Holly woke abruptly, her body already in motion before she even registered what set her off. Rolling up, legs braced and lips pulled back from her teeth in warning, magic swirling dangerous beneath her skin. By the time her feet hit the ground, she needed only a moment to realize that she was the Horde's healing chambers.
She relaxed a bit, straightening up and allowing her lips to fall back into a thin line as she scanned the area automatically anyway. Constant vigilance, after all.
Steeljaw stood waiting at the foot of the cot she had been placed upon and she frowns. His face is not a pleased one. Something is wrong.
Dread rises in her chest and Holly pauses a moment, before she steps quickly to the healer's side and questions swiftly, "What happened?"
"Your Sergeant will need to detox. He is unaware of what has been put into his system, only that there are many things. Even with magical means, we may not pick up on everything due to its non-magical origin, which means we can't use magic to detox him the quick and easy way. On top of that- some of the drugs we did manage to pick up on react badly with the powdered unicorn horn that goes into the potions."
Steeljaw glanced over to the sleeping form of Bucky Barnes, disapproval and disgust curling his words. The witch certain understood his feelings on the humans that did this to a honorable warrior. "It will not be pleasant. Once he is detoxed, he will still be at risk for relapses, and side effects where his body will crave whatever blends of chemicals he had been exposed to."
Holly listens as Steeljaw lays out certain ways Bucky may or may not react to that craving. Even if he doesn't want the drugs in his body, even if he never did, he had spent seventy years with the drugs being pumped into his body all the same. It was blessing that magic- while it could not flush his system clear- would be able to help with the aftereffects.
When Steeljaw finishes laying out exactly what the next few months worth of recovery would be like, as well as any relapses that could hit the Alpha's body even after that for a while yet, Holly finds herself sitting beside the man. He does not sleep peacefully and likely, he won't for quite some time. However, she is bound and determined that she will help him through this. No one deserved what had happened to him, and Holly will be the anchor he needs while he recovers. She wished she'd had the time to make those who had hurt him suffer more for it. Listening to the bare minimum of what they had done to him only made her angrier than she had already been.
She can do nothing less than be the anchor he needs, be the grounding force for him in this.
And the entire time, her magic continues to chant under her skin: ImportantImportantImportant.
LINEBREAK
Winter eases himself into consciousness. It is the first time his body does not burn from the withdraw as he came off the drugs. He keeps his body relaxed and his breathing even.
(He's done this before, don't let them know you're awake, don't let them know how resistant you are to the drugs-)
It's slower than normal, but there's no disorientation, no fog clouding his mind and dulling his senses. It's different than the other times. He feels more….aware than he has in a very, very long time.
His senses stretch out, searching, cataloging, everything that he could use to alert himself to the situation.
He can feel furs against his skin, the echoes of movement tell him the room is large, there's a strange earthy scent in the air, like dark rich soil with metallic overtones. Beyond that scent he can pick up herbs and the particular scent that comes with clean, even though it's missing the antiseptic sting to his nose.
And then, bright and clean and attention grabbing he pulls in a lungful of ginger-and-oranges.
Memories stir- a little woman with jewel-tone eyes, who was dressed like a prisoner of HYDRA. One who walked into his holding room and gave him trigger words, who walked out of that base with the Winter Soldier, with him. A woman who had provided him choices, who gave him the order he needed to ignore when his Words were spoken by the Primary Handler- Alexander Pierce who she had killed on his behalf, blood boiling as it burned him up from the inside.
A vicious curl of pleasure snakes through his stomach. The man is dead. He could never order Winter to murder another soul. And this little woman had taken him to help. He had flashes of her over time as his body came down from the drugs in his system. He remembered her voice and touch, her scent, remembered her soothing him through the shakes and the sickness.
Winter knows she did, he can feel the Other in his mind stirring and groggy no longer layered behind so many protections, no longer repressed under agony and the Chair. The walls that had separated them are being torn down. They are not gone, not yet, but the walls are falling.
