Marvel characters used:
The Winter Soldier, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes
Agents of Hydra
Tony Stark, Iron Man
J.A.R.V.I.S.
Pepper Potts
Steve Rogers, Captain America (Cameo/Memories)
Marvel characters mentioned:
Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow
Clint Barton, Hawkeye
Howard Stark
S.H.I.E.L.D.
My creation: New character used:
Samantha Asgar
The Winter Soldier Remembers.
What if this happened? Probably never will, but What if?
It's chilly for a night in July; of course only wearing a boy-skirt, a short sleeve blouse and some new high heels you bought this morning, and the fact that you're not moving doesn't help.
«Come one, change already! » You whisper under your breath. Finally the light changes and you can cross the street and keep heading home. What a waste of time, you were supposed to go out with some friends and suddenly they call you up, after the meeting time has well past, to tell you they can't make it; AGAIN. So frustrating to have unreliable friends, you could have been at home watching one of your favorite movies!
You notice people running around you; you grab your little black purse and hold it closer to you; but otherwise don't pay more attention to it, because in New-York, people are always in a hurry to go somewhere. Suddenly, someone knocks you over, you try to keep your balance, but with these stupid shoes, it's impossible, your left ankle gives away and you know that you're going to fall. So you brace for a painful impact, but it doesn't happen, instead you feel someone grabbing you mid-way down.
You are so puzzled by the situation; since when do people care in this city? You look up and see the face of a young man, mid-twenties, brown shoulder length hair, a two or three day beard, but what stuns you even more are his grey-blue eyes. His look is mixed with confusion and concern.
«Are you okay? » he asks. After a couple of seconds, you come back to reality «Yes, thank you. » you answer back and start helping yourself up. You move your right hand to grab his, but the feeling is wrong. It's cold and hard like metal. You look down and notice his left hand is actually made of metal. You try not to react to it and grab his other hand to get a better leverage and try to pull yourself to your feet. You have trouble putting weight on your left ankle and start concentrating on it, as usual to heal it.
And that's when it happened; your mind is flooded with tons of memories, but they're not yours. Two young boys playing together; a flash the boy is defending the young blond boy from a bully «Steve are you OK?»; another flash a soldier in a brown uniform looking in a mirror. You let his right hand go, shake your head and look up at him.
He seems more confused than before, but at the same time, you can see a glimpse of hope in his eyes. «How did you do that? Do it again! » He says and grabs the hand you just let go. This time you don't only see the memories, you can also feel them, as if they were yours. You see the same soldier in a brown uniform, defending a blond man in an alley, they are friends it's obvious «Steve I'm with you to the end of the line. » And then a flash; he's in a room being experimented on, tortured, it hurts so badly, but all you can think of is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes 32557 and then you hear BUCKY! Another flash; he is standing tall beside Captain America?! Your mind starts blurring, it's too much information at once, you can't take it, you are mentally burned out then everything goes black.
You can still feel everything going on around you, but you can't see nor react to it, your body is in full shut down. You hear is voice «Oh Shit, what have I done! Is she okay (you feel his fingers on your neck), I feel a pulse, thank god. She made me remember, James Buchanan Barnes, that's my name! » He picks you up and you can tell he's walking with you in his arms. This is surprising, since you're not what we call light weight, but he doesn't seem to be incommoded. He finally stops and sits you down and everything goes black.
You wake up leaning on a hard surface, when you open your eyes you realize it's a shoulder, hard as metal, but a shoulder. Your mystery man is looking at you relieved that you're awake. «I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you. » He started saying, but you stop him with «It's OK, no harm done. »
He stares at you and continues talking «What do you mean, no harm done!? You went into convulsions, then your body, just gave up! I thought you were dead. You scared the shit out of me, and that's not an easy task. »
You sit strait and start to apologies «Sorry this never happened before. » You start thinking on the events that just occurred and you don't understand. You've touch tons of people in the past and never in your life have you ever experience this. How did it happen, you never had the power to read minds, only to heal yourself and maybe others, but you never tried it. Is that it, of course, it all started when you focus your healing on your left ankle, but why?
«You're not the one who should apologize, I grabbed your hand after you let go the first time. » he said feeling guilty. « But please, tell me how you did it? How where you able to make me remember? »
« Make you remember? I don't understand. » Now you're the one confused.
« Of what I know, my memories where wiped several times, so I have no recollection of who I am. » He starts explaining « But now I can honestly say that my name is James Buchanan Barnes or Bucky like some call me »
You start to understand, while you were trying to heal your ankle, the connection to James made your body see something else needing healing and that's when the memory flooding started. Not only did you restore those memories to him, you also lived them as him. That was something new, cool, but now you know that this kind of healing takes a toll on you.
« Are you okay? » James asked you « You look pale. »
« No I'm fine; I'm just trying to make sense of all this. (Lost in your thoughts) Oh! James Buchanan Barnes, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Samantha Asgar. Sam, for short. » You answer him awkwardly realizing that you hadn't introduced yourself.
He looked at you and started laughing « Bucky, call me Bucky. I think I can consider you a friend. You have seen my past and if I want to remember more, you'll also have to see more, so you'll know everything about me. » You could see he was ashamed, but this was probably the only hope he had to remember who he is.
You start shivering; Wow you hadn't notice the temperature dropping and sitting in Central Park, the humidity started to feel uncomfortable. He takes his jacket off and puts it on your shoulders; you now have a perfect view of his metallic arm up to the start for his t-shirt sleeve.
« How did you get it? If it's not indiscreet of me to ask? » You shyly point at his arm.
« Not completely sure, but I hope you'll want to help me remember. » He looks at you and smiles. You can't stop yourself from smiling back. « Of course I'll help; for once I can use my abilities without being afraid to be called a freak. » « You're not a freak, believe me, I somewhat remember what that is! » He tries his best to sound encouraging but fails miserably, still he manage to make you feel good enough to laugh.
Suddenly there's a strange type of helicopter in the air shining a big spot light on both of you. You could barely hear him yell « Run! » as he grabs your arm and starts pulling you, but with these stupid high heels you just fall to your knees. You kick them off, scramble to your feet and start running as fast as possible. He points you to go left while he heads right, you do as you're told and keep running as fast as you can, until you just can't anymore.
