Chapter 37

We walk stealthily along rooftops, making sure our steps were slow and subtle.

It took longer then expected considering we had to hide in the shadows of buildings and fire escapes.

We barely made it onto Bucky's building through the fire escape before I felt it hit me.

"Wait," I stop him, feeling my abilities sense someone in the area.

I visibly paled upon feeling the familiarity.

"He's here," I tell him, voice soft.

Steve.

Shit, I didn't think it'd take him this fast.

Bucky's features contorted but he hastily sucked it in, not wanting to give it away that he was nervous to walk in.

Breathing deeply, he pulls me behind him.

"Ostavaysya za mnoy."

Stay behind me.

I nod, obeying his command.

He opens the hidden doorway he had boarded up near the closet going to peer through the room for where Steve might be.

It didn't take long to see him.

Not like he was trying to hide it.

He stood in the centre of the room, back to us. The uniform he wore was like an emblem. 

My heart jumps in my throat. I don't know how he'll react when he figures out I've been with Bucky, the man he's been trying to find for years. 

In my attempt to move forward, Bucky forces me behind him once more. He shakes his head, still scanning the area for threats. 

"Understood," Steve's talked into his comm, his deep voice echoing across the apartment, like a calling to my very soul.

Looking upwards towards the ceiling, I felt Sam's familiar energy flying somewhere in the distance. It was just two of them. The rest of the team wasn't here. Which tells me they were acting out of their jurisdiction. 

Steve flinched.

Probably realizing he was being watched.

He turns around to face Bucky and I know his much larger frame has me blocked from Steve's view.

"Do you know me?" Steve asks, tone slightly pleading almost.

Bucky remained guarded and his grip on me tightened. "You're Steve. I read about you in a museum."

Steve approaches us with a hand held out. "I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

Did that mean Bucky remembered Steve?

"He wasn't in Vienna. Neither was I," I walked out from behind Bucky ignoring the glare he sent my way for disobeying him.

Steve momentarily faltered. His blue eyes blinked rapidly and his entire being shook.

Both from an odd mixture of worry and anger.

"Lorelie?" He whispers.

I nod timidly and wrapped my hands around myself. "Hey Steve..."

Steve cleared his throat and watch the two of us carefully. He hadn't expect me to be here, hell that makes two of us, I guess.

In my mind all I saw are images of Sharon and Steve, playing before like like a loop. 

It was constant. And it was also torturous.

Breathing deeply, I tried to cover up my hurt but miserably failed so I decided to turn it into attitude.

"Steve, you need to let us go. At least until I find a safe place for him so I can come back and fix this."

Steve shifted the shield in his other hand stance threatening almost when I said those words.

"You two are going to run?"

Frustrated, I rubbed my face and nodded vigorously.

"You're not supposed to be here. You'll get in trouble, Sam too. With how things are looking right now for the Avengers it's not good."

The Super Soldier remains stubborn. He doesn't want to leave us and I know we were wasting time.

"If you come with me I'll--"

"You'll what?!" I shout, my rage unconstrained. Something about those words made me snap.

"You can't do anything, Steve! Your hands are tied, you need to leave before they find out you're here. I won't let your actions bring down others! I can help Bucky, you have to trust me."

"Trust you?" His blue eyes narrowed and I visibly flinched. "You knew where Bucky was the entire time didn't you?"

No! Of course, I didn't!

My powers did that on my own!

"How dare you!" I yelled, sparks of blue tinge the air around me, warming the already tense tension.

He could be kind to Sharon. But he couldn't even have an ounce of trust in me?

"After everything Steve! After what you put me through--" I cut myself off and looked away, unable to face him in the eye.

The memory of what happened in Avenger Facility made something inside me crack.

I still remembered those eyes, those eyes of judgement, those eyes that didn't believe me when I tried to defend myself.

I felt like bursting open and crying out to the world.

What did I do, to deserve this type of backlash?

Bucky watches the interaction go down with hooded eyes. He doesn't like that I'm in distress and in his eyes he sees a threat.

