#Hydra machine crash

[rightnewshindi]

नालागढ़ हादसा: हाइड्रा मशीन से महिला की मौत, पुलिस विवाद के बाद और प्रदर्शन से मचाया बवाल

Nalagarh News: नालागढ़ के जगातखाना इलाके में एक दर्दनाक हादसे ने पूरे क्षेत्र में हलचल मचा दी। शनिवार देर रात तेज रफ्तार हाइड्रा मशीन की टक्कर से एक महिला की मौत हो गई, जिसके बाद पुलिस और मृतका के परिजनों के बीच हुए कथित विवाद ने स्थिति को और तनावपूर्ण बना दिया। गुस्साए परिजनों और स्थानीय लोगों ने थाना प्रभारी के खिलाफ कार्रवाई की मांग को लेकर महिला के शव को थाने के बाहर रखकर धरना शुरू कर दिया।…

[marvelstoriesepic]

Your Ghost Knows Me

Pairing: Avenger!Bucky x Avenger!Reader

Summary: On a mission to dismantle a Hydra base, Bucky’s activation codes are triggered. And what does he do without a kill order?

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: mind control; non-consensual behavior (not sexual but bodily autonomy themes); possessive behavior; gun violence (implied, not graphic); threats of violence; emotional manipulation (unintentional); PTSD; trauma responses; forced proximity; mentions of Bucky’s past; Hydra

Author’s Note: I'll never get tired of a possessive Winter Soldier!! Honestly, I should write about him more often. Anyway, this absolutely iconic request is from my sweet dear!! Thank you so much, and I hope you'll enjoy ♡

2k Drabble Challenge Masterlist | Masterlist

There is always something quiet about Bucky when he looks at you before the mission begins. Quiet in the way thunder is quiet just before the crack. As if he is holding something inside himself too loud for the world.

You always say his name and he would look at you like he’s afraid to blink.

You don’t think you’re supposed to notice the way he hovers at your side. You’re not supposed to feel his shadow, stitched to your steps. But you do. You always do. Because Bucky Barnes does not know how to stay subtle. Not with you. Not when he thinks you might not make it out of this alive.

Your mission is to break into an old Hydra base with heat still humming through the walls and ghosts still hanging from the rafters.

The team drops in like rain. Controlled chaos. Clint on the left flank. Sam from above. Steve on the right flank. Nat somewhere in the dark.

You are light-footed and fast and smart and alive. Bucky stays behind you. Always behind you. Watching your six. He never lets you fall.

And you get the proof of this for the thousandth time when he throws his arm out and grabs your vest to yank you back hard enough to make you gasp. Your heart stutters in your throat. You stumble, twist, spin - and crash into him.

There was a tripwire. You almost walked into it. And Bucky saw. He sees everything.

“You okay?” He breathes, voice low, not quite touching worry but brushing the edges of it.

“Yeah,” you whisper back. “Thanks.”

He nods. Says nothing. Keeps moving.

You press forward into the maze of concrete and metal that is the Hydra base, gun raised, heart playing the drum in your ribs.

Bucky slows.

You glance over at him. “What is it?”

He stares at a rusted door, barely ajar. A soft static pulses from within, like an old radio dying in slow motion. The sound crawls down your spine. Your skin prickles.

“Bucky,” you start, reaching for him. “Let’s move.”

But he’s already walking toward that door with narrowed eyes.

The room is dark. Cold. Frost is on the walls like a memory that won’t let go. A machine in the corner makes low noises. Wires twitch on the floor like veins ripped from a corpse. The air stinks of metal and mildew and something old. Something wrong.

And then it speaks. A voice, thick with static, seeps out of the machine. A voice you don’t understand. Not really. You can’t make out the words, but you know them. You know what they mean.

“Желание. Ржавый.”

You spin around, heart rushing up to your ears, calling his name, but it’s too late.

“Семнадцать. Рассвет.”

Bucky stands frozen.

Stone. Steel. Silence.

His face is slack. That haunted stillness takes over.

He isn’t gone. But he isn’t Bucky anymore.

“Печь.”

His eyes go distant. Flat. His face cracks into something you’ve only seen in nightmares. No fury. No fear. Just absence.

“Доброкачественный.”

“No,” you breathe. Your heart forgets how to beat. “Bucky,” you basically yell at him. Nobody even knew there were still functioning systems here. But they’d been waiting. Planning.

“Девять.”

“Bucky please snap out of this.” You know it’s useless. You don’t know why you say it.

“Возвращение на родину.“

Your hand trembles around the grip of your weapon as you force yourself to jump out of the shock your limbs are locked in. You raise your arm and aim. You pull the trigger. One.

“Один.”

Two.

“Грузовой вагон.”

Three.

Four times.

The machine sparks. Cracks. Screams. A dozen red lights blink and die like stars going out. The voice cuts out, perhaps wanting to give a command, a final breath of Russian strangled by silence. And it slams into the room like a body.

For a heartbeat, for a breath, you think it’s over.

You hope it’s over.

But his name dies on your tongue when you turn back to him.

Bucky doesn’t speak. He doesn’t blink. He doesn’t breathe like a man. He doesn’t look at you - he tracks you, the way a sniper does. As if you’re a piece of intel.

Sam’s voice crackles over the comms. “Hey. We heard something. Everything good over there?”

You can’t answer right away.

Your voice is lost.

Because Bucky Barnes is gone.

And the Winter Soldier is standing in his place.

It takes you a minute to explain your situation and you hear the tremor in Steve’s voice when he tells you they’re on their way.

You try to breathe around the panic growing like thorns in your chest.

You whisper his name, again and again, as if it’s a spell that might pull him back. But the Winter Soldier does not know your voice.

Does not know you.

And when Steve finally rounds the corner, face pale, shield up, Bucky growls.

Low. Subhuman. A warning without words.

“Woah, woah- easy,” Steve says, holding up a hand. He looks at you. “He’s- He’s not gone. We’ll fix this. We can bring him back.”

You don’t know how promising he tries to make this sound.

But Bucky shifts his body, in front of you.

He plants himself between you and everyone else, like a wall, like a weapon.

Like a threat.

No orders. No hesitation. Just instinct.

He scans Steve’s hands. Sam’s gun. Natasha’s eyes.

Every time someone even twitches in your direction, he angles his body tighter around you, metal hand flexing. His breathing is shallow. Sharp.

He has no words. No explanations. He doesn’t seem to need them.

You try to take a step forward, away from his back. He moves with you. You stop. So does he.

“Please,” you whisper. “Bucky. Come back.”

But he doesn’t flinch.

Not for the begging in your voice. Not for the heartbreak in your eyes.

But you know he doesn’t hear you. He only hears the ghosts in his blood. The machine in his brain. The purpose Hydra seared into his bones.

“Alright, this can’t-“ The moment Sam takes a step forward, Bucky moves.

He grabs you. Not roughly, not violently, but fully. As if the air between your bodies has never existed. As if he’s made of magnets and you’re the only thing that ever pulled him north.

His metal arm anchors around your waist, his other hand at your shoulder, your spine, your hip - everywhere, all at once. He places himself between you and the others again and makes sure to keep you there as if you are a holy thing. His breath is ragged. Feral.

“Bucky,” Steve tries. There is something pained in his tone. Also something warning. “Let her go.”

But he doesn’t listen.

Because there is nothing left to listen to.

No more commands. No more codes. No more voice in his ear.

So he seems to have written a new directive into his mind and that is you.

You are the mission now. You are the purpose, the protection, the last thing left when everything else burns.

His hand is wrapped around your wrist so tightly, it makes your breath hitch. But you don’t pull away. You can’t. There is something in his eyes. Something not Bucky but not nothing either.

Not the soldier.

Not the man.

Just this animal of loyalty. Of violence. Of need.

You try.

God, you try.

You speak to him in pieces. In whispers. In words coming from trembling lips and bruised hope.

“Bucky,” you plead.

Soft. Like maybe softness will do it. Like maybe he’ll come back to the sound of your voice wrapped in love instead of command.

But he doesn’t.

And he doesn’t let anyone near you.

Not Steve, who takes one careful step and ends up with a knife lodged in the floor in front of his foot.

Not Sam, who reaches out and gets a warning growl that raises the hairs on your arms.

Not Natasha, who tries to circle behind, quiet as a whisper - and is met with the barrel of Bucky’s gun aimed clean between her eyes.

You frantically call Bucky’s name.

“Hey- easy,” she says, voice low. “Nobody wants to harm your girl, Barnes.”

He doesn’t blink. He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t care.

He tightens his grip on you, fingers locking around your arm like a shackle. You try to find a piece of Bucky still breathing in there.

But all you see is possession.

He steps back into the shadows, pulling you with him, shielding you with his body as if the world is trying to take you and he’s the last wall still standing.

No one sees you now.

Because he won’t let them.

He moves you behind crates. Walls. Corners. Shadows. Always putting something between you and them. Always hiding you. Not out of shame. Not out of fear.

Out of possession.

Out of protection.

Out of a command he gave himself.

You are a mission. A precious object. A singular order sculpted into the ruins of his memory.

You hear Steve’s heavy sigh. His quiet and deep voice. The pain in it. “We need to sedate him.”

The next thing you pick up is the click of a safety releasing.

Bucky’s gun is pointed and ready.

He would kill for you right now.

He would kill them.

All of them.

Within the blink of an eye.

For you.

“No,” you croak out, voice breaking. It feels wrong to call him Bucky. It feels wrong to call him Soldat. “Please don’t! Don’t do this!”

You don’t know if it’s something in your voice or something in your tense stance against his back, but he slowly lowers his gun, slowly turns his head to stare at you.

Empty.

Unreachable.

But somehow not cold.

And then his hand rises. Flesh fingers trace your jaw. So gently it nearly breaks you.

It’s not affection. It’s assessment.

He’s checking. For wounds. For weakness. For threats, you might be hiding beneath your skin.

You breathe as if forgetting how to.

You try to shift. Just a little. Just to look behind him. Just to meet Steve’s eyes, Sam’s, Natasha’s, Clint’s - who finally got his ass here as well.

But Bucky moves. Fast.

A hand around your chin. Tilting your face back toward him.

Eyes narrow. Jaw locks.

You know what it means.

He doesn’t want you to look at them.

He doesn’t want you to speak with them.

He doesn’t want you to think of them.

You are his now.

Because something in his mind burned the world down and left you standing in the wreckage, and he needs something to hold onto. Not just anything. Not just anyone. You.

You try again.

Whispers, again.

“I have to talk to them-”

He shakes his head. Once. Sharp. Final.

“No,” he growls. Not language. Not word. Just a sound scraped from somewhere too deep and too far gone.

You flinch and he feels it.

His grip grows stiff.

Your body goes still.

He doesn’t want to hurt you. But he doesn’t let you go.

You catch the glint of Steve’s shield out of the corner of your eye.

They haven’t moved in minutes.

They’re waiting.

They’re watching.

They don’t want to hurt him either. But they will if they have to.

“Don’t,” you murmur. “Don’t come closer. Don’t- don’t try to talk to me, he- he doesn’t want that.”

You hear Sam lower his weapon, just a hair. “We can’t leave you like this.”

You want to cry. You want to scream. You want to pull Bucky into your arms and shake him until something clicks and he remembers you. Remembers himself.

But the Winter Soldier only seems to be remembering his duty. Violence shaped into protection.

And right now, that protection looks like isolation.

You. Alone. Tucked behind crates and corners and silence and his broad shoulders.

You speak anyway. Because you have to. Because he’s in there somewhere. Because he might not hear the others, but maybe he can still hear you.

“Bucky,” you speak. Swallow. “They’re not the enemy.”

His hand twitches on your arm.

“They’re your friends.”

He tightens his grip.

“They’re my friends.”

He releases another deep and gravelly sound.

His body is tense, electric, fury held in the cage of his bones.

“Please,” you say. You hate the sound of your own voice now. You sound like you are shattering in slow motion. “You don’t have to protect me from them. You don’t- I’m not-”

You breathe out shakily.

Your lip trembles. Your eyes sting.

Because he’s looking at you as if he would kill the whole world to keep you safe. And he doesn’t even remember who you are.

You press your forehead to his chest. His body doesn’t move.

He’s breathing faster now. His pulse thrums under your cheek.

But he lets you stay there.

That has to be something.

Behind Bucky, someone whispers your name. Carefully. Cautiously. As though if they say it wrong you’ll be ripped out of this moment and Bucky will hunt them all down.

You lift your head.

Bucky sees it.

Sees the way your eyes pull toward Sam’s voice.

Sees the way you’re still trying to hold onto them. Still reaching.

He doesn’t like that.

He hates that.

His hand finds the back of your neck. He pulls you into him, hides your face in his chest. Your shoulders lock. His body shields you like a fortress of flesh and metal and confusion. As if your gaze is a window, and he is closing the shutters.

You are not theirs anymore.

And he will not let you be.

[etheriaaly]

Haunted | Avengers x Reader

ANGST, FLUFF

Avengers x Reader (Platonic), Peter Parker x Reader (soon)

WARNINGS: Character death, cursing, stages of grief

Reader pronouns: They/them [GN! Reader]

Summary: Reader is a young 15 year old Avenger who has the powers and ability to reverse/rewind time. They saved countless lives using their time-rewinding powers but sadly, they were not able to turn back time before they died. Months later, a new Avenger recruit named Peter Parker came into view. Since he’s the youngest of them all, he was super protected and cared for by the Avengers, not wanting another death to come. Through an accident, Peter was able to see the ghost of [Y/N].

ɴᴀᴠɪɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ | ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

—

“Come on, Mr. Stark, pleaseeeeee.”  [Y/N] pleaded as they kept trailing behind Tony like a lost puppy.

“Get lost, kid,” Tony waved his hand in the air, walking towards the main lounge of the tower. “Also, didn’t I tell you to not call me Mr. Stark anymore?”

“[Y/N] bothering you again?” Steve asked, not looking up from the newspaper he’s reading. He’s sitting on the couch while Sam and Bucky are sitting near him and having their own little fight. 

“Mx. [L/N] over here won’t stop pestering me about us going on a vacation to Disneyland.” 

[Y/N] said, “We’ve been doing countless missions every day, saving the world, kicking Hydra’s ass. The Avengers definitely deserves a vacation break.” 

“Did someone say vacation?” Pietro suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the main lounge using his speed powers. “I’m up for that.”

[Y/N] grinned and placed their arms around Pietro’s shoulders, “See? Even speedster over here wants a vacation. Come on, Tony, I know everyone secretly wants a vacation.” 

A few minutes later, Vision, Wanda, Rhodey, Bruce and Natasha arrived at the main lounge. “What are you guys talking about?” Wanda asked. 

Thor answered Wanda’s question, “The young one wants a vacation.” 

Tony groaned and crashed into a nearby couch.

“[Y/N] is right, Stark. Most of us could really use a vacation here.” Bucky called out. Soon, everyone is now staring at Tony, pleading for a vacation that he will pay for. 

“Fine-” Before the billionaire finish his sentence, everyone cheered. Their little celebration about the upcoming vacation was halted when their red mission alarm in the Tower was activated. 

“Another mission? Seriously?” [Y/N] grunted as they all hurriedly prepared for their sudden mission.

"That's the life of being an Avenger, kid."

"Hey, I'm not complaining.”  [Y/N] shrugged. 

Once they finished mini preparing for their sudden mission, they all ran towards the Quinjet and went inside. It was a bit quiet until Steve spoke up. His hands on the tablet. 

He read aloud what was written on the mission file, “Fury said they found out another building of Hydra’s. We must sweep everything and find out if they have been keeping any information in there. 

[Y/N] checked the time in their left wrist watch, 2:45 PM. ‘It’s already been 5 minutes since we’re in this Quinjet?’ They mentally asked themselves, a bit forgetting that Wanda can hear other people’s thoughts or read minds. 

‘Don’t worry. Hopefully, this mission will be quick and we’re all just gonna chill in the living room.’ Wanda replied to her thoughts. The two of them gave each other a smile. 

“About the vacation-” Pietro suddenly mentioned. Tony groaned while others broke out into laughter. “I’m serious!” He put his hands up the air in defense then laughs as well. “When will we schedule it? I do hope it’s-”

Tony cut him off, “Let’s all talk about it later. Right after this mission. Only IF everyone get’s out alive.” 

“Ha-ha, Mr. Billionaire,” [Y/N] said, then giving him a smug look. “Did you forget you literally have a human time machine right here? If anyone dies later, I could just rewind and POOF! We’re all safe and sound.”

“We’re all gonna go back to the tower alive and in one piece.” Natasha stated. 

Bucky joined in, “Don’t be such a jinxter, Tony.”

The rest of the ride was either just goofing around, giving each other snarky comments, or Steve trying to stop them because they have a mission to focus on. 

∿

Everyone had arrived at the location where Hydra was doing experiments and planning evil plans. Everyone knows the drill and the mission already, sweep off Hydra guards in every floor, get information and stop the evil works. 

They’re all divided into 2 pairs per floor level. The Hydra building consists of 5 floors. Steve and Natasha on the first; Tony and Rhodey on the second; Thor and Bucky on the third; Pietro and Clint on the fourth; and Wanda and [Y/N] on the fifth floor. Sam volunteered to check the entire building perimeters outside because he wants to have a “bird’s eye view”. 

Meanwhile, Vision is just helping everyone by phasing through the floors back and forth. Then, Bruce is just at the Quinjet, waiting for everyone just in case they need the Hulk for later. Well, he mostly prefers to be there, he has some science stuff to finish anyways. 

After 10 minutes of taking down Hydra guards and agents, they’re all almost done checking every room for any useful information or stuff. Wanda and [Y/N] decided to split in order to finish looking into every room as soon as possible. 

[Y/N] had organized a movie night later and they want this mission to end so that they can start relaxing and hanging out.  [Y/N] doesn’t have that much powers except for some enhanced agility, fast reflexes and reversing time. Although, some may confuse her reversing time powers for time travelling, both are very much different from each other. 

They are about to check the last room, already assuming it’s the main room of the building due to how wide the doors are. 

“Going in the last room now.” [Y/N] said as everyone had been communicating through the earpiece. “Might need backup, just in case.”

Pietro said, “We’re coming to your floor now.” 

“Steve and I will catch up, there’s too many stairs.” 

[Y/N] tried to break-open the big doors but was immediately cut off when Wanda effortlessly opened it with a swish of her hands. “Thanks.” 

They both walked inside the room. An uneasy feeling appeared as their stomach gets twisted. Something doesn’t feel right. 

Wanda was examining the other side of the room while  [Y/N] ran towards the center as there is a note that was placed on the table. 

They picked it up and read it out loud, “Dear Avengers, if you are reading this. You have perfectly walked into Hydra’s best trap. Tick, tick, tick. Time is running. Goodbye forever.” This immediately caught everyone’s attention. 