You look around you and realized he made you run deeper into Central Park and now you're lost. OK, you just need to continue in a straight line and you'll eventually find a path leading out, but at this time of night, you couldn't even tell if you were running straight or not. But who cares, you're out of breath and tired, but at least you had the reflex to put the jacket on properly before all this started, so you're not as cold.
« Who the hell are those people and why did James tell me to run. I didn't do anything wrong. » You manage to whisper to yourself even out of breath. « I just met him and I know nothing about him except his name. » You tell yourself but a pounding headache proves otherwise. « But still, how could anyone know, I never told my secret to anyone, nor use my ability in front of anyone, until today, sigh! » « Ouch! » You touch your neck to feel a feather dart and fall unconscious to the ground.
...
You wake up in a cell and let's just say the knockout drug didn't help the headache, it's 10 times worse, but you can't risk using your ability to get rid of it, just in case. But where are you? You get up very slowly and see that your cell is one among ten. In the one in front of yours, you spot James. He's pacing around, punching the wall with his left fist every time he's near it. He hasn't seen you yet, so you sit back down and try to get rid of your headache by using head massages and other ineffective methods people tend to try, but at the same time you focus your mind to get rid of it, very slowly so it doesn't look suspicious.
Sometime later a man in a black suit arrives in front of James cell.
« Well, well, well. You finally made a mistake. Our little Winter Soldier is back home. »
« OK, you got me back, just leave the girl out of this; she has nothing to offer you and nothing to do with this. » James says aggressively to the man, trying not to yell.
« On the contrary, she seems to be worth something to you, since you tried to get her away from us. And we can always find a way to use her. » Replies the man. « Since you're unwilling to cooperate with us. » The man turns and yells « OK; wipe him again, and let's start over. »
On those words you couldn't help yourself and stand up.
« Ah! Our little trump card is awake. How are we feeling Miss Asgar? » He asks you.
« Who are you and how do you know my name? » You respond on edge.
« It's very simple, WE know everything. You were born on August 21th, and are 27 years old, your mother's name is Margarette Savyl, but your father is unknown. You're a little shorter than 5'8, 1m72cm to be exact, your natural hair color is light brown, your eyes are hazelnut and to top it off you weigh about ... I'll say ... 180pounds. » He looks at you with a, what you think about that, smile.
« Bullshit! First; you didn't tell me who you are. Second; No one can know everything. And third; that info is public knowledge, if you're willing to search. And you can shove your smile up your ass; I'm never going to help you. » You hear James muffle a laugh and you sit back down satisfied with your answer.
« Hydra, and believe me Miss; WE have a way to make you help us. » As he finishes this a group of 5 armed man and 3 lab coats arrive at James cell. They open it, battle for a good 2 minutes before restraining him and putting him on a stretcher.
« What are you going to do to him? » You yell from your cell not expecting an answer.
« What we always do when he remembers. Wipe him and get our perfect soldier back. » Says one of the man in a lab coat and as soon as he said it, he received a hit in the back of the head from the man in the black suit.
« If you ever say these things out loud again, I'll kill you. You understand me! » The man in the lab coat nods his head yes and keeps moving.
A couple of hours later, they bring James back to his cell, but he looks awful, drained and lifeless.
« What did they do to you? » you whisper under your breath so no one but you hears it. « Oh my God, this is why you can't remember who you are. They did this to you! They ruined you, used you like a puppet and wiped you clean for the next time. I'm so sorry! » Tears start forming in your eyes. « Why? How can people be so cruel? I just can't ... » You just stop whispering and fall to your knees crying. When the men leave, you wipe the tears from your eyes and face and stand up. You approach your cell door and start saying « James! ... James Buchanan Barnes! ... Bucky! ... Please talk to me … say something! » You wait for an answer. Since he doesn't answer you try again and again and just when you were going to try a fourth time; he answers.
« Wer zum Teufel ist Bucky? Und können Sie schließen Sie das Bumsen! » ―Who the Hell is Bucky? And can you shut the fuck up! ― German, you don't uderstand what language he's speaking, but the tone didn't sound friendly. Knowing that he will probably not speak to you again, you sit on the bed and try to figure a way to get out of here.
Your purse falls to the ground. «Great the strap broke. My CELLPHONE! » Full of hope, you grab your purse and take your cellphone out. «Shit! Just my luck; it's dead. » Even if it still worked, you probably wouldn't have any signal in here. « I could feint death... when I was 10, I almost gave my doc a heart attack when I deliberately slowed my heart rate, when he was listening to it, so maybe I could do it for again, but for a longer time and slow all my body down, but how will I wake up after. » You realize that you're whispering to yourself, not a good idea when trying to plan an escape. Your body finally decides that it had enough excitement for the night and you can barely keep your eyes open. So you decide to sleep and think of your next step in the morning.
...
The next morning someone in a lab coat wakes you up knocking on the cell door, with a bowl of oatmeal and toasts. « We can't have you starving, if we're going to use you later.» And pushes the bowl trough a trap in the cell door.
You get up and a nice smell reminds you of last night mysterious encounter. Looking down; you button his jacket that you're still wearing. It smells familiar and unknown at the same time. You look at the unappealing bowl of oatmeal and gag. « Wow didn't think I could gag over food when I'm this hungry. I just can't eat that, no way! » You stand up and move the bowl to the far side of your cell. You hear noises from James cell, but stop yourself from calling to him again. To your surprise, he's the one who talks to you first.
« You should eat, otherwise you'll starve and they'll force feed you with tubes, tied to a bed. Not that I care, what they do to you. » Suddenly he stands strait up and bags on his cell door. « How the Hell did you get my jacket! »
You can't believe it, he remembers that the jacket is his, but not who I am. « Uhmm, you gave it to me last night, just before they chased and captured us. Don't you remember? »
« Don't play me Sam. You better slide it my way and fast! » He barks at you. Wait a minute, did he just say Sam!? You take the jacket off, try to roll it so it fits in the cell door trap and push it towards him as far as you can.
« Happy Bucky, it's as far as I can push it! Good luck trying to get it. » And you make a face at him. He tries to hide his grin but you caught a glimpse of it. Still not sure if he remembers or not.
« Yes very; I'll get it on my wait out! » he sits back down and continues eating.
