[ WWII AU ] a ghost story

[from_the_outside]

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."

Comments

[from_the_outside]

His blade hits her like a hammer, cutting across already sore muscles and sending both Sharon and her sidearm to the ground as gunfire opens up around her. Rumlow grabs his secondary sidearm and aims once more at the tech; she pushes herself up on her hands and kicks out as hard as she can, sending the terrified man skidding across the floor in his rolling chair even as Rumlow's sidearm barks, destroying the keyboard and screen.

[marvel_npc]

Looks like the rebellious tech gets to live for another few minutes. Rumlow jerks to the side, ducking low to avoid gunfire, and works the keyboard at the next terminal as rapidly as he can.

The countdown flashes, the clock resetting itself from two hours to zero, as a giant red OVERRIDE warning blinks on the screen.

Good enough. He turns to fire at the nearest agent and starts backing toward the exit.

[from_the_outside]

Her sidearm had gone skidding beneath the desks. She rolls, keeping her head down, and reaches for it, then lifts to her knee as she tracks Rumlow with the muzzle. Her finger squeezes. The Kahr barks: once, twice, three times.

But Rumlow's still moving, so she gets to her feet, keeping low to stay out of the line of fire, and follows him, squeezing off shots as she moves. They spatter against the bulletproof glass of the fishbowl they're in. She can't even tell if she's grazed him.

To her side, a screen flashes, one word in glowing orange text blinking into life: OVERRIDE.

"Crap." She smacks her earpiece into life, hoping Hill's listening. "Hill! Rumlow overrode the launch sequence. Those carriers are going up now!"

[marvel_npc]

He can hear the distant sound of klaxons blaring as the Insight bay doors open, confirming launch success. Rumlow grins, fierce and triumphant, and ducks out of the control room into the hall.

[nerves_of_ice]

He watches as the first helicarrier starts its ascent, followed by the second, only for his gaze to narrow sharply as distant figures streak by and leap from the nearby building - one with a shield, who lands on the flight deck below, and the second into the open air, where he unfurls metal wings and streaks toward the helicarrier's control sphere.

Whatever they're attempting, he has to stop it, but first things first.

A swarm of pilots bursts onto the tarmac, racing for their aircraft. "All SHIELD pilots, scramble!" their leader yells into his handset. "We're the only air support Captain Rogers has got!"

The Winter Soldier launches a grenade at the first plane before it's barely launched, bringing it down in a smashed heap of metal and flame. Pilots scatter, trying to find shelter, but there's none to be found as he fires the next grenade, and the next, bringing down plane after plane with ruthless efficiency and leaving the dead where they fall.

[marvel_npc]

He hits the flightdeck of Helicarrier Alpha and launches into a sprint, shield up to deflect a barrage of bullets. One luckless HYDRA goon happens to be in his way once Steve rolls over a storage crate; he smashes the man up against another and grabs a grenade off his belt, then flings it around the corner to clear his way.

Over the earpiece, he can hear Sam engaging Bravo, the spattering report of gunfire following him.

There's nothing he can do about it now, even as anti-aircraft guns point their muzzles up into the sky, following Sam with an avalanche of shells. "Found those bad guys you were talking about!" Sam calls.

Pressed behind cover, Steve glances up. "You okay?"

"I'm not dead yet!" Sam yells back. Which maybe isn't as reassuring as he wants it to be.

[nerves_of_ice]

He tosses a member of the flight crew into an engine turbine and watches as the aircraft spins, crashes, and explodes. Only one plane remains operational, and its pilot is revving the engine.

The Winter Soldier leaps to the roof of the plane and fires two shots through the canopy, killing the hapless pilot. He wrenches the door off and flings the corpse to the tarmac, then slides into the seat and scans the sky above.

One of the helicarriers shows evidence of shattered glass and damage to its targeting system command sphere. That must be where the enemies are attacking, which gives him his objective. He spins up the engine to full power and takes off at full speed.

