Chapter 8
Bucky said he would be back in the up coming week and Steve was starting to get a little too excited.
Steve, Tony, Natasha, Sam, and Clint sat in a study hall going over their own projects with each other but Steve was basically bouncing if the walls with anticipation.
"Ughhh! He can literally get here any day, and minute now!" Steve slammed his head into the long table.
"You really want him to break your back that bad do you?" Tony laughed.
Everyone looked at Tony then ignored him by going back to their work.
"I miss him!" Steve groaned and sighed.
"Yeah Roger's I think we get that," Clint said while picking at his hearing aids.
Natasha placed a hand on his back, "He'll be back soon, I'm pretty sure he misses you too,"
Later that day Steve and his friends were sitting on the quads lawn watching the many other students hangout.
Out of the corner of Steve's eye he recognized some people. He almost jumped up as fast as lightning.
"Hey! That's Buckys army friends Dugan and Jim Morita. If they're here that means Buckys here somewhere! Cmon!" Steve got up with Natasha and Sam behind him.
"Jim!" Steve called out and the man wearing the military uniform turned spotting Steve.
"Hey guys! Where's Bucky?" Steve asked slightly out of breath.
"We've been looking everywhere for you Steve," Dugan said. His tone was off and his eyes told a different story.
"Steve..." Jim started, "We have something to tell you,"
"What? Was Buckys flight delayed?" Steve asked.
To his side Natasha shifted like she was uncomfortable.
"No. Steve I don't know how to tell you this, Barnes has been listed as MIA, missing in action. We don't know if he's dead, or if he was captured. We have teams out looking for his body," Dugan explained slowly.
Steve froze, to him it felt like the whole world froze. It wasn't real, Bucky was not gone, he couldnt be gone.
"What," Steve breathed out.
"Steve," A voice said and a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"No!" Steve shrugged the hand off and began to run.
He ran as fast and his skinny legs could take him. His face flushed warm and tears began to fall and blur his vision. His heart pounded and lungs ached, his body was not meant for running.
His lungs felt like they were being ripped apart just like how the sorrow was ripping his heart.
Darkness danced on the edge of his vision then took over, last thing he felt was his body colliding with the hard floor.
When we woke he recognized the campuses medical center right away.
Standing around him was Nat, Sam, Clint, and Tony.
With their sad faces Steve remembered, Buckys gone.
Steve felt the tears start to fall but he was numb as he watched the world around him.
Natasha got everyone to leave and was the only one to stay. A doctor came in and listened to his heart and lungs shaking his head as he saw how bad it was.
The tears didn't stop not even when Dugan and Jim entered with a small box.
"Here are his dog tags, they fell off before he went missing," Dugan placed the metal tags near Steve's hand and then left with his military partner.
Steve slowly reached out and grabbed the tags holding them up.
That's when he started to sob.
—
Bucky never told Steve the truth about his military service. He was still a Sergeant, but early into his army career he was noticed for his extraordinary skills and was placed onto a Special Operations Force.
His squad was named the Howling Commandos. They went on missions to conduct reconnaissance, internal defense, direct action abroad. They dealt with counterterrorism, hijacks, hostage rescues, and humanitarian aid.
Bucky had told Steve he would be gone for a month and a half. But now his mission had become longer.
They were closing in on an enemy group and breaking down on their intelligence. They had taken down the main group but the leader had escaped.
It took weeks to track him down. But then one day they got intel from another country that he was spotted and boarded a train and took captives to take control of the train.
Bucky stood high up in the ledges of a mountain range with his squad. They had set up a rig that would zip line them down onto the trains roof once it was in a close enough time range.
Bucky stood with his rifle strapped to his back and hands in his pocket. In his right hand was the small brass compass Steve gifted to him. He brushed his cold fingers over the metal as a calming mechanism.
"Here it comes! It's coming faster than predicted so let's get a move on boys!" Dugan hollered as he eyed the train with binoculars.
One by one the team slid down the line and landed onto the trains roof. Holding their guns at ready as they squatted close to the trains roof.
Someone was cutting through the roof ventilators as their entrance point. The plan was simple enough, two members were to stay atop the train and the rest were go inside the train to split up in small groups. One group was to find the enemy, another to save the hostages.
Bucky slipped through the cut vent after the rest of his group into the trains compartment.
As he dropped to the floor he poised his gun and in a sweeping movement he checked the compartment.
"Empty," he said to his team and his comms.
