"Bucky?"
Bucky slowly came back to consciousness, stirring at the sound of Steve's voice. His head was throbbing, and he felt like a Mac truck had driven over his back.
"Bucky? Bucky, wake up."
"We gotta get him up, Cap. His baby mama is wreaking havoc on my guys. We gotta do something."
That was Stark's voice, impatient and annoyed. It made Bucky open his eyes.
Steve was leaning over him, concern on his face, his hands on Bucky's shoulders. He looked relieved at Bucky blinking up at him.
"Jade?" Bucky groaned in question.
"Barnes, you better get your ass up, your baby mama is on a rampage."
Stark was already in his Iron Man suit, his back to Steve and Bucky staring at a projected image of the compound's security footage floating in the air. Bucky could see Jade on it, stepping over two unconscious guards, that same vacant look in her eye, striding with a slow determination.
Bucky grunted painfully as Steve pulled him to his feet. "We have to stop her, she's not herself-."
"We know," Steve cut in. "We know what Dr. Lewis did."
Bucky frowned. "Dr. Lewis?"
Tony turned at that, the face plate of his Iron Man suit was lifted so Bucky could see his face. "Dr. Lewis apparently has been under the employ of Hydra since he started here. What better way to get intel on us than through our shrink? They must have got to him after we vetted him. He triggered your girl, I am assuming Hydra gave him the words. He ordered her to get Dimitri out."
Tony turned back to the screen, waving in the air, the image changing to footage of Jade in her cell, Dr. Lewis standing outside of it. Bucky's face fell and his stomach twisted when the sound came on and he heard Dr. Lewis speaking in Russian. The fear and confusion on Jade's face as she pressed herself into the wall, shaking her head had Bucky's stomach twisting into knots.
He felt his fists clench. He looked away from the footage. He couldn't watch it.
"Where is he?" Bucky demanded.
"Somewhere in the building we've got security looking for him, but Jade is being quite the distraction and we came looking for you," Steve answered. "If anyone can get through to her it's you."
"We'll deal with him later. Even if he gets out he won't be hard to find. Where is Jade?" Bucky questioned.
"Well she just knocked a ton of my security staff out and she is making headway to the basement where her buddy Dimitri is, while you napped. Natasha is going to get Dimitri out."
Bucky chose to ignore that jab. "We have to stop her. We can't let Dimitri get out of here-."
"Great, we have a similar goal then, let's go," Tony started, turning for the door.
"I do not mean hurt her. She isn't herself," Bucky warned.
"We might not have a choice. She keeps hurting people then-."
"Then what?" Bucky interrupted. "You know Jade, this isn't her."
"Okay look, we all have a common goal, stopping Jade safely and keeping everyone in this building safe in the process. We can find a way to get Jade contained without really hurting her. Jade is family. She's one of us," Steve interjected stepping between them.
Tony sighed exasperatedly, his eyes rolling and then widening with an idea. "Tranquilizer?"
Bucky frowned. "Excuse me?"
"We knock her out, she's no problem, she's unharmed. Win-win," Tony reasoned.
"Do we even have any tranquilizer?"
"Bruce is in the lab, staying away from the action so our green friend doesn't show up, I got all kinds of chemical shit in there. I'm sure he can whip something up."
Steve looked skeptical. "We don't have a lot of time."
Tony was already backing away to the door. "You guys get her attention, distract her, I'll bring the nighty night juice to you."
Once the alarms had gone off and the AI's voice had erupted into the air Dimitri knew.
It was time.
Hydra was coming for him. And no doubt Jade. Probably the child as well.
He stood from where he sat, the chains rattling around him, watching as the two guards outside his door radioed frantically for more information.
"Do we take him? Do we evacuate?" One guard said to the other.
"I-I don't know? This isn't standard procedure," the other stuttered.
The elevator doors opened with a ding and the red head stepped out of the elevator. The black widow. He'd heard of her of course, her beauty, her skill, her deadliness.
"You two evacuate. I got it from here," she said, approaching the gated door and putting the key in the door.
Dimitri grinned at her, watching the guards walk hesitantly to the elevator and board. The doors closed on them.
