Chapter twenty two
“I got some smoke bombs, grenades, a coupla launchers, anything else you can think of red?” Bucky asks over the phone, he’s standing in the cellar, looking at a wooden crate he filled with his goodies.
“Bucky, I don’t think we’ll need launchers, it’s a gang war not nineteen forties Germany” Natasha retorted.
“Don’t knock it Tash, Because when I shout ‘Launcher’ you’ll be sorry”
Nat laughs, then stops realizing that Bucky’s deadly serious.
Bucky walked over towards an old dining room table, which is stuck in the corner of the cellar, taking the heavy crate with him, Bucky placed it on top of the wooden table. Bucky runs his metal fingers over the thick layer of dust on the mahogany table, Bucky presses his fingers into the dust drawing a heart with ‘S+BB’ written inside of it.
Looking at his masterpiece, Bucky sighed. “Steve’s hiding something from me Red, I can feel it”
“Your just being paranoid hun, He’s always valued work over you. I don’t know why’re suddenly surprised”
“He doesn’t- he didn’t- he’s not- not always, we used to go out to the clubs, go dancing, drinking. We had fun. We spent time together regardless to whether he was working or not, Ever since all this Pierce business started back up again, he;s been more distant. Working morem going on secret meetings and- fuck I don’t know!, Maybe he knows what we’re up to, maybe he’s chea-”
“Bucky stop. If Steve knew what we were planning, surely he would have put a stop to it by now?”
“Last time I lied to him, he pretended he didn’t know about it, just to catch me. You didn’t see his face today Nat, the way he looked at me when he saw the bruises on my arm, the way he looked at me when I busted my knuckles..It was like he was putting the pieces together” Bucky’s voice began to go shaky with tears.
“He doesn’t know, you wanna know why? Because if he did, he would have marched over to my place and cut me into tiny little pieces by now. He warned me about the consequences if I ever dragged you into danger…I’m telling you Bucky, if he knew, I would be dead by now”
Bucky takes some deep calming breathes. “Yeah..Right…Maybe you have a point, god this needs to be over. It’s tearing me apart”
“I know Hun, It will be soon I promise, as soon as we find out if Wade is on team Nomad or not. Once we know that, then we can make our move”
Who the fuck is Wade?
WHY THE FUCK IS WADE?
What the fuck is a Wade?
Bucky walked over towards a plain looking baseball bat, leaning against the wall, he picked it up testing the weight in his right hand. “I’m not waiting for whoever Wade us to decide which team he’s battin’ for” Bucky stopped realizing what he’s just said. “Wrong phrase of words but Y’ know what I mean”
Talia laughs. “Yeah Bucks, I know what you mean”
Bucky smiled whilst twisting the wooden bat around in his fingers. He likes the way it feels in his hands, it gave him a sense of good old fashion raw power. Bucky walked back over to the table and placed the baseball bat in the crate along with the other items.
“Tonight Nat, I want this over by tonight”
“Tonight!?! Are you fucking insane!” Nat shouts over the phone.
“Well it’s not medically proven but by my own diagnosis suggests that I am borderline-”
“You got that right” Nat spits
“Look red, I’m not wasting another moment, We’ve got our equipment and more than enough information. What else are we waiting for? We’ve got the green light, so lets go!” Bucky argues.
“Bucky we don’t have a solid plan, we can’t just go in there guns blazing!”
“Not my problem, It was your job to make a plan, if you haven’t done that by now then that’s your issue. I’m doing this tonight Nat, with or without you” Bucky snapped.
There was a few moments of silence over the phone before Nat eventually responded. “Fine, but you need to make peace with the fact that without a plan, we could get caught or even killed”
“I made peace with that a long time ago. I would rather somethin’ happen to me, than to Steve. I wish you could understand that”
Natasha sighs, “I do understand, I just don’t understand why you’d put your life on the line for that man. He wouldn’t do the same for you”
“He would and besides, even if he didn’t it wouldn’t matter, because I’m in love with him. End of fucking story.”
“You have blind faith in love Bucky Barnes” Nat mutters.
Bucky rolls his eyes, “Are you in or not?”
“I’m not letting you face Pierce alone”
“It’s settled then” Bucky holds the phone between his ear and shoulder, picking up the crate. He carried it up the stairs to his car. “Suit up, I’ll pick you up at midnight tonight”
“I’ll be ready” Nat answers, and the line goes dead.
Bucky pockets his phone walking towards the garage, he opened up the trunk of his R8, placing the crate inside. He looks over his stash smiling to himself, “Watch out Pierce, I’m common’ for you”
Hours had passed since the phone call and Bucky was now standing in front of his full length bedroom mirror. He was wearing the outfit that Steve had bought him almost twelve months ago, the outfit he only wore on jobs. Jobs with Daddy.
His black cargo tact pants, 1460 doc martins, tight leather jacket that leaves his prosthetic out. And his tact belt. This outfit hasn’t really seen the light of day since his suspension and now it was time to take them for a ride.
After securing his pink pig tail in a pink hair band just like the blue side with a blue tie, Bucky stepped over towards the closet pulling out his black leather fingerless gloves.
It’s now nearing eleven thirty pm and Bucky had some errands to run before embarking on his battle with Pierce. He walked over to the bedside table picking up an envelope, Bucky slipped it into his back pocket along with his phone.
Bucky walked towards the bedroom door, he turned around and smiled, the realization of the fact that he might not ever see this place again hit him. Their bedroom that they shared night after night, the memories of their time together in this room came flooding back. The night he kidnapped him, the night he gave himself completely over to him, the goofy playful moments they’d have; the constant arguments that occurred within these walls, and the incredible, mind blowing makeup sex they would have afterwards, and if this mission were to fail, he would never experience them again.
