Steve, He-Wolf of the USA

[plavkiy]

It had all been a blur. Bucky doesn't know what Zola did to him, but he has to be hallucinating or dreaming, still strapped down and repeating his numbers, because Steve is here and he's big. He looks good--healthy--and Bucky's so relieved all he can do is mumble about Steve's size.

"I thought you were smaller."

He's dazed and he sounds it, but he's been in this odd sort of fog for so long that it could have been hours or years and he'd really expected to die here. It's a risk to rescue a few soldiers and he'd realized that early on it was unlikely anyone would come, but here's Steve, the one person he'd wanted to see the most.

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[assembles]

Steve has some idea of how disorienting this must be for Bucky. Not just the fact that he's being rescued after probably figuring he'd been left for dead, but he'd had no clue about Steve's choice to take on Project Rebirth, to submit himself for experimentation despite all the risks involved.

But Steve had been determined to join the army, and here he is, bigger and broader and stronger. There are a whole lot of upsides -- he might actually live a full lifespan now that he's not riddled with ailments, if a bullet doesn't find him first.

There's something of a downside too, though. An unexpected side effect of the serum, something that he's been struggling with for the past few months at each turn of the full moon. He's had a few people to help him, a handful of those in the know who are able to keep him locked up and contained when the wolf takes over, but there have already been some questions put forth about whether or not they could make use of it in battle.

Steve thinks that he could get control over the beast that sits under his skin. If that's possible, then it could be a huge asset, giving them even more of a reason to throw him into the front lines.

Which is where he is right now, getting Bucky the hell out of HYDRA's clutches. Still, the full moon isn't for another week, which means that right now all Steve has to focus on is getting these POWs to safety. He can't quite shake the feeling that Bucky doesn't smell right, though. Not that he ever had the senses to smell him before, but he doesn't smell like a regular human. Maybe it's because of whatever Zola drugged him with.

They can figure it out later. Steve hauls Bucky up to his feet and lets him lean his weight against his side, so much more capable of bearing it now. "C'mon, this place is primed to blow. We gotta get out of here." He'll keep talking, if that's what it takes to keep Bucky lucid.

[plavkiy]

Bucky can't really argue. He can't remember the last time anyone looked as good as Steve does right now and leaving this place is the best idea he's heard in months. There's a moment to reflect on the irony of him needed Steve's rescuing for once, but he's too groggy and too grateful to reflect on it for long.

He lets Steve help him walk until his feet are more steady and then he follows after with quick, sure footsteps. It's as if he'd fallen into a daze on that table--and maybe he had--and Steve had woken him up.

There are so many questions he wants to ask as soon as they're in safer territory. Steve is huge and he's here and Bucky doesn't know which is stranger, but he knows better than to question anything right now. They have to focus on getting out of here and not getting shot, because Bucky's not going back. He can't and he's not letting them get their hands on Steve, either.

Maybe it figures that Steve's so big now. He'd wanted to join the army so badly that Bucky would half-believe that Steve got bigger by sheer force of willpower.

That's the last thought he has before they spot Zola and Red Skull and Bucky can't think about much else all of a sudden as he stands back behind Steve.

[assembles]

There are a few questions that go back and forth between them ("did it hurt? is it permanent?") but Steve realizes that he'll have to give Bucky a much more detailed explanation once they're out of danger and on their way back to base camp.

One thing at a time, though. The flooring beneath them in shuddering with distant explosions, ones that become far more immediate as they reach a series of catwalks.

As soon as Steve spots Schmidt and Zola, he goes on the defensive, putting his body between Bucky and the two villains -- and now he has the kind of bulk that it actually means something. How many times had Bucky does this for him, despite Steve's protests? It's about time he paid him back for all that.

Schmidt peels his face off, revealing his namesake, before making a dramatic getaway. Yeah, he'd better run, Steve thinks to himself, but part of him is also relieved. They don't have the time for a fight right now, not when the building is about to go sky high and Bucky is drugged and possibly injured in ways that Steve can't see.

"We've gotta get across," Steve says back to Bucky once Schmidt and Zola have taken their leave. "You first, all right?" It's going to require a lot of balance on Bucky's part, and a wrong step will send him into the raging fires below. Steve has half a mind to just pick Bucky up and carry him, but he's not sure that would make it any safer.

