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scribeofmorpheus · 6 years ago

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Counterpart [3/5]

Pairing: Bucky x Reader x Framework!Steve

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Words: 6k -Yeesh!

A/N: Okay so during Civil War (which I’m using as a timeline building block where Hydra wiped out what was left of Shield’s hero’s ) Iron Man vs Cap did happen but with a twist. Vision exists in the Framework but his name is Spectre and he looks like the original version from the comics. Also, in advance, I’m sorry, but I did say shit was gonna get dark. Also, I may do a Framework Avengers vs Hydra spin off.

Note: To clear up any confusion, everything in Italics happened in the past: memories, CCTV footage, videos etc.

Warnings: This chapter contains depictions and mentions of alcoholism, language, violence, minor-character death, etc.

It’s a dark series, expect a darker take.

PART THREE: WHO THE FUCK IS BUCKY?

"Switch weapons to non-lethal, we want them alive for questioning. Concussive rounds only!" You relayed your orders to your men.

As you advanced into the building, you heard a body thud onto a car's roof from the levels above.

"One of ours?" You asked into the comms.

"That's a negative," Clint relayed with a cocky tone as another body crashed on top of another car's roof.

"Barton, I said non-lethal," you chastised.

Barton sighed, "Guy fell out a three-story window, the SUV broke his fall, he isn't dead. Look I can see him now, his fingers are twitching."

"Yeah it's called muscle spasms, corpses do that too!" You shot back.

"Slow down on the property damage, Barton. You have swords, use them!" Steve barked orders at your partner's reckless antics. The sound of people screaming followed suit.

"I told you, you should have gone on your damned honeymoon!" Clint said in an exasperated huff directed at you.

"Jesus, you two!" You sighed, "Keep the comms clear guys!"

You took cover beside a door as several of your men took up positions according to your hand gestures. You crouched down, gave the go signal and laid down cover fire as they advanced into the building.

You took down three people, all dressed in old Shield gear.

"Three down, ground floor is clear," you chimed in as you tapped on the Hydra agent's shoulder in front of you, signalling for him to take his men and ascend the stairs.

"Three? Someone's slacking" You could all but picture Clint's shit-eating grin.

There was a low rumble coursing through the building making furniture and light fixtures shake. Just then Clint's comms were filled with static before coming online again

"Barton you good?" you asked in a panic.

After some coughing and a few grunts, he replied sheepishly, "Yeah, yeah, don't mother-hen, it's not endearing. It was a fucking EMP, one of your grunts triggered a tripwire."

"Shit," you cursed, signalling for your men to spread out and keep an eye out. "Is he alright?"

Barton sneered, "Nah, the blast knocked him clear, he fell three stories directly onto concrete. Idiots dead."

"Top floor is clear," Steve said. "Moving down. Stay alert, I don't want any more casualties. Paperwork's a bitch!"

"Copy," both you and Clint said at the same time.

"Hey, Barton, be care--"

"Yeah, yeah. This isn't my first rodeo partner," Clint chuckled. Just then his comms started to break up. "I- comi- up- o-" a metallic screech bombarded your eardrums, everyone clenched from discomfort. "Got... eyes on!"

"Barton, repeat, you're breaking up!" You shouted as you raced for the stairs, shooting and disarming several enemies along the way. "Barton!"

As soon as your hand touched the railing, a whole section of the building caved in. You ducked away from the falling debris that crushed several of your men. Blood and concrete dust was all you could see as a ringing noise punctured your ear.

You coughed a few times, whacking the dust away from your face. You covered your nose with your elbow slung around your face. When the dust cleared, you saw the aftermath of a controlled EID having gone off. A section of the floor above was now a pile of rubble at your feet.

"Y/N! Can- y- hea--" Steve's comms were muddled, breaking out between words.

You adjusted your comms until it became as clear as a whistle again.

"Y/N? Anyone? Do you copy? What's the sit-rep?" Steve barked angrily.

"It's Y/N, I copy."

"Thank heavens!" Steve let out a breath. "The fuck just happened?"

"EID. Controlled burst. Half the third floor caved in," you informed him as you carefully made your way up solo. "I'm going to look for Barton."

"Copy. I'm authorising deadly force. I'm done playing nice!" Steve said menacingly as the sound of bullets hailing down echoed over the comms. And soon, chaos ensued. Gunfire, flash grenades, screams and blood sprays. The building complex transformed into a battle zone.

When you came around a corner obstructed by some rubble, you heard some faint coughs followed by the sound of strained groans.

"Barton that you?"

"About fucking time, my leg is pinned," Barton's words slipped passed the obstructing debris.

"I'll have to set a charge to clear the rubble before I can get to you."

"Shit," Clint said in a tone that informed you he was contemplating something. "Forget it, go after her."

"Her?" When the question came out, a plasma charge burned a hole through the adjacent wall, missing your nose by an inch. With wide eyes, you ducked, rolled and shot at the direction the charge came from. Standing in a patched up blue, silver and red suit of armour was the Iron Maiden. "Oh, her."

You fired off several shots, radioing in as you advanced towards the metal suited woman: "Barton needs assistance on the fourth floor. I've got sights on the Iron Maiden."

"That's a copy. HQ just informed me Spectre is inbound. Let's wrap this up before that can-opener gets credit for another one of our missions," Steve replied as wind zipped over his comms. He was moving fast.

"I hate that fucking clank!" You spit as you charged into the next room, emptying your clip and reloading with the magazine that held electro-rounds.

The Iron Maiden shot off plasma beam after beam, at one point using a continuous stream to all but cut through the entire room.

"Arrrgh!" The beam singed your cheek. You rolled and shot at her chest in a tight six-shot formation. The suit overloaded and dropped to the ground in a loud clanking sound. The armour opened up to reveal no one inside. It was on auto-pilot. "The suit was a distraction! There's equipment up ahead, computers. I think I see a command centre, I'm going in."

"Shit!" Steve cursed, "Stand down. Wait for backup. Y/N, did you hear wha--"

As soon as you entered the metal-encased room, your comms stopped broadcasting. The static nearly deafened you, forcing you to throw your ear-piece on the ground.

You stalked into the room quietly. A makeshift command centre had been set up. Computers, radios and weapons crates filled the room. There were several display cases housing mechanical suits patched together with mismatching parts labelled Mark XLIX. A large unopened metal case had the words: 'Rescue, MK-1616,' printed on it. In smaller font below that was an inscription: 'To my love, Pepper. In case I need a rescue.'

A hot flash of pain ripped through your shoulder followed by the sound of a gunshot. You sucked in air before dropping to the ground and firing two shots. One slug hit the wall. The other hit a strawberry blonde woman above the navel.

Pepper gasped and braced her stomach with all eight fingers, a look of defeat on her face as the gun hit the floor. She brought a bloody hand to hit a wall panel, sealing the panic room shut.

You stood from the floor slowly, "Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, as an agent of Hydra, and for the protection of the people, I hereby place you under arrest."

You hobbled over to her, cuffs in one hand, gun in the other.

Pepper coughed weakly, a grim smile on her face, "Just get it over with and kill me. You people have already taken the one person I ever cared about." Her eyes fell on a half singed photo of her and Tony.

"Tony Stark died of his own ignorance when he blew up that airport," you said.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "You're the ignorant one, letting Hydra brainwash you like the sheep you are." She spat blood onto the floor. "The explosion was a cover-up."

You clicked your tongue at her nonsensical story, "Shield sympathisers and your love of propaganda. You can drop the charade, your days of terror are over."

You cuffed her hands together and pulled out a compression bandage and applied it to her stomach roughly.

"Hhnnggg..." she gurgled and spat more blood, laughing afterwards with blood-stained teeth. "See for yourself." Her head nudged towards a computer with a video kept on pause.

You got back up, eyes locked on the computer, uncertain of how to proceed.

Banging emanated off the metal door that kept you trapped inside. You looked down at Pepper, her eyes fixed on the engraving written on the metal crate.

"I say you have 30 seconds before they break through. Tick-tock, the truth waits for no one," she bit her lip with a sharp inhale as blood trickled through the bandage.

"Fuck!" You cursed yourself as curiosity got the better of you.

You placed your gun on the table, pressed the enter key on the keyboard and slapped on a compression bandage on your shoulder, eyes fixed on the cam quality recording.

***

Tony crashed through two parking garage columns, debris almost burying his suit.

"Auxiliary power failing, boss." Friday's voice came off as a silent lament for what was about to unfold.

"I know," Tony said solemnly. "Do me a favour and call Pepper would ya?" He struggled to fly on one working leg, jet engines sputtering like a choking tail pipe.

“Propulsion systems going offline, sir.”

“Just focus on calling Pepper!”

"Calling Pepper Potts," Friday relayed as Steve grabbed hold of Tony's leg and yanked him back down into the ground.

"Gahh!" Tony gasped as the metal suit grew heavy and limp.

Steve brought his shield to bear with all his strength, it separated the metal case protecting Tony's chest, imbedding itself inside.

Tony coughed as the sound of ringing filled his earpiece, "Come on, Pep." He prayed for her to pick up.

"I'm sorry boss, it’s gone straight to voicemail," Friday said calmly.

Steve removed his shield from Tony's chest only to use it as though it were a shovel digging up dry gravel, hammering at the suits power core until its lights began to flicker.

At the final strike, the sound of his ribs crushing inwards let out a sickly popping noise.

Tony removed his helmet, blood trickling down his nose, one eye bloodshot. He laughed ironically after the beating.

"I can't believe my father ever admired you!" Tony struggled to breathe as his airways constricted. "You were supposed to be our symbol of hope. A beacon for justice. Now look at you, nothing but Hydra's lapdog ever since they fished you out of the ocean."

Steve's head fell to look down at Tony's defeated body. A devilish smirk crossed his lips as he took a knee to whisper at Tony, "Tell me, Tony, with all that money, all that brainpower, did you ever figure out who murdered your parents?"

A smile crept over Steve's face as Tony struggled to move his hands, the metal weighing him down.

"I'll kill you!" Tony's voice cracked.

Steve laughed and stood up, eyes locked at something in the distance. "You, kill me? No. But you will kill everyone still in this airport." He pulled out a detonator from his trousers, his thumb toying with the red button.

"Is this how you envisioned your future? Is this the type of freedom you fought so hard for?" Tony asked with a patronising tone.

"You can't have peace without order," Steve said coldly. "And I am order."

Steve looked up at the concrete ceilings of the half-destroyed underground parking lot, a smug expression making him appear sinister.

"Enjoy the view," Steve walked away, the cameras unable to pick up his position anymore.

"Boss, should I try Pepper again?" Friday asked with a hushed voice between the whirring noises of the power cell powering down.

Tony grunted as he lay on the ground, pinned in place by own suit of armour, "Yeah, why no--"

White light filled the cameras as they stopped broadcasting, an error message playing on the screen as a loud tone beeped continuously.

***

"No…" Your eyes went wide as a tear trickled off your chin and onto the keyboard. Your hands were shaking, knees buckling and your throat went dry. "This… this can't- this isn't--"

You didn't know what to say. The banging noises from the door being forced open eerily resembled the sound of Steve's shield banging against the Iron Man suit. You whimpered, your palm pressed forcefully against your mouth to stifle the noises. Your wedding band, still cold to the touch, still foreign to you.

