from_the_outside | [ WWII AU ] a ghost story

It's been almost two years since she's been home, and little by little, the grief has gotten easier to live with.

It hasn't gone away. But she's able to focus on her job, watch movies, chat with friends, sleep most nights. She still dreams about him, but the dreams are tinged with wistful longing and only sometimes does she wake up with tears on her cheeks. She can't have his picture out in this apartment, Kate's apartment, but it's safe in the mountain house, along with his last letter to her, and she has a scan on her phone to look at when the long day is over and she's in bed, the stars from the lamp he'd given her filling her dark room.

Steve has helped, more than she could ever explain, and she hopes she's helped him in return. Aside from a few deeply classified missions here and there, they haven't worked together all that much, but she still sees him almost every day. In the halls, she's undercover as his mild-mannered neighbor, Kate, but in her secure apartment they can talk over anything, everything.

And it works. Every day is a little easier. They lean on each other when they need to, and they spend hours remembering and reminiscing about Bucky, talking shop, chatting about how Steve's fitting into the future. It's nice. She still misses Bucky, an ache that never really goes away, but they can both breathe through it, work through it, live through it.

She's on her way up from the basement laundry machines when she hears a familiar step in the hall, and has to smile to herself – first her own, then Kate's sweeter, more open one. "Hey, neighbor."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

From:

from_the_outside

She doesn't know how long she hangs there, watching the shadows lengthen and shift around the memorial, but it's long enough that her arms have gone completely to sleep and a dull ache has spread from the temple he'd hit and turned into a raging headache.

The memorial is silent. There's no sign of the Winter Soldier, STRIKE, or Steve and Nat. The only movement she sees is the shadow of some large bird – an eagle, maybe – as it circles high above.

She blinks her bleary eyes. Is that shadow getting bigger? And that sound –

A rush of air is the only warning she has before a winged man barrel rolls into the bell tower. There's a flash of metal and then she's weightless for a second before he catches her and swoops down out of the tower, then climbs toward the sky. "Hey," he greets her, grinning. "We haven't met yet. I'm Sam."

From:

nerves_of_ice

This hadn't been in the file. He hadn't planned for the targets to have an ally with wings.

The Winter Soldier flings a grenade into the air above the hostile to drive them lower, follows it with a burst of gunfire, then leaps as high and far as he can, clamping onto the man's calf with his left hand.

From:

from_the_outside

There's a violent lurch, and Sam yelps. "What the hell, man?"

He looks down and kicks at the man's hand as the extra weight strains his wings. In his arms, Sharon does her best to yell behind the tape, desperate to get it off her mouth, but Sam's arms are full. He twists in the air, trying to shake the man – and then a red, white, and blue streak sizzles through the air, and Steve's shield strikes the Winter Soldier's metal wrist, full force.

From:

nerves_of_ice

He twists in midair as the blow knocks his grip loose, grabbing the leather straps on the back of the shield in order to bring it down with him as he lands on solid earth once more.

The redheaded woman has engaged the team from cover, he sees, while the blond man is running toward him at superhuman speed. The Winter Soldier flings the shield at him as he'd done before, and this time follows it up with a rush of his own, slamming his left fist down to shatter the man's skull.

From:

marvel_npc

Steve catches the shield and just barely gets it up in time to block the punch, which hits hard enough that only the vibranium of the shield manages to stop it. Even so, Steve's pushed back several feet before he can leap back to the attack. "Sam!" he yells, his focus on the Winter Soldier. "Get her out of here!"

There's a flurry up in the sky, and then he hears Sharon's voice, desperate and strained. "Steve! It's – "

A burst of gunfire sends Sam wheeling through the sky to avoid the rain of bullets. Steve has just enough time to see that a cluster of STRIKE operatives have come around to engage Sam, but there's nothing he can do about it right now, not with the Winter Soldier bearing down on him.

Edited Date: 2023-05-09 02:35 am (UTC)

From:

nerves_of_ice

He draws the pistol at his hip and fires several staccato bursts, all of which ping from the shield with no effect. He discards it in favor of the Skorpion automatic which he draws from behind his back, only to find it has no better effect.

