In from the cold - Part 2

Mar. 2nd, 2023 02:22 pm
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He started to tell the little girl not to tell the man he was in there with her but two things stopped him. First was the look of terror that crossed the child's face, and second, was the appearance of the voice's owner at the door. He was a big, burly man with a shaved head, tattoos all over his face, and a looped belt grasped tightly in one of his meaty hands. He didn't see Bucky at first when he entered as he stalked straight towards Annie, raising the belt over his head.

"Girl, when I tell you to do something, you better do it!" he snarled, bringing the belt down towards Annie.

Annie threw up her hands to shield herself, shrieking and cowering away from him.

But the belt never lands its target, as Bucky stepped forward, and seized it with his metal hand. Tommy, he presumed, looked at him with a shocked look on his ugly face. When he opened his mouth to snarl at Bucky, it was then Bucky smelled reek of alcohol on the man's breath.

The man's eyes blazed as he asked, "Who the h—"

Bucky cut him off by cold cocking him, and as Tommy fell unceremoniously to the floor, he turned to check on Annie. "Are you okay?" The little girl stared at him, stunned by what he'd done. He knelt in front of her, and tried to get her to hear him. "Annie, doll, are you okay?"

Annie blinked, and looked at her mother's boyfriend's crumpled form. "Did you kill him, mister?"

He shook his head, "No, I didn't kill him. He's just knocked out right now."

"I wish you would've killed him, mister."

What a horrible thing to hear such a sweet looking little girl say! "Why would you wish for something like that?"

"'Cause when Tommy wakes up, he'll be super mad, and he'll... he'll..."

Bucky didn't need for her to finish her sentence, and he shushed her. It' had been such a long time since he'd touched another person with such gentleness, but he was gentle as he could be when he pulled the child into what he hoped was a comforting embrace.

"He's not going to hurt you again. I promise you that he's not going to hurt you again. Now, do you have school today?"

Annie nodded. "Uh huh... and he'll be waiting for me when I get back home today too!"

Bucky guided her towards the barn's door. "Then you go on, go to school, and by the time you get back home, Tommy won't be taking any of this out on you."

"What are you gonna do, Mister?"

Truth was, he didn't know yet what he was going to do about Tommy, but he wouldn't fail the little girl either. "You don't worry about it. Just go to school."

***
Bucky kept his word to Annie.

When Tommy woke up, he wasn't happy to find himself all tied up by the Winter Soldier, but he was even less thrilled to be questioned by him. Still, Bucky got him to tell him the whole situation. As it turned out, Annie's mom Laurie was a nurse who worked sixteen hour shifts at a time, and wasn't home often while her daughter was still awake. Since they had no family close by, and Laurie had no friends she could depend on to watch out for Annie, she'd asked Tommy to move in with them. In return for taking care of Annie, Tommy had room and board as well as free access to Laurie's bank account.

Yep, the lowlife was even living off of the woman whose daughter he was supposed to be caring for, not abusing. When Bucky learned all of this, he grabbed the man's throat with his metal hand, and told him in no uncertain terms that he would be leaving that day with nothing but the clothes on his back.

"But what about my stuff?" Tommy asked in an outraged tone.

"Consider it repayment for all the free things you've wrongfully taken from Annie and her Mom. Now, hit the road, pal, and do not ever come back!"

Tommy started to protest but one hard, cool look from Bucky silenced him, and he started down the road leading from the farm house. Bucky watched him until he disappeared, and he made a note to make sure the guy had actually left before he left himself. Speaking of leaving, he knew he shouldn't leave until he had a chance to talk to Laurie.

She'll probably call the police on me, he thought, But that's a chance I'll have to take. He just needed to be sure that Annie was there when he did it, so she could back up all the claims of abuse against Tommy. He hoped that when she heard it all, she wouldn't be angry with Annie but with Tommy, and would then try to work something better out for her daughter.
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In from the cold - Part 1

Feb. 27th, 2023 10:09 pm
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Bucky Barnes, formerly the Winter Soldier (or at least he is trying to formerly become the Winter Soldier) woke up early on a cold winter morning, his senses on alert as he scanned his surroundings. He was in the barn of a remote cabin in the mountains, surrounded by snow and silence. The cabin was occupied with a small family, so he had spent the night in the barn, not wanting to alarm those inside of the house.

He had been on the run for months, trying to escape the memories of his past as a deadly assassin. But now, in this peaceful wilderness, he felt like he could finally breathe.

He got up and he was preparing to leave the barn behind, knowing he needed to get started as soon as possible of he were going to put miles between this place and his next destination before nightfall.

When he opened the barn door, and peeked outside, he found himself wishing for a hot cup of coffee. Huh, he mused, that was a strange reaction upon seeing his own breath rising up before him. He'd not had a thought like that in decades!

Seventy years to be exact, Barnes!

Bucky shook his head, and cleared his thoughts. He returned to the inside of the barn to retrieve his backpack carrying his meager possessions, and was stopped by a voice at the door.

"Hello," said the voice.

He immediately turned around, taking a defensive stance, and was surprised by who he saw standing there: a girl about eight years old is standing at the door. The way she's dressed is warm but not for someone who is going to be out in the cold for long, and there's a bucket hanging from one of her hands.

"I said, hello."

Bucky tried to make himself relax, although he couldn't do it fully. Not with everything HYDRA had done to his mind and body over the 70 plus years they used him as the Winter Soldier. Maybe he would never be able to relax fully, who knows.

"Can you talk, mister?" the girl asked, her face contorted with worry.

"Of course, I can," he replied, gruffly but not as gruffly as he could have. "Who are you?"

"My name is Annie, and I'm supposed to be milking our cow right now." As if on cue, the cow mooed, and turned her head to look at them both, munching on hay. Annie pointed to the bovine, and told him, "That's Penny."

Bucky nodded his head, "Hello."

"Mister, why are you in our barn?"

"I'm a friend of your Dad's."

"You mean Tommy? He's not my Dad. He's Mommy's boyfriend who stays with us."

"Oh."

"You don't know him do you?"

Bucky almost lied, and told Annie that of course he knows her mom's boyfriend, but there's something about the way she is looking at him that keep him from doing it He finally shook his head, and muttered, "No, no, I don't know him. Or your mom either."

"Then why are you in our barn?" Annie asked, innocently.

"Because I needed a place to—"

"Annie, what is taking you so long in getting that cow milked?" a hard, male voice asked from the outside.

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