Ack! Here it is! :O Next week is my birthday, so you should be getting those two chapters instead of just one! And I'll be posting all the doodles on my tumblr. I'll try to leave links here as best I can. (You know how ffn is.)
And incredibly huge Thank You to those to regularly review! You honestly keep me going!
And to the Anon. who reviewed on Torn Pages, I'm sorry I missed you when I posted the newest chapter! Thank you! I was inspired to write the Universal series one day because I was bored and daydreaming, honestly. And then I just thought, "there are a lot of oc goes to Marvel world fics... what would happened if the Avengers came HERE? The rest, as you know, was a disaster. :P
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The room held onto its tension even as Bucky let some of his go. Instead of looking combative now, he just looked lost. Confused. Every once in awhile he'd cast a perplexed look at Sutton, wrinkling his nose, before he'd zone out again.
She felt sympathy swell up for him from around her exhaustion. But it was better to have him thinking, pondering things, than to leave him in a cycle of unquestioned abuse, wasn't it?
If she could even hope to help him escape.
She knew Pierce had arrived when a new layer of tension settled over the room. The strike team shuffled to move out of the way and the barred door creaked open ominously.
He walked into the dark space with a confidence that said he expected all eyes to be on him. Sutton scowled at his immaculate suit and styled hair. He looked every bit the part of a rich, white businessman who demanded respect and gave none.
They closed the barred door behind him as he marched into the vault, attention set in front of him. He eyed Bucky clinically as he tucked a pair of glasses into his jacket pocket.
"Mission report."
Bucky didn't even look up. He just kept staring off somewhere in the distance. Pierce's eyes hardened.
"Mission report, now."
Still there was no response. Sutton was starting to dig her nails into her palms as Pierce bent at the knees to try and look into Bucky's eyes. He studied him for a moment. And then he reached back and backhanded him across the face. Sutton lurched forward, lip pulled back in a scowl.
"Hey! Don't hurt him!"
Pierce spared her a glance.
"I'll get to you in a minute," he said.
Bucky only blinked a few times as if the slap hadn't phased him much. His brows furrowed again in confusion.
"That man on the bridge," he said. "Who was he?"
Pierce paused a moment, thinking.
"You met him earlier this week on another assignment."
Sutton grit her teeth. Bucky cast a quick glance at her.
"She said he was my friend."
The glare Pierce grazed her with was chilling. Sutton only shakily raised her chin up higher in defiance. Pierce breathed in shallowly and pulled out a stool to sit on. As if this were all an inconvenience that they'd dealt him. As if Bucky cracking at the seams was just an irritating hassle to be handled.
"Your work has been a gift to mankind," he began. And Sutton was dizzy with anger. He spoke about "shaping a century" and her stomach roiled. When he mentioned HYDRA bringing the world freedom she felt absolutely sick.
"If this is what you're calling freedom, then you can keep it." If she had more energy, maybe she would have gotten up to confront him, but just sitting up was a feat in itself. "I've met monsters before, but," she shook her head, "at least they were honest about what they were."
Pierce's jaw ticked as he kept his stare focused on Bucky. Bucky shook his head almost imperceptibly, his lips pulling up tightly in a sad feign of a smile.
"I knew him."
It was as far from happy or cheerful smile as you could get. It was a look you gave when you've resigned yourself to something and you know it.
Pierce sighed and leaned back. Then he stood up.
"Get her out of here and prep him."
"He's been out of cryo too long," one of the scientists said.
"Then wipe him and start over."
Bucky's face collapsed. If she didn't know any better Sutton would say he looked like he was about to cry. His eyes were large, brows up and pressed together, while his lips flattened thinly. She couldn't even rectify who he was now with the man who'd threatened her earlier this afternoon.
They were going to do something to hurt him, and Bucky knew it. He'd been through it before.
One of the security team members was already heading over towards her and Sutton blurted out the first thing she could think of.
"You can wipe his memory, but it won't do you any good!"
The room froze. Pierce's attention was one-hundred percent on her. Sutton swallowed as he eyed her.
