Bucky's pov.
Bucky woke up. Hungover.
Fuck what did he do last night?
By the time he managed to stumble into the kitchen it was late afternoon. He noticed a sticky note on the fridge that read “I left some breakfast in the fridge (hope it's not too burnt). I will be back soon! P.S. Call me if you need anything - S” Bucky chuckled, pulling the milk out.
He heard a click from behind him. “Hey,” he said, turning around to Sam. “Oh..ah..hey,” Sam seemed skittish. “I was..ah..out,” This made Bucky laugh, “I know you left a note.”
Why was he acting so guarded?
“I know” Bucky holds up the note “So what's on the agenda for today?”
“Oh, I don't really know, Shield hasn't called yet so… do what you please I guess.” Sam keeps trying to avert Bucky's eye contact while he says this.
Do what you please? Damn he's really cagey today.
…
It is late in the afternoon when they get the call. Sam rushes back from the docks and bursts into the living room. “We gotta go!” he shoves past Bucky who is on the couch, “Get your things, Fury called!”
Bucky groans and rolls off the couch, “What is it this time!” he yells into the other room after Sam. “Avalanche!”
“What?!”
…
By the time they reach the city it really looks like there has been an avalanche there. Two buildings have collapsed in on themselves and one is half standing. A mutant was raging at the swat teams that had gathered and using his sonic wave-like powers to overpower them. Sam takes control the second they land. “Did you manage to evacuate all the civilians from the collapsed buildings?” He rushes up to one of the police officers.
“Both the buildings completely collapsed. We managed to evacuate in time but the one next to it still has 3 known civilians left in the building.” The police chief turns toward Sam. “It's good to see you Captain America”
It was always so odd for Bucky to see anyone call Sam Captain America. Not because he was so used to Cap being Steve (well maybe a little) but because Sam himself always looked so unsure if people should call him that. He always seemed to squirm a little, not enough for anyone else to notice but Bucky did.
Sam rushed over to him, “There are still 3 civ-”
“Yeah I know” Bucky starts running towards the sonic guy. “You get the civilians, I’ll keep him busy.”
Sam takes off towards the building as Bucky heads straight on into the fight.
“HEY!” He yells at the Avalanche guy. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!”
Avalanche turns towards him. “Challenge accepted,” He says in a thick Greek accent.
Greek huh, I was not expecting Greek. Bucky thinks before he is almost knocked off of his feet by the powerful sonic blow that Avalanche shoots at him.
Bucky jumps and misses it maneuvering himself though the air and getting a straight shot towards the Avalanches metal helmet. It lands, sending the mutant sprawling backwards. Bucky takes this moment to look over at the buildings where he can see Sam with two civilians flying them out.
When he turns around Avalanche is up and not looking happy. “Shi-” is all he manages to get out before he gets knocked back by a blast from the sonic beams. It hurts. Bucky's has been hit a lot but never by weird ass force beams.
Force beams hurt. I can check that off the list, he thinks. He retaliates with two hook punches and a double leg sweeping kick. Natasha taught him that one. The punches don't do much but the leg kick sweeps him off the ground for only a second until he uses his force to propel himself up.
Fuck this is gonna be tough.
Bucky is still trying to hold his own by the time Sam manages to get the last civilian out of the building.
“Hey Cap!” Bucky yells, nearly avoiding another blast. “Could use a little help here!” Sam swoops in and lands a punch to the back of Avalanches head.
“What is this guy even trying to accomplish?” Bucky asks out of breath.
“Vengeance!” Avalanche yells pushing himself up through sheer force.
“Greek, I did not expect that.” Sam swerves.
“Yeah me too.” Bucky jumps and lands a kick on the way down.
“Apparently,” Sam dodges a blast, “I overheard the-” he slices with his wing, “the police say an-” he rickashes his shield off of Avalanche “anti mutant Senator lived in one of these apartments.”
They both are blasted back. Sam throws his shield but he misses and it flies off skidding on to the ground. Sam is now stuck shieldless against a hostel.
Well, let's hope this works. Bucky thinks before he makes a run to grab Sam's shield. He grabs it right as another wave of Avalanches powers hit and uses it to block against the attack. Then he jumps up and plunges it through part of Avalanches helmet, pinning him down.
