Sergeant Barnes: The Last Mission (COMPLETE)

Chapter 68: Sam

You could sort of tell that winter was finally passing on. Today was the first day that I didn't wear a sweatshirt while I was running in the morning. Things were starting to feel nicer, too. Less rain, longer days, warmer. I always liked running in the spring. In the summer, if you didn't run early enough, you could get heatstroke.

I jogged my usual route, not bothering to deviate from my normal path. I passed the tree that I had sat by when Steve first talked to me, other than calling out 'On your left' about ten times. He was great, but he was such a troll, sometimes. A lot of the time. Most of the time. Whenever I see someone pulling a prank, or just messing with people, I always think of Steve now. It used to hurt, but I knew I couldn't handle that much hurt again, not after Riley, so I found a way to smile through it.

Speaking of Steve, I hadn't heard from Bucky since he left with Natasha. I figured they were probably fine, but I still hadn't seen him. I had seen Tony and the kid, since they were on the news at every given opportunity, but there had been no complete visual coverage of anyone else. It figures that the feds would cover up something that important, but I still wanted to know how they were doing. Especially Bucky. I was impressed that he had chosen to go back to HYDRA, but that doesn't mean anything. Something still could have happened.

I heard footsteps running behind me. I didn't mind, since I was keeping it at a nice jogging pace. Besides, I stopped checking to see if it was Steve years ago. What surprised me was Bucky's voice, startling me as he passed me, saying "On your right."

It figures.

"Old man decided to go for a run?" I asked him, happy to see him but pissed that he had scared me. "You nearly gave me a heart attack. Where you been?"

Then I noticed that he was holding his phone up at me, and he was jogging backwards. Show off.

"What'cha doin'?" I asked suspiciously, eyeing the phone. Together, him running backwards and myself forwards, we turned and ran alongside the Sound.

"Nothing," he responded. Liar. "Just taking a video of the guy who's being outran by a senior citizen."

"Yeah, well, I'm not a super soldier," I told him, increasing my pace slightly. "What's gotten into you?"

Bucky smiled behind the camera, and didn't respond.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked, starting to get nervous. "If this is some kind of joke to you-"

"On your left."

All I saw was a blonde blur, but I knew that voice. How the hell?

"Holy-!"

I lost my footing, and started to steer right. Of course, right was also the direction of the Sound. I didn't get to finish my thought before falling into the water.

When I resurfaced, Steve and Bucky were doubled over laughing, and Bucky was still recording. I coughed a couple of times before shouting "What the hell was that?!?"

They didn't answer, but Steve sank to his knees and held his stomach. I splashed some of the water at him as I swam to the side. Steve, still laughing, extended an arm to help me out, but I swatted it away.

"I don't trust you, CapTain AMerICa. I got this." I pulled myself onto the cement and caught my breath while the other two finished composing themselves. Eventually, they calmed down enough to speak.

"Sorry, we had to," said Bucky, and I scoffed.

"Oh, sure, you're so sorry," I chastised him. "How are you alive, man?" I turned to Steve, who was still smiling like an idiot.

"Long story short, HYDRA got creative," he said. "Not the best five years ever."

I nodded. It made sense, given what I knew about HYDRA.

"So the first thing you do is scare me into the Sound? I get it."

He laughed again, and he held out his hand again. I took it this time, and pulled him in for a big ole wet hug. He recoiled a bit, but I wasn't about to let him get away without a bit of revenge. When I thought he was wet enough, I let go.

"Thanks, Sam," he told me, and I laughed this time.

"It is good to see ya, Steve," I told him honestly, and he grinned. I saw the tired look in his eyes, and knew that he still had a way to go, but it could wait.

"It's good to be back."

I looked at him for a bit. Something was different, but I couldn't tell what yet. I decided to forget it and turned to Bucky. "Seriously?"

"Dude, it's already on YouTube."

"WHAT?!?" I lunged for the phone, but he held me back. "Give me that!"

It was too late. Bucky has already took off in the other direction. Instead of trying to catch him, I jumped on Steve and pointed at the running man. "CHARGE!"

And we went running down the path, towards the sunrise.