Was this the man you loved? You asked yourself over and over and over again.

The metal door flew off its hinges and crushed the metal box Pepper had been staring at, her skin turned pale.

Through the doorway, the ghost coloured android, Spectre, hovered into the room. He looked at Pepper, the display of suits and then you. His head moving like it was made of rusted joints.

"Are. You. Alright. Agent?" The androids detached voice was disarming and without personality, you hated it.

You ignored the android and set your eyes on Steve, anger forcing them to shutter into half-open slits.

"Explain what the fuck I just saw!" You demanded.

Steve placed his hands on his hips and let out a disappointed huff.

Clint hobbled into the room, whistling lowly as he patted Steve's back, "Someone's in the dog house."

Steve shrugged him off and walked towards you.

"Uh-uh," you stepped back.

Steve's brows came together in a look of anger.

"Hey clank, get her out of here!" Steve pointed to Pepper, words dripping authority. "That goes for everyone else, go secure the prisoners. Go! Get out!"

Everyone scattered out of the room as Spectre picked up Pepper gently, her smile conveying her satisfaction at the turn of events.

"Well?" You challenged Steve when it was just the two of you. "Care to explain?"

Steve noticed the bandage on your shoulder soak up with blood, "At least let me fix you up first."

"Stop trying to deflect, Steve! Explain to me why I just watched a video of you blowing up the airport in Germany! When I agreed to marry you, we swore there'd be no secrets between us!"

"It was classified!" Steve swept the computers off the table in a rageful outburst. "Compromises have to be made in our line of work. You of all people should understand that!"

"That doesn't change the fact you lied to me!"

"I never lied!"

"A lie of omission is still a lie!"

"God damn it, what do you want from me huh?" Steve's jaw clenched as he stood barely arm’s length from you. "I don't expect you to tell me every detail about your missions. For god sake, even Sharon understood that part of the job meant keeping certain things secret."

You snapped and suddenly your good hand struck across Steve's face, leaving behind a red mark and a smear of blood from your shoulder.

Steve turned to you slowly, menace in his eyes as he clenched his jaw so tight you could see his muscle working and all but picture morals cracking.

"Just this morning you regarded your ex-wife like she was the devil, and now you're using her name as an excuse to make me feel like shit for expecting you to be truthful in our marriage?" You clicked your tongue. "You're fucking unbelievable sometimes."

You stormed out, leaving Steve by himself.

***

Your legs kept twitching as you and Barton sat on a row of chairs waiting for your turn to be debriefed -or reprimanded- by Director Pierce. His howling voice creeped through the hinge gaps of his door, fist pounding on his desk like drums of war.

Clint had his eyes closed, laying back into the chair. His leg had been cleared by the doctor as only having a few contusions. You looked at the part of his pant-legs that was cut off by scissors, deep purple bruises shown off proudly as he crossed his legs at the ankle.

"You're a lucky son of a bitch, you know that."

Clint laughed before placing his hand on your leg to keep it still, "And you're a jittery one."

"This day has gone to shit," you complained as you watched Spectre being led by several junior agents into the 8x8 lock-box Hydra kept him in.

"I'll say," Clint yawned and stretched, his jaw popping. "What was all that stuff with Steve about?"

You sighed, "Just work problems. He's been keeping certain… details about his time in Germany a secret from me."

Clint chuckled as though he was a wizened elder, "And that, young sith apprentice, is why you shouldn't marry into your work, or have kids!"

You rose a brow at him, "Unbelievable. You're married to the woman who practically runs this branch, not including Mr Constant Scowl in there!" You pointed to the name plat on Pierce's door.

"Yeah, but she's the head of public relations and I'm a spy!" He said matter-of-factly. "I don't ask her about politics and she doesn't ask me about my kill count- Oh, speaking of which, what was your count?"

Clint sat up in his chair, staring at you expectantly.

"The way the day's gone to shit, I'll gladly pick up the tab!"

"Yes!" Clint clapped his hands in triumph.

The door opened and Steve stormed out of Pierce's office, side-eyeing you before he headed for the elevator.

"I may have underestimated which one of you two is in the dog house," Clint whispered to you.

You rolled your eyes.

"Y/N, get your ass in here!" Director Pierce shouted distastefully.

You heaved a sigh and walked into the office.

"Shut the door," he ordered.

You did as he commanded.

"Mind explaining to me why you disobeyed a direct order from your superior?" Pierce demanded, the lines on his forehead plentiful as he kept his scowl intact.

"Sir?"

"Agent Rogers relayed to me that he issued the use of deadly force after an explosion went off before you decided to capture Virginia Potts."

"That is correct, sir. But I saw an opportunity to gain a valuable prisoner and I took it," you defended your actions.

"Yes, and then you and your husband had a lovers quarrel in the presence of your subordinates," he banged his fist on the table. "When Rogers was married to Carter, I thought nothing of it because she works Human Resources, but he assured me the two of you would keep level heads while in the field."

"With all due respect, sir--"

Pierce stood from his seat and pointed at you, "Do not interrupt me when I'm talking!" He slapped his palm on the table. "This is your only warning. Any reckless displays like the one you did today and I'll revoke that badge!" He pointed at your badge clipped to your breast pocket.

"Now get out of my sight!" He shooed you out of the room.

"Sir," you took your leave.

Once out of the room you kicked Barton's legs, forcing him from his nap.

"Ouch, fuck!"

"Get up, I need a drink!"

Clint eyed you, "We're still on duty."

"Fuck duty," You headed for the elevator. "You coming or not? I'm buying remember!"

Clint shot up from the chair and hobbled over, "That's all you had to say!"

~Avenger's Compound

The room was pitch black save for the colour-shifting, low light that resonated off the television screen. Bucky sat in the deserted lounge area nursing a despondent mood and a heavy brow. His eyes glued to the television screen as it played back an old DVR'd recording of his legal trial that took place months before being instated as an Avenger.

The volume on the television was low, but the room was empty enough that it sounded louder than normal.

"Case 12773. James Buchanan Barnes vs the people. We call forth Steve Rogers as a character witness for Mr Barnes who is on trial for any illegal activities committed in the name of the secret organisation known as Hydra, between the years 1945 and 2016, while under duress. Mr Rogers, please take the stand." The judged banged her gavel to silence the courtroom.

An old and weary Steve moved towards the stand at a pace slower than Bucky's mind was comfortable reconciling. Knowing his best friend was nearing the end in that moment still stung even while re-watching it as an old recording.

Bucky watched in silence as he looked at Steve lobbying on his behalf to be allowed to be forgiven for past transgressions.

"He never even had the luxury of committing any of these crimes of his own free will or sound mind. They should be dismissed or at the very least declared a mistrial. These are the actions of the Winter Soldier, a weapon honed and trained by a nefarious organisation, not my oldest friend and former member of the Howling Commando's, James Buchanan Barnes," Steve's old and gravelly voice was filled with conviction as he spoke into the microphone.

The crowd started to rumble and several camera shutters sounded off as the Judge banged her gavel to regain order.

A mournful smile crept over Bucky's lips as he fought back tears at the sight of his best friend lobbying tirelessly for him.

How he wished he could turn to him at such a time.

Bucky's heart had barely started healing when Y/N had been ripped from him.

Bucky paused the recording at the moment when Y/N had taken his hand reassuringly after what seemed like the hundredth procession. They had fitted him with a non-threatening prosthetic to seem less menacing in the eyes of the politicians and jury members. It didn’t stop them from staring at him in distaste every time a new piece of evidence was brought to light- and there had been a lot of damning evidence.

Bucky wasn't averse to the fact that his life came with a lot of baggage, which is why he was amazed when Y/N had stood by his side through everything. Through the gruelling and soul-crushing trial. Through those bleak, empty days that followed after Steve's funeral. Even through his reluctant integration back into the field as an Avenger.

It hadn't been easy. A lot of the public hadn't been happy with that decision, but Bucky had grown used to being under every government’s scrutinous eye. Yet, despite countless news channels and tabloid newspapers calling him a mentally unstable monster who could snap back to his old ways at any time, Y/N had stood by him.

"Broodin' in the dark?" Sam's voice called out from behind the couch.

"You know of a better place to do it?" Bucky retorted with no humour present, muting the video.

"No, this'll do it," Sam replied. “I thought I’d find you in the gym, working over that punchin’ bag you’ve taped to hell and back. Or at the very least lifting some iron. This is a change of pace.” he sat on the other end of the couch.

"Please, make yourself comfortable, it's not like I wanted to be alone," Bucky said sarcastically.

"Like I needed your permission," Sam jabbed.

“The punching bag is just a bag now.” Bucky revealed.

Sam nodded in understanding.

"Any updates?" Bucky seemed almost afraid to ask.

"No, we're still trying to track her signal," he said before looking at the screen in recognition. "Oh, shit. The trial. Damn, I do not miss those days. I had to wear my uncle Earl's suit, it stunk of weed, he says it’s for a prescription but I know better. How longs it been, eight months?"

Bucky refrained from laughing, "A little longer."

"That was almost as painful as the Sokovian Accords," Sam remarked.

Bucky looked at him with knitted brows, "We were fugitives then."

Sam let a full laugh out, "Yeah, and that was still a less stressful time."

"Weren't you shot out of the sky?"

"Yeah, almost, but you got your ass handed to you by a fourteen-year-old," Sam retorted.

“So did you.”

"Ah, good times."

Both men chuckled at the remarkable power of hindsight.

Sam tapped on the couch excitedly when he remembered something, "Hey, fast forward to the time they put Shuri on the stand. I love how she makes all those suits look like idiots when she talks about all the scientific gobbledygook she used to tape your mind back together."

Bucky sighed heavily, but a small smile peaked across his cheeks as he fast-forwarded the recording.

Midway through the video, Bucky was reminded of something funny during his rehab in Wakanda.

Sam caught sight of him letting out a silent laugh.

"What?" he asked.

"Uhh, it's nothing," Bucky tried to deflect.

"Spit it out Tin-can!" Sam said impatiently.

"During my rehab, Shuri started talking about the benefits of physical therapy. In the middle of her long-winded explanations, I used to zone out a lot when she used big scientific words, I lost track of what she was saying and blindly agreed to this therapeutic exercise she recommended. Turns out it was a week of yoga."

Sam burst out laughing, his hand slapped his chest in amusement. "Did you have to wear yoga pants?"

Bucky opened his mouth to answer but thought against it once Sam laughed even louder.

Out of the blue, a red streak of light reflected off the glass windows of the lounge prompting Bucky and Sam to crane their necks in the opposite direction.

Wanda tapped on the glass and ushered them outside.

When they walked out into the night, they caught sight of Wanda holding onto a small thumb drive and sporting a satisfied smile, "We located Y/N!"

"We?" Sam asked

At the same time, Bucky also asked, "You found her?"

"Me, Friday and Pepper!" Wanda pointed to the blue Iron-Woman suit that had just landed a few feet away with a heavy metallic thud.

"Boys," Pepper greeted from within the Rescue suit.

"Pepper," Sam waved. "Is that really you, or--"

The helmet of the Rescue suit peeled back revealing no one inside before closing again. "Sadly, I couldn't be there in person. I'm gonna hand the reigns over to Friday, she'll set the co-ordinates into the Quin Jet and provide assistance on your mission. I have a girl’s sleepover to supervise... on a school night no less."

