Chapter 18: New York City
Perhaps he'd been too busy since he remembered the kind of man he was before Hydra- the kind he still wanted to be. Perhaps he was just afraid of how much his city had changed in seventy years. Whichever it was, one thing was certain- he should have taken a walk like this months ago. Bucky's head was on a swivel as he followed Inessa through the streets of New York. Everything was different, but somehow it seemed familiar. Yes, skyscrapers and buildings were taller than what he'd seen as a child and now took up blocks where there had once been only four story apartments, but they were still the same blocks, the same alleys, even the people weren't much changed. Every now and then he even saw a familiar structure, barely changed by the decades. Bucky and Inessa walked through the streets beyond even the ruins of the senate house, where cleanup crews were still trying to remove large blocks of marble under massive floodlights. For two hours they just walked, ducking down side streets to avoid any large crowds of people until, without intending to, they wandered through Battery Park, where Sam and Natasha had fought off two of Dennisson's agents.
Bucky was drawn across the street to a small overlook, and Inessa followed. He leaned on the fence and stared at the city across the Hudson, "That's Brooklyn," he told her, "that's where Steve and I grew up."
"Do you have family?"
He shook his head, "I asked JARVIS once, but I chickened out before he told me. Honestly, if my sisters are still alive I don't think I'd want them to see me. Their brother died a war hero seventy years ago. A good death for a good man. That's not worth ruining with the truth."
"Sorry," Inessa didn't know what else to say.
"Can you keep a secret?" she nodded, "I thought what you were doing was right- going after Hydra. They see you as this kid who needs to be protected, a child," Bucky shook his head and glanced over at her, "but we both know you stopped being that after the first week in Astana. Steve took out half a dozen Hydra bases at least before he found me, I don't see why you can't do the same."
"Very touching," Inessa and Bucky turned towards the girl's voice, "but it's almost dawn and I'm really sick of tailing you two ass-hats." The girl in the Iron Man pajamas- one of the two who stopped them outside of Avengers Tower- was standing near the trees and was flanked by two Thors.
"You don't want to fight us," Bucky warned, stepping in front of Inessa.
The girl laughed, "We've been paid enough that, yeah, we really do."
"Full disclosure," Bucky had no weapons on him- not that the metal arm wouldn't be enough- but he cursed himself for being so unprepared, "we're Avengers. Whatever you were paid, three against even just one of us wouldn't be enough. You're what, fifteen? Don't do this, it doesn't end well."
She just smiled, "Full disclosure- we already know. Our boss made sure we were very well prepared." The Thors drew guns. Now Bucky was really pissed at himself. These kids were smart- he judged the distance between them and himself, they could get off three rounds each before he reached them, and their aim looked to be pretty damn good.
Bucky glanced back at Inessa, "I can't stop them and prote-"
The Thor's opened fire.
Bucky took three to the abdomen- damn kids. Usually his enemies waited for him to make the first move. He grabbed Inessa and jumped over the fence. Together they tumbled down the grassy slope to water's edge. They couldn't get away- he was in too much pain to swim and she couldn't carry him long enough or fast enough to get away. He wasn't fleeing- he was buying time. "JARVIS, send five medical suits to our position, three vials of anti-venom." Bucky panted. Inessa tried to roll off of him, but he pinned her against his chest. Bright flashes of light muddled his vision as pain lanced out from the wounds. They were bad, but wouldn't kill him before JARVIS had him back at the Tower. He didn't hear the A.I's reply when it came. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Bucky locked eyes with Inessa. He had his arms wrapped around her still from the tumble down the hill. He moved his human one to the back of her head and pulled it down against his chest as hard as he could. Before she knew what he was doing, he grabbed the implant in his metal hand and ripped it out- absorbing the shocks as the device tried to defend itself.
Inessa's scream was deafening. Skin and tissue pulled away with the implant and blood began pouring from the wound instantly. Bucky put his human hand against it and tried to keep pressure, but the motion only caused her further pain. The girl in the Iron Man pajamas and her Thors jumped over the rail and took aim. Inessa became instantly silent. Bucky squeezed slightly- he didn't think she'd bleed this much this quickly, he just prayed it was the right decision. When the movement didn't trigger more cries of pain, he lifted her head slightly so he could look into her eyes. They were dead- glassy.
He looked up at the would-be assassins in time to see a horrific creature- not quite human, not quite wolf- descend upon them. The Thors opened fire again, but their bullets passed through the shadow-beast. They were flung aside with a spray of blood as their chests were laid open by the beast's claws. The girl tried to run, but the wolf dove at her and raked her across the back. She tumbled down the hill and landed half in the water, stunned and gasping for air.
Bucky stared at the Shadow, standing on the top of the hill. It stared at the girl as if it was ready for the killing blow. "Inessa, Nadya, don't," Bucky called as best he could- he suspected a bullet nicked a lung because he was starting to have trouble bleeding. A disturbing amount of blood was coming from both his stomach and Inessa's neck. How deep did those wires run?
The Shadow stared at the girl a moment more, snarling. In the distance Bucky could see the glow of Tony's suits, coming in for the rescue. The Shadow howled and ran instead for its wounded ally. Bucky felt it land next to him in the tremor of the dirt, then everything went black as it folded itself around them.
