No More Pain

Chapter 1: Feel Again

ONE REPUBLIC LYRICS

"Feel Again"

It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face
I've been everywhere and back trying to replace
Everything that I had 'til my feet went numb
Praying like a fool that's been on the run

Heart's still beating but it's not working
It's like a million dollar phone that you just can't ring
I reached out trying to love but I feel nothing
Yeah, my heart is numb

But with you
I feel again
Yeah, with you
I can feel again

I'm feeling better ever since you know me
I was a lonely soul but that's the old me

It's been a long time coming since I've seen your face
I've been everywhere and back trying to replace
Everything that I broke 'til my feet went numb
Praying like a fool just shot the gun

Heart still beating but it's not working
It's like a hundred thousand voices that just can't sing
I reached out trying to love but I feel nothing
Oh, my heart is numb

But with you
I feel again
Yeah, with you
I can feel again

Steve Rodgers, known to friends and foe alike as Captain America, rubbed his weary eyes as he drove the last few miles back to his apartment in DC. It had been a truly exhausting few weeks since he left the hospital after his recovery, determined to track down The Winter Soldier formally his best friend Bucky. Sam had helped him, the two of them chasing down every lead fed to them by Natasha, Stark, Fury, and almost every other super human individual and team he could contact. But after traveling around the country and even contacting his allies in Europe, Africa and Asia, Steve reconciled that if the "Ghost" assassin did not want to be found, he would not be found.

Cap round the last corner toward his apartment complex considering his next move to be made first thing in the morning. He had not wanted to attract national and international news and jointly the attention of Hydra but he was at a loss and was seriously contemplating a press conference about what had occurred less then a month ago and the baffling realization that yet another one of America's long lost heroes was resurrected from his untimely grave. Steve parked his bike and shook his head, realizing that despite the major hit Hydra took, and despite the "disbanding" of SHIELD, in reality both of those shadow agencies would love to get their hands on Bucky and continue to use him as a mindless, lethal weapon, devoid of his humanity and deprived of his much deserved freedom. He imagined SHEILD would keep it a secret if they got him and If discovered would justify it by clamming he was too dangerous to be released and it was for the good of the American people and the international community alike that he be kept under lock and key. Hydra..... well he already knew what they would do.

Feeling more helpless and frustrated then he could ever remember, he parked his bike, slung his duffel bag over his arm and headed up the stairs. His mind was still racing, replaying the events on the Helicarrier, the blurry image of a metal hand dragging him up from the water and dumping him on the beach. Despite the doubt shared by Sam and Natasha he knew that Bucky had saved him, and judging by the confusion and pain in his friends eyes he also knew that even after 70 years of being frozen, brainwashed, experimented on, memory loss and other unimaginable horrors, the man he had known since child hood was still in their , trapped inside the slave solider who seemed to operate more on command and instinct then any real thought, feeling or self awareness.

Steve took out his keys and unlocked his door, stumbling in and dropping his bag with a sigh. He didn't bother turning on the lights as he walked through the kitchen and into the living room toward his bed room. Steve stopped dead in his tracks as he suddenly became aware of heavy breathing coming from the darkest corner in the room. His head jolted up and he turned just in time to see the figure lunge toward him with a knife in his metal hand, eyes wide and desperate.