As I danced about the room I hummed to myself under my breath. It was an old song that Peggy had introduced me to last week. She said that it was one of her favorites. Her ex-fiancé had introduced her to it. It was called Bambalina and it had a rather happy, upbeat, tune. It was perfect for the way that I was feeling this morning.
This was the week that I had been looking forward to. Despite having hated shooting and marksmanship while I was in Stryker's lab - mainly because anything short of a perfect shot would earn me a bullet through the spine - I was excited for it here. Perhaps it was because firearms really were fun to learn. And I was also a little excited to see if one of the recruits would blow their feet off. Some of them were a little shaky and I had a feeling that guns weren't something that they were looking forward to.
It wasn't even just guns that they would be learning. Grenades were going to be coming in too - not that they could fire them, that was still a few weeks away. They would be learning about tanks, bazookas, and rocket launchers. Some of my favorite things. It would be quite the scene. And I was rather excited to see how Bucky would handle himself. I'd seen him play plenty of sports before while we were growing up and he'd always had good aim. But that was when we were little. And they weren't guns. The recoil would be a shock.
My hair tie was in my hands and I reached up to tie it back. But after thinking about it for a moment, I decided that I was going to keep my hair down for the day. Not curled, just down. The way that I liked it. The way that Bucky likes it too. Shut up! I did pull my bangs back off of my face so that I wouldn't have to worry about them. My clothes were already on - a simple green pair of cloth pants and my black boots. I had yet to slip on my white shirt. It left me in the black undershirt that wasn't quite modest.
I did a little spin as I grabbed my sheets and pulled them back up on my bed. "You're far too excited for this," Peggy commented from the corner of the room. She was finishing up with her hair.
"Oh come on!" I howled at her. She was excited for firearm training too, but not nearly to the point that I was. Maybe it was because I hadn't actually used a gun since the day before my escape from Stryker. "You don't want to see one of the recruits blow their own foot off?" I asked her.
She turned to me with a hard stare. "You are aware that you're supposed to be helping this Army? Not trying to undermine it by attempting to kill or maim the soldiers," she said.
I nodded at her as I did up the laces on my boots. "Of course I understand that, but what fun would it be if I never got to watch the recruits injuring themselves?" I asked. Peggy was silent for a few moments and the corners of her lips began to twitch. "Exactly, it would be no fun. We have to do something to amuse ourselves," I told her with a small smile.
She shook her head at me and grabbed her own shoes, pulling them on. There was a soft knock at the door and I slipped into the mind of our visitor. Come on, Victoria. Open up. Howard. "That for you?" Peggy asked.
Yes. "Not sure," I told her, moving over towards the door. Since it was just Howard I didn't care about the shirt that I was wearing. "Am I good to open the door?" I asked her.
I didn't care what Howard saw me in. But I assumed that Peggy did care what he saw her in. She stared at my shirt for a moment before nodding. "Go for it," she said.
I pulled open the door and smiled at Howard. His eyes immediately dropped down to my shirt but one little shock - that I ensued no one saw - and he looked back up to my face. He glanced past me and smiled at Peggy, who was fishing for her bracelet. I knew that the two were friends, but that didn't mean that they ever acted like it. Peggy was a little less tolerant of Howard's behavior than I was. But that might have been because she couldn't shock him when he got out of line.
"Good morning, ladies," Howard said with a sleazy grin.
Peggy brushed by me, grabbing my shoulder quickly. "And that's my cue to leave," she said, giving me a quick smile. I smiled back at her as she exited the room. "Howard," she called back.
"Peggy," he responded in greeting.
Once she was gone from the hall I grabbed onto Howard's shirt. There was something that I needed to speak to him about. "Come on in. I'm just finishing getting ready," I said. He nodded and walked in with me. "Close the door, will you?" I called back as we walked in. No one needed to hear this conversation. "The air in here is far too stuffy for my liking. I'm going to have to ask Chester to put an air conditioning unit in here or something," I said, fanning myself gently.
Howard closed the door and walked inside, standing against the wall. "You are aware that a woman closing her door with a man that isn't her husband - leaving the two of them alone - might not look too good for you?" he asked me.
I pulled on my white shirt and took a seat on the edge of my bed, folding my legs underneath me. "And wouldn't you just hate if all of Camp Lehigh was talking about you?" I asked him. He laughed as he hung by the door, which I realized was still slightly open. "Get in here!" I snapped at him, yanking him over to sit by the desk and shoving the door closed. "I have to speak with you about Operation Rebirth."
His eyes raised as I realized that my shirt was inside out. I rolled my eyes at myself and pulled it off, unfolding it. "I like that new shirt. I'm sure that Private Barnes will like it as well," Howard told me. I stared at him for a moment and sent out a little shock to him. He howled in pain and I watched as his hair stood on end. "Was that quite necessary?" he asked me with a little glare.
I smirked as he began to flatten his hair. "Yes. Now be quiet and listen."
Bucky's P.O.V.
Bucky was currently on his way out of the barracks. He hadn't slept well the night before. But that didn't bother him. Vika had decided that he wasn't moving fast enough on one of the courses and had ordered him to wrestle one of the rifles from her. He hadn't won that fight. In fact, the only thing that he'd gotten from it was a dislocated shoulder that she had fixed - not exactly painlessly. Now he was on the edge of the barracks that Vika lived in as he made his way to their breakfast.
It was the one thing that he never missed. She was his best friend and he made it a point to never be late. Even though she was, from time to time. But she'd never been good with time management and he knew that she was busy. He grinned at a few of the men that seemed to be coming out of the barracks that she - and the other higher-up members - lived in. He had made some friends in his division. Among them, Marcus - who had been much better to Vika and Agent Carter since the first day - Jeremy, Harry, and Collin.
Bucky slowly walked up to the men and stared sideways at them. They all looked confused as they talked quietly back and forth. Bucky came up in between Harry and Marcus. "What is Howard Stark doing going into Victoria's room?" Marcus asked.
The question was clearly pointed to Bucky, but he had no clue why Howard Stark would be in Victoria's room. She had sworn that there was nothing going on between them. And she hadn't lied to him, had she? "What?" Bucky finally asked.
The men nodded. "Howard Stark just walked into her room. She seemed pretty eager to get him in there too." An odd pang of jealousy shot through Bucky. He should have been the one in there with her. "Maybe there's something going on there," Marcus suggested. The men all laughed at the comment. With the exception of Bucky.
Bucky wasn't sure that he was willing to believe that something was going on in between them. "Yeah, I'm sure that they'd do something in there with the door wide open," he said with a little shake of his head.
Vika was smarter than that. "Door's closed," Marcus said, deflating Bucky's hope.
There had to be something else there. Vika wasn't with Stark. She couldn't be. "It is?" Bucky asked, ensuring that he'd heard correctly. The men all nodded. "What about Agent Carter? She's in that room too," Bucky reasoned.
It made no matter if it was the two of them in there with him. That just meant that they were having a private discussion about something scientific that Bucky didn't understand. That had happened a few times before. But normally in her office. Never in her room. "Agent Carter is right over there," Marcus said. Just as promised, Agent Carter was standing and speaking with Colonel Phillips. "It's just the two of them in there."
No way. She wouldn't do that. "They aren't together," Bucky said. But he was pretty sure that he was saying it more for his sake rather than anyone else's.
For the first time since Bucky had walked up to the men, someone other than Marcus spoke. "How do you know, Barnes? Getting a little jealous, are we?" Jeremy teased. He was the one person that always teased Bucky. They got on pretty well, although Bucky did not want to bring in Vika's strange relationship to Howard Stark.
Bucky ground his teeth together. "She's an old friend. She's allowed to see who she likes," he said, not wanting to get into this conversation with his friends. He had already had this conversation with them before.
It was awful every time. There were plenty of things that they thought. Some of them thought that Bucky and Vika had been together when they were younger. None of them seemed to believe him that they really weren't ever together. Other times they teased him that he made it painfully obvious that Bucky had feelings for her. He tried to pretend that he was ignoring them. The last thing that he wanted was for them to start making comments to her. From time to time they even suggested that she had feelings for him. He tried to ignore that. The last thing that he wanted was to get his hopes up only to have them crushed.
