Rather Be ✅

One

Bucky Barnes had never been a challenge that Louis liked taking on. Was he the best trained assassin even with Black Widow on the radar? Yes, but metal arms? Not his thing.

He knew fully well that he was an amazing fighter, but he also wasn't going to deny that there were better ones. And the other person on the roof was that better one. The only other time that Louis got caught up with Barnes had been when his brain was still hyjacked and Louis got in the way of his mission. Don't ask how he got away, he'll never know.

And now that the guy's actually with the Avengers now? There's a reason Louis never worked in the same city as them. It really wasn't his day.

Bucky threw a giant piece of metal from god knows what towards him, probably at a speed faster than his car goes. Now, Louis can take some pain. His pain tolerance is higher than any human's is capable of being, but being sliced in half would probably hurt like hell.

So, he jumped.

Oh, and also the ability to read minds. But just try to guess who's head he just couldn't fucking get into.

"Fuck." He shot his grappling hook and halted to a fierce stop. He lowered and dropped himself, jumping onto the roof of a couple cars as they came his way. Looking behind him, he threw a mini grenade towards Barnes. He didn't bother to look back when it went off. "Please be enough please be enough." He slid over the hood of a car, but didn't even get to touch the ground before being swept right up.

Bucky tucked him into an alley and pushed him up against a wall, holding him up by the neck. Louis clawed at his metal hand. "Hey look, I was just out trying to pick up a new chew toy for my dog, let me be, right?" He groaned. "S'not my day, this never happens I swear." He tried holding himself up against the arm without choking himself even more. "Can we reschedule this? When I've got my gear on too? It'll be a more fair fight- plus, I'd win. I'm a trained assassin just like you." He choked out. "M'just getting paid to kill people instead." He smirked, and squeezed his eyes shut when Bucky pulled him off and slammed him back against the brick.

"We are nothing alike."

"Buck! We said bring him back alive! Not headless!"

Louis' eyes fluttered as he started to lose consciousness. Voices faded in and out, but he surely heard Bucky mutter a "whatever" before being thrown into the opposite wall. He went right through it at full force. And yeah, he really should've started wearing helmets by then considering his enhanced pain tolerance didn't quite include his head.

"Do I still need to go out on every mission with you? I thought you were getting the hang of this-"

"I am." Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Then why can't you listen to the rest of us when we say to keep someone like this alive." Steve kicked a brick from the broken wall. "He's a kick ass assassin who can read minds, Buck. Harry's got his whole weird telekinesis... thing-"

"It's not just telekinesis!"

"-But this is different. We need to get some answers off of him."

Meanwhile, Harry was knelt over Louis. His face was pale, his breathing slow. He pressed a hand to the mans neck and let out a breath after a second. "He's alive." He took the mask off, careful around the cut on his cheek.

The mask had initials on the inside. LT.

Harry cocked his head. Three small dots lined up in a cluster on Louis' neck. "Hey Cap?" he called. When a shadow slid over his shoulder, he pointed out the marks.

"What are they from?"

Harry sighed. He pressed two fingers against the burns and closed his eyes. Visions of helplessness and struggle flashed through his mind. Harry winced at the distress radiating off of Louis. There were different laboratories each time, but no matter where Louis' memory took him it still came back to him being cornered by a larger man with a long electric rod. Injections and electrocuting head contraptions appeared in every new scene.

Voices screaming in pain lingered as Harry jolted out of Louis' head. He fell onto his bum, pulling his hand away and cradling it against his chest. "Hey hey, you alright?" Cap held his hands out to him.

Harry stared at Louis, dazed. He didn't snap out of it until Cap gave him a proper shake of his shoulder. Harry shook his head, blinking a few times. "He's in pain," he said. He looked up to Cap, who hauled him up.

"Yeah well, we're all in pain."

"No." Harry stopped Cap from throwing the unconscious body over his shoulder. "Constant physical pain... Almost like PTSD but..." He purses his lips. Harry had had his fair share of PTSD when he was young. And that? That feeling wasn't PTSD. "Here." He sent something soothing to Louis' mind with a gentle tap on his temple. "I-I've got him." He used his magic to lift Louis in the air and pull him behind himself.

"Don't baby him, Harry, he's still a criminal." Falcon came in through Harry's earpiece. He looked up to see his little drone, Redwing, keeping an eye on them all.

"He's still a human, too."

Natasha butted in on the conversation. "Harry." She warned.

He huffed and glanced at Louis' floating body. "Don't worry, he's out cold. He just needs medical attention," he said. He ignored both Falcon and Bucky saying that he shouldn't have help.

Fuck giving him off to Captain America. Harry lowered Louis to catch him, and then flew themselves a block over to the tower.