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Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel. I own Addison Carter.
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April 2014
"Thanks Scott," I thanked my old teacher.
"Don't thank me, thank the Professor. I was against it." I pursed my lips, shooting James a look. He was sleeping. "Do the Avengers even know you found him?"
"No, I want the Professor to take a look at how his mind is before calling them."
"Look Carter, it's honorable you want to help him, but with everything that's on the internet, it's a question of time before we have to do damage control as well. If he's violent..."
"I think a house full of mutants will be safer than any other place. For him or others. Logan lives here." He mumbled something about Logan.
Oh how we talked about the Logan-Jean-Scott love triangle back in the days.
"We'll be here in two hours."
"I'll make sure the gates are open." He hung up and James slowly opened his eyes.
"Hey, I got you this." I put two bags of beef jerky on his lap. He read the front of one of them and opened it.
"Where are we going exactly?"
"I didn't tell you, did I?" I asked him, the engine of the car roaring to life. Once back on the road, I cleared my throat. "I'm taking you to school." He shot me a weird look. "I'm sure HYDRA's aware of mutants, right?"
"Aberrations but good experiment subjects." I chuckled dryly.
"That we are," I mumbled bitterly. "We're going to the school I went to when my mutation manifested."
"Are you sure taking me to place filled with kids is okay?" he asked me sternly, slightly concerned. I smirked.
"Kids with powers and a team of teachers who can use their powers and fight? I think so."
"What if HYDRA follows us?" I pursed my lips.
"The headmaster is probably the best telepath in the world James. If he agreed to my request...he knows what he does."
"So I'm getting my memories back, just like that?" He scoffed to himself. "I'm not sure I should."
"It's not why I'm taking you there. I mean, Professor Xavier could unlock your memories but if I know one thing about the human mind is that, even if it can handle a lot, we all have a snapping point. Your memory must have been wiped out several times through painful ways, the one thing I want him to do is just...tell us how your mind is." He smirked wryly.
"I can tell you that." I raised a brow and his smirk fell, a harsh glint in his eyes. "Shattered."
I didn't have anything to respond to that.
"We'll see about that."
The rest of the drive was pretty silent, James looking out the window. I felt relief wash over me when I spotted the gates in the distance in spite of the night. They were opened quickly. I stopped the car next to Scott and opened the window.
"The Professor is waiting for you in his office," Cyclops informed me.
"Okay, thanks." I closed the window and parked my car in front of the house. I left it and grabbed the bag I packed in case before leaving for D.C on the backseat.
"That's a school?" James asked me, closing the car door behind him. I locked the vehicle, the headlights flickering twice.
"I think it was the Professor's childhood home and he turned it into a school once adult. Come on." I opened the door as silently as I could and was greeted by Ororo. "Hi Storm." She embraced me.
"Hi, it's nice to see you." She released me and nodded at James. "Sergeant Barnes."
"You're taking risks," he replied blankly. She smiled, the threat hidden in it.
"We can defend ourselves." She took my bag. "Teacher section, second floor, last door on the left."
"Got it, thanks." I gestured James to follow me. The Professor's office was already opened and he raised his head from his computer screen. "Did Storm finally teach you how to use that?"
"I realized it was a necessity." He looked up at a nervous James.
He really cared about what his presence could bring.
"Sergeant Barnes, it is an honor to meet you." James just nodded awkwardly. "Although, addressing you as such must be disconcerting."
"It is," the Soldier agreed. He was taken back when the Professor rolled closer to him in his wheelchair.
"I have been informed by Addison of your case. Whether or not you choose to regain your memories immediately is up to you. The only thing I will do is seeing how your mind is doing after fifty years of manipulation." James pursed his lips and nodded. "You must be tired, go to bed. Breakfast tomorrow at nine, once class has started."
"Got it." I pulled on James' sleeve. "Let's go." He followed me without pipping a word, looking all around him. Once in the room, he stayed at the doorway for a few seconds. I pulled him in the room and closed the door behind him. "So bed or mattress on the floor?" He looked at the two and sat on the mattress. "When was the last time you slept in a bed?"
