Summary: A year after the civil war, The Avengers are still divided with friendships broken and loyalties torn when they are sent to find a powerful young woman whose life has been destroyed by HYDRA. While Bucky seeks redemption, Martine seeks to get revenge on the people who murdered her grandmother. Co – Written with WalkingPotterGirl14. Bucky/OC, Wanda/OC, Clint/Natasha and Steve/Sharon. Rated M.
Thank you, to everyone and your kind words. It's been a hard few months, and I'm struggling a bit with personal worries but writing and reading your reviews makes my day.
Warning: Mentions of attempted assault, and spiked drinks.
Divided We Fall
Chapter 20
"Honestly, I'm not surprised that something like this has happened to Martine of all people. She was always hanging out with the wrong people and was a bit of a wild child at college," Lucy said disdainfully, as the team watched.
Martine sat rigid, knowing that her life was over when Lucy finished telling Christine and everyone what had happened.
"Nothing ever good will happen to you. You're bad luck, a curse on people, and the sooner you learn that, the better, Martine," Carla said coldly to her nine year old daughter.
She had never really understood why her mother had hated her so much, why she had despised her and Adrian.
"In what way?" Christine asked intrigued.
"Always out late and coming back to the dorm in the early hours. Honestly, I thought she was doing drugs," Lucy said scornfully.
Martine looks down at the table as some look over at her. She would tell them soon.
"Oh really? What had she done?"
"She was sort of a whore. Whenever she would get drunk she would put herself out. It was sort of disgusting. A couple of my friends were felt up by her one night when she was drunk," Lucy laughs.
"Really?"
"Yeah! Like I said, she was just someone who didn't care about others. She would always put herself out. Never had any respect. Also a bit weird too. Think it's right she did run away because I don't think anyone would miss her."
"Thank you for joining us, Lucy Evans," Christine said warmly, and the news turned its focus onto other events.
Bucky turned around only to see Martine was gone, and a fuming Adrian got up and glared at all of them.
"I'm gonna kill that fucking bastard!" He snarled, enraged. He started realizing how much Martine had kept hidden from him since coming home from college.
She had never told him.
Martine packed some clothes in a bag and took a long look around the room, before sucking in a deep breath. She began heading towards the door, when she heard a voice speak.
"Didn't take you for a runner."
She spun around in shock and sighs. It was only Natasha.
"Only you...Jesus, you're as quiet as Bucky."
"You're running away because of some truth coming out?" Martine looks at her quietly, before tears started spilling down her cheeks.
"I can't face them, Nat. How are you here? After the shit she said? It's all true. Everything is true. I was nothing. Just some person who was taken advantage of, and now everyone knows...I can't..."
She sits down on the bed, her head in her hands.
"What do you mean taken advantage of?" Nat asks her quietly.
"I was invited to a party on the college grounds. It was at the student lounge and the idiot I was at the time believed her, and let Penelope and Lucy help get me ready...biggest fucking mistake I ever made in my life," Martine said bitterly.
"What happened?" Natasha asked quietly.
"Two of the guys started flirting with me, Robert and Edward...they lured me away, and I started feeling weird after drinking some soda. They...they tried to rape me, but I woke up and ran out of the room...but they filmed the whole thing. The next morning when I got to the cafeteria...everyone was calling me a whore or swamp trash," Martine said flatly, and stood up then.
She placed her travelling bag over her shoulder.
"Which is why I'm leaving."
She goes towards the door, but stops when she hears Natasha laugh. "Are you kidding?"
"They're going to show that video, I just know it. I'm going to be ruined. Everyone's going to see it! I've tried so hard to keep it away and now it's back and-"
"They took advantage of you," Natasha states. "None of that was your fault. And you can't leave. We don't care about that. Bucky sure as hell doesn't. You should have seen the way he acted when you left. He was pissed off at the news for letting an interview like that happen."
