Winter Is Coming (A Bucky Barnes Fanfic)

Chapter 19: Hypothermia

"Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am not walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins." -Gustave Elaubert

***

Harley lands hard on her knees with a disgruntled groan of pain and also relief. She's away from Bucky...for now. That's something she never thought she'd be happy to think of.

She'd managed to escape out of pure luck. In the very beginning of her days as a Hydra agent, they'd taught her how to transform herself into a flame, therefore teleporting herself from one place to another via the oxygen of the fire. She became a master of it, but until now she hadn't done it in almost a century. Going for it was a shot in the dark; she could've failed and killed herself if it was executed incorrectly.

Struggling to her feet, Harley takes a precious moment to catch her breath and gather her wits.

As much as she doesn't want to be afraid of Bucky, she can't help but feel paranoid that he'll find her again. He's a great fighter, and Harley doesn't know how much longer she can hold him off before she has no choice but to burn him enough for him to stop. Killing him is definitely out of the question, no doubt, and hurting him is going to be tough, but to survive, Harley recognizes that she has to be willing to wound him. If he comes back to his senses to find out he killed her...it's almost unbearable to think of what he'd do.

Harley rests her forehead against the cool cement of the wall. She doesn't know where she landed, but she's still in Hydra headquarters, and she's still safe.

I have to get to Steve.

If she finds Steve then she can free him, and he can help bring Bucky back to the light.

Taking a final breath, Harley sets out to find Steve. She barely makes it three steps before she has to stop again, this time because the cruel reality of her situation kicks in.

Tears flow before she can stop them and she collapses to her knees again, sobs racking her body. Bucky is lost again. She just got him back to where he needed to be, and he fell right back down because of the savageness of an awful organization's hunger for power. The man she loves has become the monster he fears, and she knows that when he snaps back into it, it'll be worse than before by tenfold.

The agony turns to rage quicker than an assassins killing blow. Hydra did this. They ruined their lives. Twice. It's their turn to feel the wrath of their own creations, to taste the blood on their ledgers. They all need to pay in nothing but blood and gore.

Wiping the tears away stubbornly, Harley gets up, stronger than ever, letting malevolence do its worst.

***

Harley creeps along a narrow corridor, searching for the stairwell again. At this point she's fairly certain Steve is down there somewhere. Where else would he be?

He better be unharmed, Harley thinks as she turns another corner after inspecting it for guards or Bucky. She sees the freezer door lying on the ground and cold puffs of air coming out of the freezer itself. She remembers the stairwell being past the freezer some way and steps over the door carefully so as not to step on the ice.

She reaches the cellar door again, flinching when it creaks loudly as she opens it. Stepping through, she lets it fall shut behind her with a soft click. She makes it three flights down before a voice stops her.

"Harley?" The voice is instantly recognizable: Bucky. Harley spins around on the platform to see Bucky following her. "I thought I'd never find you!"