"Natasha Romanov," Dimitri greeted, offering his shackled hands to her when she pulled the door open.
"Try anything and you will regret it," she warned, taking hold of his wrist.
"I wouldn't dream of it. I have no need," he shrugged, waiting patiently for her to unshackle his right wrist, offering his left when she did. "Hydra is coming to take me and what's mine home."
Natasha frowned at him, but ignored him, dropping the shackles to the ground and yanking him after her by her forearm. It was clear that she wasn't afraid of him, and why would she be. He had no intentions of trying anything anyway. He would let his new asset do her job.
The elevator returned and Natasha pulled him along, pressing the button and turning calculating eyes on him. He only smiled at her, winking when her eyes narrowed at him.
"What did you do to Jade?" Natasha questioned.
"I turned her into the best possible version of herself."
"You mean you kidnapped an innocent woman, a new mother, stole her memories and experimented on her," Natasha countered.
"And look what she has become," Dimitri responded, an evil glint in his eye.
The elevator doors dinged before opening revealing the first floor of the compound and the entrance.
And Jade standing on the other side of the doors, two unconscious security guards at the opposite ends of the room.
Natasha visibly tensed and Dimitri's grin widened. He could see the vacant look in her eye.
She was all his.
"привет питомец," he greeted Jade. Hello pet.
"Shut up," Natasha said absently. Her gaze stayed fixated on Jade. "Jade, I know you are in there somewhere you can fight this."
"She isn't. She can't," Dimitri answered.
"Again: shut up," Natasha said through clenched teeth. "Jade, please don't make me hurt you."
Jade's eyes narrowed at Natasha. Natasha's face fell.
A nod of her head and Natasha was lifted off the ground, her body hovering for a moment, eyes wide and mouth agape. Jade nodded once more and Natasha's body jerked backward, slamming into the elevator wall so hard it dented inward. She fell to the ground, unconscious before she hit the floor.
Dimitri looked to Natasha's body and back to Jade, chuckling to himself proudly. "My my домашний питомец, you have far exceeded my expectations."
Jade said nothing only stared blankly at him, waiting for her next instruction, ever the obedient asset. Dimitri stepped forward, offering her a hand, which she took without hesitation.
"Come, домашний питомец," Dimitri beckoned guiding her into the elevator. "Time to go home."
"Sergeant Barnes, Tony would like me to inform you that there is an aircraft of unknown origin landing on the helipad. He believes it is intended for Ms. Johnson and Dimitri Karpov."
Bucky's head tilted at the sound of Jarvis' voice speaking into his comm. He knew exactly where the aircraft was from and who it was for.
He stopped in the middle of the stairwell he was currently running down with Steve behind him, Steve nearly knocking into him. "Wrong way, we're going the wrong way," he grumbled.
"But Dimitri is in the basement," Steve reasoned, though he followed when Bucky turned and went back up the way they came.
"If she intends to take him to the roof we can cut them off," Bucky answered.
Obey.
That was the only thing that she knew she must do.
Obey and protect Dimitri Karpov.
There was nothing else. Only this.
Unless he willed it so.
It didn't matter what she was asked to do or why, she must do it. That was her assignment.
That was her purpose.
She stood at attention in the elevator while he leaned casually against the wall, watching her with calculated eyes.
She stared straight ahead, hands behind her back, ready for the next threat or command.
The elevators dinged, opening on the upper floor. Her handler stepped off first, walking out of the elevator and beckoning for her to follow with an flick of his fingers. She did so, following him up the stairs, through the door that led to the roof.
A helicopter was already there, blades still whirring, a pilot inside and a middle aged man standing a safe distance away. This man was holding a car seat in one hand and a diaper bag in the other. He looked irritated and impatient.
"Finally," he grumbled, stepping toward them as they approached, setting the car seat and bag down at his feet. "You have to get me out of here with you, I was promised protection and now because of this my cover is blown as is my career."
Her handler chuckled, stepping forward and clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Do not worry, Doctor. Hydra keeps its promises."
Dimitri looked at her then, nodding toward the doctor. "Asset, help the good doctor would you."
