Tag: Bucky Barnes, @manchxriancandidate
Doom had centered Latverion around the Killiseum and fighters had to battle for their lives. There were always the favorites among the crowds, though even the lesser names drew people to wager money. Steve hated the idea of fighting just for fighting sake, he’s always had a cause and the whole thing of Battleworld, it placed the emperor as just another bully. It was bullies that Steve Rogers had always stood up against. It was slow going work on a planet where people were pulled from multiverses where timelines didn’t match up. A part of it had allowed for anonymity among the world’s first superheroes, he didn’t need it getting back to Doom quite yet that he wasn’t playing by the rules.
But the evening events had pulled a much riskier move for the former Captain America, something much more public then he had done before. That evening, after another successful Killiseum fight, a group had put together a celebration of one of Killiseum’s Battle Champions…it was that champion that brought him there that evening. People wanted to mingle with the man who had won so many fights in the arena; it was none other than Bucky Barnes himself.
Waiting for a moment till the other was alone, getting them both caught wouldn’t help matters, but finally the steady flow of people to the arena’s battle champion seemed to dull for a moment. Steve stepped out of the shadows, making sure he was in the direct line of sight for the former assassin. Tilting his head in the direction to his right, Steve signaled an area where the two of them could talk in private for a few moments before the other would be missed.
bucky had never been one to revel in his victories - not that he had ever gotten the chance to. see, as a soldier he hadn’t lived long enough to see his nation win the war and as the winter soldier… well, bucky wouldn’t exactly call those victories.
and yet he just can’t seem to let go of that part of himself. he is no longer the winter soldier, sure, but he isn’t just james ‘bucky’ barnes anymore either. the red on his ledger is permanent and so bucky searches for whatever way he can find to cope with it. now, he is more surprised than anyone to learn that sense of relief lies in the killiseum, doing exactly that what he had been trying so hard to distance himself from.
as hard as it is to admit, he needs it. though, bucky figures that it’s more about feeling in control than the fighting itself. not that that matters much to the people that surround him and leave celebratory pats on his back before buying him a drink with the money he’s just made them that night. all they see is a cold blooded warrior. a winner. a champion.
it’s just for a couple of hours, he reminds himself as he fights the urge to roll his eyes and shrug off the groping hands. they get tired of it eventually. yet before bucky can make a quiet escape, his eyes lock with a pair he knows all too well. he nods shortly, allowing his gaze to scan the square once more before he follows the man into the dark alleyway.
“steve,’ bucky greets the other with another nod of his head, “i was already wondering when you were finally going to show up.”
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