Chapter 44
“Over here, sir!”
The French spy pointed at a small two story building, hidden in the fields surrounding Paris. “All the resistance’s men are hiding here. I saw them myself when you ordered me to follow them.”
“What about the shooting that sounded here?” Holdstein asked while hiding with his men behind another building.
“They killed some traitors.” The spy whispered. Holdstein tensed and turned sharply towards him. “Two men and a woman. They shot the three of them and burned them before they buried them here.” Holdstein’s glare was getting sharper that the man got nervous. “That what happened, sir! I swear.”
Holdstein stepped back and straightened up. “Very well then.”
He gestured towards his men towards the right and the left, his men separated into two groups. A group moved right and the other moved left. They surrounded the small building subtly. Holdstein watched their movements silently until each soldier took his position then he jumped into one of the cars while pointing at the spy. “Follow us.”
The spy shivered and nodded shakily.
Holdstein’s car moved towards the building as a firm voice sounded.
“To all the resistance’s men inside. We know you are in there. You are surrounded. Get out with your arms above your heads or we will shoot. I repeat.”
Before they could repeat, bullets rained down on them from inside the building. The Nazis shot back immediately without the need of orders.
Holdstein just watched the whole scene like he was watching a really good movie.
The soldiers got more confident and darted forward to storm into the building. That made Holdstein stand up and stop them.
“No. No storming in.” he ordered sternly.
The soldiers stepped back in surprise but they continued shooting and throwing their grenades while wondering in confusion why the general stopped them.
Their surprise soon changed into shock when they saw Holdstein jumping out of the car and walked confidently and calmly towards the building.
They stopped shooting and just watched Holdstein walking towards the building. When he reached it, he looked inside one of the windows before cursing in annoyance.
“Just like I expected.” He muttered in frustration.
He jumped inside the window and a few soldiers scrambled to follow him.
They all stared at a large metal cover in the ground of the bottom floor that Holdstein was standing next to it.
“They shot first then escaped through this.” Holdstein said in anger.
“We can follow them, sir.” One of the soldiers darted towards the metal cover.
“No, you idiot!” Holdstein shouted but it was too late, the soldier already pulled the cover.
Holdstein jumped away and ran as fast as he could.
The explosion happened.
It threw Holdstein forward violently and out of the window and took down five soldiers and injured seven.
Holdstein got up with rage rising through him. “The idiot! He should have known they must have left a trap behind.” He grabbed the spy harshly. “Where did they bury the three bodies?”
The spy shivered as he pointed at a place between the fields. “There, sir.”
Holdstein dragged him harshly towards the place he pointed at and threw him to the ground. “Dig.”
The spy paled and shivered. “But sir-“
“Dig!” Holdstein screamed in anger.
The man was shivering violently as he started digging with his hands with a pale face for a while until his hands touched a human, burned body and jumped back screaming.
Holdstein slapped him and pushed him again. “Keep digging!”
The spy almost passed out as he kept digging and threw up when the three burned bodies emerged.
Holdstein kicked him away cruelly as he leaned down to check the bodies. “No! No way had they actually done it! No way!” His hands checked the heads of the three bodies until he found the small device he was looking for. “Fuck!”
It was the small eavesdropping device that proved with no doubt that these three bodies belonged to the three he was looking for.
The three Avengers.
***
“How did you notice that something is wrong?”
Castiel asked as he watched Bucky carefully who was staring sadly at Steve’s unmoving form. “You don’t seem to be affected by this like Steve. So, I am guessing that your memories are still not really intact. How did you know that something isn’t right?”
Bucky was silent for a few seconds, unconsciously trying to hide the metal hand peeking out of his long sleeved shirt from Castiel’s view. Like he was ashamed.
“Every day some memories made their way into my head.” He started slowly, his eyes still on his unmoving friend. “In one of them, I saw Stark. That wasn’t right and didn’t make sense, so I figured that something was happening.” He turned his eyes towards Castiel then. “Is he going to be alright?” he asked in worry gesturing towards Steve.
“I don’t know.” Castiel answered truthfully. “It depends on how much the past will change I guess.”
“And Stark? Will he be able to come back? They can’t lose each other, not like this.”
Castiel just looked at him thoughtfully for a while, studying him.
“If you care so much about them, why did you stay away all this time?” Castiel asked, genuinely wanting to understand.
Bucky looked down and hunched on himself. “I can still hear their voices.” He whispered quietly. “The people I killed. The memories I still can’t remember are replaced by the memories who I murdered. I still can’t trust myself and lose control sometimes. Then came in Stark. He forgave me for killing his parents! Offered me a home. A second chance. How am I supposed to deal with that? How am I supposed to just look him in the eyes? Look in Steve’s eyes?” his eyes landed on Steve again. “He makes him happy. He is everything he ever wanted. My presence would have ruined their happiness. I can’t do that to them. He deserves to be happy after suffering so much.”
Castiel sighed tiredly. “Well, obviously that isn’t true. The both of them are keeping a place for you here and that won’t affect their happiness in any way. Tony forgave you. You should probably forgive yourself.” Then he paused and studied Bucky again. “You seem to trust me even though we just met. Why?”
“He trusts you. That is good enough for me.” he just shrugged before he looked up at him with wonder in his eyes. “Besides, I heard a lot about you back in the days. You are a legend. I was a huge fan of yours.” He hesitated for a second before adding. “I also remember meeting Dean in one of my hazy memories. I already know who he is right now, I watch the news. But I remember that he is a good man. He and Stark deserves to come back to their home.”
Castiel gave him a small smile. “Glad we are on the same page, then.”