"Think he's even more pissed off after seeing the video that's being aired, and seeing how stupid I am?" Martine asked sarcastically. She sighed, her heart heavy. "Fury and Maria will kick me off the team, once they see that video of me acting like a stupid, naive teenager," she said quietly.
Martine wiped her eyes with the back of her hand before she started unpacking her bag.
"Well, you're wrong about that. I heard Fury and Maria making phone calls to the news network WHIH World News...Everhart may find herself being fired or being told to leave us all alone," Natasha said reassuringly. Martine pulled out some gym wear.
"Thanks, Tasha," Martine said quietly.
"Anytime. You going to train?"
Martine nods. "Yeah...need to let some anger out, you know?" Natasha nods.
"I get it. You can see us whenever." Martine nods and changes, hearing the door close behind the woman. She sighs and shakes her head.
She needed to get shit out.
He found her at the punching bags. She was putting all her strength into the hits she was making, and an angry look was on her face. Bucky sighs before stepping into the room.
"Doll?"
No answer.
"Sweetheart?"
Nothing. Just a few more punches.
"Martine!"
"What?!" she snaps, turning around. Her face was drenched in sweat, and her eyes looked bloodshot. She had been crying. He wasn't surprised. If what happened to her had happened to him, he'd be pretty angry too.
In fact, he was.
He already knew about this. She had told him before, the night they came back from their date, but the fact that this happened was fucking terrible.
And he wished he could help so much.
"Martine, I know this su-"
"Don't give me that!" She snaps, shaking her head. "I don't deserve shit! Look at what I did! What they forced me to do! How could you still talk to me when I was just a vulnerable, naive teenager?"
She was really bent up about this. All she wanted was for things to get better.
And now they were getting worse.
"I know, doll. I do. But you have to face it head on. Nat told me you were gonna run away. How could you even think about doing that?"
"Traitor," she mutters before turning to him. "I don't deserve to be on this team. I'm still vulnerable just like I was then, just like the shit that happened. I don't deserve to be here, Bucky. I don't even deserve to call you by your real name. I'm nothing. No one. Just some stupid chick."
Bucky glares at her, his anger already inflating. "That's what you think you are to me? Some stupid chick?! Have you forgotten you're the one damn person who can control my two sides? The one person I killed so many men to protect? The one damn person who will let me touch them willingly, hold them, kiss them, like I'm not some monster?! If you think you aren't worth anything to me, than maybe you are a stupid chick."
She looks away, grabbing at her taped hands from the punching bag.
"But you're wrong. You're so wrong it's bad. If you ran away, I would go right after you. I can't do this-be this hero that I think I can be-without you, doll. I can't."
"But James, I was so stupid, and...What if I am kicked off the team because of this?" She asked pained. He could tell that she was affected by his words. She sat down.
"Fury and Maria won't kick you off the team because of that, Martine. No one blames you," Bucky said firmly, as he wiped her tears away. She took a deep breath.
"So no one's angry or pissed off at me?" She asked quietly. Bucky nodded as he held her close to him. She wiped her face with a damp towel, feeling slightly better.
"No one is, because they know it wasn't your fault, doll. We all wanna help you," Bucky said quietly. Martine sniffled as she looked at him.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Bucky wrapped his arm around her tightly and kissed her forehead. He didn't care about what had happened.
She was his girl.
"Just don't do it again. I can't be this person without you Martine...you're the only one who isn't afraid of the Winter Soldier. I'd follow you if you ran away," Bucky said quietly.
Martine hugged him.
"Again, I don't know what I did to deserve you," she whispers, nuzzling the side of his neck. Bucky rolls his eyes and squeezes her side.
"I don't deserve you." He raises an eyebrow at the smell of her clothes. "Now come on, let's get you changed. Smell like you just ran a marathon."
She laughs and nods as he takes her hand and leads her towards the apartment, happy she was cooperating. He couldn't have her run away. He wouldn't.
