#difficult decision

As Sam flew towards their rendezvous point outside of Miami, he couldn't help being a little angry with himself.  They suspected Walker of lying and should have had better surveillance on him.  Peter Parker must have taken it on himself to watch him, but let it play so that the super soldier incriminated himself.  It was messed up as much as hoping Nebula actually followed through with rescuing Tracey.  When he told Peter Quill about Nebula's offer the Guardian had warned Sam she might make a play for Bucky's arm.

"She's been talking to Mantis about giving gifts," explained Quill.  "I wouldn't be surprised if she wants to give Rocket Bucky's arm.  He's wanted it ever since he first saw it.  I would order him to give it back, but you know how stubborn he can be."

"I'll have to wait to see if they get to Wakanda before we do anything about it," said Sam.  "Are you hanging out here?"

"No, now that we're in charge of Knowhere I've got lots of responsibilities," admitted Quill.  "Keeps me busy.  Plus, all the Christmas preparations on Earth ... it doesn't bring good memories for me.  Nebula will have the pod and can return in that.  It will just take her a little longer."

They said their goodbyes that morning after the reception and Nebula went her own separate way, saying she wanted to find where Ross and Fontaine were holed up.  Which reminded Sam to check in with Rhodey to see if the FBI had found that location after she reported its coordinates.  The response wasn't good.  They only arrested two people, caretakers at the old naval base their force had stayed at.

"It doesn't look like they're coming back there, either," said Rhodes, the sound of his flight journey audible on his comms link.  "They did take Olivia Walker in.  She was blindsided and doesn't want to believe Walker did this deliberately.  She says Fontaine is very persuasive and can talk him into anything.  Her loyalty is admirable but misguided and won't keep Walker out of the Raft.  Her phone has been tapped and if he calls, we'll try to trace his location."

"Can they access satellite imagery to track Ross's movements after they left the base?" asked Sam. 

"Working on it," replied Rhodes.  "We'll talk more when we meet up.  I should be there in 20 minutes."

Sam landed at the airstrip at Cape Canaveral, giving the code to the air traffic controller for permission to land.  He found Joaquin already there with Thor and Valkyrie.  A portal opened revealing Peter and Kate's arrival.  Another one opened with Scott coming through, accompanied by the newest member of the proposed Avengers, Shang Chi, or as he insisted on being called, Shaun.  The others greeted him with friendliness.

"Hope is delayed," said Scott.  "Malfunction in her suit.  Hank is working on it but has no timeline.  What do we know?"

"Shortly before sunrise a team presumably led by John Walker, attacked Bucky's location," said Sam.  "I received the code from Bucky's phone number but nothing since.  If Nebula rescued Tracey and took her to Wakanda they should be approaching the African coast in the next hour.  If they have his arm Shuri can track where he is, as it communicates with the shoulder insert.  Right now, Bucky's phone has no signal.  Clint has gone to the Bahamas to confirm the attack and will return here to be your transport."

"So, we wait," said Thor.  "We need to plan."

"Not until we have numbers of the enemy and their location," said Sam.  "For all we know they're on a ship in the middle of the ocean."

Shortly after Rhodes arrived and briefed them on what had been learned.  The backers for this attack to acquire Bucky were industrialists, eager to take advantage of what they saw as Wakanda's weaknesses since the death of King T'Challa.  With the financial contributions of several billion-dollar corporations they had apparently acquired a surplus aircraft carrier, had stocked it with surplus fighter jets, and armed it with mercenaries promised rich paydays.  The authorities were still trying to find it via satellite but it seemed to have been given cloaking capabilities hiding it from overhead satellites.  Rhodes hoped the quinjet would be able to scan for it as its technology was more advanced.

"How do you know all this?" asked Sam.  "How did we get this information?"

"A certain Baron currently incarcerated in the Raft," said Rhodes.  "Apparently, he's been keeping tabs on Bucky.  He's not thrilled that the Avengers are reforming but he's definitely not happy that big money is trying to corral anyone with superpowers, forcing them to work to accomplish their ends."

"Bucky said once that Zemo has a definite moral code," replied Sam.  "Obviously what Ross and Fontaine are doing offends him.  Any word on who the enhanced humans are?"