It was the way that he was feeling right now. Over the past few weeks Vika seemed to have been opening up to Bucky. He really thought that he was making progress with her. Hell, they had almost kissed. More than once, too. The other week at breakfast, he was sure that they would have, had Colonel Phillips not interrupted them. But now there was Howard Stark, coming to undo the one thing that Bucky wanted more than anything else.
"Always thought that she might be a little stiff," Harry said, interrupting Bucky's thoughts. Bucky hated hearing it. He would much rather her be that way. No one should ever think about her that way. Other than me. "Good to see someone around here knows how to ring her bell," Harry continued. The men all laughed once more.
And once more Bucky was the only one that didn't laugh. "Howard Stark. Girl can't do much better than that," Collin put in.
Not true. She could have me. Of course he didn't say that. "Bucky, man, you've gotta ask her what's going on between the two of them," Marcus said.
Bucky narrowed his eyes and shook his head at them. The one thing that he wanted more than her was her happiness. And if she was happy with Stark, no matter how much it hurt him, that was what would happen. She would be with him. And maybe that was the best thing for both of them. It wouldn't risk their friendship. But perhaps he would force himself to distance himself from her. It was the only way that it wouldn't continue to hurt him. Being around her, with no chance of being with her, was too hard.
"No," Bucky finally said. "That's her business. If she wants to be with Howard Stark, she's more than welcome too," he said, his fingers giving a painful twitch at the thought.
The men seemed to know that Bucky no longer wanted to speak about Bucky and Vika's relationship, so they moved on to someone else. "See what she was wearing?" Jeremy asked the others.
Bucky narrowed his eyes. That didn't sound very good. "What was she wearing?" he asked curiously.
Jeremy turned with a little glimmer in his eyes. Something that told Bucky ahead of time that he wouldn't like the answer. "Certainly less than you'll ever see her in!" he shouted with glee. Everyone laughed. Even Bucky cracked a smile at that one.
Until he thought that Howard Stark was seeing her like that. "I wouldn't want to see her like that anyways," Bucky said. Liar.
His face turned a little red at the thought of seeing her like that. No way. Unless she ever wanted that, I can't ever think about it. "I would," Collin said, once more making the others laugh.
He knew that Vika was rather fond of Collin, but he also knew that she wouldn't ever go for someone like Collin. Of course he thought the same way about Howard Stark. And we see how that turned out... "She ever wants to give me a chance, I'll be more than happy to share a few of my moves with her," Harry laughed.
They had come a long way from the men that liked to laugh about her yellow eyes. "Like you'd stand a chance against Howard Stark. Like any of us would," Marcus said. They all scoffed at each other but Bucky knew that it was the truth. None of them stood a chance against someone like Howard Stark. "How about you, Barnes? Still think that you stand a chance?"
"What?" Bucky asked dumbly.
Perhaps they knew a little more than what they let on about his relationship with Vika. "Come on, Bucky. Everyone knows that the two of you got a little thing going," Jeremy cut in.
Bucky shook his head. Not this. Not again. "No we don't. We're old friends," Bucky insisted. It was getting harder and harder to say that.
Jeremy snorted under his breath. "Uh-huh. I don't think that friends think about each other the way that you two do. Or at least, the way that you do towards her. You know that you talk in your sleep?" he asked.
"I do not!" Bucky snapped. Do I? He certainly hoped not. He knew that some of his dreams about Vika were not the kind that two unmarried people should ever be having about each other.
Marcus laid his hand on Bucky's shoulder and smiled at him. "We're just screwing with you, man," he said. The men all laughed and grabbed Bucky, trying to console him. Deep down they all knew that Bucky was the one person that Victoria really should be with. "But hey, if you really like her, go tell her. Stark might be flashy and fancy, but you've got the history with her," Marcus said.
Maybe. But I'm not going to do anything to interrupt her happiness. "I don't. I want her to be happy. And if that means that she wants to be with Howard Stark, she's more than welcome. Just matters to me that she's happy," he insisted.
"You're a good man, Bucky," Harry said. Bucky couldn't help but to give a small smile. "Now go on your breakfast date," he said, giving Bucky a gentle shove. They all laughed as Bucky rolled his eyes and turned towards the mess hall.
"Shut up," he called back to them as he continued to walk. For the first time in a long time, he found himself dreading having to face her.
Victoria's P.O.V.
Howard and I both sat twiddling our thumbs as we thought. Nothing seemed to be making any sense. Operation Rebirth only became more and more difficult as time passed. Every day I found myself wondering if things were really going to work or if we were going to end up creating another Red Skull. There was no way that we could afford to do that. So we just had to move slowly and hope that one day things would work out. They would, we just had to take our time and not rush things. We couldn't hurt another man like Abraham had done with the Red Skull.
Howard was finally the first one to speak. "So we try and figure out a way for you to be able to channel the radiation and that might be the key to unlocking at least one part of the serum?" he asked me.
I nodded as I shifted back onto my heels and tucked my legs underneath me. Might as well get comfortable. This conversation would likely be had a hundred times before we ever made sense of anything. "Yeah. But we have to figure out how. I don't even know how to channel it," I said, referring to my radiation mutation.
It really didn't make any sense. I'd only seen it once and that had been over a year ago. "What happened the first time?" Howard asked me, startling me from my thoughts. "What made it happen?" he continued.
Slowly, I shrugged my shoulders at him. Probably the panic. "I don't know. I was escaping Stryker's lab. I just remember being trapped while Logan tried to break through the wall. I think that I was... afraid. Afraid that I would have to go back. Maybe we try and replicate those feelings," I suggested weakly.
Not really a great idea, but it was better than nothing. "No," Howard barked almost immediately.
"Why not?" I asked.
Howard glared at me. It was one of the least friendly that I'd ever seen him. He was always smiling and happy. Not this time. "Because this serum is not worth having to put you through those feelings again. We aren't doing that. There has to be another way," he said.
That was sweet of him. Not wanting me to sacrifice my own sanity for the serum. But I was willing to do it if it meant that we figured something out. "Maybe I can just try and channel it. Not here," I said automatically. Nothing here was strong enough to contain it. Even Stryker's building hadn't been enough to contain it. "I need somewhere that if I do manage to gain control, I'm not going to kill anyone or melt the building."
Howard seemed to think on it for a moment. "I have a radiation chamber back at Stark Industries. It should be able to contain anything that you can throw at it. I can take you next week?" he offered.
"Next week will work," I told him before rising to my feet. The clock - and my grumbling stomach - were telling me that it was past time for me to get leaving to breakfast. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to breakfast."
I excused myself and opened the door to my room. Unlike before, no one was out in the hallway. Howard stood and walked up behind me. "Ah yes, another one of your dates," he said as we walked out.
"Not a date!" I barked.
Howard walked past me and smiled, tugging gently at the collar of it. "Leave that shirt unbuttoned another one," he said. I glared darkly at him, wanting to give him another strong shock. "Not for me! Mind you - I wouldn't mind seeing that. For Private Barnes. I guarantee you'll impress him with that," he said as we stood in the doorway.
"Get out."
He did as I ordered but waited for me out in the hallway. "You wouldn't still be single if you ever listened to me," Howard sang to me as we walked through the hall.
I turned to him with my eyebrows raised. "I also wouldn't have an ounce of credit. Even less than I have right now," I told him.
Howard smiled at me and turned to walk through the hallway. "Have a good day, Victoria," he said. I assumed that he was heading back to the laboratory to work on the chamber. "I'll see you tonight," he called.
My feet halted. "Tonight?" I asked. I wasn't aware that we were supposed to be meeting tonight.
Howard nodded. A slightly guilty look had crossed over his face. It was one that I didn't like. "Dr. Erskine would like to see us tonight. With Chester and Peggy. He wants you to finally tell her what you are," he told me.
My face went white. "Why?" I asked.
At least now I knew what he looked so guilty for. He knew that the last thing that I wanted was to tell Peggy the truth about what I was. "If we're all going to work together, we need to know about each other. Not the entire team, but the people that should know everything. Peggy is on that list. You can't keep hiding this from her," Howard tried to argue with me.
