A/N: So this one is a little shorter than the last couple have been, but there's a cute little Steve/Bucky moment, so I hope you like it nonetheless :)
Big thanks to: doctor3378, Hearts Tempo, LiadanAlice and MaMZg67 for following/favouriting. Thanks, guys :3
No reviews this week, which is fine, although it's nice to see what you guys are thinking. Anyway, enjoy!
9 - Night Terrors
It must have been at least twenty minutes before the blasts stopped, and by that point James and I were growing impatient. Both of us were restless, wanting nothing more than to get out of Hydra's hands.
It was strange how antsy we both were, but I supposed we got into the habit of being able to do whatever we wanted. Even though being locked in a room was familiar, I was now in the situation where I utterly despised it, rather than just not giving a damn, as it had always been with Hydra.
After a further six minutes and nineteen seconds (I was counting - I had nothing better to do to distract me, and in a way it kept me from going insane), the door leading to the cell room exploded, showering us with dust and pieces of concrete.
"God, you couldn't have made more mess, could you?" I snarled in irritation, even as I stumbled to my feet and wiped myself down.
"My apologies, Lady Daphne."
The formality made me pause, and I looked up to see a rather bedraggled Norse god standing in front of me.
"You're Thor," I said, and he smiled.
"I am indeed. We have come to get you out of here." He held up a set of silver keys, wearing a smug grin. He then swiftly unlocked our cells, smacking us both on the backs as we passed him. I sent him a small glare, my still-tender shoulder moaning in protest, before James and I started scoping the place for any weapons. We found a few guns, but neither of us managed to locate our personal weapons.
"I'm actually gonna miss those knives," I muttered as I checked to make sure the gun hadn't gotten any dust in it during the blast. There was nothing, thankfully. "In a way, they had sentimental value."
"They're just weapons, Daph. You can always get some new ones," James murmured, shaking out a rather significant amount of dust from his ammo clip. He then jammed the clip back into place, switching off the safety.
I glanced around as we blindly followed Thor through the corridors, looking for any sign of an attack. But there was no sign of life apart from the occasional unconscious body lying around. I picked up a knife from the first man we passed, before systematically slicing the throats of each body. The more Hydra Agents we took out, the less would be able to come back and bite us in the ass. I ignored Thor's slightly disapproving frowns. James didn't seem at all surprised, though he didn't help me.
I let out a whistle when we got outside. We were in a forest of tall oak trees, and when I looked back at the Hydra base, I saw that the roof was covered in an aerial image of trees to keep it hidden from anyone above.
"This must have been difficult to find," I commented as Thor plundered unwavering into the treeline with James and I following.
"For the man of iron, it was little but child's play," Thor replied.
By my side, James suddenly lifted his gun and fired a short stream of bullets. I followed the point of the gun barrel in time to see a Hydra Agent fall from the branches of a tree. "If he saw us, chances are he'll have sent a warning ahead," James said, glancing uneasily around, and I did the same, grasping my gun a little tighter. "We have to move quickly."
"Steve and the Falcon have been on recon, but there is a car waiting for us in about half a mile," Thor said, and I noticed a new tension to his broad shoulders.
"So, where exactly are we?" I asked, looking around me at the rather picturesque landscape. In a gap in the trees I could see a lake, or at least a big body of water.
"I forget the name of where we are exactly, but I believe the Falcon said it was in the land of Northumber."
I raised my eyebrows. "Northumberland? Blimey," I murmured.
James sent me a quick glance. "What?" he asked.
"We're in one of the northernmost corners of England," I said. "A few miles further north and... Well, welcome to Scotland, basically. We were taken to the complete other end of the country."
James frowned. "I had no idea Hydra was even stationed in the UK."
"Neither did I," I muttered, "but, then again, where haven't they dug their claws?"
"True enough." He frowned. "What about Sokovia?" James asked. "Isn't that where you thought we were?"
