BATTLE BORN ; Bucky Barnes

eight ;

"James?" She asked. He'd seized up, frozen, his eyes the size of saucers. His entire stature had changed, his shoulders hunched and his muscles pulled taut. "James." She said again, with a little more pressure in her voice. Had she known that this was coming, had she known this was a bad idea, she wouldn't have brought him to this place, she would have stayed home, wrapped up in blankets, protecting him. That was their relationship. He needed emotionally protecting, and she was more than willing, she owed Steve a debt. If James found out that this wasn't real, there was no saying how he'd react. "James. We're going to a shop now. Come on." She grabbed him by the arm, practically dragging him. Scout didn't want to cause a scene, so if he was going to go into Winter Soldier mode, she'd rather it be in a bathroom or storage. Swiping an access card from a cleaner as they passed, Scout began walking quicker, down a side corridor and into one of the large storage rooms. She swore under her breath, trying to find something that wouldn't get damaged and some rope or something to tie him down. He was going to get violent, and Scout didn't want to show her powers.
Truth was, Scout hadn't used her powers since the fall. She had cushioned her fall from the window when she escaped from the hospital, and that nearly made her pass out. She'd used the abilities to the extent of their reach fighting The Winter Soldier, and she was drained, every time she tried to even summon a little fire to warm herself up, she almost fainted. She wanted to know why, why her powers had been drained, why that fight took so much out of her. It was dangerous, living with someone who could kill you with one hand. The storage room was cold. Freezing even, it must have been for cold meat of some sort. She pushed The Winter Soldier inside, closing and jamming the door shut.
"James you need to snap out of it." Scout's voice shook. She couldn't defend herself, she only had a small knife, and that wasn't going to do much against a fully trained assassin. His eyes were glassy like he didn't know what he was doing at all like his mind was somewhere else. "James, listen to my voice." Scout tried a different approach, if she could just calm him down, keep The Winter Soldier in him subdued, then maybe they could both get out of this alive, without hurting each other. "James, if you're there, I know you're there, listen to me, breathe, this isn't you. Breathe." She tried desperately to get through to him. Then he snapped. His fist connected to her jaw, and she let out a surprised scream, dropping to the floor, he crashed down on top of her, remembering all of her fighting tactics, she knew that she couldn't overpower him, there was no way, he weighed twice as much as her, and had a least three time the muscle power. But she was smaller and quicker and could deal a lot of damage. She had to focus on getting him out of his state as quickly as possible, while not dying. He was sat on her hips, punching at her face, she was instinctively blocking, she threw her hips up, throwing him off balance, and he fell forward, his hands either side of her face, without hesitation, she rolled, and at the same time pulled his left arm, the flesh one into an armbar. She'd broken it in DC, and it seemed to have healed pretty well, maybe he had time to get to the doctor. She pulled it down until he yelled, and now she was sat on top of him, in the controlling position. She wrapped his legs up with her own, so he couldn't do what she just did.
"James! This isn't you, please!" She exclaimed as he struggled against her. "Listen to me. List-" Then she had an idea. Something that used to work on her when she was younger, a memory that she'd suppressed, a memory from the facility she spent six years in. "Метеличок, метеличок, у садок прилетів. На квіточку білесеньку він тихенько присів: А Грицько наш малий метелика ізловив За крилечка піймав, у скляночку посадив. А Галиночка-сестриченька просить, молить Грицька. Ой випусти, мій братіку, із тюрми метелика. А Грицько наш малий добре серденько мав, Не морив метелика, йому воленьку дав." She sung, her voice was hoarse and by no means a X-Factor worthy. He began to slow down. "James." She said quietly. He wasn't struggling as much. She'd managed to break through the ice of his programming. His eyes went wide as he realised what he'd done. He fell backwards, completely relaxing as he went unconscious. Scout stood up, checking his pulse. Steady. She relaxed, checking the door, it was still safely blocked. He began to wake up, slowly and groggily. Scout sat down, feeling her nose and jaw, she'd taken quite a few hits, but running on adrenaline, she hadn't felt them. Her nose was bleeding, and she thought that maybe her jaw was fractured. She hated the doctors. She'd just go to the chemist and get some painkillers. Finally, James woke up, he looked at Scout and almost fainted again. She was covered in blood, her own blood. He felt his stomach drop. She was sat, leaned against the wall, touching her nose delicately.
"Did I do this?" He asked. Scout wasn't sure which answer was best, to lie to him, tell him that it was all some accident, or to tell the truth, and risk having her cover blown.
