Summary: A year after the civil war, the Avengers are still divided with friendships broken and loyalties torn when they are sent to find a powerful young woman whose life has been destroyed by HYDRA. While Bucky seeks redemption, Martine seeks to get revenge on the people who murdered her grandmother. Co – Written with WalkingPotterGirl14. Bucky/OC, Wanda/OC, Clint/Natasha and Steve/Sharon. Rated M.
Divided We Fall
Chapter 9
Bucky tried not to think about how Martine's body felt pressed up against his hard one. But God did she feel soft. He shakes the thought from his head and started up the bike, riding away.
After a while they reached the base and headed into the briefing room, where the rest of the team were.
"What's going on?" Bucky asked wearily. He saw the rest of the team looked worried. Steve sighed.
"We were discussing plans over how to keep Adrian, Martine, Beatrice, Jeannette and Jax safe when we attend the funeral in two days. Then Thaddeus Ross called and asked if Adrian and Martine could meet Christine Everhart for an interview...and there's a problem. Carla wants to meet you at Agatha's lawyer at the Laveau home," Fury explained grimly. Martine exchanged glances with Adrian.
"Is there more?" Martine asked quietly.
"Yes. We found a HYDRA cell in New Orleans. For some reason they've been roaming around the bayou for something that must be important," Fury said gravely.
"Maybe it's that legend about Marie Laveau." Adrian said dryly, but then saw Martine glare at him.
"Dad lost his life and nearly his damn mind trying to find those books. Hell, Grandpa was killed because he was uncovering something. Leave it alone, Adrian," Martine said coldly.
Fury looks at her in confusion. "What books? Martine you need to tell us everything. This is how we beat them."
She looks at Adrian before sighing. "There's this old collection of Laveau books that have been around for centuries. Apparently magic has ran in the family, but ever since World War II we haven't found them. They've been lost...my grandfather and father tried, but they couldn't. It ended up costing their lives."
"Do you think they might still be around?" Tony asks intrigued.
"I don't know. I just don't want Adrian to go after those books. They bring bad luck, I mean. Both men killed? That's insane."
"But think about it," Nat states, walking to her. "What would happen if HYDRA has those books?"
"But they don't have anyone to perform the spells on. That's what they need. They can't just willy, nilly perform the spells." Tony and Steve exchange a look before looking at Fury. He seemed to understand as well.
"Martine, don't you see what's forming here?"
She looks up, her brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"How powerful are those spells?"
"You can answer my question."
"Laveau."
"Okay, okay...from what I've heard from my grandmama, really powerful. They could cause so much destruction. But they don't have anyone. The last person was Wanda that they had, and she escaped."
"But don't you see?" Steve states. "HYDRA has those books right now, Martine. They probably found them. And then they connected two and two together and figured out that you could say the spells. Now they're hunting you and Adrian down so that they can do the same thing they did to Bucky and make you say them. That's why they want you."
Bucky looks away at the mention of his past, and Martine squeezes his shoulder before looking at the others. "That does make sense...but I didn't even think HYDRA would have them. My dad and grandad died looking for them. I thought they were a myth honestly."
"They died looking for them," Fury states quietly. "That means they found HYDRA's base. HYDRA must have had them for a while. HYDRA killed your dad and grandpa, kid. Because they were close to finding them. Now they're looking for you and your brother."
"Should we tell Ross what's going on, Director?" Maria asked wearily. Nick sighed but nodded, and she left to go and inform Thaddeus Ross to come to the base.
"Seeing as HYDRA's been in New Orleans, you'll all be going tomorrow. Banner won't be coming, as he wishes to be left alone in peace with his wife," Fury said calmly.
Adrian and Martine exchanged looks.
"Didn't he fight during the war?" Adrian asked surprised. He was surprised that the man who was the Hulk hadn't chosen his side to fight on a year ago.
"Dr. Banner...didn't want to choose between his friends. He left and after he found out what had happened...severed ties with half of the team now. He only talks to Fury, Steve and Bucky," Natasha explained sadly.
"Don't forget Laura," Maria said sadly.
Adrian looked at Clint, who remained silent as Maria mentioned his wife. She had been brutally murdered along with her daughter by a dangerous and notorious drug lord after Clint's name had become public, even though he hadn't agreed with it. Her children, Cooper, and Nathaniel, were scarred by the ordeal and relied heavily on Clint and Natasha.