"Yeah, but I'll wait for Clint because one of them has a connection with him and with Kate," said Rhodes.

Kate Bishop heard her name and perked up.  "Who is it?"

Rhodey wouldn't say anything, and the young archer expressed her frustration by stomping off in a bit of a huff.  Sam looked at Peter and jerked his head towards Kate.  Peter followed her to calm her down.  Several minutes later she returned and stood in front of Rhodey.

"Sorry," she said.  "I still have a lot to learn about working with a team."

"Don't sweat it," said Rhodes, grinning at her.  "You care enough to be here.  That says a lot about you."

Smiling sheepishly at him she took her place with the others.  It was about an hour before the quinjet approached, expertly landed by Clint.  He came out to Kate's hugs, patting her on the back before waving at the others, noticing Shaun, with a questioning look.

"I'm the new guy," explained the young martial artist.  "Wong recruited me."

"What can you tell us?" asked Sam, focusing on Clint.

"Two military helicopters, between 6-8 passengers each, one apparently launched from an aircraft carrier seen travelling in a southeasterly direction, the other out of Nassau," said Clint.  "They landed on the beach, waking up most of the people in the area.  According to those who looked out their windows they saw Bucky running along the beach away from his villa.  No one saw Nebula or Tracey, but someone did see a UFO leaving the island shortly after, shooting straight up into the sky."

"Any witnesses to what happened to Bucky?" asked Rhodes.

Clint shook his head.  "There was a palm tree broken in two, with blood on the break.  I took a sample to see if it was Bucky's.  I did find a broken taser lead in the sand near the tree and evidence of someone firing an unknown weapon as there were scorch marks that looked like they came from above.  The resort is packing up their things and will hold them until we pick them up."

At that moment Rhodes got a notice on his display and turned away to respond to it.  "That was the FBI," he said, turning back to the others.  "They had surveillance on the house and a dark SUV drove up then parked in front.  Four men exited and broke into the house.  They've been taken into custody but they're not saying anything.  Still trying to identify them.  Likely mercenaries."  He looked at Clint.  "We got word of who else has been forced to be part of Ross's task force.  Yelena Belova is one of them, so is her foster father, Alexei Shostakov, also known as Red Guardian.  He has super soldier powers but not as much as Bucky or Walker."  He looked at Scott.  "Does the name Ava Starr mean anything to you?"

Scott made a face.  "Yeah, she's a former SHIELD operative who survived a quantum accident as a child.  Allows her to phase in and out of existence.  She also packs a big punch.  Calls herself Ghost.  I promised to help her, but she dropped off the radar.  She might not be that unwilling."

There were several other names that Rhodes listed so they all piled on to the quinjet to look over their profiles on the onboard computer.  It didn't look promising for them if Bucky couldn't convince them to resist.  Right at that moment Sam got a call on his suit.

"It's from Bucky's phone," he said excitedly.  "Bucky?"

"No, it's Tracey.  They have him, Sam.  Nebula was there to take his arm and she helped me get away.  We're just over Africa."

"With the arm?" he asked, as if not believing they had it.

"Yeah, with his arm," said Tracey.  "Is it true?  Did he know this would happen?"

He didn't answer for several moments, knowing Bucky had wanted to shield her from his suspicions. "We all suspected they would try when you were away from help.  It's why he took his gear.  We sent Nebula ourselves, a contingency to make sure you got away, although he didn't know it would be her.  If they knew you were pregnant, there's no telling what they would do to you."

"What will they do to him?" she asked, her voice betraying her fear.

"I'm not going to speculate on that," he replied.  "I do know that he's going to disrupt them as much as he can.  There's one more thing.  It's looking like John Walker was part of it all along."

"All Bucky ever wanted was to live his life without anyone interfering," said Tracey, her voice almost breaking.  "Why couldn't they just leave him alone?"

"I know," said Sam.  "When he found you, he had hope for that life.  He still does, if we can stop these people from completing their plans."

Her voice began to break up while he repeatedly said her name, but she didn't answer, and Sam realized the call had been dropped.  He looked at everyone.