He opens his eyes a sliver, taking in visual cues. The earthy-metallic scent belongs to the small creatures- goblins- that the new Primary Handler had brought him to see, he's laying in their healing chambers. They've placed him on one of the recovery beds, the ones with the furs he had noticed upon entering. Boudica is present and calm at the foot of the bed. Her gray wings with neatly groomed feathers relaxed, and legs folded neatly under her.
And then-
There.
There she is, the woman who had saved him, laying a few beds over and curled in her own personal recovery bed. The source of ginger-orange. He's light on his feet as he slides from the bed, carefully approaching the woman- Holly, he remembered- before stopping at her side,
The Other in his head leans forward, shaking the grogginess away as Other takes in the same cues that Winter is pulling in. He can sense the shocked awe in the Other swelling, the urge to touch, to reach out and make sure she is real, that she will not shatter into a thousand pieces if he allows himself to reach out. That she really had gotten them out. That she had gotten them help.
Winter obeys the urge. His flesh hand is slow and careful as he reaches out to place it on her shoulder. She's solid and warm under his hand. Her heartbeat is steady under his fingers.
The Other makes an odd choked noise in his head, as if the air has been knocked free of his chest. Winter can feel the phantom sensation of it as he stares unblinking at the woman.
She is…
Important.
Beyond that she had made herself Primary Handler. She is important as Holly.
The Other agrees, though they are not sure how yet.
A noise behind him sets Winter on alert, and without thinking about it, he finds himself crouched protectively over the low bed, shielding as much of the lady as he can, lips pulled back in a snarl, a low threatening rumble vibrating up his chest and at the unknown in sight.
He finds himself looking down at an unimpressed Steeljaw.
The Other growls, low in his head, not wanting to move from his protective crouch.
"Sentinel Barnes, we will not be harming Lady Potter, please step down." Steeljaw's voice was firm and steady as he met Winter's eyes evenly. No lie-scent comes from him.
Winter gave no visible reaction to the name the healer had used, but it still felt like a jolt to his system to hear it. Especially when he found the Other in his head reacted to it. A sudden sense of recognition.
Of identity.
"That's my name. Sergeant James Barnes, Bucky."
Winter relaxed a little. He remembered this goblin had helped Holly and himself, that Holly had trusted him enough to bring herself and Winter to his side for healing. He slid back carefully, revealing the still unconscious form of Holly from under his protection. Winter made sure he was in between her body and the doors, but he allowed Steeljaw to approach, icy eyes staring at the goblin in warning all the same.
The goblin held his stare.
It was a point in the little being's favor.
LINEBREAK
Holly eases into consciousness.
It takes her a moment to place that as strange. She's never eased her way into wakefulness, never been allowed, nor felt safe enough to be slow about coming into full awareness. Not even in the heart of the Horde, placed in their healing cave with some of their finest wards in place. Recently, as Bucky came down off the drugs, she had been waking abruptly and with worry at the forefront of her mind.
Steeljaw had actually fed her sleeping potions so she would sleep after the last reaction Bucky had had to the detox. His body really hadn't taken kindly to clearing seventy years worth of repeated drug use out of his system.
And yet every inhale brings the scent of woodsmoke and apples and the metallic-soil smell of goblin to her nose. She pulled in a deeper breath, almost involuntarily to the scent the Alpha was putting off now that the scent suppressors had worn off.
Crisp fresh apples, the likes of which she had stolen from Number Two's backyard on really bad weeks. Ripe and succulent and juicy, apples that had saved her life, kept her from starving even if they hadn't had the proper nutrients a growing child needed.
(She knows now that it was accidental magic that made the trees bloom and grow the apples she needed even out of season)
Combined with the scent of woodsmoke, the likes of which she associated with warmth and safety from her cupboard and it was a lovely soothing scent. The Dursleys had liked to burn a wood fire in winter to be an 'idyllic' family around Christmas, and it had been one of the very few things that had kept her properly warm in her cupboard when the temperature dropped.
She purred low in her chest, snuggling down into the furs around her, and eased her way into being functionally awake. She stretched out, feeling content and pleased. Something rumbled back and she couldn't find it in herself to be alarmed. Really, she was exhausted from everything and sleep was a complicated matter. This was…. This was nice.
"Lady Potter?"
