Diclaiming, here. Sorry for the long wait. But have we all been watching The Walking Dead and the new Avengers trailer?! Oh my god.
"Better in black..Opie.."
It poured through her brain, it drowned out all the questions from Steve Rogers and the others, it raced to beat her own heartbeat; he knew her name, or rather, the shortened version that he'd given her years ago.
Ophelia pulled her pale hand through her hand, giving a shaky laugh as she leaned against the wall beside the elevator doors. Leaning forward, hands on her thighs, she sighed out as a pair of shoes came into view; Steve.
"How do you know Bucky?" He asked with a high level of distrust evident in his voice, a distrust that Ophelia was familiar with and couldn't blame him for having now. Looking up to the 6'2 Super Soldier now, she straightened her posture and spoke calmly, "I was the fail safe, incase he couldn't do the mission, I was to finish it. But...I'm compromised."
"Obviously. But how?"
Moving past Steve, Natasha now stood in front of her with her arms crossed against her chest and eyebrows raised. If anyone were to understand, Ophelia guessed, it would be her. Absent-mindedly rubbing the bridge of her nose, Ophelia looked away, "He remembered the Captain, before...before all this, before we knew you survived."
Glancing at the group of wayward Avengers again, she continued when no one spoke, "He was calmer around me. It compromised me, and they found out. I was wiped, repeatedly, and then...it just stopped working..."
There was an awkward silence for a moment, each digesting a new piece of the puzzle while Opie, again, pulled the black sweater tighter around herself.
Finally, Tony moved beside Steve, clapping him on the shoulder as he whistled out, "Alright then! Your pysch-eval was...well, not normal, but given the special circumstances, that's...okay. Whatever, let's do a physical then."
Blinking rapidly, Ophelia could only nod at the mans odd timing. She'd done many physicals and numerous training exercises before, she was not too badly injured to warrant not agreeing.
As the silent others started to move, most likely to leave, Tony again made a declaration, "Everyone to the 23rd floor!"
James was silent and still as the others began to complain and question Stark, Ophelia pushed off the wall to stand in front of him again, this time placing her hands on his arms, metal and flesh.
"James..James are you here?"
Her voice focused him suddenly, his ice blue eyes snapping towards her own emerald ones as he stumbled backwards into the hall, pulling away from her grasp and grunting when his shoulder knocked a framed piece of art from the wall.
The shattering of glass drew the group, namely Steve, back towards the two ex-Hydra assassins, both of who now stood facing each other, at areasonable distance.
"James, listen to my voice," Ophelia started, taking small steps towards the unhinged Bucky Barnes, "listen to me, and follow me back, James.."
The words died from his ears as he covered his eyes with both hands, stumbling again until he crouched to the floor, back against the wall, hearing only screams.
A woman.
Ophelia.
In darkness, he heard a rough scream, he felt it vibrate through his bones.
Not in darkness, he could see his own hands, human and not, wrapped around pale wrists. He could feel the breaking of bones and hear the crunch they made as he shoved them down harder; he could see the way pale skin turned red under his touch, the way pain danced across her flesh.
"James!"
"Bucky?"
Opening his eyes, he could see her, Opie, this small woman on her knees, hands on his face now as she searched for any clue as to what he'd seen; what he'd remembered.
Looking away from her now, he made eye contact with Steve, who looked worried out of mind, like a mother whose child ran off at the market. James found the irony funny, though he wasn't sure why, or how, it would be funny to him.
"Hey..you good?"
Looking back at the woman in front of him, he nodded once and moved to stand just as red flashes took over the building and a deafening siren wailed over the speaker systems.
"Sir! There's an inbound aircraft with hostile weaponry."
JARVIS' voice cut through everyone's worry and quickly drew the inhabitants of the building into 'fight or flight' mode, all suddenly avoiding whip-lash as they looked at each other.
Obviously, they chose to fight as they each dashed away until it was only Captain Rogers, Tony and Ophelia with James.
Turning on her heel as she stood, Ophelia meet Tony face-to-face, both at a stone stare as he spoke, "Time to see what you got, moon-child. Stay with them. JARVIS, suit me."
As Tony rushed towards the opening elevator, he was engulfed in the red and golds of his armor in seconds before he was taking to the balcony doors and off into the sky, following Sam Wilson.
Opening her mouth to speak, a blast shook through the tower as Natasha lunged towards James, bringing him flat against the ground while Steve wrapped an arm around Ophelia's waist moving her behind himself.
"Bucky!" Steve shouted, glass exploding from the other side of the room while Natasha shoved a large round object across the floor, followed by a gun and a long, serrated knife; smoke filled the housing floor as Steve stood, shield secure on his arm as arrows soared past him, light filling the area they embedded into. Clint Barton, or Hawkeye, crouched next to Natasha while she strapped her Widows Bites to her wrists, Ophelia watched as Steve pulled James up, moving in front of him as they started towards the broken glass walls.
