Winter Soldier's Soulmate Ch. 15

Everything was going pretty well all things considered. They had made it into the compound with little difficulty. Lucy had run alongside Nat and Steve who protected her on either side as they made their way in. The halls were a bit confusing, but that's when Jarvis helped out. He had managed to find a blue print and direct them. Lucy hadn't realized the AI was portable.

They did see some combat, obviously. But before Lucy could even pull out one of her new guns, they had been taken down by the Widow and Cap.

They were epic to watch. Lucy would just blink and the fight would be over, and then they would be off again down another hall, headed towards Bucky.

*****

Bucky heard the alarms go off. The soldier grinned and popped the bonds that held him, causing them to shatter and fling around the room like tiny missiles.

He pulled himself out of the chair and kicked down the reinforced door with a bang, sending it flying into the wall behind it. The concrete cracked under the assault but held.

The soldier ran out of the room and barreled down the hallway. A few guards got in his way, but Bucky was faster, knocking them out or killing them before they could do more than shout.

He checked the rooms around him looking for his rifle bag.

However, before he could locate it he heard the sounds of gunfire and shouting down another hall. Bucky headed towards the noise. He slowed and crept closer to it.

He saw roughly ten guards hovering in a conjunction of hallways crouched down and shooting down one of the halls.

Bucky took one look at the scene, grabbed a gun from one of the guards, shot him and then the others.

There was scrambling and shouting all around him from the commotion he was making. One guard even got a shot off, hitting him in the belly right above his left kidney.

Bucky tossed the empty gun at that guard's head and heard the satisfying crunch of the man's skull breaking.

After the commotion died down, Bucky turned to see Captain America barreling at him, followed by a red head in a black cat suit and someone else wearing black vibranium armor with some gold highlights.

Bucky wasn't expecting the bear hug that Steve wrapped him in, but it was welcome none-the-less.

"Hey punk." Bucky wheezed out with the little breath he still had that Steve hadn't knocked out of him.

"You jerk." Bucky heard Steve sniffle. Captain America pulled back and gave Bucky a look. "We gotta stop meeting like this. What happened to catching up over a beer?"

Bucky grinned at Steve. "You tell me punk. You've been out of the ice longer than I've been out of Hydra's hands."

Steve looked guilty as he stepped back from Bucky, but before the Cap could speak the person in vibranium armor pulled out a golden gun and pointed it directly at Bucky's chest. The Winter Soldier immediately put his hands up, wary.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right here and now." Said a familiar voice from behind that mask.

"Lucy!" Bucky choked out.

Lucy pulled off the helmet, the gun still trained at the center of his chest.

"You bet your ass it's me."

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Bucky growled, anger filling him at her stupidity for putting herself in harm's way.

"Don't even think you have the right to be mad at me right now." Lucy snapped glaring at him.

"The hell I don't!" Bucky flared up and put his hands down, taking a step towards Lucy.

She fired a warning shot at his feet before leveling the gun at his chest once more.

"Oh no. You don't get to be all protective super soldier right now, not after what you put me through."

Bucky saw the sheen of tears shimmering in his soulmate's eyes.

"Lucy." He whispered out comfortingly.

"Oh fuck you James." She snapped, the tears starting to fall, but she lowered the gun.

Bucky took that as his opportunity, he strode forward with purposeful steps and wrapped her up in a hug.

"Lucy, I'm so sorry."

She sniffled into his filthy shirt.

"You never let me respond to your letters. No return address, no nothing. I couldn't tell you how I felt. That's not fair."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"And then you have to go and write that you're leaving and that you love me in the same letter."

"I know."

"You know what you did? I had to wake up feeling like something was wrong. I didn't know if you were just hurt or worse."

"I'm so sorry Luce."

"And then I find out that Steve had contact info for you?! Do you know how that makes me feel? I'm your soulmate for Christ's sake. Your other half and you treated me like I was a little kid."

"Lucy if I could take it back I would."

She pulled away so she could look up at him and study his face. "You don't mean that. You just said it to make me feel better."

Bucky looked down at her helplessly because she wasn't wrong.

"If you two love birds are done making up can we get going here." Stark's voice crackled over the speakers of the compound.

Bucky looked around and remembered that they were still in a Hydra compound surrounded by the enemy.

"We're on it." The redhead responded. "Come on you two. Also found something you might want back." She added, handing Bucky's rifle bag to him.

He caressed it lovingly before picking Lucy up with one arm and started running for the presumed exit.