She hummed questioningly, her eyes still closed as she snuggled into the soft, warm furs.
"If you could inform Sentinel Barnes that we have not forced you into an unnatural and prolonged state of unconsciousness, I would appreciate it."
It was like an electric jolt straight to her adrenaline as she jerked upwards, eyes flying open as she searched the room. Healer Steeljaw stood at the foot of her bed, the hulking and dangerous form of Sergeant Barnes crouched defensively in between her bed and the goblin.
Seeing as the healer had referred to the man by his name, she assumes the first treatment had gone into effect. She can use his name.
"It's alright, Bucky." Her voice is soothing and low. She releases her hold on her Omega pheromones, not pushing them on the Alpha, but offering them as a source of calm. "They haven't drugged me. The dose they use to put me to sleep has to be stronger than most due to what's in my blood."
Phoenix tears and basilisk venom tended to force her to burn through the normal healing potions too quickly for them to do any good if they even worked in the first place. It was why she went to the goblins for her potions supplies if she didn't make them herself- they had potions that humans didn't. Potions that worked.
"I'm alright. I slept so deeply due to this requirement. I have not been harmed. Nor was it done to subdue me."
She sees his shoulders relax a smidgen, and he eases his way backwards, closer to her- the smell of woodsmoke and apples gets stronger- and he slowly stands upright.
"You have a powerful defender, Lady Potter."
Steeljaw's voice is so dry, Holly knows, immediately, that Bucky had done something.
It's with a hint of trepidation that she pulls her eyes away from directly in front of her, away from the goblin and man who had been having a stare down.
The room is a mess.
The cots remain untouched, but the healing beds have been flipped and thrown, furs gathered and used to make a small nest beside her bed. Her bed and the medical supplies are the only other untouched things in the healing ward, and even then Bucky had moved the supplies behind himself so that the goblins would have to go through him to get to them.
She suspects the reason magic was not involved in the mess, was the knowledge that Bucky would have gone from defensive to violent. The unconscious goblins on the cots at the back of the healing area are proof that he had fought to defend her, but the fact they are there means he did not kill them. He wouldn't have missed and given the healers a chance to save them if he had been aiming to kill them. Her stomach drops.
"Sweet Morgana."
On one hand, her security and protection are ensured and Sergeant Barnes seems to be responding well to her, but on the other hand, he fought and overpowered goblins on their sovereign soil. She's still unsure as to all their cultural differences but the only conscious goblin doesn't look angry or such. Even so, politeness as she knows it is also the way to go when dealing with goblins.
"I apologize, Healer Steeljaw, I shall help you set the room to rights."
Steeljaw flashes her a grin, teeth showing, and Holly waits for permission or her offer to be refused. That baring of teeth is either of anger or amusement and it will decide her next actions.
"Oh, do not concern yourself, Lady Potter. We should have seen the reaction coming, having administered healing to his mind so recently, especially with you injured and unable to protect yourself in his presence. I am rather pleased myself, that he took Healer Ironclaw down so easily. It was certainly a sight to behold. Although, the-"
The globin briefly dissolves into his own language, and although Holly cannot understand it, she knows how it sounds when a goblin insults and praises someone at the same time. This one seems to require much more malicious undertones than the English language is entirely incapable of, even if there is a vicious admiration edging his voice.
"-needs to learn that I am your Healer and no others are permitted to look at you without both your and my own permission. That he reacted defensively, and did not kill any who entered this room is a credit to Sentinel Barnes himself, considering his past and what his first instinct likely is thanks to that past. He is an exemplary warrior."
That...was a fine complement thought Bucky probably didn't realize how much of one.
She dipped her head in acknowledgement, the barest hints of a smile stealing over her face. "I thank you, Healer Steeljaw."
"Of course, Lady Potter. May I approach to check you over?"
She nods, offering a verbal reply for the Sentinel, who hasn't taken his eyes off the goblin. "Yes, Healer Steeljaw, you may."
She watches as James works his way backwards again, to the head of her bed, where he hovers and tracks the goblin's every move. She is soothed by his presence and the strong scent of apples and woodsmoke that floats around her head, though she cannot place why she is so comfortable even associating his scent with happier times for herself.
