Chapter twenty three
Pearl paced the floor behind the bar, tapping the envelope that Bucky had given her in her right hand, Bucky had given the letter under strict instructions, Pearl couldn’t help but feel like Steve needed to be involved. Bucky had changed his life for the better, despite only being together for a year.
Pearl had watched Nomad change as a person and become a more level headed criminal, rather than a mad businessman chasing a superpowered blonde in a spandex suit.
The nomad had done so much for Pearl since her husband had died, she was in a bad place, Steve brought her in and set her up with a career, purpose and a sense of belonging. He always showed her respect and made sure she was always well looked after. Although she was pretty confident that he wouldn’t go down the same spiral she had, Pearl knew for sure that if anything did happen to Bucky, he would take blame to himself and become even more dangerous to everyone and everything around him.
Pearl couldn’t just stand there and watch it happen, especially if she knew that Steve could stop it.
She clutched the letter tight in her hand making a beeline for the staircase, she raced up as quickly as she could. She stood outside the door bracing herself, raising her fist to knock.
A harsh knocking rang through the oak door frame, Pearl heard the sound of a screeching chair grate against the floor and the door flying open. Steve’s face met hers, it quickly changing from a dark frown to a polite smile, “Pearl, what can I do for ya? I thought I said I didn’t want to be disturbed”
She fumbled with the corner of the envelope, trying to figure out how she was going to tell him. “I’m sorry Mr. Rogers, but there’s something you need to know, it’s of the highest importance”
Steve nodded slightly, stepping forward shutting the door on Wade, who’s still in his chair. “Make it quick” Steve pulled her to one side. “It’s Bucky,” Pearl started, shes never been nervous around Steve before, but when she said those few words his face changed into something she’d never seen before. It.Was.Terrifying.
“What about Bucky?” Steve growled
“He gave me this” Pearl said. Steve’s eyes wandering down to the envelope that Pearl’s holding, the words ‘Puddin’ on the back written in Bucky’s handwriting. He looked up at Pearl expecting an explanation, “He stopped by and told me to give you this if..if something were to happen to him tonight, he’s gone out, he was acting weird Steve, I’m scared he’s in danger” Pearl saw his face drop. “I tried to talk him out of it but he wouldn’t listen, I tried-”
He snatched the letter tearing it open;
Steve,
Puddin, If you’re reading this then I’m sorry. You’ve probably come to the conclusion by now that I’m not here in the physical anymore.
I know you’re angry right now and rightly so, but please remember that I did it all to protect you, never to deceive you. I did it all for you, so that you could go on running your empire without the worry of it being conquered by an undeserving, second rate criminal with a chemical fetish. I love you and everything that you, and you and I have built together to let that happen.
I’ve never told you this before and that’s partly because whenever I tried, your charm, wit and humor would always distract me and if I had told ya I’d of ended up crying, so now is my chance to tell you,
When we first met back at shield I was instantly attracted to you. Not just the physical but your mind, your fantastic, inspiring and complicated mind. You had a way of making me feel at ease, even though I was sitting at a table in front of the most notorious criminal mastermind that the world has and will ever see.
I bring it up in almost every argument we have, I have to admit that kidnapping me was the best thing that has ever happened to me. You showed me the path to true happiness, you set me free and made me see the world as it truly is. You made my whole world betta Puddin and I owe you everything. I’m sorry I couldn’t return the favor, I just hope this was enough.
I’m not gonna write a whole thing about regret because I don’t regret a single moment in this life with you, not even the arguments I’ve had with you, because they just made us stronger, they brought us closer and without the fist fights, threats and occasional bullet and stab wounds we wouldn’t be as we are now.
We’ve been through some rough times but also some truly amazing ones as well, I think we can both agree that it’s more good then bad. I’ll cherish those memories forever, in this life and everyone after, to the end of the line , remember.
You are the missing piece of me and ‘M glad I took the impulse of leaving my gymnastics scholarship to study psychiatry, I’m glad I stayed in Brooklyn and I’m sure as hell glad I met you.
Please don’t blame yourself or Natalia for what happened, It was my decision and mine alone. Hopefully it was a success. If it wasn’t I’m sorry, I swear I tried everything to come back home to you.