It was the truth. But I had just found people that I really cared for. I couldn't lose them. Not now. "I - I can't tell her. Howard, I've never had a friend before. That was a girl, anyways. I've just become really good friends with Peggy, if I tell her, I'll lose her," I said softly.
This was probably the least confident that Howard had ever seen me. Howard moved forward and grabbed my hand. "You didn't lose me," he said, pulling me into him gently.
"You're different," I said softly.
Howard raised his brows. "How's that?" he asked.
Slowly, I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. You're used to things like me. Strange, hard to understand, you're a man of science. Things like me fascinate you," I said weakly.
"Victoria, I think that there's one thing you might be forgetting. You're still a person. The mutation, that's not all of you. I think that you forget that. There's still a person in there. Victoria Davies - the girl that I know - is a true friend of Peggy. And she'll see that. Give her a chance, she might take the news better than you think," Howard told me.
He was right. I hadn't bothered to separate myself from the mutation since I had discovered it. I had always been a mutation. There had never been a Victoria Davies. It had always been Yellow Eyes, the mutant. "Thank you, Howard. I'll tell her. You'll all be there when I do?" I asked him.
Howard nodded at me. "Of course. You aren't going to do this alone. You'll never be alone," he told me. I smiled and moved forward to give him a tight hug. He pressed a kiss into my hair and I smiled once more as I backed away from him. "Now go flirt with Barnes," he said, motioning me over to the mess hall.
My eyes narrowed at him. There's the Howard Stark that I know and love. "You seriously couldn't be normal for more than thirty seconds?" I asked him with a deep scowl.
"Of course not. Now leave. I'll lock up for you," he said.
I thanked Howard and turned to leave the barracks. As I walked out of the hall I saw a few of the men that usually guarded them. I smiled at them and waved as I walked by. With each passing week the men here seemed to like me more and more. I knew that some of them enjoyed watching me beat the life out of the recruits. They thought that it was funny. Others just liked the way that I looked. As long as they kept it in their minds, it didn't bother me. I walked past them and into the mess hall, searching all over the place for Bucky.
Finally I found him, at a table in the far corner of the room. His head was in his hands and a cup of coffee was practically untouched in front of him. "Bucky!" I chirped brightly, taking a seat in front of him. "Good morning."
He barely glanced up at me. "Morning," he said softly.
Someone needs their coffee. "Are you ready to start training today?" I asked, continuing speaking before he could give me an answer. "You're going to be dealing with all types of arms. Long arms, short arms, and every type of other firearm that I don't have time to list. I can't wait to start training you guys," I said excitedly.
"Yeah. It'll be fun," Bucky said.
Okay. Something is seriously wrong here. I gently kicked out at Bucky's legs and nudged his arm. "What's wrong? Didn't get enough sleep last night?" I teased.
"I did."
What the hell happened to him? Suddenly a little bubble of fear sunk into me. Was there a chance that it was something that I did? I hadn't thought that I'd done anything to make him angry with me. "Is it something that I did?" I asked him. Bucky didn't answer me. "I didn't forget your birthday, did I?" I teased once more, knowing that it was nowhere near Bucky's birthday.
Bucky finally looked up at me and I had to resist going in and reading his mind. It was something that I had told myself that I would never do. Not to him. "No. Nothing you did. I'm just... ready to get to training," Bucky said.
Yeah right. I had known Bucky for a long time, and mind-reader or not, I knew that he was lying to me. Something was bothering him. "Uh-huh. How about the truth?" I asked, praying that he would tell me the truth.
"It's nothing, Victoria," Bucky said.
Now I know that something is wrong. Even the day that we met, Bucky never called me Victoria. He was the one person that never called me by my given name. And now I knew that something was wrong. And whatever was wrong, he was blaming me for. It was the only reason that he would have called me Victoria. "Did you just call me Victoria?" I asked.
Bucky glanced up at me and nodded. "That's your name, isn't it?" he asked me.
Ouch. What the hell did I do that was really that bad? "Well, yeah, but you don't call me Victoria. I don't think that I ever remember you calling me Victoria. It's always Vika. What did I do?" I asked, genuinely hurt.
"You could have told me," Bucky said, glancing up at me quickly. That was when I saw it. The hurt that was in his eyes. Something had happened to him, and it was my fault. "I asked you about it too," Bucky said.
What had he asked me about? "What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You and Howard Stark."
My eyes bulged. What the hell was he talking about? He thought that something was going on between us? Maybe we spent a lot of time together, but that didn't mean that we were anything more than friends. Had someone told him something? Had our kiss been seen or discovered by someone? There was no way. But that was something that would genuinely hurt Bucky. I knew that he didn't like Howard. And I knew that he wasn't fond of our friendship with each other.
"What?" I finally asked dumbly.
Bucky looked up at me, pain in his eyes. "You should have just said something. I've always wanted you to be happy. No matter who it's with. I don't love Howard Stark, but if he's who makes you happy -"
"No. No," I interrupted. "Where did you hear this?" I asked him.
Was it just a guess or did he have good reason for being this way? "The other recruits, Vika. They saw you. They saw the two of you," Bucky told me.
My God. Someone had been there that night. How? "How did the recruits see Howard and I kiss? We were in Stark Industries and no one else was around," I said more to myself than him.
Bucky's eyes widened and I immediately knew that I had said something wrong. "You kissed Howard Stark?" he asked me.
And that was when I realized that it hadn't been the kiss between Howard and I that Bucky had been talking about. "Oh my God. That wasn't what you were talking about," I muttered softly to myself. Come on, Victoria! You're a telepath for God's sake! This is the wrong time to try and be noble. Use it and fix this mess! "What were you talking about?" I asked him.
I screwed this up. I screwed this up big-time. "Apparently the wrong thing," Bucky said angrily. Not good. Really not good. "I was talking about him being in your room earlier. With you wearing less than normally accepted," he said.
How stupid could I get? Bucky had meant that someone had seen me walking into my room with Howard earlier, before I had put on the shirt. Oh God, I was so dumb. How the hell did that happen? I was a telepath! "No, Bucky..." I muttered as he stood to leave.
"So you and Stark are together?" he asked me.
"No!"
His eyebrows rose. I knew that this was sounding worse and worse by the second. But was the truth any better than trying to tell another lie? Probably not. "But you kissed him?" Bucky asked me.
Slowly I shook my head. "Well, yeah, but it makes sense when you think about it," I tried to reason.
No it doesn't, you twit. "How does that make any sense?" Bucky asked me, narrowing his eyes.
How did I explain this? There really was no way to explain it. Unless I wanted to tell him the embarrassing truth that I had feelings for him. But that wasn't really in my plans for the day. Or ever. "Because you have to understand what I'm talking about. I only kissed Howard because..." I trailed off, not sure how to word it.
"Because?" Bucky prodded.
If I was going to tell him something, it wasn't going to be here with everyone else watching. "Come with me. Please," I said, reaching to his hands but not touching him. I didn't want to push my luck here. "I don't want to have to have this conversation out here. Not with everyone else around. Please? I'll make it fast," I said softly.
Bucky stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Alright," he said. The two of us stood and Bucky followed me out of the mess hall and around the corner. We were out of eye-shot of everyone else. It was a good thing though. The last thing that I wanted was to be anywhere near anyone else. "Vika, you don't have to explain to me. I understand what happened. If you're happy with him -"
He was not happy for me. Not about that. And that wasn't even a thing! "Bucky, listen to me!" I shouted. His eyes went wide but he stopped talking. "I'm not with Howard Stark. I don't want to be with Howard Stark. I love him, but he's like my brother. He's like Steve is. Just... a little more - a lot more - arrogant," I explained.
"And me?" Bucky asked.
My words were failing me. How can you know every theorem in calculus, theoretical physics, advanced genetics, and every language, yet not know how to explain a stupid kiss? "You know that you mean the world to me," I said softly.
Bucky simply stared at me for a while. And I knew why. I had essentially told him that Steve and Howard meant more to me than he did. Which was a complete lie. "But I don't mean to you what Stark and Steve do?" he asked me.
Idiot! "You're just different. You know that," I said, making my case no less pathetic.
Bucky laughed and turned to leave. "Great, I'm different," he said.
