Disclaimer: No I do not own anything that you see here and recognize as being written by someone else. I am also not getting paid. Which sucks.
It's Cassie's experience that recovery from a serious trauma hurts significantly more than the initial injury ever does. Partly that's because recovery always takes longer. Even when the injury can be healed using magic residual pain sticks around and seeps down in to your muscles and bones. Cassie herself sometimes experiences phantom pains in her side and an ache in her hip some days from a bad fall taken while fighting Gaea.
Psychological damage is no different, or if it is, the difference is that it hangs around for a whole lot longer. Cassie would run out of fingers and toes before she could finish counting off the friends she has whom she knows still suffer nightmares even after the three major wars of her lifetime have been fought and won. Nightmares last longer and are more constant than any physical pain ever will.
Sargent James Buchanan Barnes is not the exception to this rule no matter how much Cassie wishes he could be, for Steve's sake if nothing else. It's not surprising. Cassie doesn't need to check records to know that after seventy years of HYDRA, Barnes is the single longest surviving P.O.W in recorded history. That has to mean that they're dealing with the kind of accumulated psychological damage that not even the most doomsday capable trauma therapist would be prepared to try to handle.
Cassie is not that doomsday capable trauma therapist. She's not any kind of trauma therapist, highly capable or otherwise. In fact, she's not any kind of therapist at all. She took the exact minimum of psychology classes required for her to get her degree and fulfill her various academic requirements. She can categorize and recognize the signs of psychological damage. Being able to actual fix it didn't make her curriculum.
In medical school she had had the option to choose to go in to therapy and she had actually considered it. The discovery that the classes required involved a heavy level of self-awareness and self-analysis had been enough to give her doubts. Over two decades as a demigod have left her with no illusions whatsoever about her own psychological health. She could definitely be doing worse, but she doesn't think she has ever been or will ever be in a position to try to talk anyone else through their problems in any way any kind of healthcare professional would approve of.
All of that said, she does her best to try to help Bucky as much as she can. She carefully monitors and records any bit of medical information she can get from him while he recovers and archives all of it in case it turns out to be useful later. The scans she takes use both technology and her own magic to compile everything and give her a clear picture of what she's working with. As far as she can tell, his system is comparable to Steve's if slightly less extreme. She gages his healing to be a little slower and from that is able to estimate a timeline for when he might wake up.
In the meantime, the rest of her energy goes in to handling the day to day running of the medical bay, and making sure that both she and Steve stay as far out of Tony's way as possible. This proves to be easier than it might have been and Cassie assumes that Pepper is making the same efforts on her end. When their significant others are less inclined to go 'Clash of the Titans' on each other every time they pass within a ten yard radius, Cassie plans to schedule in some better quality time with the woman.
What's harder is keeping Steve running as normal. A Super Soldier metabolism worked substantially faster than a normal persons which meant that a lot of food was required to keep Steve's system functioning. It also meant that sleep, while not always as necessary for the average person, was encouraged when available. Actually, Steve is a bit like Percy was after his dip in the Styx, always hungry and very occasionally in need of a good nap. At least, that's how Steve is supposed to act when he's taking care of himself.
A day in to Bucky's stay in the medical bay and Cassie becomes convinced the this isn't actually Steve's plan. He isn't sleeping and seems to be forgetting to eat if Cassie doesn't remind him. She puts up with this for exactly fifty-two hours before she digs in her heals and literally drags Steve back to their apartment. The fact that that is something she's actually physically able to do without facing resistance is proof enough that she has a valid point.
It doesn't stop Steve from arguing with her verbally, but that streak lasts exactly long enough for Cassie to snap at him and shove him backwards in to their bathroom for a shower. She orders pizza while he's in there and he eats half an entire pie in somewhat mutinous silence as Cassie matches him. When he's done Cassie takes his hand again and leads him to their room, pulling him down on to the bed with her.
He protests tiredly right up until the moment his head hits the pillow. Moments later he has dropped off to sleep in mid sentence and Cassie sighs and curls up on her own side of the mattress to catch up on some of the hours she's missed. She wakes up four hours later to find Steve staring down at her with an expression that's all warmth and gratitude. He's using one hand to prop himself up and the other is playing idly with a stray lock of her hair.
When Steve sees that her eyes are open and she's awake he leans down and brushes feathery kisses over her forehead, nose, cheeks, and eyelids before finally meeting her lips with his own. "Thank you," he says. The words are quiet and sincere and Cassie knows the the means every letter of them. "You were right. I should have listened to you sooner."