"I can't remember." I grabbed my bag to go to the bathroom but his voice stopped me. "What if HYDRA takes me back and gets information about this place?" I looked at the backyard. Nothing had changed.
"HYDRA is not taking you back to turn you into a mindless killer again anytime soon." My eyes found his blue ones, staring at me. "And I said the Professor was a great telepath, if you think he will put this place in danger for you you're wrong. He'll make sure you can't say anything. I mean...I'm pretty sure a few X-Men will make sure you spend the night in this room, and as you have the order to protect me, it means you won't hurt me and I'll make sure you stay here as well."
I pushed him in the bathroom once I was done and he went to bed without a word. I texted Tony to say I was fine and would be gone for a few more days before going to bed as well.
"You sure eat a lot," I mumbled because of the three empty plates of pancakes on the kitchen island. "Stupid super soldier."
"I heard that," he retorted idly, stirring his coffee.
"It was the point." I finished my breakfast quickly. Once all of the dishes cleaned, I left the room, James following me. I directly headed to the basement, the richly decorated walls becoming metal.
"What the..." I heard him mumbling to himself. I entered the Danger Room.
The Professor was already there, Piotr by his side.
"Hey Rasputin," I greeted him, punching him slightly in the shoulder. He grinned back at me.
"Addison," he replied with his thick Russian accent.
"You're here in case something goes wrong?" He nodded. Piotr was tall and pretty muscular already, in his metal form he was not to be meddle with.
"I hope you have slept well," Professor Xavier told us. I nodded, knowing James woke up more than once. "I think we should start. James, I will have to go through your memories of what you went through during your time in HYDRA in order to have an idea of what's next. You will probably feel pain."
"I..." James shot me a panicked look.
"Triggered?" I asked him. He gulped and nodded.
"HYDRA...they programmed me as a weapon...I might fall back in that mindset."
"I see. Piotr." Colossus nodded and turned to metal. James was stunned and I chuckled lightly.
"If you'll excuse me," my old friend said, walking behind James. He slipped his arms under James' and restrained him. "When you want Professor."
"Addison, his feet."
"Oh okay." I touched James' metal arm and walked back next to Professor Xavier. I raised my hand and black matter sprung to life, attaching James' feet to the floor. "I'm good. Sorry for the treatment James." He seemed more in awe than anything to be honest.
Professor Xavier rolled forward and put two fingers on each of James' temple. The thing was, the Professor felt any kind of pain the other had felt. It would not hurt him physically, but he would feel it. Hence why I instinctively went to him when he started gritting his teeth, trying to muffle James' pain.
James started to struggle in Colossus' grasp but the metal man restrained him more. I tightened the restrains around his feet as well. He screamed in pain and struggled harder, somehow managing to land a hit hard enough with his metal hand on Colossus.
He used this second to get rid of Piotr.
"Sleep." He fell on the floor, deep asleep.
"Are you okay Professor?"
"I...yes, I am fine. That man..." His gaze fell on James. "He has been tortured for so long, has been denied his own identity." He exhaled painfully. "His mind is like a frayed rope, very close to snapping. The more is wiped out, the more it wounds the mind and recently...it was put through a lot." I took a shaky breath. "It has been happening for fifty years."
"He was deprived of the death he deserved," I whispered weakly, staring at James with pity.
"I...saw something else as well. Piotr, take him to the medical wing." Piotr lifted him as if he weighted nothing and I was left alone.
"Professor?"
"HYDRA programmed him several times a weapon and gave him orders he would follow above all." I nodded. "However, there is one order deep in his mind, deeper than anything HYDRA did to him could possibly reach."
"Yeah, my protection, right?" He nodded grimly. "What, have you discovered something?"
"Yes. I saw...who put that order." I raised an interested brow. "Your mother." I froze.
"They knew each other?" He pursed his lips.
"Your father, David, was a SHIELD agent. Victoria was fully aware of that and knew the dangers. It's..." I gulped, swallowing the lump in my throat.