"Well, they'll be in Wakanda soon," he said.  "With the arm, meaning Shuri can find where he is.  Start checking your weapons and prepare to leave on a moment's notice."

He placed a call to Wakanda and told Shuri he had made contact with Tracey.  She promised to allow them to enter the country, but she was concerned about Nebula's priorities until they actually arrived.  He agreed but told her to play it by ear.  If she got this far with the arm everything might work out.  After that conversation was over, he and Rhodes made eye contact.  It was going to be a long day.

An hour later they received the coordinates of Bucky's location and piled on to the quinjet, making their plans for landing on an aircraft carrier currently on the Atlantic heading to Africa.  Sam, Joaquin and Rhodes would leave the quinjet first, providing aerial reconnaissance of what they were up against.  Then Thor and Valkyrie would exit the quinjet by riding down to the carrier deck using Thor's lightning.  After that Clint would land the aircraft and the others would head out, attacking everyone who put up resistance to them.  Rhodes and Sam would go after Ross, taking him into custody, plus whichever industrialists who had bankrolled this operation that were onboard.  Several in the US and Europe had already been arrested, as the sorcerers had been able to get into the minds of the four mercenaries sent to take Rebecca.  Apparently the former Secretary of State had flipped as well, giving names.  As they picked up the carrier on their scans Sam received a breathless message from Bucky in his earpiece and everything ground to a halt as he yelled to Clint to turn around.  Everyone looked strangely at him as he buried his face in his hands.

It had been several hours since Bucky was dragged onto the helicopter and strapped into one of the seats.  The two helicopters were definitely out over the ocean, and he suspected this task force had a ship at their disposal.  He wasn't expecting to see an aircraft carrier in the distance.  Walker smirked at him.

"Impressed, aren't you?" he asked, seeming pleased with himself.  "We have some big backers for this operation.  Fighter jets, attack helicopters, experienced soldiers."

"Mercenaries, you mean," replied Bucky.  "Wouldn't trust any of them with my six.  Surprised you would, considering your military background."

"They get the job done," sneered Walker.  "They got you, didn't they?  Plus a few others with abilities.  Not sure what use you are now but we'll let Ross decide that.  As a former general he knows how to assign and delegate."

"They likely have your wife in custody, John," said Bucky.  "Did you prepare her to be held like a common criminal, considering you're now a fugitive?"

"She believes in me," he replied, breezily.  "She'll be alright.  If they hurt her, I'll kill them."

"She doesn't know, does she?" asked Bucky.  "She still thinks you're this big war hero, cheated out of his proper due.  Tell me, how did you explain it to her when you killed that Flag Smasher?  It was pretty brutal, surely she must have seen all the cell phone videos showing it over and over again.  Did she believe your lies?"

"Shut your fucking mouth," said Walker, "or I'll toss you out."

Bucky smirked.  "Sure, John.  You left her ignorant of what you really are, and unprotected, your own wife.  Mine is probably safe in Wakanda by now."

"Yeah, well that place won't be safe for long," muttered Walker.

"Thanks, John, you just confirmed my theory of Ross's endgame," said Bucky, trying to be as irritating as possible.  "He really doesn't know what he's up against.  You'll all be in the Raft by the time this farce has played itself out."

"I said shut the fuck up," roared Walker, lunging at Bucky. 

The men on either side of Bucky leaned away, not wanting to get hurt by Walker's rage.  Bucky laughed, a cynical taunting laugh, even after the other man struck him several times. 

"Boss!" yelled one of them.  "Ross wants him in one piece."

"He's a super soldier, he'll heal," muttered Walker, sitting back down and wiping Bucky's blood that covered his fist onto his leg.

Bucky spat blood out in between Walker's feet, smiling a bloody smile and enjoying himself fully.  A little bit of pain was completely worth getting under the other man's skin.  He looked at the mercenaries and focused on one of them, a younger guy.

"The guards in the Raft will have a field day with you," he said.  "They'll like your pretty eyes.  I'm sure you'll be offered to one of their more dangerous residents as a prize."

