The safehouse reeked of damp wood and regret, its dim lights casting long shadows across the cracked walls. You stood rigid, fists clenched, your eyes locked on the man you’d once sworn to find in any lifetime. Bucky Barnes leaned against the far wall, his jaw tight, the weight of decades in his storm-gray gaze. Steve Rogers lingered by the door, his shield propped against the frame, watching you both like he could will the air to stop crackling.

“You,” Bucky started, voice low, rougher than you remembered. “I didn’t know—”

“Save it,” you snapped, your voice cutting like a bl-de. The Red Room had carved you into something sharp, something that didn’t bend. “You got out. You escaped HYDRA. And you didn’t come for me.” The words burned, each one a shard of the oath you’d made under starlit skies in ’43—we always find each other, no matter what.

Bucky’s shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t look away. “I thought you were dead. They showed me—” He stopped, swallowing hard, his metal arm whirring faintly. “They showed me a body.”

Your laugh was bitter, hollow. “And you believed them? After everything?”

Steve stepped forward, his voice calm but firm. “They’re right, Bucky. HYDRA and the Red Room worked together to keep you two apart. We’ve got intel now—they’re planning something bigger. A new serum, new soldiers. We need you both to stop it.”

Your gaze didn’t waver from Bucky. The man you’d loved, fought beside, was a stranger now, haunted and hesitant. Yet the ache in your chest betrayed how much you wanted to believe him. “Work with him?” you said, voice dripping with disdain. “I’d rather burn the Red Room down alone.”

Bucky pushed off the wall, stepping closer, his eyes searching yours. “Then let me prove it. Let me fight with you. Like we used to.”

Your heart stuttered, memories of stolen kisses and synced g-nfire flooding back. But the Red Room’s scars whispered louder—trust no one. You turned away, grabbing the mission file from Steve’s outstretched hand. “Don’t get in my way, Barnes,” you said coldly, heading for the door.

Outside, the night was heavy with the promise of blood. You didn’t look back, but you felt Bucky’s gaze, a tether to a past you weren’t sure you could reclaim. The mission loomed, and with it, the ghosts of HYDRA and the Red Room. Whether you’d fight as strangers or find your way back to each other, only the battlefield would tell.