Their last and only hope was Wakanda.
Bucky stood nearby, holding the Captain's shield. It was a strange feeling to have it and to know that Steve would never take it again. The knowledge weighed on him. And the shield . . . it felt like it belonged to someone else. Bucky knew he had no right to it, that he didn't deserve it. And yet, here he was, standing where Steve should have been standing.
He kept seeing it. What happened on the train. Dead Sharon and zombie Steve bending over her and then lifting his head to rest his eyes on his other victim. Bucky was shaken by the sight of Steve internally, but he gave no outward sign. It was better that way. He forbade himself from thinking of him as Steve, his best friend. This was not the Steve he had known, who was willing to jump on a grenade and sacrifice himself for others. This was a zombie starving for human flesh.
Death was the only solution. It's either him or Steve. Bucky knew that if he would die, he would be of no use to others, and saving the world depended only on them. On them who's left.
It was ironic that it was Captain America's shield that killed Steve.
Sorry, pal. I guess this is the end of the line.
Bucky shook his head. It's better not to think about it. He had to keep himself busy, that would be the best.
He loaded his pistol and removed the shield from his back, which he hung from his arm. "I'll look around the base for something to transport," he said when Okoye said their only option was to return to Wakanda.
"Sergeant Barnes," Vision said emphatically, as Bucky turned his back on them and prepared to leave. "You won't find what you're looking for." But did he dream it, or did he hear an alarm in Vision's voice?
As he moved away, heading further into the dark corridors, the voices of the others slowly faded before fading completely. Bucky pulled out his flashlight, and the hallways glowed blue. The sounds of his footsteps echoed off the walls. He took a deep breath of the excess air from his lungs, and despite his predicament, a strange calm filled his mind.
It's like he can finally breathe here. Here he could ease off, here he could remove his mask, which he wore regularly in front of the others. He felt the muscles in his face relax and weight slowly drop from his shoulders. It was strange to have the chance to finally relax. But with it came a hard realization that he was alone now. Steve was dead. Sam was dead. And Natasha ... He felt a heavy stone settle in his stomach. He had no idea what had happened to Nat. He had no idea where she was, whether she'd survived or whether she'd become a zombie, too ... Because if she had, he hoped he'd never meet her, that he wouldn't have to face her and fight her the way he had fought Steve. Because that would be even harder. The idea of having to kill her ... he couldn't do that.
He turned right and shone his flashlight into every corner. He was surprised to find pieces of broken furniture lying around, plaster peeling off the walls. He frowned and looked around carefully. All his senses were alert. He stepped over a smashed chair and headed down a corridor that split in two. He paused for a moment at a fork in the road before moving left. He was shining his flashlight on the ground and stopped for a moment when he saw a several items of clothing on the floor. An uneasy sense of foreboding came over him. There can't be another zombie lurking here, or...?
He shone his light in every corner and even turned to face back the way he had come when he heard a rasping sound behind him. He glanced back quickly and pointed the gun at where it was coming from. The flashlight ahead revealed a hunched woman in a red suit. Her greasy hair hung down her misshapen face. Bucky fired twice in a row, straight up, like he'd been taught in the Army. The first bullet didn't always have to be fatal. But he faced a zombie. Zombie Wanda, he realized. And an even more surprising discovery was when he realized that Wanda was just standing there, watching him and not moving. She didn't go out to him, she didn't use her powers on him. She just stood there looking at him.
Bucky watched her incredulously, shielding himself with his shield, his gun loaded, ready to fire, though he feared the gun would be of little use against the zombie, against the zombie Wanda.
And then he heard it.
"Stop. You'll anger her."
That beloved voice that yearned to hear again, yet dreaded the moment. What did the future have in store for them? His heart quivered to know that a loved one was near again after all this time. He couldn't believe it.
With a mixture of fear and enthusiasm, he left Wanda alone and shone his flashlight in the direction the voice was coming from. He walked quickly to the drawn curtains that covered the entrance to the next room and parted them.
"Nat?" he called cautiously. He couldn't believe it was actually happening.
