Fuck You
"Fuck you." Bucky whispered, pulling the trigger. A dark-haired man fell from his nest, leaving his rifle unattended. He hit the glass dome twenty yards in front of Steve, shattering the glass and falling further, which made the First Avenger jump in surprise. Steve glanced quickly back to Bucky and gave her a small salute, thanking her for taking down the sniper who had been prepared to kill him. Bucky had recognized the poor devil as the sniper who had shot her, the one she had sketched in the bus. But she had to work quickly before someone else took his place. She partially disassembled her own rifle, and strapping it across her back, slid down across the rooftop. Belarus was nice, Bucky supposed, with Minsk relatively indistinguishable from the myriad capitals of post-communist European nations in which she had conducted operations. Except Prague, that was stunning, and filled with squares and tall buildings--a sniper's dream. Granted, Budapest had been memorable, but for different reasons. By the times these thoughts had tumbled through Bucky's mind, she had reached the other sniper's nest without being spotted. She was just about to take a proper look at the weapon when she saw someone sneaking up on Steve. She hit the dirt, cocked the weapon, aimed and fired. It was risky, taking a shot with a gun she had never fired, but there wasn't time to practice. Her target dropped and Bucky let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Seeing no further immediate threat, Bucky took a moment to disarm and examine the rifle. It was her gun. Well, not really, she was still wearing her gun from before, but the horizontal scratches on the barrel from that time in Budapest was unmistakable. That's why her shot had been true, she had trained for years with this gun. And if it was her gun, then, if it hadn't been checked thoroughly, then maybe--Bucky began to disassemble the rifle. She set each piece aside as she took it apart, until all that was left was the rifle butt. With a quiet prayer, Bucky found the small circular button in the back of the shoulder rest. She then took the cleaning brush that the other sniper had left next to the gun, and pressed the tip against the button. There was a distinct click and the rifle butt opened. Inside were papers crumbling with age, and a thin metal tube. This was what Bucky had managed to stash during the times when her conditioning had faded and she had made plans to run for the hills. She had managed once to go AWOL for two hours, which hadn't gotten her far, but she had been able to get her hands on some serious intelligence. She rolled her left shoulder and hit the red star to open the arm. It was then when she was tackled to the ground. Having let her guard down for those few minutes, Bucky had allowed herself to be snuck up on. But luckily she had been trained exactly for this sort of attack. The documents and tube clattered out of her hand and her arm closed again as she flipped over her attacker and landed on her feet. It was a woman, and she was by no means slight. She was easily six foot five and one hundred and sixty pounds of pure muscle, her pale blonde hair cut into a short pixie cut. Bucky wasn't small, but compared to this Amazon she did feel slightly dwarfed. Bucky's mind flashed back to the time she had to pull a Goliath of a man off of Steve outside a movie theater, and ducked just in time to miss a passionate but easy to avoid punch from her attacker. She ducked around a few similar punches and did a somersault over a very high kick. But then the Amazon--Bucky decided to call her that--made her first serious mistake. She stepped forward with her right foot in preparation of another blow. With reflexes seconds faster than the average human, Bucky quickly swept her left leg outside the Amazon's right and pulled the woman over her hip with her metallic arm. Bucky followed suit, sitting on the Amazon's back and holding her in a chokehold with her left arm over the woman's throat.
"Bitch." The Amazon spat, gasping hoarsely against Bucky's arm. "Marco was my friend." She made a wheezing sound, "Can't breathe."
"I'm going to let you go. Try to escape, and you meet your sniper friend in hell." Bucky hissed in her adversary's ear. The Amazon nodded weakly and Bucky zip-tied the woman's hands together behind her back. Bucky then took all of the Amazon's weapons and crushed her comm between a metal finger and thumb. Bucky then drew one of her handguns and retrieved the lost papers and cylinder. She carefully rolled them up, and placed them into her arm. Bucky heard a shuffling sound and whipped around, aiming the gun to the woman's head.
"It's ok. It's me." Steve raised his hands, speaking softly. Bucky lowered her weapon and returned it to its holster.
"Shit. You gotta be careful out there. If I hadn't been working the roofs who knows what could have happened." Bucky replied, her voice a hoarse whisper. Steve gave her a small smile reminiscent of the old days.
"Thanks by the way; I owe you a drink." Steve replied soberly, but he winked as he changed the topic, "But I got what we were here for. Also they were holding a few people captive--for experiments or something. I let them go. SHIELD will pick them up just outside the city." Steve watched as Bucky expertly packed up the two sniper rifles and camouflaged the scene. What impressed Steve more was that Bucky's captive hadn't made any attempt to escape nor break her cyanide pill. In fact, the Amazon of a woman seemed almost afraid as Bucky sauntered over.