Bucky was blinded by the lights of the operating room. They ran on motion sensors and snapped on at maximum brightness, immediately dissolving the Shadow around him and Inessa. The setting was left over from before, when they thought the Shadow was something to be fought, "Lights down," he was still holding Inessa's body and the implant. Bucky's muscles were locked, he wasn't sure he could move if he wanted to.
The lights dimmed and the Shadow reappeared in a dark corner, watching intently. A single medical Suit ran into the room and quickly scanned both, "I can wait," Bucky insisted, "get her first."
"Perforated lung and spleen, multiple lacerations to the large and small intestine and a shattered rib," JARVIS' voice rattled off Bucky's injuries. "Miss Inessa is more able to await treatment," he couldn't argue, it was getting very difficult to get enough air, but he wasn't happy. A second medical Suit entered and pulled Inessa from Bucky's grip (with some difficulty). It wrapped a white towel around her throat and closed around her. The other suit lifted Bucky onto the OR table. As he was sedated, Bucky began to plan how he was going to explain all of this to the others...
The implant being removed so violently set off alarms throughout all Avengers embedded comms- though it took a lot of shouting over one another to finally get a diagnosis of what the alarm meant. Steve was ready to kill someone by the time JARVIS reported Bucky and Inessa were both in the medical section of the Tower. A few minutes later there was a second report of three teenagers in Battery Park who had been attacked by the Shadow. JARVIS put the scans all together to paint a picture of what had happened within ten minutes, but that was an incredibly tense time.
Steve ran down the stairs to the recovery room to check on Inessa and saw the Shadow lurking along the far side of the room. He skid to a stop, his skin crawling at the hideous, half-formed creature. Ally, not enemy, he turned to the suit on the bed, "Let me see her,". The face and chest plates folded back. She was pale, covered in mud and dirt, her dull eyes told him she was out-of-body, but he'd guessed that already, "what happened?"
"Mister Barnes removed Miss Inessa's implant," JARVIS broadcast his reply throughout the comms. "Analysis of the scene indicates they came under attack, Mister Barnes was fired upon. After this he removed the device and Miss Inessa used her abilities to incapacitate their attackers."
"Give her morphine," Steve ordered, "something for the pain," he was looking from the vacant-eyed girl on the bed to the Shadow lurking in the corner. There was a hissing noise as the suit complied. Sam came in behind him as he waited.
"JARVIS, call the police as well. Have them meet the Suits and the kids at the nearest hospital." Sam gave the order.
"I want a full background on those little bastards," Tony's voice was tinny, metallic- he was already jumping into his Suit to fly back to New York.
Clint came on next, "How are they? Bucky and Inessa I mean."
"Mister Barnes is undergoing surgery. Once his condition is stabilized Miss Inessa will require a brief procedure to repair damage done by the removal of the device, though she will have to keep her neck immobile throughout the healing process."
"I'm bringing the Asgardian stone," Tony confirmed. It would cut healing time down from weeks to days.
The Shadow abruptly came forward to stand by Inessa's body. Steve and Sam waited as it carefully touched a massive claw to her cheek. The Shadow poured into the body, diminishing and morphing until it was a large, black wolf. Inessa's eyes focused and she blinked. When she tried to move her head to look at Steve she winced and moaned. "I thought the morphine might bring you back."
"It hurt..." Inessa had jumped out of her body as soon as she felt the walls of the Valley fall open, rode the wave of pain. It was an incredible feeling having her abilities back. She had underestimated how much it pained her to be separated from her powers.
"What were you two doing outside the Tower?" Sam asked.
"Couldn't sleep," Inessa mumbled. Her head was swimming with the drugs, pain, and blood loss.
Steve patted her arm, "Anything you can tell us about the kids who attacked you? Were they part of a gang or-"
"Morris. Hydra," Inessa tried to organize her thoughts, "They were hired, armed."
Steve frowned, "How do you know it was this 'Morris' guy?"
"He's a former associate of Dennisson," Natasha cut in quickly, before Inessa accidentally mentioned Berny and the picture of Morris leading him out of his prison, "recently he was caught on security footage helping SHIELD prisoners escape. I showed the footage to Inessa."
"Natasha, I know you're working on tracking down info on the video reel, but can you put your contacts on high alert? We need to know what this guy is planning and where he's based- now."
"On it."
"It would appear we are once again at war," Thor sounded a bit too pleased.
The teens who attacked Bucky and Inessa were loaded into the medical Suits and en-route to the hospital when a series of strange readings appeared on their radars. Five small projectiles fired in rapid succession. They were deemed no-threat by the Suit defenses. Berny watched from a nearby rooftop as the Suits were hit. His arrows stuck to the outside and, once all were engaged, he activated them.
"Just like the fourth of July," Berny almost felt guilty as the Suits exploded. Mostly though he was just impressed by the new arrows gifted to him by Morris for this mission. He didn't know who was in them, he didn't care. The order was to ensure the other operatives did not reach the hospital.
"One step closer to finally ending your brother's life," Morris' voice came through his ear-bud. Berny smiled, any slivers of guilt forgotten.
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