"Excuse me?"
She breathed a few times and tried to sit up straighter. Tried to tell herself that she wasn't making a terrible mistake.
"It's already too late. Your plan? It's going to fail."
Pierce raised a brow at her, mouth ticking as if he found her claims humorous.
"You think your friends will succeed."
Sutton huffed.
"No. I think I did." She took joy from the way his face twisted suddenly. "You wanted me alive, so you know who I am and you have an idea of what I'm capable of." She bared her teeth at him in a false grin. "You should be careful what you wish for."
That got his attention. He stormed forward, face cast in shadow, as his entire demeanor bristled.
"What did you do?"
Sutton struggled to scoot back on the table, pulling her left leg as a dead weight. She prayed for more courage.
"I just- just find it hard to believe that no one noticed anything fishy within SHIELD all these years," she said. "It's so easy to imagine that someone might've taken action. Like putting a-a backdoor into your-into your program."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that when you start those helicarriers up, you should expect some malfunctions."
Pierce grit his teeth. And then he backhanded her as well. Sutton gasped as her head snapped to the side and a sharp, burning pain spread across her face.
"You're going to undo whatever you did," he said. Sutton sneered at his commanding tone. She spat on the floor by his feet.
"No. I will not."
There was technically nothing to undo, but he didn't need to know that. If it threw him off kilter, if it stopped them from wiping Bucky's mind again, then at least she'd done one thing to help the team.
A pregnant silence engulfed the room. Everyone seemed to be waiting on Pierce's next orders. He stood and deliberated silently and Sutton glared up at him in return. He gestured to Bucky with his head.
"Move him. Wipe her first."
"Sir-"
"Do it. We can't risk having her as a free agent. I need her full compliance. Wipe her and have her undo whatever it is she did. Then you can wipe him."
Horror crept through her veins. Chilling and razor sharp. How had she not anticipated this sort of reaction from him?
She pushed herself back further on the table, but there was nowhere to go. Only metal at her spine.
"No!"
But the exit was being blocked by men with guns, and she could barely lift her arms as it was. One man, dark haired and scruffy, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off the table and over to the now empty chair. Sutton clawed at the skin on his hand viciously. The man hissed.
"Knock it off. You've got nowhere to go, darling."
Sutton's breathing hitched.
"Rumlow." She growled. He sneered at her. "I hope Steve kicks your butt again."
"You both take things way too personally."
She yelled in frustration and tried to break away, but they were already strapping her down into the chair. The cool metal chafed at her raw skin as she struggled. Bucky had been moved over to the side of the room and he was staring at her with wide, conflicted eyes. Rumlow backed up when she was secured, hands on his hips.
"Resistance to HYDRA is futile," he said. Sutton grit her teeth as she fought through the pain. Tried to think, think, think.
"Eat rocks, Rumlow."
She couldn't let them do this to her! She couldn't forget! If HYDRA controlled her, if they could make her follow orders, she didn't want to even consider what she could do. Or die trying to do.
"Hurry up," Pierce said from near the exit. "I want to know that this is done."
Sutton couldn't see clearly through the tears as she panted. The room was fuzzy. One of the scientists reached up for a metal piece that looked like it'd land somewhere on her face and Bucky winced.
From down the hall, there was yelling. Gunfire.
The scientist froze in his movements, and everyone's attention snapped to the doorway. Pierce shifted back as the security team rushed forward, guns once again up and ready. Sutton shuddered in relief at the delay. For a moment it was quiet. And then there was more unsettling yelling and wild gunfire that was suddenly silenced. The radio on Rumlow's belt crackled.
"Backup! We need backup! An armed-"
It cut out in a hiss of static and Rumlow looked to Pierce. The man nodded and Rumlow waved his hand in a circle, gathering up his team for them to head out. They disappeared passed the door and down the hall and Sutton squirmed again in the chair. The clamps hadn't loosened with their leaving. It only sent lightning up her leg.