"Professor wait..." SHIELD was HYDRA. If...if Dad had discovered something and… "Oh God."
"I am sorry Addison." I sat down on the floor. "Your mother had a great hypnosis power and she used it to make sure the Winter Soldier would protect you instead of killing you in any circumstances." I grabbed my head, hair spilling through my fingers.
"He killed my parents..." I whispered weakly, a sob begging me to come out. I took a deep breath.
"For now, it is unlikely he remembers every person he killed but with time, he will. However, I highly doubt he will hurt you. Victoria's power...was very strong, stronger than any HYDRA torture he went through." I wiped the tears prickling at the corner of my eyes. "I'm sorry Addison."
"For what? Enlightening me on my parents' murder?" Sarcasm was something I always would go to as a defense mechanism. "Sorry, it's just...a lot to take in." I took a deep, shaky breath. "I'll calm down."
"I think that...it may be good for you two to stay together." I widened my eyes before gritting my teeth.
I knew he was brainwashed by HYDRA and wouldn't have done it otherwise but...he killed my parents and the anger bubbling in my veins would…
"You are more alike than you can think of Addison."
"Why would I help him?" I asked harshly, hissing at the last word. "Why..."
"Why have you helped him already?" I was taken back at the come back.
I sighed and placed the knife back down. James was still sleeping, barely stirring in his sleep, and here I was thinking of murdering him. I...he did kill my parents but I couldn't just kill him like that. He also was Steve's friend and Steve was my friend too, or at least coworker, I couldn't do that.
"Hum..." I raised my head to James, the nail of my thumb between my teeth. He blinked several times and took in his surroundings. He tensed almost immediately.
"Hey James." He settled his eyes on me. It took him a few seconds to recognize him and he relaxed.
"Did I hurt anyone?"
"No. You started to struggle, but between Colossus and I we were enough to handle you." He seemed doubtful and I folded my arms. "Geez, give us some credit."
"So?" I pursed my lips. "I was right, wasn't I?"
"The Professor compared your mind to a rope about to break. HYDRA...they damaged it real good, but it is not 'shattered' or you wouldn't be here. He won't give your memories back though, there might be repercussions if you get all of them back at once. The best is to let time do its thing."
"There's something else."
"I...yes, you seem to have...triggers." He looked up at the ceiling. "Professor Xavier does not want to do anything to your mind because of the state it is in."
"It could make everything worst."
"Like permanently turning you into the Winter Soldier's mindset." He sat up slowly, making circles with his head, which made his neck crack.
"Now what?"
"Now I should call the Avengers, or at least Steve, to tell them you're not one your own." His head snapped to me, wide panicked eyes looking at me like a panicked animal.
"Don't call him!"
"Why?"
"He..." He clenched his jaw. "He wants this Bucky back. I'm...I'm not..."
"I see," I interrupted more coldly than I intended to. "He's gonna hate me for this..." I mumbled under my breath.
"You're not going to tell him?"
"Well between telling him and make you run away or keeping it to myself and knowing where you are, the choice is quickly made." I narrowed my brown eyes at him. "That is, if you still want to fulfill that order." He nodded.
"I don't have anything else." I sighed internally.
"It's not as if you really had another choice anyway, I might just be another handler of yours." He almost winced. "Sorry, it's just..."
"You're taking risks for me."
"Yeah, but the Professor seems to think that we're alike and staying together might help you."
"Alike?" he repeated in confusion. I shrugged.
"He didn't tell me more." I stood up. "I...I won't tell the Avengers about you, but I need to get a place to live that's near New York, it's easier this way." I took my phone and blanched at the name. "Oh God it's Steve." James jumped on his feet and grabbed my wrist to keep me from answering. "I won't tell him anything but I have to pick up!" I removed his hand and answered. "Hello Steve."
"Hello. Is it possible for you to come at the Tower quickly?"
"Yeah sure, why?"
"Now we're officially at war with HYDRA, we need to talk about what we're going to do. You're an Avenger, you have to be here."
