How the Good and the Villain Saved Each Other

"How is it, Wanda?" It was Loki's voice.

"I don't understand..." Scarlet Witch sounded confused, "but all the 'nails' are gone, I guess the third memory may be the key to everything."

A moment of silence.

"You have to get used to this." It was still Loki's voice, with some kind of weird sour mockery, "these guys probably have some special powers, or they are just bad characters, they will always take your good plan It's messed up, turned around at the critical moment when you're furious and tense, and miraculously puts everything back on track."

Steve tries to smile when he finally realizes he's already awake.He moved his arms in a daze, but found that his hand was holding Bucky's arm, and quickly turned to look at his best friend, only to find that he was lying on his back on the bed, his green eyes were wide open, like two cheap lifeless as a glass ball.

"Bucky—" Steve rushed forward and patted his lover's sweaty cheek, but failed to get any response.

"Now is not the time to worry," Loki interjected, crossing his shoulders. "He's just been dazzled by too many memories, and he'll recover in a short time. The real tricky thing is what comes after."

Steve nodded and asked apologetically, "Can you leave first? After Bucky wakes up...maybe he won't want to see people too much."

Loki seldom obeyed. He picked up Wanda, who was limp from exhaustion, and left the bedroom in silence.

Steve struggled to sit up against the head of the bed, and then gently rested Bucky's head on his lap, looking at him, feeling the turbulent waves under his stable skin, like looking at him through the calm before the storm. The mess left behind by the disaster.

Gradually, the green eyes gained focus, they looked at Steve, and recognized the appearance of their lover.As a result, they bent up, and happy light spots danced among them, driving Steve, who was originally frowning, to smile together.But soon, the spot of light dimmed, just like a sudden solar eclipse, which darkened the daytime land in just a split second. The memory box was opened, and blood kept oozing out of it. It was the blood of innocent people, and it was also Bucky himself. of blood.

"Steve—" Bucky called weakly, it sounded like a wounded fawn whining, his face was pale, as if half of the blood in his body had been drained.

"I'm here, Bucky," Steve said softly, calling out his beloved's nickname, and stretched out his hand to gently comb the brown hair on his legs, like combing a fire, which exudes a patient's high fever, "You Would you like some water?"

"Yeah—" Bucky replied, trying to smile back at Steve, but it was just a smile that looked like a smile but wasn't really a smile at all, pure muscle twitching without any soul of pleasure in.

Steve doesn't move, just looks at Bucky sadly, his forced smile hurting him more than the pain.

They just stare at each other until Steve leans over and wraps Bucky in his arms.

"You don't have to be like this, at least not in front of me," his chin clamped tightly on his shoulders, "a true friend shares everything, even in the worst situation."

Bucky doesn't answer, but Steve knows he's shaking his head because the soft ends of his hair are brushing against his neck, and the silence makes him uneasy and resigned, like Orpheus can't. Looking back at his beloved Eurydice on the way back from Hades to the world.

After a long time, Bucky slowly straightened up and gently broke away from Steve's embrace.

"I want to stay by myself for a while, okay?" He lowered his head and said softly, hiding his eyes behind the shadow of his hair, and at the same time curled up unconsciously, like a small animal desperately trying to hide in a cave for refuge.

"Of course," Steve stood up immediately, "but you have to know that I'm next door." He fully understands Bucky's mood at the moment, because he always tends to lick his wounds alone under great grief, just like his mother During the time of his death, although he rejected Bucky's kindness time and time again, he always knew that that person was by his side, as long as he wanted, he could get a shoulder to rely on.

But it takes time and patience. Hydra's fangs bite too deeply. Even if Bucky breaks free from its claws, the deep bone wounds are still difficult to heal.

He brought the food that Loki had prepared earlier within Bucky's reach, kissed the top of his hair lightly, and left the room, closing the door thoughtfully.

=====================

Bucky lay on the bed for a long time, time seemed to freeze on him, the day faded away and night fell, he still kept his original posture motionless, until the stars filled half of the sky, he raised his head to the ceiling, lightly Called softly: "Jarvis—"

"Hello, Sergeant Barnes, it's Friday here." Almost immediately, a clear female voice came from the sky.

"Sorry Friday, my memory is still a little fuzzy," Bucky apologized weakly.

"It doesn't matter," the new housekeeper said indifferently, "Mr. Stark also makes mistakes from time to time. In the face of changes, everyone needs an adaptation process."

"Yes, everyone needs an adaptation process," Bucky murmured and repeated, "Can you call Natasha over for me? Please make sure not to disturb others."

In less than 30 seconds, Bucky's door was pushed open, and a red-haired female agent in a black silk nightgown slipped in barefoot.