"It's where Wanda was born and raised," I answered idly, eyes constantly scanning our surroundings. "I didn't realise she'd ever been moved away from there."
James nodded thoughtfully, lowering his gun as we stepped out of the trees and into the sight of a black Mitsubishi Evo X. Thor turned to us, holding out a set of keys that looked ridiculously small in his large hand. James took them from him without a word.
"You have been instructed to go to one Carlisle Airport," he said. "It will be a drive of over an hour, I was told."
"And what about you?" James asked, putting his gun on his back. "How will you get back?"
I chuckled. "James, meet Mjolnir," I muttered, before slapping Thor on the shoulder in thanks and heading towards the car. I didn't need to look back to know when Thor had upped and left. Even so, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see James caught off guard. Turning back, I saw him staring at the sky in clear shock, mouth slightly parted as he tried to comprehend what he'd just seen.
Laughing to myself under my breath, I move to stand next to the car while waiting for him to unlock it (I should have taken the keys). While I waited, my mind drifted back to Hydra. What had they pinned us down for? What had they done to us while we were unconscious?
"Are you okay?" James asked, making me blink away the haze in my mind.
I sent him a smile. "Fine," I said. "Just thinking."
James nodded. "Come on," he said. "We don't want to be here when those bastards finally show up."
Sam, Steve and Thor were already waiting when James and Daphne finally arrived at the airport, the sleek black car splattered with mud and dust. Steve gave them both a cursory once-over to make sure they were okay (James assumed), before leading the way into the plane.
From the cockpit, Clint Barton turned and grinned. "So you guys finally decided to rock up, huh?"
"Not in the mood, Barton," Daphne snarled, looking like she was being weighed down by a ten ton wall. She slumped into one of the seats and seemed to barely even notice when James sat himself beside her. Neither did she react much when he pulled her gently against him. Her only reaction came when she let out a soft sigh and then rested her head on his prosthetic shoulder, seeming not to care about the cold metal. He watched as she quickly fell into sleep. Whatever Hydra had done to her, it seemed to make her energy drain from her faster than water from a sponge.
"Is she okay?" Steve asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, sending Daphne a concerned look.
James frowning slightly. "I don't know," he admitted. "When Hydra go their hands on us they... did something to us. Neither of us know what, but whatever it was, it's probably what's caused her sudden tiredness. She'll be okay."
"What happened?" Steve asked, the careful tone of his voice suggesting he wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer.
James winced slightly, recalling with a painful sensation in his gut the twisted expression on Daphne's face when that girl - Wanda - had invaded her mind. "Hydra are attempting to get us back on their side," he muttered. "But they're trying new techniques, now that they know the mind wipe no longer works well enough." He shook his head. "I'd rather not think about it," he said lowly, glancing down at Daphne when he felt her hair tickle his arm. With a small, tender smile, he gently tucked the lock of hair behind her ear.
"I don't think I've ever seen you look at anyone that way," Steve mused, and James sent him a confused expression. The Captain smiled. "Like she's the most important thing in the world."
"She is," James said without hesitation. "She was all I had for half a century, Steve. I..." He cut himself off, pursing his lips.
"You love her," Steve said softly.
James let out a long breath. "I don't know," admitted the assassin. "I don't know what love feels like."
Steve chuckled. "I think you do, Buck. And I think you've loved her for a very long time already."
"What makes you say that?"
"She accepted you for who you were inside, not who you were on the outside," Steve said, and his eyes became slightly glazed, as if losing himself in a memory. "Even when everyone else in the world scorned you for what you had no choice but to be, she stood by your side. No matter what." He smiled softly. "I know how that feels, Bucky. I've lived it. The moment she looked at you without disgust in her eyes, the moment she opened her arms to let you in, a part of you gave itself to her." Steve placed a hand over his chest, directly above his heart. "She's the only person you'll ever entrust it with," he said lowly, so Sam and Agent Barton wouldn't hear from the front. Thor was in the back, scrounging for some alcohol, if his discontented murmurings were anything to go by. "Don't make the mistake I did and wait to tell her. You don't know what you might miss. You never know when you might have your last chance."
