Twenty six
Steve jumped down from the 15ft wall and straightened out his jacket. He heard Wade climbing down behind him, and walked towards the back door. Steve wasted no time kicking it open, by doing so he almost took the door off by it's hinges.
Wade dusted himself down and followed Steve close behind. Once he had caught up, they both walked down the darkened hallway until they came across a door containing dim light.
"Keep quiet." Steve said bringing his finger to his lips. He tried to listen for voices or any hint of movement, but he heard nothing.
With Steve going in first, they pushed open the door, and entered the kitchen.
Nomad drew his weapon and inspected the area. He was hoping to see Bucky. Hoping that he would be standing by the counter, biting his bottom lip, the way he always did when he was in deep thought. But the room was empty.
He noticed a half eaten pizza cast to the side. He walked over to it and picked it up. Bucky. He smiled at the thought of him eating on a job and Tasha’s reaction.
"They definitely came through here." Steve said to Wade.
"How do you know?" Wade’s question was quickly answered when Steve threw the half eaten pizza at him.
"If he ain't thinking about me, then hes usually thinking about food." Steve chuckled. He stopped when he remembered that he was supposed to be angry with Bucky. "The stupid bitch’s probably dead already if the only thing he can think about is his stomach."
Wade rolled his eyes at the Nomad, but thankfully he didn't notice.
A distant gunshot echoed through the corridor of the bottom floor. Wilson and Steve both snapped their heads in the direction of the source. Steve withdrew his pistol almost immediately and carefully stalked towards the connected corridor. Wade followed closely behind.
When they reached the hallway they were met with the sight of Natasha and Maria. No Bucky
Wade glanced to his left and saw a tiny wash room with a bashed up body tied to a chair. He blinked twice, not quite believing his eyes. Maria wasn't really the bashing skull kinda gal and Nat didn't have the stomach for it. This must of been Bucky’s handiwork.
When he looked back at the five dead bodies lying on the floor, he saw Steve charging towards Natasha. He had obviously noticed Bucky’s absence as well. Steve grabbed her by the throat slamming her into the wall.
"Where is he!?" Nomad barked, restricting her air flow.
"How did you-?" Nat stuttered. Not quite registering the fact that Steve had found them. "It doesn't matter!" He growled. "Where is the stupid brat?" His hands tightened around her neck
Maria lunged for Steve, trying to pull him away from Tasha, but Wade got to her before she got to him. "Get Offa me!" She cried, kicking out, trying to release herself from his hold. Wade didn't let up, his grip was like a vice
Natasha clawed at Steve’s tattooed wrist. "I can't breath-"
"Where the fuck is he!?" He shouted, watching Nat grow weaker and weaker under the grasp of his hand. The temptation to snap her neck became overwhelming, but his thoughts were interrupted by Maria shouting from behind him.
"She can't tell you if you're choking her you idiot!" She shouted.
Steve growled, releasing Natasha. He shoved the barrel of his gun into the side of her head instead. Nat took sharp staggering breaths and rubbed her neck. She looked upwards. Steve’s evil, psychopathic eyes were fixed on hers.
"For the last time. Where. Is. Bucky?" He asked, pressing the barrel of his purple and golden pistol further into her skull.
"I don't know! I don't know!" She shouted, with a burnt rasp voice. "He ran off!"
"You let him go on hisown? Are you fucking stupid? He has no idea what's he’s doing, what hes gotten herself into! AND YOU LET HIM RUN OFF!" He growled her. "I swear to god Natasha Romanov , when this is over I'm going to kill you. I'll let the street dogs rip you apart for this!" His finger twitched on the trigger, but he pulled his finger away at the last second.
"Which way did he go?" Wade asked. Still holding Maria back.
"He went that way." Maria flicked her eyes over towards the direction that Bucky had ran.
Steve swiveled on his feet and walked towards her. He grabbed Catwoman's face and brought it up to his. "You- I don't know how you got involved in this, and I don't care. But don't you think for one fucking second that you’re safe from me." He said gripping her jaw. "No one is safe from me."