"James—" She looked hesitantly at the man sitting by the bed, the starlight could barely outline his outline, she couldn't see his expression clearly, and she couldn't know how those memories full of sin and helplessness tortured him What it looks like until the other party speaks.

"Nata——" he whispered her name, which brought her back to the age of 16 in an instant. Their forbidden love, forbidden kiss, body rubbing each other, and soul touching each other made her eyes sore, almost Want to cry.

"Bastard," she threw herself in front of him, hugging his waist so hard that he almost had difficulty breathing, "you once said my hair was as beautiful as the sunset on the Mississippi River, but you forgot me in a blink of an eye." to the back of the head."

"I'm sorry, I swear I didn't mean it, and no man would want to forget you," James said with a forced joke as he reached out and stroked the girl's red hair. "By the way, they're still as beautiful as before."

Natasha rested her head on her former lover's lap and closed her eyes contentedly.

"I'm so glad you remember me," she smiled. "Although I can no longer love you as a woman, I hope you remember our love."

They cuddled each other like this for a while, and when Natasha raised her head again, the tears on her face had disappeared, and she completely recovered the shrewdness of the female agent who made the enemy fearful.

"You woke me up on Friday because you needed my help, didn't you?" she pointed out.

Bucky sighed.

"Yes, I need your help," he murmured repeatedly, "You understand I can't stay, Nata, I... I can't stay, you understand."

"I understand," Natasha said, taking Bucky's hand, "but I have to make sure of one thing with you—you'll be back, won't you? Someday you'll be back here again, back to us, back To the captain's side, right?"

"I shouldn't have come back," Bucky replied, hunched over, his face leaning forward to appear in the neon light outside the window, paler and frighteningly paler, "It's good for the Alliance, but I have to come back, if I If you don't come back, what will Steve do?"

"Sometimes people need to be selfish in order to make the right choice," Natasha reached out to touch his face, and the touch was cold, "I will help you get fake identities and documents, prepare money and other necessities, but James , you have to promise me, when you miss us, when you want to come back, don't hesitate, everyone in the league has hundreds of troubles, at least you don't put aliens like Rocky People let it in and almost destroyed the earth."

"Loki is a selfish bastard," Bucky smiled wryly, but the light in his eyes was gentle. "Sometimes I wish I could be a bastard like him."

=====================

Natasha knocked on the door of Steve's room and received a polite "Come in." She opened the door and found that Steve was standing by the window sill, wanting to look into the distance. The face looked hazy and sad.

"He's gone," she said.

"I know." He replied, and finally looked back at Natasha, his blue eyes were as calm as an ancient well, "He asked you to bring something?"

"Better than that." Natasha walked up to him and handed him a letter, "Remember not to tell Rocky, he's a comparison guy, if you know he only got a 'thank you' and you got two full pages Paper, will definitely go crazy with anger."

After finishing speaking, she waved her hand tactfully, and Shi Shi ran away to the restaurant, leaving Steve alone to open the envelope eagerly:

Steve, I don't want to say thank you or sorry, words that don't have to be between us, but I can't say goodbye to your face because I'm not sure I'm looking into your eyes, hearing your voice , but also have the determination and courage to travel far.

Before I, luckily and unfortunately, remembered everything, you started telling me in cryptic references to the assassinations the Winter Soldier had carried out, and Loki talked more, and it was bloodier, and I couldn't hear it even as a bystander. I will be worried, but he stubbornly believes that if I am determined to reveal the truth, I must prepare in advance. There is always a kind of clear cruelty in him, as long as he thinks it is right, he will spare no effort to do it, regardless of possible consequences. The consequences and harms, is this a little bit similar to you?

However, when the truth came, I was still so crushed that I couldn't stand upright, and even lost the strength to speak, so I could only push you away clumsily, lying alone on the bed and waiting for the monstrous waves of memory to turn into undercurrents.You will surely comfort me by saying that those horrific things did not come from my original intention, but were forced by those people with vicious hearts. Carry out orders mechanically like a knife or a gun.

But this is not what I want to hear, because I have comforted myself in this way, trying to escape the punishment of the soul, but I can't really deceive myself.After all, I am not a knife or a gun. Steve, I am a human being. I should fight and fight with all my strength. But at that time, I was too weak and pessimistic. In the final analysis, I hurt myself. It also killed so many innocent people and their families.

I sorted out those familiar and unfamiliar memories bit by bit, and found that I could clearly remember each of them, remembering the moment when bullets and sharp knives pierced through flesh and blood, how the stiffness of death eroded the original fresh body.I want to sneak a peek at those people's families to see if they're doing well, if they're still grieving the loss, if there's anything I can do for them, anything, I don't expect that to relieve myself Guilt and guilt—the blood on my hands cannot be washed away—as long as it can make them feel even a little more joy and happiness, I am willing to give everything.