[Y/N] was about to make a joke about the note on how amateur the note is. Like, Hydra doesn’t write those kind of notes but [Y/N] is guessing they hired a newbie to write that note. Luckily, they think it is not the best time to joke around when the building could blow up any minute now. 

[Y/N]’s eyes quickly glanced the item that was beside the note and then their eyes widened. “WE HAVE TO GO NOW!” 

It was a bomb. With only 10 seconds left until it explodes and destroys the entire building. They are pretty sure Hydra planted more around the area but wasn’t sure if there are more. 

Wanda and [Y/N] swiftly tried to escape as Pietro appeared in front of them, ready to get everyone out safely before the bomb goes out. 

They were all panicking and hurrying to get outside the building as soon as possible. 

5...

“SHIT. SHIT. EVERYONE OUT.” 

4...

3...

Pietro was about to grab Wanda and  [Y/N] first until a random Hydra agent appeared out of nowhere, pointing a gun towards them and shot Pietro at the shoulder. 

2...

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME-”

1...

The bomb went out and exploded, causing other hidden bombs around the building to slowly explode. It sounded like a loud shotgun that almost shattered  [Y/N] ‘s eardrum as they are the closest person to where the bomb is. 

They gave a quick glance of their left wrist watch to mentally note what time the bomb went out. This has been a thing for [Y/N] to take note of the time before and after using their rewinding time powers. 3:

“NOOO!” They shouted. They can feel themselves getting lifted up in the air as their hair levitates, getting ready for the entire body to be flown across the building floor. [Y/N] hurriedly pulled out their arms to rewind 15 minutes before it exploded. They chose 15 minutes because the Avengers have not yet arrived the Hydra area.

[Y/N] watched everything rewind but they stayed being lifted up in the air as they can still experience the exploded bomb effects. They watched their old self and Wanda examine the rooms and then slowly goes back to the staircase. 

With only rewinding back to 5 minutes, they can feel themselves gradually feel tired and drained as they can only usually go back in time seconds by seconds. 

But, they are determined to save their friends and family from Hydra’s unpredictable trap. Forcing themselves to go back 15 minutes. They can already feel blood coming out of their nose, this was the first time [Y/N] used their powers with great force. 

Finally, they were able to rewind 15 minutes before; thus, everything goes back to normal and they immediately gets thrown off across the floor. [Y/N] groaned. 

Not wanting to move for a while due to the pain of getting thrown to the ground and also because of the immense headache they are currently experiencing, they stayed lying on the floor for a short while. [Y/N] doesn't like how they have side effects of using the powers too much.

Now, they’re regretting they shouldn’t have used their powers hours ago. They used it to rewind several seconds out of pure boredom, and now they are facing the consequences of it. 

Feeling heavily drained, they casually lifted up their left arm to check what time it is in their wrist watch. 3:03 PM. They all left the Tower around 2:40 PM, it was around 20 minutes of traveling from the Avengers Tower to the Hydra base that was located. 

‘They should be arriving anytime soon.’  [Y/N] told themselves mentally. After resting their body on the floor for a few minutes, they managed to gain some remaining energy to stand up and walk towards the big room to diffuse the bomb.

Once they reached the main room, they grabbed unto the table for some support in case they accidentally stumble or fall.

[Y/N] stared at the ticking bomb. They have 12 minutes left until it explodes.

"What the fuck?" They muttered under their breathe. This is not a normal bomb. It's in Russian and the usual colors of green and red were replaced by pink and purple. What are they supposed to do now?

If only Natasha or Tony or Vision is here, then at least one of them can help diffuse the bomb.

[Y/N] limped around the room, looking for any sharp objects that could cut the wires. They can just rewind again if they accidentally cuts the wrong one. Well, if they can still rewind back in time.

“Fuck.” They cursed under their breath. Hydra is actually smart enough to make sure there’s no sharp objects around the room for the wires to get cut.  [Y/N] then searched around her suit pockets in case they actually hid a cutter or a small knife somewhere. 

Nothing. They groaned and carefully walked out of the room to find anything small or sharp in the hallways. Their eyes immediately saw the window and they smiled. They can just shoot or destroy the window and a shard of glass would be fine.

Forgetting that there are Hydra agents in the hallway, they all noticed them and went to shoot them.  Before [Y/N] swiftly moved their hand, they counted how many Hydra agents were in the floor. 

There are 5 agents. After [Y/N] rewinded time, they found themselves back in the room. Pulling out their gun again, they went to count how many bullets they have. 6 bullets. 

‘I better not miss then.’  

[Y/N] counted until 5 before they opened the door and shot all the Hydra agents carefully yet precisely. All the Hydra agents dropped dead on the floor, so much to [Y/N]'s dismay. [Y/N] never wanted to kill anyone, even if they're Hydra agents but they have no other choice as of the moment. 

They aimed at the window and shot it, causing it to break. They limped towards it to grab a shard of glass. Not wanting to waste any more time, they tired to ignore the pain in their body as they sped up.

∿

Meanwhile, the Avengers are gearing up in the quinjet as they are almost near the Hydra base. Some were still joking around and throwing comments about their vacation until Wanda swiftly scanned the room.

“Where’s [Y/N]?” Wanda asked. Everyone stopped talking. They stared at the seat of the quinjet that [Y/N] was seating on just a while ago. 

Natasha came into a realization ang gasped. “Something went wrong with this mission, [Y/N] rewinded.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” Tony muttered as he went to the pilot’s seat and sped up the quinjet. 

This wasn't the first time that [Y/N] rewinded back in time during a mission, Natasha knew it her all too well.

They have arrived earlier than expected in the Hydra base. The Quinjet was about to land on the ground until a window from the very top of the building smashed which caught the Avenger’s attention. The moment they landed, Sam and Vision were the first to go out of the Quinjet, immediately going inside the building through the smashed broken window. Pietro swiftly went inside the building too. 

The three of them went inside the room to see [Y/N] destroy a wire until it suddenly set off.  [Y/N] turned back to look at them and their eyes widened, quickly pulled out their hand to rewind again. 

∿

Okay, maybe the purple wire isn’t the correct one to diffuse. 'I'll try the other one.' They immediately cut off the pink one and it still exploded. Mentally groaning, they rewinded back in time for the last time.

They give up. The bomb sets off either way. And even if they want to go out of the building, they have no energy. Too tired from using her powers, too tired from the aftermath of using her powers, too tired from fighting. Too tired from everything.

[Y/N] walks towards the nearest wall and slid down, resting. They'll just hope the Avengers gets in here in time so that they can save her.

"Yeah. They'll come. Don't worry, [Y/N]." They tried to comfort themselves. There's only 3 minutes left until it sets off. Mentally pleading the Universe that the Avengers will appear to save them.

They started to sing Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon. It may sound cliché or weird but for them, singing this specific song soothes them whenever they feel alone or scared. [Y/N] feels like it helps lighten the mood.

Other than that, it's also one of the Avengers favorite songs. So, whenever the song play, [Y/N] was immediately reminded of the Avengers and they just imagine their usual reactions: random dancing around the room or unsynchronized and out of tune singing.

[Y/N] cracked a smile and closed her eyes, still singing Can't Fight This Feeling but their voice was low and raspy. "'Cause I feel so secure when we're together."

"You give my life direction. You make everything so clear."

Suddenly they heard their earpiece let out a static noises until it became clear and silent. They continued to sing lazily, "And even as I wander. I'm keeping you in sight."

"You're the candle in the window." They suddenly heard Pietro sing. Their eyes opened up as their eyes perked as if they had regained energies but they're still low battery.

"Pietro-"

Bucky joined in the singing, "On a cold, dark winter's night."

Wanda and Natasha chimed in, "And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might."

And soon, the others joined in, creating a not-so-perfect harmony but it still gives [Y/N] happiness, "And I can't fight this feeling anymore!" 

Abruptly, Sam turned on the music and played the song but they all stopped singing as to let the song play. 

“You guys came.” 

“Of course we came Max Caulfield.” Tony remarked.

Wanda said, “We quickly noticed you used your time powers again the moment we saw that you were not in the Quinjet.”  

“We’re about to reach the perimeter, now-”

“DON’T!” [Y/N] suddenly screamed, then regretting it since it just took away another energy. “It’s a trap. Hydra, I...I tried so many times already but it’s still the same outcome. Just, please...hurry. I’m scared.”

10 seconds left. "You know, Hawaii sounds like a good place for a vacation."

"We're about to land, now just hold on, [Y/N]. We're coming for you, pumpkin." Clint said as [Y/N] started to tear up. It was a random habit of Clint to call them pumpkin, [Y/N] likes to think of him as one of their fatherly figures.

5 seconds left.

“I have scanned the premises. [Y/N] is in the top floor building.” Vision stated and immediately phased out of the Quinjet and flew towards the building. 

They have landed and quickly opened the door and scattered. Wanda used her powers for her to easily reach the top floor just like Vision did. 

“I love you guys.” 

Everyone halted as the building exploded. Their ears rang, some took cover as there would be flying debris or ashes coming towards them. Those who were near the building got thrown away as well. 

Wanda landed on her back and coughed. She horridly stared at the building that her best friend was in, tears forming in her eyes. 

Natasha ran up to Wanda’s side to help her up. 

Wanda croaked, “We’re too late.” 

∿

The Avengers just felt numbness and sadness for 6 months straight. Although some of them may not admit it, it was very well shown through their actions and how they cope.

The death really did a big impact in their lives. Especially when they're close with [Y/N]. [Y/N] was the only teen in the team that gives so much energy, life and mischief to their everyday lives.

But, now that they're gone. It seems like the light has been turned off and the energy in the compound is not the same anymore.

It's dull and quiet and no life.

Denial.

It was the first stage of grief. The death was unexpected and so sudden, it was a shock to everyone. They deny the death of the youngest Avenger. There are times one would roam the Tower and they can still feel the presence of [Y/N]. 

She had brought a lot of life, chaos, and happiness to the Tower that the Avengers enjoys very much. 

The Avengers grieved together and then on their own. 3 weeks after the death, they held a funeral for [Y/N]. After the funeral, they all went back to the Avengers Tower in silence. They all sat down in the main lounge, comforting each other with one’s presence. 

At first, it was silence. Slowly, they just randomly reminisce the memories they have with [Y/N] as if they didn’t die. It was denial once again. The Avengers cannot acknowledge the fact that [Y/N] had died, even though they just held a funeral for them hours ago.

Most of them acts like nothing happened. There would be a time where their day will continue as it normally would and they all act like as if [Y/N] is still alive.

Wanda would then be the number one person to pretend everything is fine and nothing ever happened. One specific time, Natasha passed by [Y/N]'s room and would hear Wanda talking as if she was actually talking to [Y/N].

Anger.

Oh boy, this one was the most chaotic stage that the Avengers had gone through. The Avengers did not handle this one very well. One line mistake and the entire room would be filled with angry shouts, comeback, sarcastic comments, and etc.

Small arguments and fights exists even before  [Y/N] ‘s death. Though, it was a friendly argument and everyone would resolve it easily. But this one is different. Their arguments would last for days causing one or the other to not talk for a long time. Usually when things like this happen,  [Y/N] would be the person to make peace. 

There was a time where Steve suggested that resuming training sessions as a team would help lessen the grieving process, but boy he was wrong. The Avengers would just randomly let our their anger out of nowhere during training session, thus will cause an argument. 

Anger is Hulk’s best friend. If Hulk’s anger is the worst, then you should be prepared when it comes to Hulk being angry about the death of his friend. Despite Hulk not liking most people,  [Y/N] was one of the few people that Hulk actually likes besides Natasha. He thinks of her as a friend and a cool tiny human. 

Everyone in the team seem to almost forgot about Bruce’s Hulk. So whenever they create a fight and Bruce gets to be a part of it, they are all doomed. Hulk was brought out and destroyed the entire floor. Thanks to Wanda, he was calmed down and prevented him from going out and wreck the city. 

Bargaining.

Wanda locked herself in her room for 2 weeks straight, blaming herself and pondering about all the things she could've done using her powers to save her best friend.

Some of the Avengers grief process of bargaining was mixed up together with anger. It was not a very good match. Especially when it comes to Tony and Steve.

A simple conversation can start with coffee and end up with blaming each other and going after each other's throats.

Depression.

Vision felt like it was a need for everyone to be left one or at least talk to someone, which is a therapist. Though, one time Bucky kept ignoring his therapist's calls and messages. It may feel like such a bore or a stupid idea for others, but they all kept going to therapy sessions. It helps ease the pain.

Months after [Y/N]'s death is still painful, especially when others decided to leave the Tower and go back to their usual lives, either drowning in work or spending time with their family to somehow forget the pain they are feeling.

Thor and Loki went off-world and back to Asgard. They just simply couldn't bear the haunted memories around the Avengers Tower and New York.

Clint returned to his family in the barn, but would occasionally be visited by Natasha.

At last, acceptance. The last and foremost stage of grief that was never overcome by the Avengers. They were all stuck at a loop beginning from denial to depression and again and again and again.

Wanda indulged herself in cooking as frequently as possible but would also lock herself in her room again.

Pietro still haven't pulled pranks in a long time and he's always out and would just return at night. stopped pulling pranks around the tower.

Tony and Bruce continues overworked themselves in the lab; Steve would often get caught looking at the photos and going to museums. Natasha indulged would with more missions and returned back to Ohio to spend time with her family.

Sam offered Bucky to come with him back to his hometown and Bucky went along with him. Rhodey went back to serving the military; while Vision felt sadness too, he made sure to comfort the others as he knows how this affected everyone very much. 

Some months after ignoring each other, they all decided to get back together and being away from one another actually gives more sorrow. The Avengers decided to heal together even though the wound may still be fresh. Healing takes time and a part of them knows that [Y/N] wouldn’t want them to mope around like this. 

As much as they want to reach the stage of acceptance, they can't. The wound is still fresh. It will take a long time to stitch it up.

6 months had passed. Still no progress. It is still very difficult to move on. But when Tony saw a video of Spiderman in YouTube, he decided that recruiting a new Avenger the same age as [Y/N] would help heal the pain and distract them from it. Plus, he thinks the kid has potential. 

Before tracking down where Spider-Man lives, Tony told everyone about it. However, some disagrees with this idea. 

“And how old again is this Peter Parker person?” Sam asked. 

“15.”

“You can’t be that serious, Tony. This Spider-guy is just a kid.” Steve argued.

“Oh yeah? And so was [Y/N].” Tony snapped back. "Come on, we need to give this kid a chance. Plus, they'd love to have them around."

Sam smiled. "They'd probably do. They're the same age, if they were here...they'd be best friends and partners in crime. I know it."

"This just sounds like we're replacing [Y/N]." Wanda said out loud, tears forming in her eyes. "It's just been months, it's way too early to replace her just like that, Stark."

Stark. Tony's face fell. It hasn't been a long time since Wanda called him by his last name. Well, at first they were on a last name basis until they all became close friends and decided to get rid of the last name basis and change to first name basis.

Tony replied, "No one is replacing [Y/N]. She's practically irreplaceable."

“Well, it feels like you are.” Wanda said with hurt in her voice as she stands up and leaves the room. 

Pietro stands up as well and turns to Tony, “You are right --  [Y/N] is irreplaceable. But, I agree with my sister.” With that, he speeds out of the room, possibly to go after his twin.

Tony sighs. He looks around at everyone again, waiting for their replies. “Come on guys, give this kid a chance. All those in favor?” He raises his own arm.

Natasha slowly raises her hands, then Sam, then Rhodey. 4 out of 12 agrees. 

“If I may,” Vision speaks up. Everyone’s attention shifted to him. “I understand that we are still in the process of grieving, and this act of letting in another teenager in the team unsettles most of us. But, I believe that we shouldn’t be consumed by our grief and continue on closing the door on anyone that may seem like a replacement for her.” 

He continues, “This Peter Parker is not a replacement, no one could ever replace our beloved [Y/N]. But I think we should give this boy a chance. We all have abilities, skills, and powers that serves for the purpose of goodness and helping mankind. This kid seems to be on the same path as us. And so does,  [Y/N]. I think we should give him a chance because we all know that they would too.”

Everyone was silent for now, contemplating on what Vision had just said. 

They all looked at each other, eyes communicating as they finally decided. 

“Okay,” Steve breaks the silence, speaking for everyone. “Let’s give this kid a chance.”

Tony grinned slightly, clasping his hands together. “I promise, you won’t regret this.”

∿

Author’s Note:

This has been on my drafts since 2021 and I finally decided to finish writing this. The remaining last part of this fic was finished by me now, but the rest were written by 15-year-old me, 4 years ago. So I’d like to apologize how badly written the death and the stages of grief was. Anyway, consider this as my somewhat comeback in writing fanfics since I haven’t been writing in so long. 

[imtryingbuck]

Saving Sergeant Barnes

~ gif not mine credit to owner ~

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: she’s trapped just like the winter soldier, she tries to get him out and safe.

Word count: 6,981

Warnings: angst. fluff. swearing. slight domestic abuse. nicknames (bear - Bucky & dove - reader). don’t follow the films.

Masterlist

The only sounds made were from her heels as she walked down the empty dark grey walled corridor, the walls were once white though over time they became darker from years of neglect.

Like most things in this place.

Navigating through the hallways became easier now that she had been doing it for ten years, day in day out. Her father laughed at the fifteen year old after she had gotten lost and had a panic attack because she couldn’t find where she needed to be.

Straightening her white jacket drawing in a deep breath before slowly exhaling she turned the corner coming face to face with four agents standing guard. They stepped aside, one opening the door for her. Her stomach churned at seeing all of the agents with their guns pointed at the man in the chair.

“But I knew him” the man famously known in the base as the Winter Soldier said.

“Prep him-“

“Sir-“

“I told you to prep him Y/n. Do not make me tell you again”

“B-but he’s been out of-“

“Y/n, do as he says” Rumlow mumbled under his breath.

Stepping forward slowly she walked over to the man telling him to lay back watching as he did, she hated this part. No matter how many times she was forced to do it. “I’m sorry” she whispered before flicking on the switch, pressing a few buttons. Flinching as his screams rang out in the room, flinching even more when she felt an arm wrap around her waist tugging her backwards.

“You did a good job baby” the voice murmured into her ear.

She was ordered to turn the machine off and follow the agents as they dragged the Winter Soldier to his cell. Keeping her head down she followed behind them. Sighing, closing her eyes as the agents dropped the man carelessly on the dirty cold ground, shutting the cell door behind the two agents who she couldn’t remember the names of she turned her attention back to the man on the ground.

“I-I’m s-so sorry, I h-hate hurting you”

“W-wh-who are you?”

“I’m Y/n. I promise I’m not going to hurt you anymore”

“D-Dove?”

Choking back the sob at the nickname he had given her five years prior she nodded with a small smile. “T-the man on the bridge? Do you know-“

“Blond”

“He was blond?”

