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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
an unorthodox reunion
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IT FELT LIKE Diana was walking into the soldier's mind. Newspapers were stuck to the windows, putting the room in a slight sepia shade. The dishes in the sink were unclean and some of the floorboards creaked like they were to break. They didn't. The mattress didn't have a frame and was disheveled as it was shoved into the corner of the studio apartment. Diana assumed that the only door in the apartment led to the bathroom. The place was only a little bit bigger than a college dorm to fit the small kitchen.

Steve seemed to be poking around in the apartment, looking for any indicators on where Bucky could be, but there weren't any. Smart. Diana felt uncomfortable as she stood in front of the dirty couch. Her fingers were rubbing over a smooth stone that she had found by a pond in London that she and Sam discovered when going on a walk. It was only yesterday. Steve had found a journal on top of the fridge, Diana's curiosity getting the better of her as she made her way over.

She felt terrible going through it, she kept a journal of her own as her therapist suggested, and she would be mortified if a teammate read it. Her guilt slightly died down when she saw a photo of her fall out from between the pages, she caught it before it hit the ground and she realized that it was a photo of her from the battle in 2012, she remembered what was happening when the photo was taken, she had just landed on a bus after jumping off a bridge after Steve did. She used a long-ass pole meant for vaulting.

Diana felt herself smile slightly as she tucked it back into the journal as Steve flipped through the pages, a photo of Steve appeared as well. Bucky was trying to remember, it made Diana feel better. She felt a shift in the air but it looked like Steve was too engrossed in the journal to notice. Diana looked over her shoulder to see him.

"Heads up, Cap. German Special Forces, approaching from the south." Sam's voice was faint in her ear, they didn't exactly have the top-of-the-line equipment, just the stuff that Diana could make with the stones that were stored in the suit she packed. It was one of Tony's lightweight stealth prototypes.

"Understood."

Bucky was bulkier than the last time she saw him, even under the layers she could see his muscles. He wore a baseball cap like the one she wore earlier and a jacket over a red henley shirt, she had seen one like it before, it was a long sleeve, she just knew. He wore gloves despite the spring air being humid this time of year in Romania. It was probably to hide the metal secret under his clothes. He seemed slightly shocked that she was able to catch him, which was weird to him.

Diana gave him a smile and a wave as she faced him.

"Hi," She offered.

He only stared her down as he set a bag of fruit on the dresser next to him. Plums. Steve spun around now, shutting the journal like he wasn't just invading his old friend's mind. Diana had no business to judge since she had just done it.

"Do you know us?" Steve asked, though he already had his answer, the book he set down had told him. There was a moment of silence as Bucky stared at him, his stoic face made it impossible for Diana to read him and it frustrated her.

"You're Steve, I read about you in a museum." Bucky finally spoke, he looked over at Diana, his icy eyes stared her down, "And you're Diana, you've been hunting me down for two years, I've read about you in the news."

Diana scoffed, her face slightly flushing as she stared at him.

"I wouldn't call it hunting," She crossed her arms over her chest, her hip jutting out a bit as she shifted her weight onto one foot, "More like, worried searching."

Steve sent a sharp glare to Diana before looking back at Bucky, his face melting into an empathetic expression. Bucky's face faltered into a quizzical look before he clenched his jaw and he returned to being stoic. He could dominate her in poker if they ever get the chance to play.

"They've set the perimeter." Sam chimed in.

"I know you're nervous." Steve was starting to go on edge, Diana understood why, they're about to deal with an army of German police, this won't be pretty if they don't get Bucky out now, "And you have plenty of reason to be. But you're lying."

"I wasn't in Vienna." Bucky offered, it made Diana give him a small smile, "I don't do that anymore."

"We know," She spoke softly.

"They're entering the building." Sam alerted, her heart picked up its pace when he did.

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now." Steve was getting jumpy, Diana sent him a warning look to calm down, progress was being made and Steve didn't need to undo it, no matter the police that were probably stomping up to Bucky's floor, "And they're not planning on taking you alive."

"That's smart." Bucky commented, he was moving stuff around in his apartment now, Diana's eyes narrowed in on his movements, he has an escape plan, "Good strategy."

"They're on the roof. I'm compromised." Sam as the backup was out of the question now.

