that wasn't the plan.

That wasn't the plan. Far from it, everything went south. But what was the plan again? Ah yeah of course. Sneak in the compound discreetly, not draw any or very little attention from the agents. Take what they came for, and get out of here unnoticed. But since when did anything went according to plan? They were part of the Avengers. Well, kinda. Bucky not so much, but Steve was. And everybody knows things never go according to plan. No sir. Well, in this kind of situation, what you gotta do is stay focus, improvise and shoot straight. Not that easy when hydra agents are coming from every corner of the room. Steve and Bucky were fighting those guys, putting them K.O one after the other. But those dudes are like cockroaches. You kill one and you see two more walking in.

They had just came here to get back some intel on a supposedly chimical weapon. Well, now they had the intel, they needed to get out of here. Lives depended on them getting out of here. They managed to clear a path, run away from this place.

"Steve you go first! I got your back!"

As usual. At least he tried. He had to. It was Steve after all. His steve. The punk he befriended almost a century ago. His small friend, too dumb to run away from a fight. His best friend he took upon himself to protect. His best friend who was dumb enough to let people experiment on him just so he could joined the army. His best friend who rescued him and whom he died for. Well, a part of him died at least on that day, on that train. And what came after that was awful, truly awful. Not just a cold blooded murderer. No. But asoulless assassin working for Hydra. Steve alway reminded him that what he did all those years wasn't him. He was brainwashed, controlled by someone else. A puppet. Bucky knew that. But still, he could remember them. All the people his hands had killed. It was Steve who broke the brainwashing. It was Steve who looked for him and helped him after that. And now he ought to protect him. It was non-negotiable. Well... at least he wanted to believe it was. But what you believe is not always true.

They were outnumbered, and yes they were strong, and Steve was almost unbeatable. At least that's how it felt. He had survived the war, he had survived loki and the Chitoris, he had survived Hydra and Ultron. He had to survive this. Right? It was just a simple mission. But they were outnumbered. And one face was all it took. One face. Bucky was face to face with a ghost. His mind went blank for a split second at the sight of one of the men who were present while he was being recalibrated as they called it. It took one split second and everything went south. He was supposed to have Steve's back. He was supposed to cover for him. And Steve was supposed to be unbeatable.

They had called for backup almost 9 minutes ago. Sam and Natasha were on their way. But it may be too late by the time they got here. For a second or two, it felt like everything went in slow motion around Bucky. First the face of a ghost, then the groan he heard coming out of Steve's mouth. He turned his head to see him. To see his best friend. One knee on the ground and blood coming out of his lower abdomen. No. Steve was unbeatable. Unstoppable. This couldn't be happening. Yet it was.

"I've been hit!"

Steve's words were echoing in his mind. Bucky got on Auto-pilot mode. He closed the distance between Steve and him, shooting the agent that surrounded them, grabbing the shield protecting himself but mainly Steve. It was his only priority now. Making sure no more bullets reach him. He could get shot, he could die, he deserved it. But Steve? No. Steve didn't deserve it. He had to get out of here alive. He had to. Backup finally arrived. Sam and Natasha were finally here. They fought and got Steve out, back to the quinjet and on their way to get medical help.

"What happened in there?"

Natasha asked. Her voice was harsh. Her friend was unconscious, bleeding all over tge place while she was applying pressure to the wound.

"It was supposed to be an easy mission! Bucky! What happened?"

She asked again, her tone was even harsher than before. She was right. It was supposed to be an easy mission. But repeating her question was useless. He had heard it the first time. He just couldn't answer. He wasn't even sure of what had happened back there. He was trying to think, to realise what happened but all he could here was Steve's words. "I've been hit!" "I've been hit" over and over again playing in his mind. He tried to make sense of what had happen. To remember what just happened.

"I- I don't know... I don't know... I saw..."

He couldn't even finish his sentence. What did he saw exactly? He wasn't even sure it was him. The man who pushed the buttons sending electricity through his brain, the pain he caused him. The memories he whipped out without his consent. So yeah... what did he saw? He wasn't sure it was him. He couldn't be sure. His memories were blurry. But that face. For a moment he could have sworn it was him. But everything happened so fast. Maybe it was just his mind pulling trick on him. Making him see things that weren't there. T'challa helped him getting stable. He helped healing him. But maybe they only thought he was fine.

"What did you see?"

Natasha wanted to clear things out. It was understandable. Two super soldiers sent on an easy mission. One of them got shot. How could this be happening?

"Huh?"

Bucky was completely lost. Trying to figure out what he saw. Who he saw. It had to be him. It had to. It wasn't his imagination. It couldn't be. He couldn't have fucked up this bad.

"Bucky?? What did you see?"

The quinjet finally landed at the Avengers HQ. A medical team was waiting for them and they got Steve to the medical aisle.

"It's my fault.... It's my fault!"

Was all he could utter as they took Steve. Natasha followed and Sam helped Bucky out. He didn't really understand at what moment he got to Steve's bedroom. But here he was. Sitting on his bed, replaying the scene of him getting shot. Over and over again. The man he sought was unbeatable was currently in a critical state. All that because of him. The man he had sworn to protect, to gibe his life for if necessary was between life and death. That was not fair. Steve couldn't leave him. He still needed him. Bucky still neededed him.