Standing, she steadied herself, crossing her arms as she raised the gun and knife; gun over knife, ready to trade one weapon for another if needed. Stepping away from the wall, Ophelia rushed towards James and Steve, both whom where standing and looking wildly around the area.
"This is hydra. It has to be, Bucky we gotta get you out of here!" Steve said frantically, one hand in a fist and the other on James' arm, pulling him away from the hall leading to the common area. Natasha nodded to Steve before ducking around the corner; she was out of sight by the time gun shots echoed back to them.
James crouched down with Steve as Ophelia shouted over the chaos for an incoming strike, he couldn't remember a time when he wasn't surrounded by so much noise, by so much dust and debris.
He couldn't remember a time when his life was simple; he couldn't remember most of the last month.
Covering his eyes as Steve drew up his shield, the two were clouded in grey when James heard her gasp. Ophelia had been in a semi-crouch when a grenade had rolled around the corner, kicking up dirt and shrapnel as it knocked her backwards as blood spread through her thin black clothing.
James heaved himself over to Ophelia, who now laid on the floor coughing as the grey fog cleared out, bullets and fire blazing through the common area next to them As he pulled her into a sitting position.
He remembered feeling her smooth skin on his palms and the way it felt when her bones had snapped under his grasp; he could see the blood under his nails and smell the lavender as she screamed and writhed in pain.
"James! Look at me! We gotta go!"
Meeting her steel grey eyes, James nodded and grabbed her hands, pulling them both up- only to be tackled back down by a man in full black tacktical gear; Hydra on his arm.
"Steve! James!"
Natashas voice pierced through Ophelia's muffled curse as a second man landed a punch into her ribs, the first throwing an empty needle down as James staggered and fell into a third man who was pulling a black case from his pocket.
James saw double and felt the world move as Ophelia screamed his name over and over, crying out as a burning sensation swept through his veins before a dull, aching cold flooded him.
Grabbing the second man's tacktical vest straps, Ophelia jerked her knee up and into his gut, following with an elbow to the back of his neck. Using all of her 120 pounds, she brought them both to the floor, the man grunting and attempting to roll away as Ophelia wrapped her sweaters arm around his neck, pulling and tightening until he stopped squirming, then jerked his head violently sideways- to be sure.
It wasn't fast enough though, as Steve was now retrieving his sheild and running towards the blown-out glass walls as James was hoisted into a harness and pulled from the floor, two Hydra Agents following him out.
"Cap, they got your tin-man toy. Better move quick, we already brought one bird down.."
Tonys voice echoed throughout the eerily still room as Ophelia watched Steve throw his sheild, trying desperately to stop James from being strapped down into the cynical looking chair...again, like so many times before.
Moving around the now still body of the HYDRA agent, Ophelia ran towards the windows and leaped as Steve's shield soared between building and helicopter; leaving behind her the shouts of the Captain and Hawkeye.
Tucking her knees into her chest and rolling into the open door of the Black Hawk chopper, Ophelia reached out for Steve's shield as it 'bounced' off of one agent; spinning in a crouched position as she flung it into one of the men currently strapping James arms down.
As the man went through the opposite door-opening, screaming as he fell, Ophelia lunged for another agent just as he moved for her. Jumping up and grabbing the railing running above her, she wrapped her legs tight around the mans neck, jerking him sideways as he buried a short handled knife into her thigh.
Grunting at the impact of metal on bone, Ophelia jerked the agent back around, his head bouncing off of the wall paneling before she let go and dropped down on bent knees.
Glancing over her shoulder as a groan past James lips, she pried the knife from her leg and whipped it at the man who was digging through pull out drawers, assumingly looking for another syringe of whatever had knocked James out.
As the man writhed and gasped for breath, Ophelia moved towards the cock pit, dogging to the side as bullets seared past her. A sharp turns of the chopper flung her against the webbed seats, her head knocking against the metal as black stars filled her vision; James' curses filling her ears as she rubbed the back of her head while dropping to the ground.
Having only a moment between the co-pilot re-loading and getting shot at again, she sprang forward with the bloody knife and drove it up and under his chin, his body going slack on his seat and the other pilot scrambled for his own weapon.
The sudden thrash forward sent Ophelia to the ground again as the pilot tried desperately to steer the helicopter back up. Grabbing the co-pilots pant leg, Ophelia pulled herself up enough to see the Harlem River too close for her preferences.
"James! Hold on!" She screamed as alarms and flashes of white light went off inside the small area. Gripping the slacked safety belt, Ophelia gasped as the Black Hawk turned sideways and skidded into the water.
James, still strapped into the chair and hooked to machines, felt the chopper tilt and an electrical current surged through him, powering his left arm.
Tearing through the restraints of his left arm was easy; seeing Opie hanging limp, a fraction of metal railing through her abdomin and her blood, her life, swirling into the water, was not.