"Steve," she whispered under her breath. As much as she now wanted it to be him, she'd told him to stop those ships! Her conscience was torn. The selfish part desperately wanted it to be him and the others. For them to barge in and rescue her before she had her mind turned to pudding. But she fought against that.
The world was counting on them doing their part. Without stopping for her.
More gunfire rose up, along with another noise. Not quite gunfire. There was an odd echo to it that Sutton couldn't quite place at the moment. But it sounded familiar. And then Rumlow came running back around the corner. He waved the remaining people in the room onward.
"Sir, we gotta get you out of here."
Pierce stiffened.
"Are you incapable-"
"Now, sir. They're enhanced."
Pierce turned sharply towards Bucky.
"You heard him."
Bucky blinked, still dazed and unsure. He looked at Sutton as she pulled against her restraints.
"But she-"
"Now, soldier."
She watched as Bucky started to move. As if he wasn't sure what else to do but follow orders. Here was a chance for him to get away, and he was wasting it. Sutton wished she wasn't strapped to a chair, wished her leg wasn't all but useless. She wanted to grab him by the arm and run. Bring him back to Steve and the others and set everything right.
"Find Steve, Bucky," she called out. "He'll help you, ok? You can trust him!"
Bucky glanced back at her once before Pierce barked out another order, and it seemed to mildly snap him back into his role as the Winter Soldier.
"Rumlow, grab the girl-"
But Rumlow was suddenly barking orders of his own and moving the group out of the room.
"No time," he said.
He laid down cover fire as Bucky shielded Pierce with his own body and led the man down the opposite direction of the hall.
Who was shooting at him? Who was coming down the hall that had Rumlow on the defense?
Something lit up the hall in a bright light that reflected off the metal in the room around her. Sutton blinked against the glare and saw Rumlow take a few last parting shots before he backed up to follow Bucky and Pierce and the others.
A shadow was cast against the wall outside the room as the attacker approached. She could hardly breathe.
And then a dark figure emerged from around the wall and she felt her chest collapse. Sutton wheezed, feeling like she'd been kicked in the stomach, and pulled harder against the restraints.
"No. No, no, no, no, no. Come back! Don't leave me here! DON'T LEAVE ME."
Phaser fire.
That's what the noise had been.
She couldn't take a full breath as she broke down. Couldn't think.
Khan Noonien Singh looked through the doorway and grinned.
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Pain no longer registered as she pulled desperately against the restraints. Patches of her vision went dark as she hyperventilated. Someone walked out from behind Khan's approaching figure, and her frenzied gaze flickered to see who it was.
"St-"
Loki?
He walked with arms loosely clasped behind his back, head tilting back and eyeing her purposefully. She angled her body towards him and panted harshly.
"Help!"
But Loki waved a finger at her and continued on down the hall.
"Tick-tock."
His voice sounded in her head and Sutton cried out as his image disappeared.
Khan was close now. She'd be able to reach out and touch him if she were free. He placed his phaser back in its holster and took a moment to just study her. The silence stretched on. Sutton couldn't look at him. She turned her head towards the far wall and let out a warbling whimper.
"Look at you. You're in almost as bad of shape as when you left me."
Sutton cringed and tried to shrink away. The arc reactor was screeching shrilly and Khan's attention was drawn towards her chest.
She felt sick. She could taste pancakes at the back of her throat.
She wasn't supposed to be alone!
Khan'a attention switched to the monitors. He scanned them momentarily and then he reached over and tapped a few keys.
Sutton tensed further and grit her teeth, but no additional pain came. The clamps over her arms and legs sprung up and Khan tsked under his breath.
"Such a crude design."
Sutton didn't move. Some primal part of her latched onto the idea that maybe if she just didn't move he wouldn't pay attention to her.
But he did.
Khan reached down and pulled her out of the chair. His skin touched hers and Sutton snapped. She swiveled her right arm out and around, trying to knock his hand away while her right leg instinctively reached back for balance. But the move was sloppy, uncoordinated. Khan jerked her forward and the elbow she threw to his chest hurt her more than it did him.
