Leave Me Broken [Winter Soldier] II

Familiar Faces [Chapter 8]

"And how
Was I to know
I'm not strong
I should have saved you and
Oh
I hope you know
That you're my home"

"Forest Fire" - Brighton

              Before the arrest was officially made, guns consistently trained on the five guilty people, Ophelia looked at Bucky with a sorrow deep inside of her. She had not gotten herself arrested with the intent to hurt him, she wanted him to know that she had done it to keep herself relatively safe. Knowing that Steve was there, she had a feeling he would do everything in his power to protect his best friend, and with his best friend came O. But Steve and Ophelia had a history together too, one that had a concrete foundation based upon the well-being of Bucky. O had done everything in her power in the last two years to protect him from the harm that came from his own mind, it was Steve's turn to help him now, though that didn't mean Ophelia was going to stop.

           "What are you doing, O?" Bucky said as the officers began to grab his arms; one man pinning his arms back while four had their guns on him.

          Ophelia offered him a sympathetic smile. "I couldn't let you have all the fun."

          He shook his head, "This isn't a game, Ophelia."

          "It never was," she replied softly, and looked into his blue eyes. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

           It took over a half hour for the arrest to actually be made, and everyone put in cuffs. The first thing that had to be done before anything else was making sure Bucky was not going to flee. Despite Ophelia and Steve trying to convince the officials, they didn't seem to care. Within minutes they had him on the ground, his hands behind his back. Ophelia watched with a rage growing inside of her as they took his backpack away from him; surely they were going to have someone go through them, study them, judge him upon them. Everything was going south and Ophelia couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. After they had cuffed her, they brought her towards the first vehicle that pulled up. A large military vehicle with bullet proof everything.

            Everyone was piled into the truck, except Bucky, who got his own special cage and ride. The cage that they put him in made Ophelia feel sick to her stomach; he wasn't dangerous, so why were they taking such extreme measures to keep him under control? She was put in the back seat of the truck next to Sam, a layer of wire was lined on the windows like a cage.

           "Hey, Kid," Sam said. "Not exactly the reunion I was expecting."

            She smiled ever so slightly at Sam, a warmth spreading through her as she realized that despite everything, she was seeing these people again. The people she ached for some days. "But it is the one we got."

            Ahead of her, T'Challa and Steve sat stiffly. Though she had questions filling her to the brim for Steve, Ophelia couldn't help but turn her head, crane her neck and look for Bucky in the truck behind them. A panic swept over her as she began to question what she was doing; Steve was being arrested just as her and Bucky were, which meant he might not have as much pull as she thought when she got herself arrested in the first place.

          "I have so many questions," Steve said, turning to look at Ophelia. "I'm sure you do too."

           Turning back from looking at a distraught Bucky, she nodded but brought her eyes to the ground of the truck. Her muscles tightened as the truck turned, and she had to hold herself steady as to not lean against Sam, but eventually gave in. She was so tired, and Sam let her rest against him. Instead of replying to Steve, she blinked a few times, wishing her tongue wasn't feeling so dry, so numb.