"Thanks, Pepper," Wanda smiled.

"Anytime," Pepper logged off and the distinct Irish lilt of the Friday program came online: "I'll go get the jet ready, boss." The Rescue suit took the thumb drive from Wanda and flew towards the garage.

Bucky had looked a little lost through the whole exchange, but his eyes showed how determined he was to get things rolling.

Wanda continued, "Using Stark's satellites, we managed to pin-point her location to a set radius over the Weddell Sea. All we have to do is connect Friday's mainframe to the Quin jet, which she's handling, and we're good to go."

Bucky sprinted to the jet hanger after Friday without a seconds thought.

Wanda was about to follow suit when she noticed Sam hadn't moved.

"What are you waiting for, Sam? Gear up!"

"Are you sure you're ready for active duty?" Sam asked.

Wanda, in turn, cocked her head to the side and said, "My friend is in danger, of course I am!"

"That's all I needed to hear," Sam smiled proudly as he and Wanda made for the hanger.

~Several Hours Later, Over the Weddell Sea

"Coming up on the signal, boss," Friday informed Wanda. "It seems like the signal's remained stationary."

All three of them were geared up, wired up and more than ready to get their teammate back.

"Probably a base of operations," Sam noted.

"The scans show no entrance above ground," Bucky frowned. "Diving suits?"

"We'd mobilise faster if we had an underwater vehicle," Sam noted. "Besides, if we jump from this high..."

"Gravity," Bucky nodded, following Sam's train of thought. "So we can't jump, we'll have to land."

Wanda walked over to the Quin Jet's hull and pressed the button that opened the doors, depressurising the jet in a rush of strong wind.

"No, we jump on my mark," Wanda said boldly. "Leave gravity to me."

"Boss, this suit doesn't have underwater capabilities, you'll have to take me along with this," the Rescue suit handed Wanda the flash drive.

Sam and Bucky exchanged cautious looks before standing beside Wanda, her eyes glowing red.

"Now," Wanda signalled as she dove headfirst out of the jet.

"Shit!" Sam groaned as he followed second.

Bucky squeezed something tied around his neck and said in silent prayer, "Hold on, doll. We're coming." And then he dove third.

As all three of them were pulled down headfirst by gravity, their speed increasing as they descended further.

Sam instinctively began to brace but suddenly a whirlpool began to form, separating the seawater to form a tunnel that drilled downwards until it reached a man-made structure. Red streaks of mist mixed with the dark water to form spiralling stripes of red and navy.

Bucky began to feel his body growing lighter and lighter, red mist covering him, Wanda and Sam in puffs of smoke.

When they reached the seafloor, they touched down lightly, the whirlpool following them like a protective perimeter.

Bucky looked up, only to see a roof of water rippling about. The whirlpool had transformed into a dome below surface level. Wanda began to breathe heavy, her fingers held up as though she were simply holding an umbrella for them.

"There," Sam pointed out as he looked at his tablet, a glowing force field shielding a metal gate. "The origin of the signal."

"You were right, it is a base," Bucky said.

"That looks like alien tech," Sam noted.

"Mind if we hurry this along boys, the sea is quite heavy," Wanda strained.

***

Once they were inside the compound, Bucky and Sam handled most of the heavy lifting, allowing Wanda a bit of respite. All their opponents were clad in black tactical gear, no flags, sigil’s or markings.

Bucky transformed into a brutal machine, dispensing of all potential threats thrown their way with lethal precision and a feral show of uncontrolled power. Sam and Wanda would occasionally have to pry him off someone when he began to seered. He was unhinging.

"Black ops?" Sam asked

Wanda shook her head as she used her ability to restrain Bucky after an outburst, "Hiding under an Ocean floor bed? No, they scavenged the alien tech. Whoever they are, they aren't military or government."

"Hhhhh!" He resisted against her powers but then let out a deep sigh.

"You good?" She asked.

Bucky shook the Winter Soldier's temperamental resurgence away, "Yeah."

"Let’s go," Wanda released her telekinetic grip from him.

Along the way, Wanda spotted an odd Z shaped symbol spray painted into the walls. She recognised it from somewhere, but she couldn’t place it.

When they got to the control room, all three of them were covered in sweat, their bodies beginning to show signs of fatigue- Bucky most of all, his rage had burned through him like a match to gasoline.

"Y/N!" he shouted, relief taking over his hardened features as he raced to the sensory deprivation tank she was floating in. EEG's and EKG's wired up to her brain and heart function. A small bar at the bottom revealed her memories were at 72% synchronisation.

"We have time," Bucky said thankfully as his hand pressed against the glass.

Wanda looked around at all the other tanks filled with strangers, "Who are these people?"

"We'll answer that question once we get our girl out," Sam said as he plugged Friday's USB into the computer terminal. Sam saw a leather bound book lying on a table, “This looks important.” He flipped through the pages.

“What does it say?” Wanda asked as she took a turn about the room, inspecting the machinery which was stamped with Cyrillic, Greek and what looked to be Sokovian letters.

“I got no clue, I can’t read Hieroglyphs,” Sam tossed her the book.

Wanda grumbled after she read the title. “It’s Sokovian. I think it’s a manifesto…” Suddenly everything clicked in place. “I know what this place is. Helmut Zemo wrote a manifesto while in prison. It was in the news around the same time as Bucky’s trial. He talked about how the world’s greatest failing was superheroes. Something about the world being a better place if the Avengers never existed. If they never toyed with the idea of global security.”

"I read an old Shield case file on the way here. A man named Radcliffe invented the Framework, it was originally designed as a training simulator,” Bucky chimed in.

“So what? A group of anarchists mobilise, take his word as scripture and build a computer program where superhero’s don’t exist?” Sam asked.

The sound of soldiers mobilising to their position became cause for concern.

Bucky ran to the control room door panel and started flipping switches hoping the main entrance would seal behind them, all it did was cause several observation shutters to open and close.

Wanda sighed then shut the doors using her telekinetic powers.

"You sure are handy in a pinch," Bucky mused.

Wanda was too burnt out to think of a retort and simply nodded in agreement.

"Ugh, guys we may have a problem," Sam said.

Bucky's metal fist connected brutally with the sealed door, generating a loud metallic thud, "Why is nothing simple anymore?"

"What's the problem?" Wanda moved closer to the monitors.

Sam typed at the keys, unsure of how to proceed, "According to the program, there's no way to manually unplug someone. That case file say anything else, Buck?"

Bucky's eyes skittered in thought as the sound of a welding blade cutting through the door alerted everyone to their shortening time limit.

“A few years ago, some agents got plugged in They were rescued and successfully disconnected from the Framework before it was destroyed. I was hoping the same rules wouldn't apply here since I'm guessing this is a rebuild."

"Well," Sam urged Bucky to drop the other shoe. "How'd they get out?"

Bucky took a deep breath, "The only way you can unplug someone from this Framework is from the inside, there’s usually a backdoor exit programed into the world."

"Shit!" Sam ran a hand over his clean shave.

Friday's protocols finished downloading and her voice blared through the old, static PA system like nails on a chalk board, "Online, boss."

"Friday, can you locate our avatars in the Framework?" Sam asked.

"Searching," Friday responded.

The first of three bolts had been cut through, sparks halting momentarily before the saw blades were replaced and the motor of the welding machine was restarted.

"Come on, come on," Bucky tapped the tabled impatiently.

"Two avatars located. One James Buchanan Barnes and one Sam Wilson. The avatar of one, Wanda Maximoff died year 2015 during the destruction of Sokovia at the hands of a Hydra intelligence android gone rogue. Designation, the Crimson Cowl. Survived by known terrorist and fugitive, Pietro Maximoff."

Wanda gasped in shock as her lips trembled out her brother’s name, "Pietro is alive?"

"Alive is a relative term," Friday corrected. "But he has an active string of code within the Framework. To everyone plugged in, he is as real as they are."

Wanda slumped against a machine as she tried to process this information.

"Friday, if we go into the Framework, will we still have our memories?" Bucky asked as he took off his jacket, walking with purpose towards an empty tank.

"I can over-ride the base program's code and allow you to take over your avatar's body within the Framework, but I cannot change where you end up. You will wake up in a foreign world with your own memories and no backup," Friday informed him.

Bucky tapped on several buttons as he tried to activate the tank, "What about Y/N?"

Friday's voice whined several times before the PA system cleared up as much as it could, "The program automatically severs ties between the avatar and the brain once synchronisation is complete. The higher the synchronisation, the more her personality is overtaken by the one encoded for in the Framework. Chances are, she won't recognise you."

"What happens if our avatars die in there?" Sam asked as he placed his machine guns on the table and walked over to the adjoining tank.

"I'm afraid your mind will not be able to distinguish the real from the simulated. The Framework is programmed to feel real, so for all intents and purposes, if you die in there, you die out here," Friday informed them.

"You can't come with me Sam, I won't ask you too," Bucky tried to talk Sam out of coming with.

Sam placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder, "You never have to ask, Tin-can. We're all we've got." Sam looked at Y/N's submerged body in the tank to the left. "We're all she's got."

"I'm expendable," Bucky kept pushing. "You're the team’s leader. Steve chose you."

"No one's expendable," Wanda finally stood on her own two feet, trust in her eyes. "Two is better than one. I'm stronger, I'll hold them off when they breach the doors, you just make sure you make it out of there… all three of you."

The second bolt was welded through. The whirring halted and then started up again. Sparks flying like confetti.

Bucky nodded like the soldier he was and with little patience, he jumped into the tank and fixed the wires and breathing apparatus onto his body.

"Maybe you should be the leader," Sam pondered aloud.

Wanda smiled sadly, "There's more to being a good leader than just raw power. After all, I was trained by a man who uses a bow and arrow." She reminded him.

"Friday, how long do we have until Y/N reaches full synchronisation?" Sam asked as he turned his tank on.

"Calculating," Friday ran the numbers over the computer monitor. "Less than 14 hours real time. Time moves faster in the Framework, in there it will be just under 72 hours. When you rescue her, look for a signal, that’s where the exit will be programmed."

"Got it," Sam replied as he put one foot in the tank.

"Sam, I feel I should warn you about your avatar--"

"Times awastin'," Sam said with a cocky attitude as he placed the breathing apparatus over his face and fully submerged into the tank.

"Boss, you need to give the all clear to administer the sedatives," Friday informed Wanda.

She walked over and pressed the enter key. A long needle popped out of the tanks walls and pumped Bucky and Sam full sedatives. Their vitals read steady as they drifted off.

Wanda cracked her neck as she took up defensive stances, the room all but glowing the same shade of red as her eyes.

Friday began a countdown, "The avatars will be fully loaded in 3, 2, 1..."

~Hydra Headquarters.

You were hunkered over the toilet bowl as your stomach kept forcing bile up your throat. It had been a mistake to come into work after you and Clint had dived into several bottles of whiskey at McCredie's for a weekend-long binge. Steve had all but confined you the couch, still angry from your fight. Deciding his brooding glares and awkward silences were too much for you, you had chosen to sleep on Clint’s couch.

After throwing up your breakfast, you wiped your mouth with some tissue and dabbed at your watery eyes that bled mascara.

"Ughhh, that's the last time I drink with that smug bastard," you groaned to yourself as you flushed the toilet and struggled to get up off the floor.