You have to know that I never intended on lying to you again, especially after last time. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me..I can just imagine you now telling yourself that you don’t have a heart, But I know you do, because you shared it with me.
I’m sorry if you think this letter is a cop-out for not facing you directly, but I knew you would have talked me out of it and gone to face Pierce alone. But that’s what he wanted and I’ll be damned if I let him get to you.
There’s a brightside to all this, I’ll get to meet your Mom, tell her all about how much her son has grown and how hes the top high roller in the underworld.
I love you, Puddin, Daddy,Nomad, Steve. I’ll wait for you, however long it takes, I’ll wait for you to come back to me.
I love you so much, always and forever.
Yours forever,
- Bucky Barnes. ;)
Steve stands there frozen, he didn’t move, didn’t blink or breathe, just stared at the tear stained piece of paper, Bucky clearly cried while writing it.
“Steve?” Pearl put her hand on his shoulder, “Steve, what does it say?”
He looked up at her, Pearl met his eyes, instantly growing worried, she grabbed the paper from his hands reading it over. She read the words with tears rolling down her cheeks, she looked up at Steve after reading it. He was still standing there with a blank expression.
Then his face changed
Steve grabbed Pearl by the shoulders. “Did he say where he was going?” Steve growls. Pearl just stares at him a moment. “Damn it Pearl, answer me!” he shouts. She’s shaking, he’s ever acted like this with her before, he’s capable of anything in this state. “I don’t know I-”
Pearl was cut off when the conference room door swung open, Wade standing there holding a gun, assessing the situation immediately, he put it back in his waistband rushing towards Steve, grabbing him by the shoulder pulling him away from Pearl.
“What the fuck is going on boss?!” He shouts confused.
Steve pushed Wade away and straightened his jacket, he grabbed the letter from Pearl throwing it at Wilson. The mercenary reads it over, glancing up at Steve, it became clear to him in that moment that Steve and Bucky were not working together to defeat Pierce, even though that was his initial thought, Bucky had been working solo with the Black Widow to protect the nomad.
Steve set his jaw pacing, trying to calm himself. Everything was making sense now, the bruises, the frequent phone calls with Natasha, even Bucky’s busted knuckles and him coming home covered in blood and not even an hour later news breaking that Jasper Sitwell was murdered in Obidah Stane’s lounge.
Steve leaned against the wall running his hand over his face, he went over the events from the past few weeks, trying to see if he’d missed anything, and he had. The damn blood in the sink.
Everything fell into place, Bucky had been planning and preparing for a long time. If he’d just paid him a little more attention then maybe he wouldn’t be doing this, he wouldn’t be trying to prove himself.
Wade turned his attention to Pearl who was still visibly shaking. “How long has it been since he gave you the letter?” He asked calmly. “About five minutes ago” She sobs, looking over at Steve. “Nomad I’m sorry, I tried my best, he was insistent, I couldn’t stop him”
Steve snapped his head around to her, “You didn’t try hard enough. You should have called me, what the fuck do I pay you for if you can’t even use simple common sense!” He walked towards her, “If anything happens to him, I swear to god you’ll wish that you’d-”
Wade stepped in between the Nomad and Pearl, shielding her, “Cool it Steve, there’s no point focusing on what should have happened. Instead we need to be focusing on what we should do now. The longer we stay here and play the blame game, the more likely you’ll be reading that letter for real!”
Steve backed away and slammed his fist into the nearby wall, growling in anger, anger shielding fear, not that he’s ever shown fear to anyone ever nor will he ever.
A delicate hand grasps his shoulder, he turns around. “I am sorry” Pearl whispered, Steve closed his eyes and dropped his head so that his forehead was now resting on hers.
“I know” He replied, trying to calm his angered state, he’s no use to Bucky like this. Pearl placed her hands on either side of his head kissing his forehead. “Go find him and bring him home”
Steve nodded slowly, bringing his head back up. Steve looked at Wade who was now holding out Steve’s 1911 colt pistol for him to take, Steve grabbed it securing it in his holster.
Wade practically had to run down the stairs to keep up with him, he could still hear Pearl crying behind him as they left her in the corridor.
Once Wade had caught up, he followed Steve towards the car park. He saw the Nomad’s eyes narrow on a set of tire marks that were printed onto the pavement. Steve smiled briefly.