[marvel_npc]

"Falcon." Maria Hill would probably sound calm and controlled even while being sucked into a whirlpool. "Status?"

"Engaging!" Sam yells back. Steve allows a little of his focus to follow the sounds of Sam's fight, even as he himself barrels forward over the deck of Alpha. It's disturbingly familiar to be slamming the shield, his boot, himself into HYDRA goons while wearing this particular uniform.

But maybe Bucky will recognize it. Maybe it'll be just one more thing he can't quite explain.

Not that Steve has time to think about that just now. He bodyslams an armor-wearing HYDRA enforcer as Sam reports in. "Alright, Cap, I'm in – oh, shi – "

Whatever's happening, Steve doesn't split his focus by asking him to explain. Steve flings himself into the air, slamming two HYDRA soldiers to the ground with a stretch of his body and a strike of his shield, then lands lightly. "Eight minutes, Cap," Maria Hill tells him, and he lifts his wrist to reply. "Workin' on it."

Once inside, it's far easier to make his way to the control center, the large, open space that hosts the brain of the helicarrier. Steve types in the command that Hill had drummed into them, then switches out the target chip with the one in his belt before sending the whole thing home once more. "Alpha locked."

[nerves_of_ice]

Insight's weapons are powerful, but slow. Too slow to wipe the winged man from the air, as agile as he is. The Winter Soldier watches as explosions paint the sky and realizes that the automatic tracking will not succeed.

Their approach requires something to be done to all three helicarriers; it must, given the way they are dividing their attack. That means they will come for the third. They will have to.

He will be ready.

He lands the jet on the upper flight deck and takes cover, waiting for the right moment.

[marvel_npc]

"Charlie carrier's forty-five degrees off the port bow," Hill tells them. There's a pause, then two gunshots before her calm voice returns. "Six minutes."

"Hey, Sam?" Steve's sprinting, but even his top speed can't outrun a rocket. Like the one HYDRA is about to shoot at him. "I'm gonna need a ride."

"Let me know when you're ready," is the response, even as Steve leaps into the air and off the carrier's deck, an explosion going up behind him. "I just did!"

As he falls, Steve tries to spread his body, to increase the wind resistance against him, against the shield, and does his best not to feel the knifeblade of a frigid alpine wind, or to hear Bucky's scream echoing off the valley walls. A shadow falls over him, and then his arm is nearly yanked from its socket as Sam grabs his wrist, yelling as he pulls them both upward and onto the relative safety of Charlie. "You know, you a lot heavier than you look," Sam tells him, as they head toward the control center.

Steve shrugs. "I had a big breakfast."

[nerves_of_ice]

Their casual joking conversation gives their position away. Do they think they are safe, with the rest of HYDRA's agents having deployed to the first aircraft? They will soon learn otherwise, and his mission will be complete.

He charges from ambush and hits Rogers like a freight train, smashing into him with enough force to send him through the railing to the side and off the edge of the helicarrier.

"Steve!" The winged man races for the edge to rescue his comrade, as expected. As he snaps the metal wings open, the Winter Soldier grabs the nearest one and wrenches it hard, dragging the flyer back over the middle of the flight deck before he himself is forced to take cover against the hail of gunfire the man rains down on him.

The man arrows back toward the edge, clearly meaning to try to rescue Rogers before he hits the ground far below, but the Winter Soldier had prepared for just exactly this after their first encounter. He fires a grappling line, not at the man's body, but at one wing, and uses the resulting grip to yank him back and down onto the asphalt with stunning force. He jerks the line a second time with all his strength, and metal screams as the wing tears free of its harness and goes skittering over the deck.

The Winter Soldier doesn't give him time to recover. He charges forward and delivers a solid kick to his gut, sending the man over the edge and into freefall, his yells fading with distance.

[marvel_npc]

This time, he doesn't freefall. Instead, Steve finds himself rolling along the hull of the helicarrier, unable to catch himself until he slams into a curving metal barrier. His earpiece crackles with Sam's voice. "Cap? Cap, come in. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm here. " He grips hard and hauls himself to his feet, then takes stock of his location. Not ideal, but he can make it work. "I'm still on the helicarrier. Where are you?"