He released Maria and turned around towards Nat, who was now standing on shaky legs. "One last thing.." He said quietly before raising his voice. "What the hell did you inject into Bucky!? If I find him with a weird plant fetish and green skin.. Your going to wish that you'd never been born-"
Natasha rolled her eyes. "More idle threats Steven?" She walked closer to him, she wasn't scared of him, she was just taken by surprise earlier. Well, that's what she kept on telling herself. "For your information Clown. That injection was to make him immune to all poisons including Alexander Pierce’s fear toxin. It's a horrible way to die and I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.. Well there is one person I can think of that I'd like to see tortured to death." She said, narrowing her eyes at him. She smirked when his fists began to shake. "So I think you owe me an apology."
"Oh you do, do you?" Steve threw his head back and laughed. "Alright Natty I'll apologize.. I'm sorry you're a lonely, miserable, jealous, man hating, mutant freak that can't stand to see Bucky happy. I bet you manipulated him from the beginning. Just so you could see my downfall. I warned you about taking revenge on me Natalia. My threats aren't idle... They're promises."
"Manipulation? Revenge? Stop making this about you Steve! Your Boyfriend wanted to prove to you, to all of us-" Nat gestured towards Maria and Wade. "-That he wasn't just the sex slave, punching bag that you've made him out to be! He’s a strong, independent person who can do whatever the fuck he likes! I wouldn't jeopardize our friendship for some petty revenge on a wannabe gangsta clown!" She shouted. "Maybe you should of actually killed Pierce like you were supposed to. Then you wouldn't be in this mess. Yasha wouldn't be in this mess." Natasha spat, straightening her posture.
"What did you say?" He growled, pulling his pistol up towards her. She countered his threat and drew her gun, aiming at his skull.
"You heard me asshole. If you had just killed him, instead of making a big production out of murder, like you always do. He would be dead." She retorted. "And maybe, just maybe if you had showed Bucky some attention, He wouldn't be trying to prove himself. I tried to talk him out of it, because quite frankly your life isn't worth protecting. But he was going to do it with or without me. I came along to look out for him, to protect him!"
"Don't you fucking dare lecture me on relationships Weed! The last one you had sent you cuckoo and turned your skin green!" His grip on his weapon tightened. "You can either help me find him and get shot later, or you get shot now... Your choice."
"Try." She said, her index finger flickering over the trigger.
Wade saw this whole situation spiraling out of control. "The longer we argue the less chance we have of finding him alive." He said calmly.
Steve looked at him, then back to Nat. "I will kill you, not now. But I will." He warned, putting his gun back in his holster. Wade released Maria, she spun round instantly and kicked him in the groin. "Don't touch me again." She hissed.
"Fuck." He cried. Clutching his groin, he looked over at Steve. Who just smiled and shrugged.
"C'mon." Steve said as he stepped over a dead henchmen, and stormed towards the direction that Bucky had disappeared to..
Maria was walking next to Natasha, with the nomad in front of her and Wade following closely behind. She whispered to Nat. "Maybe I should call cap.. Y'know maybe she could help?"
Nat's jaw dropped. "No, you can't! She’ll lock us up."
"I said that I'd help you and Bucks, not Nomad and his-" She glanced behind her towards Wade "-His bitch. Things are getting way out of our control."
"If you call Captain Marvel, I'll never forgive you." Tasha said, narrowing her eyes at her.
"Okay." Was all Maria responded with, it was neither confirming or denying that she was going to call her Ex-girlfriend.
Bucky approached the second floor from the stairs, he had his Ivory handled pistol clutched in his hands, ready to fire if needed. Apart from the 5 henchmen and the one guy strapped to the chair that he had beaten the shit out of, he surprisingly hadn't had anymore confrontations with Pierce’s men. But he knew that his luck was going to run out soon.
He had to find Pierce alone, Maria and Nat tagging along made it difficult, it meant that he had to look after two more lives as well as his own. The clicking of boots echoed down the moonlight hallway. But as Bucky continued to walk he heard another set of footsteps fall into sync with his.
He gasped. Clicking the safety catch off his gun he turned round to meet his follower. But the corridor was empty.
"Who's there? Tash? Maria?" He whispered, trying not to attract any attention from Henchmen that might be close by. Bucky shrugged it off, thinking it might all be in his head, he continued to walk. But the sound of footsteps reappeared.
Before he could turn around, a damp piece of material was shoved into his face. He instinctively held his breath, hoping that he could hold out before knocking his attacker unconscious.
But his plans were scuttled when another figure approached. The man punched him in the gut, making him cry out, and as soon as he did, the musky sent of chloroform filled his lungs. His vision grew black and hazy and he fell to the ground. His world falling away into the shadows.