After washing your hands and fixing a pair of big, dark-tinted glasses over your sensitive eyes, you made your way out of the Men's room -which you had mistaken for the Women's room- and headed for your desk.

You blocked one ear with your hand as you squinted from the few rays of light that slipped through the cracks, feet dragging against the carpeted floor.

Out of nowhere, a panicked junior agent ran up to you.

"Agent Y/N!"

"Fuck, don't shout, I'm literally less than five feet from you," you whined as your head recoiled from the agents loudly pitched voice.

"I'm sorry agent, but our border patrols caught a man trying to sneak past a checkpoint earlier," He handed you a file.

You tucked it under your arm without glancing at it, "Why should I care about a fence hopper?"

"Because, Ma'am, he demanded to speak to you."

"I was on television last night, any insane whack job can throw my name around and sound important," you started moving away from the conversation.

"He had a metal arm with a Shield emblem on it," he shouted after you.

A few other agents stopped what they were doing and glanced your way suspiciously.

The mention of Shield caught your attention, you spun around to face the scrawny junior agent, "Five seconds, impress me or I walk."

"He said his name is Bucky Barnes."

You waved your hands in frustration when he didn't elaborate further, "Who the fuck is Bucky Barnes?"

PART FOUR: TWO HALVES...

AFWHI tags: @fangirl-colo @dormousse @smallmarvel @ren-ni @sargentbucket @nikolett3 @wnygirl2012 @jentismyname @evilgeniuslabz-blog @myrabbitholetoneverland @sleepingspacedragon @500daysofbecky @reidreader

Permatags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet @savethehoneeybees

tags: @ladybugsfanfics @ninaminaromina

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers imagines #bucky barnes imagines #counterpart fic #framework fic #sam wilson #dark steve rogers #wanda maximoff #pepper potts #natasha romanov #agents of hydra #clint barton #helmut zemo

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

Text

Blame It on Your Beats

Bucky x Reader Series

Chapter Content: Fluff

Summary: A brush with the underworld leads you on a run, away from what was supposedly your normal life, with Bucky Barnes. You two do not seem to be in sync as Bucky tries to keep you alive, trying your best not to kill each other. Or that’s what you think you are doing.

Series: contains smut, adult content in there somewhere in the future chapters so please look at the chapter content and warnings before you proceed.

Chapter Warnings: Explosion, death threats. The usual, really.

A/N: This series is written for @littledarlinhavefaithinme ‘s MK Writing Challenge. Thank you so much for hosting. I am having a lot of fun with the prompts. I hope I can do justice to them and put the entire series up before the deadline. :D

JBB tags, please let me know if you’d like to be tagged in further chapters.

MASTERLIST

“Are you sure you don't need glasses?”

“...No.”

“It's okay if you do. It's quite common at this age.”

“Shut up, Stark,” Bucky declared through the comms, getting stifled laughs from the other end.

“It's in another language. I'm not familiar with the Devnagri script,” the soldier murmured as he sifted through the pages in the journal in front of him to find some sort of code to decipher the words alien to him.

“Friday can trans-wait you don't have a body cam,” Stark was practically talking to himself right now.

Bucky had been sent down on an espionage mission to Brennwood Estate- home of Eton Brennwood, world’s current strongest business tycoon along with a back-end dealer in arms in the black market along with being an infamous hoarder of the ancient artefacts- to figure out the codes for Eton’s underground lab where he had been keeping scientists to develop a new biotech for some really shady buyers around the world.

Natasha and Bucky had been the only choices amongst the entire team, considering their skills, but the former had already been compromised due to her recent recon on Brennwood where she had played a key role in finding out when and where the businessman was keeping his experiments hidden and his buyers on their toes regarding whatever he was considering of bringing on the table.

“Send us a picture, Bucky,” Natasha's voice directed him.

Bucky suddenly froze for a moment, his eyes darting towards some unknown void in front of him as his heartbeat accelerated a bit.

“Bucky?” Steve called out for confirmation, making the sergeant reach inside his jacket to take out his phone and stare at it for one elongated, terrifying moment.

“You do know how to take a picture from your phone, right Buck?” Sam asked, his voice dripping in pure mischief, making Bucky curse at the man internally.

Burner phones were so much easier to deal with. Why did everything have to ‘smart’ now? Was his only thought.

He flinched as the screen on his phone lit up with an unknown number asking him to video call.

“Uhh…”

“It's me,” Tony spoke in his ear, “slide the lock on the screen to accept my call so we can translate the code for you.”

Following his simple and clear-cut instructions, Bucky managed to flip the screen towards the journal on his second try, getting an encouraging cheer from all the Avengers huddled together in the Quinjet around the screen.

“Okay, that’s it,” Tony announced as he shifted in his chair to reveal a tired Pepper enter the study from behind him, “good job Barnes. Let others take care of the rest. Get out of the estate now before they smell out the old man stink and find you.”

“Very funny, Stark,” Bucky mumbled as he ended the call by tapping the red button, a little happy on the inside that his relationship with Tony was making some progress these days.

And just like the silent breeze that was blowing over the trees, not making its presence felt till it had passed by him, leaving him comparatively colder than before, he made his way out of the heavily guarded estate, taking the dark forest trail towards the road about a few miles from the place where he had parked his bike.

He kept getting the updates over the comms, as the team infiltrated Eton’s lab, making his walk back a lot less tiring when Sam was not on his back quipping him about everything he did.

“No guards on level one,” Sam’s voice stated over the comms, “Brennwood better not have hired some ripped scientist to save on security guards. That is one really bad combination right there.”

“Excuse me?” Banner’s questioning voice came from beside Tony. He had clearly taken over from where Tony had been a few moments ago.

“Because they are strong and smart. Not to mention they can make any freaking poison at the turn of their hand, man.”

Bucky forced out a silent laugh.

“Yeah, makes it hard for Sam to jump up to their IQ level with just his fists,” he articulated.

“I have a suit, I can fly over their goddamn IQ and look good while doing it. Shut up, Barnes.”

Tony was watching the progress of the team while convincing Pepper that there was no chance of him missing their dinner date tonight as everything was going smoothly and the team would have all the evidence to put Eton behind bars for a long time.

“Tony,” Pepper enunciated, “don’t promise me things that are sure to turn ugly sooner or later, okay? We can have dinner over here and Bruce can join us-”

Bruce turned in the chair-away from the screen- on the mention of his name, his face filled with berries that he was eating from the bowl Tony had offered him.

“I thought we had a date. Why would Bruce join us on a date? Are-are you breaking up with me?”

Pepper’s expression went blank for a second.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Tony, we’ve been married for a year now. I am not breaking up with you,” she sighed.

A monotonous chime over the screen turned everyone’s attention to a signal coming out from the Avenger’s facility.

“Level two clear,” Natasha responded from the other side, her body cam showing no heat signatures on the floor...

Bruce looked at Tony regarding the unknown signal before accepting the call.

“Level three clear,” Steve announced, “guys, I don’t like it.”

Bucky’s pace slowed down a bit before he regained his normal gait.

“I agree with Steve,” Natasha acknowledged, “there’s no one in sight here. Not even the scientists. Tony, did we decipher the text correctly?”

Everyone who was not at Tony’s place at that point paused their movements when they did not get a quick reply from Stark.

“Tony?” Steve spoke next, a hint of worry in his voice that only Bucky could trace.

“Barton,” Clint’s mechanical voice came over the comms, confusing everyone for a second.

“Clint?” Natasha’s voice tried to reaffirm, “I thought you had gone home for the holidays.”

“...I am home for the holidays. Which one of you morons called me? I lost to my son in Mario Kart so whoever it was, better have some good explanation behind this.”

__________

“How can something be so beautiful?”

You exhaled as your eyes took in the beauty of the symbols laying down in front of you- the thick papyrus dating back centuries- making you squirm internally at the luck of not being able to read and preserve one with your own eyes and hands.

“Miss Friday” you called out into the air, a jump in your step, “could you please pull up Miss Dur’s instructions on how to go ahead with the preservation process?”

“Of course, Miss Y/L/N. You can just call me Friday. If you want I can help you out by walking you through Miss Dur’s entire preservation process.”

You chuckled as your hands went into your bag to take out your earphones. “I’ll call you Friday when you call me Y/N. And I’m good with the display though. I want to enjoy a bit of my playlist tonight while working. So, just make sure you I don’t get any messages on my display while I’m working; no matter how important. No hard feelings, my good AI?”

“No hard feelings, Y/N.”

You gave a thumbs up in the air before putting on your earphones and readying the chemicals to wash the papyrus that would help conserve its original content.

Once all the contents were ready, you pressed play and so began the curing process to the surreal beats going about in your head.

It seemed like a passing dream.

A month ago you were studying on an entirely different continent, getting through your second year in college with no perfect plan for the future. A double major in semiotics and cryptography had seemed like a brilliant idea before college when most of the professors didn’t seem like dull creatures keeping an eight am class just so they could spit their misery of leading a sad unhappy life unto you, making you nearly hate the subject you had been looking forward to. Had it not been for a few of your seniors, three to be specific, and one professor- who not only helped you through the entire ordeal, but also made sure you were displaying your untapped talent in different competitions both on and off campus- you were sure you would have quit college a long time ago.

Two weeks earlier you were entered into a competition online by one of your seniors- Lena- where you nearly bypassed your way through some gaming portal’s fictional facility’s security because someone thought it was a brilliant idea to encrypt the entire building’s signal on their personal chart of symbolism. Fortunately for you, when the rest of your opponents were busy comparing smiley faces to emotions, you were looking for the origin- the chart- because no matter how good anyone is, they always will keep a backup of the blueprint any idea was based on.

It was only ten hours later when the local police entered your college dorm to bring you in for questioning did you realise that you had actually been breaking codes for some really bad guys on the dark web, who had been using noobs like you to enter secure facilities- not really fictional- and rob them of whatever sensitive information they had on them. You were to be thrown in prison for aiding some professional invisible lethal forces in bypassing the security to one America’s top 500 companies had it not been for Tony Stark himself taking full responsibility of the situation as well as giving you a full scholarship for your further studies at a college of your choice while interning at Stark labs as well help Scott Lang into making the his security system better- considering you’d broken through his two month’s work in just an hour.

So, here you were, a week later with all your life in your suitcases, living at the Avenger’s facility, working on an old story depicted in symbols- an artefact Stark said he had ‘borrowed from a bad guy who thinks this has some code to something he can use for his evil plans. We have to find the code before him to stop him.’

Bopping your head you swung your hips to Childish Gambino’s Summertime, your fingers worked steadily over the old fabric, making everything the solution touched a hue brighter with the wetness. So engrossed were you in the careful work mixed with a tang of heated music, you never noticed the alarms off around you, the lights everywhere- save the lab that had the power connections of its own, separated from the rest of the facility- shutting down, the backup red lights turning on as two silhouettes came out of the elevator doors from the far corner of the floor towards you.

The track changed, so did your movement, making you swing around to grab the final solution to dry up the fabric before putting it somewhere safe. By the time you were done with the drying agent, the silhouettes came and stood by the glass-walled lab, looking at you with sheer curiosity till you caught their movement from the corner of your eyes and tilted your heads towards them before taking out your earphones.