"I'm grounded." Sam sounds exasperated, and more than a little guilty. "Suit's down. Sorry, Cap."

"Don't worry, I got it." He edges along the hull, then pries open an emergency hatch and lets himself in. Two down, one to go.

[nerves_of_ice]

He watches from the edge of the flight deck as the Black man lands hard on the building below, from where he will not be able to interfere further with the Insight helicarriers. But Rogers might, he sees, as the man clambers up the side of the aircraft and reaches the dubious safety of a hatch.

His duty is clear. The Winter Soldier turns away from his vantage point and races for the interior. He has to beat Rogers to the control tower.

[marvel_npc]

He jogs along the wire catwalk that leads to the control center, then slowly slows to a halt.

Because he's there. Bucky. The Winter Soldier.

He's planted himself like a tree between Steve and the controls he so desperately needs to get to. His expression is totally blank. Cold. Empty of anything other than flat focus. Steve struggles to find some evidence that his best friend is still there, but nothing of Bucky's cheerful color and liveliness is visible.

But he still has to try. "People are gonna die, Bucky." His voice echoes around them. "I can't let that happen."

Bucky does nothing, only watches him with that same cold, blank stare, and Steve feels something crumple in his chest. "Please," he whispers. "Don't make me do this."

[nerves_of_ice]

Rogers pleads with him, calling him by a name that's not his, trying to elicit some reaction. He ignores it, all of it, and holds his position, protecting the control array.

All that matters is the mission. Nothing else.

[marvel_npc]

Bucky doesn't back down. He doesn't move; he doesn't even blink. The pistol he holds is loose but ready at his side.

Steve breathes; lifts his head. Sets his jaw. If it's between saving millions of people and Bucky, he knows which choice Bucky would tell him to make. That doesn't make any of this any easier, but then, nothing's been easy since he woke up seventy years too late.

He offers up a brief hope that whatever Zola did to his best friend will keep him from getting too hurt, and bursts into action, slinging his shield along the walkway, directly at Bucky's face, and sprinting after it in the same motion.

[nerves_of_ice]

He deflects the shield with his left arm and fires in the next instant, but the deflection has the unfortunate side effect of allowing Rogers to regain the shield. Bullets ping from metal and he adjusts the angle, trying higher and then lower.

But then Rogers is in reach, trying to fight past him, and he's able to brace against the shield and fire beneath it before the man brings it down and knocks his weapon from his grasp. The Winter Soldier falls back a step and draws a knife, then rushes him.

[marvel_npc]

One of the shots grazes his side and Steve winces, but Bucky makes the mistake of launching himself forward. Steve meets him with the shield and his shoulder behind it, and Bucky's own momentum sends him flying back and off his feet.

It doesn't stop him, though. No such luck. He draws a knife and leaps back to the attack as Steve braces himself once more. Hit, block – he tries to dislodge the knife, but Bucky keeps hold of it. He blocks a kick with one of his own, then goes down as Bucky swipes out his knee. Steve lifts the shield to block the downward swing of the knife, then surges up, shoving Bucky back far enough that he can turn to the controls, fingers moving swiftly over them.

[nerves_of_ice]

No. He staggers backward, shaking his head, then rushes back into the fight. Rogers is strong, but the Winter Soldier will die before he lets himself fail.

He slams a crippling punch with his left fist, one that if it made contact would shatter ribs and leave Rogers weakened and gasping, but the man catches a glimpse of the attack in time to turn away from the controls and bring up the shield between them. The force of the strike vibrates between them for a second, and then Rogers rushes him, pushing him back and driving him away from the console.

He blocks the next strike with his arm, ducks a punch, and takes another that rocks him back on his feet. As Rogers turns away from him and back toward his goal, the Winter Soldier screams in frustration and desperate rage, a hoarse, wild sound, and bodyslams Rogers into the railing, sending the two of them tumbling together over it and to the platform below.