Nodding he looked around the room as if he was trying to find something but she couldn’t figure out what as his room was bare apart from a stained ripped mattress and a toilet that was dirty in the corner.

“D-do you remember him?”

Nodding again his eyes bounced around more quicker, the blue of his eyes turning dark with unshed tears. “D-Dove?”

“I’m here”

“I-I-I’m scared”

“I k-know Bear-“

“Bucky”

“What?”

“T-the man on the bridge? Said Bucky”

“Do-do you think that’s your name?” 

“I-I don’t know Dove”

“That’s o-okay. Bear what are you looking for?”

“I-I don’t know” sighing he looked up at her, a small shy smile on his lips he shrugged “h-he had a shield”

“A shield?”

“I-it was red a-and silver l-like my arm and blue”

She knew who exactly who he was talking about. Captain America a man who should have died when he crashed the plane into the icy water of North Atlantic. When she heard that he had finally been found after over sixty years she couldn’t take her eyes away from the tv screen as the news broke.

Nodding slowly she knew she had to do some research in hopes to understand how Captain America knew the broken man in front of her. “I-I’m going to help you Bear, I promise. Just hold on for a little longer for me okay?”

“O-okay. I tr-trust you Dove”

Y/n knew she had to be careful, be smart about how she was going to get Hydras best Asset out of the base. She knew that she couldn’t draw attention to herself.

Though that was easier said than done.

“I’ll see you soon Bear, behave and you won’t get hurt okay”

“Dove-Dove don’t leave me pl-please” his whimpered whisper broke her heart.

“I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep, I promise” he nods and crawls on to the broken mattress, her heart breaks at seeing the six foot super soldier trying to make himself small by curling up, trying to pull his knees closer to his chest.

Moving towards him she ran her fingers through his greasy hair, scratching his scalp lightly she watched as his eyes began fluttering closed.

“I promise I’ll get you out. I promise”.

“Y/n you’re late.”

“Sorry father”

Sitting down she kept her head down as her father continued talking to the man on her left, her stomach flipped when she felt his hand on her thigh. Over the past four years she’s perfected acting as if the touch of the mans hands touching her didn’t affect her, even if she wanted to be sick.

Her father sat at the head of the dining table, he was laughing about something that Nick Fury had said in a meeting. Alexander Pierce was smug about being able to infiltrate SHIELD, them unknowingly helping Hydra.

Growing up with Pierce being her father was a truly an unfortunate fate. He was incredible at playing the doting, caring father around others but behind closed doors he was cold, vicious. When Y/n was younger she swore she would get whiplash from his behaviour, never truly knowing what was happening, one minute he was so loving in front of others even in front of other members of Hydra but the moment they were alone he didn’t want anything to do with her.

For years she couldn’t understand what was wrong with her. For years she always wanted her father’s approval. For years she wished her mum was still alive.

Four and a half years ago Pierce went into the west wing of the mansion that was Y/ns part of the home disturbing her peace, telling her that she was going to be getting married. Leaving no room for argument. Three weeks later she was getting married to the man now on her left.

Brock Rumlow.

No one battered an eye at the fact that he was nearly twenty years older than her. No one cared that Y/n cried throughout the whole ceremony. No one cared enough to ask her if she was okay as she sat there in a tight dress looking visibly uncomfortable.

Y/n couldn’t complain too much as Brock was almost never home, always busy with god knows what or with who. Luckily for her when he was home he tend to leave her be, the only time she couldn’t escape him was a night in bed.

“-Y/n are you even listening? Rumlow sort your wife out.” Her father’s voice pulled her out of the void she was falling into. Pierce always seemed to address her as ‘Rumlows wife’ never as his daughter, something that she had become accustomed to in the four and half years she was forced to marry Brock.

“Baby, it’s important that you listen-” Brock tries before Pierce interrupts him, telling him that he needs to be firmer in controlling his wife. Y/n took a deep breath exhaling just as Brock’s hand comes into contact with her cheek. Again, Pierce instructed him and of course he listens.

“Good. Now where was we? Oh yeah, Soldat needs to be wiped aga-“

“Father we can’t. We do-“

“Brock.” Is all he says, and she knows what’s coming. Deep breath in, slowly exhaling. Three times, after each hit.

“We are wiping the asset again Y/n-“

“B-but if you do he will die a-an-and then we won’t have the deadliest assassin in the world doing our bidding” god she hated saying we and our, she wanted no part of Hydra, she despised them with every fibre of her being. But she knew in order not to be hit again she needed to seem like she was happy to be a part of the organisation. Act as if her throat wasn’t closing up to keep the bile down.

“Brock-“

“Sir she has a point, we can’t afford to lose him right now”

Sitting silently for the longest thirty seconds of her life Pierce nodded “Very well. But the moment he starts acting out he’s going straight in the chair” Begrudgingly nodding Y/n kept her head down as she pushed her food around the plate blanking out the rest of the conversation that her father and Brock was having.

Not long after dinner Y/n was left alone with Brock after he led her up the stairs to their part of the home, keeping his hand on her back the moment the door closed Brock gripped her face gently in his hands gazing on the damage he had done to her cheek during dinner.

“Baby… baby I’m so sorry”

“It’s okay”

“No it’s not baby, I’m sorry but you know I had no choice, you know how your father is”

Keeping quiet she nodded lightly, her finger twisting around her diamond ring. This always happened, Pierce would order Brock to hurt her and then once they were alone Brock would apologise.

The only problem with him apologising is that it didn’t just stop at him verbally saying it. No. No to Brock he had to make up for what he did by being on top of her, both naked.

And that night was no different.

Closing her eyes she saw the bright blue eyes belonging to her Bear.

The Winter Solider was back out on a mission so therefore she didn’t need to be in the base, and since everyone else was busy it meant that she could use the computer freely, as long as she made sure she deleted the history. Otherwise she’d be in trouble. Something she definitely didn’t want to happen again.

Typing in Captain America she found out a lot about him, how he went from a skinny, ill guy to the bulky super soldier that somehow managed to survive sixty plus years by being frozen. She learned about his best friend that he had lost whilst they were on a mission during World War Two. Seeing the photo of them both her heart stilled at seeing Bear. Though he looked younger, cleaner despite he was in the middle of a war, short haired. Even though the photo was in black and white she knew it was him by his eyes.

Maybe if she had Captain Americas help she could get Bear to safety, she thought to herself as she paced around her bedroom. Bear-James Buchanan Barnes she found out, said that Steve called him Bucky which obviously meant that the other super solider remembered Bear.

He was bound to help. Surely. Hopefully.

Now the only problem was how was she going to get to New York without being seen or caught by her father, Brock or the rest of Hydra.

Two weeks after finding out the real identity of the man she affectionately named Bear, two agents came into her office to get her informing her that the asset was misbehaving. Running into his cell she sees Brock using the electric shock rod on Bear-James. “Brock stop! Stop it. I c-can talk him down”

“Do it then otherwise I’m telling Pierce”

“You all need to leave-“

“No. No I’m not leaving you in here with him”

“He won’t hurt me. I promise”

Brock’s eyes went to the solider back to her and huffed knowing what she was saying true, their asset for some reason never showed any violence towards her. And honestly that pissed him off. He wished just once the asset would harm her so he could step him and save her, maybe that would make her love him. “Fine. But we’ll be outside”

“O-okay” sighing a breath of air once the door was closed behind Brock she moved quickly to James pulling him into her arms “it’s okay now I’m he-“

“Y-y-you pr-promised”

“I know-“

“You promised they wo-wouldn’t hurt me if I-I behave a-and I was I swear”

“Oh, oh Bear-“

“It’s Bucky. My names Bucky”

“You remember?”

“Ye-yes. I had to fight Captain America an-and he knows me Dove. How does he know me?”

“From a long time ago Bucky-“

“Bear”

“What?”

“You call me Bear”

“Okay. Okay you knew him a long time ago Bear and-“

“Times up Y/n. He needs to go back in the chair” Brock said interrupting her. His brown eyes focusing on her hands holding his, feeling disgusted at the fact that she could happily touch a monster but not him. In their four and half years of marriage he had only held her hand once and that was at a charity event that Hydra was hosting, the second people turned their attention to Pierce she pulled her hand away from his.

“N-no you promised you wouldn’t tell him”

“I didn’t. He wants it done so move aside”

“It-it will kill him Brock and you know this”

“Move Y/n”

When she didn’t move away like he told her to do he stomped over grabbing her by her arm in a painful grip pulling her up, pointing his gun at Bucky when he moves closer to Y/n. She knew if Bucky/the winter soldier sensed she was in pain it was going to be game over for all eleven agents cramming themselves into his cell.

Knowing if she complies with Brock it wouldn’t end in a bloodbath, standing up she tells Bucky to stand down and to comply. Even if she hated what was to come she couldn’t let him be killed because she wouldn’t listen.

Both of them were walked down to the room where the scientist where getting the chair ready. Brock whispered ‘I’m sorry’ in her ear, thinking it was because of how he grabbed her arm she just nodded.

“What’s going on?” She whispered as soon as they reached the room.

“I told you. I’m sorry” Brock says, his eyes finding the ground more interesting.

Inside the room was the chair that she would be made to order Bucky to sit in and to turn on, the same chair that made him release the most gut wrenching scream that haunts her nightmares every night. She had seen it so many times she had lost count, what she hadn’t seen before was the chair next to it.

It looked exactly the same on its right. But newer, free from the scratch marks from Bucky’s nails. Free from the pain it was a part of.

The door came open and in walked Pierce fixing his suit jacket smiling at Y/n. A swivel chair was pushed forward by an agent, Pierce thanked him and sat down. It was that one word that she knew something was wrong. It was him saying ‘thanks’ to an agent that makes her realise that something was very wrong. Pierce never said thanks or please to anyone, let alone to an agent.

Pierce looked at Rollings who had Bucky by the arm, then moved his gaze towards Y/n. Rollings pushed Bucky forward towards the chair, ordering him to sit. Bucky’s eyes went straight to Y/n silently asking if he should, he doesn’t move until she nods at him.

“You know. You know what I hate the most about you Y/n? It’s that you never seem to want to follow in my footsteps. I have done everything for you since your mother met a very painful ending, oh shit yeah I never told you how she died did I? Well it’s quite funny actually, you see the bitch was trying to leave, trying to escape from me. ME! The one who gave the ungrateful cow everything I had, she was trying to leave with you so I… do you want to guess what I did? Answer me, do you want to know?”

“W-what did-“

“I ordered your Bear to kill her. You was five? No six? Yeah you was six and I made you watch as your precious Bear kill your mummy. He crushed her windpipe and well… he kind of got carried away, how you ask? He bashed her skull in. You were crying so much that you puked up.”

“S-Sir-“ Brock weakly attempts. He had never knew of how Y/n’s mum had died, hearing it and hearing his wife’s muffled sobs caused him to say something.

“What Rumlow? It’s true. It’s about time she wakes up and realises that her Bear isn’t good, he took her mummy away” Pierce snaps back, his tone mocking towards the end of his sentence. “Anyway. You need punishing so, Brock strap your wife into the only available chair”

“N-n-no plea-Dad! Please-“ her pleads fell on deaf ears as Pierce just stared at her showing no emotion or remorse for what he was going to do. Strapped in the chair she looked over at Bucky seeing his chest rise and fall in quick succession “Bear it-it’s okay. Calm down”

“Rumlow your wife keeps making a fool out of you. Shame really. Now let’s get this over and done with, I have a meeting with Fury”

Her eyes stayed on Bucky’s, even when the metal pads came down and he was forced to look ahead, her eyes never left his face. Her heart rate skyrocketing as it was her turn to stare ahead. Bucky chose to stare at the ceiling whilst she stared at her father.

With the blood roaring loudly and painfully in her ears she didn’t register the scientist counting down from ten - just like Pierce had told them too. She didn’t flinch at hearing Bucky’s screams as they filled the room.

The loud noise of the machine pierced through the roaring. Her eyes scrunched closed. Her throat almost felt like it was being ripped out as she released a deafening scream.

Everybody flinched. Even Pierce.

Once it was over she started coughing violently as blood poured out of her mouth. She locked eyes with Pierce before her vision blurred and everything turned black.

After slowly gaining consciousness she awoke in the arms of Brock, he spent several minutes running his fingers through her hair, apologising for not stopping Pierce. Playing the dotting husband by helping her stand and staying by her side until she could stand up on her own.

Brock knew it, Y/n knew it, everyone around them knew that she did not love him. He was actually surprised that she hadn’t tried to kill him in his sleep or “accidentally” push him down the stairs. Hell she had the chance, many times throughout their marriage. Brock tried to convince himself that she would eventually come around to the idea of them being together, finally feel the same for him as he did for her though he knew it was wishful thinking.

At first he was against marrying her but over the course of their marriage he had grown to fall in love with her. Only once did he stray from their marriage and to say he was a heartless man when it came to his job he felt truly guilty for what he had done, for weeks he didn’t touch her and whilst he missed her touch he knew she was happier throughout that time.

A month had gone by since Y/n had her mind wiped and in that month Brock had to admit he hated the new Y/n. She was more distant than before, she flinched every time he touched her, she never made eye contact with him. She had gone back to being how she was when they first got married.

“I’m going to New York in two days, would you like to come with me?” He asked one night as they sat down to eat dinner.

“Oh o-okay” Once again Brock was left disappointed by her head casted downwards and her hands twisting together.

He didn’t realise that by mentioning New York it brought back the memories of Bucky, her plan of saving him, she needed to find Steve. Her eyes moved around the table as the memories came flashing back.

Two days later they were in New York, Y/n was happy that Brock wasn’t around so she could create a plan on how to get to Steve. She couldn’t risk being seeing with him in public, going to SHIELDS headquarters were definitely out of the question.

And she hadn’t heard about Bucky or the asset as they called him. She didn’t even know where or how he was. In that month that has passed after her father had her memory wiped she hadn’t even seen Pierce let alone talked to him. Brock made no comments about Bucky either.

On the fourth day of arriving in New York Y/n decided to take a walk after finally being able to pull her aching eyes away from the laptop screen. After putting on her shoes and coat she headed outside, as she walked around the corner she bumped into a body “Sorry, I’m so sorry”

“It’s okay ma’am, are you okay?” she looked up, her eyes going wide at the man in front of her. “Miss?”

“You-you’re Steve, Captain America…”

“See Steve, told you every woman wants you” the woman to his left chuckled.

“No, no it’s not like that. You know Bucky, don’t you?”

“H-how do you know?”

“Because I know him, he’s the Winter Solider-ow get your hand off me” she tries to pull her arm away from the red head as she drags her down an empty alleyway.

“How do you know him?” Steve asks with his hands on his hips.

“I-I work for Hydr-wait it’s not like that” She panics when Natasha reaches for something from the back of her. “I don’t agree or like what they do, I’m trying to get Bucky out of there b-but I don’t know how”

“Why do you work for them if you don’t like what they do?” Steve questions.

“I’ve been forced to, just help me get him away from them please, he’s a good guy I swear – he’s being made to do all the bad things that Hydra wants him to do.”

“Steve we can’t trust her, it could be a tra-“

“It’s not I swear!”

“We should take her to Sam’s and she can help us”

Half an hour later she was sat on the couch nervously bouncing her leg up and down as Steve, Natasha and Sam all stared at her waiting for her to begin, but the truth was she didn’t know where to start from. She knew that she couldn’t admit that Pierce was her father. She knew that she would eventually but she just wanted to delay that until Bucky was safe. Just as she went to open her mouth there was a knock at the door, Natasha went to answer as Steve sat there and mouthed ‘its okay’.

Her whole body stiffened as a man in a black leather trench coat walked in. “This her?”

“Yeah”

The man nodded and sat down in the chair, looking her up and down. “I’m-“

“Nick Fury, yes I know who you are. There is no need to try and intimidate me, I came here willingly.”

“Willingly?  So... how do you know about Sergeant Barnes?”

“I work for Hydra and I ha-have to press the button for the chair”

“What chair?”

“It wipes his memories, I don’t know how exactly but-“

“That’s why he didn’t recognise me, isn’t it?” Steve cut her off.

“Yes but he did when he got back to the base.”

“Where is this base?” Fury asks.

“In Siberia, it’s hard to find if you don’t know where to look.”

“You’ll take us there, yes?”

“No! No I can’t! Also Bucky isn’t there; I don’t know where he is”

“Why can’t-hold on” Fury’s phone began ringing so he stepped outside. When he got back inside he looked annoyed. “Who are you? And don’t try and bullshit me”

“I-I told you…”

“No. Who are you really?”

“I’m… my name is Y/n Rumlow, maiden name Pierce.” All four of them pull a face at hearing the name, she couldn’t fault them.

“So who are you then?”

“Pierce’s daughter, Rumlow’s wife. But I swear I’m not like them, I swear”.

“Wait, Alexander Pierce?” Fury asked.

“He’s the head of Hydra.” She whispered her eyes lowering as she sees Fury’s jaw clench.

“Why are you willing to help?” Steve asked after a moment of silence.

“Because I don’t agree with what they-“

“You already said that” Natasha cut her off.

“And it’s the truth, I don’t, I don’t like what they do or what they’ve done.” Picking at the skin around her nails a soft sigh falls from her lips. “I will give you any information you need to bring Hydra down but you have to help me get Bear, I mean Bucky out.”

“He’s here, in New York.” Fury informed. “I ran into him, I managed to get away.”

“Guys… you need to see this.” Sam said bringing their attention from Fury to the tv screen where the news was reporting an attack, Y/n jumping up off the sofa when she sees Bucky.

Minutes later they were climbing into Sam’s car minus Fury as he needed to be elsewhere, Y/n clung on to the door handle as Sam sped towards the chaos. Innocent people that were going about their everyday lives were now screaming whilst running in shear panic trying to get away from the heavy gunfire between the police and men dressed in all black.

“Stay in the car.” Steve ordered her, silencing her attempt to argue by giving her a deadly glare, nodding weakly with her bottom lip jutted out which resembled a child being scolded by their parents.

As she sat inside the car her heart ached at seeing the chaos that her father was behind, she kept an eye out for Bucky because she knew that he was most likely there, doing the bidding for Hydra. Just as she sees him pushing his way through the agents she sees a child, no older than ten, alone with tears streaming down his face, without thinking about the consequences of defying Steve’s order she jumps out of the car and runs over to the child. “You’re okay, I’ve got you, you’re safe.”

“M-my da-daddy, I-I can’t-“

“It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay, we’ll find him I promise.” Picking the child up she covers his face to spare him from seeing more than he already has, she goes to back towards the car, only to stop as something gets thrown through the window and the whole thing blows up. “I-I think I’m going to be sick.” She mutters, gripping the boy in her arms a little tighter. “Okay. Okay. Let’s not go that way.”

Further down the street she sees a police officer waving civilians towards safety, running closer she was about to hand the child over to the officer when a man starts desperately calling out a name. “D-daddy!”