Two well-built men dressed in combat suits stood outside the lab entrance, one of them giving you a soft smile as he waved his hand at you.

You took out your earphones to acknowledge their presence.

“Can I help you?”

The smiley man scratched his stubble and chuckled at some internal joke while the other one just stood there like a rock.

“Sure, sweetheart,” his husky voice cooed, or rather tried to coo at you, sending a really uncomfortable tickle down your spine, “what are you listening?”

“...Hunnybee.”

“Mh,” he tilted his head, sending his eyes up and down your figure, making you conscious all of a sudden, “you look more of a ‘Filthy’ girl, the Timberlake one.”

“Excuse me?”

“What I mean is you can help us out by handing over that old piece of paper you got working on over there.”

That’s when you noticed the red hue of the emergency lights outside the lab with at least a dozen more men moving about in the darkness, forcing you to turn towards the screen and swipe away to find out Friday’s intrusion alert.

What in the hell…

“Well,” the stubble guy asked you gently, his eyebrows and hands raised in question, “what do you say, sweetheart? Help a guy out here.”

You took a step away from their direction, your gloved hands sweeping the dry papyrus away from the table, rolling it and pulling it behind you. “Mr Stark didn’t send you here.”

It was more of a statement than a question, making the guy’s smile falter and his lips twitch, his hands going down in momentary defeat.

“The paper. Yes or no.”

You inched away further, finding your legs walk into Bruce’s desk.

“No,” you stated in the most obvious sense, surprised at your brain’s ability to be so dangerously subtle in a situation that could turn fatal for you.

The stubble guy dipped his head forward, inhaling in a long tiring breath before moving something from his back forward.

A machine gun.

Correction: the situation did just turn fatal for you.

For a second you froze there, your body not being able to decide between the flight or fight response as it saw both the men pull the trigger, your brain waiting for the glass walls to shatter and you to be dead any second, flinching as the bullets came out but dropped or bounced away just as they met the glass, leaving nothing but tiny frosty traces on the transparent surface.

“The lab is under emergency security, Y/N,” Friday’s soothing voice made you jump. “The chances of the breach are it 1.09 per cent.”

“Huh?” was your only response as your eyes didn’t leave the two men cursing the glass before signalling each other to take something else out of their utility belts.

“My security system is being bypassed at the moment, Y/N. If they are successful in doing so, I would not be able to keep them outside the lab anymore. The intruders have already cut off the rest of the facility’s power, making me unable to communicate with Mr Stark on my own.”

The men each took out what looked like spray bottles. The blank-faced man sprayed a string of white foam all over the lower parts of visible glass of the lab- which was practically three sides of the entire area- as the other stood there smiling before taking out a lighter and throwing in the material to create an explosion of fire all around you, making you bend down in fear of everything exploding in your face.

“Ten minutes,” the uncomfortable husky voice came again, “you have ten minutes to come out yourself and hand me that shitty paper before I melt this glass and get it from over your dead body.”

“Tell me,” you announced, never taking your eyes off the man, “tell me how can I help you reach Mr Stark,” making your intentions pretty clear to the man.

Continued here

TAGLIST

Permanent

@magiclolipopqueen @choke-me-sweet-pea @smexylemony @hazzastyles2471 @lokis-lady-death @lokixme @l0kisbitch @tarithenurse @hiddlestonstansworld @itheoneofmanyfandomsi @nalokoniloki @fuckidontknow @qualitynerdwasteland @cryinglots @unipanda1006 @literalangels @meganlikesfandoms @kcd15

JBB tags who’d be interested (Please let me know if you’d like to be tagged in this fic)

@lost-and-wandering-alone @imsunnysu @vxidnik @sebbies @unknownuserhasjoined @cauraphernelia @queen-of-elves @doitfortwitter @ladywintersoldat @introvertfangirl @alt-er-love-er-alt @klmpun @loving-life-my-way @picapicapicassobaby

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msmk11 · 9 days ago

Text

𖤓 wanda maximoff masterlist

𖤓 natasha romanoff masterlist

𖤓 yelena belova masterlist

𖤓 peter parker masterlist

𖤓 tony stark masterlist

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

Text

Blame It on Your Beats (4)

Bucky x Reader Series

Chapter Content: Fluff, angst, background scores.

Series: contains smut, adult content in there somewhere in the future chapters so please look at the chapter content and warnings before you proceed.

Chapter Warnings: None. Not really. Just your naughty inner voice..

Tags for this fic are open

MASTERLIST

The golden glitters of the lazy, heated sun teased parts of your body, letting the warmth work its way through your hair and into the scalp, caressing it, letting the tied up knots inside you loosen a bit in its presence. On the other hand, the wind teased all the warmed up parts of you, nudging at the heat till it could no longer stand the cold bully and scuttled away, leaving you frosty and curled up.

While it all happened- the sun and the wind exploiting you like a public playground where they could toss up and dig out whatever they wanted- your mind flickered with the images of last night.

The eerie smile, the haunting fire, a growl, the dark tunnels, the strong grip forcing you down the drop, your scream, the impact with the water, the ache in your lungs at the loss of air, the drag of water on your face as you held on to your only hope of rescue, the gush of water down your lungs as your body could no longer take the ache, the swaying lights of the surface, the increasing darkness as you felt your body float- go towards the light as The Other Side by David Gray played inside your head- the sound of someone calling your name, the returning ache inside your lungs at the increasing pressure on your chest, the regurgitating water that you threw out before your coughing fit, the blue eyes peeking through dense wet dark hair, the warmth of a hand on your cheek, the ‘No, you're not dead yet’ swirling up and down around you in the drunk dark sky, the hard rocking of a boat, a familiar figure braving the tides with his back to you and thunder cracking through the sky breaking apart almost next to you.

You woke up with a jolt at the memory of the crackling sound, a quivering low scream leaving your throat. The sun blinded you the moment you opened your eyes, trying to make sense of how you got on a boat, travelling in waters you were sure was nowhere near the last place had been trapped inside. The isolated rocks stood in the middle of the copper blue waters spread out till the horizons on every side.

“That's yer destination ther chap,” you heard a voice behind you, “now get yer lassie and better buy er a change oof clothes if ye don't want er to fall sick.”

Standing up and turning around to watch who and what was making the human sounds behind you, you felt your head do a sharp twirl of its own- dancing better and giddier than you, for sure- making you fall back down on the hard surface.

A groan and another attempt at trying to stable yourself on your wobbling feet later, you saw the rocky sandy shore in front of you. The cold from your wet clothes was catalysed by the wind blowing from behind you on the little ferry you tried to stand in- that anchored itself on what hardly seemed like a dock- sending an unwelcoming shudder down your spine.

The rocky beach was a view- not something you thought you were going to see when you were counting the time left when you'd be playing Uno with the devil in hell- and if there was anything more interesting than the scenic beauty waiting for you was the figure that came out of the tiny control room.

Bucky’s combat suit- just as wet as yours- stuck to his body just like you had clung to him last night, the thought of you enclosing him sending a warm ripple throughout your being. His hair was combed back by his hand, sticking effortlessly with a smooth shine, making you wonder how different he could look with the presence of water all over him.

He looks hydrated enough for you, you single, thirsty soul with one long- very long- dry spell.

You knock the little voice off the throne where it sits as you compose yourself and get down before Bucky has a chance to give you a hand- sending a tingle of amusement through him to see you up and about after watching you scream, wail, nearly die, come back, lose consciousness as he dragged your unresponsive body through an entire storm to get here.

“Take care lads,” the man, who you thought must be the owner of the ferry, waved at the two of you before steering away from the shore and making his way ahead- opposite to the direction you'd come from.

Now it was just the two of you and a few birds- squealing either at the site of visitors or food in the ocean- left on the otherwise calm seaside, left to fill nature's silence.

“Where are we?” You felt the coarseness in your throat for the first time.

How hard did you wail yesterday?

Not hard enough, apparently.

“We are…” Bucky looked around for any audience before turning his glistening blue eyes towards you, “not in the States.”

You raised your brows at the new information, nodding in response.

“Hmm. How long have we been...travelling?”

Bucky's cautious gaze that was scanning everything around him came back again, his lips wetting the dryness the wind was bringing now and then along with it to tease his pink lips.

“Long and far enough to not be followed in a straight line,” Bucky theorised before taking his satellite phone out of your bag.

“Oh, okay,” you answered, nodding again, “okay. So-”

“So, everything's fine for now. We can take a breather, contact Stark, plan out where to go next from here and hopef-”

You observed his cursory movements as he started talking, picking up your bag and swinging it over his shoulder, explaining his plan of action while you watched him, the fence of calm keeping you steady crumbling bit by bit till you launched yourself at him with a wild scream, shocking him not only by your sudden attack but also by the strength with which you sent him off balance before he was completely down in the sand.

“What the f-” he tried to shout.

“You sick son of a-a...you traitor!! I almost died because of you!”

You were towering over him, sitting over his hips sending punches raining down on him blindly, not at all caring of the super soldier’s strength as he used minimal force to stop you from hitting him, grunting with the rising frustration.

“Are you serious right now?!” he shouted back at you, blocking your hands with his arms.

“No, I'm felt like reminiscing how I was nearly killed by a creepy man catcalling me and then threatening to kill me and then forced to jump in a bottomless lake by another. DO I LOOK LIKE I'M JOKING?!”

You were a breath apart from his face, fuming, while your hands balled up his shirt in your hands- its wetness seeping through the layer onto your palms- exposing his shoulders at the stretch of the fabric.

A growl left his throat as he caught your hands in his, forcing you to let go of his shirt as he sat up and turned them behind you, locking them in his metal grip while your body was trapped above his bent legs- not giving you much room to wiggle as you were basically sitting over him, the space between him and you minimising as he bent closer towards you, sending your raging heart into a confused flutter.

“We didn't have the time to argue and find another passage out. Tony had all things ready for any emergency scenario in there, thanks to Clint. And if you hadn't noticed, I was being chased by assassins who were out for your head.”

The incredibly minimal distance between his face and yours nearly threw you off track.

Curse those perfect anime blue eyes.

“You think I didn't know that?” You spat back, forgetting about your nervous heart as you pushed your furious face into his. “How hard would've been to not wrestle me head first into water but say-” your expression took a one-eighty, from an outraged to a soft smiling cheerleader within seconds- ‘hey, Y/N, don't worry, Tony's got everything covered at the other end of the...water so all you have to do his hold your freaking breath!’”

His heated breath burned your exposed skin as his crystal blue looked at you with pure repulsion for a moment, his hold getting a bit stronger for you to handle- something your ego was not ready to show over your features or else it might be taken as a sign of defeat or submission.

Your flushed body is sitting in his lap with your hands trapped, giving him access to pretty much everything. He can make you squirm by one right twist. You still think you're not the sub?

Wow. Your inner voice knew you better than yourself.

Would you fucking knock it off for a moment? you shouted at her, I am trying to get a point made here!

Bucky was about to spew a few hot words of his own when a monotonous ring broke you both out of the warm-up verbal spar, making you turn towards the satellite phone half covered in the sand.

Bucky turned back to you, his eyes clearly saying he wasn't done yet, before his flesh hand went for the device and waited for the caller to speak.

“Am I speaking to the old man who has no concept of survival using technology?” A familiar voice erupted through the speaker, disintegrating all the coals of hate into soils of relief inside you.