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." It seemed that Steve knew that Bucky was preparing for his escape. The brunette man took off his glove, revealing the metal hand, and flexed it into a fist.

They could hear the cops just outside the door. Diana wasn't ready for this, but she had to be.

"It always ends in a fight." Those six words expressed how exhausted Bucky was from all of this, Diana understood that.

"Five seconds." Thanks, Sam.

"You pulled us from the river. Why?" Steve demanded. Bucky looked at Diana as if to say, 'Really? You told him?' It confused her.

"I don't know." He answered, never pulling his eyes away from her. Diana had to fight the urge to use a pick-up line on him, something about the situation told her that it might not be the right time.

"Three seconds!"

"Yes, you do."

"Breach! Breach! Breach!"

Sam's words were immediately followed by a grenade flying in through the window. Diana caught it and turned it into a teddy bear. She handed it to Bucky before reaching behind her back, grabbing the chitauri spear she stole from an alien and pulling it off the holster on her back.

Bucky tossed the bear aside as she did this, making Diana give him a soft frown before looking at the door as more commotion came from the other side.

She side-stepped over to Steve, turned to face the balcony door, her back now to the Captain.

"Schieß die Tür Auf!" She heard through Diana didn't understand what he was saying. She didn't learn German as a child like Celeste wanted her to.

A battering ram was slammed against the door, Diana could hear it, though it was the first time she was hearing it on the receiving end. Bucky shielded himself with the mattress against an attack from the window. He blocked the door with his coffee table as cops swung in on cables. Steve pulled the rug from under a policeman, sending him flying. Bucky slammed another policeman into the wall.

Diana enjoyed watching that but Steve apparently didn't. While he went to scold Bucky, Diana was running out, making sure that the police that swung in was actually incapacitated. One tried grabbing at her but she swung her spear around, cracking him in the jaw before a knee went to his groin. The spear quickly turned into a pipe. While the policeman was distracted by his aching crotch, Diana had managed to rip off his helmet and knock him out with a firm blow to the head.

"Buck, stop!" Diana could hear from inside, "You're gonna kill someone."

When she heard a thud and the familiar sound of breaking wood, she rushed inside to see Bucky's fist in the floor. He pulled out a bag and threw it out of the broken window, sending it flying to the roof of the smaller building next to the one they were in.

"I'm not gonna kill anyone," Bucky muttered, but they could hear it.

Bucky and Steve get behind Steve's shield to avoid gunfire. Diana had dived behind the couch, holding her hands over her head in a desperate attempt to protect it. The bullets stopped and Diana got up to see that Bucky had shoved Steve into the policeman. The two flew out of the window and onto the balcony outside. Diana joined Bucky as he held up his metal hand and repelled bullets, then slammed a cop into shelves. Bucky picks up a large cement brick and slams it into another cop. Bucky punches through the wall beside the door.

The two walked out of the building into what looked like hell.

A cop descended through a skylight on a zip wire. Bucky grabbed the cop's gun and slammed him into the wall. Diana had to duck when Bucky grabbed the battering ram that was used to open the door, he hit three cops that were a few feet away from her. She stood up, looking at him with wide eyes and her jaw dropped.

"Dude!" She yelled, she sent a blast at the policeman behind him, it was light enough to only push him and not put a hole in him and the four men behind him. They all fell down the stairs like dominoes. Bucky only rolled his eyes and jumped on the man on the zipline, his weight making them go down a level. "Oh, I'm not letting you go that easily."

Diana grabbed the battering ram from the groaning policeman, one of them looked at her as if to say, "really?"

"Es tut uns leid," She awkwardly spoke, it was one of the few things she remembered from the lessons, and from the way the man looked after, she could tell she butchered the pronunciation, which only made her feel worse. She pulled out a rock and turned it into an ice pack.

She turned the battering ram into a grappling hook, slinging her spear over her back, she jumped down and swung under the stairs using the hook. She kicked her feet out, knocking the policeman in her way into the wall as she did. Diana really hated this.

Steve had jumped down a level quickly after she did just to see Bucky punch another cop. He tossed one of them over the railing and Steve caught him, stopping the cop from falling. Diana groaned at Bucky's recklessness as she made her way down the stairs, kicking officers down and blocking their blows.