"Barnes, Sawyer. Go to the back compartments we'll take the front. Remember our objective is to keep the civilians safe and to take down the enemy leader, dead or alive take him down." Their squad leader ordered.
Bucky and Sam Sawyer left the compartment and headed towards the caboose. Many of the compartments were empty or filled with cargo.
Sam went ahead to check a few more compartments ahead of them and Bucky stayed to check the cargo for anything.
Nothing seemed too out of place until he saw a small light blinking above him.
Peering up at the trains roof Bucky squinted, "What the..." his eyes widened seeing the blinking light was coming from an explosive strapped to the roof.
Quickly touching a finger to his comms Bucky hollered, "Guys! The train has active explo..."
A sharp punch hit Buckys head causing him to stumble side ways. Bucky groaned and quickly regained his footing and aimed his gun.
A man in black tactical gear stood in front of him behind him Sam laid unconscious and his hairline bleeding.
Dropping his rifle Bucky reached for his pistol and started to shoot.
The man dodged Buckys shots and pulled out his own firearm. As the man began shooting at Bucky, he dodged behind some of the cargo shielding his body from the shots.
His heart was beating loudly in his ears. It was hard to admit but he was scared.
Peering over the cargo he saw two more men enter, guns in hand. Quickly ducking back behind the cargo Bucky pulled Steve's compass out and rubbed it with his thumb then shoved it back into his pants.
With a deep breath Bucky jumped out shooting two of the men taking them down immediately. Then the third wheel around but was gun less.
Bucky pulled the trigger of his pistol to find no more bullets. Shit. He threw it to the floor and balled his fists ready for hand to hand.
The two stalked each other then pounced. Bucky swung and miss causing him to receive a blow to the stomach. Bucky was winded and bent over quickly causing the enemy to gain the upper hand.
The man pushed Bucky to the floor his hand going for Bucks throat.
Under the man's weight Bucky tried to pry his hands off of his neck, but then the man grabbed onto his dog tags pulling them tight around the American soldiers neck.
"Ack!" Bucky struggled under him and then got a footing on the man's stomach.
Bucky pushed his foot against the man's stomach hard. With a sharp snap he felt his dog tags break around his neck and fall to the floor with a clank.
Then with a loud noise the compartment door opened and a shot went off hitting Buckys attacker.
Dugan and Morita came in quickly sweeping their eyes around the compartments.
Bucky exhaled in relief for them coming at the right moment, "Thanks guys," he got back up quickly.
Then he remembered the bomb and his eyes widened, "They rigged the train it's going to blow..."
Boom!
The bomb went off throwing the team in different ways. Bucky flew through the now gaping hole in the trains side. He grabbed onto the remnants of the metal that was blown up. His heart pounded and fear was threatening to take over as he saw he was dangling from the train as it was traveling high up in the mountains.
"Bucky! Hold on! We're coming to get you!" Morita yelled from the interior of the train.
Bucky felt the scrap he was holding onto wobble as the train zoomed down the tracks.
He looked up again and saw Morita side stepping his way towards Bucky, "Hold on!"
Then the metal gave way and Bucky felt himself fall, his heart leaping to his throat.
"No!" His teammates yelled as he fell and fell down to the snow mountainside.
-
It was cold. The type of cold where you feel dead. Too cold to do anything but die. He didn't know where he was or what he was doing lying in the snow. But his body couldn't move, he could think straight. His eyes felt crusted shut and when he opened them the light burned.
The snow around him was red, but he could tell it was because of his own blood. The hot sticky liquid know as his own blood caked his face and felt like it was slowly draining and he was losing strength. The feeling of inevitable death rested n his chest. But he laid there watching the puff of his own breath in the cold mountain air.
He didn't know how long he laid there until he heard someone talk. Their voice came to him like in a cloud, muffled and distorted. It was like ghosts were talking to him.
He saw them trying to talk to him as they peered over him. He couldn't see their faces, but could see they were in helmets, goggles and masks, they looked like skiers.
Slowly their voices faded even though he could still see them over him. Then the darkness took his mind and he fell to unconsciousness. When his eyes opened again the light was a bright white and seared his eyeballs. People fussing over his body their faces clouded and voices muffled like the ghosts in the snow.
Someone touched his head with tenderness and with their muffled voice they were trying to soothe him. Someone else had touched him with such tenderness, but when he tried to recall the memory his mind was blank. Looking down long tubes snaked around him and disappeared under his skin. Pain spasmed through him and that phantom of death arose within him again before everything returned to darkness.