The man ignored him, so Bucky made a kissing sound, receiving another hit from Walker for his efforts.  Once again, he laughed, making himself appear as unhinged as possible.  He considered what John said about the mercenaries taking others with abilities, wondering who and how many.  Ross had to know that he, Bucky Barnes, wouldn't cooperate and he doubted very much that the other enhanced people would either, unless that slippery asshole had an ace in the hole.  An idea he had considered before germinated again in Bucky's mind and he accepted his suspicions were probably right, considering how confident Walker seemed. 

Looking again at the assortment of mercenaries he found the one he was looking for; the guy who smoked Japanese cigarettes.  Observing his hands closely Bucky noticed the guy had all of his fingers.  He wasn't former Yakuza, because they would have made him cut off one of his fingers as a promise not to divulge any of their operations.  Therefore, he was still working for them, meaning they were involved in this operation and their likely target was Clint Barton.  He had already been hunted by them and had managed to elude capture and/or being killed in other attempts, attempts brokered by Val de Fontaine.

Their helicopter was heading east over the ocean which meant they were heading for the ship, then Africa, as had been expected.  When his position was shared with the Avengers the rescue plan would be implemented, bringing the rest of the Avengers to the carrier.  Unless, this ace in the hole that Ross was holding had a way to turn all of them, him, the Avengers and the enhanced humans already captured by Ross and his mercenary team.  Resigned, Bucky knew what he had to do to confirm his suspicions and focused his attention on the Yakuza operative.

"Hey, did you have to give your boss a blow job to get in on this operation?" he asked in Japanese, putting on his best douchebag voice.  "Does he make you wear a harajuku girl dress while his cock is in your mouth or is he into furries?  I bet you look cute as a bear, a panda bear, yeah... I can picture you as a panda bear furry, sucking some old Japanese guy's saggy cock."

In a fury the other man came over to Bucky to beat him and the others had to separate them.  None of them noticed that Bucky had slipped a knife out of the man's leg sheath, hiding it against his leg.  He sat there grinning at the man, knowing he had probably hit close to the mark.  Some of those yakuza leaders were into freaky shit.  At that moment a song came into his head, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, the Bryan Adams song that was used in that Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie.  It wasn't a very good movie but that song was now stuck in his head as an ear worm, reinforcing to Bucky that he had to do this, had to protect the people he loved, all of them, but especially Tracey and the baby.  With a quick flick of the knife he sliced the belt that was holding him in place in the helicopter, leaped to the open doorway, turned around to look at all their surprised faces and fell backwards with a big grin on his face.  It took him maybe three seconds to do that.  In the next three seconds he activated his dedicated comms piece to Sam that was integrated in the collar of his jacket.

"Sam?  I'm sure of it," he said loudly against the rush of air as he fell towards the water.  "Abort the rescue.  It's a trap.  They have a plan to turn all of you."  At that moment a portal opened below him and he passed through it, landing hard on the deck of Ross's aircraft carrier.  The wind was knocked out of him but he recovered quickly, looking up to see a man previously identified as a dangerous sorcerer approaching him.  Bucky passed on his last bit of intelligence before shutting the comms down.  "They have that sorcerer.  One of the big three, damn them."

Next to where the comms had been integrated into his collar was another device, a small one, and he pressed the button mounted on the end.  In the fraction of a nanosecond before it activated, Bucky's mind and heart found his connection to Tracey, like a bright shining river of light that stretched to eternity.  Racing ahead of the glowing ball of energy behind him he found her.  She was sleeping, probably tired after all the excitement of being attacked, rescued, and flown to Wakanda.  He gazed at her, full of the love she had brought out of him almost from the moment they met. 

"Baby, wake up," he said gently, touching her hair then her cheek with his left hand, smiling that it was his flesh hand, from before the fall. 

Interesting that he would get it back now, just another nanosecond before it was all over for him.  She opened her eyes, widening them at the sight of him then grasping his hand with hers, not understanding why he was in her dream, touching her with a flesh and blood left hand.  That Bryan Adams song was getting louder and he wanted to cry with how beautiful she was as the music played.

"Where are you?" she asked, confused.  "What's going on?  Why is that song playing?"