"Come on, man." Steve had the same sentiment as Diana as he did his best to get through the police and leave them only minimally damaged.

Diana heaved another breath as she swung her spear wound, the crackling of her energy around the weapon sent them farther back than it normally would if it was still 2014. Bucky looked at the weapon, his eyes wider than before.

She couldn't focus too much on his attention, she had blasted at the policeman raising his gun at his back. The idea of any of them shooting him in the back angered her. She had seen too much of that on the news already. She jumped up, holding onto the railing next to her to use both feet and kick at the policeman in front of her. Her feet on his chest made him go flying back and she made a point to step on the stomach of his bulletproof vest as she drew closer to Bucky. He only gave her a nod before jumping over the railing.

She called out his name but watched as he caught onto another railing and looked back up at her. His cap fell away, revealing his long hair. He held up his free hand and she looked over at Steve.

The blonde man nodded and before Diana's nerves could object, she found herself in a freefall, shooting her hands out to grab onto Bucky's arm. He yelled out a groan of pain before flinging her over the railing. She rolled onto the concrete floor to spread the impact. Her breath was successfully knocked out of her but she found Bucky grabbing her by the collar of her suit and yanking her off the ground.

Diana hadn't been carried the way she was right now since Thor flew her through the city after Tony fell out of the wormhole. She felt like all her organs were being jostled around and she was finding it hard to catch her breath, someone she still managed to look at Bucky and smirk.

"You never called me," She joked, referring to the last time they had spoken. Bucky only rolled his eyes and suddenly they weren't in the building, they were flying through the air.

Diana let out a yelp as she looked around, her hair flying as they rolled onto the roof. Thankfully the few seconds in the air got her to catch her breath and they were running again. She thought they were home free, they just had to get down from the roof and they were in the wind. But the looming shadow of a man with weird ears crept up in an arc over theirs. Bucky forcefully shoved Diana out of the way and she rolled across the roof and watched as a man in an all-black suit toppled onto Bucky. She quickly recovered onto her feet. Turning a rock into a large pipe with cement-filled in the end.

She began to charge at the mystery man but her footsteps stuttered at the sight of his fighting stance. When he opened his palms, large claws left the fingertips and she found that she was scared of the fact that she didn't know if those were real or a part of the suit.

The man attacked Bucky with sweeping kicks and slashes. Bucky instantly began to fight back but was kicked into a wall. Diana was already regretting engaging in a fight with him, he was clearly better trained than she was. This fight wasn't going to be fair but she still jumped as high as she could, energizing the pipe, and brought it down against his back.

The strangest thing had happened. Diana was flying back, she found herself recovering against an air conditioning machine that was perfectly placed behind her. Her pipe laid a few away from her, broken in half with chunks of broken concrete spilling out.

"What the fuck?" She yelled out. Standing up, she was heaving as she looked around. How in the hell was she to fight this man when his suit was sending her flying back? The only other time she saw this was with Steve's shield in combat training but... there was no way... was there? The mysterious man swiped his claws and spun gracefully. Bucky narrowly avoided being slashed, he held up a metal bar to protect himself. Diana helplessly watched on and heard the familiar sound of helicopter blades chopping through the air.

She looked up to see Steve at the ledge of the building she was just in, he gave her an exasperated look as Bucky struggled to fend the man off. She only pointed to her ruined weapon as if to say, "you see this shit? Ain't no way!"

"Sam, southwest rooftop," Steve spoke into the comm, Diana could see the way his lips move, only throwing her off with the delay of his words.

"Who the hell's the other guy?" Sam asked as he swooped in, looking down at the scene below him and before Diana. She shook her shoulders, bouncing lightly on her feet as she pumped herself up to perform her next stupid stunt.

"About to find out," Steve spoke.

Diana didn't wait for him to join the fight before she charged at the man. Pushing her fears aside. She tackled the man in a hug, earning a surprised grunt. The two rolled onto the roof, giving time to get up and run, but it was like Diana was like a paperweight to the man because as soon as they tumbled, the sooner she was flung again. The man tackled Bucky again, and this time the metal-armed soldier had to hold the clawed man by his wrists.

The helicopter had made its way into the scene now, opening fire on the two men. Diana watched in a mixture of horror and amazement as the bullets bounced off him. Who was this guy?