His soulmate squawked at him, then hit his shoulder several times telling him she could run. The soldier didn't care. Lucy was here, she was in danger, and he needed her as close to him as he possibly could get her.

They ran out into the sunlight, Bucky could see the plane that they were presumably using to escape and put on more speed to reach it.

Steve and him were racing side by side, each with a woman clinging to them. Bucky couldn't stop the roguish grin he shot at Steve. The punk returned it and they leapt up the plane's ramp. They were followed by Iron man, a black man with a wing suit and a golden haired giant with a hammer.

"Jarvis take us out of here." Iron Man gasped out as his face mask lifted up.

"Of course, sir." A disembodied voice responded from somewhere. Bucky tensed and hugged Lucy even closer to him.

Her legs were wrapped around his waist and her arms were clutching around his neck. She felt good against him.

That was until she said into his ear: "James you have two seconds to put me down or I'm taking one of my nice new pretty guns and shooting you in the balls."

He felt himself go white and let her go. So she was still mad at him.

He looked over at Steve who had obviously heard and gave him a pleading look. The punk just shook his head and walked away, pushing the other Avengers to the front of the plane to give them space.

**********

Lucy looked at her soulmate. Her beautiful, completely idiotic other half. He looked sheepish when he met her eyes.

She looked him up and down just to make sure that he was here and unharmed. That's when she noticed the blood.

"Bucky what the hell!" She shouted, not caring who heard as she lifted his shirt and looked at the slowly seeping wound on his belly.

"Hmm?" He asked confused, looking down as well. "Oh that."

"Oh that?!" Lucy parroted back. "That's all you can think to say? You've been shot!"

"It happens." He shrugged his shoulders, nonchalant.

Lucy wanted to bang her head against a wall. "We need to get this taken care of now. It looks bad."

Bucky grabbed her arm before she could run for help. "Lucy it's fine. It went straight through, see." He turned showing her the exit wound. "I'll be healed before we land. It's already stopped bleeding."

He was right of course, the asshole. Lucy couldn't stop herself from wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I almost lost you." She mumbled.

"But you didn't. I'm right here."

"Yea but that's not the point. You didn't even talk to me about this. You just up and decided that I would be fine at Avengers tower without you. Then you decided that I shouldn't be able to contact you but that you could talk to me. What, did you think that I wouldn't want to be with you? That I wouldn't love you? So instead of sticking with me. You ran away like a coward."

Bucky gulped and sat down heavily in one of the seats on the quinjet.

"You're right. I was a coward. I didn't know what else to do."

"You should have talked to me then. We're partners. I don't know what it was like back in the 1940s but here in the 21st century, soulmates are equals." She said sitting beside him and leaning her head against his flesh arm.

"I wanted to keep you safe."

"I am safe with you. Plus Katerina gave me some super badass vibranium armor."

"I saw that. Should have guessed it was her."

"Yea you should have. But back to the main point. We are soulmates. I've accepted that and so have you based on your letters to me. But what I think you don't get is what that means to me."

"Ok tell me then." Bucky said, reaching for her hand with his flesh arm and entangling their fingers.

"It means we're in this together. If you go risking your neck then I'm right there beside you doing the same thing. I'm not some little treasure you can stow away and keep safe. I'm a living breathing person. I'm just as capable of taking care of myself as you are. Yea I don't have the training or experience you do. Nor do I have your awesome super soldier skills, but I can learn."

"Ok. But I still don't want you to put yourself in danger just for me."

"Funny I feel the exact same way."

"Oh."

"Yea. It's not just you anymore, and it's not just me anymore. It's both of us. What you do affects me, and vice versa."

"Ok. That's a lot."

"Tell me about it. I never said this was going to be easy for either of us, but I love you an-"

"Wait you love me?"

"Ugh of course I do, you giant oaf. At least you would know that if you had come and talked to me about it. But no, instead you decided to go be stupid."

"You love me." Bucky reiterated, still not believing it.

"Yes, I love you Bucky. I love James Bucanen Barnes before he became the Winter Soldier. I also love the Winter Soldier and the man that you are now. I love all of you."

"When...how?" Bucky choked out forcing down the tears pricking at his eyes.

"Probably when you interrupted my shower. That's when I knew. You are a good man, Bucky. I'm proud to be your soulmate."

Bucky couldn't keep back the tears as they fell.

"I love you too, Lucy."

She gave him one of her dazzling smiles.

"I know," she whispered before pecking him on the cheek.

Lucy rested her head on Bucky's arm and sighed with contentment. He was here. Everything was going to be ok.