She knew from the dangerous look in his eye that he didn't actually mean 'help'. She turned her eyes on the doctor whose own eyes widened in fear, he shook his head.
"No. No. I was promised- I helped you. I got the baby-."
She called on the energy within her, feeling it pulse awake rushing through her before she narrowed her eyes at the doctor. It broke free from her, a strong blast that sent him up and flying backward into the wall of the access door. There was a sickening crunch as he hit the wall, his body crumpling to the ground unconscious.
In the car seat, the baby started to cry.
"Get the car seat and get on the helicopter," he ordered.
Her eyes focused on the crying infant in the car seat, the sound distracting her from her handler's voice and suddenly she felt her body freeze.
The tiny face of the baby is scrunched from crying, arms wiggled, feet kicked, and something inside of her stirred. Her head tilted when the baby's eyes opened and blue met hers. Her heart stalled in her chest, she knows those eyes.
A startling sense of familiarity washed over her. And with it comes a need, a protective need, a nurturing need. She knows that little face. She knows those little eyes. She knows this baby.
Her baby.
She feels a tickle in her brain at that thought, a struggle starting, something is happening. Something inside of her is waking up, making her stomach twist and her nerves tingle.
James Asher Barnes.
Jamie.
The name pops into her head and with it a vivid memory. The first being of a man, a handsome man with long hair, a soft hesitant smile, and blue eyes, the same blue eyes this baby has, staring at her while he held this baby.
Do you want to hold him?
She blinked, finally shaking her head at the memory, the tickle in her brain growing to a strong itch. She reached up to touch her head, feeling her curls, feeling her own touch and another flash came. Of that man again, his blue eyes staring deep into hers as she laid beside him, the early light of morning falling in through a window, a pillow soft beneath her head, his hand reaching across to push her curls from her cheek.
"I love you, Sugar," he whispered, closing the distance between them, his lips finding hers in a soft kiss.
Her body jerked as she came out of the memory, feeling her fingers touching her lips that still tingled.
What is happening?
Obey. Obey. Obey.
"Asset."
Her head snapped up to find her handler in front of her, studying her face with concerned eyes.
"Get on the helicopter. Now." He ordered.
Obey. Obey. Obey.
She felt the strong desire to move, to do as he ordered. But something was stopping her, something inside of her was telling her no. Someone .
The itch hadn't relented and had grown stronger now, and so had the sense that something was trying to break free within her. Someone was trying to break free.
"Asset!" Her handler barked, calling her attention. He grabbed a hold of her arm, bruisingly tight, his eyes burning with frustration.
She's suddenly in another place, a large room with cement walls and machinery. She's being forced into a chair, her handler standing over, smiling down at her, running the barrel of his gun over her cheek. She's terrified, and angry, and she just wants to go home. And there's that man again, being dragged in by two men, his blue eyes on hers, long hair framing his face. They strap him to the chair and her heart seizes. She doesn't want them to do this, she's scared for him, she cares for him.
"Its okay, Sugar," he assures even as metal bands clamp over his wrists and ankles. " It's going to be okay."
Bucky.
He goes by his nickname: Bucky, but she likes to call him-
"James."
She says the name out loud just as the roof access door bursts open and he's running through. He halts when he sees her, the blonde haired man who followed behind him stopping as well, holding a large shield on his forearm.
The man, Bucky, James, he locks eyes with her and he speaks.
"Jade."
When he says her name it's like a flood gate opens in her brain, and what spills out is an overwhelming amount of memories.
Memories of herself, her childhood, her parents, Iris, her job, and him. Every time they locked eyes, every smile they shared, every kiss, every touch, every time he said those three words. She remembers their time in the motel, being kidnapped, the devastating year that followed where he was gone, when he returned, the bliss that followed, finding out she was pregnant, and being taken again. The time without him, being with Anton on the farm, and having Jamie.
She was Jade.
She is Jade.
She blinked, looking down at herself, at Dimitri who was still clutching her arm and then back to Bucky.
"James," she said feeling a small smile grace her lips, it'd been so long since she'd seen him.