"James?" she gasped, narrowing her eyes with a low moan as the bright light hit her. Bucky exhaled and ran to her. She was lying on a table, looking exhausted.
He clutched her face in his hands at once, as if he needed to make sure it was really her, alive and well. She leaned into his touch and gave him a weary smile. He stroked her cheeks gently, and couldn't believe he was seeing her again. Her red hair was spread around her head, and he only now realized there was sweat beading on her forehead.
“You shouldn't have come here,” she whispered, raising her hand to catch his. She squeezed his fingers tightly and closed her eyes. “You should go. Please go while there's still time."
“Forget it,” he assured her, his voice calm and firm. “I won’t leave you again. I'm not leaving you here. I can't leave you here, I would have never forgiven myself." His eyes swept over her; he had never seen her this defenseless. And then he gasped in shock when he noticed Natasha's thigh was bandaged and her leg ended at the knee.
“Nat!” he cried in horror, his eyes straying back to her face. The idea that someone had hurt his Nat was unbearable. "Who did this to you?" he snarled - his voice now a very different shade. It was as sharp as a knife's blade, and it glistened with anger. She had to smile at that. He was so determined to defend her.
"If you're not going out of here, I probably have no choice and I have to walk out of here with you," she said in response to his question. She sat up with a grunt, and he fixed her with his sharp gaze. He didn't like her not answering. "We don't have much time," she said instead, glancing quickly over Bucky's shoulder, toward the room where Wanda was. “We have to run. Now," she said.
"Shall I carry you?" suggested Bucky, seeing her reach for her crutch. The murderous look she gave him immediately made him regret even saying those words out loud.
"James," she said in an ostensibly sweet voice, "I may be missing a piece of my leg, but I still have the second leg. I'm not some fragile woman who needs saving. Now, we really have to get out of here, because we've lost some time with this silly chatter."
"All right. But you know, I miss the times I could hold you in my arms," he whispered teasingly as she stood up, leaning on her crutch. Bucky grabbed her around the waist to help her walk, and Natasha gave him an incredulous look.
"We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and you're thinking about this?" she panted, leaning reluctantly against Bucky as they made their way back to Vision and the others. They had no idea that Wanda's furious face was watching them from the darkness, not liking the passing of her prey.
He gave her a crooked smile. “And you wonder when I finally see you again after all this time?”
“I’m missing a piece of my leg.”
“So? You're still just as irresistible," he assured her earnestly, and she snorted.
"What a change," she said, surprised to realize that Bucky had a shield. "How long I've been here? That you've become the new Captain America?"
Bucky flashed a tight smile. "Long story," he said evasively, quickly adding, "By the way, I hope you have some wonderful story for me about how you heroically lost that leg - what about Wanda having it for dinner?"
Natasha stopped, and James looked back at her. “I shouldn't be surprised you figured it out,” she sighed, then looked at him intensely. “Give me a kiss.”
“What?”
“Give me a kiss,” she repeated. “We could die here any minute. It better be worth it," she sneered, and she didn't have to go on. Bucky covered the little distance between them and finally kissed her. In fact, he had wanted this from the first moment he saw her again. It made him dizzy to feel the taste of her lips again after all this time, their warmth and softness.
“Nat, can you explain to me what on earth is going on here?” he whispered into her kiss as she ran her fingers through his hair.
With a sigh, she pulled away and leaned against his chest. “When we are safe. So it's high time to move on."
Instead, Bucky drew her closer. He wanted to stay like this for hours, to finally enjoy Natasha's closeness again. But he couldn't. Time was their enemy again. "You know, if I carried you in my arms, we'd be there faster," he teased again.
She growled. “I hate you.” She buried her face in his chest but smiled as she felt a kiss on her hair.
“Let's go,” Bucky said reluctantly, putting one arm around her waist again.
“We have to get out. There's a quadjet hidden in the hangar," she told him.