I reached out and caught him around the arm. I did not want him leaving me with this conversation unfinished. "It's not a bad thing. I swear," I told him, pleading him to believe me.
Bucky stared at me and grabbed my hands. I could feel myself sweating and I wanted nothing more than to punch myself. He was such a good guy and here I was, ruining any chances of being with him. Or anyone, at this rate. "Why did you kiss him? Was it to see if you had feelings for him?" Bucky asked me.
My heart gave a painful twinge. "No. No, I knew that I didn't have feelings for him. You wouldn't understand," I said.
But it was stupid to think that something like that would have deterred Bucky from asking anything more. "I want to understand," Bucky told me.
I could tell that it was the both of us trying to salvage the friendship that seemed to be going down the drain quickly. "It's just that he was teasing me because I'd never kissed someone," I said softly.
Bucky's eyes went wide. "You hadn't?" he asked me softly.
Slowly, I shook my head at him. "No. I sort of had other things going on over the years. I didn't have time to think about that," I said. Maybe I really should tell him the truth. Maybe at least part of the truth. "Howard thought that I might as well get it over with, not let it get built up and make me a bumbling fool when I had my real first kiss with..."
"With?" Bucky asked.
Should I tell him? Would it make a difference? "It doesn't matter," I said.
We were barely hanging on by the threads here. The crumbling remains of our friendship would fall apart the second that I told him about my feelings for him. "Stark thinks that you like someone?" he asked.
I nodded at him. "Well, yeah, and he's right, but it doesn't matter. It really doesn't. I mean my first kiss was something that I didn't want a big deal made out of and it wasn't. Plus it made me less nervous for -"
"For?" he prodded.
"Nothing."
My head was tilted down at the ground as Bucky placed his hands underneath my chin and lifted them up. "Vika, come on, tell me the truth," he said softly.
Tears welled up in my eyes. Goodbye, Bucky. "For you..." I finally admitted.
Bucky seemed to pale, more than I had ever seen him before. Clearly I had really hurt him before. Now it seemed like I had just shocked him more than he thought was possible. "Me?" he asked softly.
I let out a deep breath. I'd already started this. So I guess I might as well explain it. There went my friendship with Bucky. As much as Howard and Peggy liked to think that he had feelings for me, they were wrong. The few times that I'd heard his thoughts were just him on impulse. I was going to pour out my heart to him and he would let me down. But he'd do it nicely. Because it was Bucky. The guy that could have any girl that he wanted. The guy that would be foolish to settle with Yellow Eyes.
"Yeah. Bucky, I like to make fun of you, but you're no idiot. I know that you know what I'm talking about. I like you, I always have. And I probably always will. But I mean, you don't have to feel the same way. I don't expect you to feel the same way. I just... For a while I thought that something was going on and Howard was teasing me that I would be less nervous around you if I got my first kiss out of the way and it helped me be less nervous. It really did.
"But now I just feel stupid because I should have never thought that you would actually go for someone like me. I mean there are so many girls out there that would love to go out on a date with you, so why would you settle for me? That's the answer I guess. You wouldn't. So I don't want this affecting us, we're still friends and you can forget that I -"
Bucky cut me off with the last thing that I had ever thought that he would do. For a moment I wasn't even sure that it was really happening. I thought that maybe I was still asleep and dreaming. But I wasn't. I knew that I wasn't. For the first time in my life, someone was really kissing me. And it was Bucky. It was nothing like the kiss that Howard and I had shared. The kiss that had been sweet and seemed to be between friends. This was something completely different. And it was something that I wanted to experience forever.
I stood in stunned silence for a moment, too surprised to do anything else. One of Bucky's hands went up to my hair and knotted itself in it. He had my head pressed against his and I laughed softly. This was really happening. His other hand was on the back of my hip as I reached my arms up and tied them over his shoulders, pulling him flush against me. This was better than anything that I had ever experienced. Even when I'd gotten away from Stryker. Our lips moved together as Bucky tilted my head back, kissing me even deeper than before.
His feet moved me back and I took a few steps away from him. But he remained pressed against me. We laughed against each other's mouths as he backed me against the metal sheet of the mess hall. My hands fell from around his neck and moved down to press against his chest. We must have been together for almost five minutes before he finally released me. Actually it's been three minutes and thirty-six seconds. Even though we were no longer linked at the mouth, we stayed with our foreheads pressed together. Bucky leaned forward and gave me one more, quick kiss on the lips before releasing me and letting me take a step back.
Well there's no coming back from that. Now what? "What - Why?" I asked pathetically, completely out of breath. That was what I had always imagined a real kiss to be like.
Bucky grinned at me, all of his previous confidence seemingly restored. "There had to be some way to get you to stop talking," he told me. We both laughed and I realized that his hand was still on my face. I turned into him and pressed a small kiss against his palm. "Come on, Vika. You should have known that I always cared about you," he told me.
"I - I know. But I didn't think that you really cared this much. I mean, we're friends. We've always been friends. Why would you want anything more than that from me?" I asked him.
He gave me a rather unattractive laugh. "You're the smartest person that I know. How can you be so stupid?" he asked me.
Trust me when I say that I ask myself that question every day. "I'm gonna tack on thirty push-ups next time," I teased, wanting to try and stay off of the topic that I knew we were going to have to discuss anyways.
Bucky stepped forward and grabbed my hand. "Vika, I love you. I've always loved you. From the minute that I met you, to the day that you disappeared, to the whole time that you were gone, to the day that I saw you again, to right now, and every day in the future," he said.
My head aimed down at the ground. He always knew how to say things like that. He always knew how to embarrass me the way that no one else could. "I didn't know," I mumbled softly.
"I've been thinking of the right way to tell you," Bucky told me.
I laughed under my breath. "Don't worry, I've saved you the trouble of looking like a fool," I told him. We both laughed as I took a step closer to Bucky. "And you definitely could do that again," I said with a small smile.
Bucky grabbed me around the waist. "Better than Stark?" he asked me.
I laughed loudly and shook my head at him. After a moment I wrapped my arms around his neck once more. "Much better," I said softly.
"May I?" Bucky asked me. A smile spread over my face as I laughed softly. He had no clue how similar he was to Howard. They both asked me the same thing when they wanted to kiss me.
I nodded at him. "Of course. You don't have to ask," I told him.
Once more he pressed his lips against mine. I grinned and kissed him back, pressing against him as he pressed me back against the metal wall. A little laugh escaped my mouth as my hands wound over his shoulders and pushed their way through his hair. It was softer than I remembered it to be. Bucky's hands wound their way around my waist, tugging me into him as tightly as he could. Our lips moved together and more than once we would separate for a moment to laugh against each other. This was the best thing that I'd ever experienced.
After a few minutes he let me go and I took a step back. "Bucky, there's something that I need to say," I said, suddenly remembering where we were and what we were doing. "We... we can't really keep this going," I said as Bucky's face fell. "Not yet," I corrected. "I can't be seen with you. You'll be discharged, at least from my unit. They can't think that something is up between us. It shows favoritism. We need to pretend that nothing has changed," I said.
Bucky nodded at me. "I can do that. Just a few more weeks," he said with a small smile.
He was right. There was really only another month to go before he graduated. But there was one more problem. "But once you're gone - I know that you're going to be deployed. I - I need you focused out there. I can't lose you," I said, grabbing his hand tightly.
Bucky shook his head at me and pressed a kiss against my temple. "Hey now, you aren't going to lose me," he said before moving back away from me. "Alright, Vika. We do this right when I come back. I'm gonna take you out. All of your favorite things. The day that I'm back, okay?" he asked me.
I laughed softly and nodded at him. "Okay. But win the war first, plan a date afterwards," I teased.
The air was vastly different from the way that it was just a few minutes ago. "The war will be over in no time," Bucky said and I laughed loudly. "I've got something to come back to."
My smile spread over my face. I'd never had someone that meant so much to me that Bucky did. God, I loved him. Not that I was ready to say something like that yet. Bucky turned to leave before I grabbed onto him. "Hang on. One more." Bucky laughed as we pulled each other in for one more - and last, at least for a while - kiss. We stayed locked together for a few minutes before I finally pulled away from him. "Something to make sure that you know what you'll get when you come back," I told him.