"I wasn't in Vienna." He clarifies, trying to shift the focus. "I don't do that anymore,"

Steve regained his expression and shakily swallowed knowing he had gone too far.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive."

"What? They're planning on killing us?" I scoffed, already knowing the Government was just a bunch of crazed individuals. Of course, they would. 

"That's smart. Good strategy." Bucky agrees, smiling sarcastically.

I felt a fresh wave of energies hit me and realized we were all surrounded.

"They're here," I informed Bucky and he nods, already knowing this as well. Turning to Steve I gave him one last warning.

"Steve, I'll get Bucky out of here but you need to leave. If the two of us are seen, they won't hesitate to throw us in the lock-up. It's not you that will suffer, it's the rest of the team."

He looks affected by my reasonings but doesn't move to correct me.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight."

Just like that, I knew Steve won't do as I say and it makes me scream inside that he doesn't know I'm doing this for him.

"It always ends in a fight," Bucky replies deadpanned and I watch as he takes off his black glove, revealing a set of metal fingers.

His fingers folded behind his back and he gave me a signal I instantly knew to be; get down.

"You pulled me from the river." Steve gestures frantically. "Why?"

"I don't know." Bucky counts down with his fingers and I gave him a subtle nod.

Once this happens there was no going back. If Steve hadn't stopped us, this could have been reversible. We could've been gone before anyone realized.

But now guards were surrounding the entire area and I knew there was no chance Bucky and I could leave together without the police realizing who was with him.

I was stuck in a dilemma.

I needed to help Bucky. But at the same time, I had to stop Steve from going after him.

If my Protector was going to get away he needed to do it alone. The Super Soldier would only add fuel to the fire.

"Yes, you do!" Steve shouts.

"Steve, dammit!" I yelled, frustrated at him for being beyond reasoning.

Two energy waves hit the windows and I ducked obeying Bucky's command and rolling over to a safer spot.

Steve hits the other grenade out the open window but when one landed in front of us, Bucky kicks it at Steve, making the Super Soldier smother it with his shield.

"Go!" I shout to my Protector, manifesting a barrier wave and hurling it at our third assailant. He is thrown back against the windows and laid limp, probably unconscious.

Bucky manoeuvred around me and grabs the table, slamming it against the entrance door.

Pounds and thuds from the outside tell me they were trying to get in.

"We're out of time!" I yelled at the two of them.

Two more assailants crashed in and I kicked my leg forward, knocking him to the ground so he fell to his knees.

Bucky punches him flat in the face and pulls the rope from where he hung and practically pinballs him across the floor.

The Super Soldier was fighting a guard of his own having trying to stop him from shooting at us.

Loud gunshots ricocheted around and I barely missed a bullet that threatened to hit me.

"V dver'." I point at the bolted door to the balcony and Bucky nods understanding what I meant.

Out the door.

Bucky grabs my wrist and for a moment I stared at it before tugging my grip away.

"Oni uzhe videli menya," I tell him sadly.

They've already seen me.

"Net," He shakes his head, looking desperate.

No.

"Ty sam po sebe." Shaking my head, I push him towards the door.

You're on your own.

He doesn't react at first but I know he's affected by my words.

Nodding slowly, I wiped away a few tears that had gathered in my eyes.

I was leaving him again.

"YA postarayus' uderzhat' ikh do tekh por, poka ya mogu."

I'll try to hold them off for as long as I can.

In his eyes, I see his hesitance, his fear, that I will be locked up while he remains on the run with no means of getting me out. 

Time was ticking and so with one last fetal glance, he lunges for the door and opens it but another guard pops in, his gun in front of him.

Bucky dodges and grabs the guard by his shoulder, throwing him at me.

I anticipated the action, knowing Bucky's moves as well as my own.

Weaving my fingers, a trail of blue and green sent him crashing towards the bolted door near the table.

He knew leaving me behind would just sign off my death certificate.

But he doesn't have a choice. Neither one of us does. 

Steve comes in between Bucky stopping him in his tracks.

"Bucky stop! You're going to kill someone!"

