There Goes My Hero

I heard popping sounds, like bullets but very close. I could hear a man's voice as he cursed and I felt a weight on top of me. After a few seconds, it was off of me and there was more cursing. I was starting to see the sun through my eye lids, which meant I was most likely alive. My lungs burned as I breathed. I felt myself shaking a little bit, making from the dart wearing off. It was very quiet now except for the shuffling sound of someone sitting down. They let out a grunt and then it was silent again. I felt trapped in my mind, like my body wasn't ready to wake up but my mind was. Then it was like someone flipped a switch, I was suddenly sitting up, my eyes wide open. Then...came all the pain. I groaned and laid back down, my whole body sore and stiff. My eyes hurt from the brightness but when I actually looked, the sun was starting to go down. I looked to my side and saw the man I had heard. He was dressed just like the soldiers I had seen but he wasn't shooting me.

“Starting think I was carrying around a dead woman.” He said, noticing I was awake. He was muscular, kind of like Steve but a bit smaller. He had brown hair that was ruffled from the hat he was taking off. He also had bright blue eyes that followed every move I made.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to stretch out my muscles.

“I saw you go down in the water. I jumped in after you and kept you away from those psycho's.” he said. I just looked at and wiped sand off my arms and legs. We were in the forest but I couldn't see the beach anymore. We were in a large line of ferns and other plants and bushes.

“Thanks...who are you?” I asked. He smiled a little, a laugh coming out.

“Full of questions, huh? I work for Nick Fury. Not exactly where you work but...same thing.” he said.

“Can I get a name?” I asked, moving my neck side to side and wincing. He moved his hand to the back of my neck. In a split second, I had his wrist in my hand and my heart was beating hard and fast.

“Whoa...relax. I'm not trying to hurt you. Do you think I would go through all that trouble just to kill you?” he said. I slowly dropped his wrist, but I kept my eyes on him as he moved over and helped loosen my muscles. “My name's James. Sgt. James Barnes. You can call me Bucky.” he said.

“Agent Katheryn Kvistad. Nice to meet you. Oh, and if we're getting informal, call me Kate.” I replied.

“Where you from?” he asked.

“Born and raised in Norway, I moved to New York for University. Met my best friend there and then S.H.I.E.L.D found us. Been with them for about six years now.” I said.

“Brooklyn. Haven't been home for a while though. It was...different.” he said. We fell into silence for a moment until he moved and let out a grunt in pain. I looked over to him as he shed his vest and jacket, leaving him in just a white tank, where his shoulder was bleeding.

“You need to clean that.” I said.

“I gotta get the bullet out first.” he said, poking it and wincing. I reached over and pulled the knife out of his belt.

“Do you trust me?” I asked. He sighed and gritted his teeth, nodding. I moved over and slowly, as gently as possible, dug the knife in. He growled in pain and bit his fist as I worked the bullet out. After a minute, it popped out in my hand. It started bleeding now that the obstruction was gone. He whipped his shirt off and handed it to me. I wrapped the shirt around his shoulder and leaned back, examining my work and his really nice body.

“I owe you one.” he said, his face a little pale.

“Worry about that later.” I replied, taking the tie out of my hair and letting my hair fall. It was getting cold out, clouds rolling in along with a stiff breeze. I slowly stood up and looked around us.

“Wow...” Bucky said lowly. I turned a little to look at him. “Sorry....you're beautiful.” he said. I cleared my throat and stepped out of the bushes.

“We need to get somewhere safe. Unless you have a way out of here?” I asked. He stood up, shaking his head.

“Broke my transponder. They said they would come back in five days if I didn't respond.” he said.

“It's getting cold and it's going to rain. We need cover.” I said, resting my hands on my hips.

“Maybe we could find a cave and cuddle for warmth.” he said with a giant smirk on his face.

“We probably have to.” I said with sigh. He had a rifle slung over his other shoulder and a pistol in his belt. I took the rifle from him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “You can't shoot a rifle with one arm. You stick to the handgun.” I said.

“You sure a little lady like you can handle a gun like that?” he asked. I raised an eyebrow before rolling my eyes a little.

“Yeah, I'm sure.” I said. He smiled and stepped over to me.

“I think I passed one just down this way.” he said, pointing. We exchanged a look before starting off to find some cover. I just hoped that Kirstie and the guys were okay. Or that they could at least hold out until we found them or got some more help.