An unhappy shadow crossed his face. “Nat ... I would love to get out of here with you. But I'm not alone. And I ... I have to go back to the others." He paused for a moment, waiting for some reaction. But all he could hear was Natasha's ragged breathing. "I can't leave them here for Wanda. It's quite certain they'll have to fight her. And I can't leave them alone."
“You’re a good man, James,” Natasha said with a small smile. Then she became alert as the raised voices of the rest of the team began to reach them.
He looked at her. “Not really, no. But you're the only one who understands that."
"Vision, what the hell is this place?" they heard Banner say.
“A trap,” Bucky replied, as he and Natasha emerged from the shadows of the corridor and immediately drew the gazes of the others.
“Natasha!” Peter gasped in disbelief, then stopped. "Well - I mean - Miss Romanoff - Agent -"
She grimaced. "You can call me Natasha, Spider kid," she replied, allowing Bucky to help her sit up. She needed to catch her breath.
“We thought you were dead,” Bruce said carefully, his gaze darting between Natasha and James, who was pointing the gun at Vision with a frown.
She chuckled mirthlessly. “No, not yet.” She, too, looked at Vision and found him watching her and James with a strange pain in his eyes. “I thought he was saving me. But he was just picking up takeout."
"I'm sorry it had to be you, Sergeant Barnes, who found the agent," Vision said, staring down the barrel of the gun.
"I am, on the other hand, glad I found her," Bucky snarled, anger gleaming in his eyes. “How could you do that?! You've been keeping Nat alive to feed your zombie bride!"
“The goth chick! I knew it. I was picking up vibes," said Scott - or his head, for that matter.
“Her name is Wanda,” Vision said to Scott. "And while your anger is predictable, I can assure you that my actions, though unsavory, were born of logic."
"In Vision's defense... I have got nothing," Lang said.
“I don't get it,” Peter blurted out. "You cured the talking head, but not her?"
“Her powers are too strong. They've resisted the treatment," Vision replied unhappily. "The only course of action is to contain her and her hunger."
"Why not eliminate her?" hissed Okoye.
"I ... I couldn't," whispered Vision helplessly, and slowly drifted to the ground.
"You lured innocent people to their deaths, all in the name of love?" said Bruce, walking carefully over to him.
“Love sucks,” Scott snorted.
"I still cannot entirely fathom what I've done," Vision said thoughtfully.
"So you should have no problem submitting to human justice!" cried Okoye, furiously, pointing her spear at him.
“Let it go now. The important thing is to get out of here. You know I'm not leaving Natasha behind. She's going with me," Bucky snarled, moving toward Nat, whom she helped up.
"I don't think so," Vision said slowly, and in another moment there was a muffled crash. “You have awakened her. And she hasn't eaten in days."
"We shouldn't have gone back for them," Bucky growled, and Natasha grimaced. He stood in front of her so that he could protect her with a shield and his own body. His gun was already loaded, ready to fire as soon as Wanda appeared.
Natasha rolled her eyes at this. "Hey, anybody got a gun?" she yelled at the others, but they just shook their heads. She shrugged and took James's second pistol, which he kept in his belt holster. He gave her an incredulous look. "What? Do you think I'm just going to stand here with my bare hands against zombie Wanda?"
"I thought you were going to grab my ass."
"Speaking of ass, like a proper Captain America, you should have a proper American ass," she said dryly, and Bucky winked at her.
"I - what?" At that moment a red flash emerged from the corridor and the wall in front of them broke. A furious Wanda stood some distance away, groaning. "Did you stare at Steve's butt?"
Wanda's palms glowed red, and then she soared into the air, flying toward them. Bucky fired several shots at her, and so did Natasha. However, Maximoff stopped the flying bullets just ahead and sent them flying back at them. Bucky covered himself and Natasha with a shield, from which the bullets clanged and fell to the ground.
"Well, when Tony mentioned it at least a dozen times a day, it was hard not to look at it," she replied, leaning out to shoot twice. "God, are we really having this conversation right now?"
"Seems pretty important to me! You know we're going to talk about this?" Bucky panted, grabbing her around the waist so he could throw her over his shoulder.