15 minutes later, 10 armed men and the black suit guy arrive between our cells. They open James cell first and he comes out nonchalant and grabs his coat from the floor. 5 of the men escort him up the stairs. They open my door and ask me to step out, adding that I can do it willingly or with their help. You understood the message and decided to cooperate. « Miss Asgar, I'm will ask you to follow me, if you do so willingly, no harm will come to you. If you resist, well that's another story. » The man in black guides you to a windowed room. You can see James training in the room on the other side of the window.
« Can he see us in here? » you ask. « That's the whole point of all this. » the man in black answer with a smirk. 4 of the 5 armed men grab you, drag you towards the window and tie your arms and legs to chains hanging from the ceiling and bars hook to the floor. « What the fuck are you doing!?, Let me go! » You start yelling and fighting back and while you're concentrating on the 4 men restraining you, you feel a sharp pain in your back. You yell in pain, but it doesn't stop, another strike on your back, but this time you hear the distinguish sound of a whip. The man in black hits you again and again; your body is in so much pain, you can't stop crying; then he stops and yells through a speaker. « If you want me to stop Winter Soldier, you better start doing what we ask of you. If you don't; she'll get it! Only you can stop her pain! What will it be? » He whips you two more times, you can't take it anymore, you can't even yell to let the pain out.
James starts bashing on the window « Stop! Stop it! She has nothing to do with this, leave her alone! » You try your best to talk, but only a soft whisper comes out of your mouth «Please James. » You beg.
The man in black brings the mic closer to your mouth so James can hear you. «You see, she is even pleading you to make it stop. Go on Samantha, beg the soldier to make it stop. » You take all the courage and strength left in you « Please James! Don't do it, ignore them. Kill them all! » To those words he whips you again « That's not what I asked of you! » and another strike. You're so numb; you can't even swallow, nor stop the tears in your eyes. James witnesses it all and gives up « OK, you win; I'll do your mission, but please, stop hurting her. I beg you please. » The man in black laugh satisfied « Go and accomplish your mission, only when I have the confirmation that it is completed, that I will untie her and bring her down to the cell block. » He turns to you and whispers to your ear « I told you Hydra would find a way to use you. »
You lost track of time, but they did finally untied you; dragged you back to your cell and dropped on you face down on the bed, but this time they didn't close the cell doors, only the top cell block door was locked. Now you need to make sure not to heal these wounds, since they can't know your ability.
You hear James voice from a distance « Let go of me! I did what you wanted, now let me see her you son of a bitch! » He finally reaches your cell, you can barely see his face through your hair but you can hear him gasp is horror. He turns and searches the cell. He must have found what he was looking for; he opened the water and started cleaning your wounds. « Ouch! » You can't help sniveling every time he touches you with the cold and wet towel. « I'm so sorry. I should have stopped him sooner. » You try to pry yourself up on your elbows, but he stops you. « Don't; you'll only make it worse. Let me take care of you. This is my fault. » You shake your head violently « No! Please don't blame yourself. They are monsters without a soul. You shouldn't have obeyed them. You should have ignored them. » You manage to say very softly. « I don't look it, but I'm way tougher then I look. » You try to make him smile, but he is clearly not amused.
« If I hadn't obeyed them, they would have continued until you were dead. » He burst out in rage; standing up and hitting the wall behind you, you know his rage is not directed towards you. « Then be it! I'll kill myself so you won't have to do more horrible things for them and that way they'll also lose their trump card. » You manage to say will sitting up; your shredded blouse barely staying on your shoulders, you stair him straight in the eyes. « Don't think I won't do it! »
« Samantha, » He sighs and kneels at your feet. « That's what I'm afraid of. I can't lose you. I dragged you in this mess, I have to protect you and get you out. » You have no words to his claim; all you can do is sit there and stair into his beautiful puppy eyes. After who knows how long, you decide to lie back down and try to sleep.
You're awakened by a soft snoring; you look down and see James sleeping sitting on the ground, by your bed. You feel a cool towel on your back, notice a couple of bloody towels on the floor and know he kept tending to your wounds while you were sleeping. You get up very slowly and try to get out of bed without waking him. You had to go to the bathroom and you noticed; when you were escorted out to get whipped, a room on the far left of the cell block with a shower/bathroom sign. You head out to the room, holding yourself up with the help of the outer walls and doors of the four cells separating you from the room. It's a long and painful journey, but you finally get there. While inside; you see that there is no lock on the door and that the room is composed of a toilet, at the far end; a sink, on your right and a glass wall shower on your left. You try to take your blouse off, but it's incrusted in some of your wounds, so pulling hurts like hell. You decide to take a warm shower; No a hot shower. « Screw Hydra; I'll heal my wounds enough to get them closed, but still tender to hurt when touched. » You start the shower and bring it as hot as your back can tolerate it. You walk in, sit on the ground your back to the shower head and press your head against the wall. « This feels so good! » you say to yourself and close your eyes to focus on healing your back.
The door of the bathroom opens widely and James storms in with a look of terror in his eyes. He grabs you out from the shower and holds you very tightly against his chest « Uhm! What? Can't a girl take a shower to clean the blood off? » You mumble half asleep. « But how? » He strokes your back very softly and pulls your head up to look you in the eyes. « Your back. Water this temperature should of reopened your wounds and make you bleed out. But instead. » His look is even more confused than when you made him remember his first memories. « You only have deep red marks; your wounds are closed and almost completely healed. How!? » You smile at him and press your head on his chest.
« I told you I was tough. But I don't think this is the place to talk about this. » you say softly. « Don't worry, this room is the only one not monitored, that's why the door doesn't lock. And the shower is still on, so no one can eaves drop on us. » He reassures you. « Okay; me restoring your memories was just a side effect of my real ability. » You start to explain. « You're the first person, other than my mother, to witness this. I never told anyone, nor let anyone notice me using my ... » You stop to think how to phrase this. « ... let's just say; healing powers. I can heal pretty much all my physical injuries. I can't heal viruses, so I do catch the common cold. I can also choose not to heal myself at all, or like for my back, heal partially to avoid suspicion. » You look up and for the first time, you see James smile a genuine smile.