He would run with her. She was the one person who made him feel good, and he would make sure she stayed around for a damn long time.
Once they reached the apartment which they shared, Martine headed to the shower, and he could hear her singing softly as he fed Salem and Selene.
"Mr. Barnes, Tony Stark and Adrian Laveau would like to talk to you in the lounge," FRIDAY informed him politely. He nodded, before heading to the lounge, where he found the two of them.
"Did you know?" Adrian asked quietly, as he looked up at the older man. Bucky sighed and nodded.
"She told me a week ago. She didn't want to tell anyone else because she was afraid that they'd think she was asking for it, and the reason she didn't tell you is because she didn't want you to end up in jail for beating up two rich kids," Bucky said quietly.
"Oh, I'm gonna do more than beat up those assholes...I'm gonna fuckin' make them regret hurting my sister," Adrian growled dangerously.
"That's why she didn't want to tell you in the first place," Bucky mutters.
"You can't be okay with this, Bucky!" He snaps. "I can tell you really want to hurt those guys. You want to kill them. We can do that together!"
Bucky takes a deep breath and stands. "I want to hurt them. But I'm not going to. Because I need to be with Martine. I don't want to get sent to jail, and she doesn't want you to get sent to jail. We can't hurt them like that."
"I can't just leave this," Adrian hisses. "They violated my sister, I can't just let that go!"
"You know that's why the Registration Act was put in place, to stop things like this from happening, but I'm with you on this one. We need to punish them," Tony stated seriously and smiled. "And I just have the perfect person in mind for the job."
"Who?" Bucky asked curiously.
"Scott. We can send him into the Townsend home and look around for any dirt on them...Christ, they might have gone after other girls and done the same thing to them," Tony explained as he began calling Peter Parker.
"What's up, Stark?"
"Parker, I need you to find out anything on these four rich kids called Lucy Evans, Penelope Eastman, Robert Townsend and Edward Rochdale," Tony informed seriously.
"I'm on it...is it because of the fucked up video that the bitch aired on the news?"
"What? She aired it on the news?" Adrian snarls.
"Yeah," Peter says over the speaker. "A few minutes after the report." Bucky runs a hand through his hair, sighing.
"Shit...don't tell Martine. She'll freak out."
Tony nods before looking down at the ground. "Parker you gotta figure something out."
"Don't worry, Mr Stark. I've already found some dirt on the seemingly Miss Innocent Penelope Eastman. This girl has some serious problems," Peter said disturbed.
"Like what?" Bucky asked curiously.
"Like the fact that two years ago, Penelope attacked another student with a pair of scissors after thinking that she was sleeping with her boyfriend. The girl ended up needing sixteen stitches on her left arm, and the Eastman family stated that Penelope was suffering from depression after her grandmother, Laura, died in the New York battle after rubble fell on her. The judge dismissed the claim and ordered her to attend counselling...guess what happened?" Peter asked grimly.
"Audrey Eastman paid off half of the jury," Bucky guessed darkly. Adrian looked pissed off.
"Yeah, and she donated to various charities. Only Edward Townsend was ordered to attend sex therapy after he was caught sexually assaulting a young classmate when she was asleep. The girl pressed charges and he was ordered to attend sex therapy and given a restraining order against the woman...and...Holy shit!" Peter shouted shocked.
"What?!" Adrian snapped angrily as Scott Lang entered, dressed in his Ant-Man suit.
"The victim was Hope Van Dyne Pym, daughter of Hank Pym...this was a year before...Martine was assaulted."
"Those fuckers hurt her too?" Scott asks, raising an eyebrow. "How many have they...?"
"I don't know," Peter states. "There's so many...they're infamous. All they've done is hurt people but they always get out of it." Adrian was fuming.
"We can't let this happen. We can't let them win!"
Bucky place a hand on his angry friends shoulder, causing Adrian to look up. "We will get them back. We will. For everything they've done."
