Path to Protection (BuckyBarnes x OC)

Joined Forces

     Bucky's POV

     Sitting against the wall in a cold stone jail cell never seemed so useless. Except for a few dead Hydra men, our attack on the facility was fruitless, and we had no clue about the status of Monty and Jacques and Willow... she was out there somewhere, at least, that was certain. Hopefully, she got away before Hydra sent out their scouts. Who knew, maybe she even went to get help. If only the closest U.S. Army base wasn't miles away. Who knew how long we could be in rotting in prison before Hydra decided to kill us. I knew we should've listened to her as we were putting together our strategy, but I was so afraid I'd lose her. Having a woman on our team was risky, but her sense of not rushing into reckless situations could've helped us just a few moments ago. Thanks to my ignorance, we were stuck, unable to fight, unable to escape, and unable to do anything but wait for our faith.

     Steve nervously paced up and down the cell, his hands either brushing through his hair or resting on his hips. He was puffing and huffing all along, and, as I looked at the other men, it could be seen that his worry was rubbing off on all of us. Not to mention, we were getting quite annoyed with the constant pacing.

     "Steve, what's done is done; we can't do anything until they let us out of these cells," I said, trying to consult him.

     "I made a mistake; I know I did," he snapped back. "I led you guys right into the gates of Hell."

     Dugan waved his hand. "It's nothing we haven't experienced before, Cap."

     "How's your leg, chum?" Jim motioned to his colleague's bleeding knee. It wasn't a big wound; a bullet only grazed Dugan, but it was enough to get us worried about him.

     "This little scratch is the least of my worries," Dugan replied.

     "So, how do we get out of here?" Gabe got on his feet and stretched, the bones of his back cracking loudly. None of us were too keen on sitting around for our doom; we needed to figure a way out if we wanted to survive. We couldn't do that, though, if Steve continued to be stressed.

     "We can't; there are too many guards around," Steve said in frustration and rubbed his brow.

     "Well, to be fair," I said carefully, "Willow did kind of warn us about that. And about a whole lot of other things."

     I earned a few scornful looks from the others, who were not interested in my humour. "She was also a woman, still is, may I say, and we don't need her jeopardizing the mission," Jim chuckled as if he was a know-it-all and everyone agreed with him.

     I had enough of tiptoeing around them. Willow was right, and it was time they realised it. "She wouldn't jeopardize anything 'cause if we listened to her, there wouldn't be anything to jeopardize in the first place!" My voice got deeper as I added, "we all voted for her to come along; we might as well use her. If we listened to what she had to say out there, we wouldn't be in this mess right now!"

     Silence fell upon us as the men all stared at my enraged expression. Damn right, I'd stand up for my girl. I didn't keep my promise before, but I was done letting it pass. She deserved the respect. I was beginning to question why the men even wanted Willow on the mission if they didn't plan on giving her a chance. Was it because she was Steve's friend? Was she just a pretty face the others could look at for their own satisfaction?

     "We should've allowed her to speak," Dugan eventually sighed. "That woman could save us all."

     Steve leaned against the metal bars of the cell. "I just didn't want her to get hurt."

     Suddenly, a yell echoed from the outside of the cell and a thud as a Hydra man dropped to the floor. The guard on his right jumped to his aid, only to be struck down by an arm reaching from around the corner and striking him at his temple, making him topple over and land harshly on the floor. The figure moved deeper into the room, and we all tensed as we saw the same uniform of the Hydra men. Was there a traitor among them who was willing to help us?