« Can you heal others? » He asks. « Don't know. I never tried but I think so, look at what I did for you. I was trying to heal my twisted ankle when I accidentally healed part of your mind. » You stop talking and looked him in the eyes « James; you have to promises me that you won't give in to their threats, even if they hurt me again. You now know I can ... shake it off, if I can put it that way. » He frowns, but promises. You get up and start walking to the door; you grab a towel, take your shredded blouse off and wrap the towel around you. You open the door and yell at the guard watching you. « Hey! You! Can you get me some cloths; your asshole of a boss shredded my blouse with his whip. » As you throw your shredded blouse on the ground in front of you, James follows you out of the bathroom and helps you back to your cell. He then picks the bloody towels from the floor and throws the in the hallway. « You might want to wash or burn these too. » He yells at the guard.
Since you went in the shower fully dressed, you removed your boy-skirt from under the towel and place it to dry on the counter next to your purse and cell. At this point there was no way James was leaving your side. He followed you everywhere. Like a guard dog, really; you had your personal handsome bodyguard. He even dragged the mattress of his cell to the floor of yours.
...
They left you alone for a couple of days, and brought you some change of clothes. They probably didn't have any new missions for James but it didn't last more than a week. You were brutally wakened by a cloth covering your mouth and nose rendering it almost impossible for you to breathe. You realize that the cloth is full of chloroform and start struggling, kicking to get away from your attacker. You kick James metal shoulder in the process; witch fills your foot with pain, but also wakes him up. He tries to grab your attacker but is tased by the man in the black suit and drops to the floor incapacitated. Everything goes black.
- James is on the ground getting continuous doses of electric shocks to make sure he doesn't get up. They drag your unconscious body out of the cell, close and lock the cell door. They leave the cell block with you, but the man in the black suit stays behind with James. James finally gets to his feet and starts hitting the cell door with his metal arm; cracking it. « Where are you taking her? » He growls at the man in the black suit. « Calm down Winter. If you cooperate like last time, nothing will happen to her. » he says calmly to James. James backs off the cell door and tries to calm down, by rotating his shoulders and cracking his neck. « If you harm her; I'll kill you! » James says under his breath. The cell door opens and James steps out calmly and follows the man in the black suit. The man opens a door to a training room and signals James to enter. James looks around the room and sees you hanging from the ceiling by your wrists with weights tied to your feet. James starts to head your way to free you, when the man in the black suit starts talking in the speakers. « I wouldn't do that if I were you Winter. You see; we planned this one very carefully. Look at her feet. » James stops running and looks to the ground under you, two big metallic trap doors open to reveal a hug and deep glass tank filled with water. « You see; if you try to save her, we'll drop her in and close the doors, you'll be able to see her drown. Not very entertaining since she's unconscious, but at least she won't feel a thing. » James facial expression changes, all you can feel in the room are his murdering thoughts toward Hydra. « We will only bring her down when you complete your next mission. You refuse; she dies. You fail; she dies. If you try to bypass it like you did your last one; she dies. » James closes his eyes and makes the decision to break his promise to you, he can't let you die, it would be his undoing. You can clearly see all these expressions on James face from rage to determination and sadness when he finally answers. « I have your word. If I do this; you bring her down and let her go for good. » « We'll bring her down and back to her cell alive, I'm not releasing her. Better make it quick, my finger is twitchy. » The man in black nags. « OK; I'm ready to receive my mission. » « Good soldier; now your mission is to kill the CEO of Osborn Corp; Norman Osborn. Can you manage that? » « Yes sir! » James says unwillingly. -
You wake up in your cell and your wrists are burning like fire. You look at them and can see burn marks on them, but not any burn marks, rope burn. But how, you can't remember anything since the abduction with chloroform. You turn to your side and see James sitting on the floor his head between his knees. He looks so weak, so vulnerable, it's not like him; he's always so sure of himself. « What happened? » you ask yourself and then it hits you, the burn marks on your wrists, he broke his promise, killed someone to save you. You kneel beside him and take his head in your hands. « Oh James; you shouldn't have. » you whisper to him, not lecturing him but feeling concern and sadness for him. He lifts his head and looks at you, his eyes filled with grief, sadness but also relief that you're safe. He smiles at you but you can see the sadness behind it. « This can't go on James. I'm sorry. » Upon whispering those words you push your mind to its peak and try to retrieve as much of his memories your mind and body can cope with.
FLASH « Are you with me Bucky? » Captain America asks you. « You know I am; I'll follow to hell and back Steve, like always. I'm just surprised they're following. » You turn and see a group of five men drinking at a table. FLASH; you're on top of a mountain looking down and planning to jump on top of a fast moving train. Captain America takes the lead and you follow close behind. FLASH; Gun fight in the train your separated from Steve, you get your hands on his shield and try to absorb the hit from a launcher; witch blows a hole on the side of the train. You drop the shield and are sucked out of the train. You hold on for dear life, Steve tries to grab your arm, but the piece you're holding on breaks and you fall. Your heart races, you're spinning out of control and then your left arm hits the side of the mountain; ripping off just over the elbow. The pain is unbearable, you lose consciousness. FLASH; you're on the snowy ground, your left arm partially missing and bleeding, black out. Someone is dragging you. FLASH; you wake up on a table, raise your arms in front of you, but your left; how? It was ripped off. You fold your fingers and the metal arm on your left responds to your commands. A lab coat approaches you with a syringe; you grab his neck with your metal arm and snap it clean. They restrain you and put you on ice.
You look at James face; he is overwhelmed and panicked at the same time. Your left arm is hurting, you're cold, you know you can't take a lot more of his memories, but you have to continue, for him.
FLASH; You're standing in the middle of the road, at night, waiting for you next mission and here he comes, Howard Stark, one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. His car is heading straight towards you, you aim your gun to shoot, but Howard sees you, and you can tell he recognized you; he turned the wheel to avoid you. He loses control of his car and you can see the terror look in his and his wife's eyes when they plummet off the edge to their death. FLASH; you're on top of a building with a sniper rifle and shoot John F. Kennedy. FLASH; you're waiting for your new mission. Alexander Pierce tells you to kill Nick Fury. FLASH; Encounter on the roof top with a blond man with a shield. I think I know him? FLASH; New mission kill Captain America. FLASH; on the bridge my mission stops fighting me and calls me « Bucky?! » I answer back « Who the hell is Bucky? » And continue the fight. FLASH; back at headquarters, I can't shake the fact that I knew the man on the bridge.