"Okay, I'll be there this afternoon." I hung up. "Alright, I'm going back to New York this afternoon. You're staying here in the meantime." He pursed his lips and I poked his chest with my finger. "Believe or not, I'm with you on this one so trust me, okay? I'll find a living arrangement and once it's figured out, we'll...talk about what's next."
"You have no idea of what you're doing," he drawled. I was about to say something but his smirk stopped me in my tracks.
"I figure things out as they go and it usually work out so..." Logan entering the room interrupted me. James stepped in front of me but I touched his shoulder. "Hey, he's cool."
"Wow, I never thought I'd see you again Barnes." I blinked.
"What?" James growled quietly.
"Oh right, you're older than he is," I remembered. "WW2?" Logan nodded. "Is it okay if I leave him with you?"
"Go do you Avenger thing kid."
"Thanks." I looked at James, who seemed unsure of where things were going. I cupped his face and made him look at me. "Hey, trust me, remember?" He gulped and nodded faintly. I smiled at him. "Good, then be a good boy!" He rolled his eyes and removed my hands.
"I'm not a brat."
Stark Tower, April 2014
"Am I the last one?"
"We're still waiting for Barton," Tony told me. We were all here, there was also a woman I had seen at SHIELD HQ long ago...Hill maybe?
I plopped down next to Natasha in the couch. Bruce was on his laptop, Steve was drawing in his sketchbook. A few minutes later, Clint arrived. Tony came back from his lab and Thor came from the kitchen. His eyes widened at my sight.
"Yeah, I know Point Break, but we have to talk first," Tony said before Thor could say a word. "Cap, if you're ready?" Steve raised his head and closed hi sketchbook before standing up.
"As you all know, SHIELD is no more and HYDRA is back. For having fought against HYDRA in past, I know how hard it is to get rid of them."
"Yeah we get it you're old," Tony taunted him. Steve gave him a reprimanding look. My godfather ignored him. "What he's trying to say is that the Avengers need to reassemble because HYDRA has Loki's Scepter."
"That thing he used to turn us into his flying monkeys?" Clint growled angrily.
"The SHIELD was using it to make weapons, it is clear that's what HYDRA is doing as well," Hill added sternly. Thor almost rolled his eyes.
"Why do midgardians have such an obsession for making weapons with things they don't control?" Nobody answered that, too uncomfortable to say anything. I couldn't agree more.
"We have to take it back," Steve stated with authority. "We need to find that scepter and send it back to Asgard." Thor nodded.
"Do we have a lead?" I asked him. He shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Coulson and his team are fighting HYDRA as well, if they have something about the Scepter they'll tell us," Hill added.
"What do we do then?" Doc questioned Steve. He still had some bruises on his face.
"We fight HYDRA. If we have a location from were they operate, we go there and take them down."
"You're our new leader then," Natasha said casually.
"I thought it was already established," Clint whispered.
"The Tower will be our new Head Quarters."
"I will pay for everything basically," Tony felt the need to add. "And take care of your equipment."
"Thanks Santa," I thanked him sarcastically.
"I look great with a red and white hat," he replied and I rolled my eyes.
"Do we have to be here all the time?" Clint asked.
"No, missions are mandatory but otherwise no. We all have our own lives." Relief washed over me at Steve's sentence. Knowing the situation with James, it would have been complicated. "However, some things might require your presence, like the lullaby Stark and Banner are developing for the Hulk."
"Lullaby?" Thor repeated, confused.
"Yes, we looked for a way to trigger the Hulk to turn back into me and a lullaby seems...the most practical one." We were all staring at Banner. "It's not as if you could just sedate Hulk."
"Unless you're a God," Natasha said, showing Thor with a movement of the head.
"Right, I knew I should have picked that option when I joined the team." I smirked at Clint's sarcasm.
"If that's all, we have work to do." Tony pointed at me, then at his lab. I nodded and jumped on my feet, Steve's shield in my hand a second later. "Bruce!"