They quickly let the police take over the scene and cuff Avalanche.
“Dam.” Sam says out of breath.
“I know right.” Bucky grabs his side. “Fuck”
They stumble towards the police chief.
“Do you have a minute to talk to the press?” said a female voice from behind them. Sam freezes and Bucky turns around to look at her. But before he can say anything the reporter jumps in with a question. “Was that avalanche that you just fought?” “ah..yeah” Sam says looking at Bucky in another “help me i can't do interviews way”.
“Kind of obvious looking at the damage that was done, don't you think?” Bucky joked. “Why did you let the damage get so bad? Couldn't you have stopped him sooner?” the reporter says, pointing the mic in Sam's direction. “Well ah..we did the best we could I..we..uhm.” Bucky steps in before Sam can make any more of a fool of himself. “We did our best, we can't control other individuals, we can only hope to stop them as quickly as possible.”
She falls silent for a second but as Bucky turns to go she calls after them. “We have seen more and more crime pop up around the city after the Avengers disbanded and the death of Steve rogers. Why is it that he could protect these streets but you can barely control one mutant?”
Bucky whirls around enraged, “How dare you say that! He is one of the best goddamn captain americas that will ever serve the nation.” he was fucking angry, “You said that the avengers disbanded which means that Steve was not the only one protecting these streets. Sam was one of those avengers. He has been doing this for longer than anyone still protecting these streets and he is damn good at it. So what if he doesn't have a team he's got me and we’re trying our fucking best.” At this he storms off.
Bucky just needs some space to clear his head. All the reporter's noises were becoming like fog clouding his vision and he couldn't stand it anymore. As he leaned against a brick wall, he heard a small voice coming from behind him. “Excuse me?” said the person, “I…uhhmm..” the voice turned out to be a small girl (around 9 or 10) who seemed a bit scared when Bucky turned around.
Shit, Bucky thought. He had a way of scaring kids without meaning too.
“You..uhh…You're my favorite superhero!” she blurted out covering her face with her hands. Bucky chuckled at this. When he looked at her hands covering her face he noticed something different. As she lowered her prosthetic arm Bucky smiled and leaned down. “Really your favorite?”
“Uhhh huh.” she smiled nodding. “I even painted my arm to look like yours.” she said proudly showing off her plastic prosthetic that now looked very much like his metal one. “Wow. We're arm twins!” Bucky gleamed, unable to control the happiness in his voice. She smiles up at him, “When you were like, “why don't you pick on someone your own size” and then you just socked him in the face that was so cool!” she jumps up and down giddy with glee. He chuckles. “Thanks kid.” He leans down toward her, “What's your name kiddo?”
“Elena!” She exclaims. “What's yours, winter soldier?”
“No,” Bucky laughs, “My real name is Bucky.”
“Huh, Bucky…I like it!” She chirps.
“So where are your parents, kiddo?” He looks around.
“Oh, I lost my mom in the crowd….” She looks down at her feet.
“It's ok,” He reaches out a hand, “We can find her together.” She takes his hand as they start walking towards the crowd behind the reporters. Finally he hears a woman calling “Elena! Elena!” He navigates their way towards her until he is in front of a short redheaded woman. “Oh thank god!” She hugs her daughter giving him a wary look.
“This is my new friend Bucky!” Elena smiles at her mother, “He found me!”
“Oh thank you, thank you!” The woman shakes Bucky's hand. “I was so worried that I had lost her, it's not safe out here right now.”
“I understand ms. Elena found me and told me all about her cool prosthetic arm.” Bucky looks at Elena again who is beaming up at him.
“Well I am so glad she found you.”
“Hey Buck!” A voice rang across the street. Sam. “Buck where ar- Oh, looks like someone has a fan?” Sam says walking up to Bucky and Elena. “Hello Captain America.” she exclaims, smiling up at Sam.
“Hi!” He says to Elena, “Hate to be the bearer of bad news but we have to head back now but it was nice meeting you!” Sam smiles. “Bye Elena!” Bucky waves. “Bye Bucky and Captain America!”
“She's sweet, never thought you were good with kids.” Sam pokes Bucky. “I never knew kids look up to me.”
“Thanks for helping me with the reporters by the way,” Sam said when they were far enough away.
“I’d never let them walk all over you.”