“Mr Stark,” you heard your voice before your thoughts.

“Please tell me both of you made it out in one piece,” Stark prayed in a monotone.

Bucky looked at you, loosening his grasp on your hands, his features feeling a change to a veiled relief behind slight irritation.

“We're fine,” he answered, placing the phone between whatever space was between you and him.

“Barnes, I would not care much about you ignoring to use all the tech kept at your disposal in Clint's cave but you had someone else's life hanging by a thread and all you grabbed was a freaking first aid kit.”

This time even you were confused, having no idea what ‘technology’ Stark was talking about.

“Tony I don't-”

“A submarine, James,” he announced, clearly irritated, stressing on the words again, “Sub...marine.”

All your voices left you to ponder Tony's words before finally coming back to sit down and stare at the phone in front of you.

This super soldier could have saved the torture your lungs took but chose to drag your drowning ass through the water till you were at the gates of the afterlife.

Inhaling a lungful, you looked at Bucky’s clearly aching face.

“We're fine, Mr Stark. That's what matters,” you assured softly before meeting Bucky's gaze.

Stark didn't reply, clearly contemplating some thoughts of his own.

“Fine. I can see Barnes has chosen quite the destination for you two for the next week.”

All the softness that had seeped on your faces was kicked away by a confusing jolt.

“Wait,” Bucky straightened under you, making you wonder if he really felt any of your weight on him, “what do you mean?”

Even in the passing wind, you could hear Stark’s deep exhale.

“Right, there's been a lot of commotion here in the facility. The press is making a huge hue and cry about it. Pepper's team has been dealing with all of it quite well and she suggests that you two better stay away as long as possible. Y/N, while you're out there I'd suggest you decipher as much of the iconography as possible so we can take down Eton's plans before he goes and does something more stupid. And disastrous.”

You nodded at the phone, making Bucky tilt his head in soft amusement.

“Yes,” you blurted out, embarrassed due to the company, “I will.”

“Good, keep me updated. Barnes…”

“I'll take care of...the rest,” he concluded.

The phone went silent, leaving you two to make a rerun of the conversation that just happened.

“Something's happened,” you muttered, your hands crossing over your chest and running up and down your arms, “He is hiding something.”

Bucky studied your worry filled eyes staring at the phone for a moment, not oblivious to your shivering arms and the cause behind it.

“I'd worry more about focusing on surviving in another continent without so as a passport if I were you,” he proclaimed, raising his brows at you.

His slow drying strands were starting to fly away in the wind and towards you, nearly tickling your cheeks once or twice.

“It's like getting out of a fire pit only to land upon an active volcano,” you groaned, trying to push your legs together to get up and away from the Sergeant. Your shivering body was already missing the latent heat. His latent heat.

Pull me down, if you want to, you heard your voice singing, And I hope that you want to, thwacking it away into some dark corner for using your dry spell against you in this situation of all the places.

“Come on,” Bucky got up, dusting off the sand from your bag before swinging it over his back and walking towards the stone-y path that led to higher ground above the sea level, “we better find a place to stay before the locals here start getting suspicious.”

Brushing off the sand from your clothes, you followed him, nodding in mock agreement.

“Sure. Though I'd rather not push them into the water without their consent to stay on their good side. Just a suggestion.”

He rolled his eyes before turning his head towards you to give you one long hard stare.

Both of groaned on the inside, wondering how you two were supposed to bear each other for seven days when the net one hour in each other's conscious presence was hell to begin with.

Continued here

TAGLIST

Permanent

BIOYB

@klmpun

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

Text

Blame It on Your Beats (8)

Chapter Content: Fluff, mushy song.

Series: contains smut, adult content in there somewhere in the future chapters so please look at the chapter content and warnings before you proceed.

Chapter Warnings: none.

A/N: This series is written for @littledarlinhavefaithinme ‘s MK Writing Challenge. Thank you so much for hosting. I am having a lot of fun with the prompts. But I am clearly behind schedule. Eep! Thanks for being so patient!

Tags for this fic are open

MASTERLIST

“Babe.”

“Hmm?”

“What about them? Do they look like they're a thing?”

Yukio turned into the direction Sonic was staring in, taking in your figure dressed in pink shorts and a floral halter top, sitting on the rock by the shore with Bucky, who was dressed in a red Hawaii shirt and black lounge pants. Your hands were busy scribbling something on a similar notepad Yukio had seen you work with yesterday.

“-I don't…” she heard you saying, watching you scrunch your nose at your partner with an offended gasp.

“Y/N,” Bucky stated with such a determined tone, “you were snoring last night.”

“Oh yeah? Well, so were you. And don't get me started on your stomach growls, hon,” you responded, huffing and going back to the pages in your lap. “I told you to go have your dinner but no! Why listen to me? Let's keep the whales awake at night!” you practically sang, swinging your head to add the sarcastic effect.

“Oh, I did bring early breakfast,” he added, bringing forward the tray of oysters into his lap, making your features turn a shade paler with a painful ache.

“No,” you whispered, closing your eyes in defeat and inching away from Bucky, “Bucky, no.”

“What? They are delicious!” He stated, opening one with a small knife he took out of his pants, making you squirm visibly as you inched away a little more and he shifted towards you to show you the glossy, mushy insides as he moaned about how delicious they looked.

You whimpered as he scooped out the insides and gulped them down in one go, forcing you to get up and walk away from him when he wanted you to try one.

“Just try one, doll. You'll love it!”

“Get that sea blob away from me!”

A few seconds later, it is Bucky walking away from you as you had your right arm extended in his direction, a giant furry brown spider sitting on the back of your palm.

“But look at how cute he is! Bucky, come on, it's just a spider.”

“No, it's not cute! Nothing about this monster is cute. Get that thing away from me! Y/N, I swear on all the songs you love-”

Your shriek filled the air swirling from the sea around you as Bucky picked you up and kept a strong hold around your waist as he bent you sideways keeping your arms away from him all the while telling you to ‘shake that crawler away’ while you chortled, your face turning red from the gut aching laughter at the assassin's actions on seeing the spider.

Yukio turned back to her girl. “Aww! They sure look cute together!”

“Mnh, I'm not convinced,” Sonic muttered, entwining her fingers in Yukio's.

Bucky had kept his early morning busy when he had reluctantly left your peaceful, snoring side to contact Stark, fill him in about your progress, do a recon of the hotel’s estate and know about the whereabouts of the man who had threatened to kill you.

“His name is Dexter Ian Christenson. Ex seal. Used to be a shadow hunter for the military’s gory operations once. This guy is as sane as the American Psycho according to the last evaluation the force did before he was compelled to take early retirement. He hasn’t been seen since the incident. Almost like the guy just ghosted. But Friday did pick up the vehicle he had been using the night before through the street cams. A rental under one of Eton’s shadow companies. Has been sitting at the same spot since that man dirtied my facility. He is either gone underground or is searching for the OWL that Y/N so blatantly took away from right under his nose. You know what this means, Barnes.”

Of course, he knew what that meant. If Dexter was as balanced as Tony was painting him in his head, you had a target on your head the moment he had set his eyes on you. Bucky was not ruling out the possibility of him tracking you down in search for the OWL. But what ticked him the wrong way was the conversation you and Dexter had when you were trapped in the lab, his words still crisp inside Bucky’s mind from what all he had heard over the comms. That man had been playing with you and if Bucky had read him right, he would have been elated that you got away with his trophy, making him savour the chase before he hunted you down for his pleasure. The mere thought of him in your vicinity had been enough to snap the firewood into two in his flesh hand when he, Jamal’s husband Ryan and Yukio had offered to help Meera with the evening’s bonfire preparation.

“I will never forgive you for this,” you muttered under your breath.

“It’s just one night,” Bucky retorted, straightening his silver striped tie over the blue sheen shirt you gifted him before buttoning the jacket on his suit.

“And that is one entire anomaly waiting to be unfolded,” you announced, pointing at the pages on the bed, “but you’d rather take me to this stupid evening where I know no one and everyone who knows me probably thinks I’m insane.”

You cursed at the satin blue ribbon coming and going out of everywhere from your front to your back, clearly not a riddle you were happy to be wound up in.

“Come here,” he sighed, taking the ends of the ribbons from your hands and pressing them in his mouth as he loosened the complex mess you had created over the gown. His light touch worked around you to create a symmetrical satin web, before turning you around to tie it up in a nice bow at the back.

You admitted to yourself to be quite impressed by his work, at the same time wondering who else- and how many ‘elses’- he had worked this art on.

“You cannot just lock yourself up in the room like this. You’ve been sitting here for almost the entire day, Y/N. Take a break from the puzzle solving, would you? Enjoy a little.”

You took in one quick breath to calm your nerves that were worked up at the simple graze of his fingers on your bare back.

“I know you think I don’t know much about you, Bucky, but one week is enough to read into what any Avenger likes or dislikes. So, don’t play the ‘loosen up a little’ act with me,” you glared at his reflection in the mirror, catching his brazen blue off guard.

“I may be socially awkward but I’m not dumb,” you added, making Bucky take a mental note to not give away any weakness in front of you that you might use to torture him later. The spider had been enough for the next six months.

But try as you may, he was never going to admit that he wanted to keep you close, in a crowd, where there were low chances of Dexter coming for your head on.

“You’re right,” he confessed, “I’m not much of a people’s person either. But, I’d rather bear the crowd outside than you sulking at the pages, cursing whatever ancient ruler came up with the ways to encrypt their love letters for their better half.”

You were wounded by the open attack for a moment but suddenly shut your mouth at another thought. “You know, a love letter is a good theory, maybe I could find a method to-”

“Get out of the room before I burn down every piece of paper in here.”

Bucky’s eyes didn’t falter with the statement and as much as you wanted to spew that he wouldn’t burn a thousand-year-old manuscript, the warning in his eyes made move towards the door.

“Fine,” your words quaked as your back hit the wall instead of going out the open door, “but just so you know, I’m a very lousy dance partner.”

So much for the questionable feelings, I had begun to have last night, you thought to yourself.

How much of it was questionable and how much of you was lousy, you were about to find out tonight.

“No.”

“Yes! It’s a tradition!”

You looked at Louise with as much of respectful disapproval you could manage before she effortlessly shoved your whole being smack into Bucky’s towering form.

“Come on, now,” she shouted for everyone to hear, “all the couples dance around the bonfire to mark the beginning of the local new year and kiss each other to close the vows you take for the new beginning.”

“Yeah,” Sonic quipped, a smirk on her face, “nothing says ‘I love you’ better than dancing to some blood ritual for the island nation’s inhabitants.”

See! She is clearly the sensible one. And Meera! Where. Is. Meera?

“As much as I’d love to correct my wife,” Meera spoke from the bar, putting down her bourbon to come and take her beloved’s hand, “this one tradition is really sacred and goes back ages. It’d be really lovely if all you would join us.”

Well, there goes the sensible one, clearly smitten under the moon.

The soft music on the piano started. Libet’s delay.

“Is there anything you’re good at?” Bucky surmised with a smirk, clearly enjoying the pissed look on your features.

It would’ve felt nice to come back with all the things you were brilliant at but the mental exhaustion from overworking on cracking the ancient codes had taken a toll over you. So, without a word, you started to head towards the bar before Bucky’s hand caught you.

