DARKNESS.
010. | ❛ protection. ❜

SAM, BUCKY, KIARA, STEVE, AND CAROLINE MADE IT TO A WAREHOUSE SEEKING A PLACE TO LAY LOW FOR A MOMENT. SHE KNEW THAT THEY WERE GOING TO BE WANTED NOW MORE THAN EVER, AND COULD FEEL THAT MORE WAS YET TO COME. Caroline jogged into the grimy room they were in to offer the report of the helicopters, "There are helicopters still circling to the west but they don't seem to know we're here."

Her eyes fixate on Kiara, who was watching Bucky's his limp form, and his torso bent at an angle as his metal arm remains restrained in a mechanical vice. Walking over to her sister, she stood by her side before engaging in a conversation. "You know it's going to be rough from here on out."

Kiara scoffed, "We just keep running into trouble, don't we?"

Caroline nodded while looking back on how true that statement was. Even if she didn't see it at times, she always laughed herself towards trouble. First with Loki, Washington D.C, Ultron, and now with Bucky. Going back to pre-serum Steve, when she sneakily aided in the war alongside Peggy. Now, she keeps running towards it but this time was different; because she was fighting for her best friend, who she knew wasn't in control of his own mind.

"There wouldn't be a story to tell if we didn't." Caroline plainly admitted before resting a hand on Kiara. "I'm going to check on Steve. Are you going to be alright in here?"

She looked towards the still unconscious Bucky and back to Kiara, "I'll be fine."

Her tone didn't completely convince Caroline, and she could see how Kiara was trying to not let her emotions show. The ones that she kept hidden for a while, and seeing Bucky before her eyes was something that Kiara was still processing. Caroline gave her sister a quick hug, before leaving her in the room with Bucky.

She saw Sam and Steve turn when they heard the sound of her shoes echoing through the warehouse. The men continued in their conversation until Caroline arrived, and politely asked Sam to go accompany Kiara to which he obliged. Which left Steve and Caroline alone, standing there silently.

She wrapped her arms around his torso, and Steve rested his around her bringing her in closer; the one moment that they felt safe within each other's embrace. Caroline could feel a small kiss being placed on the top of her head, as they continued to hold each other.

"I want to thank you Steven Grant Rogers." Caroline abruptly spoke, pushing back from Steve and taking one of his cheek in her palm.

He held a confused look at Caroline for the sudden change of course, "What are you middle naming me for?"

"Thank you for protecting me. For always protecting me. You've always worked so hard to keep me safe, even when we just friends and even now. You've saved me, Steve. From a world of war and darkness, and I want you to know that you are everything to me. I love you Steven Grant Rogers. From here until death parts us." She slowly spoke, watching him tentatively as his body tensed, his head bent forward and his turn to now speak. Knowing that Caroline was saying most of it because of the situation they were in.

"Caroline Anne Kingsley, we're going to make it out of this." He connected their foreheads, and kept his gaze on Caroline's. "We're going to clear Bucky's name. And then we're going to get married, and have that wedding that you always dreamed about. And live happily ever after." Steve's voice cracked as a tear shed from his eye, and Caroline was quick to wipe it away. She knew that whatever they were in now, isn't going to end happily ever after. From the looks of it, that they were in a situation far too deep that didn't have any positive solution. Yet regardless, she held onto hope.

"Promise me that whatever the outcome of this is, that we'll spend the rest of our lives together. Whether it be in Avengers HQ or in a prison—" Her voice was weak and quiet as she tried to keep her grip on her emotions, realizing that she had already lost control.

"I promise you." Steve locked eyes with Caroline's teary ones,  "That we'll spend the rest of our lives together. Not behind bars but in our home."

"I love you so much, Steve." Her voice falters as she hiccuped slightly, the tears now flowing silently down her face. "That whatever happens—"

"That you're going to make it to the end, and you're going to walk down the aisle, and marry the man of your dreams." Steve speaks slowly and quietly. "And I'm going to marry the love of my life."

Caroline felt a small knot form in her stomach as she thought about his words. She wanted that to be reality, that it was plain and simple to get to that goal. But she knew that getting there would be just as difficult as anything she had been through before.

"I love you." She spoke quietly with Steve responding with a kiss on her lips. His hands held her waist as she tiptoed to his mouth, and her hands crawled around to his neck. Almost all together, she wish that they could've stayed like that forever. To not continue with what was underway, to just stay in the arms of her true love.

"Hey Cap!" Sam yells down the hall, causing both of their attention to snap towards the small room. Steve moves forward, walking alongside Caroline slowly as they heads towards Sam.