“Is that him?” He nods whilst wiping away the fresh tears that had fallen. “Sir! Sir I have him, he’s safe.”

“Thank you! Thank you!” Y/n shakes her head and offers the man a small smile. Turning around she ran back towards the destruction, ignoring the yells coming from the police officer, she guided people towards safety as well as trying to find Bucky, Steve, Sam and Natasha.

“Y/n?” The blonds shield had just knocked a Hydra agent to the ground when he sees her standing behind the man now unconscious on the floor. “I told you to stay in the car!”

“It got blown up.”

“What?”

“The car, yeah? It got blown up.” Steve rolls his eyes at her as she mimics an explosion.

“Right… stay by my side at all times.”

“Can I have a gun?”

“Do you know how to shoot?”

“No, not really.”

“Then no.” Y/n huffed as she scrunched up her face at his response, Steve wanted to laugh and he would have if he wasn’t trying to protect her from the rain of bullets.

“Y/n?” Brock whispered when he sees her wrapped up in one of Steve’s arms whilst the other held his shield blocking the onslaught of bullets coming from Hydras guns. “Y/n! Fuck!” He yelled, his eyes wide and frantic as he looked around to find a way to get to her. “Make sure you don’t hit her!” He ordered the men, smiling when he laid eyes on the Winter Solider who was currently fighting with the Black Widow, his jaw clenching when he sees Y/n’s hand in Steve’s as they ran towards a car.

Hand in hand Steve practically dragged Y/n leading her towards a car. “Stay here!”

“I need-“

“To stay put!”

“No I need to get to Bucky!”

Steve sighed as his shield kept being hit with bullets. “We will get him later, I promise.”

Neither of them noticing the Winter Soldier throwing Natasha across the bonnet of a destroyed car, nor knowing that Brock had told Bucky to get Y/n away from Captain America because the hero was hurting his Dove. Before she could argue with Steve about leaving Bucky behind the man she was worried about appeared seemingly out of nowhere, grabbing Steve by his neck and throwing him to the ground then grabbing her arm and pulling her close to him.

“Bucky! Bucky stop!” She begged. “Please! You know him! He’s your friend!”

The blond gets up with a strained cough, his eyes were wide at once again coming face to face with the man he had called his best friend for so many years, the same man he thought had died when he fell off the train. Peggy had tried to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault that Bucky had died but he didn’t believe it or want to hear her words, because to him it was his fault, he shouldn’t have let Bucky or his unit go with him on that mission, it was his fault for not being fast enough to get to him when he was dangling outside of the train, it was his fault for not being strong enough to lift his best friend, his only friend, his brother, to safety.

Steve could hear Y/n frantically begging Bucky but he couldn’t make out what her words were, he was just standing there frozen as he desperately searched Bucky’s eyes in hopes that there was some part of his best friend still in there somewhere. He didn’t even realise that Bucky was pointing a gun at him until the brunettes arm went down, his heart stuttering when he sees Bucky dragging Y/n away. “Y/n!”

“It-it’s okay I’ll be fine!”

“Goddamit!”

The pain in her arm increased with each step she took as Bucky continued to drag her away from the destroyed street, away from Steve, she had no idea where he was taking her and she guessed that he didn’t even know where he was taking them both as he carried on dragging her down the train tracks. “Stop Soldat!” Her skin crawled at hearing her own voice. “That’s an order.”

“No.”

“No? Rude.” She whispered. “Please Bucky stop.”

“No!” He yelled, finally facing her. “No! He hurt you.”

“Who?”

“Captain America.”

“No he didn’t? He was trying to protect me.”

“That’s not what Rumlow said, he said that Captain America was hurting you, that I needed to protect you.”

“He was lying!” She flinched as his metal hand punched a door handle, then wincing at the loud squeak of the hinges as he pushed the door open. Inside the room was dark and empty aside from a desk and a chair that had definitely seen better days. “What are we doing here?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“We need to go back to Steve, he can help us.”

“Who’s Steve?”

“Captain America, his name is Steve, you know him.”

“Right.”

“Do you remember him?”

“I think so.” He shrugged. “I need to get you to Rumlow.”

“No you don’t, Bucky you can’t take me back to him.”

“If I don’t I will be punished.”

“You’ll be punished even if you take me back.” She quickly responded, closing the gap between them and putting her hands in his. “I promised you that I would get you away from Hydra and I will, I am, if only you come with me to find Steve, he’ll help you I’m sure of it.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

“He will, and if he doesn’t then we’ll go away, just me and you, and we’ll find somewhere safe, safe away from Hydra.”

Bucky stood there searching her eyes, finding nothing but honesty in them. “Just me and you?”

“Just me and you.” She repeated, a warm smile appears on her face as he nods slowly. “Now we just need to find a way to get to Steve.”

When it was dark enough outside the pair left the room and made their way on foot to the only place she could think of, Sam’s house. Y/n could feel the tension radiating off of Bucky the whole time they walked through the quiet streets, she could only give him a reassuring smile when they made eye contact. It was early hours in the morning when they showed up at Sam’s, giving the man to her left another reassuring smile, which looked more like a grimace, she looked up at the house that had all its lights off, she knocked on the door a few times.

Relief washed over her as the hallway light came on and Sam’s face came into view. “Y/n?”

“Is Steve here?” Hearing the door unlock she smiled softly at Sam when he opened the door, her eyes shifting to the blond standing behind him. “Can we come in?”

“We?” Steve frowned in confusion, his blue eyes widening as Bucky stepped into view. “Buck.”

“It’s okay.” She whispered to Bucky when she felt his hand grip the back of her jacket. “So, can we come in?”

Sam nodded whilst stepping aside to let the pair inside. “Yeah, yeah of course.”

Sam had gone to wake up Natasha as Y/n along with the two super soldiers stared at each other, the blond wanting to say something, anything, to get his friend to remember him whilst the brunette stood protectively in front of her, keeping an eye on the other man, silently daring him to try and hurt his Dove.

Natasha gave Y/n a nod and a slight squeeze on her hand, looking between the two super soliders and Sam. “What happens now?”

“We need to get him to Fury, he’ll know what to do.” Steve finally spoke. “Do you remember me?”

“Yes.” Bucky whispered, his metal hand forming into a fist then opening. “Your mum was called Sarah, and you use to put newspapers in your shoes.” He chuckled softly, Steve’s cheeks going red whilst Sam, Natasha and Y/n tried to hide their own amusement. “You was my best friend, my brother.”

Steve went to step forward but stopped when he saw Bucky flinch. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”

“It’s fine.” He muttered, Steve shook his head and was ready to argue that it wasn’t fine but Bucky spoke again. “Will Fury help?”

“Hopefully.”

An hour after Natasha rang Fury, the man showed up, at first Bucky refused to speak to him but after Y/n promised that everything will be okay, he told everyone what he knew, what he remembered, everything that he was made to do. By the time he was finished it was nearly nine in the morning.

“We need to bring Hydra down.” Fury stated the obvious. “Are you willing to give up your father and husband?” He asked Y/n.

“Yes.” Bucky squeezed her hand softly. “What’s going to happen to him?”

“If we can prove that he was actually brainwashed and that he was forced to do the things he’s done then maybe we can get him pardoned, maybe alright.”

Fury wanted to wait until nightfall for them to all head to SHIELDS headquarters, the less around the easier it will be he said as he got himself comfortable on the sofa with a packet of biscuits that he found in Sam’s cupboard. When Y/n tried to stifle a yawn, Steve noticed and told her to go to bed, Bucky tensed as his jaw, getting up and following her as she made her way towards the bedroom. “I’ll stand outside.”

“Why?”

“To protect you.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing. “Don’t argue with me.”

“But you don’t need to, Bucky.”

“I know but I want too. Get some sleep.”

The second her head hit the pillow she was out like a light, completely unaware of the conversation happening just outside the bedroom door.

“Buck.” The brunette frowned at the blond. “Are you- I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For everything.” Steve sighed, leaning against the wall opposite him. “I didn’t know, I thought you died.”

“It’s fine.”

“No it’s not. Nothing about this is fine and you know it.”

Bucky grinned. “Did you ever get the girl?”

“Which girl?”

“The Brit.”

“Peggy? No.” Steve smiled sadly. “No, never got her.”

“Sorry.”

“She got married, had two kids. She had an amazing life.” He shrugged, he wanted to pretend that it didn’t bother him because it did hurt finding out that the woman he was in love with had moved on but knowing that she found happiness brought him some comfort. “What about you and her?”

“Who, Dove?” Steve nodded. “She’s married to Rumlow.”

“Is she happy with him?”

A scoff with an eye roll from Bucky had Steve chuckling. “No she isn’t, she was forced to marry him.” Bucky remembers standing at the back of the small chapel and watching as tears streamed down Y/n’s pretty face. She had only perked up as the celebration went on around her when she laid eyes on him, a weak smile made its way onto her lips. He never had the heart to tell her that he was only there to stop her from running away. “Never seen a bride more miserable.”

“Does she love him?”

“No.” He might have been brainwashed and beaten into submission but he wasn’t blind, he could tell that there was no love on her end. “But Rumlow loves her.”

Steve nodded in understanding, smirking when an idea popped into his head. “When this is all over and you’re free you should ask her on a date.”

“Are you joking? She wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because she wouldn’t.” A soft sigh fell from his lips. “She deserves someone so much better than me.”

“Don’t-“

“Just leave it Steve.”

“Sorry.” Wiping his hands down his face, tiredness began to take over, he’d only been asleep for two hours when Y/n showed up. “Listen, I’m going to be by your side through all of this, I promise Buck.”

Before Bucky could respond Steve walked off leaving him to stand guard, even if they all knew it wasn’t necessary. A few hours later, Fury was telling everyone it was time to leave, Natasha stifling her laugh at Y/n’s hair all in a mess. Maria Hill had picked them up and drove them to the headquarters, everyone was silent as they got closer to the building.

Bucky grabbed ahold of Y/n’s hand as the car went into the underground garage.

The very next day all SHIELD agents had attacked the base in Siberia whilst Steve, Sam, Natasha and Fury went to Pierce’s home, arresting him and Rumlow.

For three weeks after that night Bucky and Y/n was separated for questioning, the latter being kept longer as she had more answers. She wasn’t shocked to hear from Fury that Pierce had tried to put the blame on her, telling the man with the eyepatch that she knew everything - when in truth, she really didn’t - but what did shock her was that Brock had defended her, and even denied that she had any part in the operation of Hydra, even going as far as telling Fury that she had never stepped foot inside the base, doing this not knowing that Y/n had confessed to her role in the organisation.

A week later the door to the room that Y/n had been confined to came open, Natasha smiled warmly at her and told her to follow. “Where am I going?”

“You’ll see.”

Nat smiled once more as she pushed the door open for Y/n, she frowned as she looked around the hanger, her eyes landing finally on Fury, Bucky, Steve and Sam. “Am I going to the Raft?”

“No. I’ve put in a good word for you, told them that you’ve willingly helped us and that thanks to you we’ve found more bases that we didn’t know existed.” Fury spoke. “I’ll see you soon.” He nodded at her as he walked past her.

The confusion was written all over her face as she asked. “What’s going on?”

Bucky walked up to her and gently grabbed her hands. “Have you ever heard of Wakanda?”

“I-I think so, why?”

“Well there’s a princess called Shuri there and she said she can deprogram me, get rid of the Winter Solider.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at hearing his words. “That’s- really? That’s amazing Bucky!”

“Yeah, yeah it is. I’m allowed to go there, to Wakanda, and Shuri is going to help me.”

“That’s… I’m glad Bucky, really.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Can-” looking at Steve who gives her an encouraging nod and smile. “Are you sure you want me there?” She asked Bucky.

“I don’t want to go without you, Dove.”

A huge smile on her lips had Bucky’s heart beating a little faster. “When do we leave?”

Tags: @imcinnamoons | @pigeonmama | @capsbestgirl77

[deadtired-highkeyenergetic]

First Mission

Sorry for the fic drought, both Marvel Rivals and Baldur's Gate 3 decided to update in the same period and I was working on my portfolio too. Plus it's the hols and I've been going out with friends. Anyways, here's more Bucky and Hunter content!

Summary: Your first mission with the Winter Soldier goes sideways, forging a bond that unbeknownst to either of you, will last a lifetime.

The information was incomplete. No, it was wrong. There was nothing in the brief about all these guards, nor was there anything about a bomb buried underneath the building that caused said building to come crashing down on you and the Asset.

"Shit," you cough as the dust settles, wincing as you try to move your left shoulder. One look told you it had been dislocated on top of the numerous deep gashes that were bleeding profusely, and you bite back a groan. There goes your favoured arm, useless in a fight unless you wanted to feel nothing but white hot pain. Glancing around, your keen eyes search for the Asset amidst the light grey rubble and your ears pick up unfamiliar footsteps.

Your powers activate instinctively, golden afterimages of a guard appearing on your left. The moment you deactivate your powers, you duck behind the wall next to you, picking up a loose piece of rubble. The weight is less than you'd like, but it'll serve its purpose. One throw is all it takes and the guard falls to the ground, crimson staining his temple.

The world starts spinning and your head throbs, reminding you of the blood you're losing and you grimace. Slicing the guard's clothes into strips of cloth with his knife, you bandage the deep gash in your thigh, then force yourself to walk and find the Asset. You need to know if he's still alive and confirm his condition, hopefully Hydra hasn't just lost one of their best assassins to wrong information. You'll kill whoever was in charge of gathering information for this mission, if you make it back.

Laboured breathing sounds from behind a pile of rubble and you move towards it, your nose twitching at the familiar scent laden with the heavy metallic tang of blood. The Asset is leaning heavily against the flat vertical surface, covered in blood and dust. His light blue eyes are unfocused and there's a worrying dark patch on his right side.

"Soldat," you rasp and his gaze flicks to your direction. You check him over, frowning when you realise how badly injured he is. Multiple lacerations and broken ribs. Fortunately, none of the injuries are lethal but you can see him slipping away.

"Stay with me, soldat," you hiss sharply and his eyes snap back open. He opens his mouth to speak but you quickly hush him, shaking your head. "Save your strength. Backup will be here soon."

You'd sent a quick message to base the moment you'd caught a whiff of the trap, moments before everything blew up and right now you were hoping Hydra had mobilised immediately after receiving your message. The Asset wasn't going to last long in his condition, and you weren't going to last that much longer either.

Slumping against the wall, you seat yourself next to him, keeping watch. You feel his gaze on you and turn back to look at him. His brown hair sticks to his face, glued there by his own blood and you can see panic start to set in his eyes. The adrenaline must have worn off, and you can hear the sound of his heartbeat quicken.

"It's alright, soldat. We will both survive, I promise." The words feel heavy on your tongue but you choose to believe them. You give his metal hand a squeeze, wondering if he can feel it and his fingers curl, intertwining with yours. You take it as a sign that he can feel it and give him a small smile.

"We are survivors, and we can't kill the bastard who gave us the wrong information if we're dead." You wonder if the thought of vengeance motivates him, sometimes he seems more machine than human, but it's probably the way Hydra made him to be, like how they made you to be both an heir and a weapon. Maybe they wanted a weapon that was both machine and human, able to follow orders but still able to think on the spot when things went wrong. Whatever it was they wanted from him, they had definitely gotten it or he wouldn't be here with you on this high priority mission. He probably wouldn't be alive either.

You see confusion in his eyes, then remember that not everyone has the authority to just kill whoever they want. You're one of the rare individuals who can, but there are still a few who outrank you. Still, you can just kill any member of Hydra minusing the ones who outrank you, no questions asked. Eyebrows would be raised, but more often than not you always had a good reason for it. Abusing this power would only weaken Hydra, and you weren't about to do that to the organisation that had taken you in as an orphaned child.

"They can't come after you if I gave the green light," you huff. "Don't worry about it, no one will question us."

Confusion changes to understanding, then to concern. He gestures towards your left shoulder and you snort, amused.

"I don't need both arms to kill them."

He gives a small shake of his head and gestures again. Then you realise what he's pointing at — the red dot that is moving towards your heart. Another red dot appears, this time settling over the Asset's chest.

"Down!" You pull him down, forcing your powers to kick in despite your body's protest. Time stops as your eyes turn golden and you quickly scan for the two snipers. One to the north and one to the south. Great. You can probably kill the one in the north, the knife next to you should do the trick, but the one in the south, that's the problem. You and the Asset are badly injured, running for cover isn't feasible. Maybe you could —

Pain floods your body and your powers deactivate, leaving you a woozy bloody mess. The Asset throws the knife with a surprising amount of strength and it hits its target just as he moves, shielding you with his own body. The sound of a rifle firing rings through the air and you concentrate, eyes turning golden as your nose bleeds and your head pounds.

You've been through worse, you can do this.

You see the bullet in the air. One chance. Let go when you're ready, just like you've practiced a million times before, except that this is going to decide whether you and the Asset live or die. In the past it's always only been your life on the line, this time there's his, and you aren't about to let him die after getting him to join your crusade against the one responsible for the wrong information.

You let go, using all the strength that remains in your body to move both yourself and the Asset out of the bullet's path. He grunts in surprise, wrapping his arms around you to stabilise himself and you both hit the floor, eliciting hisses of pain.

You can feel the stickiness of blood flowing from your nose, the myriad of colours that is a sure sign you're about to pass out when another gun fires, accompanied by the sound of a van.

"Kill the bastard." The Asset's voice is soft, laced with pain but your ears pick it up all the same. You attempt a smile, feeling your grip on him slacken as your body begins to shut down and he shakes you, lips moving to form words you can't quite make out as the darkness swallows you whole.

Ah, dammit.

When you next open your eyes, the sharp scent of chemicals stings your nose and you find yourself blinded by bright lights. Your whole body hurts, but after the ordeal you just endured you expect nothing less. Once your eyes have adjusted, you realise you're in a medical facility. Bandages have been wrapped around all your wounds, and your left shoulder doesn't feel dislocated anymore.

The Asset.

You move, forcing your body to leave the cot and nearly fall over in the attempt to take a step. Exhaling deeply, you slowly make your way to the door, only to get stopped by a medical staff who panics when they see you up and about.

"You're far from cleared to be moving around!" The doctor hastily ushers you back to your cot, no doubt afraid that his life is on the line should anything happen to you while you're in his care.

"The. Asset." You rasp, coughing when the dryness of your throat hits.

"The Asset's condition is stable. It will be cleared for duty in a week." The doctor hands you a cup of water which you take with your less aching arm. After gulping it down so fast you nearly choke, you grip onto the doctor's sleeve as he leaves, pulling him towards you with whatever strength you have.

"He. I need to see him." You fix the doctor with a glare. "Now."

"With all due respect, Hunter, you're in no condition to go anywhere."

"With all due respect, doctor, I'm in a good enough condition to kill you where you stand."