I was about to pull Steve off him but Bucky was quicker.

He slams into Steve, pushing him to his back so he lands on the ground.

In one swift punch, he tears a hole through the wooden flooring with his metal arm. 

Steve's eyes go wide.

"I'm not going to kill anyone," Bucky grabs a backpack hidden under the chamber and throws it out the balcony, landing it on another roof.

Another guard appears from the other window and I yelped not anticipating how close the gunshots were. 

Bucky's eyes narrowed at the guard in anger before pulling me forward and blocking the gunshots with his metal arm.

His whole frame was practically shoving me out the door, keeping me right beside him as he began a siege against the guards blocking our path. 

My mind was pounding and my breathing was growing weaker and weaker.

Shaking off my daze, I watch as Bucky continued to block me from entering.

"My okazalis' zdes' v lovushke." He shouts. "Vam nuzhno prygat'."

We're trapped here. You need to jump.

Staring at him in disbelief I shook my head.

"I'm not leaving the two of you!"

He gives me a sharp glare and without warning, uses his metal arm to grab onto my shoulder and shoves me off the building.

I cried out, completely in disarray.

However, I reacted quickly shooting up pillared beams so I landed on the white roof.

My landing wasn't smooth. I hit the ground hard and rolled a bunch of times, scraping my knees and hands.

"Goddammit Soldat," I grumbled, wheezing for air as it is sucked out of me.

Loud gunshots and noise filled the area but I could only watch as the fight went down.

Bucky may have shoved me off a building but I wasn't going to leave those two defenceless.

At the very least while Bucky made his escape, I needed to stop Steve before he made things worst.

My powers alerted me of a newcomer and I hastily dodged, rolling in between beams and smoke chimneys.

Something sharp sliced at the air. I thought it was an arrow but upon standing up I realized who my attacker was.

It was a guy wearing a black metal skin-tight suit with a mask that reminded me of a Panther.

"It's been a long day!" I shout, gearing into action as he proceeds to attack me.

We clash, both hands forcing each other down.

His sharp claws were threatening to impale me so I clicked my fingers, allowing a jet of blue to throw him onto the other side.

It caught him off guard and he paused, assessing the situation.

"You're not the police." I deduce, breathing deeply.

"No, I am not." He tells me with a deep accent in his voice. It sounded exotic almost.

"Then what are you doing here?"

He doesn't reply. But those claws extended and my powers went haywire upon sensing it.

He swiped. Left and right.

The right swing, grazed my skin and blood welled up from the four long sized claws imprinted on my arm.

I looked at my torn hoodie and noticed the blue veins seeping through the arm of my sleeve, practically exposing themselves.

That's not what caused me to panic.

It was the fact that the veins had come back alive.

Holding onto the cut, I made a quick getaway, jumping off the roof, and running over to another one.

The pillared beams shot up from the air and caught me before I began to run farther away from the building and out of anyone's view.

I didn't see the Black Panther after that and deduced I lost him.

I only released the beams when I felt them weakening with each step I took on them.

Practically knocking onto wooden carts in a dusty apartment, I fell to my back and breathe in shakily when pain erupted all around my torso and arms.

"Ah!" I bit my lip, feeling tears spring in my eyes.

My palms burned and I hissed, feeling them suck me dry.

Not now.

Please. Not now.

Manifesting two energy blades, I evaporated one when I realized I could only handle one at a time.

Even though I was controlling one, the lights were frantically moving around, fighting each other.

Raising the sleeve that blocked my wrist, I watch the unearthly glow appear on my skin.

No. No. Not this time.

Why is it happening so fast?!

Why is the serum weakening?

Letting my powers drop, I could feel the heavy darkness lingering behind me almost threateningly.

Stop stalling. Get up and fight!

I needed to focus. Steve was still out there and so was Bucky.

I had to stop him before things got worse from here on out.

~~@ @ @~~

A/N

Idk how you guys are reacting to these last few chapters. I'm afraid of your reaction. 

Are you team Steve or team Tony?

Who do you think Lorelie will choose?

XD

Gooddzzz Lucckksss

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