

They walked, undetected, through the streets of DC and straight into the Smithsonian, having paid the entrance fee with money Violet had managed to find in an abandoned wallet in Pierce's bedroom. No words were exchanged as they made their way around the new Captain America exhibit, learning all about his past as a hero. They were silent as they consumed the information whilst trying to blend in with the crowd. Surprisingly, everything was swell until Bucky abruptly halted.

Before them was a large picture of the man The Winter Soldier once was. They stood there, listening to the commentary as Violet's eyes flickered across the information on the glass screen. Her hand soon began to feel crushed, but she was so consumed in learning about James Buchanan Barnes that she didn't realise he was having a panic attack right next to her.

His chest was heaving with shallow breaths, his eyes constantly darting about the room, anxious and scared. Memories and voices of people he once knew flooded his senses. He couldn't hear or see anyone, and was swept back into a memory with Steve Rogers right beside him.

Violet didn't know what to do. People stared at the pair as James hyperventilated, and Violet just stood there, looking around desperately. Once the area was clear, she grabbed the man by his forearm and dragged him away from the exhibit, towards a toilet sign. She dragged him into the ladies bathroom, and then into a cubicle. It immediately shone a bright violet light as she flashed them to back Pierce's abandoned house. She pushed him onto a sofa and grabbed her partner a glass of water, where she made him sip it carefully.

"I remember everything." The Winter Soldier's broken voice broke the silence. He looked up at Violet and sighed, his eyes closed.

"I remember growing up, meeting Steve, joining the army- the 107- and going to war. I remember him experimenting on me and Steve saving me... But Steve was a new man... Steve was Captain America and I was so damn proud of him, and even though his new fame separated us, he was still my best friend. And then I remember falling, and I remember him saving me, fixing my arm," he paused from his rambling and flexed his metal fist, "I remember killing so many people and I remember kidnapping the new Stark kid... I kidnapped you." His voice broke again as he looked up at Violet with tears in his eyes. She nodded, a silent nudge for him to carry on. "I remember the Red Room, training you and Natalia and others in the Black Widow program. I remember everything." His voice broke off into a whisper, where he let unshed tears spill over the brim of his waterline. Violet just stroked his hair and kissed the top of his head every so often whilst he sobbed into her chest. One thought, on a constant loop, reeled in the silence of her mind, a never ending cycle of words.

I remember kidnapping the Stark kid, I kidnapped you.