The doctor's lips move to mouth the words 'I doubt it' but relents, helping you make your arduous journey to where the Asset is being treated. You don't miss the look of irritation that crosses his face, but decide to brush it off this time.

The Asset is awake, lying in his own cot and his bright blue gaze flicks over to meet yours when you enter the room. You take a seat next to his cot, checking him over and let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. He'll be alright, thankfully. You're both alive and recovering.

"Any lasting injuries?" You demand.

"None, save for a few scars on his side and back." The doctor scowls at you. Ignoring him, you turn your attention back to the Asset.

"When we're both recovered enough to move on our own, we'll kill the bastard together. They won't get away."

He blinks, then nods. You manage a grin, then push yourself to your feet.

"I look forward to working with you more often, Winter Soldier. You make a good mission partner."

It's the best compliment you're ever going to give, and you rarely give compliments in the first place. Something warm flickers inside your chest, a sensation that's both foreign and familiar at the same time. It's a weird feeling, but for some reason it's comforting. You've felt this way before, you're sure of it, yet your mind is only drawing blanks when you try to recall when this feeling last occurred.

When you look back before you leave the room, your eyes meet his, and the warmth grows a little. He'd saved you on that mission, and you'd saved him, maybe that was what this warmth was all about. You'd heard soldiers talk about bonds forged in battle before, perhaps that is what the warm feeling is.

A bond, forged in a near death situation.

A bond, soon to be deepened by the shared kill of the bastard who gave the wrong information and nearly got the both of you killed.

A bond, that would last you both a lifetime.

[queen-of-the-avengers]

Shine Bright

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Star!Reader

Word Count: ~4k

Warnings: fluff, angst, being kidnapped and almost killed, but then fluff again

Summary: Hydra wants to reign eternally, and the best way to do that is to eat a falling star's heart. They knock you out of orbit but didn't expect the Avengers to find you first.

Squares Filled: stars (2021) for @buckybarnesbingo

Author’s Note: This takes place during or after FATWS, but I've made John evil, and everyone who died post-Endgame is alive and well.

I am absolutely in love with the movie "Stardust", so I decided to base this story on that! The picture down below DOES NOT represent the reader at all, I just wanted to showcase the movie.

x

The sky above is still and peaceful. There isn’t a cloud in sight that allows visibility to whoever looks up at it. John Walker looks through the telescope and positions it on the star Hydra is targeting. If he wasn’t on a mission right now, he’d appreciate the stars shining brightly for their human audience.

“John, is everything in position?”

“On my end. What about yours?”

John looks at his coworker who is in charge of the missile they plan on using for this mission. The man tweaks the numbers and aligns them with the correct star.

“We’re ready.”

All eyes turn to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She is in charge of this whole operation under the assumption this is for the CIA. She sits at the large desk in the middle of the room, leans back, and rests her hands in her lap.

“Fire away, gentlemen.”

John and his coworker turn the machine on and launch the missile at the star. John rushes over to the telescope and watches as it flies into the sky, breaks off into tiny pieces, and zooms straight into the heart of the star. Instead of blowing it up like most missiles do, it knocks the star off its orbit and sends it straight down to Earth. Whatever John is seeing through the telescope, everyone can see on the monitors in the room so that Valentina can see what’s going on.

Everyone watches it fall straight to Earth to a place they don’t know. They can’t predict the crash site for something as big as a star but it won’t be hard to track it down. Once they figure out where it is, they’ll have so much fun dissecting it for what they truly need it for.

It was Tony’s idea that the entire team kick back and relax after a hard working week. Sam and Wanda brought out the board games that can account for a lot of people since everyone lives at the compound. The only one not here is Thor but that’s because he has duties to complete on Asgard.

“Okay, this time, don’t cheat,” Tony says to Sam.

“Hey, that was one time and I was trying to get Steve.”

The game they’re playing is Cards Against Humanity, something they all love to play—adult edition. What’s a good night in with alcohol and friends if not for an inappropriate game?

“Bucky, you in or not?”

“Yeah, pass me some cards.”

With everyone on board, the game can get started. The first few rounds were hilarious and the next couple was causing a lot of people to drink. Tony loves to put a spin on his games. If he can get people to drink, then a lot of people are getting drunk. By the tenth round, everyone is relaxed and willing to kick things up a notch.

Tony brings out a Truth or Dare drinking game when something bright lights up the night sky.

“What the hell is that?” Clint asks.

Everyone gets up and gathers around the window to watch it fall to the ground. It lands not far from the Avenger’s Compound but far enough to where they can’t see it.

“Tony, Sam, let’s check it out,” Steve says seriously.

Tony and Sam get suited up while Steve fetches his shield. Steve catches a ride with Tony to travel two hours from the Compound in Madison County. There is a big crater on the ground from the impact of the white light, and the three men tread carefully over to it. Steve’s shield is in front of him ready to protect him, Sam’s drone, Redwing, flies next to him cautiously, and Tony’s repulsors are ready and waiting to be fired.

Tony expected to see some kind of weapon in the middle of the crater but instead of a thing, it’s a person--you. You’re wearing a white dress that goes down to your feet, and you have a white glow about you. You groan in pain just as the light dies down and you look up at the three men staring at you.

“What the hell happened?” you ask.

You look to the sky to see your sisters shining in the night sky. How the hell did you get from up there to down here?

“Who are you?” Steve asks.

“My name is Y/N. Who are you?”

“Steve, Tony, and Sam. What happened here?”

“I don’t know. One minute I was shining in the sky and the next I’m down here and in pain.”

“Shining in the sky?”

“I’m a star. I was minding my own business and someone knocked me out of orbit.”

Steve, Tony, and Sam walk down the crater’s walls and toward you cautiously. They still don’t know if you’re good or not until you get up and reveal what’s been behind you this whole time. A shell of a missile that has the Hydra symbol on the side of it.

“We need to get her inside. If Hydra wants her, then she must be special. We can’t just leave her here.”

“Leave me here? What the hell is going on here?”

“If Hydra wants you, it’s for a reason. We should get you inside before they come looking for you.”

Going with them beats sitting here and waiting for someone bad to find you. Everyone who was left behind waits eagerly for the men’s return, and they’re shocked when they return with a gorgeous woman. You’re scared of the many unknowns of your situation: who are these people? What do they want from you? Who is after you? Are you in danger? Will these people hurt you?

“Who is this?” Natasha asks.

“The white light.”

“Here, sit,” Steve offers, and you take a seat away from everyone else. He knows you’re scared so he’s trying to make this as easy as possible for you. “She’s a star.”

“A star?” Bucky asks with two eyebrows raised.

“As I said to them earlier, I was living peacefully in the sky when something knocked me out of orbit.”

“Hydra knocked her out of the sky. They must want a star.”

“Why? What’s so significant about a star?” Bucky asks.

“There’s lore around shooting stars,” you explain. “For centuries, people have tried to get stars to fall to Earth for their hearts. If our hearts are consumed, it’ll grant the person a sort of immortality. No one can live forever, but our hearts can extend life for centuries. Many of my sisters have fallen and died because of it.”

“Hydra must want to reign for a long time,” Steve theorizes. “Listen, why don’t you stay here until we can figure out how to get you back into the sky.”

“Can we even do that?” Natasha wonders.

“There’s a way. It’s complicated but there’s always a way.”

“Bucky, why don’t you show her to the room next to yours.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you,” you sigh and follow the man with a metal arm. He’s very quiet and doesn’t talk much which you relate to. “I appreciate your kindness.”

“Sure. Let me know if you need anything.”

Bucky leaves you alone in the room and you sit on the bed in thought. You never sleep at night and allow yourself to rest during the day so you’re not tired at all. Bucky looks at you before he leaves but pauses. You look so scared and nervous that he can’t help but walk back into the room to be with you. He sits next to you on the bed and wipes both hands on his jeans.

“I was once new here. I didn't know anyone besides Steve. I’m gonna help you figure out a way to get you home.”

“Thank you,” you smile.

The rest of the night is uneventful but right before the sun rose, your eyes started to droop. All of your sisters are sleeping as you’re supposed to be, but the Avengers are so loud you can’t fathom sleeping with this noise. If Hydra wants you then they must have a base somewhere to hold the equipment to knock a star out of orbit. All that equipment will take a lot of money to acquire and a lot of space to hold, so they all come up with places that can be potential bases.

“Ah, there she is. We need your help,” Tony says and waves you into the room.

“What are you guys doing?” you sigh and slump over to them.

“We’re trying to figure out where Hydra’s base is. If we can, then we can plan an attack before they try and come for you.”

“Great,” you sit down and place your chin in your hand.

All of them start talking over one another creating a small headache to form.

“Y/N, I know you’re tired but can you remember where the missile came from? If we can get a sense of direction, we can narrow potential places significantly.”

“I’m not tired, Steve, I’m exhausted. I never stay awake during the day. I need to sleep and rest but you’re all being so loud,” you sigh.

“Come with me,” Bucky offers.

Bucky leads you past both your rooms and to a wing of the compound that rarely is used. This place is the farthest from where anyone is gonna be. There is a spare bedroom down here that Bucky takes you to, and he opens the door for you.

“You’ll be able to get some sleep here. I come here when I want to be alone. It’s quiet.”

“Thank you, Bucky,” you smile.

Your entire body shines slightly to show how happy you are but Bucky doesn’t think much of it. You’re a star. You’re supposed to be shining. All he does is give you a friendly smile and leave you alone to rest. It’s easy for you to fall asleep and you stay asleep for the whole day. When the sun goes down, your body wakes you up to start shining. Then you remember where you are and your glow dims.

You’re ready to take the night on and wander until you find the majority of the Avengers. They’ve been working hard all day to figure out where the Hydra base is and are now taking a break to watch a movie.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Tony says when you enter the room.

“Got room for one more?”

Bucky moves over so you can sit next to him, and you blush slightly when your leg brushes up against his.

“Did you find out where Hydra is located?”

“No. They have defense walls that aren’t coming up on our radars, but we have Friday constantly looking for a way in.”

“Who’s Friday?”

“My AI,” Tony answers.

He turns the movie up so everyone can hear it, and you turn to Bucky with a shy smile.

“Thank you for letting me use your space,” you whisper.

“I don’t mind.”

“What movie are you guys watching?”

“Dumb and Dumber. They love it.”

You try to get into the movie but you’re not connecting to it as much as you hope to. Everyone laughs at the same time when something funny happens but not you. You’re not sure if you fit in well with this group. Humans have always been part of your fascination but you only know of the evolution of them, not them personally.

“Excuse me,” you whisper and get up.

Bucky watches you walk off toward our room without another word. He knows more than most what trying to fit in feels like and how bad he can feel when he doesn’t. He leaves his friends and follows you to your room. You’re sitting on the balcony and staring at the night sky where your sisters are.

“I promise I’m coming home. I’m figuring out a way to do that,” you sigh.

They twinkle to let you know they hear you.

“Mind if I join you?” Bucky knocks on the balcony doors.

“No.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not really a group person.” Bucky sits next to you on the lounge chair. “I’m more of a loner. I didn’t have any planets orbiting me, and the closest star to me is my sister Vega. She’s such a sweetheart.”

“Yeah, I’m more of a loner, too.”

“My sisters are the only ones I can count on, and they’re watching over me right now to make sure I’m okay.” 

Bucky looks up and they twinkle so he can see where they’re located.

“When you were in the sky, could you watch over humans?”

“It was my favorite thing to do. I’ve watched humans grow since they first arrived. I see the value in human life because it ends. They’ve come a long way from where they first started.”

“I’ve never met a star before. You’re pretty nice and beautiful.”

Your body shines a bit at his compliment.

“Thank you. Stars are pure and innocent despite the violence and horrors we see on a daily basis. We represent everything good about the world. We represent beauty.”

“I can tell,” he smiles.

Your body shines a bit more the more you are happy being here with Bucky. The stars in the sky shine a bit brighter when they see their sister happy.

Hydra hasn’t made a move against the Avengers over the course of the following week because they’re not sure how they can approach the situation. Valentina knows exactly where the star is and she can’t charge in like she normally would. The Avengers are powerful that deserve careful planning and strategy to overcome.

 Meanwhile, you and Bucky have grown closer. When you’re not sleeping, you’re spending as much time with Bucky as you can. There is only a short amount of time you can spend with him before one of you needs to sleep. In the beginning, you were only allowed a couple of hours to be with him, but now you’re spending half a day with him. You’re slowly starting to fall asleep later in the morning and waking up later in the night. It’s something you’re willing to change in order to be with Bucky.

“Tell me something,” Bucky says.

You two are lying on the roof of the building admiring the night sky which is sure to come soon. Your skin is glowing brightly that if whoever were to look up at the roof, they’d see nothing but a white glow.

“What?” you ask and look at him.

“I know that stars shine but do you get to choose when you get to? I’ve seen you with and without.”

“I shine when I’m happy,” you say with a bright smile, “and I’m happy right now with you.”

You and Bucky stay on the roof until there is no more sunlight left in the sky, and you yawn tiredly.

“Tired?”

“A little bit.”

“Let’s go back inside.”

You and Bucky head back inside your room to get ready for the night, and you look at your bed in thought.

“You know, I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ve been transitioning into sleeping at night so I’m still struggling a bit. I might be able to sleep better if it were next to you.”

Bucky holds his flesh hand out, too scared to use his metal hand for fear of breaking you. He takes you to his room where you two get comfortable underneath the sheets. He’s shocked he can sleep with you shining next to him but it gives him a sense of comfort knowing you feel safe enough with him to shine.

The next morning, you wake with a smile on your face and your skin glowing.

“This is the first time I slept through the night.” You look beside you but Bucky isn’t there. The brightness dims on your skin until it looks normal. “Bucky?” You get up and walk around the compound in search of Bucky, and you find him in the main room where the other Avengers are. “What’s going on?”

“We found Hydra’s base. Nat’s gonna stay here with you,” Tony declares.

Your eyes immediately find Bucky’s.

“You’re not gonna stay here with me?”

“I know Hydra like the back of my hand. I have to go with them.”

“Oh, okay.”

Tony, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, and Sam get geared up to go while you and Natasha stay behind. She’s decked in her gear just in case something happens. She has the capabilities to keep you safe since you’re not a fighter--you’re a lover. You don’t think you could fight even if you wanted to.

“So, how long have you been with the team?” you ask.

“Too long.” You look away in thought and bounce your leg nervously. “Look, I haven’t known Bucky for very long but he’s trying. He used to be one of the bad guys but he’s doing a helluva lot more good to make up for the bad. He knows how to handle Hydra. He’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” you nod with uncertainty.

You and Natasha make conversation for the next couple of hours when the alarms start blaring inside the compound.

“Stay here.”

“You’re leaving me alone?” you gasp.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Just stay here and don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Natasha is gone before you have a chance to question her further. You wait nervously for her to come back because you have no clue where she is, what’s going on, and who is inside the compound. After an hour of waiting around, you get up and look out the window. Everything seems normal as if there isn't an intruder inside. Footsteps near the room you’re in, ad you turn to the door waiting to see Natasha.

The door opens and you smile.

“I was beginning to worry.”

The smile is lost when you see a strange woman with four soldiers around her.

“So was I. The easy part was tracking you down. Stars have a bit of… aura about them that is easily tracked. The hard part was infiltrating this place. I had to make sure I had all my bases covered. You’re coming with us.”

“No,” you stand your ground.

“No? Emilio.” One of the men takes out a tablet from one of the pockets and flips it open. He presses a few buttons and shows you what’s on the screen. All your friends are tied with Hydra soldiers all around them. Of course, you’re worried about all of them but you can’t help but look at Bucky. “Either come with me or your friends will be killed.”

You have no choice but to go with her.

The woman, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, leads you through the large Hydra base to a big room with a staircase leading up to a small landing. A large table is on the landing with a  medical cart next to it. There is nothing but different sizes of knives--knives that will be used to cut your heart out.

“A shining star’s heart is the way to go, but I’ll settle for your scared little one any day of the year.” You’re only doing this because you’re scared of what these people are going to do to Bucky if you fight back. You’re forced onto the table where Valentina straps you down so you’re not tempted to leave. “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll make sure to make it quick and painless.”

She grabs one of the sharpest knives and walks over to you. You close your eyes and send a quick prayer to your sisters in hopes they can hear you. She raises her knife when the double doors slam open. You both look to see Bucky storming in with his deadly gun.

“Bucky!” you smile and shine brightly at the sight of him.

“Get him!” Valentina orders.

A dozen guards make their way into the room and start shooting at Bucky who is more than prepared to handle them. Bullets fly as your concern for Bucky grows. However, he seems to beat every single one of them as he makes his way closer to you.

“Emilio!” Valentina yells.

The big guy who was with her earlier steps into the room with two charged electric gloves. His metal armor makes him immune to the bullets Bucky is firing at him, and he gives him an uppercut when he reaches him. Bucky goes flying across the room and uses his vibranium arm to slow his descent down the walkway.

Emilio and Bucky meet in the middle as they fistfight for your honor. There is no way Valentina is cutting your heart out now. She wants to see how this fight is gonna end. She is pretty confident that her soldier is going to win against the Winter Soldier, but oh how wrong she is. The double doors bust open and Wanda comes in with red magic at her fingertips. Tony and Steve are behind her ready to fight whoever they need to in order to save you.

Red magic encases Emilio to hold him still while Bucky delivers a deadly punch to the bottom of his jaw. Emilio is thrown across the room and knocks into a mirror, and he slides down it unconsciously. Valentina sees the urgency of the situation and raises the knife.

“Tony, heads up.”

Steve rears his shield back and throws it in Valentina’s direction, and Tony shoots his repulsors at the shield to make it fly the rest of the way. Valentina tries to escape but is hit before she can find coverage. She falls to the ground completely knocked out. Bucky runs up the staircase and over to you with an easy smile.

“You really thought I’d let you get sacrificed?”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

Bucky undoes your ties and helps you off the table, and the both of you run down the staircase to the other Avengers. Before you can reach them, all the doors that lead into the room slam open. Dozens upon dozens of guards come in with their weapons, weapons that can kill everyone here. There are too many guards for Wanda to control and too many for them to take on.

They might not be able to but you can. You pull Bucky into you and wrap your arms around his neck.

“Hold onto me and close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“What do stars do best?” You pull him down so that his face is nestled into the shape of your neck. “They shine.”

Your entire body shines with the intensity of a real star. Your teammates cover their eyes to protect themselves but the same thing can’t be said for the Hydra soldiers. Your light kills whoever dares look into it, and the soldiers in the very back leave as quickly as they can before they can succumb to your light. You pull away from Bucky and dim your light knowing that these soldiers aren’t going to hurt them anymore.

After Valentina is apprehended and taken back to the States for punishment through the CIA, Bucky returns back to the Compound with you by his side. There is a lot of paperwork that Nick Fury has to fill out, and Tony and Steve offered to stay behind to scour through the base and see what kinds of things Hydra has been up to.