"Oh, you can bet we will get those spoiled brats back. They hurt a member of our team and I for one am gonna make them regret it," Tony said smugly as he called for FRIDAY.
"Yes sir?" the female AI asked patiently.
"FRIDAY, I want you to hack into the Townsend, Evans and Eastman security systems, and dig up anything that's important. Also...give the two spoiled bitches some difficulty paying for their expensive shopping," Tony instructed, his eyes filled with mischievous delight. The rest of the team came in.
"Yes, sir," FRIDAY said gleefully, as Scott got to work and snuck into the Townsend home first.
"What are you up to?" Steve asked suspiciously. Tony grinned at the blonde haired man smugly.
"Getting revenge on some spoiled kids who made our little witch's life a living hell after she stood up to them," Tony said defiantly as Wanda came in with Martine.
Her eyes were red and bloodshot but she was calm. They were looking down at the ground. "Mar-"
"Don't. I just...I hope I don't have to leave after what she said...after what they showed...yes, I know. I'm not an idiot. They're too evil to pass that one up. But I just...I don't want to go and..."
"You aren't out," Tony states calmly. "In fact, you're more in than ever."
Martine looks up with a confused expression. "Wh...hat?"
"Those assholes hurt you," Clint states, looking at her. "You're a part of our team. Our family. And we don't let people from our family get hurt for shit they couldn't prevent. What happened to you was shitty luck, but we're not going to let your luck get even worse."
She looks back down at the ground. "I don't want any of you to go to jail, though. I just want peace."
"And peace you'll get," Tony states. "But not until we mess with them. They need to be taught some sort of lesson, Martine. And if it can't be physical, we can sure as hell do it in a technological way with FRIDAY. We're going to get them back, Martine."
She looks up, almost like she wanted to refuse again, but Bucky places his hand on hers. "It's okay, Martine. They deserve this."
Martine didn't say anything for a minute, but her eyes shimmered with unshed tears before she held his hand tightly. She looked at him and the rest of the team, along with her older brother.
"Thank you," she whispered thickly.
Scott snuck into the Townsend manor and was now in Robert's bedroom. He crawled up into the chest of drawers and whistled slightly. This guy had porn magazines in the drawer, and what looked like a USB stick. He made it smaller and placed it into his pocket, as he found photos.
They were of Hope, Martine, and a few other girls that Scott didn't recognize. He crawled and whistled for the ants, who came in through a crack in the wall.
"Stark, I found some photos," he said as he saw Robert enter, and he was talking on the phone.
"That wasn't right you did to Martine! For fuck's sake, Penelope, what's wrong with you?!" He asked angrily.
"The bitch deserved it! Acting like Miss Goody Two Shoes and acting like a superhero when she's not! God, she's so pathetic. I can't believe you don't wanna get payback on her!" Penelope Eastman exclaimed as she entered the room. Robert turned off the phone.
"She's a nice woman! You're just jealous because she got picked for the internship and not you or Lucy. Well, I've had enough, I'm going to the police!" Robert said defiantly. Penelope paled.
"You wouldn't! You'll go down too!" She said uncertainly.
Robert snorted.
"Then I'll go down to prison. At least I'm not relying on mommy and daddy's money like you three are. God, you three are sick psychotic people."
Scott raises an eyebrow at the sudden change before jumping down. Penelope screams at him as Scott races out, not leaving a single trace. These people needed serious therapy.
But he'd tell them about Robert.
Martine looked around her bedroom, her arms crossed. Bucky was in the shower, and she was waiting for him to get out. Her body was shaking. She didn't want to get ruined because of this.
Everything was relying on Scott. He needed to find something. Anything.
She hears the shower turn off, and a few minutes later felt Bucky's arms around her. He had sweatpants on but nothing else. "Why you shakin', doll?"
She sniffles and looks over. "I'm scared. I don't want anything had to happen and I'm so scared something will."
AN: We hope you enjoy the latest chapter. Next update will be next Saturday :)