Pierce orders a Wipe and all I can do is surrender to the pain. FLASH; Mission to protect the helipad from S.H.I.E.L.D agents to the death and kill their leader Captain America. Again he refuses to fight me, saying he's my friend. « I'm with you till the end of the line Bucky. » That phrase, I know it, but from where. Big explosion, my mission drops in the lake, I can't stop myself, I drop after him and pull him out, drag him to the lake side. « I'm with you till the end of the line. » The phrase sticks in my head as I walk away.
You finally let go of James and fall to the ground next to him, your body is starting to convulse, but you can't let yourself faint, you have to die. You look one last time at the confused and hopeful face of the man who would do anything to keep you alive. You use the rest of your strength to order your body to full shut down, survival hibernation mode; one heart beat a minute and slow unnoticeable breathing. Your mind races, how to wake up? James, he'll be the key, he'll wake you up. And everything goes black.
...
James finally snaps out of this memory overdose. « I remember. I remember everything! Samantha you're the best! » Wanting to hug you, thinking you're in front of him; he is stunned to find your body lying next to him. « Not again. You lasted to long; what am I going to do with you. » He gets to his knees to be in a better position; he picks you up and lays you down on the bed. « Somethings off. » he whispers. He reaches out to take your pulse. He starts to panic; he replaces his fingers to make sure his on the right spot. « No, no, no! This can't be. » He places his cheek over your mouth, but can't feel your breath. « No! Samantha, please! Tell me you didn't! Please. ... HELP! » James yells; stands up and start bagging on the cell door. « Someone help! She's not breathing and doesn't have a pulse! »
« Winter, we'll open your cell door, take her and leave her at the bottom of the stairs, then return to your cell. Only when the door re-locks behind you, will we send a team to retrieve her. » Says the guard.
James picks you up from the bed and brings you to the base of the stairs; lays you down softly and runs back to his cell, blocking the locking mechanism before closing the cell door.
A team of lab coats run down the stairs and start examining you; listen to your heart, breathing and pressure. They detect none. They turn to the guard and ask « How long has she been in this state? » The guard starts rewinding his tapes and find the moment you dropped to the floor. « About 30 minutes. » « We're too late, take her to the lab, the boss might have plan for her. » One of the lab coats says to his colleagues. « He's out, he'll be back in 3 hours. » answer a second. « We'll put her on ice, to preserve her until he returns. » They pick you up and put you on a stretcher, bring you up the stairs and towards the lab. Once the door of the cell blocks closes the guard informs James that he is wanted in training room 3.52. Five armed guards arrive to escort him, but this time he's ready. He picks up your purse and cell phone and puts them in one of the side pockets of his tactical pants.
He knows he has to act fast. A couple of corridors farther from the cell block he decides to act. He grabs the guard to his left and breaks his neck. Grabs his gun to shoot the other two, while using him as a shield. The guards were so unprepared for his reaction that they had no chance. Three of the five guards where dead, before the two others even realized what was happening and two head shots later, James was free to find you and leave this place. He grabs a gun, all the magazines and heads to the lab. He encounters a lot of people on his way there, killing all who posed a threat and ignoring the ones who didn't.
Once at the lab, he pulls your body out of the freezer and picks you up like a baby. « I'm getting you out of here. I can't stand by and let them experiment on you, like they did on me. I couldn't save you, but at least I'll give you a proper burial. » He heads to the garage and steals an armored truck. Placing you on the passenger seat and fastening your seat belt to protect you. He takes place at the wheel, rams the truck through the doors and heads out as fast as possible. He's been driving for hours when he arrives to the edge of the sea, he stops the truck. Not sure what to do, he pushes his hair back and starts looking at you. « Why did you do that Sam? I promised to protect you. Now all I can do is give you to the sea, so they can never experiment on you. » He opens the cabin light and unbuckles your seat belt. He examines your face one last time and grabs your left hand to gently leave a kiss on it when he sees your wrist, to make sure; he picks your right hand up. They're healed, completely healed, but how. He runs the last hours back in his head. The burn marks where still on them when he brought you to the stairs of the cell block and now they're gone. He's overwhelmed with joy, but he has to make sure. He places his fingers on your neck once more, but this time he waits. He finally feels a faint pulse, but he wants to be positive. « Yes! You little devil! » Just short of one minute he feels another faint pulse. Realizing you're not really dead, but feinting death, he buckles you up and starts driving. He starts thinking where to go, who to trusts. He could only think of two people he could intrust your life to, Steve Rogers, his childhood friend, and Tony Stark. Since he didn't know where Steve was, he drives towards New-York, to Stark Tower.
…
James has been driving all night and a part of the day; around noon you finally arriving at Stark Tower; he stops; jumps out of the car; runs to the passenger side and takes you out carefully. A security guard approaches him. «Excuse me Sir, but you can't park here. » «It's a car from Hydra, blow it up, throw it in the Ocean, destroy it, I don't care. But you HAVE to get rid of it. I really need to see Mr. Tony Stark, Please. Her life depends on it. » James says to the guard; showing him your unconscious body; and heading towards the main door. He arrives to the videophone on the right side of the door; « You! Leave now! » Tony is visible on the videophone and doesn't seem happy to see James. « Mr. Stark, Please hear me out. Other than Steve Rogers, you're then only person I can trust with her life. » And he turns so Tony sees you. « Please, I need. » He corrects himself « She needs your help. Hydra did a number on her and she needs protection. » Tony mutes the videophone and takes to someone out of sight. « You can come up, but you will be escorted by armed guards. So don't try anything funny. » James acknowledges Tony's threatening hospitality.