LINEBREAK
It had taken Bar-Buc-Asset-it-him-James a few days to place it.
Winter had noticed that Holly was still unconscious despite her taking the 'potions' just before he had awakened. Jam-Wint-the Asset- had memories of her being aware and awake during his more lucid moments as he came off the drugs, but she was not now. Had not been since they had awoken. At first they thought maybe it was the fact that they had the botched Serum in their system. Even incomplete as it was, it still made Winter-James-them...more. Made them heal quicker, burn through drugs faster, and Winter allowed that it could be that they were enhanced and she was not that had them awakening before the Handler.
Day two of her being unresponsive had him twitchy. Winter paced in his head, and James agreed that they would watch over Holly carefully. Steeljaw came and went, told him of the doll's progress, and it soothed him a bit, even as Winter whispered they could be lying.
The third day was where Jam-Bucky began to agree. Where Winter-Bucky- they- wondered. The only explanation he could come up with was that the goblins were drugging her. Why wasn't she awake yet? Even normal humans should have burned out a drug by day three...unless it had been administered again, before she could shake it off.
Winter remembered- they remembered- the Handlers having done the same to him while transporting him from place to place.
Could they want the Asset? Did they take Holly down because he had identified her as Priority Handler? Had they removed her voice and presence after he had been soothed from the detox process? Winter knew that Peirce had agents in the enclaves. He'd been sent in for assignments before. Bucky sneered and Winter snarled.
They would not allow it.
It was a simple matter to approach the medicines that had been used and move them. It felt like something was trying to force him away from the potions, that ice trailing over his spine, but they would not allow their mission to be compromised. They powered through it, one or the other pulling their attention back to the case when it wanted to wander, gripping the cases and lifting them easily to take them behind Holly's bed.
He pulled the furs from the surrounding beds and built himself a small nest, settling between the door and Holly as he waited. The goblins would come back and they would be waiting.
It was pure happenstance that had the goblin healer Ironclaw coming into the room hours later. Winter had informed the goblin that he would not be touching Holly, or giving her anything before she was awake to okay it. He'd taken offense to it of course, and tried to fight Winter on it.
Winter won.
He won again when a small group of warriors came afterwards to see what the noise was about, even if most of the room had been destroyed by the resulting skirmish. Bucky and Winter had been in agreement that Holly's bed was not to be disturbed, and so she sat in the eye of the storm, untouched.
Steeljaw had been the next goblin sent in, and he took one look at Winter crouched protectively in front of Holly's bed and the door, the entire squad of unconscious goblin warriors, and Healer Ironclaw having been thrown clear across the room when he refused to take no for an answer.
Steeljaw had laughed. That pointy-eared bastard.
More than that, he had not approached Holly, instead taking all the unconscious goblins and bringing them back to the cots where they had been placed. He'd nodded at Winter and informed them-
"Lady Potter is in no danger, nor should she need any other potions. You may shield her until she wakes, if you wish."
Winter had rumbled in return, low and threatening.
"If you have drugged her, I will cut your head from your shoulders."
They weren't sure how they felt about Holly yet, but they were drawn to her in a way that felt right to their senses, and she had been the one to save them, to offer them choices, and she had began to give Bucky back his sense of self. They would see her well so long as she kept their trust.
Another laugh, and Steeljaw had given him a pleased flash of teeth. "Excellent. Lady Potter needs more defenders that would kill her enemies on her behalf. I see her often enough to know she is hesitant to kill, save but the vilest of monsters."
Winter rumbled low and threatening and Bucky spoke with him when he answered fiercely, "We will not allow her to come to harm."
The goblin had pinned dark eyes on his own ice before the smile widened, a pleased threatening look in his eyes when he snarled back.
"Good."
And so here Bucky stood, at the head of Holly's resting place, watching the goblin healer approach after receiving permission. He allowed it, but let his eyes convey his warning to the goblin in place of words. There was a glint of respect in dark eyes as the healer nodded and moved to look over the dame who had saved him.