“Wai-Wait,” he pleaded, positioning you back in front of him, “sorry. Just...let me guide you.”

He patiently waited with his hand open for yours.

With the silent ocean breeze teasing your nerve ends, making you want to curl up in a familiar warmth somewhere beyond all that came with a deadline and a death threat, you glided your palm into his metal, while his flesh hand went across your waist, drawing you closer.

Your body was already beginning to absorb the glow he was emanating, relaxing you with a welcoming surprise.

“Just work your sway with mine,” his pink lips covered in between the dense stubble spoke near you, his scent engulfing you from everywhere.

You synchronised your footwork with his, the sway of your hips at the movement of his feet, the push of his flesh hand to twirl you, the pull of his metal to dip you as he came down from the dazed high, breathing in your form like his personal ecstasy. Every breath in his movement gradually trickled over you, wiping off the dark thoughts, taking away the tightness of your worked up muscles, nullifying the threat that lingered somewhere out there.

How could his presence do this to you?

How could someone make you feel so much at peace with yourself?

And like a high note to mark the end, the music stopped and a song of windchimes filled the air, Meera declaring it as the time to close your vows.

Your reluctant yet curious gaze looked at your partner for further guidance.

The thought was one delicious invitation; one beautiful wave of desire passing through your chest to cut the distance between the two of you and finally answer the question of what he would taste like.

His personal oceans were dark with the same wonderful temptation and you had no idea how much restraint it took on his part to not completely crash on to you. Instead, he planted his inquisitive lips on your cheeks, igniting the latent seabeds inside you like neon blood running through every flora and fauna lighting up the entire undiscovered ocean.

And just like that, the daze lifted up with the sudden explosion of hip-hop reverberating through the speakers around the bonfire; Zemo the redhead doing the honours of taking over as the DJ for the night.

Needless to say, I keep her in check

She was all bad-bad, nevertheless (yeah)

It truly was a shock for Bucky to watch you bop your head at the new tune, only later realising it was more of wonderment to see you glow under the fire lamps- the golden hues doing no justice to the subtle stare you were giving him- and sway your head like that.

Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck (wreck)

Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck (wreck)

Your heated body let go of the moderation, letting the tantalising feeling still on your cheeks work through your mind, swirling at the notes you were used to.

Needless to say, I keep her in check

She was all bad-bad, nevertheless

Callin' it quits now, baby, I'm a wreck

Crash at my place, baby, you're a wreck

You took him by his hands, making Bucky raise his hands and sway to the rhythm like you were showing him.

Thinkin' in a bad way, losin' your grip

Screamin' at my face, baby don't trip

Someone took a big L, don't know how that felt

Lookin' at you sideways, party on tilt

You were howling, completely letting the beats take over your senses, everything a sparkling blur. Everything except the stunning blue staring at you through the crinkled corners.

Ooh-ooh, some things you just can't refuse

She wanna ride me like a cruise and I'm not tryna lose

Bucky had no idea of his own happiness was bursting through his heart on watching you like this, his curious and appalled eyes never leaving your jumping figure.

Then you're left in the dust unless I stuck by ya

You're a sunflower, I think your love would be too much

Or you'll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya

You're the sunflower, you're the sunflower

“I told you I’m a lousy dance partner! I never said I was bad at dancing on my own.”

Your giggles filled the air while the cool sand under your feet made you shiver as you walked down the shore.

Bucky was quick to cover you up in his suit jacket as a laugh found its way out of him.

“Haha. For a second there I thought you were possessed or something,” he mentioned before bursting into giggles at his own joke.

“Hah!” you mocked a laugh back.

“Okay, I admit. I never saw you as someone with such...moves,” Bucky muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah. The whole not knowing how to swim thing really threw you off balance, didn’t it, darling?”

Bucky licked his lips and smiled at you.

“You really surprise me, you know. In a good way,” he sighed, his hands in his pocket, his arms casually colliding into yours as you swayed with the lingering effects of the music and just a tiny bit of alcohol.

“Yeah?” you questioned his statement, “even after I nearly took you down yesterday in my anger right on this beach somewhere?”

Bucky’s uncontrollable laughter boomed around you, filling you up with the most pleasant heat in your cheeks on watching him like this.

“Oh yeah, right. You-” he tried to dam his laughter now and then but failed miserably- “you...yeah you definitely took me down. It scared the hell out of me. My life definitely flashed before my eyes. What? I swear on...on...umm...yes! I swear on that constellation I was scared.”

You poked him with your elbow. “Don’t destroy my constellation, you dweeb!”

“Aw, doll,” he enunciated, tilting his head in sympathy, “for all we know that constellation is dead already. Your love letters would be older than this.”

You scoffed before rerunning that thought inside your head, your pace slowing down a little.

“I’m sure I’m outliving them by some margin right now,” he added, walking ahead before realising you were not beside him.

Bucky turned around and found you with a lost expression hovering over your face. “Y/N?” he called out your name but all he got was a silent stare that passed through him into some invisible void.

“Call Tony,” you announced to him with a whisper, “now.”

Within seconds Tony was on the other end, wondering what trouble you two were running into.

“The order of the constellation they worshipped,” was all you said into the phone. And like some unspoken arrangement, Bucky heard Tony call Friday to mark the constellation in the sky during the time OWL was created and asked her to mark the translations you had done for him to be lined in that order.

Two minutes of killing silence later, you hear Tony give out a curse.

“What? Did it work? Tony! Did it work?” your trembling voice called out in urgency to him.

“Y/N,” Tony announced, “do you realise you just discovered a new element made by the old-timey folks?”

The amount of air you wanted to take in could not fit into your lungs as your wide eyes locked with Bucky before jumping up in muted joy.

“Good work, kiddo. Banner will love this.”

For the life of you, you could not find it in yourself to stay on your feet as Bucky got infected by your goofy smile before you finally landed in his arms.

“See!” you giggled close to his face as he chucked you up into the air, “I am good at stuff. This time you helped but I am good at stuff!”

Bucky chortled at your words dripping in victory as he swung you around a bit recklessly, making you scream and wrap your arms around his neck in a secure lock.

And to catch your breaths, your foreheads came together to rest in a symphony, your thumping chests marring the air with the heat they were radiating, your wide grins slowly melting into hints of a smile as the heaviness of this tantalization struck your chords.

You took the liberty to move your fingers at the back of Bucky’s neck through his hair while your parting forehead made you bring your lips forward to his in the heat of the moon grazing his glistening pale skin in contrast to his stubble and those heavily painted lips in the colours of morbid curiosity.

Suddenly the music started over again in the lawn somewhere in the background unbeknown to the two lost souls that were you and Bucky.

I know you're scared of the unknown (-known)

You don't wanna be alone (alone)

I know I always come and go (and go)

But it's out of my control

You wanted a confirmation from him before you could allow yourself to lose your existence in his silver ocean that was anything if not inviting you inside the deep waters.

And you'll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya

You're a sunflower, I think your love would be too much

Bucky’s thoughts were a mess as soon as your eyes picked on his pulsating lips. The caged enchanted essence driving itself through the roof at the first whiff of your hot nerves vaporizing your delicious scent. And just as you asked him without any words, he tightened his grip on you, driving your already close body closer to him before meeting your lips.

Or you'll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya

You're the sunflower, you're the sunflower, yeah

The supple clash sent stars all through your body that were exploding as they passed every layer of you.

You and Bucky closed your eyes and got lost in the big bang of your making at the edge of the ocean.

Continued here

TAGLIST

Permanent

BIOYB

@klmpun

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes series #marvel #marvel fluff #fluff

42 notes · View notes

maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

Text

Blame It on Your Beats (3)

Bucky x Reader Series

Chapter Content: Fluff

Series: contains smut, adult content in there somewhere in the future chapters so please look at the chapter content and warnings before you proceed.

Chapter Warnings: Explosion, misleading promise, creeps *shudders*.

Tags for this fic are open

MASTERLIST

Fuck, I’m going to die here, you thought you told yourself internally.

“No, you’re not,” Stark assured you in your ear. “Get behind Banner’s desk. That thing’s practically indestructible even when he hulks out and stay with me on the comms, okay Y/N?”

“I am hiding behind the desk,” you asserted, jumping in your hiding spot as a loud bang followed.

The men outside were spraying some other chemical concoction on the heated glass before testing its current fragility with their huge hammers.

“You’ve got three minutes left sweet thing,” the guy from before shouted, now almost invisible behind the devouring flames. “Too bad, I would have loved to take you out...both ways.”

Between Stark’s instructions and that guy’s threat, you were the one feeling the heat and the chills behind the sturdy metal desk being used as a shield.

A disturbance came from somewhere inside the lab, making you pause your breathing to find the source.

Someone was already inside.

The thumping grew a little louder before it abruptly stopped, bringing back the cracking sound of the glass.

Your hands clenched at the only thing you thought could make an impact on the person- your laptop- making your arms ready for an attack.

Out of nowhere heated touch grew on your shoulder, sending your body in a flurry as your arms swung wildly to hit the person wherever you could, finding yourself hitting Bucky right in the face.

“Oh shi-” your laptop slipped through your fingers as they turned into fists and went near your mouth in strong denial.

A growl left Bucky as he felt the impact making his head turn at the mean swing, his body falling back before he steadied himself on his arm to get through the pain that stung.

“What? What happened?” Stark’s pitch grew a little higher.

“I-I’m so sorry Sergeant Barnes. I thought you were one of the bad guys.”

A deadly silence passed throughout as Bucky looked at you with an irritated glare before realising he was seeing you for the first time, trying to control any action he would take in that pain.

“Did...did you just hit Barnes?” Clint’s voice crackled in your ears.

“Holy shi-” Sam’s elated voice came too, “I want to meet this girl. Barnes, you better keep her alive.”

The sound of the cracks grew louder, making both you and Bucky snap out into the horrid reality of a dozen men waiting to attack you the moment those walls shattered.

Bucky’s blazing blue eyes turned towards you, all the frustration and irritation gone, as he presented his hand to you.

“Come on.”

You swivelled your backpack over your shoulder and took his hand, realising him directing you to smack in the middle of the room that was reflecting the yellow blaze everywhere.

Getting up on the table, your lungs nearly wanted to shout at the man to watch his step as his muddy boots soiled your research work, only to realise there was no point in doing so.

His hands came again for you, catching your arms in their strong grasp as he picked you up and helped you land on the table.

“I’m going to hoist you up into the vents. Start moving towards your right. Clint will guide you,” he stated, his face never even giving a flicker of emotion.

“Wait, what about you?” you heard yourself asking the soldier, watching him crease his brows for a second.

“I’ll be right behind you,” he added, “now come on.”

His hands came for your waist, making your insides flinch at the foreign touch as you tried your level best not to jump and make the soldier question your intentions of ever getting out of here.

You were quite sure you were heavy but Bucky made your weight seem next to nothing as he eased you up into the metal tunnels in one smooth motion.

Clint’s voice directed you through the labyrinth, which seemed to be growing wider by the distance, making it easier for you to stand up and walk- jog, rather- towards whatever exit he was sending you to.

An explosion reverberated through the shafts you’d come out from, making you turn back into the direction for an instant as your feet went cold.

“Keep moving, Y/N. You are almost there,” Clint’s dad-voice came over the comms, “that was nothing you should be worried about.”

