How the Good and the Villain Saved Each Other

Steve looked around in surprise, there was a small river flowing not far away, the water was gurgling, and dirty American soldiers were scattered around in twos and threes, some of them were dozing in the early morning mist, some were excitedly Talking to each other, a Steve Rogers is standing on the highest point overlooking all this, the sun shines on him from behind, as if plating him with a layer of gold, Bucky is sitting on a rock at his feet, He tore the cotton shirt he got from nowhere in his hand into strips, and expertly bandaged several wounded.

"Sergeant, your technique is really good, much better than some thick-handed military doctors." One of them joked that he was injured on his left arm, and a long gash continued from his elbow. To the wrist, it looked like a bloody mess.

"I guess it's because practice makes perfect," Bucky also replied jokingly, "I have a little friend who likes to fight, and he selflessly provides me with a lot of opportunities to practice. You should give him a toast." He said, He turned his head to look at Steve very naturally, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and his whole body seemed to be shining, but that Steve was only concentrating on talking to a soldier who came over, and he didn't even give a response to his best friend.

The smile quickly disappeared from Bucky's face, just like the sun that had just emerged and timidly disappeared back into the clouds again.He stopped talking, just lowered his head and continued the work at hand, an inexplicable sadness quietly spread around him.

Stupid, Steve cursed himself, would have punched himself if he could, what the hell were you thinking?Why don't you look at him, talk to him, touch his cheek and tell him how glad you are that he's okay?How much do you miss him?

You should look at him, that is your tacit understanding, you can always feel each other's eyes, even if you are flirting with those beautiful girls, as long as you look at him obsessively, he will immediately turn his head and give you a look A big reassuring smile, or just walking up to ask if you're bored enough to want to go home.But you ruined that rapport because of that ridiculous self-righteousness and smugness.

Yes, fluttering, he thought he was really a little too excited at that time.He saved hundreds of people from the German army, which means that he is no longer the fake hero who can only beat Hitler on the stage, the fake hero who can only deceive children, and these soldiers no longer despise him, use Treat him with the attitude of a circus monkey, on the contrary, now they respect and love him, look at him with reverence and hope, whenever he passes by, they will take off their military caps and nod to him, hoping that he can stop. Step down and say even a word to them, as if that is some great honor.

His mother once told him that people will watch you throughout your life and tell you what not to do, but you should never give up on what you stand for.He believed it and lived it, but what she failed to tell him was how to behave when people applauded what you did, because that was even more compromising and disorienting than a powerful voice of disapproval.

It was Bucky's "I want to follow that Brooklyn kid who fights and doesn't know how to run" that made him find himself again-he will always be that stubborn Brooklyn kid who will follow people for some seemingly ridiculous reasons. Fighting in movie theaters, not because it met or didn't meet people's expectations, just because it was what he thought was right.

The woods slowly faded away, and the scent of grass and trees was replaced by the smell of men's sweat, women's fragrance, and the vomit of drunks, and Bucky also changed from the dirty soldier with the bandages back to This drunken sergeant with a drink in front of him.

They were back in London taverns again.

"Hey, man, are you listening to me?" Bucky slapped Steve on the shoulder, scaring him solidly:

"What? Where did we go?"

"Wrinkles," Bucky yelled disapprovingly, "we're talking about the creases between his brows."

"You mean the frown lines?" Steve reluctantly withdrew his mind, trying to follow Bucky's train of thought but failed, "I don't think I understand."

Bucky sighed.

"Steve likes to frown," he explained, "and he's a stubborn guy, so of course he likes to do it, so the frown lines are so deep that sometimes I even have to use my fingers to hold his brows apart when they meet. But now, it's smooth out there, and the serum has completely changed him, made him more than human, and me? I'm just a human, and one day I won't be able to keep up with him, or stand beside him, when He's going to be disappointed in me, and worse, he's going to look at me like an underdog, which I can never accept."

Steve was silent, he knew exactly what Bucky was thinking, because he had the bastard idea of ​​pushing Bucky away too, when he was knocked out in the garbage, when he was sick and dying, and when the girls laughed at him in his face And when he says no, when his life sucks and smells like shit.

Because Bucky is so good, so good that he feels inferior, so good that he feels unworthy of being close to him.

Thinking of this, Steve suddenly smiled—he and Bucky, what a pair of fools they are.

"So, what did you think of him when he was that weak Brooklyn boy?" He reflected on the past between them. "Were you disappointed in him when he was dying? Did you treat him as an underdog in an alley melee where victory was impossible?"

Without waiting for Bucky to answer, he gave the answer by himself: "No, of course not, Steve used to be a hundred times worse than you are now, but you always treat him as an equal, you protect him but never despise him , you love him but don’t want to manipulate him. You just told him that you would always follow that Brooklyn kid who fought and didn’t know how to escape, why did you change your mind in a blink of an eye?”

"I haven't changed my mind," Bucky said aloud, immediately realizing that the volume was too loud even in a cluttered saloon.He scratched his head in embarrassment, and continued in a low voice: "I will never change my mind about Steve, I am just a little frustrated, but you talk a lot, Steve has been suffering from this for a long time, and I It's just that I feel sorry for myself after a little bit of neglect, and I think I'm not as strong as him."

"It's not the truth," Steve smiled, "The truth is, you can always find his self-pity, no matter how willfully he pushes you away, you always stand stubbornly where you are, even willing to take a step forward to hug him, But he is a fool, a fool who can't even see that you are sad."