He wondered what had been done to her, that made it so she needed something stronger than the norm to knock her out. Winter growled, and Buck agreed with the sentiment.
If it had been anything like their own experience…if she had an organization like HYDRA coming after her...
Well.
Bucky shifted, keeping his senses open to his surroundings. He had a very particular set of skills, and it would only be fair to return the favor she had bestowed upon them by extracting them from HYDRA.
LINEBREAK
Holly stood beside the Alpha Sentinel she had saved, and discretely pulled in the scent of woodsmoke and apples. It was….slightly disconcerting how often she felt herself lean over into his personal space to breath in the scent of him. He did not seem to mind, only adjusting his posture to curl more easily around her presence. It was...pleasing. Although Holly was not going into those lines of thought at the moment before there were other more important matters.
Such as staring down at the Horde's King, even as Ragnarok met her eyes easily. She knew it would be a sign of weakness to glance away from him, and she held his gaze. She had done the same to Voldemort and that Hungarian Horntail so a Goblin King, an honorable warrior wasn't something that frightened her.
When the King smirked a little and turned from her, beckoning the two of the forward, Holly knew she had passed that silent test.
"We were preparing to go out and retrieve you, Lady Potter-Black," the goblin's voice was deep and raspy. "As your cousin realized something was wrong when you did not alert him you had returned home as agreed. He came before us and asked for our aid."
Holly's steps stuttered in her surprise, her eyes widening beyond her ability to control as her tongue slipped and she practically demanded.
"He what?"
Ragnarok glanced at her, and repeated himself easily, with a grin that implied more than amusement at her expense.
"Dudley Dursley approached the Horde for help locating you. He confessed that while he had no evidence for what happened- he suspected, rather strongly, that his father had done something to you. He explained your previous arrangements, and that he thought it odd his father did not protest your presence more vehemently. When you did not respond as you had agreed, after his father escorted you from the house, he correctly took appropriate measures to locate you. When such failed, he came here."
Holly stared over the goblin's head, shock spreading through her bones. She had not expected Dudley to react to that promise, or to seek help if she did not answer. He'd acted against his family for her sake. She'd known he was changing, that he hated what they had done, that he'd been trying to be different, but…
He'd gone to the alley for her.
Dudley talked to the Horde for her.
Had faced everything his family had taught him to hate. Everything he'd been taught was 'freakish' and 'unnatural.' He had done so, for her.
"Such actions proved unnecessary, as you returned to us under your own power." Ragnarok flashed his teeth in a pleased grin. "You are, as you have always been, an exemplary warrior, Lady Potter."
Holly, without missing a beat, bowed her head in his direction while holding eye contact, and spoke, "Thank you Your Grace."
The King waved a clawed hand in acceptance and still she followed him until they came to his office. He motioned towards the chairs and Holly took one while Bucky stood behind and to the side of it. She did not begrudge him the choice, and neither did Ragnarok.
"You seek permission to use a portkey behind our wards, so that you may transport yourself and Sentinel Barnes to our healing chamber no matter where you go from here."
The King's voice was calm and to the point. It was a mark of respect that a goblin- much less the King- did not tangle their interaction with stalling tactics, double meanings, and delaying paperwork.
Holly returned the favor, keeping her voice calm and certain when she replied "I would, your Grace. The healing is not complete, but to stay within the boundaries of a wizard market, even behind the wards of the Horde would be foolish on my part. It is my wish to travel, but be able to return here for our appointments without any wizard being aware of where we are going or have been. In order to do that, I need the expertise of the Horde."
Another flash of teeth.
"You will have it, Lady Potter. We will pull the funds directly from your vaults. You may gather the supplies you asked for beforehand from Teller Goldclaw. May your gold flow like rivers, Lady Potter."
"And may your enemies fall swiftly to your blade, Ragnarok, King of the Horde."
LINEBREAK
They had spent some time in the room with the goblin's King, but in the end Holly had an agreement.
Her first stop would be Teller Goldclaw for all the documents she needed for James. It wouldn't do for him to not exist in the world's records after all. The second would be the trunk shop. She knew the owner had specially enchanted duffle bags that would work to sort and hold anything Bucky may have needed. She would be getting one for herself as well- a duffle was less attention grabbing than a trunk. She also wouldn't mind stocking up on her potions supply and various other odds and ends while she was here.