“But sergeant Barnes?!” you nearly shouted.

The crackle of the distorted signal was the only thing you heard from the other side, making you think of all the worst scenarios- nothing ever being worse than imagining the person who was sent to rescue you to be taken down because of you.

“Kid,” Tony muttered after a few seconds in a quiet tone, making your dreadful thoughts seem not that far from reality.

“I’m here,” his husky voice came over the comms, “keep moving. I’m right behind you.”

__________

“Is that water? Do I hear water? I think I hear water.”

“Aren’t you talkative today. How’re you feeling, kid?”

“A man just told me he’d love to take me out both ways. How do you think I should be feeling?”

You tried to snap back at Clint but all it came out as was a shivering squeak while you jogged through the tunnels, keeping your ears open for any movement that was alien to you.

“No one’s taking you out anywhere except Barnes and these tunnels,” he articulated.

“How romantic,” you muttered, “I’m at the split, Clint. Where to next?”

“Follow the water’s sound. It’s coming from the right-”

“The right.” You walked down the path, the only thing lighting up the tunnel being your phone’s torchlight.

“How do you know all of these tunnels?” you wondered out loud, getting a groan and curses by other people on the line, to your utter surprise.

“He’s been pranking us using vents since ages,” Tony responded, “he practically lives there.”

A laugh broke out of you, astonishing not only you but the Avengers as well. “Are you serious?”

“You have no idea,” Natasha disclosed, “how we have lived with this bird crawling through the vents and coming at you with anything you can and cannot imagine.”

Your chest felt a little lighter on hearing Clint argue with Natasha while everyone laughed or had something of their own to add, helping you walk with a light step towards the end, which was a hatch to the other side.

Seems like we’re out of danger now.

Placing the phone down, you turned the wheel with whatever strength you had left, opening it with a loud creak, jumping into a little victory dance, picking up your phone and stepping outside. The crisp air touching your lungs felt good.

For an instant.

All the positive rush you had felt a few moments ago slowly receded as your eyes adjusted to the view, calculated the scheme of events and felt your blood rush out of your head and limbs as you realised what you had been heading for all this time.

“No.” it came out as a whisper at first.

“Hmm? What is it?” Natasha asked with a light in her voice.

“No,” you repeated, a little louder this time.

“Wha-”

“No, Clint, no. I am not doing this.” You were shaking your head vigorously for some spectator out there as your fingers clenched the edge of the rock behind you.

“Not doing what, kid?” Clint sounded so oblivious to something you were staring at, making you scoff and clench your teeth.

“I am NOT,” you announced, your voice echoing in the cave around you, looking questioningly at the forty feet drop, “going to jump into that lake.”

“Y/N, that’s the only way out.”

You huffed, stepping back inside the tunnel, “Yeah, well I guess I’d rather die by bullets then.”

A repeated stomp through the other side increased and you saw a familiar shadow running towards you, the tunnels behind him lighting up for some reason.

“Get out!” Bucky shouted in your direction.

“No!” you shouted back, “I am not jump-”

“Do you have a death wish?” Bucky skid to a halt near you as he took your arm in his strong grip and pushed you out of the tunnel.

“Does it look like I’m being given options where I can survive?” You tried to break your arm through his rock-solid hold but failed miserably, only flailing your limbs wildly in all directions.

“They are coming so you better jump-”

“Oh, for the love of-I don’t know how to swim, you dolt!” you declared, taking both you and Bucky by surprise.

The haunting wind whispering through the caves around you playing with his hair, teasing it as he looked at you with an expression you were not able to read so well.

“Y/N-”

“How did you get here? Not by the lake, that’s for sure!” You quipped, your eyes getting moist as your heartbeat quickened at the sounds of threatening footsteps and voice behind you.

“Y/N, you two are surrounded there’s no-”

“I got this, Sam,” Bucky claimed, turning himself towards you, taking in a lungful as his piercing yet soft gaze met yours- which was terrified to the core.

“Y/N-”

“James I don’t know how to swim. I am not jumping down to death,” you whispered, trying to stretch the gravity of your situation to the man standing in front of you.

“Alright, fine. Then let’s switch the tunnels and find another way out. I promise you I’ll get you out of here.”

There seemed to be no lie in his eyes as he spoke the last sentence. You nodded and turned back to step into the tunnel, feeling Bucky’s strong arm graze by your stomach, his hold tightening around your waist. He never gave you time to assimilate as he picked you and jumped down, making you scream out his name and clench on to his body for your dear life.

“Take in one huge breath and stay calm when you hit the water,” you heard him whisper in your ear through your hair flailing wildly everywhere, positioning you on his chest as he took out his gun to aim at the figure that now stood at the top, aiming his machine gun at the two of you.

A shot through Bucky’s barrel made you wrap your arms tighter around his frame, take in a lungful of breath and close your eyes as the liquid surface seemed to get closer to you, bracing yourself for the impact, telling your brain to stay calm like he ordered.

The figure standing on top watched you two go down with a resonating splash, letting his rifle go from his hold as he kept staring for at the ripples, waiting for your figure to turn up above the water.

“Dexter,” the expressionless guy came over, “the facility’s been taken back. We have to get out. Boss wants to know the status.” He handed over his phone to Dexter and moved back as a rumble began somewhere inside the caves.

“I have seen the package,” Dexter went straight to business as soon as he put the device to his ear, “I’ll have the location within twenty-four hours and the package will be in your care within next seventy-two hours. Yes, boss, all the hurdles will be taken care of.”

He turned inside the tunnel as the first explosion killed the rocks above him, forcing the cave to collapse on itself. “Don’t you worry, boss.”

He closed the hatch with a soft smile gracing his lips and walked in the other direction, his partner sending the casualty report of their crew that got taken down in the explosion inside the main building.

“I will take care of the girl myself.”

Continued here

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

Text

Blame It on Your Beats (2)

Bucky x Reader Series

Chapter Content: Fluff

Series: contains smut, adult content in there somewhere in the future chapters so please look at the chapter content and warnings before you proceed.

Chapter Warnings: Psychopaths, pain.

Tags for this fic are open

MASTERLIST

The comms Friday had guided you to in Bruce’s desk worked, helping you reach out to Tony Stark- who you prayed was not busy somewhere in some grand event- to help you and the treasured fabric you were holding so close to your heart.

“Who’s this?”

“Oh, thank God!” you finally inhaled, hiding under the desk now, “Mr Stark, it’s me, Y/N.”

“Y/N, I told you to close the lab four hours ago. What are you still doing there?” Stark authoritative yet caring voice came over the comms.

“I-I know but I had to finish the curing tonight and now I am stuck in the lab with two very suspicious guys with guns standing outside the lab, telling me to hand over the Old Word of the Late,” you explained hastily as your voice quivered, “they’ve cut off the power to the facility and are trying to break through the lab security to get it.”

“Chances of lab breach at 10 per cent,” Friday’s voice came over the comms for both you and Stark to hear.

There was a moment of silence on the other end, making you wonder if he had left you for the dead, your mind stabbing itself to stop thinking the worst and making your heart go into cardiac arrest.

“Mr Stark?” you were on the edge of tears.

“I’m here, kid. Is there anyone else still in the building?”

“No, I don’t think so. Melvin, the security guy, made his last round about an hour or so ago. He told me everyone had gone home.”

“Okay.Good. Now I want you to look inside the second desk drawer on the left of Banner’s desk for a blue box. It will have a ring-shaped tracker inside it.” Tony instructs you as precisely as possible, making it easy for you to find it in your first try. “Found it.”

“Good. Wear it so that it activates using your heat signature.”

Without a delay, you shove the duo-chrome band over your finger.

“I can see her. I’m on my way,” comes another voice.

“Okay, good. We’re getting you out of there-”

“N-no, Mr Stark,” you interrupt the man, turning to watch the men looking at their watch and signalling you the time through their fingers, “there are more of them outside-”

“Easy kid. Breathe,” Stark reassured, making you follow his instruction as you took in one good breath and tried to exhale the anxiousness through your mouth, “they didn’t take over my system. Someone on their side was clever enough to make Friday believe there had been a breach. Friday is rebooting the essentials one by one. I already have their numbers on here, alright?”

You nodded.

“O-okay,” you blurted out after a few seconds of realisation.

“Now keep yourself out of the range of their weapons, grab only the essentials and hide till we get to you. How much time do we have?”

You turned to look at the man who signalled his fingers at you again, smiling at you, his emotions reaching his eyes in the most horrifying way.

“Eight minutes.”

“Where are you going to take those, sweetheart?” The filthy man called out as he watched you- from beyond the still burning fire- gather your laptop, phone and bag, rolling the OWL into its tube container. You didn’t feel the need to respond- mostly because your senses were trying to avoid any confrontation from your potential murderer.

“At least give this poor man a word before signing off, sweet thing.”

And suddenly you froze at the hazy familiarity of those words you had heard over the chat during your last shady tournament that nearly put you behind bars, turning to look at the man- his grey eyes looking more haunting in this absurd fire burning in front of him.

It didn’t take him long to register the horror on your face, making you comprehend what you had just given away.

“You were one of them,” he voiced, his eyes going wide, so did his smile, “weren’t you? The noobs we hired for the security breach.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, you ran back with all your stuff to the safety of the only brick wall and desk, your heart nearly in your mouth as your breaths grew erratic.

“You know I’ll find you, sweet thing,” his voice echoed, making you feel a cold chill run through your bones, “and unfortunately I’ll have to kill you now.”

__________

“Whatever you do,” Clint’s grim voice came through the comms, “do not fart while you’re in there.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Barton,” Bucky mumbled as his bike’s tires screeched to a halt in the soil before he left it on the ground and ran towards the direction of one the hidden passages out of the facility that led straight to the vents of the main building right where you were trapped.

Tapping in the code, he was inside the cooling system controls, watching the tracker beep on his watch, telling him your position.

“How much time do I have?”

“Four minutes Barnes,” Bruce answered, “it seems like they’re trying to weaken the impenetrable glass. W-wait, hold on-”

Bucky was already inside the shaft that was as tall and wide as him, rerunning Clint’s direction to the lab in his mind.

“James,” Tony’s solid voice spoke over the comms, “you have to hurry.”

“I am hurrying,” Bucky asserted.

“The man standing outside the lab hired her for the job she almost got destroyed for.”

The layers inside Tony’s words opened up. Bucky realised the gravity of the situation, accelerating his pace through the shafts that kept getting smaller with the distance.

“Take a right here and crawl till the second opening. That’s the lab,” Clint instructed the sergeant.

Bucky found the opening and slid it open, his gun ready as he slid down and landed on top of a table that had research papers scattered all over it. The transparent walls were all somehow covered in fire from the ceiling to the floor, huge cracks already developing over the glass.

He turned towards the desk while silently landing on the floor, keeping his huge body mute on his toes as he crouched towards the side, your figure hidden behind it partially coming in his view.

Your back- the usual way he had seen you for the past one week whenever he passed the lab, swinging with your earphones plugged in, listening to heavens know what that made you work while dancing about the entire area of this room- was towards him, making him come for your shoulder.

One moment, Bucky’s hand landed on your exposed cold skin, and another, a searing pain ran through him, sending his body into a red swirl of fireworks.

Continued here

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