"I'm calling in the rest of the team. I'm sorry Adrian. But that means Parker's coming too," Fury said grimly.
Adrian showed no emotion. He nodded, and Wanda touched his hand gently.
"Just keep him the fuck away from me, otherwise Parker will find himself in a sticky web," he growled as he mentioned his former friend who had betrayed him and Will.
Martine raises an eyebrow. "Parker? As in Peter Parker? Spider-Man?"
"Yup. Let's just say him and Adrian have some beef going on," Steve states. Adrian snorts.
"If that's what you wanna call it, fine. It's beef. But that doesn't excuse the fact that he fucked us over." Steve places a hand on his shoulder and then looks at the others.
"All of you head home for the day and be back here at six o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. We have a long day ahead of us." The group nods before disbanding. Fury latched onto Martine for a moment.
"Are you sure you're gonna be able to do this? You've only been here for a bit." She nods her head.
"I will. I have to. It's my family, and I'm not going to let those books get into the wrong hands." Fury nodded before letting her go, and then went to contact Ross. Martine steps back and looks at Bucky.
"Is what Nat said true? About Banner?"
Bucky nods. "Yeah. It was bad for a while. It's a good thing this whole shit happened after most of it was resolved. That way it didn't drag you into it."
She shrugs. "I would have handled it." Bucky rolls his eyes.
"Sure. C'mon. Let head back and rest for the day. We got a lot tomorrow."
"I know." She looks up and then suddenly runs to Adrian. "Hey, if we can't find those books, what's gonna happen?" Adrian shakes his head.
"I have no clue. We're just gonna have to face it when it comes."
Martine nods and then hugs her brother quickly before leaving with Bucky, climbing onto his bike. He starts it up, and they drive home.
When they arrived back at the apartment building, Martine noticed that Bucky was nervous about something. And it was rare he ever did show he was nervous, but right now he was openly running his hands through his hair and shaking his leg.
"Bucky? What's wrong?" she asks quietly.
He sits down on the park bench near the building, not saying a word. She comes over and touches his hand. He flinched a bit.
"You know you can tell me anything, James," she says quietly.
"I'm worried about you going on this mission. It's your first mission and HYDRA are people that do not fuck around. They're dangerous, Martine, and you have to be careful," Bucky said quietly, as he looked at her then with his dark grey eyes.
"I can handle it. I'm not a baby," Martine assured softly. She held his hand gently then, and watched as his metal fingers intertwined with hers.
She didn't find his metal arm repulsive or frightening.
"Yeah, but you don't know what HYDRA are capable of doing. They can do a lot of fucked up shit," Bucky warned darkly. Martine swallowed quietly, but she knew he could hear it. He had his hearing from being an assassin.
"Like what they did to my grandmother?" Martine asked. Bucky nodded quietly.
"Yeah, they're not above killing innocent people to achieve their goals. They'll do anything to get power," Bucky said grimly, and he thought back to his dark and violent past.
He had helped them. He had been brainwashed, and he hated what HYDRA had done to him. Now he wouldn't ever be the same. He couldn't ever be normal. All because of his stupid memories and what they did.
Before he could sink even further into that, he felt the pressure of Martine squeezing his hand. He looks down, and saw she was looking at him with a furrowed brow.
"Have you?" He knew what she was asking. About the innocent people.
"Yes," he admits, his voice ashamed and bitter. "I didn't have a choice. I've killed kids, Martine...I'm a monster."
"That's a different person, Bucky," she says quietly. "That's not you. That's not gonna be you ever again."
"What if they capture us, huh?" he asks her, looking down at her worried expression. "What if they get us and you, and do the same shit, and then both of us are back at square one? With one word they can probably snap me back into the monster I am. I'm not safe. I never will be."
"Then you need to accept who you and that includes the Winter Soldier. He's your other side and you need to accept that. You may have done bad things but you also did good things. You saved my brother, saved Steve and Clint, not to mention Sam, and you didn't kill T'Challa," Martine said firmly as she cupped his face.
Bucky swallowed.
"You don't understand. T'Challa and Stark hate me for what I've done over the years," Bucky said bitterly, self-hatred in his dark grey eyes.