Cassie smiles back at him and gives a small shrug before stretching her neck and back gently to remove the kinks. "You're welcome. Should I try to make this a teachable moment about your life being easier in future if you just take my advice on medical issues or is that implied?"
"I would say the 'you were right' covered that," Steve replies smiling a little wider. He kisses her again and they both allow themselves to get lost in it before they both have to get up and get back to work.
She feels a bit guilty about it, but she considers the mission Steve gets called out on in Brazil to be a small blessing. It's the kind of mission that falls right in the sweet spot of not actually being too dangerous, but definitely necessitates Steve, and it'll keep him busy and out of the country for a few days. She all but pushes Steve out the door with a smile, a warm kiss, and a promise to get in touch somehow if anything happens.
Of course with Cassie 'anything' comes with an extremely broad definition. It involves a spectrum that could include anything from Bucky twitching in his sleep, to missing a train, to falling down the stairs, to another alien invasion, to one of her godly relatives asking her to do them a favor, to Tony Stark deciding to do the Hokey Pokey in the Iron Man suite on live TV. Given what she knows about Tony Stark, that option doesn't actually seem that unlikely.
Alright. Fine. Steve is talking mostly about something happening with Bucky when he says 'anything'.
Still, having Steve safely occupied with a small, safe, paramilitary situation in the jungle a continent away is a bit of a relief. It's business as usual and it removes some of the pressure that's she's been building and living with behind her eyes. Ideally it'll also give her an opportunity to talk to Bucky, and maybe prepare him a little before Steve gets back. Steve does his best to be polite and kind and always tries to do the right thing, but no matter what he says he will have expectations and hopes and Cassie is going to try to prevent those from being crushed and let Bucky heal.
It's going to be a special kind of hellish balance to maintain. Fortunately Cassie has always been a decent tightrope walker. Seriously she had to take a course on it at camp and she got full marks from Chiron.
Bucky Barnes wakes up at the morning after Steve leaves on his mission. This is good because his vitals have been holding steady for a while and the question of when he would join the world of the living has been hanging like the Sword of Damocles. It's not such great news for Cassie given that she's left instructions with the staff of the medical bay to call her any time day or night if Bucky wakes up while she's not there, and the time he chooses is three AM on one of the very few nights Cassie has actually managed to go to bed at a time a normal human might actually acknowledge as sane.
Regardless, she does check her phone when the buzzing wakes her up at three in the morning and squints at the text on the screen. Once her dyslexic and sleep distorted brain manages to sort out the meaning of the words she grunts, rolls out of bed, and hauls ass to the medical wing still wearing the shorts and oversized shirt she'd worn for pajamas. The only concession she makes to trying to look more like a human being is that she pauses to throw her hair up in to a messy bun so that it isn't blocking her eyes. After a moment for thought she throws on her lab coat and shoves her notebook in to the pocket.
When she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror she almost wants to laugh. This will definitely not be going down in history as her most put together look of all time. Somewhere up on Olympus Aphrodite might be crying for the apparent death of her sense of fashion. The lab coat over the top really just sealed the impression.
Oh well. Too late to do anything about it. If Barnes wanted a put together looking doctor he should have waited until a more reasonable time o wake up. Seriously two hours shouldn't have been too much to ask for. By then it would have been five and Cassie probably would have been awake anyway. Waking up with the sun tended to take on a whole new meaning when you were Apollo's kid.
She walks in to the medical wing with her head held high and hopes she's projecting the kind of confidence she normally only reaches for when she has to command troops in battle. Barnes is a soldier so maybe he'll be able to appreciate the effort. If he can't then that's just tough. The first time Cassie ever met him he tried to murder her with a very nasty assault rifle. It's a little late to be worrying about making a good impression.
Not to mention pointless.
It takes her exactly twelve steps to reach the bed that was allocated to Barnes when they had first brought him in. The man is sitting in his hospital bed as still as a statue. It actually takes Cassie a moment to be sure that he's actually breathing. For all she knows, this could be a living statue and the actual Barnes might have escaped through the window.
She's spent time talking with Carter and Sadie Kane. The Egyptians have some weird ass magic up their all linen or cotton natural fiber sleeves and Cassie personally does not trust it. The idea that one of them might have gone evil and started working for HYDRA thus contributing some of their freakish robot-like statue things to their cause. Fortunately she is able to confirm through his heart rate and breathing that Barnes is actually Barnes and not an evil shabti look-alike.
Still, she files the matter away as something to discuss with Carter and Sadie the next time she makes it out to Brooklyn.
