Chapter 4: Bad dreams lead to worse news.
Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel.
Summer, 2012
Fire.
It was everywhere. She couldn't get out, couldn't breathe. She was going to die. Michelle laid on the flood, her blood seeping from the wound to her shoulder, thinking how stupid she had been to trust Aaron. She should have trusted her gut. Instead, she had followed her stupid head. Now she was in the middle of a burning abandoned building, a gunshot wound to her shoulder. Stupid head. Stupid hot guys. Stupid her.
She coughed as the door was shoved open and more smoke surrounded her. As her vision darkened, the last thing she saw was a fireman, rushing to her side. He said something but she didn't hear. Couldn't. Her hearing was muffled so all she heard was the tone of his voice. She was vaguely aware of him throwing her over his shoulder and running out of the building. The smoke cleared and she saw wet pavement, firemen running around. The building collapsed seconds after they had cleared and muffled shouts surrounded her. She felt her back land on something soft, a mask put on her face and a woman talking to her, asking questions.
The light shinning into her eyes was annoying. She squinted against it and blinked. In the haze, she heard a woman's voice getting clearer.
"Good girl. Blink for me again" Michelle did so. The woman praised her again. She was lifted into a bright area, the woman following. "Honey, If you can hear me, blink twice." Blinking twice, the woman smiled. "I need to ask you a few questions. Blink twice for yes, once for no. Ok?" She blinked twice again. Her hearing was slowly coming back but her sight was still darker than normal.
"Are you in pain?" Two blinks followed by tears flowing from her eyes. "Are your eyes bothering you?" Two blinks. More tears. "Ok honey. Good job. Rest for a bit. You lost a lot of blood and have a lot of smoke damage. We are taking you to Miami Dade General Hospital. Is that ok?" Michelle was confused. Miami? But she lived in Vegas. Aaron must have drugged her and flown her to Miami. But why? To kill her? He did shoot her so probably but it still didn't makes sense. The paramedic saw her heart rate go up and her panic on her face.
"Honey I need you to calm down ok? We are going to take good care of you. Don't worry."
After that, michelle remembered the darkness getting heavier, blackness then waking up in a hospital bed, alone with machines beeping around her. The doctor came in, questioned her, and told her she would be fine but would need to stay for a few days. Then the cops came. They asked her about Aaron, how she knew him and why he would try to kill her.
She answered their questions to the best of her ability. She didn't know why she was in Miami, couldn't remember. According to the doctor, she had an injury on her head from something hitting her hard. Debris from the fire or even a deliberate blow to the head. She had short term memory loss of the last 48 hours. They said with time it could return, but it also could stay buried forever.
At that moment, she was lying in bed, watching the news in horror as New York was invaded by aliens. She caught her first sight of Steve on the tv. A hero. A good man. It was then she decided he deserved better than her. A stupid woman who had fallen in with an evil man and got burned. She didn't deserve him. Instead of waiting for her soulmates, she had tried to force it, tried to find love in the wrong places. And it had almost killed her.
Bucky woke with a start. The dream had been so real, as if he had been Michelle. Felt her pain and fear. She had been so alone and scared. He looked at her sleeping form, still curled up on the couch. He wondered if that was a real memory or just a dream. Lowering her shirt slightly on her right shoulder, he saw a faded scar consistent with a bullet hole. It had been real. She had been shot and left to die in a fire. His jaw clenched and he got to his feet pacing. Someone had hurt her. Someone she had trusted and it led to her feeling unworthy. Unworthy of being their soulmate. No wonder she had tried to avoid them. She had lost trust in men. He would have to make sure that he and Steve reaffirmed that faith.
Speaking of Steve, he was due back today. Quietly, Bucky left a note for michelle, set her alarm for another hour and went to his and Steve's floor. He stopped when he saw Steve, sitting on a stool in their kitchen, looking disturbed. Steve looked up at him with a grim face.
"We need to talk. While on our mission, I discovered a hidden room at the hydra facility. It was a room dedicated to Michelle. Pictures of her were littering the room. Birth records, dental impressions, medical charts. They had every placed she has ever lived and visited. Did you know she was admitted to a hospital in Miami after being found shot and left to die in a fire? She suffered memory loss and said her boyfriend at the time, Aaron DiCorda, had shot her and left her to die. He is Hydra." Bucky leaned on the counter, absorbing the news. This was bad. Very bad.
"They have been after her for a really long time. First they wanted to use her against us, then they decided to just kill her. The thing is, according to their records, Aaron didn't start the fire. He stated that when he shot her, her eyes glowed like fire and she let out a scream followed by a fire suddenly erupting around her. Even though the flames were touching her, she wasn't getting burned. And the hospital reports that she didn't suffer burns, but that she did have smoke inhalation. Buck, hydra wants our girl. They say she has powers and I don't know what to think. How can we keep her safe if we don't know what she is?"
"What she is, Steve, is our soulmate. That should matter most. She may not even be aware of that power. And this is Hydra Steve. They don't exactly tell the truth. Let's just have Bruce take some blood, and run it for abnormalities. In the meantime, we wine and dine our soulmate, make sure she feels loved and cared for. Show her that no matter what, we are going to be there for her. Ok?
"Your right. Ok, lets go…."
A/N: Hello all! Thank you so much for reading this story! We saw a bit of Michelle's back history in this chapter and answered the questions of why Bucky was dreaming of fire. Hope you all enjoyed it! I love hearing from you all! Thank you for the lovely reviews! The next chapter will be about Steve and Bucky doing whatever they can to earn her trust.
Till next time!
-Shell