He hesitated, his face softening a bit when she smiled at him, his eyes widening when he realized.
"Jade?" He breathed.
Dimitri interrupted her response, yanking her towards the helicopter, forcing her to break eye contact with Bucky. She felt rage filling her then and accompanying it was a rush of energy, one that made every nerve within her light up and fire. Everything bad that had happened to her was his fault, a direct result of his actions and now he was attempting to take her again, to take her son.
Her teeth clenched as she yanked her arm from his grasp. She shoved against his chest before he could recover, sending him flying away from her to land in a heap on the group. Her heart raced as she locked her eyes onto him, watching him sit up slowly, eyes wide when he saw she was no longer under his control, and blood dripping from a cut on his lip. His tongue darted out to lick it and by the time that his tongue retracted into his mouth the cut was gone.
She ignored that revelation, unable to think of anything other than how much he had ruined her life and multiple moments of happiness for her. The rage and energy pulsed with each beat of her heart and her hands tightened into fists.
"Jade," she heard Bucky call behind her, felt him and Steve approaching, but with one look at them they were stopped.
She felt it when the energy inside of her pulsed, when it came out of her and wrapped around them to keep them from moving. She didn't know how she had done it, had only thought that she wasn't going to let them stop her from truly ending this and the energy had responded.
She set her sights back on Dimitri who had risen to his feet, wiping blood from his chin, his eyes darting to the still waiting helicopter and back to her. She wasn't going to let him escape. Not this time. She wasn't going to give him another opportunity to come back for her, for Bucky, for her son.
"домашний питомец," Dimitri started raising his hands in a surrendering gesture.
She now knew that meant 'pet', that was what he'd been calling her all along. It only made the anger increase.
She embraced the energy rushing through her, holding her hand out in Dimitri's direction and willing it to wrap around him. It responded like an extension of herself, doing as she wanted, Dimitri rising off the ground, hovering in the air.
"You don't deserve to live," she growls at him through clenched teeth, feeling the energy surge at her words.
"Jade!" Steve's voice came from behind, strained and tense, already knowing what she wanted to do. What she needed to do. "Jade, you don't have to do this."
She dared a look in his direction seeing Steve watching her, beside him Bucky was watching her too, with soft eyes. To her surprise he shook his head the fraction it was allowed.
"This isn't you, Sugar," he commented. "He'll go to prison for the rest of his life. We will make sure of it. I promise. Let him go, baby."
She hesitates, looking back at Dimitri floating in the air, trying to let Bucky's words sink over her. She wants to believe him, wants to believe that Dimitri can be locked away. But a stronger part of her doesn't.
He'll never stop coming for them, he won't stop trying to take them, or their son. She has to protect herself, the man she loves, her son. She's blinded by the rage, hyper focused on one singular solution, and in that moment she makes up her mind.
"He won't stop. He'll never stop," she says aloud to herself.
"Jade! Sugar, listen to me," Bucky called. "Look at me."
She doesn't want to, but she does, seeing the sincerity and understanding in his eyes.
"I know what you want to do. Hell, I want to do it too. But you're not a killer, baby. I know you're scared. But I promise you, you'll never see him again. He'll never hurt you again."
She hesitates, looking at Dimitri again.
"Think of Jamie," Bucky continued. "He needs you. We need you."
That really makes her pause, and she's looking down at the car seat where her son has quieted. Her heart sinks and she knows that Bucky is right.
Taking a deep breath she tries to tell the energy inside of her to stop, calling it back within herself, trying to push it down to wherever it comes from. Lowering her hands, she notices Bucky and Steve stumble forward before Dimitri drops to the ground. Ignoring Dimitri she walks to the car seat, kneeling beside it and carefully unbuckles Jamie.
Her heart swells when she lifts him into her arms, holding him close and breathing in the smell of him. He smells just like she remembers.
She almost startles when she feels hands on her shoulders, one flesh and one metal, looking up to see Bucky standing over her. His blue eyes are watery as he gazes down at her with their son in her arms and then he's kneeling too, wrapping his arms around the both of them and pulling them in close and tight.