Steve stops suddenly, turning slowly to face Caroline once more, "I love you." She nodded her head and pressed one more kiss to his lips, before they turned towards the room again, jogging forward.
Once they got into the room, both approached with slowness and stood between Kiara and Sam.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?"
Steve asked with caution as his steps faltered hearing Bucky's voice in response, "Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." 

Caroline's shoulder's relaxed at the sound of Bucky's quiet chuckle. She felt a hand slip into hers and squeeze it tightly, and knowing it was Kiara's hand. It was the sight of Bucky not in Winter Soldier mode, the one that they had been friends with all those years ago.

"Can't read that in a museum." Steve laughed softly, the ghost of a smile relaxing across his face at Caroline and Kiara.

Sam however, remained tense, defensive, and skeptically, "Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?"

Bucky sat up slightly, wincing at the restriction of his arm as he looked around the room, eyes falling to the two blonde sisters. He quickly asked in a panic, "Are you guys alright? Did I hurt you?"

Kiara gave Caroline a look before she proceeded to answer his question, "Nothing that we couldn't handle." She spoke softly as he gently reached out for Kiara with his unrestrained hand.

Caroline, although tense, realizes her sister's hand as she moved forward, trusting Bucky once again as she sank to her knees beside him. Allowing his fingers to slide gently into Kiara's blonde hair as he pulls her close to him, taking a deep breath as his grip tenses protectively around her. Hesitantly at first, but now she fully wrapped her arms around him. Burrowing into his shoulder, a sob ready to escape from her throat, feeling safe in the comfort of his arms.

Watching them reminded Caroline of when she met with Steve after he was unfrozen. The weary yet heart lifting moment that was a life changer for her. How every rush of emotion ran through her all at once, but face to face with him, it all went away and she was home.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked softly. Kiara pulled back from him, not saying anything, but turning her worried eyes to Steve, shooting him a look of caution.

"Enough..." Steve confirms, a look of empathy flashing across his face for his poor friend.

Bucky sighs as his gaze falls, his eyes closing sadly "Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there."

He looks sadly to her, biting his lip slightly as he looks at Kiara's face, his fingers twitching slightly. He turns back to Steve, looking up with somber eyes, "All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve asks worriedly.

"I don't know" Bucky sighs.

"Bucky, it's ok..." Caroline tried to convince him, before Steve interrupted her.

"People are dead. The bombing... the setup..." His words hurried and harsh as he interrogates Bucky, "The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you." His voice is stern, causing Bucky to recoil slightly as Caroline places a hand on Steve's shoulder, "I need you to do better than 'I don't know."

Bucky looks up at Steve again, his brow furrowing slightly in confusion as he tries to remember. His lip twitches as he tries to form the full thought, "He wanted to know about Siberia."

The look of confusion still etched on his face as he paused for a moment, thinking further before adding, "Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked cautiously, his confusion mirroring Bucky's.

"Because..." He starts, but the fear and worry causing his voice to fall into a low growl once more. "I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

Bucky began to explain about a stolen serum. How it was administered to Hydra's top 5 most lethal assassins. As Bucky spoke to Caroline, Sam, Kiara, and Steve cycled through asking questions. As he explained, Bucky moved slightly wincing at the restriction of his metal arm.

"Who were they?" Steve continues, wanting more information on the chosen assassins. Bucky's attention flashes back to Steve, the tension in his jaw returning.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in Hydra history. And that was before the serum."

Sam had returned to his withdrawn position, leaning cautiously against the doorframe, but he spoke up now, "They all turn out like you?"

"Worse." Bucky shoots back, tensing slightly in response to Sam's hostility.

"The doctor, could he control them?" Steve asks, drawing Bucky's attention back to him.

"Enough." Bucky nods, confirming Steve's fear.

"He said he wanted to make an empire fall." Steve remembers, his gaze flashing to Sam as he thinks back on his encounter with the imposter.

"With these guys he could do it," Bucky confirms cautiously, "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming."

Bucky rambles off all the information he had, causing both Sam and Steve to tense as they realize the direness of the situation. Sam moves forward to converse with Steve, the new information now on the table.

"This would have been a lot easier a week ago." Sam says.

"If we call Tony..." Steve continues but Caroline immediately counters him.

"No, he won't believe us."

"Even if he did..." Steve wonders.

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help." Sam concludes.

"We're on our own" Steve announces to the room at large.

"Maybe not..." Sam interrupts tentatively, everyone in the room looks at him skeptically as he smiles slightly, "I know a guy..."

──────◯──────

we are getting close to the end !
oh dear lord, you know what happens next. Do you think that Caroline's going to make it out alive?

Please tell me what you thought since i love reading your comments.