James stared at his friend, frowning as a memory tugged at the back of his mind. A brief flash of a woman with dark hair and cherry lips, wearing a red dress that hugged her form nicely, appeared in front of his eyes, but he couldn't think of the name. "The woman you loved," he found himself asking, "who was she?"
Steve sighed through his nose. "Her name was - is - Peggy Carter. She was a member of the Strategic Scientific Reserve team. Unlike most of the other dames back then, she didn't spend most of her time wearing dresses and dancing." There was a nostalgic smile on the blonde's face. "No, she was an Agent. She too fought in the war, in her own way. She was..." Steve sighed. "She was amazing, Buck. She was smart, and funny, and beautiful, and... And she was the first woman I ever met to look beyond the sickly, skinny punk I was before the serum."
"I'm sorry," James murmured, unconsciously tightening his hold on Daphne.
Steve frowned in confusion. "What for?"
"I'm sorry that you had to go through losing her."
"She's still alive."
"But she got married, right? Got married, had kids, grew old. And none of it was with you. You lost your chance with her, and for that, I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, Buck."
James snorted. "I never said it was." He shook his head. "But you still never deserved that kind of pain. I don't remember as much about you as either of us would like, but I do know that if anyone in the world were to deserve some happiness, it'd be you. And it was taken away from you."
Steve gave him a small smile, then shrugged. "It's not that bad," he said. "I've got new friends. And I've got you back. That's good enough for me."
"You still deserve better."
"Maybe I don't want better," Steve said with a grin. "Maybe I'm perfectly happy right now."
James laughed. "If you were, you wouldn't be secretly wishing you had your girl back."
"She was never my girl, Bucky," Steve said with a good-natured roll of his eyes.
"In your head she was, and that's what matters most." James became serious. "Don't just settle with 'alright', Steve," he stated lowly. "You need to aim higher. You have the power to make yourself the happiest guy alive, but right now, you're choosing not to do it. Stop holding yourself back, pal."
Steve blinked. "You called me 'pal'," he said in awe. "You haven't called me that since-"
"I know," James cut in. "Honestly, it felt a little weird to say out loud." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess the 40s are being sucked from me."
Steve chuckled. "Oh, trust me, it's all still there. Old habits die hard, and all that."
James opened his mouth to respond, but then Daphne shuddered. He frowned and glanced at her in concern, seeing her whole body was taught, and her hands were balled into fists. Her face was also pressed into a deep frown. "Daphne?" he murmured softly, shaking her. He was shocked when her eyes shot open and she launched herself at him, pushing him back and straddling him with her hands pressed firmly against his throat. He could feel his lungs ache almost instantly, but he didn't so much as twitch with the desire to fight back. After ten seconds of being completely unable to breathe, he felt Daphne's hold on him slacken slightly.
His eyes moved to meet hers, and in a flash a look of horror crossed her face and she jumped away from him, pressing herself against the far wall, breathing heavily, looking completely distraught.
"I'm sorry," she gasped out. "Gods, James, I'm so sor-"
"Don't apologise," he said sharply, standing slowly. He knew that moving too fast would cause her to spiral into a state of panic even worse than the one she was currently fighting her way through. "It's fine. We're both okay." After a minute, Daphne's breathing started to slow, and she pressed a hand to her chest. He looked at her curiously, and when she finally managed to drag her eyes up to meet his, she nodded once. "Do you want to talk about it?" James asked in Russian.
She shrugged weakly. "I was just reliving the scene Wanda forced me to go through. I'll be okay. I know it wasn't real."
"If you ever need to talk, I'll be here."
Daphne's eyes softened, and she smiled weakly. "I know, James," she muttered. "Thank you."