Bucky pushed my hair behind my ears and pressed a gentle kiss against my forehead. "It's gonna be hard not to do that," he told me.
A smile spread across my face. "Well just know that Chester will light your ass on fire if you ever do that in front of him," I said. Bucky laughed and nodded at me. "Get to training, Private Barnes," I snapped playfully.
Bucky came into a salute and I smiled. "Ma'am, yes, ma'am," he called out.
He let me walk out from between the two buildings first. I laughed as I walked away with a bright smile on my face. Even from here I could hear Bucky's thoughts. They were loud and clear. I knew it. I giggled softly as I walked forward and towards where the recruits were gathering. Things had changed between Bucky and I. And this time it was for the better. He was never going to watch me walk away from him again. I was going to be here for him, no matter what, always. He was my best friend. And today, he had become something more. Something that I had always wanted. Now what the hell were Howard and Peggy going to say?
Perhaps I'd discuss it with Peggy first. I somehow figured that she would have less scathing comments about my stupidity in not believing he had feelings for me than Howard would. I walked up to Peggy with a stupid grin on my face. "You seem awfully happy today," she told me as I came to stand next to her.
I nodded with a bright smile. Bucky walked up a moment after me, coming to stand next to Jeremy and Marcus. He gave me a sharp wink and I blushed, pushing away the pink tone it my eyes. "I have to talk to you later," I told Peggy, desperately looking away from Bucky.
"Girl talk?" Peggy asked me.
"Girl talk," I confirmed.
It seemed that she was as excited for girl talk as I was. It was something that we didn't get to do too often, considering the two of us were always busy with something or another. "Apparently Dr. Erskine, Howard, and Chester would like to speak to us later," Peggy said as we waited for Chester and the other recruits to come into the room.
I nodded mutely at her. Maybe girl talk would need to be saved for another day. "Yes. So I've heard," I told her, not ready yet to reveal what that chat was going to be about. "We can head over after we're done with the recruits. Do you want to get dinner together tonight? That's probably the best time for us to talk," I told her.
I knew that even after we talked with the other men I would need to take more time to explain to Peggy. It was a lot to take in all at one time. She would need time to process. "Not having dinner with Private Barnes?" Peggy asked me.
"He's actually who I need to speak to you about," I told her softly.
The last thing that I needed was for this to get out before it even really became something. For now we just had to pretend that nothing had changed in between us. When he came back we would be able to see what we really could be. "Well then, we'll get done with the meeting as quickly as possible," Peggy chirped. I laughed softly. "Let's get this show on the road. Shall we?" she asked me.
I nodded at her brightly. "We shall. Gentlemen!" I called out. They all jumped to stand at attention. Another week had gone by and the men had only gotten even better bout me. "Good morning. Welcome to Week Four. You've now been here for a month. Things are getting harder. We know that you miss your families and friends. This will be worth it come graduation. And after this week, you'll be to the halfway mark. Today we are teaching you all about marksmanship. Cleaning the weapon, holding it, firing it, shooting from different positions, and how to breathe properly. All things that you will be learning about today. Agent Carter and I will be with you for the majority of the day," I called out to them.
As I spoke Chester had come over to stand next to us. He was glaring at the group and I nodded to him, letting him know that I was done speaking. "Go to your assigned stations! We'll be around to assist. Get started!" Chester barked.
The men all ran over to their stations. The stations that they were closest to. They didn't completely hate Peggy and I anymore, they actually seemed to like the two of us now. Most of them, anyways, But that didn't mean that they didn't like to complain. They loved to complain about the two of us. But that was normally put out the moment that Chester barked out an order. Everyone knew that he was the one person to never mess with. It had only taken a few long - and rather loud - lectures to the men for them to learn that Chester was not a man to be messed with.
So the recruits went to work and I went about walking back and forth. I followed the section that started with handguns. The section that Bucky was a part of. It really hadn't been on purpose. They were using the Colt M1911 first. Most of the men seemed vaguely familiar with it. Although that wasn't to say that their aim was that great from twenty-five feet back. There were five rings on the target and most shots were going to the second or third from the center. I supposed that in some cases it could be a kill shot.
But it wasn't good enough. And that was why the recruits were getting howled at each time the shot wasn't good enough. I rather enjoyed watching Bucky get shouted at by a Drill Sergeant when his shot barely scraped the target with the Smith and Wesson M&P. It was a revolver that held six rounds, much less useful than the Colt if you ask me. Harder to shoot too.
It was evidence by Bucky's shot that went to the outermost ring. I walked up behind him and shook my head. "You missed," I commented dryly.
Bucky turned to me and I reached around him, yanking the gun out of his hands and placing it on the table. The last thing that I needed was to explain why I could magically kick bullets out of my body. "Thank you, Vika, I could have never guessed that," Bucky said sarcastically.
He went to pick up the gun once more and I watched him closely. I glanced down at his grip and rolled my eyes. He never did like to listen. "Well perhaps if you were holding it the way that I had taught you -" I started before he cut me off.
"I am!"
I folded my arms over my chest. "You are not," I argued, motioning over to his hands. "Where does your thumb belong?" I asked him.
"Over my other... thumb..." he trailed off, realizing that he had been wrong. His thumb was behind the hammer, which was throwing his shots off too far to the left. He corrected the way that he had been holding his gun before turning back to me. "I knew that," he said.
"I know," I said with a little laugh. "Keep working." His next shot went just an inch off of the center and I smiled. There you go. I needed to walk away from Bucky after that, since I was finding myself far too tempted to read his mind and see what else he really thought about the kiss earlier.
So I walked off and followed the men to the automatic pistol that they would be using. They were definitely rather miserable with that. Of course, for most of the men, they had never actually fired a gun before. They were using something called the M2 Hyde. They would probably never actually go out into the field with them - as they weren't the most reliable guns in the world - but it was for the best that they at least understood that way that they worked. The Drill Sergeants didn't make them spend too much time at that station. They would much rather the recruits know more about the rifles.
That was mostly considering that rifles and pistols would be their main weapons. They began with my personal favorite. The M1903 Springfield. It was an older rifle, used in the First World War, but that made it no less reliable. These days it was used more as a sniper rifle. That was why the recruits were almost eighty feet back from the target. Still not nearly as far as they would be in the field. I smiled brightly when I saw that Bucky was rather good with it. He was hitting all of his targets. He'd make a good sharpshooter.
The recruits also used the M1 Carbine. It was the standard that was carried by our military, and others. It meant that if the recruits came against a foreign force, there was a good chance that they would be able to use their weapons. If need be, that is. The other model that they needed to know was the Winchester Model 70. The Marines were normally the ones that used it and I was grateful. The bolt-action wasn't my favorite. But they still needed to know how to use them.
The recruits moved to the shotguns next. I was sure that it hurt their ears. They had earplugs but I could tell that it still hurt them. I had the supersonic hearing, but the bangs and concussions didn't bother me. They used the Browning Auto-5 first. It was incredibly loud and the first successful semi-automatic shotgun. The only benefit that I could see was that it was almost impossible to miss the target. The Winchester Model 21 was the same way. It was a side-by-side break action that was even louder than the Browning.
I watched Bucky fire at a target and shook my head. He was doing just fine, but he was holding it incorrectly. He was holding it too low. If he continued firing like that - with the butt of the rifle right underneath his shoulder - he was going to push the shoulder right out of place. And - speaking from experience - I knew how painful that was.
So I walked over to him and reached around him, stopping him from firing again. "You'll dislocate your shoulder if you keep on like that. Come here," I told him. I reached around him and placed the shoulder a little higher up, so that it was resting in the joint. I pushed it back too, ensuing that it wouldn't be moving around too much.
The way that we were standing together, I was wrapped around him and his mouth was right next to his ear. Bucky turned towards my ear and I smiled, attempting to remain calm. "Shouldn't this be the other way around?" he asked me, his breath tickling my ear.
I laughed and released the gun. "You can play tough guy in a few weeks. Months. Whatever," I said softly.
Not that he would ever be the tough guy. I was always going to be the one that could beat him. In everything. We stared at each other and I blushed softly, trying to look away from him before I became too tempted. "Victoria!" a rather loud shout echoed across the yard.