I don't think you and Rocky know everything about the murder of Howard (I don't know if I'm still qualified to call him by name), if I couldn't understand the eye contact when you looked at each other in the past, and the sudden Keep silent and change the subject, then there are answers now.Tony's a nice guy, and it's kind of weird being friends with Howard's son, but we got on pretty well, and now I just can't be around him, laugh at him, grab his pudding, The thought of him hating me makes me terribly sad, and he must be terribly sad too.So I have to go, Steve, James Barnes has never done anything wrong to his friends, and now he does, he has done too many things that he would never do in the past, he has become what he believes in He can't face his friends, himself, let alone you. He has to find a place where no one is around and think about how to continue to survive in the future.

When we were both living in Brooklyn, I told you that there is a certain ratio of good days to bad days in a person's life. You were sick and weak, discriminated against, and suffered 70 years of ice. But I had a broken arm, was arrested and put into an ice cream machine, frozen for a while, and thawed for a while, all these may be because we live longer than ordinary people, and we must endure more suffering than ordinary people, and Correspondingly, we will get more happiness than ordinary people. I never doubt this, and please believe it.

So don't worry about me, and don't beckon and cry around looking for me like a little girl who's lost her beloved doll—I'm the Winter Soldier, I'm a WWII veteran, and I know how to deal with stalking.But trust me, I'll be back Steve, remember that song?The British private on the battlefield sang to us: "Justwait, thoughwidehemayroam, always, aherocomeshome." You are my hometown, and I am destined to return to you, one day, and when that day comes, we will forever not separated.

PS, there was a man who knelt in the snow and said he wanted to propose to me. I remember his name and I was waiting for his ring.

=====================

In Linkin Park, Sam, who was dawdling and stretching, finally waited for the long-awaited Captain America.

"Where's Barnes?" He deliberately looked behind him, "He's not with you?"

Steve knew what Sam wanted to ask, and all the Avengers knew that Bucky's memory had been restored, and they were great companions, and everyone cared about Bucky, desperate to know if he was okay, if he needed help, but also They are very considerate to leave space for them without deliberately inquiring.

Falcon's oblique and well-intentioned inquiries were not annoying, on the contrary they were a little warm, but Steve didn't intend to let him do so this time—that thing that belonged to the Brooklyn kid had never been more active than it is now, and it was in his The body is about to move, clamoring to play some pranks.

So Captain America just nodded to his fellow runners, moved his neck and shoulders briefly, and kicked his legs again, and started running to catch up with this brand new morning.

"So, he's still in bed?" Falcon, who was following up beside him, asked relentlessly. His voice was a little breathless. After all, it was not easy to speak during the heavy exercise of the [-]-meter sprint.

"Maybe." Steve replied curtly, without slowing down.

"Did you vent yesterday?" Sam tried to choke out another sentence, already feeling his lungs protesting.

"What?" Steve couldn't help smiling, and he kindly slowed down a little so that poor Falcon had the nerve to answer the question.

"It's just channeling negative emotions through sex," Sam said intermittently. After his lungs, his thighs began to protest against being overused. "Many people have proven effective."

"Oh," Steve nodded, "not really."

After speaking, he started to speed up, and our black guy finally had to slow down and stop after a few steps with all his strength, holding his knees and gasping for breath.

Damn it, being friends with a guy like Captain America who is four times as strong as ordinary people in terms of physical strength and sullenness is really tiring.

=====================

On the other side, in the laboratory.

"Have you finished reading the information, Friday?" Tony put his legs on the workbench, half lying on the chair, chewing the mini donuts that Rocky sent for breakfast, and there was a cup of steaming coffee next to the box.After Sokovia, he has been perfecting the overall function of Friday. In order to let her know more about league affairs and serve better, Tony allowed her to read part of Jarvis's "memory".

"Yes, boss," the artificial intelligence replied with a gentle female voice, "but I found two unusual things during the process."

"What is it?" Tony straightened up from his seat curiously.

"Two video files were captured twice, marked as first-level key points twice, and deleted twice."

"What about the source?"

"Romanov released encrypted Hydra files on the Internet, as well as surveillance video of the Avengers Building."

Tony rubbed his chin, keenly judged that the matter was definitely related to Loki, and only he had the authority to order Jarvis to delete the file without alerting him.

"Re-collect and download the Hydra encrypted files released by Natasha and analyze them one by one. Friday," he rubbed his hands excitedly, "I want to see what's tricky in it."