"Hello Sergeant Barnes," she says after taking a last calming breath to put her thoughts together. He doesn't turn his head or do anything to acknowledge that he's heard her speak. Cassie decides to forge ahead. "We were wondering when you might come around," she does her best to keep her voice light and calm. It's her doctor voice and it's one carefully cultivated by medical school and training at camp. "You've been out for about two days. You lost quite a lot of blood and went through some shock and trauma. How are you feeling now?"
Barnes continues to stare blankly ahead of him. Cassie bites her lower lip so hard there's a chance it's about to start bleeding. There's an option she can use that might get her a reaction, but it's risky. In fact it's more than risky, it's cold. It might also create an inhibitor for future progress, but she's not necessarily a patient person and they probably don't have a lot of time anyway.
With that in mind Cassie reaches her decision and takes in a final deep breath to steady herself. She straightens her spine, firms her shoulders back and raises her chin imperiously. "Status report Soldier." Cassie makes the words an order instead of a request or polite inquiry.
The effect is instantaneous. Barnes snaps to attention, rigidity freezing each of his muscles in to place as he looks at her. His hands flex on the railings of his hospital bed, the metal digits on one side leaving an imprint behind. His eyes are filled with a cold fury that Cassie would consider terrifying if she hadn't seen people wear it before. For a moment she worries that she's touched the wrong trigger and Barnes is about to attack.
Well... Too late to turn back now.
She meets Barnes' eyes levelly. "Current situation threat assessment," she orders. If Cassie were five years younger she'd be crossing her fingers behind her back in the hopes that her bet is about to pay off. Hopefully Barnes will comply with the order, make a threat assessment, and consequently realize that he's not actually in any danger. At least, not from her and not right now.
When Barnes finally relaxes it takes every ounce of Cassie's will power not to deflate herself. At the moment the most she allows her body to do is roll her shoulders forward, releasing the newly accumulated tension in her neck. Hopefully the ice will now be thoroughly and completely broken and they can continue on to establish some new variation of normal.
"No current threat," Barnes says as his eyes clear and focus. He blinks and looks her up and down. "I still remember you," he says. If Barnes were any less trained in emotional disguise and repression Cassie thinks that those words might sound a bit more confused. As it is they come out flat. "When I woke up in a hospital bed again I thought maybe I wouldn't. But I remember everything."
At those words Cassie actually beams at him. "Then you remember that we've never actually been introduced between all of the fighting, bleeding, running, shooting, and almost dying." She offers him her hand. "My name is Cassie Morgenstern. I'm a doctor, and I'm dating your childhood best friend whom you may or may not actually remember much about at this point."
For a long moment Cassie's hand is left hovering between them. Silently she urges Barnes to break through and just take it. Finally, after an incalculable moment, Barnes stretches out his hand and takes hers. The skin of his palms and the pads off his fingers are layered over with calluses and his nails are chopped down nearly to the quick. He applies barely any pressure until Cassie slightly tightens her own grip, trying to silently reassure him that a firmer shake won't hurt her. She can't help but wonder if this is the first none violent or clinical contact Barnes has had with another human being in the last seventy years.
Cassie thinks it probably is.
"My name-" Barnes starts and then breaks off. He swallows thickly as though there's a lump in his throat he wasn't expecting to find there and isn't sure he can shift. Then he raises his chin in a movement that's all steady defiance and cold determination as he says, "My name is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes."
The declaration makes Cassie want to smile again. This is a victory, and if Cassie has her way it'll be the first of many. "It's a pleasure to meet you Sergeant." Their tentative handshake ends and she takes a few steps backwards, pulling over her rolling desk chair and lowering herself in to it. Once she's settled she looks back at him to find that Barnes has tracked her every movement with the eyes of a hawk. "Would it be alright if I asked you a few doctor questions? If you aren't feeling up to it right now you can say so and I'll let us both get back to sleep."
The fact that she's asking, that she's left it up to him how they proceed seems to knock him for six for a moment before he gathers himself and gives a short, sharp, nod. "You can ask," he states. But I might not answer is left unsaid.
Cassie nods and extracts her notebook from her pocket. "Do you feel at all dizzy?" she asks. "Any nausea or lightheadedness?"
Barnes shakes his head. "No symptoms of blood loss or concussion when I woke up," he says. "I'm also not feeling any signs of muscle or bone damage. There's some tissue sensitivity around the bullet wounds."
Her hand works fast as she writes out everything Barnes is telling her in messy medical short-hand. All of the information will have to be entered in to his digital medical chart and filed correctly later. If Cassie is determined to do one thing, it's keeping all of the paperwork her job involves in order. It's becoming a point of personal pride for her. Also the fact that Barnes is offering all of this information up freely might officially make him her most helpful patient ever.
