The Super Soldier

Chapter 21

STEVE'S POV

I watch as the bright yellow and orange flames lick at what is left at the building. I turn away not able to look at the flames any longer.
"Well, there goes half a billion dollars down the drain." Nat sighs sarcastically, turning away from the burning building.
"It's okay. I have more money where that came from." Tony replies with a pained look on his face.
I look at the flickering light reflected in Tony's eyes. As everyone else turns away from the fire, Tony is the only one continuing to stare into the inferno. I can only imagine how upset he must be right now. The Avengers was always more his than mine and now it feels as though the team is finally coming to an end.
     "Tony," I say gently laying my hand on his shoulder, "We should really get out of here."
    "Yeah, Steve's got a point." Nat chimes in.
"Have any of you seen Dr. Banner." Vision asks sophisticatedly.
     "Crud." I mutter under my breath. "Um, no now that I think of it Vis, we haven't." I reply.
"Oh c'mon!" Sam exclaims. "How could we lose the big guy?!"
"I don't know." Nat remarks, rubbing her temples. "When did we last see him?"
    "The night we arrived at the compound." Wanda answers calmly.
    "Yeah," Sam cuts in. "We all went to our rooms to sleep and then Steve showed up in the middle of the night. The last we saw his was before bed."
    "Where do you think he could've gone?" I asks. "And why?"
    "Well, it is in Dr. Banner's nature to disappear for the sake of others." Vision points out.
    "What do you mean by for the sake of others?" Bucky questions.
     "He never wants to hurt anyone. Feeling as though we may come across a battle he wanted to hide so he wouldn't have to chance to injure anyone or anything." Vision says simply.
"So he's alive somewhere but he just doesn't want us to know where. He doesn't want to fight in case he hurts someone." Tony adds.
    "Exactly." I mummer, rubbing the back of my head.
    "Well Banner's a big boy and he can take care of himself. All we can do is hope we don't need him." Nat mutters with an eye roll.
    "What now?" Bucky asks looking lost.
    "We go and catch us a psychopath." I reply.

                          ****************

BUCKY'S POV

    The fire died down after  awhile but it all but ceased. We all knew our plan was to head back to New York City because for some reason that's where all epic battles go down. Don't ask me why because I truly don't know.
    It was clear that wherever we would go Williamson would be waiting with his army of brainwashed kids to take us out once and for all. It was inevitable. We had to face him sooner or later.
    After standing around watching the compound burn we decided we actually needed to do something. No one really seemed to want to go anywhere tonight so we decided to stay the rest of the night in the airplane hangar, which fortunately was not blown up.
    None of us could go back to sleep. The sounds of the flames was deafening and the smell of the smoke suffocating.
    I sat leaning up against a plane staring into the abyss. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a large figure advancing towards me.
    "Hey, Buc." Steve calls out of the darkness.
     "What's up Steve?" I ask in return. What's up. Such a rhetorical question.
     Steve slumps down next to me and leans so he's looking directly into my eyes. I search his eyes for some emotion but find none. Instead I find some tiny green flecks hiding in the blue of his eyes. Man, I wish he'd just tell me what he was thinking.
    "Lets go for a walk." Steve says, getting up and looking away.
     As my gaze is pulled away from his I feel a deep coldness flood my body. I get up and follow him.
    As we walk out behind the hangar I can feel the heat radiating off the burning building. I immediately begin to sweat like crazy.
   "Do you need me to pull your hair back into a pony tail?" Steve jokes, watching the sweat accumulate on my face.
    "No." I laugh.
    "If you say so." Steve says suddenly becoming serious.
    An awkward silence settles over the two of us.
     A few minutes later Steve breaks it catching me off guard.
     "Do you miss our days back in Brooklyn?" He asks, searching my face for who knows what.
    I would be lying if I said anything less than yes. For some unknown reason I can't bring myself to say that.
   "Well, I'm not really sur-" I begin right before Steve cuts me off.
   "You don't need to lie to me." Steve tells me harshly.
    "Yes." I sigh out. "I miss our days back in Brooklyn so, so, so much."
    "Me too, Buc." Steve says, clapping his hand on my shoulder. "Me too."
    I'm searching through his eyes again for that unseen emotion. All of a sudden a loud booming voice from above blinds us with a bright, white light.
     "STEVE ROGERS AND JAMES BARNSE PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR." It yells at us.
    "Oh not these guys again." Steve mutters preparing himself to run.
   We both know it's the government coming after us again. It sure took them long enough to find us.
    Steve begins to run when I remember something.
    "Wait!" I call after him.
    Steve comes to a sharp halt and turns to stare at me in disbelief.
   I reach for the gun strapped to my wait and I aim it at the sky. I fire multiple rounds right up at the helicopter.
   I then begin the run back towards the hangar having to pull Steve along with me. Suddenly the helicopter begins to shoot at us.
   "They're shooting at us!" Steve yells over the sound of the gunshots.
     "Yeah I know!" I shout back reaching for grenade I have stored in my boot.
    I pull the string on the grenade and throw it as hard as I can up at the helicopter.
     Steve watches and horror as the grenade makes contact with the helicopter and brings it down in a ball of flames.
    "Come one Steve!" I yell at him pulling him into the hangar.
    We sprint inside and get everyone up, even though everyone was practically already awake. We quickly get inside the plane and take off over the two burning masses underneath us.
     Suddenly I get the urge to laugh hysterically.
    "Does this make us criminals now?" I laugh out.

                             ••••••••••••••••

Dear readers,
     Yeah I know I just updated but since the last one is late I want to try my best to stay on the updating-on-the-weekend  schedule. Sorry if this chapter is a little boring but hope it wasn't that bad!

Sincerely,
     @unsuspicious_nerd