[marvel_npc]

As he hits the platform, he loses his grip on the chip. It slides towards the edge and comes to a stop... past Bucky, now in his way.

Bucky struggles to his feet and rushes him again, and Steve meets him head on, exchanging blow for blow. He throws a knee to Bucky's ribs, takes a shovel punch to his own. A flurry of punches later, and Bucky gets in an upward smack with his left arm that sends Steve flying towards the edge of the platform. He grabs for the chip as he slides past it, then pushes himself up to meet another attack.

Hit after hit, and he loses grip of the chip once more, but manages to get the upper hand. As he and Bucky both hit the platform, he kicks out, meeting Bucky's side solidly with his boot and sending him out into space before Steve leaps off in search of the chip.

[nerves_of_ice]

He lands hard on the glass and metal of the dome, taking damage, but he comes up with the other man's shield and sends it slicing through the air at him as he runs for the chip. It cracks Rogers across the shoulder blades, sending him sprawling, but he somehow manages to roll up into a coiled crouch behind the shield and deflects the shots the Winter Soldier fires at him.

Distance is clearly ineffective, so he closes it, drawing another knife as he does. He swipes the blade across Rogers' chest, his throat, forcing him to jerk back to avoid being cut - and as the man does, the Winter Soldier grabs his own right wrist with his left hand and uses the enhanced strength to rip downward, plunging the knife into Rogers' right shoulder.

The man yells and headbutts him twice, trying to break his grip and causing him to stagger. The Winter Soldier leaves the blade in place and flings him hard into the wall, then dives for the chip. If he can destroy it, the threat to Insight ends here.

[marvel_npc]

He rips the knife out of his shoulder and tosses it aside, then springs for Bucky. Grabbing Bucky's right hand to make sure he can't destroy the chip, he wraps his other hand around Bucky's throat and lifts.

Bucky's strangled, infuriated cry stabs into him just like one of the many blades he carries, but he doesn't let go of the chip. Steve shifts his weight and slams him down into the glass of the dome, then gets leverage on his arm, forcing Bucky's shoulder down while he pulls the arm back. "Drop it!" Steve demands.

Don't make me hurt you more. "Drop it!"

[nerves_of_ice]

He clutches the chip as tightly as he can and claws at the air over his own shoulder with his left hand, trying to reach Rogers and coming up empty. The man pushes harder, trying to restrain him, and the sound of something tearing apart in his right shoulder rips through the air between them, followed by his own agonized cry.

He could win. The thought makes itself known beyond his subconscious for the first time, blooming like an explosion. Rogers might be able to beat him. He could do what the Winter Soldier's never been able to do for himself. He could end it. This could all be over.

He's still struggling with shock and pain and bone-deep compulsion when Rogers flips their weight, bringing him down on his back with the other man's arm around his throat, strangling him. Choking for air, unable to breathe, the Winter Soldier scrabbles desperately at Rogers' hand.

[marvel_npc]

Steve hangs grimly on, focusing on his form, focusing on keeping the metal arm down. He presses the bone of his forearm into Bucky's vein, blocking the flow of blood and cutting off his air, until Bucky goes limp, the card sliding from his hands.

Based on everything he's seen so far, he doesn't think Bucky's faking. He's like a dog with a bone, unable to stop himself from pushing forward. Steve lets go, hoping against hope that he hadn't hung on so long as to cause irreparable damage, then snatches the chip and gets to his feet, sprinting for the control tower.

[nerves_of_ice]

Awareness returns slowly. He's lying face-down on the glass of the control dome, unrestrained and alone.

Rogers left him alive. It isn't over after all.

The Winter Soldier pushes himself up, hissing in pain at the discovery his right shoulder isn't working properly, and looks frantically around. One look is all he needs to see that the other man hasn't reached his objective yet. He snatches up his pistol from where it lies discarded and aims as best he can with his left hand.

The first shot tears into Rogers' thigh. Grimly, he corrects his aim, and tries again.