She blessed the fact her cloaks worked to hide their identities from view. She'd have to be quick as possible anyway, as it was entirely possible someone would pick up on traces of her magic or have a way to track her now that she was in the English Enclave's borders again. It was a boon that it was so soon after the war- many others strode quickly through the alley itself with hoods and cloaks of their own. They did not stick out in the crowd.
She lead Bucky easily through the crowds- which were present but nowhere near normal capacity thanks to the lingering effects of the war on Diagon Alley. She went straight to the counter and rattled off what she needed to the owner. He didn't bother to argue, as she knew what she was talking about and it showed in her manner.
Soon enough she had two duffle bags- one dark blue and the other dark green to match their cloaks- and paid without complaint and a quick thank you. She strode out of the shop and headed towards the potions shop. She whispered a quick warning to Buck about her impending use of magic, and when she had the okay, twisted her hand so that the scents would be filtered. Their Omega and Alpha noses would have burned with the mix of scents at full blast. Her charm only filtered it, so that while they could still smell everything it was not so powerfully as to be painful.
Holly rushed through her other purchases, but not so quickly that it pulled attention to the two of them. She needed to stay in Britain for the moment, figure out where the runaway Death Eaters had fled, and Bucky needed the healing and anonymity the Horde could provide.
After that...after that, all of the world would be waiting for her.
LINEBREAK
Winter and Bucky both agreed that they prefered this Omega Guide over their other Handlers. She had his Words and yet she never used them. She never phrased anything as an order. She made certain that they both- Winter and Bucky- knew that they had a choice. She told them she was not a Handler, as they were their own person, and they could call her Holly.
She fed him regularly, and as soon as she figured out his enhanced body meant he needed more food then a regular human, she upped his intake without complaint. She provided him with his weapons, never made him walk around without them, and she had given him a thorough tour of the house.
She went with him to every healing session and promised to look after him.
She never lied about that- she walked him through what each potion did, and she was always there when he opened his eyes. Any time he had problems from the detoxing, any relapses, or surges in problems, she was there. Steady, constant, true, and comforting.
Bucky and Winter both appreciated it more than they could say. As far as they could tell, Holly never lied to them at all. She'd tell them she didn't want to talk about something, but she never danced around something, or made up lies about it.
The Handler was gentle, even when Bucky and Winter tested the limits. Carefully and in a variety of ways, but they tested them. They had to, it burned at them both, sunk its claws into their mind and chest. They had to know what she would do- how she would react- if Bucky or Winter refused to listen, or follow orders. What would happen when she was angry, what was her first response, her first thought?
It was understanding, it was calm, it was a soft voice, soothing, comfort and curiosity. She acted to fix or explain where it was needed.
She warned him about the dangers of her home, and he was allowed free reign.
No one had ever trusted the Asset with free reign of anything.
And she was continuing to take them to healers. To cleanse their body and repair damages to their mind. She was giving them the pieces they needed to bring their shattered parts together again. Maybe not into a full picture of what had been, once, but still. She was helping Winter and Bucky to bring those pieces together into something beautiful for all that it had been broken, something whole and functioning and thinking. She was helping them to be a person again, and not a thing.
Even when they knew she was doing something important. They weren't sure what it was- she'd told them she had some loose ends to tie up, and she didn't want to talk about where those loose ends came from. She always came back from those 'missions' of hers with a liquid sort of grace that Winter recognized, with a certain tired but determined look that Bucky did.
It soothed them both that she did not ask nor order them to follow her on her missions. They knew her missions were for tracking and elimination, that she could have called on them to do the dirty work she was taking on her own.
They would have done so. If she had asked for help, they would have gone.
But she did not.
And strangely...strangely it was her utter lack of motivation, of drive, to use the skills that Bucky had gained in Winter to her advantage. The skills so honed in them, courtesy of HYDRA, those that made the both of them…
It made the both of them think it wouldn't be so bad to use those skills of theirs for her.
For only her.