Three Iron Man guard escort you in an elevator to the top floor, the Penthouse. James explains the past events up to last night, even your secret ability. Tony points to the couch and James lays you down. « I need to know that she is alive. Can you do something? » He asks. « J.A.R.V.I.S. please scan the girl. » Tony says out loud to no one visible. Almost immediately a robotic man voice sounds out « With pleasure Sir. » A couple of minutes later J.A.R.V.I.S details his observations. « The girl is indeed alive. Her heart beat has been slowed down to one pulse every 55 seconds and her breathing is extremely slow and shallow. Otherwise, she is in perfect health. I took the liberty to identify her. Her name is Samantha Asgar; she has been reported missing by friends two months ago. Sir, Mr. Barnes is telling the truth. » « So she can heal any physical injuries, you say, does Hydra know about that? » Tony asks James. He shakes his head « No, she made sure they didn't suspect anything and I would never give such precious information to them. We are the only three people, four if you count her mother, to know about this. » « Six, if you count myself and Mrs. Potts. » J.A.R.V.I.S. adds. At the same time Pepper enters the room. « Tony, you have to let them stay a little, at least until he's rested a bit. » Tony throws one of his look to Pepper. « I know you have trust issues, but he risked everything to save her, that has to count for something. » « Fine, they can stay, but he has to leave first thing tomorrow. » He turns and points towards you. « She can stay as long as it takes. »
James expresses his deepest gratitude and sits on the floor next to you, taking your hand in his. « You hear that, you'll be safe here. » He kisses your lips very softly. Pepper pushes a recliner beside the couch, « Here, you'll be more comfortable on this then on the floor. » « Thank you, mam. » James answers before taking over and pushing the recliner closer to you, turning it to be facing you.
« J.A.R.V.I.S. Shade all the windows so are guests can get some shut eye. Tony, we're late. » Pepper grabs Tony's arm and guides him toward the elevator. « James, if you need anything, don't be shy to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. He'll help you with all your needs, food, shower, distractions. Okay!? » « Thank you very much mam. » Answers James at the same time that Tony starts objecting to all this. « You can't be serious, leaving him alone with my stuff. » « Our stuff. » she corrects him. « And beside, they're are not alone, J.A.R.V.I.S. is looking after them. Now go! » and she pushes him in the elevator.
James drops on the recliner; he hadn't realized how tired he was. « Sir, before you fall asleep, would you like something to eat? » J.A.R.V.I.S. asks. « No thank you, I really need some shuteye. »
« Very well Sir. »
« May I ask you one thing? »
« Anything, Sir. »
« Can you monitor her life signs and warn me if she gets worse? »
« Of course, Sir. » James falls asleep holding your hand.
Suddenly your heart starts up again and you gasp for air. You sit up on the couch trying to catch your breath. You look around, but can barely make out your environment; everything is fuzzy; you feel someone holding your hand. You give your eyes time to focus and see James sound asleep on a recliner holding your hand. « It worked. » you whisper to yourself. You liberate your hand from James hold and sit up straight. « How long was I out? Where are we? » You start asking yourself but stop. You turn around and lean your head on James shoulder. You look up at him; he seems so innocent, at peace, like a normal person. Looking at him now; you could never imagine this man harming another. You close your eyes and fall asleep holding his hand.
You feel a soft stroke on your cheek and open your eyes. James is staring at you amazed. He opens his mouth to say something but no words come out. He just smiles; grabs you in a strong hug and lifts you; so you end up sitting on his laps. You start to laugh and he laughs with you. He hugs you again and says. « You scared the living shit out of me. Again! » « I'm so sorry; I didn't know what else to do... I just couldn't let them ... » He puts a finger on his lips; you stop talking. « Let's not talk about it… You hungry? » You laugh at his sudden change of subject. « Starving! ... James where are we? And what time is it? » « I'll answer that if you don't mind Sir. » Says J.A.R.V.I.S, the voice catches you by surprise, but James answers calmly « Go ahead J.A.R.V.I.S. »
« Miss Asgar, it is 3 in the morning, September 20th. You are at Stark Tower in New-York City. You have been declared missing for 2 months by your friends. Mr. Barnes brought you here yesterday afternoon and you have been Mr. Starks guests ever since. » « Wow! J.A.R.V.I.S., this is awesome. » You look at James « He didn't throw a fit when he saw you? » « Oh, he told me to leave at first but I told him he was the only one; other than Steve; I could trust with your life. » He explains « You also have Miss Potts to thank; she's the one that convinced him in the first place. » adds J.A.R.V.I.S.
« J.A.R.V.I.S. what is available for breakfast? » James asks.
« Follow the lights they will lead you to the kitchen. You may take anything you like from there. » The lights start to turn on one after the other towards the kitchen. You make yourselves a good breakfast and sit at the table to eat. James looks at you with a 'before I forget face'; takes your purse out of his pants side pocket and puts it on the table. You smile at him and pull it towards you. « Thank you. »
« I have to let you know something. » he starts saying « Since you restored my memories, Hydras first wipe didn't worked, nor did the others after that. I don't know what else you did to my brain ... but Thank you. And I'm sorry I was a Jerk with my jacket. » you laugh and make a face « I forgive you. » you don't have to say another word for the rest of the meal. The silence is soothing and you feel safe with him around.
« OK, Barnes, like I said yesterday. It's morning and you have to leave. » Tony storms in the kitchen, followed by Pepper. « Tony, really? » she says.
« Don't worry Mr. Stark, we won't overstay our welcome. We're almost done eating and we'll be off. » You say in a matter of fact way. « Sam, don't be like that, he's right. I accepted his terms yesterday. I am to leave first thing in the morning and you can take as long as you need. » James tells you while reaching for your hand. « NO! I'm going with you. » You yell standing up.
« Please Sam. It's for your safety. I can't hunt Hydra and protect you at the same time. Stay with Stark as long as you need. You'll be safer. »
« Sir, we have a problem. » Says J.A.R.V.I.S.
« What kind? » asks Tony.
« Seven armored vehicles just surrounded the building but only three men are approaching the door. »
« Visual. »
A big screen pops between you and James above the kitchen table.
« Hydra! » growls James. « How did they find us? »
You start thinking. « J.A.R.V.I.S. can you detect radio transmitters? The kind implanted in humans? » You ask.
« Of course. »
« Scan me. » J.A.R.V.I.S. scans your entire body and finds nothing.
« James, your turn. J.A.R.V.I.S. if you may. » Again a scanning beam runs across James body and locates a beacon in his bionic arm.