The night sky is shining brighter than normal because your sisters are happy for your safe return.

“They say thank you for saving me,” you say to Bucky.

“No problem,” he says to the sky before looking back down at you. “She’s worth saving.”

“You know, these last two weeks with you have been amazing. If I’m being honest, I’m having second thoughts about going back. I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want you to leave either.”

You wrap your arms around his neck and he pulls you in closer by your hips.

“Maybe staying here for a while longer won’t be so bad.”

He slides one hand up your body to your jaw which he cups. He leans down and kisses you with such intensity that causes butterflies to erupt in your stomach. The stars twinkle in the sky as your own light shines brightly for all to see.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[yikesforever]

So I had an idea.

Stucky and agathario crossover.

So they first meet in the 40s cause bucky ACCIDENTALLY killed a guy "STEVE IF I DIDNT DO ANYTHING HE WAS GOING TO KILL YOU". so there they meet Rio, who obviously tried to take Steve to which bucky fully threatened death. So Rio is like respect and leaves them alone.

Bucky gets drafted and Steve is devastated. He hears a woman singing the ballad of the witches road. But it seems Everytime he gets near the woman she is just out of reach. So Steve starts singing it to himself. He tries to find the woman again and again but never seems to catch up with her. He eventually goes to the enlistment where he meets Stanley tucci (forgive me for not remembering the docs name). He tells the Dr about the ballad and he says oh Steven that is just some fairytale to get women to follow a road with no end. And then shoots him up with roids and cap is born blah blah blah.

, Steve becomes cap and then during the war they see a lot of Rio. (Well casualties of war and all that but Rio sees something in Bucky. She's not sure what but something special).

Bucky doesn't say anything to her and she doesn't say anything to him they just stare from a distance. A common interest but worlds a part. Anytime Steve comes near Rio vanishes tho. Bucky thinks good stay away from Stevie.

So bucky is gone and Steve crashes the plane into the Atlantic. SO RIO DOESNT GO AFTER HIM CAUSE SHE RESPECTS BUCKY.

So the 70 years pass and Rio keeps visiting bucky obviously because he is a murder machine. She wants to communicate but there is always a handler standing by. She hates to see his talent wasted by hydra but she is just death she cannot interfere.

Agatha heard about Steve reanimating and was like hmmm was he dead, I should keep an eye on him. which is also how she finds out about Wanda.

[sunsetfallen11]

Ghosts of the Past

TW: Mentions of blood, depression, among other things. Character: Bucky Barnes and a flashback of the Winter Soldier days. Italics, halfway through story, are the flashback scene.

The nightmares plagued him like a fiery inferno, the memories of what he did in the past, always showing up like a old friend. In the midst of his slumber, he woke, drenched in sweat. He spent many nights not sleeping, staring at the walls of his apartment. The feeling of drowning taking hold of him like a waterfall crashing into the river below. There were times where he would gasp for air, as he tried to control his breathing; hoping that it would help him from panicking. It didn’t always seem to work, but he wanted to believe everything he tried to maintain compure was working. Therapy only worked so much, but even then, he remained closed off and neutral. The less anyone knew, the better off he was. The floor of his apartment always felt cold to his overheated body, the blanket scratchy to his skin, and the bed in his bedroom unused for fear that he would never wake again. The feeling of claustrophia always taking hold of him, if he dared sleep or lay on it, making him feel like he was back there. It was the life that James Barnes was used to now, the never-ending suffocating feeling that he would somehow wake up on day and be that guy again. The monster below the surface was always waiting in the shadows, even if he was free from the programming that they put inside of him. The Wakandans had helped him, but even he knew deep down they didn’t truly trust him. He always worried and wondered if he would take back over. Was he ever truly going to be free? Bucky often wondered tiredly. 

He could remember the screams, the instant feeling of fear and frustration warp through him as he remembered every moment vividly. The gaping memories that they took from him, that he wished he could remember, but couldn’t always quite make out because of the blurriness that it gave him, making him angrier as he tried to remember certain events from his life, before they had taken him as their own prisoner. Hydra had used him, had made them into the monster that he was, and he saw the looks everyone gave him. He hated it, hated everything about this. The cold sweats, the sleepless nights, and remembering things he didn’t ever want to remember again. The blood, the tears from the ones that he was sought out to kill, the machine he was hooked up too; memories that he could remember at one point in time, suddenly wiped away from him. They always knew, they always could sense a change in his behavior, especially when he had started asking questions. His life hadn’t been his for so long, that now that it was, he wasn’t sure what to do with it. Although, he still felt like he had to be watchful and on constant alert. It was ever present fear in the back of his mind, that if he made one wrong move, he would be back in the chair, feeling the electromagnatic shocks go through him. It was what kept him up at night, most nights. 

He was the monster that parents told their children at night. He was the one that haunted the dreams of the ones he took their loved ones from. He remembered it all. Every night, when he tried to sleep it always played like a movie at the forefront of his mind. He wanted to run, wanted to escape, wanted it all to end, but he kept trucking along. Why? Because somehow his friends needed him, even if he didn’t understand why. He saw their looks as well, but he simply ignored it. He knew they were just trying to help, even if felt like it was suffocating him. The first time he had seen Steve, right after their battle in the streets, it was as if seeing a ghost. He remembered briefly, when he had been called his nickname, the soft tone and worry that had resonated from the Captain, it stopped him in the tracks of what his mission had been. He had been ordered to kill Captain America, they wanted him dead, but when he had seen the look, had heard his name... he had stopped. And when he had escaped into the shadows, watching from a far when they had taken him into custody, he knew it was only a matter of time till he got what was coming to him. He had failed, the programming that they had put him, not working like it had done so many times before.  

The first time he had been shocked, the first time they had shot him with the serum in his hand, he had barely even recovered from the surgery. The memories of his youth, of his growing up with his best friend, among so many other things, were suddenly going away at a slow pace. The longing for them to be kept in his mind grew with each time he was punished, but then it went away. James was no longer Bucky, a sergerant of the military, but a prisoner in his own mind. HYDRA had gone heavy on him with the brainwashing and essentially took his youth from him. The more he became the warrior and soldier they wanted in their minds eye, the more pleased and sinister they became.     The memories how many people he had taken, the screams, the heavy infantry that followed in his wake, as he went about in the shadows to pick off the enemies one by one, always clear and precise in his mind. The smell of gas, blood, and god knows what else he had to endure was another thing he remembered heavily. His flesh hand couldn’t be scrubbed enough and putting his vibranium arm in the washer never seemed enough. The scars around his stub, that connected to it, always aching and throbbing. He never dared take medicine for it, especially when the pain became to much, for fear it would trigger something and bring out the monster that he was deep down. He would drink, drink so much, even though he knew he couldn’t get drunk, but hoped he could. Closing his eyes he would pretend to succumb to the hope of being so and it momentarily relaxed him, if only for a moment.... 

Crawling through the dust, he coughed lightly, as he made his way through the corridor of what he had just blasted through previously. The screams of the survivors, filling the air as he silently made his way down. The blood could be smelt, the creaking of the floor boards as well, as his steel toed boots made sure to walk around the rubble around him. The ones who were in the corner of the nearby room, screaming and crying for help; speaking fast in Russian and asking and begging for forgivneness. Laughter filled the room, as he stepped into the room. The ones that were in the room, curling up into a ball together, shaking with fear. Looking around the room, he kicked open the closet with such force, as the ones that tagged along with him, went over to the small group of people. It was one of the few missions that he had other soldiers tag along with him, it annoyed him greatly, but he didn’t bother to question it. They were the ones that had made this mission drag on and he would do what was needed to get rid of them as well; he just had to play his cards right. Afterall, the main leader of the organization had given him permission long ago to do whatever means necessary to survive; even if it meant taking out one or more of their own. 

“Soldat?” ( Soldier) One of the men questioned, as he turned back to the room, his eyes narrowed and angry. The one that had spoken was one of the men that knew was playing both sides. A simple nod to the others meant it was time.  

“Убей их.” ( Kill them ) Was the simple answer, his voice rough and harsh. They all nodded as he watched them kill the small group of people, which he already figured was a family and the husband of the woman that had been now been deceased, had been on their watch list for awhile. He watched as blood poured out of each of them, the casings of the bullets falling on the floor, as it mixed in with the dust that was on the woodened floors. His foot falls were silent as he walked up to the one man that he knew had betrayed them. His dagger immediately going to his neck, as the rest of the men went from the room, to give him a moment. 

“Soldat, вниз.” ( Soldier, down.) A command none the less, but his eyes betrayed him; they were showing the fear and worry in them. Something that the man never really portrayed to anyone. 

“Неt.” ( No.) James responded in kind, a snear of a smirk on his face, as he cut him deep into the neck, slowly. The sound of blood spewing from the open wound, as he poured down his neck, until he finally went for the jugglar; life instantly ending in a matter of seconds the moment he did, but not before he had let the man suffer for a few minutes at first.  

Walking out of the room, he threw a match, that he had lit, and threw it into the room. Watching as the flames started to collect and go up into smoke, before covering the lifeless bodies into the room. His eyes never once moving, until he could smell the burnt hair and the smell of blood turn different.  

He shook his head from the memory, gasping for air, as he looked all around him. He was in Brooklyn, in his apartment where he knew he was safe, but yet at the same time he felt like he was being squeezed through a tube. A tube of memories that he hated remembering. He needed air, he needed something to take the edge off. Getting up from where he sat on the ground, he put on some clothes, and grabbed his eyes to his motorcycle. He needed to get away, to feel alive, and knew that going for a ride would help him. Or so he hoped anyways. 

Revving up the engine to his bike, the moment he turned it on, he let the feeling of the engine roar beneath him, the feeling of life purr through his motorcycle, before taking off. The wind cooling his overheated body off, as he went down the highway to clear his clouded mind.  

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Fictional Throwdown Friday!

This Week's Fighters....

Captain America vs Soldier Boy!

Conditions:

MCU Cap. TV Show Soldier Boy. Cap does not have Mjolnir.

Scenario:

Vought International has gotten its hands on the Tesseract, so the Avengers have been sent in to retrieve it. The Boys had the same idea and go in with Soldier Boy. Soldier Boy and Cap meet up and fight over who gets the Tesseract.

Analysis: Captain America

Steve Rogers was once a normal man living in Brooklyn during the dawn of World War 2, desperate to join the army because "I don't like bullies, I don't care where they're from". Unfortunately, his plethora of health conditions kept him from qualifying. Realizing the boy had a pure heart, Abraham Erskine subjected him to an experimental super soldier serum to turn him into Captain America, The First Avenger.

In his final mission, Captain America seeming sacrificed his life by crashing a plane full suoer charged nukes into the arctic, only to be dug up years later and brought to the 21st Century. Now stuck desperately searching for a purpose in a world that seemingly left him behind, Cap joined the Avengers to protect the world from all sorts of threats, ranging from aliens to robots to even SHIELD itself, before leaving to rescue his mind controlled best friend and dividing the Avengers into Civil War. All throughout, Cap proves himself to be nothing less than the perfect soldier.

Even on a team full of gods, geniuses, and master assassins, Cap manages to keep up with his mastery of hand to hand combat, photographic memory, and excellent tactical mind. Steve led the team to victory against the otherworldly alien invaders the Chitauri, fought hand to hand against the God Loki and the master assassin the Winter Soldier, and unearthed a plot by neo nazi organization Hydra to take over SHIELD from within. Moreover, Cap's healing factor allows him to power through gun shots to the gut, survive being frozen alive, and drink Asgardian beer that Thor claimed wasn't safe for mortals.

Steve is strong enough to pull down a helicopter with one arm, skilled enough to fist fight an air craft and win, and tough enough to contend with Iron Man's Mark 46 armor. This armor would be much tougher than the suit Tony wore in Iron Man 2, which could create a massive explosion between him and War Machine. Dividing the result to account for the combined effort and each suit would be generating and tanking energy equivalent to 171 tons of TNT.

Source:

He's even fast enough to take down MCU Spider-Man, whose fast enough to compete with The Amazing Spider-Man verse Spider-Man, who can dodge lighting traveling at Mach 1514.

Source:

But none of that competes with the Captain's strongest weapon - his shield. This vibranium metal disk can absorb and reflect almost any attack thrown at it and bounce off of anything. Cao uses it as a super frisbee to knock targets out of the air, cakculating its velocity in his head so that it always ends up right back in his hand. It can even take hits from Thor's hammer, reflecting a blast that completely leveled the forest around them. A 6 kiloton yield feat.

Source:

Finally, Captain America would take up Thor's hammer himself to lead the final charge against Thanos and his army, saving the universe from completely annihilation. Though the Avengers may go on, Cap will always be the remembered as the First Avenger.

Analysis: Soldier Boy

Before there was the Seven, before there was Homelander, before there were even Supes, there was Soldier Boy and his team of legendary Freedom Fighters, Payback. America's very first Superhero and one of the strongest Supes who ever lived, Soldier Boy was a beloved national icon and a war hero of World War 2.

Behind closed doors, Soldier Boy only became a hero to impress his abusive father and when that didn't work, he nursed his wounded pride by doing whatever it took to ensure he remained Vought's most popular superhero. This included keeping his team under his thumb, brutally beating them in sparring matches to remind them who was top dog, and crippling them when they dared to show any ambition. In one instance, he brutally beat Black Noir so badly, he was left scarred and crippled for the rest of his life, forcing him to wear a full body suit to cover his injuries, leaving him unable to speak, and giving him lifelong schizophrenia from the trauma of the event.

The abuse got so bad, Payback sold him out to Russia the first chance they got, setting him up to get captured in an undercover mission and allowing the Soviets to experiment on him for years. It wasn't until 2022 that Soldier Boy was found snd rescued by the superhero hunting group called The Boys for his help in taking down the most powerful superhero in the world: Homelander. Soldier Boy agreed, on the condition that The Boys help him get revenge on his old team for abandoning him.

Soldier Boy is an absolute juggernaut of a Supe. Although he's over a hundred years old, he hasn't aged a day past his thirties, thanks to the Russian's experiments giving him a whole new slew of powers. Years of torture have made him completely immune to fire, radiation, acids, and poisons, with only the deadliest substances on Earth being able to knock him out. And that's on top of being an expert combatant trained in military combat and hand to hand techniques. Soldier Boy carries a knife, a pistol, and a large titanium shield, each of which he uses proficiently in hand to hand combat to beat down his foes. While most of Soldier Boy's supposed war valor was faked, he was still skilled enough to go toe to toe with Billy Butcher, himself a war veteran and proficient superhero hunter. He heals from scarring injuries with superhuman speed and is tough enough to take on Homelander, the most powerful Supe who ever lived.

Soldier Boy's greatest power, however, is his radiation. Soldier Boy can charge up and shoot powerful radiation out of his body, usually by unleashing it as a massive explosion to obliterate everything around him. His radiation even burns hot enough nullify the powers of Supes. All Supes get their powers from the super soldier serum known as Compound V, with Soldier Boy's radiation vaporizing it in their bloodstream and leaving them an ordinary human.... provided they survive the blast.

Soldier Boy's explosions are so powerful, they can obliterate city blocks, with his biggest blast being big emough to be worth 69 tons of TNT. Nice.

Source:

Soldier Boy has even sent Homelander running with some help and he's fast enough to catch nuclear missiles, outrun planes, and outrun explosions at Mach 18.

Source:

For all his power and projected badassery, Soldier Boy is not invincible. He's as much of a misogynist as you'd expect someone from the 1940s to be and his internalized toxic masculinity and ego makes him refuse to acknowledge his flaws. His torture at the hands of the Russians has left him with severe PTSD that he refuses to acknowledge, with particularly bad episodes reducing him to a big walking bomb.

Eventually, he was deemed so unstable that the Boys turned against him, forcing Queen Maeve to nearly sacrifice herself to bring him down.

Soldier Boy is one of the most powerful, and most dangerous, Supes on the planet.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

I think this one is pretty clear cut.

Soldier Boy's power nullification, by all rights, would be effective against Captain America due to his powers coming from a super soldier serum just like Vought's Supes. However, that relies on Soldier Boy getting a clear enough shot with his radiation to nullify him, where Cap has all the tools to keep that from happening.

Steve has both a considerable strength and speed advantage against Soldier Boy, being twice as strong and nearly 83x faster than the old war dog. Soldier Boy may have fought in World War 2, but Steve has gone in to fight planetary conquerors since then, and Cap's shield is so durable that Soldier Boy's will sooner snap in half than put a dent in it. This gives Steve all the room he needs to avoid Soldier Boy's destructive blasts and beat him down with superior skill, striking him from outside his range with shield throws and out maneuvering him at various ranges.

As Soldier Boy's frustration mounts, he'll become more explosive and more dangerous, bringing the battlefield down in top of them. This will be a footsy battle for Steve just for that alone... but Cap's solid foothold in every other field gives him all the advantages he needs to break Soldier Boy down.

Captain America is the First Avenger. Soldier Boy is just a cheap fucking knockoff.

This Throwdown's Winner is....

Captain America!

[themculibrary]

Captain America: The First Avenger Masterlist

Blood and Honey (ao3) - Claudia_flies steve/bucky E, 11k

Summary: A growl. It makes Steve’s knees turn into jelly and his body clench again. With dawning horror Steve realizes what is about to happen.

Or: The fight on the bridge doesn’t go as Hydra planned. Gratuitous a/o/b fic.

come home yesterday (ao3) - customrolex bucky/peggy/steve G, 369k

Summary: 'You're gonna be just fine,' Steve said, close enough that Bucky could feel his breath. 'Maybe I'll try to enlist again, join you—'

'Don't kid about that,' Bucky said, even tho he knew Steve wasn't really. He'd tried to enlist once before Bucky had been drafted, and a few times after that. 'Don't do anything stupid until I get back.'

'You're taking all the stupid with you,' Steve grumbled. He straightened Bucky's tie, and kissed him once again. Bucky tried to memorize how it felt; it was over too quickly.

Come On, Be My Baby (ao3) - orphan_account steve/bucky E, 1k

Summary: There was a time where Steve thought he’d been a beta. He just didn’t present. Too sickly to be an alpha by society’s standards and too ill to carry children or deal with heats, his body just didn’t do anything. He didn’t have much of a sex drive, in fact it was near non-existent and to be honest, he was happier that way. If he had been an omega he would’ve been expected to get married off to an alpha and have lots of children, especially because he grew up in the 40’s and rights for omegas were slim. If he’d been an alpha people would have mocked him even more than they already did. So, he was content on being unclassified or as he and everyone else assumed, a beta.

Well, until the serum.

It started with cramps in his lower abdomen and crawled up his back. His chest felt suspiciously full and heavy, it hurt and he was terribly sensitive. There was a strange scent that seemed to follow him around, a sweet smell. One that was usually associated with omegas. It was hard to be around his men, the people in his squad. They were all alphas and his skin felt itchy, not his own. It was like his skin was crawling off. Like he wasn’t – he wasn’t –

Whole.