"Coming." Doc and Tony were in front of me. I turned toward Steve, who was dumbfounded, staring at where his shield was a second ago.
"Sorry Steve, we're borrowing it for a bit." Thor was next to me in a second once I was in the stairs. "Thor?"
"Are you alright?" I raised a brow. "No weird things happening?"
"Because of London?" He nodded. "Well, whatever it was, it appended itself to my mutant gene and made it...mutate even more." He frowned.
"Really?" I nodded.
"Yeah, we were all surprised. Just come, you'll see for yourself. By the way, what hit me?"
"A blast from the Aether, the Reality Stone, one of the Six Infinity Stone." I widened my eyes. "Jane had it in her and it almost killed her as humans cannot handle the power of one of those stones, so I was worried you might have gotten sick because of it."
"I see." I pursed my lips as I saw the lab's door. "Infinity Stones?"
"They're six powerful stones, very powerful gems, created a long time ago."
"So...my mutation was impacted by something very powerful on a cosmic level?" He patted my shoulder with a grin.
"Yeah, but you're fine so it's nothing!" I watched him entering the lab before me.
Was it really nothing?
"Alright JARVIS!" Tony said, the door closed behind me. "Get ready for a full scan! Addi, the handle." I grabbed the katana handle on the table with my free hand.
I made the shield levitate in front of my hand and touched it. After months of practicing, I felt the connection between me and the matter I was touching when it happened. I took a deep breath and focused on my right hand. Dark matter took the form of a sharp, black blade.
"That's dark matter," Thor noted in shock.
"JARVIS?"
"As you thought, it seems like Miss Carter is able to reproduce the vibranium's characteristics. Apart from the look of the blade, it is exactly as if it was made of vibranium." Doc was frenetically writing all of this down. "All of her vitals are normal. Congratulations on your new power Miss Carter."
"Thanks JARVIS," I told him with a grin. Thor touched the blade.
"And you have to touch something else?" I nodded.
"Yeah, I can't just do it out of thin air."
"How long do you keep that up?" I shrugged. Tony and Doc were talking to each other.
"Training allows me to make it for longer period of time. Without any support, I can keep it up for thirty seconds. With the handle..." I twirled it around. "It goes up to three minutes."
"For now," Tony said.
"Tony thought of something that would retain the dark matter without you thinking about it so you can focus on something else during battle."
"Do you need me here?"
"No, just take these ones," Tony said, showing me the two handles already ready, "and we'll call you for testing. JARVIS saved the data we need anyway." I nodded and looked at Thor.
"What are you gonna do until we're needed?" He shrugged before a cheeky grin found its way on his face.
"I'll visit Jane." I chuckled and started leaving the room.
"Of course."
The rest of team went back to attending to their businesses. Steve was in the kitchen and called me when I walked in front of him about to call Pepper for house advice.
"Yeah?"
"Did...did you find him or anything?" I gulped and shook my head. The little hope he had in his eyes died and his face fell. "I see. Washington is a big city, it would have been very lucky if you had found him."
"Yeah, sorry Steve," I replied, knowing that I had been lucky and I was lying right to his face. "Oh, I forgot your shield in Tony's lab."
"What was this about by the way?"
"My new power, derived from telekinesis. I can pull matter in the air together to turn it into something solid and it has the same characteristics than what I touched just before. We wanted to see if it worked with vibranium and it did." He raised his brows.
"With swords I guess?"
"Katanas," I corrected him sternly.
"Right, katanas." I nodded.
"You're going to look for him?" He took a deep breath.
"Yeah. Sam said he would help me. It's just...I can't let HYDRA get him again." Knots appeared in my stomach.
"I'm sure he knows them enough to evade them, and anyway with the state things are at the moment, HYDRA will be busy fighting the SHIELD and not look for an asset." He pursed his lips.
"I hope you're right. Bucky has always been there and when he fell off that train..." I took a deep breath and a sad smile appeared on his lips. "Sorry, I don't want to bother you with that."
"That's okay Steve." You were just making it hard to lie to you Roger.
The awkwardness would be here for a long time.
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