[closed]

[wingedman]

who: Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes (MCU)
what: Sam definitely isn't looking for Bucky, he's just out here to fight monsters.
when: March 29
where: Somewhere in the abandoned city
warnings: Whatever warnings you need for a brainwashed ex-assassin.

There's only so long Sam can spend cooped up in an office before he needs to stretch his legs - and, in this case, his wings. The jetpack makes it a lot easier to get around the abandoned city, and to avoid the monsters that lurk in the streets. And while he's ostensibly there to do some extermination, he can't deny that he's maybe keeping an eye out for Bucky. He'd told the guy that he'd leave him alone, but the other Bucky had pointed out that his world's Sam had been instrumental in helping him find his way, and he can't put those words out of his mind. He's left Redwing behind in favor of strapping a pack of nonperishables where the drone would normally go, just in case.

But he can't do everything from the air, and so eventually Sam takes to searching the buildings on foot. He's inside one of them, climbing up a set of stairs, when he's ambushed by a pack of giant lizard things. Sam's not stupid - he's walking with one of his guns unholstered and the safety off, just in case, and he fires into the knot of creatures. But what he doesn't expect is another bunch coming up from behind and trapping him.

"Aw, shit."

Yeah, maybe he should have brought some backup along.

Comments

[advanced]

[He saw Sam head into the abandoned city. It's not that he was particularly stalking the other man, but he always makes sure to pay attention whenever he spots one of the Avengers out and about. It's in his best interests to make sure that he knows what they're up to, information is a far greater weapon in his arsenal than any gun could ever be.

Which is why he follows Sam.

It's a good job that he does, because he sees the other man slip into a building, only to be followed a few seconds later by a whole pack of giant lizards. He hesitates a few moments, Sam is an Avenger and should be able to handle himself, but he hears that curse (thank goodness for serum enhanced hearing), and decides he has to intervene.

All of a sudden there's someone next to Sam, vaulting in from the next rooftop over and in through a nearby window, immediately starting to attack the lizards in a blur of knife blades.]

[wingedman]

[If it had been just one pack, Sam would have been fine. But there are just a few too many for him to handle, and they've got him surrounded without much room to maneuver. Thankfully, that's where Bucky comes in - quite literally, and in a spray of breaking glass. Sam's not gonna complain, though, not when he needs the help.]

Watch the teeth, you never know what these things might be carrying, [he offers. Whether that's some funky outer space germs or poison that can actually do something to a super-soldier. Either way, he doesn't want Bucky getting hurt because of him. He keeps firing at his half of the creatures, methodically and efficiently.]

[advanced]

[At least he wasn't wrong about Sam being able to handle himself. Once or twice he catches himself nearly swinging around to take a punch at Sam instead of protect him, the memories of their last fight a bit too strong, but he manages to keep the destruction aimed at the lizards.

Unfortunately, more and more just keep coming, this must be some kind of nest that they've accidentally stumbled on.]

We need to get out. Do you have your wings?

[wingedman]

[Sam bites his lower lip, eyes the windows as he does mental calculations. It's not an ideal situation from here - he's better with a running start, and he'd have to jump through and then spread the wings - but he can probably pull it off or, at worst, turn it into a controlled fall.]

I can get out from here - or if you think we can clear a path to the roof, I can give you a lift for a short distance and save you the fall. How far depends on how heavy you are.

[And he already knows that extra muscle mass is damn heavy, thanks to Steve.]

Roof's the better option, frankly. [Because he reckons that if he doesn't say that, Bucky will just jump out the window and run off.]

[advanced]

[It's a good assessment of the situation, except that he wouldn't run off. He knows what Sam means to Steve, and that means that Bucky is going to do his best to protect him until the danger is over.]

I don't need a lift, just fight up.

[He has no idea that the upper floors are much less stable, and they'll come crashing down to trap them both if they try and go up there.]

Once you're in the air, don't land again. Fly back to the main city.

[wingedman]

Oh, yeah, I'm gonna leave you here with a building full of monsters. That's a great plan. Real tactically sound.

[Leaving Bucky behind goes against everything Sam believes in - his own sense of loyalty, the duty instilled in him during pararescue training to never leave a comrade behind. Never mind that Steve would never forgive him, because Sam wouldn't forgive himself for it, either.]

