"And for some god damned reason, from the moment you saw past my inner demons, I knew I'd never be able to shake you off."

BUCKY

The training room fell silent, Emilia's words hanging in the air for what felt like an eternity. They were frozen, trying to process the connotation behind what she had said.

But then Nadine finally snapped.

"What the fuck do you mean, compromised?!" she screeched, her brown eyes seemingly raging with a fire that was just asking for something to burn. "What were they even doing?!"

"You know how Dante said he was going to Italy," Emilia's voice was trembling. Her doe eyes were wide with fear, and she was clearly trying to hold back tears. "He just sent an SOS and said that he found the Hand."

Nadine suddenly paled, her shoulders hunching as her anger seemed to disappear. "The, the Hand?"

Bucky could've sworn there was something in her voice. Fear, maybe? He couldn't blame her. She'd mentioned once that Jameson wanted her to join the Hand, so knowing Dante and Taj were captured by them... let's just say he understood why she'd be terrified.

"What did he say exactly, Emilia?" he questioned, attempting to keep control over the situation. He and Dante may have had a complex relationship, but that still didn't mean Bucky wasn't gonna help find him. And no matter their relationship, he did like Taj, so he'd still help just because of him.

Emilia took a deep breath to keep herself calm. "He said he and Taj got a lead on the Hand, but the Hand found them first. They were on their way to get them, and the call got cut off."

"He was supposed to stay away from them... he promised!" Nadine seemed stuck between wanting to shoot something or scream into the heavens. "He promised me he'd stay away from the Hand."

Okay, things were escalating and quickly.

"Let's just try to come up with a plan. Emilia, do Fong and Kaia know?"

The Colombian swallowed hard and shook her head, trying her best to keep her shit together. "I came here as soon as the call ended."

"Well, then, you should let them know," Nadine said, finally calming down enough to focus. "While you do that, James and I will start getting things ready. Okay?"

Emilia nodded and quickly left to do as she was told, not even bothering to utter a reply. Bucky felt sorry for her; he couldn't even begin to comprehend whatever was going through her head right now. The closest thing would've had to have been all those times Steve did something reckless during the war: despite knowing that he was physically no longer the Steve he grew up with, Bucky always worried that he'd get himself killed.

That was the closest thing he could think of that could remotely compare to what she was feeling, and he knew that it was nothing in comparison.

The moment they were alone, Nadine sighed and rubbed her eyes, clearly exhausted. It was as if the weight of the world fell upon her shoulders, and she was tired of it. "I know I said we'd start preparing, but I need to clear my head first."

"Okay," he said, careful of keeping his tone level. He didn't want her to think he was pitying her. "Just don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, okay." She didn't seem to be listening, with how unfocused her stare was.

Bucky placed his hands on her shoulders, which seemed to catch her attention. He felt the rough skin on the scar that decorated her shoulder, which made him even more intrigued to learn how she got it. "They're going to be fine, Nadine. We'll find them."

"You don't understand," she started, placing her hands on her hips and lowering her gaze. Her arm muscles seemed to tighten when positioning them like that. "This was personal for Dante. And he's very personal."

He figured as much considering how difficult it's been for them to form something even remotely similar to a bond. He'd consider them allies, if he had to label it. Nevertheless, he figured there was something else behind those words, so he stepped back and waited patiently for her to continue.

"Years ago, he fell in love with a woman named Yuna Watanabe. She was a part of the Hand, but decided to leave them when she got pregnant." The way Nadine's jaw clenched at the memory showed that it wasn't particularly pleasant, though he didn't know which part she didn't like: the fact that Dante fell in love, or the fact that he fell for a member of the Hand. Either way, there was animosity still. "They didn't like that, and she and the baby were killed."

Wait. Did she say 'baby'? Dante had a baby?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Give me a second. Baby?!" Bucky was floored by the revelation. "Holy shit, Nadine. That's..."

"Horrible," she agreed, running her fingers through her bangs in order to keep them out of her eyes. They were longer, and she'd been developing a habit of brushing them constantly, even if it wasn't bothering her vision. It was time for a haircut, it seemed. "This was a revenge mission for him, and it could get him and Taj killed."

"We need to move, then."

"You're not going," Nadine said, her tone sharp, but she didn't look mad, just worried. She had that slight crinkle in between her furrowed brows that confirmed her worry. "The Triad's still looking for you so you need to lay low."

"Try and stop me," he retorted, his eyebrows raised. It always amused him how protective she was of him, and he also secretly enjoyed it. "Nadine, I chose to stay, and that means I'm also choosing to go save Dante's dumb ass."

"And Taj," she reminded. Of course, they couldn't forget him even if they tried.

"Right, and Taj's dumb ass."

Despite the circumstances, Nadine laughed slightly, the corners of her lips lifting into a small grin. The reaction made him smile, and he was satisfied that he'd brightened her mood for a moment. After that time she had a panic attack, he'd realized that he enjoyed making her happy, and not long afterwards he started understanding why. He didn't know when his feelings started surfacing, but when he came to terms with them, it got harder keeping them at bay, especially since each moment he spent with her, the more it felt like he was where he belonged.