"Sam," Steve spoke, he was now next to Diana, a brief hand on her arm showed her that he was checking to make sure she was okay. She gave him a nod as she directed her attention back to the man. She felt utterly useless and didn't know what to do.

"Got him," Sam flew down and shoved the chopper off course. He had swung down below the level of the roof of the building.

Bucky had broken free from the man and grabbed his bag, he had jumped off the roof and Diana got ready to do the same, hoping that someone would catch her because there was no way she would survive on her own.

She only recently started to practice using her powers to buffer her falls as Wanda had and Diana was nowhere near as stable. Diana didn't want to disintegrate her surroundings with her landings, she was already in hot water with intervening in an unfair execution, and she didn't want to add vandalism to her years in prison.

"Sam, do you have me?" Diana asked as she charged at the edge of the roof, using the slight ledge to leap off, she used the powers to send her higher into the air, the extra height gave Sam more time to catch her before she splattered onto the ground below her.

Thankfully he did and brought her to the ground safely, the extra speed helped her run even faster. Gunfire from the chopper tore up the sidewalk in front of her as it chased after the enhanced men. Diana had almost forgotten that she was enhanced herself, focusing her energy on her legs, she watched as things started to go past her faster as she gained speed on the men.

Sam was hot on her tail in the air and the two watched as the men jumped into an opening in the ground. The underpass below them blew up in the sounds of honks and squealing tires. Diana wondered if she would be breaking traffic laws as she jumped down into the underpass, Sam catching her once again before she broke her knees as she began to run off again, now that they were out of the fire of the helicopter, Diana thought it might be easier to get the mysterious man off their back. She was wrong. It was like the German Special Forces could read their minds because the familiar shades of red and blue flashed through the tunnel as she weaved through the cars that were driving in the same direction that she was running.

If someone told Diana in 2008 that she would be running with Captain America to save a metal-armed man from a man in a bulletproof catsuit in Romania, she probably would have laughed in their face and called them out for how crazy it sounded. But she watched as Steve threw a policeman out of the car and pushed the shattered windshield out, driving off with the SUV.

"Did I drop into a game of GTA?" Diana asked her comm as she continued to run. Her feet were beginning to ache and her calves burned. She had only ever done this once before and it felt like she was ripping the muscles in her legs apart. Maybe she was. At that current moment, he couldn't be bothered, not when Bucky's life was at stake.

"Sam, I can't shake this guy." Steve's voice was faint in the comm, Diana looked over her shoulder to see the speeding SUV with the man hanging off the back of it like he was Marty McFly. Diana rolled her eyes as she continued to run. She pushed her comm further into her ear, she was sure it was like that due to her running the way she was.

"Right behind you," Sam replied.

There was an upcoming fork in the road and quickly after Bucky leaped over it, Diana did too, the crash behind her told her that Steve drove right through it. Diana couldn't believe this was the same man that wanted to yell at her for jumping in front of an explosion for him. She couldn't wait to hold this against him the next time he questioned her morals.

Diana had turned her head back in front of her to watch as Bucky grabbed the handlebar of an oncoming motorcycle and spun the bike around in mid-air, throwing the rider off. Diana's heart stuttered as she watched, her stomach felt funny and she wondered why she had a reaction like that. She made a great leap using her powers as a boost, arcing in the air to get to the back of the motorcycle. If Bucky was waiting for her, she wouldn't have noticed because tired smoke filled the air and invaded her nostrils.

She scrunched her nose, frowning at the smell. She didn't have time to adjust on the set before Bucky was sped off. She yelled out as she wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him for dear life as she looked over her shoulder. Steve was still hot on Bucky's trail. They all rocketed through another underpass. Sam was close to the ceiling of it, making sure to not cause any damage to the cars below him. In the dim light of the tunnel, Diana watched as the mysterious man climbed to the front of the SUV Steve was driving. She knew that he would pounce on the motorcycle.

Two seconds and Diana had a metal pole sticking out, squeezing the motorcycle with her thighs to stabilize herself. When the man tried to jump, she jutted the pole out, successfully keeping him away. Bucky had glanced over his shoulder to see why her hold on him had disappeared and groaned at the sight of her keeping him away from them. The man had grabbed onto the pole and yanked it away from her, but Bucky had already put enough distance between them for it to not matter anymore.