"So I say we ask our friend a few questions." Bucky lifted the woman's chin and glared through her goggles into the woman's hazel eyes. Suddenly, Bucky felt a flash of recognition burst in her brain. This was Astrid Sorensen, a mercenary, but no HYDRA loyalist. "Astrid? The hell are you doing here? The last I heard you had been picked up by MOSSAD." Bucky leaned over to cut Astrid out of her bonds, but the Amazon wriggled away.
"I want nothing to do with you, Rebecca." Astrid hissed, "Marco was a good man. A double within HYDRA and one of the best agents I've ever seen. I was going to marry him." Astrid was beyond distraught.
"He tried to kill Steve, and it would have been me next. It was kill or be killed." Bucky reasoned, justifying it just as much to Astrid as to herself. "He already shot me once. I was lucky to survive then. He wasn't going to let me get away a second time."
"He only used blanks!" Astrid sobbed. "He promised me, no more killing. We were going to get out. Both of us." Bucky's heart broke and she glanced at Steve, who simply seemed baffled by Bucky knowing this woman.
"No. He didn't. Astrid, you were played." Bucky gave a deep sigh, "He was probably a triple. Did you tell him anything? Astrid. You have to think. There isn't much time, if we're not already too late." Astrid swallowed down sobs and sat up, resolute with a new anger.
"I took him to a safe house in Tel Aviv. There were a few classified documents locked in the safe." Astrid swore bitterly. "He knows MOSSAD's game plan in Johannesburg." Steve looked over the edge of the roof, and found the way clear.
"Let's get off this roof and talk on the Bus." Steve gestured to where he had come from. Astrid let Bucky cut her out of the zip ties and the two women followed. The Bus--as Coulson's crew liked to call it--was an Airbus A380 with jump jet and cloaking capabilities that was currently parked just outside Minsk. Skye met them at the loading bay.
"Steve! Good to see you. I bet you're glad she's back in action." Skye nodded to Bucky and gave Steve a knowing smile, which made him blush. Bucky--though her face was covered by a mask and goggles--made a confused expression.
"You have no idea." Steve smiled gently, his blush burning away.
"Cute. Well, boss's waiting inside for debrief. Do I put her in the interrogation room?" Skye glanced at Astrid. Bucky took a few moments to think and unbuckle her mask and push her goggles to the top of her head.
"Yeah. But make it comfortable." Bucky nodded and Astrid followed Skye out of the bay. Steve followed Bucky up to the main deck.
"Um. So who's boss again?" Steve asked as they passed by the lab. Simmons stared after Steve with a look of wonder on her face until Fitz shocked her with a tiny circuit board that they were working on.
"Yeah. About that." Bucky fastened her mask to her vest as they stopped outside of the office doors. "Remember how you and the rest of the Avengers got your act together?"
"Of course. Loki killed Agent Coulson. He was a nice guy, kinda obsessed with--well--me, but nice." Steve seemed genuinely upset about Coulson's death. Bucky wasn't sure how to respond, so she just knocked on the door and let herself in, Steve close behind.
"Ah. B--" Coulson stuttered to silenced when Steve walked into his office.
"Oh hell no." Steve threw up his hands. Coulson surreptitiously took a framed film still of Steve in his old uniform and put it into a drawer.
"Hi. Yes. I probably have a lot to explain." Coulson found his voice just as Steve stormed out. Bucky ran after him and stopped him just down the hall.
"Steve. Please. You have to forgive me. I was under direct orders." Bucky held Steve's head in her hands, feeling the edge of his jaw with her fingertips.
"I'm not angry with you Buck. It's SHIELD I'm pissed off about. We tear it down, burn it to the ground. Hell you even helped in a way, but then they just bring it back. To fight HYDRA I know. But why keep the Avengers in the dark? We could help instead of waiting for Fury to point stuff out sometimes. And they sweep you into the shadows again, leaving me totally alone. It's hard." Steve snapped.
"We can tell them when we get back. Go to New York and everything. Not even Natasha knows, and she's good." Bucky reasoned. Steve gave a resigned sigh. "And Steve I know. It's hard for me too. But this is something I'm good at. I can't go back to real civilian life. You know what happens when I go to the supermarket with my arm and my scars. So until I can find an alternative, this is going to be my life. And with you here it isn't so bad."
"I'm with you 'till the end of the line." Steve's anger boiled away, "So this is my life too." Bucky stood up partway on her toes and kissed Steve gently, smudging some of her eyeblack on his face. She pressed Steve against the wall as their kiss deepened, until someone cleared their throat.
"I've read some fanfiction like this." Coulson piped, grinning quietly to himself when both Steve and Bucky gave him the 'I don't understand that reference' face. "But we really should get going. Time is of the essence after all." The two super soldiers blushed like schoolchildren, but followed Coulson into the office.