War of Hearts • Bucky Barnes

• Chapter Thirteen •

Now suited in his uniform, Steve strode his way through the underpass before jogging onto the private runway as he headed towards a grounded chopper.

He halted when he saw an electro-disabler slam onto the aircraft before turning his gaze to the sky to find none other than Tony and Rhodey, wearing their respective Iron Man and War Machine armour, as they descended.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Tony asked, turning to Rhodey as he removed his helmet.

"Definitely weird." Rhodey replied.

"Hear me out, Tony." Steve caught the billionaire's attention. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." He said.

Hearing movement come from behind him, the blonde soldier turned in time to see T'Challa leap over a truck, adorned in his Black Panther suit.

"Captain." The King greeted.

"Your highness." Steve bowed his head slightly.

"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in." Tony began pacing up and down slowly, his eyes fixed onto Steve. "That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy." Steve replied, causing Tony to come to a stop.

"Your judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday." The playboy responded with a small glare.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him." Steve said. "I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

"Steve." A voice called to him, causing Steve to turn around and find Azar behind him. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" She asked softly.

The blonde soldier turned his gaze away from her and looked at Tony. His silence was enough to give them an answer.

"All right, I've run out of patience. Underoos!" The billionaire called and all of a sudden, Steve's shield was stolen from him as his hands were bound together.

He looked at his hands that were covered in webs before lifting his gaze to see a young boy, suited up in a blue and red spider costume.

"Nice job, kid." Tony said.

"Thanks. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better." Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders "It's just the new suit.. Well, it's nothing, Mr Stark. It's--it's perfect. Thank you."

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Tony said as he quickly grew exhausted from the teenager's babbling.

"Okay." Peter replied and turned his attention to Steve. "Cap.. Captain." He gave a small salute. "Big fan. I'm Spider Man."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just.." Tony continued.

"Hey, everyone." Peter waved at the other heroes around him.

"Good job." Tony said, putting an end to their conversation.

"Still think using a kid was the best idea?" Azar whispered to the billionaire as she took her place beside him.

"You've been busy." Steve noted.

"And you've been a complete idiot." Tony fired back. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep.." He sighed. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

The blonde soldier stared at the playboy. "You did that when you signed." He replied which seemed to anger Tony.

"Alright, We're done." The playboy muttered.

"You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite." Steve removed his gaze from Tony, turning his head to the side.

"Come on." Tony said softly.

"We found it." Steve heard Sam over comms. "Their Quinjet's in hanger five, north runway."

The blonde then held up hands, an arrow tearing through the webbing, breaking him free.

"Alright, Lang." Steve muttered softly.

"Hey guys, something--" Peter was silenced as a kick, that had come out of nowhere, was thrown to his jaw while the shield was flung up into the air, only to be caught by Artemis as she flew over.

She landed beside Steve, handing him his shield. "I believe that is yours, Captain America." Scott, as the team had come to know was Mr Lang's name, announced.

"Oh, great." Tony muttered, his helmet coming into place as he began scanning the deck in which the arrow had come from.

"Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her." He said as he began to take into the air. "Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"

"Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes." Rhodey announced as he, too, took into the air, staring at the airport terminal.

Azar felt her heart drop at the mention of Bucky. She was literally torn.

"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa said and took off in a sprint, Azar's eyes darting towards him as her heart began racing.

"Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?" Peter asked the playboy.

"What we discussed. Keep your distance. Web 'em up." Came Tony's reply over comms.

"Okay, copy that!" The teenager responded, heading off towards the terminal where landed on the glass windows.

"What the hell is that?" Bucky asked, glancing up at the window, at what appeared to him as a spider boy, as both him and Sam raced through the terminal.

"Everyone's got a gimmick now." The para-rescue muttered with complete disdain, glancing briefly at the boy crawling across the window.

Peter shot a web at the roof of the terminal and used it to swing himself through the glass, kicking Sam backwards.

Seeing this, Bucky halted and formed his hand into a fist, swinging it to throw a punch towards the teen but a hand quickly caught hold of his gloved, metal fist.

"You have a metal arm?" Peter asked the soldier. "That is awesome, dude!" He said in amazement before being thrown aside by Sam, who took advantage of the teenager's distraction.

Bucky, on the other hand, remained still in complete shock, staring at the person who had caught his fist in mid swing.

His heart dropped into the pit of his stomach, his baby blue eyes filling up with dread. "Azar?.."