The room spun again as she gasped, trying desperately to suck in air. Her arms shook as she dry heaved. Khan made a noise of disgust and held her out away from him.
"Please save the dramatics."
Sutton ground her teeth together, trying to fight her initial reaction. Tried to keep herself from breaking apart.
She needed- she needed….
"Please get out of my universe," she snarled back. But her voice was weak. Hoarse.
"That is the plan."
What? Oh no. No, no.
Khan hefted her under one arm, reached across to grab his phaser, and then made his way out of the vault. The hall was empty of all living people. Sutton could see a few men sprawled on the floor a ways away. Khan stepped over the bodies without a glance when he passed them.
She breathed in through her nose a few more times as she tried to stop shaking. Stop panicking. Stop her eyes from watering.
There had to be a way out. She wasn't going back. She couldn't go back.
But it was hard to fight through it all. Him touching her, it dragged her all the way back to the start.
Back passed the couch where she'd confessed, back before the ship where she'd finally gotten a slight upper hand. All the way back to that sterile room where she'd finally realized that she wasn't untouchable.
Sutton tried to push away from him as much as she was able. He glided through the building as if he owned it. The adrenaline rush was already draining her. The arc reactor wasn't beeping shrilly anymore, but she still felt breathless. She felt heavy.
It was growing dusk outside yet the light still was searing in her vision. It instantly gave her a headache. She held up a feeble hand and tried to block some of the dying sun as she looked around.
Maybe there was still chance. Maybe she could once again call for help.
And then what? What person off the street could help her? Khan had a phaser at the ready, and an entire HYDRA strike team and been sent running from him. Khan wasn't Axel. He wouldn't show restraint.
She'd get people killed.
Someone would notice though. They had to. She had half of an outfit on and was bloody and being carried by a severe looking man who could cart a person with one arm.
Someone would report what they saw, even if they didn't interfere. She had to believe that. She did believe that.
Khan swung around the back of the building. He dropped her in his hold a bit, so that it looked like he was supporting her rather than carrying her, and her bare arm and leg were more hidden by his side. Sutton clenched her jaw as her thigh rubbed against his leg with every step.
She cast her desperate gaze around as he walked, trying to catch someone's attention. Trying to send someone a look that clearly said, 'please call for help immediately. I am currently being abducted.'
As it was, Khan blended in fairly well. He had stuck to dark colors and his pants and jacket were a matte fabric. If you didn't look too closely, you couldn't really tell his ensemble was just a bit off. And he was sticking to back alleys as much as possible, so that didn't help.
Sutton whimpered again as her wounds were continuously battered. Her eyes darted over the streets once more as she noticed them entering a more secluded park-like area. A woman down the sidewalk underneath a streetlight squinted at her, phone loosely in her hand, as she elbowed her friend in the side and pointed. Sutton breathed in sharply, eyes wide. She wiggled her left arm away from Khan's side as much as she could and held it out in front of her, palm up. With her right hand she made the "A" shape, finger pressed against her palm and thumb up, and rested it on her left palm. She moved both hands back towards herself right before she and Khan disappeared into foliage.
Help me.
He left the trail of the park shortly after, into the short trees. Anxiety rose up anew, but Sutton curled her fingers into fists and swallowed thickly.
No.
She couldn't lose it. Not now. She had to be smart about this.
What had her time recovering, healing, training, been for if she only broke down now? Now when she needed it the most?
Khan pulled her away a bit to push the phaser into its holster again lazily. Obviously he wasn't anticipating any further complications.
If only she were taller and he not so strong. She could go for his eyes.
There was a slight opening in the trees and Khan stepped confidently into it. Only to freeze. Sutton didn't notice anything alarming. She didn't notice anything at all. There was only a clearing about the size of two buses and some foliage.
"What."
Khan sounded darkly shocked. Like someone had dealt him an unexpected insult. He let go of her and walked to the middle of the small cleaning. Sutton dropped down with a pained grunt and tried to quickly swivel to her knees.
"Where is it?"