"Judging by the speed of your metabolism and the rate of healing of your other wounds I would expect that sensitivity to stick around for another day or two. There'll probably be some stiffness for a few days after that." She glances up from her writing sharply to fix him with a sharp expression. "Are you hungry? Do you have any appetite at all?"
Barnes keeps himself frozen and in check for a moment before answering as though he thinks admitting that he experiences something as humanely weak as hunger is something she might judge him on. Then he seems to come to some kind of conclusion and infinitesimally shrugs one shoulder. It might be the most normal gesture or movement Cassie has seen him make so far. "Yes," he mutters.
With a decisive nod Cassie flips her notebook shut and slides it back in to her pocket. "Alright then. At first glance everything seems good. At least, physically you're good and frankly that's all I'm actually qualified to judge you on or treat you for so we'll just start there." She stands up and can't help the yawn that threatens to crack her jaw. "I'll have someone take in some food for you and I'll come back in a few hours when the sun is actually up to do doctor stuff."
Okay so that's not the most technically educated way she could have phrased her sentence. It's still freakishly early in the morning and Cassie personally isn't ready to deal with the foibles of the finer points of medical grammar and the English language. It's enough to trip her up at the best of times, and in Cassie's opinion any time before there's a singular ray of sunlight visible is not the best of times.
"I don't like being poked and prodded," Barnes says stiffly. At the mention of anything relating to potential medical testing tension has begun to radiate off of him like a very stressed out sun. A generator of focused anxiety.
Cassie shakes her head lightly with a final small smile. "Neither am I." She leans over slowly with each of her movements telegraphed and softly lines up her fingertips with one of the healing bullet holes. After a moment of intense concentration a solitary spark winds it's way down Cassie's arm and over the veins in her hands down her fingers and on to Barnes' chest. The spark of magic targets the injured tissue and is absorbed in, borrowing beneath the skin until Cassie actually senses the bruising recede. With that Cassie steps back and shrugs. "Lucky for you I'm not that kind of doctor."
With that she turns on her heel and walks out of the room. She figures she won't get a better exit line no matter how hard she tries and the part of her that's closely related to her father's dramatic tendencies appreciates that fact. How you end an interaction is as important as how you start it.
On the way out the door she leaves orders with the attendant on duty for the night to order Barnes some food, all high protein and high calorie and make sure it actually gets to him. Cassie has to make it an order because the poor woman she employs for these hours is looking at Barnes like she thinks he might jump up and start murdering people with the feather pillows. Actually, some of the people she knows could probably pull that off so it's not such an impossible idea that Barnes might be able to do it too.
Once she's out of the room and back in the living room of the apartment she shares with Steve she curls up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and sits staring at her phone where it lies on the coffee table. She normally adds cinnamon to her hot cocoa the way her mother did for her when she was very little. Those memories and the feelings of comfort that they inspire is probably why this is what ambrosia tastes like for her.
The last of the cocoa slips down her throat just before it starts to go cold and Cassie sets it aside. Then she reaches out and types two simple words in to her phone. He's awake. Then she puts her cup in the sink, plugs her phone back in, and goes to bed.
There's no point in waiting for a response tonight. When Cassie and Steve had first started dating he had added her name to the operation updates bulletin SHIELD (whatever was left of it) kept on his missions. Cassie wasn't completely sure how the system worked or who was running it but what she did know was that she got alerts on her phone whenever Steve was headed back from a mission. Before that alert came, Steve wouldn't have access to a cell phone or any other means to contact her with unless he could find a helpful agent to pass a message.
The alert she's waiting for isn't there when she wakes up the next morning so Cassie goes about her day as though everything is still normal. At least, as normal as anything ever can be in her life. Which admittedly is not exactly Football Sunday levels. In fact, it's more closely related to "Dear Gods An Asteroid Is About To Strike Earth" levels. One lightning strike in one million kinds of normal.
She makes her way down to the cafeteria in the Tower and retrieves several breakfast trays, balancing them precariously along her arms she makes her way back up to the medical wing and over to Bucky's bed. She lays a few of the trays to the side on one of the empty beds and hands several more over to Barnes. "Breakfast," she announces. "I wasn't sure what you wanted or how much you would eat so I got some of everything that was there," she shrugs. "I hope you like Bacon. Stark seems to think it's an essential part of breakfast. Or at least, the chefs running his kitchen downstairs do."
Barnes blinks up at her for a moment and then gets down to eating. Cassie pulls up the same chair she had used the night before and pokes through her own bowl of yogurt with granola and fruit salad. She pulls a face and pushes the bowl of fruit towards him when she reaches the bottom. "Do you like kiwi?"