Immediately I knew that it was Chester and I knew that he wasn't happy. "Gotta go," I quipped at Bucky before darting off. I walked over to Chester with my hands folded over my chest. "What? I was helping a recruit," I told him.
Chester narrowed his eyes at me and I blushed, knowing that he wasn't going to be happy with the way that I was acting around Bucky. Hopefully I could hide that kiss from him for the rest of training. He certainly wouldn't like it. "And it just happened to be that one? The one that you were touching like the way a -"
"Don't you have a job to do other than embarrassing me?" I snapped at him, not wanting to hear where he was going with that conversation. Probably nowhere good.
"I'm your father," Chester said, and I gave a bitter smile. He really was my father. He was much better than the one that I had gotten. "That's my only job," he told me.
I laughed under my breath and shook my head at him. He had a point. That usually was what men were good for. Fathers, husbands, brothers, all of them. The only thing that they were good for was embarrassing the girls in their loves. "Go do the one that you actually get paid for, old man," I snapped playfully before turning away.
The men moved off to the one weapon that I was really excited for them to use. Not that they were live-firing them yet. They were using the grenade launchers. Or at least, they were learning the techniques. We had to move to another place with less things - the barracks, mess hall, and weapons storage - before they could actually fire them. They were using the M7 grenade launcher. It could fire them over three hundred and eighty yards. Although they would have to be careful when they were actually firing them. If they missed it would give away their position. I could hear the Drill Sergeants giving them the same warning.
Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed that Bucky was throwing duds. I couldn't help but to take the opportunity to mess with him. "I hope you know that I'm going to be on the other side of the camp when you get to do live fire in a few weeks," I told him as he was loading another blank cartridge.
Bucky glanced up at me as he ceased aiming for a moment. "Don't worry, Vika, I wouldn't want to damage that pretty face of yours," he told me. I blushed and turned to walk away before the color could flood into my eyes.
It took the men a few minutes before they moved over to the infantry machine guns. They began with the Lewis gun. It was used mostly in the First World War but it was still somewhat used. It had started being used here in the United States but had been perfected over in the United Kingdom. It would probably never be used by the soldiers but it was important that they knew, just in case. The easier one that they used was the Browning M1918A2. Every branch of the military used it and I knew that most of the men here would end up carrying one at least once.
After lunch - which I'd eaten in the lab as I ran over Howard's drawings of the radiation chamber - we'd come back to training. Even as I watched the recruits I kept thinking over his drawings. They looked like they would work but it would take a lot of money and time to build it. Money and time that we really didn't have. Well, we had the time. Considering the serum still wasn't ready. We didn't have the money. The Army was already in debt. We just needed to keep moving forward. I knew that we were hoping to have it done in a few months.
Although my thoughts were cut off when the men started to learn about the tanks that they would be using. Maybe not all of them - considering I didn't trust some of them to even drive a car - but it was important that they understood the controls. They weren't learning to use the weaponry. They were only learning how to drive and operate them. They used the M2 light tank first. It was equipped with the M5 gun and M1919 Browning machine guns. They used the M5 Stuart after that. We were also having them look at the M18 Hellcat. They were only models - as it wasn't quite ready for mass production yet. There was a good chance that in the next year or so they would begin mass producing them for the war efforts.
They moved onto mortars after that. The M1 and M2 mortar. It was extraordinarily heavy for just one of the men to carry. One hundred and thirty six pounds total. I had to resist showing off by picking it up in one hand. Bucky was able to carry it and place it, but he seemed to be having a hard time actually moving with it. Not that I blamed him. I knew anything over eighty pounds would be hard for him to move.
The last thing that we watched them train with were the rocket launchers. A personal favorite of mine. The T40 Whizbang was the first thing that I saw them use. It - like the Hellcat - was only a prototype. That was probably much farther away from mass production. A few years, at the shortest. The men seemed to have a good time using that. Not that it really worked. They moved to the Rocket Launcher M1 after that - also known as the bazooka. It was about to be put into mass production.
Bucky aimed and fired his last shot and I snorted as it went about a foot off of the target. Not that it mattered. The whole area blew up. I walked up behind him and smiled. "You have terrible aim," I told him.
He turned back to me and glared playfully. "You have terrible motivational skills," he snapped at me.
I knew that the two of us were just playing around with each other. "This is the Army, I'm not here to babysit you," I told him. He glared at me and I grinned back. "Just teasing," I said before turning away. "Alright!" I called out to the others, making them cease their work. "Well done to all of you. Continue to work. I'll see you all tomorrow. Drill Sergeants, keep them going. Improve, take this time to learn slowly. Best of luck," I said before turning to where Peggy was standing. I held an arm out to her. "Shall we?"
She nodded at me and turned towards the lab. "We shall," she said.
The two of us walked over towards the lab, giving small greetings to the other men that were standing around. Bucky was watching me leave and I gave him a little wink, laughing as a Drill Sergeant shouted at him to get back to work. He jumped and darted back to his spot. I laughed as I sauntered over to the lab. Oh yeah, I'm gonna enjoy watching him get himself into trouble. Peggy and I walked into the lab and I realized that the meeting would be in Abraham's office. The blinds were drawn and we walked in, seeing that Chester - who had left training a while ago - Howard - who had been at Stark Industries for most of the day - and Abraham were already seated.
We both took seats on the far end of the room and I began to twist my hands nervously. Bucky had distracted me for most of the day, but there was no running now. "So what's this all about?" Peggy asked after a beat of silence.
"We've recently decided that everyone directly involved with Operation Rebirth should know everything about the others that are directly involved. We've been keeping one, rather large, secret from you," Abraham told her.
He was in his normal coat and I watched as Peggy's brows knitted. We didn't have to be able to read her mind to know that she was getting suspicious. "Us?" Peggy asked curiously, pointing to herself and then at me.
"No. Only you," I told her softly.
Her eyebrows knitted together once more. "Oh. And what's that?" she asked.
Giving a quick glance at the others, I saw that they were nodding at me. Tell her. She'll understand, I could hear Howard's thoughts telling me. "Don't be angry with them. Be angry with me," I told her. "The secret is mine. I didn't want to share it. But it's time. If you're going to be working with us, you deserve to know the truth. You deserve to know why I'm really here," I said.
She gave me a confused stare and turned to look at me. "I know why you're here. Because you're one of the brightest minds in genetics. The one person that understands all about mutation," she said.
A small smile spread over my face. She was very much correct. But she deserved to know why I knew so much about genetics. "Yes. But there's a reason that I know all about it," I told her.
She didn't actually look upset with me. She looked like she was sad. Perhaps sad because I had thought that I'd needed to hide something from her. She would understand why in a matter of moments. "Why have you waited this long to say anything to me?" Peggy asked me.
"Because it's not exactly something easy to understand. Trust me. Peggy, you're my friend, that's why I've been reluctant to tell you."
"Of course I'm your friend," she told me.
"You might feel a little differently after this," I said.
She shook her head determinedly at me. "I highly doubt that," Peggy said.
I couldn't help but to smile at her. She really was a good friend. But no one was really such a good friend that they could understand what I was about to tell her. "Do you remember those dog tags that are on my shelf? The ones that I told you that I would one day tell you about?" I asked her.
It was the easiest way that I could think to explain my predicament. "Yes," Peggy said slowly.
"It's high time that you understand what they mean. Peggy, I'm not one hundred percent human. I'm what people call a mutant. See, mutation is something that normally takes a few million years. It occurs slowly. Blue eyes, useless wisdom teeth, those sorts of things. But every few millennia, evolution takes a rather large leap. I mentioned to you once the theory of people being born with special powers. It's not just a theory. It's real," I told her.
For a few seconds she just stared at me. For a moment I really thought that she was going to get up and leave. But a smile eventually spread over her face and she began to stand. "Okay. This is a very funny joke. Now if you'll all excuse me, I have work to be done," she said.
She began to stand but Chester spoke before she could. "It's not a joke, Agent Carter," he said.
So I decided that the one way that I could really get her to believe me wasn't to tell her. It was only going to work if I showed her. So I slipped into her mind and looked straight at her. It's real, Peggy. I'm real.