A single tear fell from his eye as he switched off the light, Bucky closed the door behind him, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time that he would do so.
Bucky slowly walked towards the garage and took in every last detail of his home, once he got to his car, he put the key in the ignition and made his way to the first stop on his list.
The matte black Audi rolled to a stop outside LUX , he hadn’t stepped foot inside this place since his first encounter with Alexander Pierce, and he wasn’t planning to, Bucky pulled out his phone, dialing Pearl’s number.
“Hey P, it’s Bucky, yeah, it’s been a long time. Could you do me a favor and come outside to the lot? I need to speak to you and I don’t really want to come inside, Okay? Thank you, bye”
Seconds later, Pearl walked out of the club;s double doors, she was dressed in an elegant, below the knee green silk dress, clutching a white fur coat tightly around her body. Pearl walked towards the car, squinting her eyes to see where Bucky was, she smiled when the R8 sitting in front of her flashed it’s headlights.
She carefully walked around the car and slipped into the passenger seat.
“Bucky! My darling! It’s been a long time” Pearl embraced Bucky in a big hug.
“I’ve missed you, Mrs. P” Bucky said, hugging her back.
Pearl felt something warm splash onto her shoulder, she pulled away looking into Buck’s wet eyes. “Bucky? What’s wrong?”
Bucky weakly smiled. “Nothing mrs. P. I’m just so happy to see you”
“Oh darling, don’t cry” Pearl got a handkerchief out from her pocket using the corner to wipe away Bucky’s smudged eyeliner. “Sorry, I just-”
“Did you want me to get Nomad? He’s in a meeting right now, but I’m sure he won’t be long. I could fix your favorite drink and we could have a proper catch up while we wait?” Pearl offered, Bucky smiled and took Pearl’s hand. “That sounds lovely Mrs. P, but I can’t stay. Anyway, I didn’t want to see Steve, I wanted to speak to you”
“Bucky? What is it? You’re worrying me” She says
“I er, well there’s a-”
“Take your time” She squeezed Bucky’s hand, “It’s nothing to worry about P, honest. I just wanted to see you, I wanted to ask you a favor”
“What favor? You’re not breaking up with Nomad are you? Because I’ll tell you right now young man, I won’t let that happen. I-”
“No, no, I’m not breaking up with him, I love the idiot too much” Bucky reassured her.
Pearl sighed with relief. “Thank god, well if it’s not that them what is it darling?”
“I want you to give this to Steve” Bucky pulled out the envelope. “Don’t give it to him right now, just keep it safe until the moment is right”
Pearl took the envelope and studied it. “Bucky? What is this?”
“It doesn’t matter, what matters is that you give it to him, if something happens to m-” Bucky stopped, he had already revealed too much. “Bucky, what are you saying?” Pearl asked, Bucky didn’t say anything. “Bucky, what’s going on?”
“Just-” Bucky took a shaky breath and clutched Pearl’s hand. “Just please give him the letter if I..If I don’t come home tomorrow. Okay?”
A tear slipped from Pearl;s eye. “No Bucky, Whatever the hell is going on, Steve can help”
“Not this time” Bucky shook his head. “I refuse to believe that Steve has always done his best for you, he can help you. Keep you safe” Pearl snapped
“No he can’t, it’s not my safety that you should be concerned about. It’s his. I’m doing this for him, to protect him”
“Nomad can look after himself, if anything happened to you, and I let you go … I couldn’t live with that. It’s unfair of you to ask me to do this. I won’t.” Pearl shoved the letter back into Bucky’s hands. “I’m calling him, before you do something stupid”
Bucky saw Pearl get her phone out, Bucky grabbed it quickly. “Pearl please, he can’t know. He’ll get himself killed and neither of us wants that. Let me keep him safe” Bucky gave Pearl back her phone, along with the letter. “This is just a precaution. Everyone has a ghost letter in this line of work. Hell, they even do it in the military”
“But-“ Pearl tried to protest, but Bucky cut her off. “Just promise me, Kay?”
She sighed, “I promise” Pearl hugged him tightly, “There’s no talking you out of this is there?”
“No chance”
Pearl pulled away looking into Bucky’s shining blue eyes. “If I Can’t make you reconsider, then you’ll have to make me a promise, promise that you will be careful. If anything happened to you Bucky, it would break him”
“I’ll be careful, I promise” Bucky reassured her, “Thank you for everything, Mrs. P”
Pearl smiled and rubbed another stray tear away from Bucky’s face. “It’s my pleasure sweetie” she opened the car door stepping out.
Bucky called after her, “Mrs P? One last favor…could you send Ruby out here please? I want to apologize for Steve’s behavior”
“Of course” Pearl gently closed the door walking off back into the club.
Moments later, Ruby emerged wearing practically nothing and clutching her wrist.
Bucky quickly jumped out of the car approaching her slowly, they stood face to face with each other.
Just as Ruby was about to open her mouth it was forced shut by Bucky’s fist slamming into the side of her face. Ruby cried out falling on the cold concrete.
“Stay the hell away from my boyfriend” Bucky spat on Ruby as she struggled to her feet. “You’re pathetic” Bucky muttered , as he turned back to walk to his car.
Watching the angry two toned brunette walk away, Ruby began to sob. Bucky rolled down the window laughing as he slowly drove past Ruby, doing a deliberate wheel spin to frighten the girl more.
Errands done, Bucky sped off into the night, Ready to take Pierce head on.