Bucharest || Bucky Barnes

9

His training came back in his movements as he scaled the building next to the abandoned one, landing on the roof with ease.

Judging the gap was about four feet, he had a running start before jumping, ending in a roll before he stopped in a crouched position.

Stepping lightly, he moved to the steel trapdoor. Then gun in hand, he opened it quickly and dropped in poised to shoot.

When nothing stirred in the large space, he headed over to the stairs. Creeping slowly down.

A sound reached the Winter Soldier's ears, and he paused. It came again.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh.

The next floor down presented a scene that made him hesitate.

Clarissa was pressed against the wall by a hand locked on her throat.

The hand was attached to a man dressed in heavy-duty armor, with a white X on his chest and the outline of a skull on his helmet.

She saw him first, and then the man turned around. "Look who it is." He sneered.

He stepped off the stair, pistol pointed at man.

"Let her go."

Crossbones chuckled in amusement, but let her collapse to the floor as she heaved for air.

Keeping one eye on her, he diverted the rest of his attention to the man in front of him as he pulled the trigger.

The shot rang out as it hit the pipe above the other man's head, shooting a stream of gas out.

As his opponent became distracted, he closed the distance knocking his legs out from underneath him.

He was able to punch Crossbones in the jaw twice before he was knocked off with a blow to the nose.

Ignoring the blood trickling from his nose, he watched with satisfaction as the other man growled before letting a knife slide out of one of the mechanical devices on his arm.

He swung and the Winter Soldier ducked, grabbing his own knife and stabbing the man in the chink of his armor.

Crossbones howled, and managed to push him back into the wall with a kick from his steel toed boot.

But before either of them could move, the sound of the gun being cocked made their heads turn to Clarissa.

Her blond hair looked wild, as much as her eyes looked cold as she aimed the gun at Crossbones.

"Get out."

He seemed to glare at her, then shifted his gaze back to him. "This ain't over." He hissed before exiting the scene.

As soon as the building became silent once more, he looked at the woman who now held the gun loosely in her hand.

"What was this about?" He said grimly.

Clarissa came forward as she dropped the gun on the floor. "We need to get you fixed up." She was ignoring his question.

But as soon as she lifted her hand to his face, he grabbed her wrist. Her eyes seemed to flicker as she tried to pull herself free.

"Clarissa."

She stopped struggling, blond hair falling and obscuring her face.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered.

Then she started to speak in German.

"Sehnsucht." A pause. "Verrosteten."

Longing. Rusted.

He stared at her in disbelief as the words echoed in his head. She was part of Hydra all along.

"Ofen, Tagesanbruch, siebzehn."

Furnace. Daybreak. Seventeen.

He released her wrist as he fell to his knees, hands clamped over his ears. He couldn't bring himself to hurt her.

"Gutartige, neun, heimkehr, ein."

Benign. Nine. Homecoming. One.

The words felt like they were consuming his mind. And he looked up to see the tears trailing down her cheeks before the last word was said.

"Güterwagen ."

Freight car.