She didn't know who he was asking, but she offered no reply. Instead she tried to scoot towards the treeline, back in the direction they'd come from. But she'd only made it a few feet when Khan rounded on her.
"Did you do this? Where is my ship?"
Sutton let out a shaky, agitated breath.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He paced a few more times, shoulders stiff and steps rigid. Sutton looked around as she tried to figure out if there was a chance to get away. Let Khan look for some supposed ship. Let him be distracted.
Let him underestimate her.
She saw him pull some sort of handheld computer out of his pocket and type into it as she reached for a rock. He didn't move to stop her. Quickly, she undid the laces on one of her shoes and pulled it out. She tied the lace around the rock, first one way then perpendicular like ribbon on a gift, and hefted the weight in her hand.
What she wanted to do was go all David and Goliath on him; just swing the rock and let it fly at his head. But she didn't have the best aim and he wasn't even human. Instead she pressed her thumb under the gauze on her leg, came out with blood and pressed it to the surface of the rock.
Her body tensed as he turned and she quickly swung the rock, flinging it as far into the trees that they'd emerged from as she could. They weren't too far off the trail. Maybe someone would see it.
Maybe they'd spread word faster and the others, Tony, anyone, would know the situation had changed.
Khan glowered at her as he put the computer back in his pocket.
"That will not help you."
"I don't believe you. Not anymore."
Her entire body screamed as he moved closer, but she forced herself to breathe slowly and didn't move. She might've been frozen solid anyway. His hand wrapped around her arm as he moved passed her, and he pulled her up and along beside him. Sutton tried to keep pace next to him despite the pain in her leg. He began backtracking through the trees. His plan, for the moment, seemed to have been thrown off. At least from what she could gather. Her brain might still be a little muddled, but it sounded like he'd expected to find a spaceship in those trees.
But what could have moved one if it'd been there?
A branch smacked Sutton in the face and she attempted to pay more attention to her surroundings.
"Where are you going," she managed to ask. The situation felt uncomfortably familiar. She eyed his hands for a hypo-spray.
"It appears I must adjust my initial plans." He offered nothing else.
A faint wave of gratefulness swept through her. More time. She had a bit more time. If only she could outthink. Outmaneuver. Out-anything.
She needed to find a way to work with what she had.
Khan kept to the shadows of the sidewalk as they emerged from the treeline. His gaze darted rapidly, surveying streets and people. Making calculations and judgement calls. Sutton tried to look around as well. It was still hard to focus.
Police and ambulance sirens could be heard streets away. A helicopter still hovered over some buildings around the site that the fighting had gone down. Sutton hoped that the others had gotten away without more setbacks.
He was still attempting to hide her torn clothes as much as he could, but there was only so much that could be disguised. A few people stared for longer than a curious glance and his jaw ticked. Sutton startled as he stopped to pull off his jacket and throw it over her shoulders. Then he grabbed the loose fabric in the back and tugged her forward. Sutton stumbled and let out a muted cry.
"My leg. I can't."
Khan grunted and threw an arm over her shoulders to provide support. Sutton's skin crawled. She slipped her arms through the sleeves to free her hands as she chewed on her bottom lip. Something was digging into her sore side and she tensed with every step. Her eyes flickered down and she tensed again.
His phaser.
She quickly looked away. Adrenaline surged through her again and her reactor chirped once. Khan glanced down briefly, but didn't bother the sound with too much attention. Her fingers tingled.
Should she? Could she?
Would it work?
Last time she'd been in a position like this, she'd waited too long. Overthought. Regretted it. Sutton breathed shakily through her nose. Tried to keep her body language from shifting too much.
He'd been thrown off kilter with the missing ship. He maybe assumed she was too scared and concussed to try anything reckless.
He was almost right.
Sutton threw her hand down, grabbed the phaser by the grip, and pulled it out of the holster. Khan moved, immediately feeling the action, but Sutton already had her finger on the trigger. She moved the phaser as little as possible. Dug it into his side.
Fired.
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That awkward moment when you get shot with your own phaser.