Her jaw dropped and I could hear her attempting to find any way for that to have just made sense. She was always pale, but her face seemed to have gone the shade of the pure white walls in the room. "How did you do that? Your lips weren't moving," she said.
It's called telepathy. I can speak to you in your mind. I can read it too. Right now you're trying to think of any scientific way that this can be explained. And now you simply can't believe it. You're wondering about my eyes. When I stayed in someone's mind a long enough time they would turn completely white, a black swirl like the galaxy spinning in the center. That's what they do when I stay in someone's mind for a prolonged period of time. I could even control your mind if I wished to do so.
Peggy's jaw was hanging open and I was waiting for it to snap off. "How can you do that?" she asked me.
"It's a very long and boring explanation. Long story short, mutation." I glanced over at Abraham's desk and saw that there was a thick needle on his desk. "May I see that needle?" I asked him.
He nodded and grabbed it, holding it out to me. "Certainly."
Taking the needle, I pressed it down against my forearm. Just the way that Stryker had once done. But it no longer hurt and this time it was under my control. "What are you doing!?" Peggy howled at me, reaching out to grab the needle as I ran it up the inside of my forearm.
"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt," I insisted to her.
She nodded at me and I noticed that instead of her still being white, she was now turning green as she glanced down at the Chronicle seeping out. I had to continue running the needle up and down my arm since the Chronicle kept trying to close the wound. "It's green. Your blood is green," she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.
I shook my head at her. "It's not blood. There's not a drop of blood in me. This is called Chronicle." She didn't look like she understood what I was talking about, so I explained. "It's an alien element. Not found on Earth. There's almost none of it, anywhere on Earth, other than in me. It makes me highly valuable. Because Chronicle is a healing agent. It can heal from any wound, and any poison."
Her eyes widened and she looked shocked. I could hear in her thoughts that she was thinking the same thing that everyone else thought the first time that they learned about it. "It could cure disease," she said softly.
I shook my head at her. That was where everyone's thoughts tended to go. "That's where the tricky part comes in. Chronicle is so strong that it presents itself as a toxin. The chemicals don't react well with humans or animals. It kills everything that it comes in contact with. Except for me. Watch," I told her.
Slowly I split the skin with the needle that I was holding. Peggy stared wide-eyed as I pulled the skin back, revealing a tiny bit of the Adamantium plated bone underneath. As I pulled the skin back, I held it there for a moment before releasing it. The skin that was split - going all the way up my inner arm - began to seal itself back together. It only took about ten seconds before the skin was closed together once more. There wasn't even the tiniest mark to show that I'd ever done anything.
Peggy's jaw was once more hanging open. "My God. That's incredible," she said. I nodded at her and noticed that the three others in the room were nodding too. "Was your bone silver?" she asked, finally managing to look at me.
Once more I nodded at her. "Yes. It's not really bone. When I was fourteen I was taken by a man named William Stryker. He spent seven years developing my mutations, and in the process, torturing me." Her eyes looked pained at my words. "The worst part is that with the Chronicle, I can't die. So he would do everything in his power to destroy me, only to watch me put myself back together."
Peggy moved forward, and to my surprise, laid a hand on my leg. I smiled and grabbed her hand tightly. "Oh, Victoria... That's where you went. What Private Barnes asked you about," she said.
"Yes."
"And you don't want him to know about the mutation," she continued.
This time I shook my head. "No. Anyways, the bone is from a trip to a hydro-chamber, the day that I escaped. Adamantium is the strongest metal on Earth, only comparable to Vibranium." She seemed to understand what Vibranium was. Of course, Howard used it. "It plates every bone in my body. They'll never break. With the Chronicle, it makes me practically indestructible," I told her.
She seemed to be piecing everything together. "So you can't die?" Peggy asked.
There was probably some way to kill me, but I wasn't really sure what it was. So I shook my head at her. "No. I can't. The trip in the hydro-chamber brought about a few other mutations. The healing factor that I had is ten times faster now. It also fried my pain receptors. I can't feel pain anymore," I told her.
That one seemed to throw her for a minute, until she seemed to understand it again. "Any time that you've fought with the recruits, the hisses of pain, they were just acting," she said.
"Exactly. And there was one other thing that happened to me in the hydro-chamber. It affected my aging process." Her eyebrows rose. Even Abraham's interest seemed piqued. It was something that I rarely told people about. "Being a mutant with a healing factor, I would have aged slower than the average person anyways. I would have lived to be two, maybe three, hundred years old. But the process completely halted my aging. I'll be twenty-one forever," I told her.
The more that I thought about it, the more that it hurt. I would watch everyone - Abraham, Howard, Peggy, Chester, Bucky, and Steve - age and have families and eventually die. But not me. Maybe I was wrong for Bucky. "You'll never age?" Peggy asked, breaking my thoughts.
"And never die," I continued.
Peggy was lost in her own thoughts for a minute. "Is there any way to reverse the process?" she asked me after a beat.
I'd thought about it before. If there was a way to reverse the process. There might have been a way, but we didn't have the technology. Not yet. It would be a few hundred years. Maybe less. Only time would tell. "I don't know," I finally told her.
Peggy stared down at her hands and began to twirl her hair that she had since pulled down. "This is insane," she said breathlessly.
"That isn't it," I told her.
Her gaze shot up to me and her eyes widened. "What else could there possibly be?" she asked.
I couldn't help but to smile at her. "Lots. There are other mutations that I have. Common ones, my brain functions more as a computer than an actual human brain. It's what makes me so intelligent. I can run faster than anyone else, I'm strong enough to hold up a collapsing building, my hearing is super sonic, and my vision is well beyond perfect," I explained.
Once more her eyes were wide. I assumed that she hadn't really thought about that. The fact that I was overall stronger and smarter than the average person. "Those are common?" Peggy asked me.
"Yes."
Exasperation was clearly seeping into Peggy's voice. It was a lot to try to understand all at once. "Can you do anything else?" Peggy asked me after a few beats.
Maybe I should give her a break. Or maybe I should just get it all over with. "Yes," I said, choosing the latter. Slowly I brought my two hands up and watched as the purple light spread over my torso. Peggy looked stunned. "This is a force field. You throw something at it, it will rebound," I told her before letting it drop. "I have advanced combat and weaponry skills. Enough to make me the perfect soldier. I can read a person's stance and tell you exactly what they'll do before they even do it," I told her.
Her eyes widened. She seemed to finally realize why it was that I could attack the recruits without even taking a moment to think about it. "It makes you the perfect combat specialist," she said.
I nodded at her. "It does. And I possess Atmoskinesis," I explained.
Just as I had been expecting, she didn't seem to understand what that meant. Not that I had either. Stryker had explained to me what it was. "That sounds impressive," she said.
We were both smiling at each other. She was taking it better than I had thought that she would. "It is. It's control of the elements. Earth." A rock that had been kicked into the room was sitting in the corner and I levitated it, hovering it over Peggy's lap and dropping it. Peggy laughed softly. "Water." I looked over at the cup of water that was on her table and waved my hand. The water began to bubble and shift in the glass. I raised a bubble of water up before dropping it, watching as the water splashed. "Air."
This one I knew that I would have to actually stand to show her. I raised my hands to my side and conjured up a column of wind. Peggy - and the others, for that matter - were watching with wide eyes as the column began to whip around my waist. It became strong enough that if lifted me up into the air and I flew up to the top of the office. Not that Abraham's office was all that big. I did a quick swoop around the room and hovered over near Peggy's chair, about ten feet off of the ground.
"You can fly," Peggy laughed breathlessly.
Letting the column of air drop from around me, I dropped out of the sky and tucked into a roll, coming to stand in front of my chair. "I can fly," I confirmed for her. "And fire."
Her eyes widened drastically. "Fire?" she asked, her voice strained.
"Fire."
Standing with my legs out, I swiped my arms over each other and watched as the blast of flames spread over my arms. They continued over my torso and shot up over my neck and skull and then dropped over my legs. My hair began to whip back and forth, the flames lighting up the room. Peggy's eyes seemed like they were about to pop out of their skull and she dropped her water back onto the table. I hovered off of the ground for a moment - due to the lack of oxygen - before letting the fire fade.