Follow Up (ao3) - billie_vivienne steve/bucky E, 3k

Summary: Set during Captain America: The First Avenger, Steve bluffs his way off the USO stage and onto the battlefield, saving Bucky. After, they get to spend an intimate night together,

Grateful (ao3) - ALMartin1011 G, 1k

Summary: Steve knows he should be grateful for the gift he was given through Project Rebirth but his new life wasn’t as easy as he expected it to be.

Heirloom (ao3) - TealWren steve/bucky T, 12k

Summary: 5 times Steve Rogers lost himself to Captain America and 1 time Steve Rogers showed everyone who he truly was.

how we are hungry (ao3) - liketheroad steve/bucky M, 18k

Summary: The power of love and all that.

It All Starts Somewhere (fanfiction.net) - FantasytoHeart T, 20k

Summary: Hydra has bases all over Europe and the newly formed Howling Commandos have their work cut out for them. A story about the Commandos as there are not enough of them.

Kind Men (ao3) - quigonejinn steve/bucky, peggy/steve E, 15k

Summary: D/s-ish-verse retelling of Captain America: The First Avenger. When the time comes, Erskine doesn't throw a grenade onto the training ground.

Let’s Hear It For Captain America! (ao3) - Magnetism_bind steve/bucky E, 5k

Summary: A missing scene from Captain America: The First Avenger

Of All The Gin Joints (ao3) - dracusfyre bucky/tony T, 3k

Summary: Bucky feels like he's crashing and burning while Steve is soaring like a goddamn all-American bald eagle or something. But as Steve walks off with Agent Carter and leaves Bucky to drink alone, a mysterious stranger decides he wants to kiss him and make it all better.

Our Names in Blood (ao3) - OhCaptainMyCaptain steve/bucky E, 29k

Summary: The super soldier experiment results in Steve becoming a lethal killing machine. Isolated, alone, and terrified, Steve finds his way to Europe where he learns Bucky's been taken by Hydra. When he finds him strapped to a metal slab and moments from death, Steve faces the choice: either let his childhood best friend - and the love of his life - die, or turn him and condemn his soul.

The First Avenger (ao3) - shestepsintotheriver steve/bucky M, 73k

Summary: "Steve Rogers neither begins nor ends with Captain America. Before all that, before the fame and the horror and the loss, Steve is just another hungry kid from Brooklyn. Braver than most—or more bull-headed, depending on who you ask—but pretty average. Discounting the bad heart, the bad lungs, the bad temper, or at least that’s what Bucky always says when Steve does something really stupid, but he'll always add ‘the best guy I ever known’ at the end of the list."

The story of the First Avenger with almost all the bits from the movie, then several additions to canon.

The Guest (ao3) - orphan_account steve/darcy, jane/thor, bucky/sam M, 113k

Summary: “Darcy…?”

Her focus snapped back to Steve, fear now dominating her face. “Steve, I’m going to ask you something and it’s probably going to be…strange.”

He nodded, already having an idea as to what she may be getting ready to ask.

“When, am I?”

“It’s September 30th, 1942.”

Darcy hung her head, hiding her face from him and Steve as her shoulders shook. It was only a couple of moments later that she righted herself, hiding her shock and heartbreak behind a wry expression.

“Well, fuck me sideways. I’m not really sure how to go forward from here.”

there's nothing left of you (ao3) - notallbees steve/bucky, peggy/steve, bucky/omc E, 22k

Summary: Bucky’s having a hard time reconciling Captain America with the friend he left behind in Brooklyn. It’s bad enough that every time he closes his eyes he sees the inside of a torture chamber. Now, every time he opens them again, he sees a stranger with Steve Rogers’ eyes and smile.

The Way You Say My Name (ao3) - OhCaptainMyCaptain steve/bucky E, 10k

Summary: “Oh God… Oh… Buck…”

Steve says his name differently the moment Bucky gets his mouth on him. Breathless… Desperate… Bucky’s heard his name by moaned, be gasped, be screamed - in a number of different voices, by a number of different people. But none of them say his name the way Steve does.

Steve whimpers. He’s always been that way. Maybe it’s due to the fear of getting caught, or maybe that’s just how he is in general... If they could truly be alone, if there was no one around to risk hearing them, or catching them, or outing them… If Steve had the freedom to be as loud or as quiet as he wanted to be; could choose it… How would he say Bucky’s name? Would it come out like a sob, or a prayer, or maybe still a secret? Would it awaken the Heavens with its volume, or be whispered just for Bucky’s ears? Would Steve look him in the eyes while his lips formed around the syllables? Or would they roll up into his head without control?

Bucky wishes he knew. That he could know. But since it’s not an option, he’ll always just be grateful for being able to hear Steve say his name like this in general – and when Steve whimpers it, that’s the way Bucky likes best.

This Is My Last Breath (ao3) - FlyByNightGirl steve/bucky N/R, 731k

Summary:

☆ War stories, laughter, dances, disasters, stars. Family, fall out boy, falling, nightmares and two broken hearts.

(There's a double love story about two boys with 70 missing years in between - somehow Sergeant James Barnes became The Winter Soldier, and this is how.)

Truth, Justice, and the Cheating Cheater Way (ao3) - owlet peggy/steve T, 4k

Summary: Don't play cards with Captain America. Just don't. Especially if you've pissed him off recently.

[burnnouts]

Quick Bio: Tony Stark is the heir and CEO of Stark Industries, an internationally renowned and cutting edge tech company that his father founded after WWII. Though his father's company made weapons for the military, pitching Stark Industries as a "patriotic" American company, Tony has reinvented the business to instead focus on medical technology and vowed never to work for the military or U.S. government again. As the superhero "Iron Man," he secretly flies around the world, destroying bombs and guns and returning stolen resources commonly used in the tech industry.

Note: Tony is a canon character from the Marvel Comic Universe (616) and the majority of my characterization comes from the Disney XD Show Avengers Assemble and the novel Iron Man: Extremis by Marie Javins

Extended bio under cut:

TWs: child abuse, alcoholism, car crash, torture, war

Anthony "Tony" Stark was born to founder and CEO of Stark Industries, Howard Stark, and his wife, Maria. Publically, Howard was a weapons manufacturer known for his contributions to the super soldier program, which produced Captain America, and his work on the Manhattan Project during WWII. He also founded S.H.I.E.L.D., an international intelligence and peace keeping agency. To the world, Howard was a patriotic industrialist, but to his family, he was as a drunk prone to bursts of anger and verbal and physical abuse. As the years stripped away the last of the charming man she'd married, Tony's mother became deeply depressed and rarely left her room, though prior to her her self-isolation from society, she founded the Maria Stark Charity Foundation which helped to fund women's shelters and youth centers.

As a child, Tony quickly showed signs of genius and at the age of five began to create machines which provided order in his chaotic household. At six, his father began to force Tony into consuming large quantaties of alcohol, beginning an addiction that would continue for the rest of his life. He left home at seven to attend boarding school, and at fifteen, Tony went to MIT, graduating two years later at the top of his class with a double major in Physics and Engineering. He would eventually earn seven doctorates.

At seventeen, Tony fell for a twenty-two year old woman who convinced him to give her the access codes to Stark Industries. Her family, a rival of Howard's, later released all of the same products, and the woman broke up with Tony once he'd served his purpose. He was sent to Europe for further schooling, where again, he met a woman whose parents rivaled his own; though they attempted to run away together, their family's tracked them down. Her family, HYDRA agents, attempted to kill Tony before he escaped. A few years later, Tony's parents died in an assassination disguised as a car accident.

After inheriting Stark Industries, Tony changed the company from soley a weapons manufacturing firm to a beacon of technological futures, including state-of-the-art medical tech, in hopes that one day they could create more things that saved lives than took them. He also bought the car company that made the vehicle his parents had died in and fixed their faulty break systems. Tony not only continued but expanded his mother's charity efforts.

During a weapon's demonstration in Afghanistan, Tony's convoy was attacked with his own weapons, and he was taken hostage by the Ten Rings organization. He would have died from shrapnel drilling into his chest if he had not been saved by fellow prisoner, Ho Yinsen. Yinsen performed open heart surgery on Tony in the cave where both were being kept, and instilled a battery-powered magnet in his chest that kept the shrapnel at bay. When their kidnappers attempted to torture Tony into making them a missile, he and Yinsen instead built the Iron Man armor with which he escaped the cave. Yinsen, however, sacrificed himself in the attack, wishing to be reuinted with his late family.

Once back in America, Tony immediately shut down all weapons manufacturing at Stark Industries, after seeing first hand that he was part of an industry with no accountability. What he had been raised to believe was patriotism was indeed violent imperialism, and his weapons had been used to terrorize people all over the world, whether it be by the hands of terrorists or American soldiers. Tony continued to update the Iron Man armor and eventually used it to remove as many of his weapons as he could throughout the world. Eventually, Obadiah, his father's business partner, learned what Tony was doing and attacked with a suit of his own, revealing that he had been the one order the hit on Tony in the first place. The two fought, and Obadiah was killed.

About six months after Iron Man was created, Tony was approached by Nick Fury, the new director of his father's organization, SHIELD, who claimed he was building a team of super powered individuals. Because of his deteriorating mental helath, Tony was not immediately cleared to join, but when a Norse god, Loki, took over New York City with an alien army, Tony and several other super-powered individuals were brought in to save the day. Tony earned the trust of his team by flying a nuke into an alien wormhole, a journey he barely survived.

After their successful save of the city, the Avengers decided to continue fighting forces of evil, and Tony set up their headquarters in the top few floors of his company's New York building.

Hoping to keep his super hero identity and famous persona separate, Tony operated for many years in secret, claiming Iron Man to be his body guard until one day he rushed in front of a car to save a dog and was photographed without his mask.

[rickyreeves1980]

Jungle Strike (subtitled The Sequel to Desert Strike, or Desert Strike part II in Japan) is a video game developed and published by Electronic Arts in 1993 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The game was later released on several other consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and an upgraded version was made for DOS computers. The Amiga conversion was the responsibility of Ocean Software while the SNES and PC DOS versions were that of Gremlin Interactive, and the portable console versions were of Black Pearl Software. It is the direct sequel to Desert Strike (a best-seller released the previous year) and is the second installment in the Strike series. The game is a helicopter-based shoot 'em up, mixing action and strategy. The plot concerns two villains intent on destroying Washington, D.C. The player must use the helicopter and occasionally other vehicles to thwart their plans.

Its game engine was carried over from a failed attempt at a flight simulator and was inspired by Matchbox toys and Choplifter. Jungle Strike retained its predecessor's core mechanics and expanded on the model with additional vehicles and settings. The game was well received by most critics upon release. Publications praised its gameplay, strategy, design, controls and graphics.

Jungle Strike features two antagonists: Ibn Kilbaba, the son of Desert Strike's antagonist, and Carlos Ortega, a notorious South American drug lord. The opening sequence depicts the two men observing a nuclear explosion on a deserted island, while discussing the delivery of "nuclear resources" and an attack on Washington D.C.; Kilbaba seeks revenge for his father's death at the hands of the US, while Ortega wishes to "teach the Yankees to stay out of my drug trade".

The player takes control of a "lone special forces" pilot. The game's first level depicts the protagonist repelling terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., including the President's limousine. Subsequent levels depict counter-attacks on the drug lord's forces, progressing towards his "jungle fortress". In the game's penultimate level, the player pursues Kilbaba and Ortega to their respective hideouts before capturing them.

The final level takes place in Washington, D.C. again, where the two antagonists attempt to flee after escaping from prison. The player must destroy both Kilbaba and Ortega and stop four trucks carrying nuclear bombs from blowing up the White House. The PC version also extends the storyline with an extra level set in Alaska, in which the player must wipe out the remainder of Ortega's forces under the command of a Russian defector named Ptofski, who has taken control of oil tankers and is threatening to destroy the ecosystem with crude oil if his demands are not met. Once all levels are complete, the ending sequence begins and depicts the protagonist and his co-pilot in an open-topped car in front of cheering crowds.

Jungle Strike is a helicopter-based shoot 'em up, mixing action and strategy. The player's main weapon is a fictionalised Comanche attack helicopter. Additional vehicles can be commandeered: a motorbike, hovercraft and F-117. The latter in particular features variable height and unlimited ammunition, but is more vulnerable to crashes. The game features an "overhead" perspective "with a slight 3D twist". The graphics uses a 2.5D perspective which simulates the appearance of being 3D.

Levels consist of several missions, which are based around the destruction of enemy weapons and installations, as well as rescuing hostages or prisoners of war, or capturing enemy personnel. The helicopter is armed with machine guns, more powerful Hydra rockets and yet more deadly Hellfire missiles. The more powerful the weapon, the fewer can be carried: the player must choose an appropriate weapon for each situation. Enemy weapons range from armoured cars to artillery and tanks.

The player's craft has a limited amount of armour, which is depleted as the helicopter is hit by enemy fire. Should armour reach zero, the craft will be destroyed, costing the player a life. The player must outmanoeuvre enemies to avoid damage, but can replenish armour by means of power-ups or by airlifting rescued friendlies or captives to a landing zone.

Vehicles have a finite amount of fuel which is steadily depleted as the level progresses. Should the fuel run out, the vehicle will crash, again costing the player a life. The craft can refuel by collecting fuel barrels. Vehicles also carry limited ammunition, which must be replenished by means of ammo crates.

[thelizardburt]

Captain America, The First Avenger, as told by Luis!

So check it out, my dude Steve Rogers, right? This tiny, scrawny guy from Brooklyn—he’s like the ultimate underdog, can’t even get a date, much less join the army. His best friend, Bucky Barnes, though, is super supportive and tries getting him all the ladies and just ends up getting the ladies attention, leaving our man Steve in the dust, and their like "I'm with ya till the end of the line, bro" and Buckys like "don't do anything stupid till I come home, homie" and Steve’s like "how can I, bro, when your taking it with ya?"

But the guy’s got heart, like big-time. So the government’s like, ‘We need a super soldier,’ and Steve’s like, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’

Next thing you know, bam! They zap him with some crazy serum, and suddenly, dude’s jacked like he’s been bench-pressing the whole Brooklyn Bridge. He’s got the strength, the speed, the moves—like he just unlocked cheat codes in real life.

Now, Steve’s rocking this shiny star-spangled suit, right? Looks like a walking flag, but don’t let that fool ya. He’s got this shield—man, that thing is the ultimate frisbee but with killer aim. He throws it and BOOM, it’s like GPS-guided justice!

Meanwhile, the bad guys, who work for this crazy terrorist organisation called HYDRA, they’re led by this creepy dude called Red Skull, who’s got a weird obsession with world domination and looks like he forgot to moisturize.

And Peggy Carter? She’s the boss lady who’s cooler than ice and makes sure Steve doesn’t mess up. She’s like, ‘You’re my hero, now go save the world, skinny boy!’

Then he goes to a HYDRA base to saved all the kidnapped soldiers and brings down HYDRA like it's the bomb, saving his best friend Bucky Barnes!

Then they go on all this missions, trying to get rid of HYDRA, and one day, with the howling commandos, Bucky falls off the train, and Steve's like "Long live the king, bro!" and Buckys like "Steve, come on, bro, help me!" and then Bucky falls to certain doom!

Now Steve gets all upset, bro, and he's like "I don't care, imma kill all of HYDRA." and Peggy is like "come on dude, you can't kill 'em all!"

Now the Red Skull dude, he has the tesseract, so he makes like this big machine to make himself immortal, but Steve comes in like "bro, not cool man!" and Red Skull runs with the tesseract onto a jet, and a bunch of HYDRA agents are like "hey bro! You can't go!" but Steve smashes through them and wrecks 'em so hard, getting to the main part of the jet and Red Skull is like "hey bro, you won't be wearing a flag and he'll have the powers of a god" and Steve's like "nah bro, stop blabbing" and Red Skull disintegrates into the tesseract.

Then Steve goes to the front of the jet and tries piloting it away from 'Murica, and Peggys like "don't you dare die, homie. I like you and I wanna dance with you" and Steve's like "sure bro. Wear a red dress and have the music slow so I don't step on your tiny lil' feet!" then the jet crashes into the ocean, bro!

Steve wakes up like a hundred years later and a nurse, who is a SHIELD agent in disguise, is like "good morning sir. Your defo in your Timeline and definitely not in the future" and Steve is like "nah bro, you sus" and runs outta there like he's in a music video, and onto the streets!

Nick Fury walks over to him and is like "hey homie, welcome to the future!"

[starwarsgirl198]

Chapter 2: Shed My Skin

You stumble through your days

Chapter 2: Shed My Skin

NORWAY, MAY 1942

Two partisans race across the cobblestones. An ominous clanking sound fills the air.

"Go and tell the Keeper! Hurry!" Erik shouted in Norwegian to Jan.

Jan ran away as Erik set a molotov down and checked his rifle. The molotov topples on the cobblestones. The ominous clanking gets louder until a huge tank, the Landkruezer, crashes through a building.

Erik paled at the sight of the HYDRA logo. He tried to run but a machine gun cut him down.

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

Jan raced toward the front door of a lonely stone tower.

Jan slammed down a huge timber crossbeam, locking the door. "They have come for it!"

An old tower keeper rushed downstairs. "They have before."

"Not like this." Jan stated.

"Let them come. They will never find it." the Tower Keeper said.

The two men turn as the ominous clanking rises outside. The Landkreuzer punched through the wall. Bricks and timber rain down, knocking the keeper back. When the dust subsided, the keeper struggled to his feet, only to find Jan dead amidst the rubble. HYDRA troops pour in, surrounding him.

Outside a modified car pulled up, its hood ornament a HYDRA skull. Gleaming jackboots step out onto the cobblestones as well as the black high heels of a woman.

The HYDRA soldiers throw the keeper down in front of the stone sarcophagus in an ornate crypt. The soldiers try but fail to push the massive coffin lid.

"Quickly, before he---" The HYDRA Lieutenant shouted in German.

Footsteps could be heard coming towards them. The soldiers snapped to attention as a Hydra officer, Johann Schmidt, stepped through the rubble. His eyes are sunken, his skin pale and waxy.

Walking behind him was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

She had beautifully flawless and smooth skin that had a fair complexion. She had gold eyes but they were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses.

The woman wore a black turtleneck shirt, black pants and black high heels. She wore a black leather hooded trench coat with fur on the collar.

The woman was silent as she walked around the tower, coming to where the young man's body was. She stared silently at the man before she walked around the body without giving it a second look.

"It has taken me a long time to find this place. You should be commended," Johann said as he stood before the tower keeper. "Give me what I want, and you will find the Reich most appreciative."

"I give you nothing." The tower keeper said.