She hoped the pole didn't affect any of the civilian drivers but a lot of the ones around them had slowed down or sped up to avoid the car chase if that's what it even could be called. Diana had turned back around to return her hold on Bucky, it was more relaxed this time, they had a better chance at escaping than before.

Of course, Diana had spoken too soon. Bucky had thrown something up at the edge of the overpass, she only registered that it was a bomb when the explosion went off and she was flying onto her side.

"SHIT!" She screamed. She crossed her arms over her chest and rolled out, the motorcycle hit her in the legs and she knew that she would be bruised out later. It was typical of her interactions with Bucky, she should've expected it.

She crawled over to Bucky quickly, glaring the mysterious man down as she pulled herself to her feet and stood over the man she had been searching for - for two years. She balled her hands up into fists, her energy crackling up to her arms. Diana hoped that it was her intimidation that stopped him, they both knew that he could throw her like a ragdoll. Still, he didn't move.

Maybe it was because seconds later, Bucky was upright and by her side and they all were soon surrounded by the police. They weren't getting away.

More and more police surrounded them, guns aimed not only at Bucky, but at her, steve and sam too, they had them trained on the mysterious man, he wasn't sent by the UN. Who was he?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Rhodey landing down in his War Machine suit, one of his repulsors up and aimed at her and Bucky while the other was aimed at Sam and T'Challa, the gun was aimed at Steve.

"Stand down, now." Rhodey's firm, the authoritative voice boomed over them. She made her energy dissipate and she held her open hands up over her head. Steve had put his shield back knot his back and followed similarly to her. "Congratulations, Cap. You're a criminal."

Police move in and force Bucky to his knees. Diana looked over at him as more of the officers surrounded her and shoved her hands down, a heavy set of cuffs went onto her wrists, and strangely, a weird metal collar was snapped around her neck. A sharp shock went down her spine and it felt like all the energy in her had been drained, leaving her exhausted and aching. Her legs felt like jelly which alarmed her.

"Whoa!" She yelled, a gun went to her face at her outburst, "What the fuck is this!" She looked at Steve with wide eyes but he seemed just as confused.

"I'm sorry, Renfrey, it's an electroshock collar, it's supposed to hinder your enhancements, no yellow shit," Rhodey explained.

When the collar around her neck was locked in, she looked at Sam and Steve helpless, the angry looks on her faces made her worried for the officers now. She was glad that they were cuffed, they didn't need to add murder to the charges she was sure they were going to face.

The mysterious man lifted his hands to his helmet, his claws retracting as he did. The removal of the helmet revealed a handsome, yet familiar face. Diana was sure she might have seen him on TV.

As she looked around, she tried to see if anyone else recognized him, Steve looked like he did but he seemed more confused than anything. Diana looked over at Bucky, her hands twitching as she ignored the shock running down her spine.

"Are you okay?" She muttered, she knew he could hear her, she whispered quieter to Steve and he managed to hear her.

Bucky noticed the way her hands twitched as she tried ignoring the pain that coursed through her body. He gave a sharp nod as he was also cuffed. Relief coursed through her body. They may be in custody, but at least Bucky was alive.

"Wie lautet der Befehl?" A soldier asked. Did they know the man in the suit?

"Your highness." Rhodey acknowledged.

And it was like she had been slapped in the face. The bulletproof suit. The German forces didn't know he was here, this was the new King of Wakanda. And he thinks Bucky killed his father.

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4.5k words

i know i said this update would come tomorrow but i crave the approval of eatmyfinger who no fail makes me laugh everytime they comment and i really wanted them to read jiana reunion.

because!!!! THEYRE REUNITED!!!! IM SO HAPPY I have spent so much time trying to get to this point and I'm so excited.

the rest of this book and the second half of the third book may start to look weird though because unfortunately i no longer have Disney plus (i used my dads account but his homophobia took over)  and i only own endgame and infinity war. so unless i can make some jeff bezos money moves,,, things are gonna look weird since i'll be using transcripts and YouTube clips :/ sorry guys.

anyways, on a lighter note. The real action is about to pick up and i can't wait for the airport party!!! So much fun I love how the avengers rented out an airport to hangout and chill!!!

thank you all for reading and I'll see you at the next update!! love you all!
-greta