He has to clear the shield from his target to remove his protection. The Winter Soldier closes with him, grabbing for the metal edge with his left hand, and wrenches it around in a spinning twist.

From:

marvel_npc

He flips with the momentum of the twist and lets go of the shield, then presses his own attack, throwing hard punches at the Winter Soldier and dodging the metal fist and the edge of his own shield.

The long-ago boxing lessons with Bucky had started his training, but he's worked hard since then, and he's picked up a few tricks of his own, most of which take advantage of his sheer size, speed, and strength. He goes for the body, fists thudding against body armor, and can hardly believe how fast the other man is.

From:

nerves_of_ice

He drops a knife into his right hand and slices across the target's center mass, only for a blow to his arm to knock the blade free and send it clattering away. He flings the shield again, hard, and the man ducks beneath the metal disc, which embeds itself deep in the side of one of the marble colums.

The fight, deadly as it is, begins to take on a strange resonance as they struggle. Block after block, stab and punch and slash and twist away and in again -- there's something about it, something --

( -- like training, or being back in the ring with -- )

-- almost, almost familiar.

The blond man grabs his forearm, and the Winter Soldier's arm flexes and metal plates ripple violently as he tries to rip it away again. He goes tumbling as he rips himself free, then kicks the target in the gut as the man charges him and sends him flying, slamming back into the side of a stone wall. He follows with a rush that brings them both up against the wall and locks his left hand around the target's throat, but somehow, impossibly, the man manages to tear free. Another flurry of blows, another desperate wrestling struggle, and this time it's the Winter Soldier who goes flying, his mask ripped from him as he goes rolling across the ground toward the fountain and back onto his feet.

He turns to face the other man once more, ready for the next assault.

From:

marvel_npc

Steve stands, slow, his gaze caught and disbelieving. He can't feel the breath as his chest rises and falls, rapid and shallow.

It's impossible. It's –

"Bucky?"

From:

nerves_of_ice

That name again. He stares at the other man in frustrated disbelief, and repeats the question he'd asked before.

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

But the answer doesn't matter; the blond man's shock, whatever the reason, gives him an opportunity. In a heartbeat, the Winter Soldier levels his pistol at his target.

From:

marvel_npc

Steve can't move. He's frozen to the ground, his shield loose at his side.

Bucky. It's Bucky. But – how? Why? He'd seen his best friend fall, had heard his screams echoing off the mountainside. He and Sharon had held each other as they cried.

The Soldier – Bucky, Bucky – levels a pistol at his face, but before he can pull the trigger, Sam swoops down, hitting Bucky in the back with both feet at top speed and sending him sprawling.

From:

nerves_of_ice

He rolls with the impact, over and over across the concrete, and finally ends up back on his feet beside another marble column. Voices begin to scream inside his head as he stares at his opponent. His target. His mission.

(confirmed death in ten hours)

Something wrenches sickly within him, and sudden desperation twists his features. He raises his gun again, only to duck as the red-haired woman launches a grenade at him from the other side of the fountain. It hits the tower, exploding it in smoke and fire and marble shrapnel.

He can hear distant sirens approaching, hear STRIKE yelling as Rumlow brings the perimeter in, and realizes the window of opportunity is closing. He'll pay for this failure, he knows it, but it would be worse to be taken alive by the enemy. He knows that too, as deeply as though it's engraved on his bones.

He has to run.

From:

marvel_npc

Steve ducks as Nat fires a grenade and destroys the tower Sharon had been in earlier. When he straightens again, Bucky's gone.

Maybe he was never there. Maybe he's seeing things.

Sam comes jogging over, and Steve turns to him, his glance searching around the memorial. "Where's Sharon?"

From:

marvel_npc

"She's fine, I dropped her over by the monument out of range of this mess," Sam assures him. "You okay?"

"Never mind that, we've got to go, now!" Natasha snaps, sharp, as she runs over to join them. "Come on!"

From:

marvel_npc

He can't even begin to answer Sam's question. He gives Nat a quick onceover and notes that she looks bruised but fine, and takes refuge in what needs to be done. "Sam, get her out of here," he orders, and takes off at top speed for the Washington Monument, fueling every step with the adrenaline that hasn't stopped pumping through his body.