I can get you back to the city if we hop from roof to roof.

[His arms won't thank him for it tomorrow.]

[advanced]

I stand a better chance on my own.

[He doesn't mean that as a slight against Sam's fighting prowess, though it might come out that way, but more that he has been trained how to protect himself rather than fight in a team.]

Head for the roof, come on. There's no time for talk.

[They're already surrounded, and Bucky only hesitates a moment before grabbing his knife and slicing out for the nearest one.]

[wingedman]

[Sam doesn't waste any time with the ones on the lower stairs, instead aiming up to pick off the ones between them and the roof. He jams another magazine into his gun and keeps firing, slowly advancing up the stairs. At least it seems like more of them are coming from the lower levels. Small blessings?

Or so he thinks until they reach the top. Sam shoves the door to the stairs closed behind them - maybe that will slow them down, at least - and runs across the floor -

And then there's a sick cracking noise, and the world falls out from under them.]

This is not my goddamn day.

[Except, of course, that Sam knows how lucky he is to have survived. He slowly moves his limbs, prods at his neck. Everything's bruised, but not broken, and he's in a fairly good-sized pocket of the rubble.]

Bucky? Man, if I have to get Steve out here to rescue our asses, I'm gonna be real pissed off.

[In truth, he'd probably call the other Bucky first. But details.]

[advanced]

[Bucky tried to grab out for anything as he fell, for another level, for Sam, for anything that might save him from being trapped. But it's all for nothing, and he ends up staring up at rubble all around him.]

Don't call Steve.

[At least that means Sam's alive, even if he can't see the other man right now. He must be trapped nearby.]

We can dig our way out.

[wingedman]

If I'm still here in six hours, you bet your ass I'm calling someone to dig us out.

[Probably the other Bucky, though, unless they need Steve for some reason.

Sam just sighs and starts shifting rubble.]

You hurt?

[advanced]

Nothing serious.

[Falling that far hasn't done his existing injuries any good, but Sam doesn't need to know that he came into this with an already pre-broken leg.]

Can you feel air?

[wingedman]

[Uh-huh, that isn't avoiding the topic at all. Sam can tell these things, he's spent time around Steve.]

Nope. [There's a clatter of rubble as Sam carefully starts shifting a few smaller pieces, the kind that don't look like they're holding anything up. He's trained to dig people out from the outside, not from the inside.] I'm hoping all those monsters got pretty damn squashed, 'cause otherwise, we're sitting ducks.

[advanced]

[He hears the movement coming slightly to his left and twists as much as he can in that position, reaching out with his metal arm to try and break through the small amount of rubble separating them.]

There's nothing alive down here but us.

[Trust him. He saw how the lizards swarmed away as the building fell, like they're used to that happening and know how to deal with it.]

[wingedman]

That's...mostly reassuring.

[Doesn't mean something isn't going to come along and eat them, but at least they aren't in any immediate danger.

Sam reaches out, clearing more away from the same area, and finally gets a small hole he can see Bucky through.]

Sorry for getting you into this mess, man.

[advanced]

[He looks dusty, but mostly unhurt. His hair is slightly matted with blood where he hit something on the way down, but it looks like the cut was so small that it's already closed up.]

You didn't.

[He shrugs slightly.]

I chose to come in after you, I didn't have to.

[wingedman]

[Sam starts shifting some of the rubble on the lower half of his body - carefully, choosing smaller chunks that don't look like they're supporting anything important.]

I appreciate it. [He glances up to smile at Bucky.] I woulda been dinner if not for you.

[advanced]

[The smile makes him uncomfortable and he returns it with a light frown.]

Steve wouldn't want you to die.

[Not that he's acting as a weird creepy stalker bodyguard for Steve or anything.]

[wingedman]

See, I was hoping more for altruism and some sort of developing a sense of individualism instead of doing what you think Steve would want. But I'll take whatever involves me not dying, just in case you think I sound like an ingrate.

[Also, doing what he thinks Steve wants doesn't make any sense to Sam, but trying to figure Bucky out is difficult at the best of times.]

[advanced]

[Maybe there had been bits of that too, he doesn't actually want to watch someone else die. But it had been primarily because Sam is Steve's friend.]

I don't need your gratitude.

[He can sound as much like an ingrate as he wants.]

Can you widen the gap between us so I can reach you?