Winter's End [winter soldier//Bucky Barnes AU]

Prologue

The sky was falling.

At least, that's what it looked like.

The building was falling in huge chunks, narrowly missing the team, as they struggled to stand and escape.

Steve and Natasha were the first on their feet, followed by Tony and Bruce. They began dragging the others to safety.

Steve immediately searched high and low for Bucky, feeling absolutely overwhelmed with guilt for dropping him when the building exploded. He may have just killed his best friend; right after he got him back. He didn't even care about the fact that his head was bleeding, or that he was leaving a blood trail as he stumbled around. His life wasn't as important to him as Bucky's.

Finally, Steve found him, next to a huge pile of rubble that missed him by inches. He was laying in the fetal position, blood surrounding him.

There was too much of it. Surely he wasn't alive.

And yet, when Steve bent down, blinking the tears out of his eyes, he found a pulse. A tiny one, but it was still a pulse.

And he knew that they needed medical attention right away, or, not just Bucky, but several others wouldn't make it. The team was in bad shape; the blast hit way too close to home.

He leaned down and picked Bucky up in his arms, refusing to leave him behind or take his eyes off of him. He needed to find Cara.

And suddenly he located her, laying on her elbows and coughing up dust and whatever she ate last. But at least she was awake, unlike the others, which Natasha and Bruce were trying to wake up. Tony had left, trying to locate the nearest hospital.

Steve set Bucky down gently on the ground next to Cara, and leaned closer to her, pulling her shoulders up softly. She sat up, taking a deep breath and wiping her mouth.

"Thank you." She told him, and he nodded in reply. A tear fell from her eye.

It was then Steve realized that she was still sixteen, even though all her actions showed that she was much older. She was far too young to see this kind of death, this kind of torture, this kind of hell.

And yet, she was strong enough to handle it somehow. It astounded him.

"Cara, do you feel alright?" Steve asked her, and she looked up at him curiously, nodding.

"Yeah I feel ok now. Why?"

"We need a way to get to the hospital. Do you think you could transport us all? If not don't worry about it." Steve asked gently. Her eyebrows knotted together in a frown as she looked around.

"I'll try."

Tony came back seconds later, landing next to Steve and Cara. He glanced at both of them.

"The nearest hospital is 1.7 miles away, called Fairland Hospital. It's not busy right now, either. We need to go to that one." He told them. Steve nodded, looking back at Cara.

She nodded also and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as they all sat and waited.

Suddenly, miraculously, they were all laying in front of the hospital.

Steve smiled wide and turned to thank Cara, but all that energy had made her pass out. So Tony picked her up in his arms and carried her inside, and Steve brought Bucky in too. He still had a pulse.

Natasha came in helping Peter, and the two were leaning on each other for support. Hawkeye and Sarah were being carried by Bruce, who looked like he was struggling. His close were in tatters; the hulk had been unleashed when the building exploded. He had blocked them from the rubble.

When they walked into the hospital, the nurses glanced at them in shock. Steve walked straight to the front desk.

"Ma'am, we need immediate medical attention for nine superheroes." He told her. She nodded slowly, her eyes wide. She reached down for the phone.

"We need immediate emergency medical care at the front. The Avengers just walked in the door, and they need help, so get a move on."

Suddenly doctors ran in with stretchers, just as shocked when they saw who their patients were, and Steve laid Bucky on the first one that came through the door.

"He got shot in the chest by an arrow, and it severed an artery and punctured a lung! He heals fast, but he doesn't have the fluid or blood to do so!" He told them hurriedly, and they nodded, wheeling him back to the OR.

They then put Peter, Cara, Sarah and Hawkeye on stretchers as well, and watched as they were wheeled away, following them to the OR.

"Hey, you guys can't be back here!" Some nurse yelled at them, and Steve took charge.

"These people have different blood, different bodies, and need different help than normal people. So if you want them to live, we are going to have to be back here." Steve told him. The nurse nodded, shaking a bit, and the avengers ran past him, heading straight for their teammates.

They weren't going to let any man fall behind.

--

A.N.

So, that was the prologue! It shows how they got away, since I know you guys were interested in it, but I sorta made it more like a flashback because I didn't want to start the next book right after the blast. So this part is like an in-between.

Tell me if you like it or hate it. I can easily delete it!

The next chapter will be better and longer, though, I promise!

-Jordan💕