I dropped the few inches that I had been hovering and watched as the flames continued to lick at my hair. "Oh my God!" Peggy howled in shock. I smiled at her, my hair was always the last thing that wanted to go out. "Are you alright?" Peggy asked me. She looked like she wanted to step forward and check on me, but I understood that she was too afraid to touch me.
If the roles were reversed I had a feeling that I would do the same thing to her. "And lightning," I added. Taking a heavy step onto the ground I watched as the electrical currents began to flow over my arms and crackle, the light almost unbearable to look at. They dropped after a moment and I watched as the tips of my fingers continued to spark.
If I had thought that Peggy was pale in the face before, I was dead wrong. She was completely drained of color. "That's... impressive," Peggy said as I took a seat in my chair once more.
"That's not it," I told her.
Peggy let out a soft life. "Of course it isn't."
I couldn't help but to smile back at her. "Mutants are classified into ranks. Some are weak, others are strong. Omega is the top level. There has only been one actual recorded Omega in history. Before me. Because that's what I am. Many are telepaths, but the one thing that all Omega mutants must be able to do is physically morph their bodies into another state. I can transform my body into a state of pure radiation. It's what we're working with. Trying to capture that form of radiation and use it for the project," I told her.
"Well..." she trailed off before turning over to the other men. "I don't see why you all thought that I wouldn't take that well," she said, breaking the tension in the room. And at that, we all laughed for the first time since meeting in the room. "Your eyes... I could have sworn once or twice that they've gone red. Do they?" she asked me after a beat.
I nodded at her with a small smile. "They do. When I feel extreme fluctuations in moods they turn colors. Red is anger. Obviously." Peggy laughed, probably remembering that the one time she'd seen my eyes go red was when Lorraine had been flirting with Bucky. "Those dog tags," I told her, meaning the ones on my shelf. "Mutants all have nicknames that we refer to each other as. It keeps identities safe. My friend that I escaped from Stryker with - his name is Logan. His late wife called him Wolverine. And he called me Savage," I told her.
She smiled at me and nodded. "It fits," she said with a laugh.
I couldn't help but to slip into her mind for a moment. This is incredible. I can't believe that she really can do things like that. "I'd ask you if you were scared of me, but I don't need to," I told her with a smile.
She didn't seem to mind that I was picking through her brain. "I'm just... I'm amazed," she told me with a little laugh.
"That's what we all thought too," Howard said, speaking for the first time since we had all come into the room.
We were all silent for a moment to allow Peggy to process the information. I knew that it was a lot to try and take in. It wasn't something that seemed to be real outside of the imagination. "You've always been like this?" she asked me after a beat.
I nodded at her. "Yes. Since birth."
Peggy then said something that was rather unexpected. "Well now I think that Private Barnes should definitely ask you on a date. That's incredible, Victoria!" she shouted with glee.
I smiled at her. If I knew for a fact that Bucky would react the same way, I would have told him too. "I'm glad that you think so. But no one else can know. Peggy..." I told her, leaning in. "People would hunt me down and keep me as a science experiment. I spent seven years of my life starved, beaten, and humiliated. I will not be party to that again," I told her.
Her eyes widened at my words. No one would have ever expected - looking at me - that I would have gone through all of those things and lived to tell the tale. "So this has to remain a secret?" Peggy asked me, clarifying what I had just said.
"One day I'll get around to telling more people. But on my terms and my time," I told her.
She nodded at me as we both stood. The rest of the things that I wanted to tell her - about the mutation and Bucky - I wanted to tell her with it just being the two of us. "This is your secret, Victoria. It won't be told by anyone but you. I'm glad that you've all told me," Peggy said.
Smiling at her, I grabbed her into a hug. Maybe telling people really wouldn't be that bad to try and tell the others. Maybe they would understand. After all, Peggy did. "I'm glad that we told you too. I hate having to hide it. And thank you, all, for being here with me," I told the men. "Peggy, might I speak with you in private for a little while?" I asked her.
"Of course," she said.
"Goodnight, gentlemen," I told the men, turning towards the door with Peggy. "We will see you all in the morning," I told them all. And it was the truth. Tomorrow would be another day of training.
"Goodnight," they all called back to us as we left.
We walked through the building and out of the doors. All of the men were standing around and I almost laughed. They hadn't even realized that they had been so close to something that they couldn't understand. We walked towards the barracks and once we had finally gotten into our room I turned over to her, taking a seat on my bed. "So you're really not freaked out?" I asked her.
She gave me a knowing smile. "You tell me, since apparently you can read my mind," she said.
I laughed and reached over for a bottle of water that was on the floor. "I make an attempt never to read my friends' minds. It's like a privacy thing. I wouldn't want you doing it to me if you could," I told her honestly.
I didn't like the idea of there being other telepaths in the world. I was just fine with knowing other people's thoughts. I didn't want them knowing my thoughts. That might be a dangerous place for them to be. "I wish that I could," Peggy said.
Immediately I shook my head at her. It was something that no one wanted. I knew that firsthand. "No you don't," I told her.
Peggy raised her brows at me. "Why's that?" she asked.
A breath escaped my throat. "I have to hide who I am from everyone. Maybe not you, but most people would be petrified of me if they knew what I am. I'm dangerous, Peggy. I really am," I told her honestly.
It was dangerous. There was nothing that I could do that wasn't considered to be dangerous. "I somehow doubt that. I've lived with you for weeks now and nothing has happened to me," she told me. I let out a breath, not having a better explanation for that truth. "So Chester, he adopted you after you were freed from Stryker's lab?" she asked after a beat.
My throat closed slightly. I loved Chester like a father, but we certainly hadn't met under the best terms. "He did. He's the reason that I'm here in the first place," I told her.
"And Private Barnes, and your other friend - Steve - they never knew that anything was different about you?" she asked.
Slowly I shook my head at her. "I think that Steve had some suspicions but he never really knew," I told her. I knew that Steve thought that I was crazy. But Bucky... he always thought that I was normal. "Bucky just thinks that I'm tougher than the average person. I'd like to keep it that way. I just got him back into my life. I don't want to watch him walk back out of it again," I told her softly.
The last thing that I could deal with was Bucky leaving me again. "I think he's the last person that would ever walk away from you. Speaking of Private Barnes, I saw him earlier and he looked rather happy about something. What happened?" she asked me.
My jaw nearly dropped. I had just told her the entire truth about myself but now she wanted to talk about what was going on between Bucky and myself. "I just told you that I'm one of the most powerful mutants - something that you didn't believe in until just a few minutes ago - and you're already back to the Bucky and I situation?" I asked her with a bored expression.
She smiled and nodded at me. "We can chat about the mutant situation whenever, but I don't get to have girl talk that often. Spill," she told me.
"You're insane," I said.
Peggy shook her head at me. "I can't light myself on fire."
"I can do it for you, if you'd like?" I offered.
The two of us stared at each other before bursting into laughter. We spent the rest of the night in high spirits with each other, not even bothering to go and get dinner. There was nothing that we wanted to do other than talk about what was going on between Bucky and I. She seemed to love that Bucky and I had actually kissed. In fact, I was sure that she had shrieked so loudly when I'd told her that she woke up the rest of the barracks. And from the moment that I told her the truth about Bucky and I, we hadn't even bothered to speak about the mutation. It was the first time in my life that I realized that maybe, just maybe, being a mutant wasn't that bad.
A/N: And here we are with another chapter! Don't worry, Steve is coming back into the picture soon. Another four - maybe five - chapters before he comes back in. Hope you guys liked the kiss! As Victoria said, it won't be in play much in the upcoming chapters because of training, but I promise that it always be in the background. So thanks for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A
kuppcake: Thank you! I agree, protective Chester is great!
Paper Person: Well I'm glad to hear that!
LadyDV011: I hope you liked this update! I love Bucky too! And thank you! Steve will be back in about four to five chapters.
swanqueen4: Thank you! I agree, I think that they're so cute.
Moniquita2: Yeah I'd imagine that Howard Stark isn't too popular in the OC category. Thank you! Hope you liked this one!
Anonymous: Thank you! I can't stand when writers don't write the actual stuff that develops the plot like science and training. I hope you continue to enjoy!