“Boss, What’s the plan?” Wade asked as they approached the Lamborghini.
“Kill Pierce, Kill Natasha and then Bucky. If he ain’t dead already he’ll wish he was by the time I get my hands on him” Steve fumes, unlocking his car. Wade walked around to the passenger side.
“What’re you doing, Wilson?”
“Gettin in the car, Boss?”
“Get in your own car” Steve spits.
Not wanting to irritate him further, Wade walked over to his own mustang. Wade yelled over the roof of his car. “Where we headed?”
Steve glanced at the tire tracks. “By the looks of Bucky’s little token of vandalism, we head North, till I say so”
“Copy, Boss” Wade said, settling into his car.
Nomad settled into his own car and roared the Lamborghini to life, he wasted no time in setting off onto the roads of Brooklyn, following the ghost trail of his boyfriend, Bucky Barnes.
____________________________________________________________________________
“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” Natasha asked, she glanced at Bucky who had his eyes focused on the road ahead.
“For the last time, yes. If ya keep askin me, ‘M gon’ kick you outta the car” Bucky said tightening his mix matched hands on the wheel.
“Jeez, Cool it, Barnes”
“I know you’re concerned, but we can do this Nat. The two of us against Pierce and his minions..I like those odds” Bucky smiles.
Nat shifted in her seat. “Yeah..The two of us..”
Bucky eased off the gas pedal and turned his attention to Nat, “Red? You ain’t hidin’ something from me are ya?”
“Nothing bad, there’s just something that I may have neglected to tell you?”
“And what’s that?” Bucky tried to speak calmly but Nat could hear his sharp undertone.
“Promise you won’t fly off the handle okay? I did it for our own benefit. I did it so we might have a small chance of getting out of this thing alive”
“Spit it out Natalia, before you’re the one flying off the handle and by that I mean, this car door handle” Bucky snapped, he didn’t know what she was about to say but he felt a little betrayed.
“Well,” Natasha took a deep breath, “Since I wasn’t prepared with a plan, I had to improvise and let’s just say..We have another pair of hands to even the playing field”
Bucky’s jaw dropped. “You hired someone!? And you didn’t think to tell me!? Who is it!?”
“I knew you’d disa[[rove” Tasha argued back, “That’s why I kept it from you”
“Tell me who it is, peppermint patty!”
“Careful there Yasha, you’re starting to sound like Rumlow”
Bucky gasps dramatically at her words, “How dare- I- you- How dare you such awful things to me, Krasnyy”
“Relax lyubov’, It’s someone who knows how to slip in and out of places undetected, she knows the streets of Brooklyn better than anyone else I know, we’re gonna need her-”
“Her? Who is she?” Bucky started to mentally flick through all the female villains he knew of, who fit the description, then it clicked. “It’s Rambeau isn’t it, it’s fucking Maria Rambeau”
“From your tone, I’m guessing you don’t like her”
“Don’t like her?! Fuck Natalia Romanova, she’s slept with the captain more times than I’ve had hot meals. That bitch can not be trusted” Bucky shouted. “Okay first off, you need some gum,” Natasha says, “Second, She’s over her. Maria’s a villain in her own right, just like us. You don’t have to like her Bucky, you just have to suck it up and accept that the two of us ain't gonna be enough. It’s our best option for success, I didn’t nor do I need your approval, I did it for your- our safety” Natasha retorted. “I’m fine with a bit of risk Bucky, but I will not sacrifice my life or watch you die, just to protect the nomad. This is our best shot”
Bucky tensed his jaw, he knew that Natalia was right, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the whole situation. He had never met Maria personally but he knew that her and the cap were seeing each other, Regardless to whether they were currently rolling around in the sheets ot not, the likelihood of Captain Carol Danvers compromising their mission has shot up dramatically.
“If I end up in Shield or the blacksite off the coast of motherfuckin Siberia, tonight because you thought it would be a good idea to trust a pussycat, then I will beat your fucking ass Natalia”
“I’d rather you in a straight jacket, than bleeding out on the floor raped and murdered by Pierce” Natasha said sincerely. “If you were in my position, you’d do the same damn thing”
Bucky understood, but he still wasn’t happy about it. At least if the Captain did show up, he might make it out alive…