"I don't have long," he said, glancing behind him at the incoming blast.  "I have to do this to protect you, and our son, Rebecca, your mom, Sam, everyone that I love and care about.  I'm sorry we won't have longer together but this feeling, what I feel for you?  It's forever, Tracey.  I love you more than anything."

Tracey noticed the glow behind him and her eyes widened in fear as she recognized the mushroom shaped orange cloud.  "No, Bucky!  NO!" she screamed.  "Don't leave me."

"It's the only way to stop them," he replied, holding and kissing her now.  "I would die for you."

With a slight push he released her and fell back into the expanding light as she was dragged away from him back into the palace where she was taking a nap.  Sitting up in a panic her screams were heard by everyone in the magnificent structure.

The night before the wedding, hotel room

Bucky lit the cigar of the raccoon sitting across from him.  Then he leaned forward with the bottle of scotch and poured.  The furry animal put his hand out when it was enough and grasped it, taking a sip.

"Damn, that's pretty good," said Rocket in his rough gravelly voice.  "So, what's your proposal, Soldier Boy?"

"I know you want it," said Bucky.  "You make something for me and I'll make sure you get it.  You might get it in a roundabout way but you'll get it."

"Okay, but what do you want in return?"

"An explosive device, small but with a very big kick, if it's possible," said Bucky, in an even voice.  "Ignition by a button so all I have to do is push it and it's done.  The explosion has to be big enough to take out an aircraft carrier but it can't hurt any marine life.  I'm sure Quill has told you about aircraft carriers.  They're the size of a small city.  I want it to fit in the collar of this jacket and it has to get through all the scans they do in the transportation system so it won't trigger an alert or emergency response.  It has to be ready before Sam picks us up to take us to the airport on Sunday."

Bucky brought his blue leather combat jacket out and tossed it at the raccoon.  The raccoon put his cigar and drink down, so he could examine the jacket, then he looked up at Bucky. 

"You know you won't survive it," said Rocket.  "Not even a sorcerer can open a portal fast enough to get you out of there.  Who knows where Dr. Strange is or if he's found a Time Stone so there's no coming back from this."

"I know, but I have a feeling that this might become the only option," said Bucky.  "I won't ask anyone else to do this.  This is my job, mine alone."

"You're getting married tomorrow and you're already planning to make your wife a widow.  That's pretty cold, Bucky."

"No, it's protecting the ones I love, especially her."

"Buck," said Sam, who had sat quietly until this moment.  "This is a crazy backup plan.  You know that, right?"

"What else can we do?" replied Bucky.  "They'll need an aircraft carrier to act as a mobile base of operations and once they take me that's where they'll head to.  They know I won't cooperate with them if Tracey and Rebecca are already in a secure location.  So Ross and Fontaine must have a plan to turn me.  The words don't work anymore.  That leaves magic which means a sorcerer."

Sam smirked.  "One of the big three."

Bucky laughed, a dark grim laugh.  He wasn't going down that rabbit hole with Sam again.  Turning his attention back to Rocket Raccoon, he watched him looking at the dimensions of the jacket's collar and nodding his head, thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I can do it," said Rocket.  "What guarantee do I have that I'll get the arm?"

Bucky activated the kimoyo bead bracelet on his wrist, bringing up the image of Shuri, in the Wakanda embassy in New York City.  She smiled at him and Sam, then frowned slightly when she saw Rocket.  Already knowing what this was about she looked at the raccoon.

"As Queen of Wakanda, I promise that you will receive Bucky's arm," she said.  "However, the vibranium in it will be made inert, an irreversible process so that you will be unable to use it as an explosive.  I promise this on the honour of my ancestors."

"Proposal accepted," said Rocket to all of them.  "Just so you know that was never why I wanted it.  I just appreciate quality workmanship.  I'll take good care of it, I promise.  We'll have to head out right away to get the components.  Might make us late for your wedding.  Quill was looking forward to it.  I could tell him it's for a quick job that just came up."

"Don't tell them it's for me," said Bucky.  "If anyone here asks where you are I'll say I didn't know where to send the invitation.  Just come when you can.  It's open bar all night long."

The raccoon stuck his hand out, shaking Bucky's to seal their deal.

Chapter 21>>

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