Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

Prologue: Animals

Joana

Had you asked Joana Kegley what animal she would assume herself to be, as a child she may have told you that she was a stray puppy. In the early 1940s, she may have told you that she was a gazelle.

However, were you to ask her after the war, she would have said that she was a wild dog, chained, foaming at the mouth, untamed, dangerous.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning.

Joana and her twin sister, Winifred, were handed over to their Grandmother when they were twelve, in 1933. Their parents had no time to take care of two girls, for their eldest son was far more important to them. The twins didn't mind living in Brooklyn too much. They loved their Grams and her small clothing store.

It didn't take long for them to meet the crime fighting duo of Brooklyn, James Barnes and Steve Rogers.

Steve was small, his face gaunt and he couldn't always breathe. Joana feared that he didn't get enough to eat at home. (Whenever she brought him to her Grams, the elderly woman always made sure that the boy ate more than his due, no matter how much he assured her that he was fed at home). James Barnes, who was more commonly referred to as Bucky, was well built, strong and fast. He had a rugged handsomeness about him, even at 15 years old. The three became fast friends.

As their bond grew, there were generally two places you could find Joana; at her Gram's during the day and running the streets with her boys by night. By fourteen, she had come home with a black eye at least once a month.

"They bully him, Win. I can't just let them get away with it," she'd tell her sister as her Grams got the ice.

"You can't save everyone, Jo."

"Maybe not, but I can try."

Steve was missing. It wasn't rare that this happened. Still, Bucky and Joana were running frantically around trying to find him. They passed by an alley. Joana glanced down it and skidded to a stop. There was Steve, on the ground, eye blacker than the night sky. Four boys stood around him, laughing. Joana ran into the alley, knowing before she got to Steve's aid how this was going to end.

Without thinking, she curled her fist and socked the boy in the jaw. Bucky called her name from the end of the alleyway. The boy behind the one Jo hit stepped forward and punched her back.

"Jo!" Bucky stepped between her and the boy.

"Steve," Jo said, her voice soft, innocent, as if she hadn't just been punched. "Get outta here."

He shook his ready, nose bleeding, eye purple.

"Go! Winnie can fix you up." With much reluctance, the young boy ran. Bucky seemed to be handling the other four boys rather well. He was trying to talk them down, telling them that Jo hadn't meant to hit the bully, but it was obvious they didn't believe him. The four surrounded him, ready to strike, but not before Jo jumped in, standing at Bucky's back, her fists raised.

"You hit like a girl," the big bully with the bleeding nose drawled angrily. Jo's lips twitched into a smile.

"Thanks."

"Jo, why do you always have to start trouble?" Bucky asked, watching two of the guys with a hard eye.

"These boys gotta know that I'm always ready to get my dress dirty. No one hurts my friends," she replied, "Not if I can stop it."

The big bully hit her across the face and she yelped. Bucky lunged at him, ready to throw some punches.

Luckily, before either of the kids could cause any more trouble, Winnie and Grams came running around the corner into the alley.