[plavkiy]

It's not his proudest moment, but Bucky is thankful that Steve is there with him. He feels sick and disoriented and they're facing down two literal monsters right now and all he can think is that there's no one else he'd rather be with, new muscles or not.

He looks at the narrow ledge they'll have to cross and he knows that Steve is right. This is the only way out. "Right..."

With a steadying breath, he climbs carefully over the rail and onto the steel beam. His feet feel far from steady, but it's enough to keep him from falling into the flames below, at least until the beam starts to break away from the walkway and Bucky freezes, crouching to keep his balance, but the damage is done and there's only one option here. His feet carry him quickly to the end and when he leaps for the railing on the other side, he half expects that he'll miss it, but somehow he pulls himself over to relative safely in time to watch the one beam that connected them fall away.

"There's got to be a rope or something!"

The idea of leaving without Steve doesn't even cross his mind. It never has and it never will.

[assembles]

It's horrifying to watch Bucky cross over a chasm filled with flame, to know that he's disoriented and unsteady and one wrong step could send him plummeting downward. Steve's stomach works itself into knots and he cries out a warning when he sees that the beam is going to collapse.

Somehow, Bucky is able to jump across and make it to the other side just in time, and Steve could collapse in relief, except that there isn't time for that. A secondary thought for him, after Bucky's safety, is that he needs to find a way across too. Steve looks around for a second, hoping to find a plank of wood or something that he can lay across the gap, but there's nothing.

He shakes his head at Bucky and makes a dismissive wave with his hand. "Just go!" He'll find a way out and meet him somewhere on the outskirts of the destroyed building.

But of course, Bucky doesn't listen (and people say that Steve's the stubborn one) and so Steve takes the only chance he has. He hopes that his body is strong enough to fling him across. He knows that in wolf form, he would probably be able to manage it no problem, but that's not something he can just make happen at the drop of a hat. Besides, how the hell would he explain that to Bucky right now?

So Steve backs up, giving himself a running start, and then leaps across, barely hitting the other side and then landing in a roll. He holds tight onto his shield and stares up at Bucky, making no mention of the impossible feat he just pulled off. "Quick, the elevator."

[plavkiy]

That Steve thinks for a second that Bucky could leave him is proof of head trauma or pure stupidity, because Bucky would sooner stay in the burning building trying to get Steve out than save himself and leave Steve behind to die and there's no way Steve doesn't know that by now.

There's no time to really react after that. Steve jumps across the gap and Bucky's heart stops until he's made it to the other side.

He on Steve as soon as he lands, offering a hand to pull him to his feet so that they can run together. There are so many questions he has to ask, but they're not important right now. What matters most is making sure they get out of here in one piece. Together.

"Come on!" That he's made his own shockingly speedy recovery is something else he'll have time to reflect on later, but for now he chalks it up to adrenaline and Steve's presence. Bucky's always had an easier time when Steve's been by his side.

Instead of questioning any of it, he drags Steve along after him towards the elevator, grip like a vice on Steve's wrist until he's sure that Steve is going to keep following after him.

[assembles]

Bucky doesn't say anything about the jump Steve had just cleared, even though he's probably dying to ask. This isn't the time -- they need to get out of here to make sure they'll actually get the chance to discuss this all in detail later on.

Steve takes Bucky's hand, somehow registering its warmth even though the place is already sweltering from the flames below, and pulls himself up. Steve had defied every order he'd been given to come out here and get Bucky and the rest of the 107th, but it's only in this moment that it sinks in that he actually succeeded in what he set out to do.

Peggy and Howard, they're going to be in a world of trouble for what they did. But Steve hopes that when he gets all these men back to camp, they'll realize they'd been right to put their faith in him.

They race toward the elevator side-by-side, Steve jamming the button and then throwing himself inside as soon as the doors open. They're lucky that it's still functional, though Steve is half expecting it to plummet to the ground floor at any second.

It doesn't, and they make it out safely, eventually finding an exit door that grants them the relief of cold air not polluted with smoke.

"Keep running!" Steve barks as he books it away from the facility, waiting for the explosion that eventually comes and knocks even him off his feet.