Bucky cleared his throat in order to shake his head in the right direction. "I think we need more than just the five of us to save them."

Nadine rolled her shoulders back in an attempt to loosen her tense stance. He was still surprised with how noticeably tanner she'd gotten from her visit to Rio. "I need to make a visit, see if a friend can track his movements."

"Tell me where we're going, and the rest will meet us there." She gave him an incredulous look, which just made him roll his eyes at her lack of faith. "Just trust me."

"Don't tell me, you're gonna call your other half?" she teased, one corner of her lips quirking upwards in a smirk. Her cheekbones tended to pop whenever she did that, Bucky noticed.

He'd been noticing a lot of things lately...

"Well, yesterday he told me he was in Germany, so I'm sure he won't mind taking a detour."

"Thank you," she said, her brown eyes glinting with gratitude. "You don't know how grateful I am."

Bucky couldn't help himself, he grinned. The fondness he had for her was something else, there was no doubt about it. "Nadine, you don't have to feel grateful. I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Taj."

"Be sure to tell him that."

He didn't know what it was, but suddenly he felt like they needed to talk about what happened between them. Maybe it was because he couldn't seem to concentrate on their next task without getting it out of the way, or he was just tired of having some unspoken thing looming over their heads. Whatever the reason, they needed to talk.

"I know this is shitty timing, but, what happened before..."

"Yeah, that..." After his words, Nadine's smile was nowhere in sight, much to his dismay. Nevertheless, he dismissed it as simple sheepishness. She was probably embarrassed that Emilia almost caught them, that's all. "It was just a 'heat of the moment' type of thing, right?"

Heat of the moment? Really?

Wow, he was wrong.

It was like all the air was punched out of him. "Was it?" Bucky asked, trying to keep his disappointment at bay. "Because I could've sworn it was a little more than that..."

"Whatever it was..." Nadine was choosing her words carefully, he could tell by way she shifted her gaze towards the door. "We need to pause it. I need to have my head clear of distractions. Can we talk about this after we save them?"

Distractions? Was that all that he was?

He wanted to say no. Bucky wanted to place his hands on her cheeks and kiss her until she was as convinced as he was. Because after being alone for so long, after being surrounded by pain and suffering for decades, he wanted to be selfish this one time that he actually felt, well, happy. And he couldn't believe that whatever happened between them was one-sided. There was no way.

But he bit his tongue and kept his mouth shut, because not only did he not wanna fight with her, but he also knew she was right. If the Hand was as lethal as they said, they couldn't get distracted.

And in the end, she was right. This was a deadly distraction.

Emilia came back in, her eyes red and puffy. Despite the evidence that she'd been crying, long gone was the terrified girl from before. The only thing in her eyes now was deadly determination. "Fong's on his way back, and Kaia's talking with her contacts."

"Okay, good. Can you start packing weapons and kevlar from the armory while Bucky and I shower?" Bucky choked on a breath while Emilia raised an eyebrow in surprise, looking between them both, and it took Nadine a second before she realized what she said. "Separately, Emilia. Jesus, get your head out of the gutter while you're at it."

"Uh huh," Emilia was clearly unconvinced, but decided to drop it. "Just, hurry up. We need to leave tonight if we wanna make sure they survive."

• • •

They ended up in Zurich, Switzerland. From what Nadine explained to Bucky on the plane, they were going to meet up with someone who went by the name of Selene Mebarak, a British born Egyptian woman whom she met during her SHIELD days. Nadine explained that she could help pinpoint the exact location from which Dante's call was made.

If they could get her to help, that was.

Apparently, Ms. Mebarak wasn't in Zurich for a vacation. So when she opened the door to her modest apartment, the trio received an exceptionally intense glare from the woman.

"You're not supposed to be here," Selene hissed in her peculiar accent, her dark brows furrowed in exasperation. "I'm undercover right now."

"Yeah, yeah, your job with MI6, we know." Emilia waved a dismissive hand and stuck her chin out in defiance. Whatever patience she had was gone the minute Dante was captured. "Your boss is just gonna have to suck it, because we need your help."

"I told you I would send you the location once I had the time."

Nadine scoffed. "We don't have time, Selene. Please, we'll be on our way."

She sighed in defeat, looking once at the area around them before stepping sideways, a gesture for them to enter. "Fine. Come on."

______________________________

A/N: I FINALLY UPDATED CONSISTENTLY LMAO

I finished the chapter on time because I was free from work this week (woo!) so I was able to actually sit down and finish this! I'm so proud lol

Also, I MADE ANOTHER AESTHETIC

Aren't my babies beautiful?

Side note: I really hope I can update the next chapter on time as well, but we'll have to wait and see. Let's hope the odds are in my favor lmaoo

Anyway, I also wanted to add that if you like social media fanfics and Chris Evans, I recently published my own Chris Evans social media fic called Reluctance. It's just a lighthearted story I decided to do for fun, so if you like that stuff, please check it out!

Okay, that's it for today. Thank you so much for reading, and please remember to vote and comment:)

Thank you again!