Was that really Bucky? Bucky's alive?

From:

marvel_npc

She clutches the grenade launcher as Sam wraps his arms around her and heads for the sky, tracking the activity below. Nat takes one last shot, this time hitting STRIKE’s tactical vehicle as it starts to pull out. It goes up in a burst of flame, blown over on its side and skidding.

It’ll buy them the time they need to get clear, she hopes. She drops the gun - ammo exhausted, it’s useless now - and holds on to Sam as he arrows off in a dizzying, swooping flight to throw off pursuit.

She couldn’t see what happened to James. He had just disappeared.

Again.

From:

from_the_outside

Sam had deposited her quickly but gently by the Washington Monument and told her to stay put as he cut her ties. She obeys, but not because he told her to. She's unarmed, in shock, and injured, and she'd be a liability in the fight, right now.

She bites off a yell as blood rushes painfully back into her arms and feet, while Sam swoops back up into the sky, and staggers upright, one hand on the gritty stone of the monument. Steve. Steve has no idea. She has to tell him, she has to –

What? What can she even do? Bucky's alive, but he isn't himself. She thinks of the way he'd watched her, cool and blank, how every touch had been to injure or confine or stifle. Her eyes squeeze shut as her fingers press into an impotent fist. He'd hurt her. He'd abducted her. He's trying to kill Steve.

The thoughts open up before her in a yawning pit. If she tumbles into it, she doesn't know how she'll get out again.

From:

marvel_npc

He spots her right where Sam had said she’d be and veers in her direction. Relief grips him, followed by a sickening clench in his gut at what this news will do to her.

Nothing around him seems real. Everything yaws crazily, like the whole world’s a funhouse mirror. He makes himself focus past it on the immediate issue. “Sharon?” Steve comes to her side and puts an arm around her.

“Can you walk? We’ve got to get out of sight, to the rendezvous point—-“

From:

from_the_outside

"I can walk."

She'd better. They need to get out of here, and she's not sure she could stomach being carried, even by Steve. He puts his arm around her, and she turns in to him, clutching at his shirt, her face pale aside from the red rectangle around her mouth. Blood wells from a few spots where the fragile skin had ripped off along with the tape.

They have to go. She has to tell him. "Steve – Steve, I saw his face."

From:

marvel_npc

They have to move, but he can’t. He can’t. Steve stares at her. She saw him too.

“I wasn’t dreaming.” Bucky. Bucky with a metal arm, Bucky trying to kill him, Bucky—-

“It was him.”

From:

from_the_outside

Steve saw him. Steve knows. Steve – Steve. What will this do to Steve? She nods, desperate. "It's him."

A siren wails, startling her out of her fugue, and she looks up at Steve, forcing her voice to stay calm. "Where do we go?"

From:

marvel_npc

"This way." He keeps his arm around her as he leads her off to the side where they'd stashed the bike. She looks like she needs the support, and he knows he does, too.

"I'll get us there. Just hold on to me."

From:

from_the_outside

Steve half-coaxes, half-carries her to a bike he'd hidden a little ways away, and once they're both on, she wraps her arms around his middle and clings to him, more grateful than she can say for his steady gravity. She leans her unbruised cheek against him and hangs on, as memories flood unbidden through her mind.

(if that doesn't work and it's possible for a ghost to keep fighting, I'll do that too)

The sirens fade away behind them, eventually, as Steve navigates them through the city, towards a quiet, residential block. She has no idea if it'll be far enough. Is anyplace in the city safe, anymore?

From:

marvel_npc

They'd decided not to go straight back to Sam's house, just in case he was identified, and instead selected an apartment building in the neighborhood not too far away. Steve guides the bike into a spot on the street and leads her through a back alley and down through a basement window, then to the service elevator that leads to the roof.

Sam's pacing back and forth outside a greenhouse there, while Natasha leans against the glass wall, arms crossed. Although she looks outwardly relaxed, Steve sees how she's watching everything possible.

Relief passes over Nat's features as she sees them, followed by dismay as she takes in Sharon's state. She crosses to them and puts a gentle hand on Sharon's shoulder. "Hey, you."