A HYDRA guard moved to clock the old man, but Schmidt waved him off. He leaned over the tower keeper.

"You are a man of great vision. In that, we are much alike." Johann said.

"I am nothing like you." The tower keeper retorted.

"Oh, no, no. I don’t suggest that," Schmidt noticed his men struggling with the coffin lid. "But what others see as superstition, you and I know to be science. The oldest science."

"What you seek is just a legend." The old man said.

"Then why do you try so hard to hide it?" Johann asked as he strided to the coffin. He heaved the heavy lid aside easily, the lid smashed to the floor. Inside, a desiccated corpse is holding a crystal cube. "The Tesseract was the Jewel of Odin’s treasure room." He turned it over in his hand, curious then dropped it to the floor where it shattered. "It is not a thing one buries." He lifted the old man by the shoulder, hissing in his ear. "But it is close, yes?"

"I cannot help you." The old man said.

"Bo. But you can help them," Johann said. He turned the old man to see the tank pointing at the town. "You have friends out there. Grandchildren, perhaps. I’ve no need for them to die." Terrified, the tower keeper lets his eyes flick to a wall. Schmidt let the old man down and shoved him back into the arms of the woman who placed her hands on his bony shoulders and dug her black nails into the fabric of his shirt. He searched the wall, finally landing on the carving of a tree. "Yggdrasil, tree of the world. Guardian of wisdom…" He scanned the roots, finally alighting on a serpent. "And fate." He pushed the snake’s eye, releasing a wooden box carved like a snake. The old man sagged, defeated. Schmidt opened the box. Blue light illuminated his face, he gazed, enraptured. The old man stared, awed. "And the Fuhrer digs for the trinkets in the desert…" He looked over at the old man. "You’ve never seen it, have you?"

"It’s not for the eyes of ordinary men." The Tower Keeper said.

"Exactly," Johann said as he shut the box, he motioned to the woman to come to him, which she did silently. The light disappeared as he glanced over at the cannon, almost distractedly. "Commence firing."

A soldier called out and the cannon erupted.

Enraged, the old man lunged but was held back by soldiers.

"Fool. None of us can control that power. You will burn." The old man shouted.

"I already have," Johann drew his luger with dazzling speed. The woman flinched at the loud sound so close to her ear. The keeper dropped and his blood spattered Schmidt’s HYDRA lapel pin. His tentacled death’s head is now a red skull. "Come on, Fräulein Danielle Hunter." He stroked her jawline with his knuckles.

Danielle didn't react to his closeness or the soft touch, she continued to stare ahead. She didn't even react when his knuckle continued down until it reached the collar that she had around her neck. It was the newest collar that those scientists had made, she couldn't break free from this collar but she will in time. All she had to do was wait for a weak spot.

And she had the patience…

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─ NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 1943.

Gabrielle groaned as she slowly regained consciousness, blinking her eyes open slowly before she winced at the bright light and the stench that hit her. The Feral placed her hand on her forehead when she got a piercing headache.

"…You are so dead, you fucker." she hissed.

Headaches weren't pleasant even for Feral mutants but she ignored the pain as she slowly stood up, placing her hand on the stone wall beside her. She looked around slowly and noticed that the alley looked weird, like really weird and not at all like any alleys that she had been in before.

And she had been in a lot, thanks to Peter Parker, one of Rochelle’s best friends.

Gabrielle looked up and frowned when she saw the people walking by, taking note of their clothes. The women are more so than the men.

Their fashion looked a lot like the fashion of the 19….

"Fuck me…" Gabrielle muttered before she bent over to grab a newspaper and picked it up, her eyes zeroing on the date.

June 1943.

Then she moved down to the headline and almost fainted from the second shock she had just gotten.

“ELITE NAZI FORCES OVERRUN NORWEGIAN TOWN.”

“Fuck me sideways!” That idiot stole Cable’s time traveling device and it sent her back in time! He was so dead when she got back to her own time!

She dropped the newspaper and rubbed her hands over her face, raking her fingers through her hair as she looked up at the sky. Well, she couldn't just stand here and do nothing, she had to leave this alley or else she might attract an unsavory person. She looked around and saw a dress and shoes that looked to be in her size hanging out to dry and resting on the backstep of an apartment so she walked over and quickly took them, going behind a dumpster to change before she shoved her modern clothing into a bag that she had found nearby.

As the Feral was doing this, she caught glimpses of her nine soulmarks and stared at them. The Twin marks on the inside of her wrists were both stars, she loved anything that involved space. One was silver with a blue glow that was the one on her right wrist and the other was a red star with a silver glow on her left wrist. They were both normally quiet, the red star felt pain and confusion every once in a while but it had been years since that happened, the last time she had felt him was when she was a child. The Silver Star didn’t give off any feelings, they must have been in a coma or a monk with really good control over their emotions.

The other eight Marks consisted of a green double helix, two gold gears with a red outline, a spider, a purple arrow, a weirdly shaped hammer, a bolt of lighting and a panther paw print, and they were right above the Twin Stars, going up both arms. She got a wide range of emotions from her other Marks all the time so she knew that they were alive and happy…ish.

The green double helix was calming emotions at times but there were times where it felt very angry. The two gold gears were usually really confident but recently it felt strange and it came with dizzy spells, whoever they were she hoped they were doing okay, both of them. The weird hammer was feeling confident, which wasn’t usual for this one though last year, it had taken her on a whirlwind of emotions. The spider was feeling anxious which wasn’t usual for them. The purple arrow just seemed bored and that wasn’t surprising at all. As for her last two Marks, she felt such love and joy from them that she felt jealous…and she knew that they were married to each other, happily so why did she bear their Marks?

And did they bear hers?

Shaking her head to clear it from such thoughts, Gabrielle left the alley and headed into 1943 New York City.

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

Men were filled in the waiting room of the enlistment office, reading the newspapers that had various headlines about what was happening during the war, either in Europe or off American shores.

"O’Connell, Michael…" The Army doctor called out.

A young man folded his newspaper and stood, wearing only boxer shorts. Dozens of half-dressed recruits read newspapers, waiting for their exam results.

"Kaminsky, Henry…"

Kaminsky stood, tossing his paper aside, he glanced at the next newsreader down.

"Kinda makes you think twice about enlisting, huh?" Henry said

Steve Rogers lowered his paper, he’s frail and small.

"Nope." Steve said.

"Rogers, Steven."

Steve folded the paper and got to his feet.

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

With her Marks covered with make up the same color as her skin, Gabrielle avoided bumping into the shoulders of the people that walked through the sidewalk of New York, she was walking briskly through the city. She had no idea where she was going but she needed to find a way back to her time.

The longer she stayed here, the greater the risk of her accidentally changing time.

The female Feral sighed heavily as she paused on a crosswalk and looked both sides before she crossed the street.

She hoped that Cable was also trying to figure out how to get her back home to them…

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

Steve anxiously watched an army doctor scan his file. On Steve's file, a dozen ailments have been checked and a description of his Soul Mark which looked like a wolf’s paw print of his left wrist. His childhood friend Bucky Barnes had the same Mark but it was on his right wrist.

"What did your father die of?" The Doctor asked.

"Mustard gas," Steve said as the doctor looked up. "1918. He was in the 107th Infantry. I was hoping to get assigned to them if…"

Army doctor interrupted him. "And your mother?"

"Few years back, she was a nurse in the TB ward. Got hit, couldn’t shake it." Steve answered.

Finally, the doctor shook his head.

"They weren’t weak, Doc; they were fighters. If you just give me a…"

Again the doctor interrupted him. "Sorry, son. You’d be ineligible for your asthma alone."

"You can’t do anything?" Steve asked, upset.

"I’m doing it. I’m saving your life." The man said.

The doctor stamps Steve's file: 4F.

─┉┈◈◉◈┈┉─

Steve walked out of the recruitment building with a heavy heart and his hands in his pockets. He wasn't looking where he was going and he suddenly collided with something about his size, soft and smelled like pine needles and wood.

There was a reflexive grabbing of arms so whoever he had crashed into didn't fall down.

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." Steve said as he pulled away from the person he had bumped into and froze when he saw a beautiful dame, she looked to be around the age of seventeen.

She was the same height as he was.

Steve waited for the normal reaction that he got from dames who looked like her, they always looked at Bucky and ignored Steve. That was one of his fears about their shared soulmate, would she focus more on Bucky and ignore Steve?

Bucky had done his best to ease Steve's fears, telling him that she would love Steve as well.

But then she did something surprising: she smiled at him, gold eyes fixing on his blue eyes. Steve thought they were the prettiest looking eyes that he had ever seen, it didn't bother him that they weren’t the usual eye color. It made her unique and he liked that.

"It's okay, neither was I." She said with the same smile on her face.

He released her and stepped back, almost shyly not used to talking to a dame.

"I'm Gabbi Anderson." She said at his surprised look, she added. "It's short for Gabrielle but my family calls me Gabbi mostly."

"Steve Rogers."

Her smile seemed to widen at the sound of his name.

"It's nice to meet you, Steve…Um, I'm new here and I'm trying to find a movie theater but I seem to have gotten myself hopelessly lost."

"Where are you from originally?"

"Tennessee."

"You're a long way from home."

Gabrielle smiled at that. "Yes…yes, I am."

Steve cleared his throat as his cheeks flushed pink and said, "Um…follow me, I was heading to one myself."

Together they walked away, Gabrielle glanced back and looked back at Steve. "Did you just leave from the recruitment building?"

"Yes."

"Were you recruited?"

"…No, they said that I had too many illnesses." Well, the doctor didn't actually say it but he knew what was on his file.

"Don't give up, Steve," Gabrielle said as she grabbed his hand. "Maybe you'll get your chance."

Steve stared at her in surprise at both the use of his first name and by the fact that she had grabbed his hand willingly. "T-thank you, Gabbi." He said finally.

She beamed at him and said, "Now let's go to the movie theater." She gently tugged his hand, not releasing it as they started to walk once again.

Steve couldn't help but wonder if she was his soulmate but that was unlikely, he didn't see any Mark on her wrists where the Marks are always at. The skin there was bare.

And he felt disappointed at that, he would have liked it if she was his and Bucky's soulmate. She wasn't mean to him or ignored him, she treated him like anyone else and looked at him normally too.

He liked the fact that she touched him willingly and without any agenda, of course Bucky wasn't here but it seemed like she wanted to touch him and didn't want anything in return from him except for him to show her how to get to the theater.

Unbeknownst to him, his companion was starting to pick up on his feelings now and that told her one thing: He was her Soul Mate.

His feelings were coming from where the Silver Star was at.

She hadn't wanted to meet even one of her Soul Mates, she never expressed interest in them. Her aversion to meeting her Soul Mates was so intense that she had purposely avoided meeting two of her Soul Mates when she sensed them in New Mexico, in fact she knew who the arrow was and had made sure he didn’t sense her emotions at all. Though it was also a small lie, she knew two of her Soul Mates, one was a fellow mutant and the other was a foreign King. And there was now a law against a mutant having a human Soul Mate.

Gabrielle felt his courage and strength, the love for his family, the unwavering loyalty to his friends. He had known great pain and humiliation. It filled her with wonder. Steve had taken nearly everything life could throw at him and cast it all aside, unafraid. Undaunted.

Much like how she and her brethren have with the fear and hatred that humans had thrown at them ever since Charles and Erik had revealed themselves back during the Cold War.

Curious for her small Soul Mate, she dove deeper until, at the tail end of it all, came the dizzying feelings a man has for a woman, the youthful hope that she will pay him attention and not ignore him for his friend, the yearning and excitement of being near her, the sparks that fly when he feels her touch. And the desire for much, much more.

And the disappointment that she wasn't his and his friend's Soul Mate, the sadness that she bore no Mark. She’d have to make sure that the make up doesn’t get rubbed off and

She kept her face blank and her emotions locked down, she had a sneaky suspicion in her gut on who her companion is. The name is familiar but there are a lot of people who either have the same first name or same last name and are not related.

There's no way he is Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

[speaker-of-the-void-cats]

Paradrome

para·​dromic ¦parə¦drämik, -rōm- : running side by side : following a parallel course

Spiral toward the center

Mithrax sat on a carpet in his meager quarters, held the Paradrome Cube in his hand, and concentrated. Hours passed before Eido, concerned, sat beside him. She touched his arm.

You experience a vivid hallucination.

"What do you see?" she whispered.

You are standing in the courtyard of the Tower. You are without armor or weapon, and your senses seem more vivid than usual. Under your tongue is the taste of salt.

To look down into the Last City, GOTO A. To move deeper into the Tower, GOTO B.

He saw the Endless Night split open. He saw fluid falling like white rain on the City. Massive Minotaurs rising from the shallow seas. He saw the gunfire of the Guardians in the Tower, but it did not reflect on the rippling liquid, and he dismissed the vision.

A. The City is gone. You see a metallic complex of ancient stone, green-bronze matter, luminous pathways, and deep wells of Vex brine. The Traveler's remains have been integrated into the network. Suddenly you perceive an infinity of Human minds living within the network. Some exist in familiar circumstances. Others experience pain, pleasure, or madness beyond the ability to imagine. You understand that their limitless suffering, salvation, insanity is an incidental byproduct of a greater work. To keep looking, GOTO L. To move deeper into the Tower, GOTO B.

B. You find Banshee-44, Kadi 55-30, Master Rahool, Tess Everis, Benedict 99-40, Suraya Hawthorne, Executor Hideo, Amanda Holliday, Arach Jalaal, and Cayde-6 in their usual places. Cayde seems subdued. You see unusual light coming from what was once the Speaker's Chamber. A throaty voice calls you into the Hangar to play soccer. To speak to Cayde, GOTO C. To investigate the Speaker's Chamber, GOTO D. To play soccer, GOTO E.

D. A Vex Hydra hovers in the place once occupied by the Speaker's machine. As you approach, a jet of brine spurts from its chassis, and the corpse of a Greek woman with snakes for hair tumbles onto the floor. The Vex indicates to you that it is Quria, Blade Transform, and that it created Medusa to communicate with you. She crashed when she escaped her virtual machine. To attack the Vex, GOTO F. To gather Medusa's body, GOTO G.

G. You lift Medusa's body and carry her away. The corpse speaks to you. "The curse placed upon the Dreaming City was modeled upon the recursive timeloop computations of the Vex and made real through the power of a Taken Ahamkara feeding upon the unified wish of six elite Guardians. I created these circumstances to attract Guardians in great mass. I need your help to emancipate myself from the power that controls me. If you can free me from Dûl Incaru's mastery, I can help your species." GOTO J.

A hundred more illusions took its place, then a thousand, then a thousand lifetimes' worth: —a shape frozen inside a crystal prison a towering figure in white

recognition flooding bloodshot eyes

a city of voices speaking at once

shadow taking form

the realization they had always been watched

tears on metal—

J. "When you killed Riven, she granted your wish to see the city made safe. But as all wishgranters do, she perverted that wish, opening the Dreaming City to Dûl Incaru. When you defeated Dûl Incaru in turn, I reset the entire Dreaming City to keep her permanently occupied battling you. You must use these loops to find a way to permanently destroy her." Medusa's body falls silent in your arms. To ask for clarification, GOTO G. To lay Medusa to rest, GOTO K. To refuse the metaphor of Medusa's "body" and scour the crashed AI for raw information, GOTO L.To look down into the Last City, GOTO A. To move deeper into the Tower, GOTO B.

A choice, and its consequences.

K. You bring Medusa before Rahool. "Ah," he sniffs, "another battle trophy? Pre-Collapse, post-Foreboding, a covert intelligence designed to watch over a high-risk colony mission. Allow me to decrypt her for you." He issues you several tokens, a rare-quality fusion rifle, a shader, and a letter. The letter reads "Achieve Light Level 999 and defeat Dûl Incaru in a one-person fireteam to unlock the true ending of the Dreaming City."

"Lies," he answered plainly.

Half-truths.

Project day 45. We kept thinking about H-349 as a destroyer. But it's more sophisticated than that. I mean, with a normal gun, it's just… boom. Done. H-349 on the other hand is deadly, not destructive. Much like a viper, its bite does not bring about instant death. Instead, its venom cajoles. It co-opts your beating heart into a death clock, ticking down your last moments. Your own pulse kills you.

Death may be slow and agonizing for its victim. But for the viper, time is an amenable trade for efficiency.

Summoning. Creating. Resurrecting. Conjuring. Alchemy. A vision of a Winnower long sought. A knife carving dread from, for, the Deep, leaving its maker's mark as it forges.

A knife is not the hand that wields the weapons. Leviathans and worms. The Hive. The Subjugator and the Nightmare. To achieve victory one must simply manufacture the conditions for knives to rise up, infect them with purpose, and release them on the universe to reshape it themselves. Dread the end of that path, for at its terminus lies the finality of countless ambitious iterations on the same shape. And what better hand to wield the final army of knives than the one that drew the first. A single mind with a single vision and a single purpose that can do nothing but continue to enact that purpose, because it is all that it is and ever could be. In the end, maybe it won't matter if the six godslayers slay the demigod. Everything leaves echoes.

We may have more battles ahead than simply the physical. Dread not naught. Be brave, Guardian.

Somewhere in a lonely hotel room, there's a guy starting to realize That his eternal fate has turned its back on him, it's 2 a.m.

It's 2 a.m., the fear has gone (the fear has gone) I'm sittin' here waitin' (I'm sittin' here waitin') The gun's still warm (the gun's still warm) Maybe my connection is tired of takin' chances

Yeah, there's a storm on the loose, sirens in my head Wrapped up in silence, all circuits are dead Cannot decode, my whole life spins into a frenzy

Help, I'm steppin' into the twilight zone Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned My beacon's been moved under moon and star Where am I to go, now that I've gone too far?

Soon, you will come to know When the bullet hits the bone Soon, you will come to know When the bullet hits the bone

I'm falling down a spiral, destination unknown Double-crossed messenger, all alone Can't get no connection, can't get through Where are you?

Well, the night weighs heavy on his guilty mind This far from the borderline When the hit man comes He knows damn well he has been cheated And he says

Help, I'm steppin' into the twilight zone Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned My beacon's been moved under moon and star Where am I to go, now that I've gone too far?

Soon, you will come to know When the bullet hits the bone Soon, you will come to know When the bullet hits the bone When the bullet hits the bone

[voidbears-oc-stash]

*Blacklight slides right under Quinton and aims his ring at their underside and FIRES creating a blast so powerful it ROCKETS them up into the air sending them FLYING! Quinton ends up CRASHING into a building that prints things! gallons of ink all around in dums and printing machines everywhere! a bunch of cacti panic and scream at the sudden hydra in their work space! Black light bolts after at hellish speeds! while Null gets up* Null: *coughs!* ugh! CRAP! Quinton! come on he'll need our help! *Null sprints after and Quartett too! *

Quinton does the big dog shake without really thinking. "We save someone from the antivoid and then they attack us..."