Chapter 1
Things were always tense between Sam and Barnes. Perhaps the Winter Soldier’s attempt to kill Sam had something to do with it.
Then came what the media dubbed “the Avengers’ Civil War.” The Battle at the airport was rough for everyone, but being paired with Barnes was the worst for Sam. But the real kicker was when Steve suggested when the ex-assassin live with Sam while they worked out the legal issues they faced. Thankfully, Sam was able to find an apartment in the sanctuary of Wakanda, in the shade of T’Challa’s hospitality.
It wasn’t that Barnes was a bad roommate. He was considerate, clean, and helpful with daily chores. But Sam still didn’t trust him. Barnes didn’t speak much at all in the house. If he did, it was in quiet mutters in a language other than English. Sam suspected it was Russian.
Barnes was also much more clumsy, missing an arm and all. The amount of mornings Sam had found him attempting to sweep a plate or mug into a dust pan with only one arm were becoming too much to count. Sam decided to go out and buy shatter-proof plates after he realized he was down to a total of three.
“You’re really running me broke here, Barnes,” Sam said, setting the box with the new plates on the kitchen counter where Bucky was pouring his fifth cup of coffee.
“Sorry,” Barnes muttered.
“Hey, isn’t that like your fourth mug of coffee?” he asked, nodding to the Smithsonian mug in Bucky’s hand.
“Fifth.”
“How are you not dead from caffeine overdose?” Sam said, looking over Barnes’s face. Barnes grunted in reply before slipping back into his bedroom. Sam sighed, shaking his head as he opened the box of plates.
Eventually, things mellowed out for a while. Barnes was like a ghost living in Sam’s house, hardly seen but you knew he was there. Sam was able to deal with Barnes then.
Until he rediscovered his smoking habit.
Barnes wasn’t inconsiderate about it, though. He went outside the apartment to smoke and made sure to dispose of the cigarette butts properly. What pissed Sam off is when he could smell the smoke through his open windows.
“Hey, asshole, you know those things can kill you,” Sam hollered through his window by the balcony.
“Yeah, a few straws of nicotine are gonna kill the goddamn Winter Soldier,” Barnes yelled back. “I welcome it if they do!”
Sam sat back, falling silent at that comment. He got up and threw on a jacket before walking out onto the balcony to join Barnes. “Are you okay, man?” Sam asked him, holding onto the railing. “I mean, I know I give you shit, but if something’s actually going on-”
“I’m fine, Wilson,” Barnes snapped, snuffing out his cigarette. “Just go back to bed.” He tossed the butt into the pail on the floor and grabbed the half-empty box off the railing, stuffing it in his jacket. Sam watched Barnes walk back into the apartment, slamming the patio door behind him.
Sam sighed and walked back to his room, settling back into bed. Just as he was drifting back to sleep, he was woken up by Barnes screaming. Sam grabbed his gun off his bedside and cautiously made his way to his room. Barnes kept his door closed and locked, so when Sam found it unlocked, he was even more on edge. He slowly opened the door and sighed in relief when he only found Barnes in the room. He was tossing and turning in the bed, his face scrunched as if in pain.
Sam carefully walked towards the bed, sitting on the edge.
“Barnes. Barnes, you’re alright,” Sam said. He rested his hand on Barnes’s arm. “HYDRA isn’t here, you’re alright. You’re safe.”
Sam was woken up at about six in the morning when his front door slammed closed. He bolted up and walked out to see what was going on. He found a note in surprisingly neat writing. Apparently Barnes was going to meet with Steve and T’Challa about his recovery. But that was all the note said. Sam walked back to his bedroom and tried to fall back to sleep. Finding sleep elusive, he opened up the bottom drawer of his night stand, moving some papers around, uncovering the red notebook.
“You know I trust you, Sam,” Steve said as he handed him the book. “Keep this safe, until we can figure out how to help Buck.”
Sam flicked through the notebook with careful hands, gentle of the brittle pages. Most of the writing was in Russia or German, so Sam couldn’t actually read it. But he knew what the list of words could turn Barnes into.
As he stuffed the book back into the drawer, his cell phone started ringing.
“Hello?”
“Sam, it’s Steve. Can you come to T’Challa’s palace?”
“Uh, yeah. Why?”
“I thought Bucky told you? He’s going back into cryostasis until the scientists figure out how to get rid of HYDRA’s influence.”
“No, he didn’t tell me. I’ll be right there, Steve.”
Sam got to the palace and was ushered into the room where Steve was waiting. The first thing Sam noticed about the room was the giant tube encasing a sleeping Barnes. Steve followed Sam’s eyeline.
“He looks so peaceful in there, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, real peaceful,” Sam said. “You’d never know he tried to throw me off a helicarrier.”
“Are you still on about that? You know it wasn’t really him.”
“Yeah, but it still was, Steve. It may not have been Barnes, but it was still his body carrying out the actions.”
Before the conversation could continue, T’Challa’s sister and one of the top scientists in Wakanda entered the room.
“Captain Rogers, Mister Wilson,” she greeting. “I am told there is a notebook with HYDRA’s secrets about the Winter Soldier?”
“Yes, Sam has it in his apartment.”
“Well, I am going to need it if you want me to fix your friend.” She pulled up a holographic image and started messing with the numbers displayed. “And I’m going to need to know as much about him as possible. But you should know, Captain. He’s not going to be the same James Barnes you remember from your childhood.”
“I know that.”
“Do you, Captain Rogers?”