dated June 29th

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason moves away from the hut at a jog, face masked in casual expectation for the day ahead while his heart threatens to beat right out of his chest. His steps are easy, eyes fixed only on the path, and the instant the trees swallow him Jason doubles back at a dead run.

Something's wrong with Bucky. Something is wrong, and even without knowing what it is, Jason has seen enough to know that when things are wrong with Bucky, people die.

He slips right through Steve's window, trusting that this man, at least, won't kill him just for startling him. "Steve," Jason calls, voice pitched just loud enough to carry inside these four walls.

God, please be home. "Are you here?"

Comments

[prodigaljaybird]

Steve comes out of nowhere, huge and terrifying even from Jason's vantage point, and he watches as that same body he'd bounced off only minutes before slams into Bucky's from behind. It's brutal enough that Jason half expects to hear Bucky's spine crack, but the suit must absorb most of the impact, because he's on his feet again before Jason can blink twice.

Breathless, Jason watches the shield come up, and for a moment he's almost relieved, that Bucky's on the defense, that Bucky can defend himself if Steve strikes at him in earnest. Gaze tracking to Steve to see what he'll do next, Jason doesn't realize what's happening before it's too late.

He twists, but the shield catches him on the side of the head. Consciousness stolen in an instant, Jason falls like a stone, face a bloody mess before he ever hits the ground.

[onlyforthedream]

"Jason-!" I move to him, drop defensively in front of him, never turning my back to the Soldier, eyes narrowed, defenses up, but I can already see he's going to run.

There's so much going on in my head, concern for Jason, a deep and raw anger at seeing The Shield used that way, a raw fear at Bucky's state.

[onlyapassenger]

This isn't how he cares to operate. The kid's a liability and ought to be killed, but he's more useful alive than dead, a fact the Captain's just confirmed from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. A corpse doesn't bear protecting, but a young man in desperate need of medical attention surely does, and with this action alone, the Winter Soldier has earned himself a way out of here.

Though he'll have to go without the shield. Lodged in the tree after bouncing off the kid's head, there's no way to retrieve it without passing through Rogers first. Counter-intuitive. It's another acceptable loss, and one he can make up for later.

Gaze darting from the kid back to Rogers, the Winter Soldier leaves the pair with a question before he goes: "How much more collateral are you willing to risk, flag man?"

[onlyforthedream]

He knows I won't give chase, not now, not with Jason bleeding from the head and passed out cold. I watch him fade into the underbrush before turning back and leaning down, gently pushing dark, matted hair aside, checking Jason's pulse, starting to move him, carefully, into a neutral position.

I stand only to jump up, catching a branch and pulling myself onto it to retrieve the Shield then drop back down again. I kneel, use my belt looped over my shoulder to carry the shield on my back, then scoop Jason up as carefully as I can.

I turn and begin to run, as smoothly and carefully as I can, for the clinic, and try to mentally map out where it's most likely I'll find Bucky next.