You look at Tony. « Mr. Stark » you start to say. « Call me Tony, please. » he interrupts you. You smile at him and start over. « Tony, can you remove it? » « Of course. » he replies heading out of the kitchen and returning with some tools. He removes a section of James arm, withdraws the beacon and puts James arm back together. « Great, now we need to get rid of it, but in a way they'll think we escaped them, so you won't be mix in this. »
« You forget young lady, that I'm already mix in this. I'm an Avenger, but I like your plan. It will give us time to prepare a defensive. ... J.A.R.V.I.S. armor please. » A couple of minutes later, an Iron Man armor lands on the balcony. Tony places the tracers in it and it takes off flying toward the ocean.
« That should keep them busy for a while. » He says satisfied.
« Sir, the three men are still waiting for you down stairs. » J.A.R.V.I.S reminds Tony.
« Let's go meet them then. Pepper, please lead our two guests to the chamber and meet me on the main floor with an urgent meeting I can't postpone. »
Tony takes the main elevator down to the main hall to meet Hydra. You follow Pepper to the master bedroom of the Penthouse; she pushes on the head of one of the Iron Man mini statues and the wall; were the wardrobe is, opens to reveal a small elevator. Pepper lets you both enter first; follows and presses on the bottom of the two buttons.
« This elevator shaft is completely shielded; no one can scan what it is, or what it contains. So if they are scanning for life signs, we just disappeared from the radar. » Explains Pepper.
« But won't they know somethings up, if three life forms disappear and only one reappears? » You ask. « Maybe, but they don't know where you'll be. So still our advantage. » She replies.
You start feeling a little woozy, you don't like being boxed in, you grab the leaning bar with both hands; close your eyes; take deep breaths and start counting to distract yourself. James puts his right hand on your shoulder to comfort you, but with no effect, you just breathe and keep counting. The doors finally open and you jump out of the elevator; you stop on the spot and take a good look around. The room is huge; you have a bathroom on your left, then a functional kitchen area, there's a king size bed with desks at the far end of the room and on your right a big living-room. The dimensions of the room are almost identical to the Penthouse, minus the walls; there were no walls separating the rooms except for the bathroom. That is when it hits you; No windows. You double check and spot a double door on the corner between the bedroom and the living-room.
« Is the elevator the only way out? » you turn to ask Pepper.
« To the Penthouse and Stark Tower; yes, but there is an emergency exit there. » She answers pointing the double doors. « I have to head back up. If you need anything J.A.R.V.I.S. will be at your disposal, make yourselves at home until further notice. » She re-enters the elevator and presses the top button.
« Great! Not as bad as the elevator but I still don't like it. » You mumble to yourself.
« If Madame desires; I can create the illusions of windows. » says J.A.R.V.I.S. out of nowhere and everywhere. The exterior walls start displaying the Penthouse view.
« Thanx J.A.R.V.I.S., it might seem stupid, but I actually feel a little better. » you turn to James who hadn't moved since getting out of the elevator; he was still examining the room. « J.A.R.V.I.S. the double emergency doors, where do they lead? » you ask heading towards them.
« To an underground cavern, to a Jeep that will take you in the tunnels to a pre-prepped submersible, that will take you to one of Mr. Stark's private beaches. » He answers.
« OK, but I doubt we know how to operate a submersible. » you say a little panicked.
« No worries Miss Asgar, I am also connected to the submersible. You can put it in autopilot and I will take care of the rest. »
« Good to know. » Says James putting both his hands on your shoulders. You jump, since you hadn't noticed he followed you to the doors.
« Shit James! Don't do that. » you nag at him.
« What? » he answers back obviously confused.
« Can't you make noise when moving around like a normal person, so I can, at least know your estimate whereabouts. » you tell him spinning around and making a face, so he knows your joking. He makes a face back.
« Seriously, what can we do to kill time? » you ask James. « Are you seriously asking me? I know nothing of all this technologies; I usually train to pass time. » he says.
« Oh, that's a good idea! You could teach me to fight, so I could help you hunt Hydra. » you're so excited from your idea that you're literally jumping for joy. But James doesn't seem excited, on the contrary, he doesn't have to answer you verbally; you can tell just by looking at his face, that it's an incontestable no.
« Why not? That way you won't have to worry as much for me. » you're sure your argument has weight.
« Worry less! You mean more. If you know how to fight, you'll willingly put yourself in harm's way to help me and I can't have that. » You know he's right, but it makes you angry and without thinking you start to scream and run towards him, ram your hands and head in his stomach to try to make him fall on the bed. It was a complete failure, all you manage to do is make him take one step back. You growl and give up, but instead of stepping back before straightening yourself; you just stand up and hit his chin with the top of your head.
« Ouch! » you both say. You rub your head with your right hand and step back. « That was a fail. » you say disappointed and look up at James. He's rubbing his jaw and you notice that his lip is bleeding. « Shit, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you ... let me get that. » you place your right hand on his lip; close your eyes and concentrate, within a few seconds the bleeding stops and you feel that the cut has healed. You open your eyes; look at him with an "I'm sorry smile face". He looks back at you but this time, his look is softer and more intense than usual, and so much it makes you uncomfortable. You let your hand drop from his jaw; turn away and head towards the living-room. Step over the back of the couch and let yourself slip on it while saying « J.A.R.V.I.S. is Hydra still in the building? If they are, can we see what's going on? » J.A.R.V.I.S. doesn't answer, he just converts the two screens in front of the couch to monitors and you can see that Tony is still in the main hall with the three Hydra agents. At that moment Pepper arrives and whispers in Tony's ear. You can hear Tony say.
« Gentleman, you will have to excuse me, but my scheduled 10 am client is waiting for me. If you need more information from Stark industries, you will have to take an appointment. Now please leave my building or I will have no choice to have you escorted out. »
« This is not over Mr. Stark. We know you're hiding them and we will find them with or without your help. » One of the men says.
« Good, better make it without. Good day. » Tony turns his heels and heads to join Pepper in the elevator. Ten guards place themselves before the three men who have no choice to leave.
« Good, as soon as they're gone, we can leave. » James says. But J.A. .S immediately corrects him. « I am sorry Sir, but Mr. Stark just gave me the order to keep you here for now. There are still three vehicles surveying the building. He doesn't want to take the chance of letting you leave for your safety. » You start panicking, your breathing is getting faster and heavier; you bend your knees against your chest and press your head against them.
