I sat in the hospital bed, my knees pulled to my chest and my one free arm wrapped around them. What could I do? What was even going on? It was so hard to wrap my head around what was happening. Why would someone joke about this? Admittedly, I'm a pretty big Marvel fan, but for someone to go to these lengths to tease me? And for what? To scare me or is this suppose to be funny? I didn't know anyone who would think to be so cruel. I barely had anyone close in my life as is, what with my only daily activities being going to work and coming home to my cat, Artemis. I groaned at the thought of her being alone with no one to take care of her. What if this was real? Could something so unbelievable truly happen? Who would feed my cat?
So many questions danced around my head that I barely noticed an armed guard walk in the room. He was a short and stocky man, decked out from head to toe in black tactical wear, an automatic rifle held close to his chest as he approached the bed. My heart raced as he used a key to unlock the handcuffs, his hands immediately going for his weapon and aiming it at me the moment I was free, the cuffs dangling from the bed now. I held my hands up in front of me defensively. I didn't understand the need for everyone here to be so aggressive and threatening.
"Let's go." He ordered. The situation had gotten very real, very fast and I was too frightened to fight back so I ripped the oxygen tubing out of my nose and threw it on the bed. I brought my bare feet to the cold floor and just then noticed the uncomfortable hospital gown I had been changed in to while unconscious. I suddenly felt very exposed as I was in nothing but my underwear underneath the gown and this man had complete free access to me. I held the back of the gown together and turned to face him so he couldn't catch a glimpse of anything.
"Can I please change back in to my own clothes?" I asked, awkwardly looking the man in the eyes. He motioned for me to move with the gun. "You're not allowed to have them back." He stated. I thought about arguing but I didn't feel I was in a position to be making any demands. I slowly began walking towards the door, stopping when I noticed at least 6 more armed men in tactical clothing waiting for me outside. "What's going on?" I asked out loud. After hearing my question the men drew their guns on me, causing a familiar icy feeling to come over me. I gripped the back of my gown even tighter as I felt my throat go dry.
Panic began to set in again, my body starting to shake from the adrenaline dump I had just experienced. "Walk." One of the other men said, motioning for me to exit the room to the left. I complied and stepped out of the room, guardedly making my way out the door. The men seemed rushed so I picked up my speed, as to not anger any of them. They led me down a long deserted hallway. The walls were white contact paper with flowery designs placed every few spaces, and the trim was an ugly light brown wood, stained from years of improper cleaning. As we approached the end of the hall I noticed there was only one nurse sitting at a nurses station. She observed me walking in between the men and stared at me with deep concern. It looked as if she wanted to help but feared for her own safety more. Her eyes broke from mine as she glanced down at some paperwork in front of her, deciding that it would be best for her to stay silent.
That was the moment I felt completely helpless. Whoever this group was, clearly they held a lot of power. The men led me to a pair of double doors, the man at the very front pushing open one door, leading us out in to the freezing night air. The cold hit me like a train, my shaking becoming even more noticeable. "Please, I need a jacket or at least some shoes." My teeth were chattering as I begged them for help. They ignored me as one of the men behind me held me in place close to the door, his hand grasping my arm tight. It looked like they had taken me to the back of the hospital, a few street lights illuminating the parking lot we now stood in. It was nearly empty which was surprising for a hospital, but with the influence these men had, I wouldn't be shocked if they had cleared everyone out just to keep me from reaching out for help or escaping.
"Keep an eye out, everyone. T-minus 7 minutes until extraction." The man who initially came in to my room spoke to everyone else. All the other men began aiming their guns in different directions, taking observant positions while I stood in the middle of them. They held their poses as I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth, looking around to see what they were aiming at. "Remember, kill any hostiles on site. I don't want to see anyone second guessing themselves. Our job is to reach the base with her." I took a step back before I was pushed back in to my original position by the man holding my arm. "Kill?"
Without any warning, the man holding my arm went limp and dropped to the ground. Nothing heard except for a small whizzing sound. "Formation!" The original man shouted, all the others closely squeezing around me. They began frantically searching the area with their guns drawn. My breathing picked up pace and not one second later another man dropped to the ground. I placed my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut as they all began firing their weapons. The sound was deafening even with my hands over my ears. I dropped to my knees and cried out in fear. I had no idea what to do. I couldn't run or fight. I felt completely defenseless. I was at a huge disadvantage, sitting here in a hospital gown with no shoes or anything to protect myself with.
It seemed like eternity of shooting until it finally stopped but I was too scared to look around. Would there be absolute carnage? Was I unharmed in the whole process? I didn't hurt anywhere so I took that as a good sign. The thing I wanted to know most of all was why was I so important to all of these people? Moments went by before I felt a warm hand wrap around my wrist. I flinched as the hand gently pulled me up until I was standing. I kept my hands over my ears as a stress response, but opened my eyes to the most incredible thing I'd witnessed throughout this whole experience.
"Bucky?"
His exquisite blue eyes stared in to mine and I was immediately lost, not noticing that he was speaking to me, his voice dulled due to my hands. My breathing had completely slowed and I felt like my brain was buffering. He stopped talking and reached up, pulling my hands off of my ears. I shivered, feeling his vibranium hand gripping me. "Are you okay?" He asked, slipping his leather jacket off of his muscular shoulders. I nodded, still staring at him in disbelief. He placed his jacket around my shoulders and pulled it tightly around me, flicking the collar up so it covered my neck.
He sighed and squeezed my shoulders with his hands. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but we need to get you out of here, okay?" He was so gentle in the way he was treating me. This was the first moment since I arrived on the beach where I felt genuinely safe. "Just don't look down." He warned. One of his hands was placed between my shoulder blades and the other was gripping my hand to help me over the bodies piled around me. I didn't take my eyes off of him for a second, only because I feared he would suddenly vanish in to thin air. This resulted in me tripping over a pair of legs. He caught me, his arm wrapping around my stomach to stabilize me. "You're okay." He let out a small laugh to lighten the mood. "Sam? I've got her." He spoke aloud, one finger from his metal hand going to his ear. I heard a familiar faint voice on the other end of the ear piece he was holding. "Be there in a second."
"I'm sorry for not bringing more." Bucky apologized, his arm leaving my stomach and tugging the jacket tightly around me again. "To be honest, we weren't sure if we'd get here in time..." My face must've shown concern for his comment because he quickly followed up with another attempt to comfort me. "We've got a nice set up for you. Clothes, food, anything you need." He explained, my face still conveying how absolutely dumbfounded I was. I shook it off, realizing this was a scenario I had only daydreamed about. The literal object of my affections standing right in front of me. Not the actor, not a cosplayer. The actual Bucky Barnes. Letting this pass me by would be the biggest mistake of my life.
I took in a deep breath and felt another sudden realization. "How did you know where I was? Or who I even am?" I asked as a black sedan pulled around the corner a few yards away, speeding up to the spot where we were standing. "That's going to be a long conversation." He answered, the car stopping next to us. The window lowered and I came face to face with Sam Wilson, the current and actual Captain America. I felt my legs turn to jelly at the site of two of my favorite movie characters right in front of me. "We don't have any time before backup gets here." His words were rushed so Bucky opened the back door and helped me in to the car, sliding in beside me. Sam sped off down the road just as Bucky closed the back door, just in time for us to miss the Escalade pulling up behind us, no doubts that was the back up they were talking about.