Don't Hide | Bucky Barnes |

39

Chaos.

That's the only word that can accurately describe this lab.

Chaos.

As soon as the first Russian word left the guard's mouth, the room was flooded with at least a dozen more guards blocking Steve, Tony, and I from a struggling Bucky.

"We have to stop him!" Tony yells as he blasts through three guards.

"I know" Steve responds, taking out one more with his shield.

"Can't you just target someone with your venom?" Tony asks me. I land a crushing kick to a guard's head before turning to look through the sea of guards in the room.

"I have to see him to do that" I inform, hopelessness drowning me as every guard we take down is replaced by three more.

"Stop!" I hear Bucky shout, his voice pained. By now, the man must be almost complete with his recitation and I feel my heart racing in my chest. Without thinking, I do what I have to.

"Duck!" I shout to Tony and Steve, who quickly oblige without questioning.

My eyes slip shut and I take a full second to gather every ounce of strength I have, letting an obscene amount of venom collect at my fingertips. Then, as my glowing green eyes slip open, I throw my hands out and launch the venom across the room. It's as if a green bomb went off as the gas soars above Tony and Steve's heads and slams every guard nearby backwards. When the two Avengers stand cautiously, the room is leveled and silent except for the pained groans of the guards.

"Awesome" Tony whispers to himself.

My desperate eyes immediately find the one figure who stands unmoving at the back of the room.

Bucky.

When I look around, I see the man with the red book thrown to the side and Clayton thrown to the other. My eyes fly back to Bucky, now untouched by guards, who stands and stares forward with an emotionless gaze. My heart sputters and sinks at the cold, distant look in his dangerously beautiful eyes.

"You're too late" Clayton manages out with a breathy laugh. His eyes turn to Bucky and he mutters a single phrase in Russian that I don't understand. I feel my hopelessness only rise when Bucky responds with a single Russian word.

He's in Winter Soldier mode.

"Bucky-" Steve begins, but is cut off as Bucky begins to stride forward. He stoops down and grabs a discarded gun off of the floor.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" He grits, but his eyes aren't on Steve.

They're on me.

Without another word, he raises his gun and fires at me. Steve launches beside me and covers the both of us with his shield as Bucky begins to rain fire down in my direction.

"I'm his target, get out of here while you still can" I advise, my heart pounding in my chest so hard that it's painful.

"We're not leaving!" Tony calls out to me in response, lifting into the air and blasting one of his palm repulsers at Bucky.

I hear the gun clatter from his hands and the gunfire ceases. Steve lowers his shield and charges Bucky with me by his side and Tony above us still sending shots towards Bucky, who dodges them.

"Snap out of it, Buck!" Steve shouts out, launching his shield towards his best friend.

Bucky deftly catches it, sliding back only slightly before throwing the shield upwards and slamming it into Tony. The shot was perfectly aimed and managed to slice through the arch reactor in Tony's chest. As he tumbles to the ground in his now-useless suit, Bucky turns his stone cold stare to me.