Bucky fell silent suddenly.

"I think I'm talking so much to a stranger when I'm drunk, and you must know that a drunk's words never count," he said again, with a serious tone, "You're not a reporter Right? I don't want anyone to say anything about Steve."

"Of course I'm not, you can rest assured." Steve replied, this is Bucky, even in his drunkenness, even in his memory, he is still persistently vigilant and wants to protect himself, "I just came here to be with you You chat, you look like you need to talk to someone."

Bucky lay lazily on the bar counter, looking at Steve with his arms propped up.

"You're a weirdo, like Steve," he murmured. "Maybe you're like the girls who just sat here, trying to have a romance with me at night."

Steve suppressed a smile, and suddenly wanted to reach out and touch Bucky's head. He missed the touch of Bucky's short hair, especially the small area at the back of his head that was flattened. It was so fun to touch.

But when he was hesitant to relive his old dream of being bitten, the whole tavern suddenly started to vibrate without warning. Steve's first reaction was to jump up to protect Bucky and hide under the bar. I don't remember that there was a German bombing here that night.

Soon, Steve understood that this was not a real enemy bombing, but the collapse of the memory world—the power of the potion was fading, and Bucky was about to wake up from his memory.

The tavern shattered like glass falling from a high altitude, the scene in front of him became blurred, and in the chaos, countless people and objects flashed past his eyes.He saw Bucky's mother, who had the same green eyes as Bucky, smiling and calling Bucky's name with a voice as gentle as newborn sunshine; he saw the Howling Commandos marching, shoulder to shoulder, hugging each other Looking at another, the happy ending seems to be not going to the front line but going to the party; he saw Zora, the hateful Hydra scientist grinning, saying maliciously "You will become Hydra's new weapon" He also saw Karpov, the Soviet major general who had teamed up with them to destroy the Red Skull's secret base in the Soviet theater, the devil who started the "Winter Soldier Project" and created Bucky's tragic fate, he was wearing a camouflage uniform , sitting in a chair wearing a red safari cap.

"Report the mission, soldier." He said to Bucky with his hands behind his back. Steve stared at the left arm, letting its metallic luster hurt his eyes, and the Winter Soldier stared at Karpov with fierce eyes. Broken like a wounded beast.

"You didn't tell me he had a daughter." He said every word, completely ignoring the other party's orders.

The Soviet major general was a little surprised and quickly regained his composure. He looked at the Winter Soldier like he was looking at a broken machine due to neglect of repairs.

"Your task is to clear the target," he replied, even while sitting, there was a kind of indifference and arrogance of a superior that cannot be ignored. "It has nothing to do with whether he has a daughter or not."

The Winter Soldier clenched his fists tightly. His whole body was shaking. He didn't know whether it was from pain or anger. He suddenly took a step forward and grabbed Karpov by the collar.

"He has a daughter," he roared, his eyes flushed and his voice hoarse, "you made me kill her father in front of a girl, you demon."

"My dearest soldier," the man hissed with a serpentine iciness and slickness, and with a vicious sneer on his lips, he leaned close to the Winter Soldier and whispered in his ear: "If I were a demon , then you too, we are all in hell, none of us can escape."

As if scalded by the flames of hell, the Winter Soldier suddenly let go of his hand, his eyes drifted around, his lips trembled, and he staggered back and forth.

"This is not me," he hugged his head, growling uneasy like a trapped animal, "Who am I? What did you do to me?"

Then there was a chaotic fight, vague figures, heavy breathing, faint gunshots, and the fragments of memory became chaotic again. A voice rolled and pressed like thunder from the sky, followed by the second, third, Fourth, many voices layered on top of each other, making a terrible dull boom:

"Catch him and send him to Laboratory No. [-], hurry up!"

"Use a tranquilizer bomb, be careful not to kill him, he is the most valuable asset of the Soviet—"

"I'm going back... I'm going to be with Steve... He won't forget me, he won't leave me, he'll come to me."

"Major General, our re-personalization of the Winter Soldier has failed, he's starting to recover, we'll have to find another way, maybe try hypnosis, Dr. Faust happens to be in the base—"

"Captain America is dead long ago, you are homeless, and now you belong to the great Soviet, to the ice and snow of Siberia, to hell, mywintersoldier..."

"Steve is dead... no one will come to me, no one will remember me, I lost all hope... no future without Steve, I will never go home..."

Large flakes of snow fell, each flake was bigger than a goose feather, and each flake was heavier than a block of lead. Steve seemed to have returned to that snowfield, that dead silent pale cemetery, Bucky leaning against the tree The blood dripping from the severed arm stained the snow around him red.

"I know you won't jump down to find me," he smiled sadly, Steve never knew Bucky would smile like this, he always reserved the brightest and happiest smile for his best friend, "but I Wishing you could, because if you don't, no one will ever do it again, and I'll be left here, and the winter will eat me up little by little."

"I'm sorry, Bucky, I'm sorry—" Steve murmured tearfully, like Captain America 70 years ago on the side of the train, suffering from his powerlessness, but he had to pull himself together , he can't make another mistake and leave Bucky in hell again, he must untie his heart knot and let him get a new life.

"You have a future, Bucky, a wonderful future," he knelt in the snow, kneeling in front of Bucky, holding his cold face, looking into his gray-green eyes, trying to imprint it in his memory The last trace, "A promising future awaits us, so don't give up, please, don't give up, even if it's for me, for me, please don't give up—"