« Hey. » says James when he notices your reaction. « It'll be okay, calm down. » But you can't, it's just too much for you, before you had the hope of getting out when they left, but now; who knows when you'll leave. You start rocking yourself to try to calm down, but it's useless. James sits beside you; grabs you in his arms and pulls you to his chest. He lays his head on yours and tries his best to comfort you by gently petting your hair. His expression is full of concern. Your breathing slows; you start to calm down but you keep your eyes closed. You just stay there; in his arms, for what seems like a long time.
Suddenly J.A.R.V.I.S. starts talking « I don't want to alarm you, but we have a problem upstairs, you both need to get to submersible now. Orders of Mr. Stark. » You look up at the monitors and notice not ten guards, but ten Iron Man suits in the main hall. James gets up still holding you; you drop your feet on the floor and you both head for the double doors.
Once on the other side, you enter the Jeep and drive down the stone shafts to reach a doc on the edge of a water mass. The submersible is open, it's a two seater; James helps you to get in and follows. He buckles you in first and does his. « I can do it. » you tell him with a smile. « I know. » he smiles back. The hatch closes and you slide down the ramp in the water. James holds out his left hand and you grab it without hesitating. « Here we go! » you manage to say forcing yourself to smile. The sub travels a good while before going through five sets of hydraulic underwater doors. When you finally reach the sea, you are breath taken by the view; you even calm down and start pointing out everything to James. He looks at everything you show him at first and then stops his eyes on you and you notice that look again, the same one he gave you when you healed his jaw. Having no place to escape this time; you press your head against the headrest; turn to look at him and smile shyly. He leans over to kiss you, but your sub is hit by something.
« What was that? » you try not to panic.
« We have been hit by a projectil, taking evasive manoeuvers. » says J.A.R.V.I.S.
« But how did they find us? » as you're asking this, you answer your own question. « The tracers! » your face fills with terror. « Where did you take them J.A.R.V.I.S. ? »
« I dropped them in the ocean this morning, as instructed. ... Oh my. » J.A.R.V.I.S. and James also makes the connection. « They must of been looking for you on and in the ocean and here we are. » he adds. « Incoming, prepare for evasive manoeuvers. » J.A.R.V.I.S. warns us just as he makes a sharp right turn, unprepared you hit your head on the dome and lose consciousness. The explosion of the torpedo happens so close to the sub; that the shockwave damages the outer shell and water starts pouring in. James locates two oxygen tank linked to a mask, but one of them is punctured and useless; he unbuckles you, secures the tank on your back and the mask to your face.
« J.A.R.V.I.S. get us to the beach NOW! » he yells
« Sir I must emerge or you will be submerged in water before we get there. » J.A.R.V.I.S. starts arguing.
« No! Stay under. I have a spare oxygen bottle here I can use. »
« Sir it won't last, it's too small. »
« I'll hold my breath and use it only when needed, now stop arguing and press on it. Her safety is the only thing that matters. »
J.A.R.V.I.S. stops arguing and accelerates towards the beach.
« Show me a visual map of the beach. » James asks as the water is now to his waist. A visual of the beach appears and James locates a safe place to hide you. « J.A.R.V.I.S. tell Tony he can find Samantha here. He'll have to move fast so Hydra doesn't find her first. I'll lead them as far away as I can. » James points the location on the map and J.A.R.V.I.S. notes the coordinates.
« The coordinates have been transferred by secure line to M. Stark. What about you, how will we find you? »
« You won't. I'll be on my own. Please take care of her. » James takes a deep breath as the water rises over his head and completely fills the compartment. He makes sure your oxygen tank is working well and concentrates to use his only when he needs it. Surprisingly, not as often as he thought, so the tank lasts until you reach the beach.
Close to the beach J.A.R.V.I.S. stops; pops the hatch; James pulls you out of the still submerged sub and swims towards the safe spot. He gently lies you down on the sand under the cover of rocks, algae and other debris. He takes the oxygen tank off your back and uses it to swims back to the still submerged sub. He then asks J.A.R.V.I.S. to navigate the sub towards the beach at full speed so Hydra will see the sub crashed out of control. He buckles in and braces for impact. As expected Hydra is waiting for him on the shore, to execute his plan and keep you safe, he lets himself get captured.
(What happens next to Bucky, is for you to decide - the credit scene of Ant-Man may be a good lead)
When everything clears, Tony lands on the beach in his Iron Man suit, the agents from Hydra left the tower half an hour ago, about the same time James let himself get captured on the beach. He got the full report of what happened in the sub by J.A.R.V.I.S. and where to find you.
You start to come to your senses while Iron Man moves the debris to reach you.
« Can you stand? » He asks you opening his visor, so you see Tony's worried face.
« I think so, but my head is spinning. » you answer while trying to get to your feet. You fall to your knees and put your left arm around your abdomen and your right hand on the ground to keep your balance. « Give me a sec. » you say softly short of breath, while closing your eyes to heal your injuries. It takes longer than usual, since not only did you have your head injury, you also had multiple internal injuries and internal bleeding.
« Okay, I'm good to go. » You stand up and start to look around. « Where's James? » You finally ask.
« He was captured by Hydra. » Tony says softly.
« WHAT! Why didn't you stop them? » you yell while pushing him with both arms.
« I couldn't do anything; I was stuck at Stark Towers stopping their attack there. If I'd known it was a ruse, believe me, I wouldn't have sent you two off. » he tries to explain.
« Ya, nice plan by the way. Sending us in a sub, in the ocean where you dropped the beacon, you took out of James arm, this morning. » You growl at him.
« Shit, I forgot about it. I'm so sorry Samantha; I really thought I was getting you out of harm's way. »
« Sorry won't cut it Tony! » You bark back. « Because of you, James is back in Hydras hands. You owe me … you owe him big time. » Tony doesn't like the look on your face.
« What are you planning in that little head of yours? »
« A rescue mission, but you'll have to teach me how to fight. » you say to him.
« I can't teach you to fight. I only fight in my armor. » he answers.
« Then find someone who can. » you stare at him. He sighs, closes his visor and starts talking.
« J.A.R.V.I.S., can you find Natasha and Clint for me please, I think I'll need their help and expertise with this one. Oh and find Steve Rogers too, he'll probably want in on this rescue mission of hers. »
« On it Sir. »
...
Syndie Collin
2015-07-31
The end for now.