"But you didn't even kill T'Challa's father. It was Helmut Zemo who killed him!" Martine protested. She was outraged at the fact that the famous Black Panther superhero held Bucky responsible for something that wasn't even his fault.
"We fought...but I won," he said finally as he pulled up his shirt. It revealed a long scar that went across from where his heart was to his side. She hadn't even noticed it. Martine gently touched it.
"He slashed at you?" she asked quietly.
Bucky nodded.
"Yeah, his claws are made out of vibranium, but my arm is some other metal," Bucky told her quietly as he watched her.
She was touching his skin, his chest.
And she didn't look disgusted. Or scared. Or anything when anyone looked at him. She actually looked more intrigued than anything else. Her brow was furrowed as if in deep thought, and then she looks up at him.
"Will he hurt you again?" she asks quietly.
Bucky shrugs. "If I piss him off, probably. Trying not to." She looks away before lowering his shirt.
"If he does I'll rip his head off," she mutters before taking his hand again. "Come on. Let's head inside-"
"Wait." Her brow furrows at his hesitation. He always wanted to go inside. "Do you wanna...just head to the park? Relax for the day? You need the rest for tomorrow. Trust me, you will."
Martine raises an eyebrow at his offer. Bucky was stoic and quiet, but when he said stuff like that in the rare times he sounded normal, it was the most adorable thing she could ever hear. So she sticks out her hand and he comes up.
"Well, then let's head to the park," she says softly, and she felt her intertwine her fingers with his own again. "Oh, I know. I'll get you some ice cream. Have you ever had Death by Chocolate?"
"...what?"
She laughs and pulls him towards the ice cream truck. "C'mon. You'll love it!"
Bucky doesn't say anything, just follows behind her, smiling only a bit. He'd savour this for a while, this smile she had on, because he had a feeling after the mission it wouldn't be there for a while.
Martine sat down on the soft grass for a while, with Bucky sitting down next to her, wearing a long sleeved black Henley shirt and a pair of black jeans.
It was nice and peaceful.
Martine closed her eyes and sung softly under her breath. Bucky listened for a while and realized that she was singing in French...and it sounded very beautiful.
He prided himself on knowing Russian and German, but he didn't know French. So he watched her quietly.
"What are you singing?" he asked curiously. She looked shy for a minute before sighing.
"A song about lost love," she said sadly.
"You'll find it, and the guy will be lucky to have you," Bucky said quietly and sighed.
No woman would want him.
And it wasn't just the fact of what he had done. What woman wanted a guy with a metal arm? A guy with so many issues that even God probably regretted creating him at this point? He was just lost, floating in a sea of people.
Martine had the world at her fingertips. And once this HYDRA shit was done, she would leave. Go back to her home. And he'd probably never see her again, at least as much as he did now.
"I kinda don't want to find it."
Well he was t expecting that.
"What do you mean?"
"Love. I don't think it's for me." His brow furrows before he looks down at her, seeing she was being completely honest.
"Why would you say that?" he asks her, his voice quiet.
"Because think about it, Bucky," she says softly. "We're Avengers, which means we put our lives in danger every single day. Look at what happened to Clint! He had a family, a loving one, and then his wife was murdered and left the kids without a mother. I don't want to risk that."
She runs a hand through her hair, looking out towards the lake.
"After what's happened these past couple of months, with my powers and my grandmother and everything...I've lost everyone I've ever really cared about because of the powers. I have no grandparents, no father, mother left my ass...I don't want to feel that pain again."
She chuckles, her voice bitter.
"And besides...I'm damaged goods. No guy is gonna want me, trust me."
"I don't get why the hell you say that," he mutters. "There's nothing wrong with you."
"Yes. There is. I just haven't told you."
"Then tell me."
She glares at him. "Bucky, I don't want to talk about it."
"Didn't you say just a little while ago you have to accept your past?" he asks her. She was silent. "Look, if you don't want to tell me why you think you're not worth it to any guy, fine. But just know that's not what I think."
She looks back at him, seeing him look out at the lake. Quiet.
"Something happened to me in college," she says, her voice fragile. He looks over at her. "I told you that much, right? It has something to do with that."
She looks away. "Do you want to talk about it now or do you want to wait?" he asks her quietly.
"I don't know if I can."
Enjoy and review. What secret is Martine hiding? :)
