Chapter 1
“Sergeant Barnes!” a woman yelled as he was making his daily run around the national mall “Please! Sergeant Barnes! Please! The avengers wont listen to me anymore!”
Bucky stopped as the car halted to a screech. He didn't really want to listen but there was a part of him that felt the need to. He sighed and stretched his arms waiting for some random paparazzi to come out
“Thank you sir,” came an exasperated breath “my name is Julia Price! I work with the Washington Post!”
Bucky let out a groan.
“No one will listen to me anymore and I need someone with your abilities! Please Sgt barnes! Please at least listen to what I have to say!”
It wasn't a second later that a car came flying through the air and hit a tree. Bucky quickly looked and saw the aggressor. An average 30 something year old guy who obviously has a score to settle with the woman in the car. Quickly the man started running towards them searching for the next thing that he could use as a weapon. It seemed as though he settled upon a water fountain until Bucky used it against him. With his metal arm he pulled the fountain out of the ground and smashed the red headed assailant on the head, throwing him a few feet and rendering him unconscious. It was just after that that bucky ran and took cover in the car that had approached him. There he found a shivering girl in the driver's seat barely able to put her hands on the steering wheel.
“Jules, right?” he said as he grabbed her yellow sweater sleeve “you need me to drive?”. She didn't even have a chance to answer when he started pushing her into the back seat in which she went, and then he took over the driving and sped off away as fast as he could.
“So why didn't the avengers believe you?” he asked casually as he drove across D.C, trying to make sure the car wouldn't be able to be tracked.
“I.. uh .. i” she tried to speak, clearly still terrified
“Spit it out! This isn't the time to be shy!” he yelled louder than he wanted to because he had to make a sharp turn in order not to crash into a bus. The girl took a deep breath
“I have it on good authority that there is a crime syndicate making a drug that will either amplify latent super powers or kill someone who doesn't have the genes for it!”. Julia had curled herself into a ball and held her eyes so tight that the corners were starting to tear.
“Uh huh….” bucky said, with an air of disbelief.
“I promise! No one ever got back to me because I'm not actually with a paper! I'm just a small town nobody journalist that just happened to pick up the pieces. I wouldn't have even known about it if it didn't affect my hometown!:"Bucky just kept driving until he found a back alley at a safe enough distance. It was then when he took a deep sigh and seemed to visibly relax. A bit.
“Now ‘Julia Price’” he ran his right hand through the air “explain yourself. Or at least everything that you know”.
“I pretty much told you everything I know” she was sitting in the back seat, still shaking slightly and pulling at the sleeves of her cardigan “there's some kind of drug… I don't know what kind or how it's made or how it works but– you just SAW that!!” she looked up at him with obvious fear in her eyes. Bucky just stared at her, nothing expressed on his face but his eyes were all but staring into her soul. Another deep, calming breath and “I’m sorry I lied to you earlier Sgt. Barnes–”
“Bucky.” He interrupted.
“Y-yes, Bucky, I'm sorry that I lied to you earlier about being a journalist. I mean, I am, or well, trying to be at least. It's what i went to college for”
“Just spit it out, kid. We might not have a long time”
“You're right. Sorry.” she groaned “sorry for saying sorry. It was around a month ago, I went back to visit my parents in a small town in New Jersey and there was something really strange going on. I'm sure that you're aware that there are a lot of issues with drugs being laced with fentanyl these days and it's killing people at an alarming rate. Now it seemed to everyone else, including the cops, that's all it was. However I started noticing something else. As you also know, it seems like every other day someone with super powers pops up right? Well this also started happening, but not… not like normal super powers, if that's even a thing. I noticed that it was solely low level criminals, like that one guy everyone knew was a drug dealer, but the cops never really found him doing anything that they could actually catch. So one day, I guess someone stiffed him on some payment and he burnt their apartment. It even spread to some of his neighbors! Obviously he's in jail now but—”
“So a crack head burnt someone house down and you think-” he started but was quickly interrupted
“He burnt it down with his hands! Like he had fire coming out of his hands! Like a human flamethrower or something!” Julia blurted out “The cops buried that part of the story but I saw it! I drove by when it was happening! I stopped for a minute but got the hell out of there as soon as I realized what I saw. I never said anything to the police though, because, well, I don't know what they would do if I knew” her voice trailing off with guilt.
That seemed to make Bucky pause and start thinking seriously about what she was saying “And he couldn't do that before?”
“I mean, I don't think so. He was a few grades aheads of me in high school and everyone knew he was a bit of a fire bug but he had never done anything like that! Like, Like it was magic or something”
Bucky took out his phone in an attempt to google what she was saying to try to verify it
“Listen, please! I told you the cops buried it. There's literally nothing online about it. But I know what I saw and that made me start looking into other strange crimes in my town and neighboring areas” she said and started rustling around for a journal that had fallen under the passenger seat in the back of the car “I wrote it all down. Every weird crime that was seemingly done in ways that aren't necessarily humanly possible. I thought it was localized but it not only spans the entire state, but it goes into new york and obviously made its way here”
She handed him the journal and Bucky opened it to see pages and pages of names and dates and crimes. She had even written the website address down by hand.