"What the hell are you doing?" she gasped as he ran off with her. She growled, snatching the shield from his hand to defend them if necessary.
"What would you say? Let's get out of here!" he shouted, and the shock wave nearly knocked him down. Peter and Okoye fought side by side, but Wanda thwarted all their attempts.
"Will it comfort you to know that I like your ass very much?"
"Honey, if you thought I was going to put you back down on your feet after this, you're wrong," Bucky said, and then patted her gently on the butt. "I like yours very much, too."
"I hate you!"
Before they could continue this conversation, Vision made an escape route for them and punched through the wall in front of them so they could get to the hangar quickly. They climbed out as fast as they could and ran for safety. On the other side of the fence, other zombies watched them with blank eyes.
Suddenly a terrified scream reached their ears. Bucky looked back to find Wanda using her magic to hold Peter. Okoye was already gone. "Kid!" shouted James, quickly but tenderly placing Natasha on the ground and running toward Wanda with his gun drawn.
"James!" Natasha shrieked, and in another moment Bruce was rushing past her, ripping off his clothes and turning into the Hulk. As Wanda hissed and hurled a stream of her magic at Barnes, Bruce leaped in front of him, catching Peter in flight.
"You go!" Hulk shouted at him, briefly fixing his eyes on Natasha. He loved her - but he knew that she loved James, and she would have chosen him at all times. When she whispered his name, they both knew it was the last time they would see each other. And then Hulk fights Wanda to give the others time to get into the hangar and disappear.
"Let's go!" Bucky said as he again grabbed Natasha around the waist, and with Peter at his side, they ran toward the hangar. "Are you ok, kid?" he asked Peter.
"Sure," he said breathlessly, grinning at Natasha, who looked a little taken aback. "By the way, you really have a very nice butt."
"What? Did you stare at my girlfriend's butt?"
Peter grinned nervously. "Sorry, pal! You two are actually dating, aren't you?"
Before one of them could react, Vision appeared before them. "You need the stone," he said calmly, then looked up at Wanda, who was fighting the Hulk in fury.
"But if you do this, you will die," Peter blurted as Vision raised his hand and wrapped his fingers around the stone on his forehead.
"The world must be saved. One life is a small price to pay," he replied calmly. Bucky and Natasha ran at a trot toward the open hangar, and behind them floated Scott with his levitating cloak.
"Poor kid," Scott said as he watched a devastated Peter take a mind stone from the ground and turn sadly away from Vision's dead body. While they boarded the quadjet, Peter joined them. Natasha put her hand on his shoulder.
"Please don't die. I can't lose another friend today," he said quietly, sitting down in his seat. Bucky, meanwhile, was trying to start the jet so they could get out of here.
"You did well," Natasha replied, and he gave her a rueful smile. Then he helped her sit in the seat next to James. "Can we do it?"
"We have to," Bucky said, finally getting the jet started. Scott and Peter moved to the back to give them some privacy. Bucky took off slowly and saw Natasha looking down at the struggling Hulk and Wanda. "Are you all right?"
She turned her head slowly toward him. "I probably should, shouldn't I? I mean... I didn't think I'd get out of here alive. But seeing so many of the team die . . ." She shook her head slowly. "When the first zombies showed up, we went to fight them. But then it went wrong. And Wanda... Wanda got us here. I don't know why she took me with her. Vision was here. And then we found out Wanda was hurt. He tried to save her, but then he started getting her food instead," she sneered. She leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "They're dead, aren't they? Others from the team."
"Yes," Bucky said shortly. He did not have the strength to develop his answer.
"I'm glad you're okay," she told him, smiling. "But I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that's happened."
"Nat, you can't save everyone," James told her gently, then looked at her tenderly. "But you saved me. If that's enough for you."
She cocked her head to one side. "Not bad. And by the way," she cleared her throat and crossed her arms, frowning, "you were going to sacrifice yourself down there, or what?!"
"Oops," Bucky said simply, putting on a guilty smile. "How about we get back to that conversation about your nice ass?"