Pushing Daisies [BUCKY BARNES]

14

I woke up in another hospital bed, my head pounding and my right shoulder throbbing angrily. Hissing and spitting like an angry cat, I pushed myself up with my left arm, avoiding putting pressure on my right. Clint was slumped over in the plastic chair next to my bed, Tony in another one at the foot of my bed, and Steve was in the armchair in the corner. All three were sound asleep.

I quieted at this revelation, wanting to let the three men sleep. My hand reached over to feel at my shoulder, which was covered in bandages, and then drifted to the IV in my right arm. One swift jerk and it was removed.

I slid out of the bed, padding silently past the superheroes and out into the hall. It was quiet, and by the lack of light outside I assumed it was early morning. "JARVIS? Where is everyone?"

"Miss Romanoff and Mr. Wilson are asleep, Mr. Banner is in the laboratory, Mr. Barnes is-"

"Barnes?" I cut off the AI, "James is here?"

"Yes Wes." JARVIS replied stoically, "Mr. Barnes is being held in the containment unit-"

Before the unnatural British voice could finish I had already sprinted to the elevator, "JARVIS, get me to the floor James is on."

The elevator started moving and the bile rose in my throat. James had no idea what was going on, he was most likely just liberated from HYDRA and trying to get his bearings in the world again, and someone in this damn tower decided to lock him up.

When the doors slid open, a sob almost left my lips. He was stuck in a soundproof room with bulletproof glass, and he was slumped against the back wall, looking utterly defeated. I walked slowly to the glass, my tiny hand reaching up to press against the cold material. "James... what did they do to you?"

His head jolted up and our eyes locked. He was on his feet in an instant, racing towards the glass. 'Are you okay?' I could read his lips.

"I'm fine, I think." I responded, "why did they put you here? Who did this to you?"

"Tony. He's following orders from SHEILD. I was an assassin, I'm supposed to be brought in for questioning."

My face fell, and I knew he saw it as he reached his hand up and pressed it against mine through the glass. "I'm sorry, I never should have brought you here-"

"I asked to be brought here."

"I'm gonna get you out of here, I promise." I dropped my hand from the glass and made my way to the control panel, looking to get the door leading inside the containment unit unlocked.

I started pressing at a few buttons, quickly realizing nothing was happening when the glass behind me shattered and spilled out of its frame, decorating the metal floors and looking like tiny diamonds. James was climbing from the window, having just punched the glass.

A smile jumped to my face, realizing this may be a little easier then I had hoped. I grabbed his hand, tugging his out of the room. "C'mon, we have to hurry. JARVIS, don't alert Tony of this! And wipe all of the security feed for the last four hours and for the next twenty minutes."

"Wes, I'm afraid you're not authorized to do that. I may wipe the security feed, but I must alert Mr. Stark of the prisoners break-out."

"Fine." I hissed, picking up the speed. James seemed to have no trouble keeping pace with me. "We can't take the elevator, and I don't want to risk a shoot-out on the stairs. How far can you jump?" A tiny smirk crossed my face as I formulated a plan on the run.

"Jump?" His voice sounded small, almost like he was wary of my idea.

I turned to look over my shoulder, creating a layout of the tower and the buildings surrounding it in my head, and smiled at the super-soldier. Bangs and crashes echoed overhead and I knew that JARVIS had alerted Tony by now. Everyone else was probably awake and running by now too, trying to contain us. I doubted JARVIS mentioned that I was involved in this escape. "Yeah. I'll let you know when."

We turned a corner and were coming up on a hall table. I distinctly remembered Natasha sliding a gun into a holder under the table, incase of an invasion, and I stopped quick to pull it out. I let go of James' hand, starting up our run again, and my hands automatically sliding over the handgun. I didn't know why I knew how to handle it, but I wasn't in the mood to question it.

My hand raised and I fired, blowing out the window ahead of us. The glass fell away and as we neared a mild panic crawled into my chest. Something in the back of my mind screamed at me that I knew what to do, that if I did jump I would be able to make it to the next building over. Then there was the logical side of me screaming that I would die from that jump. It was seven stories down to the next building, I wouldn't make the jump, and even if for some reason I did my legs would shatter and I wouldn't be able to get us any farther then that.

"Get ready to jump!" It came out more of a yell then I had been expecting, but I wasn't complaining. At least James got my message.

The window was fast approaching and as I reached the edge my knees automatically bent and I launched myself forwards. The 10 second sail through the air was terrifying yet exhilarating at the same time, but when my toes touched the ground my knees bent again and I flew forwards into a roll, stopping a few feet away from the ledge.

The standing up part made my head spin, but when I looked back up at the building James was standing at the edge of the window. "You have to jump!" I yelled up to him, feeling a different sort of fear set in. If he wouldn't jump they would catch him. They would get him and lock him back up again. They would kill him. "James, you have to jump!"

The super soldier disappeared from view before launching himself over the edge, coming into contact with the ledge of the building a little more forcefully then I did.

I jerked into action, racing forwards and pulling the man to his feet. "C'mon, we gotta go. They'll realize we're out of the building soon."

He followed behind me, our hands clamped tightly together as we descended the fire escape and raced out into the street, ducking through alleyways and moving our way towards the airport.

It took us close to an hour, and I prayed that my bank account would have enough to get us two tickets out of here. When we did reach the airport, though, I stopped at an ATM and made two withdrawls of five hundred dollars, then moved to an ATM down the street and made another two withdrawls of five hundred, then to another ATM to take out another two withdrawls. That way it would be harder to track where we had gotten the money from and what we were doing with it. Cash was easier to deal with.

"Where are we going?" James asked as we entered the airport, his quick hands nabbing a hat off a vendors rack and jamming it on his head.

"Romania," I breathed out. No one would look there. "We're going to Romania."