Chapter thirteen
Bucky jumped in Nat’s corvette snooping around the glove box as she drove. He pulled out some pink fluffy handcuffs laughing, “Daddy uses special ones so I don’t accidently break them”
Tasha rolled her eyes turning on the radio, “Bucky, before we were rudely interrupted I had some news to tell you-” Tasha was cut off once again by Bucky pulling out a lipstick tube. “Is this your mind juju lippy? Can I try some?”
“Nyet!” She slapped his hand away, “Listen to me for christ sake Yasha, This is important”
“Alright” he said giggling, Natasha glanced at Bucky, “It’s about Pierce, There’s no easy way to say this,” She took a deep breath. “Pierce is alive, Bucky. And he’s out for blood”
Bucky’s jaw dropped, staring out the car window in shock, trying to comprehend what he’d just been told. Things had literally just got back to normal with his life and another Motherfucker was coming to fuck things for him again.
“Yebat” Bucky shook his head “No! Fuck no! How is he alive! Steve shot him point blank”
“I don’t know details Yasha, as far as I’m aware, Steve didn’t hit any vital organs. Apparently Pierce was found and got medical attention just in time. He’s been hiding out, rebuilding Hydra. From the rumors I’ve heard, he wants revenge on Nomad and his organization. If he’s after Steve, then he’s after you as well”
“He can’t be alive,” Bucky says hysterically. “This is bullshit. Steve shot him. Steve killed him.” he growls “I have proof!” he pulls out his phone scrolling through the texts between him and Steve. “Look! He’s dead as hell!” He shoved the phone in Tasha’s face. “Nah hun, his eyes ain’t glassy. He’s alive, barely”
“No Red, this has to be a mistake, someone’s trying to fuck with us! Steve don’t leave loose ends, he would have made sure Pierce was dead.” He explained clutching his phone. The more he looked at the photo the more he saw that there was in fact, life left in Pierce’s eyes. “Shit, oh shit” he whispered, looking up at Tasha. “It’s gonna be alright, Yasha” she patted his knee. “How the fuck is any of this gon’ be okay!” He shouted trying not to start sobbing “I hafta tell Steve”
Before Bucky had a chance to call his boyfriend, Tasha grabbed the phone from his hand, stuffing it into her bra. “I can’t let you do that” She said sternly. “Why the hell not!”
“Don’t you see? This is the perfect opportunity for you to show your worth. Show the world what you got, show that asshole Rogers, that you’re more than just a punching bag!” She explained. “For the millionth fucking time Natalia Alianaova Romanova, I. Ain’t. His. Punching. Bag!” Bucky argues growling. “You’re about as scary as he is” Nat giggles, “I don’t wanna do anything stupid, he wants me to stay safe, not put myself in harm's way.”
Natasha sighed, she didn’t really want to manipulate Bucky, especially since Steve had done enough of that over the past few months, but she didn’t have a choice. It was for the greater good. “What’s more important, Bucky? Your safety or Steve’s? If we find Pierce then we can kill him properly, no resurrection for that fucker. We can end it, end the threat to Steve’s life. You can protect him, don’t you want to protect the love of your life, Yasha?” She looked in his teary blue eyes “I sure as hell would” Nat hated herself for saying that, but Bucky had to become a criminal in his own right, and not just remain Nomad’s out of work cockwarmer.
After a few moments, Bucky turned to Nat. “Okay, I'm in”
“Good, we’ll make plans later. Now let’s get some food, I’m starving” She smiles, “Okay” Bucky murmured. This whole situation was just fucking typical, why culdn’t things just be normal, just for once.
Tried that once, got bored
Who asked you
“Cheer up, buttercup. It’s not all bad, I get to witness those badass shooting skills I keep hearing about!” Tasha tried desperately to lighten his mood. “Yeahh,” He smiles “I’m pretty sick with a firearm, pretty hot with a knife too” His smile grew imagining himself stabbing Pierce in his stupid face. Tasha laughed at him, it was broken when Bucky let out a loud gasp.
“What is it! What’s wrong?” She asks in panic, “I fucking love this song!” Bucky beamed turning up the radio. “Steve’s a scrub” Nat said when the song ended, laughing. Bucky laughed harder. “If he ever hollered at you, I’d kill him”
“I’d kill him first,” She said. “Touche” he fist bumped her. “This is the most fun I’ve had since Steve fucked m-”
“There you go ruining a perfectly nice moment. I knew it wouldn’t last” Nat shook her head smiling. “Sorry Nat, ain’t we supposed to share these things? Being besties and all” Bucky teased. “Then we ain’t best friends” Tasha deadpanned, “That hurt” Bucky clutched his heart, she chuckled pulling into a diner parking lot, linking her arm with Bucky’s walking in.
“Hey Red,” Bucky swallowed, looking around nervously, “Ain’t people gon’ recognize us?”
“Don’t worry Bucks, I know the owner, there’s more criminals in this place then there are at SHIELD.”
Bucky nodded silently, “C’mon let’s get some greasy burgers and bad customer service” Tasha said, leading him to a clean table.
Steve was pacing his office, waiting for a very important phone call. After he had Walker removed from the cellar, he heard some of Pierce’s ex-employees chattering amongst themselves, the words ‘Pierce’ and ‘I’m not working for him again, the pays shit’ sticking out, which loosely suggested that something was going on in the underworld.
The phone ringing broke him out of his thoughts. “Rumlow, any news?” Brock Rumlow was still working at Shield, he’d gone part time since his promotion to Steve’s right hand and Bucky’s transformation. “Slight chatter amongst the inmates, I don’t have anything solid yet”
“What kinda chatter?” He asks, taking a seat in his chair. “There’s been rumors of movement in the underworld, that Pierce is back and that he’s trying to rebuild hydra” Brock winced when he spoke, holding the phone away from his ear, waiting for Steve’s piercing voice to shout over the receiver.
“What!” he shouted. “Boss, it’s jus’a ru-”
“This is bullshit!” Steve slammed his fist on the desk. “How can he be alive? I killed him!” He growled, then it hit him, he never shot him in the head, nor did he check for a pulse. Motherfucker.
“You’re right” He said trying to calm himself, “I want updates, anything you learn tell me immediately”
“Aight, this shit hole is on lock down at the moment so-”
“You assume I give a shit? I don’t care how you get this information, just get it.”
“Will do, Boss”
“Good. And keep this to yourself, we don't want to attract any unwanted attention.” Steve straightens a photo of him and Bucky that he kept on his desk. “Not under any and I mean any circumstances will Bucky find out.”
“Understood,” Rumlow repiled. “Good man” Steve hung up the phone, resting his head in his hands. This is the last thing he needed, Running two successful businesses, managing sixty plus henchmen. Organizing jobs for him and his boys on a weekly basis, plus being hunted down like a dog by the NYPD and trying desperately to fit in time for Bucky, things were really starting to piss him off. And now, PIerce is back in the mix, definitely not a good combination for the world's most notorious psychopathic mob boss to be dealing with.
Something had to give and it definitely wasn’t going to be Captain Marvel.