“And you've tried telling people about this?” he asked without even looking up.
“Anyone who would listen! But no one will! And I know the avengers aren't really like a thing anymore but i still sent over every link and all of the proof I have” her voice was hesitant, like she was going to say the next part against her better judgement “that's why i tracked you down Sgt. B- Bucky” she corrected herself “because you're like not really an avenger, but like you kind of are? I think? But I thought you were my best bet…”.
It was then when he looked up and shut the book “you did all of this by yourself?” he seemed to finally be relaxed while looking at her “and you think it's because of a drug?”
Julias lips curled into a small smile “yes. Yes I do. And it's because all of these cases happened in towns that have extremely high deaths due to drugs laced with ‘fentanyl’. But i dont think it's fentanyl. I think it's something completely new. Something that kills some people and makes people super human at least for a bit”
Bucky's stare was incredulous but with a hint of belief still “I've never heard of anything that could do that and i'm 108 years old”
Julia groaned and rolled her eyes “I know. Its something completely new and–”
“And you need help finding out who is doing this so we can take them out?” He added emotionlessly.
Julius' cheeks turned bright red “... to find out why it works this way. B-but yes, so we can also stop this from happening”.
At that bucky just quirked an eyebrow. Julia coughed out of embarrassment “...I minored in Pharmacology….”.
“God you're weird” bucky snorted but with a slight smile on his lips
“So you’ll help?!” she shot up with excitement
“Hey, I never said that. But if what you're saying is true, I know some people who can definitely help us.” Julia smiled when he said ‘us’ but then quickly frowned
“No! It has to be just you!” she practically screamed, which caused him to lean back and give her a sketched out look “Not for any weird reason, I promise, it's just that out of everyone else, You're the only ‘avenger’ that i really trust..”
With that bucky let out a hard laugh “jesus Kid-”
“Julia” she quipped back mocking him
“Julia” he smiled and shook his head “Jesus Julia are you sure you have the right guy? I don't think there is a single person in the country, much less the entire globe that you consider ‘me’ the most trustworthy of the bunch”
Without missing a beat “why? Because of the whole winter soldier thing? That's exactly why I trust you the most.” her words came out so matter of fact and with such an honest earnesty it took Bucky by surprise. She noticed not only his change in expression but also his change in body language “I'm sorry, it's just that after everything that happened. All of it. And you'd be surprised what you can find on the dark web, classified documents and such, but after everything that's happened to you, you still have it in you to try to make a difference in this world. Like not just living out your life in peace, you actively keep trying to make the world a better place and I don't think just anyone could do that. I don't even know you but I think you're the most honourable and trustworthy man I know”.
That strange confession had thrown Bucky off guard. He was definitely not expecting some random stranger to just give him one of the biggest compliments he's ever had. Especially because it wasn't flattery, he could tell that she meant it. It wasn't something she had rehearsed either, she said it as simply as she would say that her hair is brown and her eyes green and her sweater is yellow and her car could probably use a cleaning. As the sudden awkward emotions passed he coughed to clear both his throat and the air
“You read my classified file on the dark web?” was what he came up in order break the tension that he was the only one to feel
“Well of course, it's best to get to know people as best as you can before you ambush them while they are exercising” she smirked before realizing that wasn't what he was probably talking about “Oh! I’m so sorry! I uh i -I mean yes i did but i- I guess that really is a HUGE violation of privacy! Honestly i never even thought i'd be able to talk you so I didn't really think- not that it makes it better- it was still really really wrong of me and—”
Bucky stopped her with a chuckle “Don't worry about it. Just so were all clear” he faced forward and looked at her through the rear view mirror, a shit eating grin evident on his face “You know all about me. Sgt James Buchanan Barnes, aka the Winter soldier. But you! Your ‘name’ is Julia Price. You are NOT a reporter with the Washington post. You ARE from New jersey. You have no issue crossing legal boundaries and you are trying to locate drug dealers?”
“I'm actually from ohio. We moved to Jersey in middle school” she huffed and sighed “but yes. I'm sorry I lied to you. I just needed you to listen” her voice was that of a child scolded. Bucky shook his head and chuckled
“Don't worry Jules” he saw the furrowed brow on her face, disapproving of the nickname. It just made it funnier for him. “I think you're onto something and for whatever reason you think that I'm your guy. A lot of people never gave me a break and as you said, I try to do right by the people. So I'm gonna help you."He adjusted the mirror and rolled his shoulders back, preparing to start the car.
“So that means you're in?!” her face lit up like the fourth of july and she grabbed the back of the driver's seat putting about an inch between them before she realized what she had done and settled back down with a sprinkling of pink on her face “....sorry. So uh”
“so “ bucky chuckled “are you going to get into the front and tell me where to go or are we just gonna sit here and wait for ‘the wolf of wall street’ to come back for us?”
“Actually from what I've noticed the drug doesn't last that long in people who don't have the genetic code to keep it strong. It's almost like it unlocks something” Julia started to rumble as she climbed into the passenger seat “ I think it has something to do with stem cells unlocking—” she was cut off by Bucky pushing her shoulder down.
“We can talk when I drive” he smiled but also not looking at her “so where to Ms.biochemist journalist?”