"Yes." She said quietly, the blood from her nose trickling to a stop.
"I- I'm-" Sorry, a monster, awful, sorry, I. He thought over and over, not sure what to say. Monster echoed in his head over and over again. "I'm sorry, I'm a monster." He said. That was the moment Scout's heart broke in two for this man. He was so broken, and the programming ran deeper than she could ever manage to help. He needed someone else. All she could do at the moment was forgive him.
"You didn't mean it. It wasn't you." She said, and mentally swore, she couldn't let him know that she knew about The Winter Soldier.
"What?" He asked, suspicious, moving back.
"Your eyes, they went strange, it looked like you were haunted or possessed or something." Scout tried to recover. "Disabled toilets, come on, we need to get us cleared up.
"How did you handle me?" He asked.
"I took Karate as a kid. For a very long time, I'm stronger than I look." She laughed, trying to help him stand up. He flinched away from her. Back to square one. She thought to herself. He stood up on his own, they unlocked the door and quickly dived into the toilet, locking that door. Scout ran the sink, wetting toilet paper to clean up the blood all over her face. He stood by the door, mentally beating himself up for hurting her. He hated himself for that.
"You have blood too." She said, walking over. He snatched the paper from her, using it to wipe the blood from around his mouth. He wouldn't let her come anywhere near him. You've blown it now. His inner monologue told him. She'll take you somewhere now and leave you behind, just like everyone else has. He thought.
"James." Her voice echoed in the small bathroom. "I'm not going to get scared away that easily." She said, almost like she could read his thoughts.
"You shouldn't be near me though. I could hurt you. I did hurt you."
"That doesn't mean that I shouldn't be near you. It just means I have to be careful." Her eyes were dazzling and green in the fluorescent light. She looked straight at him, his eyes were stunning to her, they were like oceans, light and beautiful on the surface, but if you looked deeper, the more dangerous and deadly they became. Her eyes reminded him of a forest, or an emerald or jade, they were almost shimmering.
"Why would you stay with me?" He asked as if he were undeserving of her attention.
"Because someone once did the same thing for me." She said. That was when James realised that there was so much that he didn't know about the university student stood before him. "How are you feeling?" She asked. "I know you got overwhelmed, but will you be okay going back out there, if it is only just to go home?" She asked. He took a few breaths, closed his eyes and he saw Steve, there on the bridge, and again on the Helicarrier as it fell. He saw the best friend that some days, he couldn't even remember, and made his decision.
"I want to go out there, and not go home." He said. She was giving him this chance to prove himself, not only that, to improve himself. He had to take it. Scout smiled. It lit up her entire face, then she winced, pain raced through her jaw, and she relaxed her face again.
"Let's go then. I want to go to the chemists, food shop, and get some new clothes for both of us." She said. It was a to-do list, it made him feel more stable.
"What was that song, the one in another language?"
"I'm not too sure exactly sure," Scout said with a forced laugh. She didn't want to have to explain the dream she had, the one that would haunt her most nights, with the girl who looked just like her, only seemingly evil. She unlocked the door, quickly having one last check of her face in the mirror. She looked okay, for the pain she was in. They walked out, trying to look casual and normal. It was working alright, across the food court, Scout could see the chemist, she linked her arm with James' to keep him close to her. They managed to make it to the food court without an issue, and into the chemist. Scout had a few credit cards set up with money on them in case she ever needed to run. She picked up a first aid kit and some painkillers, shoving them in a basket as she went around the store. She grabbed more sports tape and bandages and even more painkillers, as well as new toothbrushes and toothpaste. She paid with her card and made James carry the plastic bag. Up a set of escalators and to the left was an H&M, which Scout decided was reasonably priced store for clothes, they walked in, trying to look as normal as possible. Scout decided that it would be best to get James some clothes first, she had no idea what size he was, so they'd have to try everything on, she went straight to the men's section first, grabbing jeans, teeshirts, jumpers, coats, in all sorts of sizes. Scout dumped them all into a bag that they gave us upon entering. It totalled more than the maximum amount of items, but with the glare that she gave the teenager who worked at the changing rooms, they let them in any way. She shoved James into one of the rooms and went to get some clothes for herself. She needed sturdy jeans for running and maybe even fighting in, and more tee-shirts and jumpers and a few bags and shoes. They ended up spending over £300 on clothes, but with no memory of the value of money, James didn't make a big deal out of it, which Scout was thankful for. She didn't want to have to argue with him about how much she was spending on him.