seventy-five.
Following the doctor inside the church was easy. He was preoccupied with his phone and it was easy to tell he'd never been taught that looking over his shoulder should be second nature. It was clear this guy had probably never been tailed like this in his life, and with the coating Stark made for the bottom of their shoes, their footsteps were literally silent anyways.
Peter didn't look nervous in the slightest. If anything he looked more than ready to take on whatever may come at him today, and it kinda worried Bucky. Something about all of this wasn't sitting right with him, and he was prepared for this to be some kind of trap.
Wade seemed to be thinking the same thing just by the way he hung back a couple of steps behind Peter. He'd already been told that if shit hit the fan, Peter was their top priority, as he didn't have powers anymore.
Peter himself was somewhat skeptical, but he couldn't let Bucky's insecurities about this mission transfer to him. He had to stay collected and sane, there was no room for error today. Who knows when they might get another chance like this?
At one point, Bucky asked him if he was sure he wanted the kill for himself, as they were in a church and Peter'd been going to church for a little bit now, but Peter's only reaction to the question was, it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. He wasn't any kind of worried about killing a man in the house of God in the slightest, and that made Bucky worry.
Right now it was almost like Peter was the one who'd been brainwashed by Hydra, and maybe he had. Nobody but Peter really knew the severity of what'd happened to him. They never thought it would be alright to ask, in the grand scheme of things he hasn't been home with them for very long. He still wasn't even fully healed in some places like his leg. Bucky thinks it's taking all the kid has to walk without a limp.
Bucky's focused on Peter so much that he doesn't notice what's in front of him at first, he just notices that Peter stops moving and looks like he's having the shock of his life.
It wasn't until Bucky followed his gaze did he understand why.
There, looking directly back at him, was the last person he'd ever expect.
"You don't have Anthony with you, do you?" he asked.
Bucky couldn't think of anything to say to that, but Peter spoke up.
"It's you! You're the one!"
The man spoke again. "Is Anthony with you?"
Peter shook his head. He couldn't believe his ears. "Mr. Banner... I trusted you. I believed in you!"
Bruce fixed his glasses. "Well, that's your mistake, kid. It's a good thing Tony isn't with you, I'd hate to have to kill him too."
"Too?"
Bruce laughed and waved his hand. "Don't bother with your gun, James, you know it won't work on me. And yes, too. I can't let you walk out of here knowing that I'm your big bad villain. I think you all forget, I'm not stupid."
Peter flicked his wrist and suddenly Bruce's arm was webbed to his stomach and the doctor was webbed to the wall. Bruce looked surprised.
"Ah, Peter... I was hoping you'd never don those web-shooters again."
Peter shook his head. "You wanted me dead! You tried to kill me!"
Bruce looked frustrated and Bucky wanted nothing more than to kill Bruce where he stood. But he wouldn't. Bruce was Steve's friend, and he wouldn't be any kind of opposed to letting Peter get his answers. He deserved them after all, and Bruce wasn't trying to run.
"No! I tried to save you! I~"
"You let them torture me! You let them beat me! And all I ever did was trust you!" Peter screamed. Wade reached out for the boy's shoulder, but Peter yanked himself away and stepped towards Bruce, who had something in his eyes that Bucky couldn't place. "You stole me from everything! My whole life, gone like that!" Peter snapped his fingers, now directly in front of Bruce's face.
"You let them touch me! Stab me! Prod me, push me, keep me in a box! You let Rumlow touch me like I was nothing more than some cheap hooker! You made me kill May!"
Bruce just stared down at the angry boy in front of him, silent, unmoving.
"Wait until I tell Mr. Stark about this... Wait until he hears that I had to kill you because you betrayed us all!"
Bruce shook his head. "I can't let you tell him, and if it means I go down with you, so be it."
Peter looked confused now, and before Wade could even step forward, Bruce swung his arm up and smacked the switch in his webbed hand.
"Get to Peter!" Was all that Bucky could manage to say as the building began to rumble around them. Wade was closer, he knew he'd make it first no matter how quick they both were. Even as he himself tried to make it to the young boy, something black caught the corner of his eye and then the whole room shook hard enough to knock him off of his feet.
He fell, colliding with the collapsing marble, and when he looked up all he could see was Peter still trying to swing his knife on Bruce and Wade being knocked to the floor by the force of the quaking around them. Bucky rolled onto his back and his eyes widened as he saw a large portion of the ceiling falling towards him. He rolled as quickly as he could but his screams ripped through the sound of the crumbling building as his metal arm was crushed beneath the heavy rubble.
He blacked out from the pain, the last thing he heard was Peter screaming his name.