This actually draws a response from Barnes. "Why don't you?" he asks. He's already polished off two plates and is working on the third.
The face that Cassie had pulled becomes more extreme without her input. "Well partly it makes my tongue itchy," she explains. Chiron had actually once thought that that was the first indicator of an allergy. This had caused concern given how rare allergies actually were with demigods. Apart from Frank's lactose sensitivity Cassie actually doesn't know any demigods who have any. "Partly I just don't like the taste," she adds on. She shakes the dish at him. "Do you want it or not?"
Barnes seems to consider for a moment before figuring that it doesn't make much difference and takes the bowl she's offering. Maybe he thought for a moment that she was trying to poison him. However, Cassie has to admit that as far as potential poisoning attempts go, plainly offering a bowl of slightly squashy green kiwi isn't the best one. Besides, this bowl is one she's been eating from for the last ten minutes.
When they're both done eating (Barnes is done first despite the fact that he ate approximately four times as much as she did. The Tower grocery bill is about to go up considerably. Maybe that'll turn out to be billable to the government. Maybe it'll be tax deductible) Cassie sets their dishes aside.
"Okay. So they're two different ways to do this next part." Barnes looks up at her and Cassie can tell she's gained his complete attention. "There's the typical medical way," she says. "You're doubtless familiar with that one. I don't think the basic principals have changed very much."
Barnes tips his head. "Or?" Clearly the idea of the normal medical way is one he knows well and hates dearly. "What's the not so typical way?"
Cassie shrugs. "Well it's a lot quicker, but a bit more personal," she prefaces. "I don't know what you might have been told about me, or more accurately about what I can do, but I have a certain skill set. Essentially I can learn everything that I need to do with a touch and well," she laughs humorlessly. "A little bit of awkward Greco-Roman mythologically based magic."
Silently Barnes stretches an arm out to her, exposing the bare skin of his forearm and nods to her. Cassie takes this as a sign that he's opting for option two and takes his arm with both of hers. With her eyes shut to concentrate, Cassie tends her medical senses and allows her gift to wash over Barnes like a full body scan. Slowly the information download forms in her head, giving Cassie Barnes' full medical history moment by moment. When she has a completed analysis Cassie pulls her hand back and nods, entering the information in to her files on a small tablet.
"How am I looking?' Barnes asks.
"Good," Cassie replies. "Your pressure and heart rate are normal. All of your physical damage seems to have reversed almost completely. Physically, you are just fine."
Barnes narrows his eyes at her very slightly. "Why did you say it would be more personal? I didn't feel anything when you did... whatever you did."
It takes Cassie a few minutes to figure out the best way to explain what she needs to. "It's a little bit complicated," she starts hesitantly. "I'm not even completely certain how the ability works. It's just something I can do so don't ask me for too many details okay?" She waits for Barnes to nod before she continues. "When I do a scan like that I get everything," she says. "I don't just figure out what your body is doing now, I see everything that's healed and broken already. You fractured the knuckles of your right hand three times between the ages of fifteen and nineteen before you learned how to punch with your wrist straight, and before the serum you had Raynaud's." Barnes ever so slightly raises an eyebrow at this pronouncement so Cassie elaborates. "It's a circulatory disorder. Your hands and feet would have gotten cold easily."
At that moment her phone beeps to tell her that she has a visitor in the lobby downstairs asking to come up. The message comes with a live video stream from the security feeds covering the front desk and Cassie taps to enlarge the image and blinks in surprise. The face of Rachel Elizabeth Dare is staring back at her with a meaningful expression on her face as though she's actually looking directly at Cassie. The other girl's fingers are tapping impatiently against the reception desk and she's constantly shifting her weight from foot to foot.
With a sigh Cassie types in the command to allow Rachel entrance and sends a quick text giving Rachel directions to her and Steve's apartment, telling her to meet her there. She pinches the bridge of her nose and gathers herself for a long explanation. Explaining things to Rachel can be an experience similar to facing down the Spanish Inquisition. Personally Cassie thinks Rachel may have missed a calling as an interrogator for the FBI.
When she looks up at first glance it seems that Barnes is staring blankly at the far wall. A quick check on Cassie's part shows her that what he's actually doing is watching her closely in the reflection caused by a window in the opposite wall. It's a good move tactically and one Annabeth would probably appreciate.
Cassie stands and Barnes shifts his attention to her in a flick of a glance that happens so quickly it's almost imperceptible. "I have to go handle a situation with an old friend," she says. "I'll be back soon to give you a tour of the building. There are some empty apartments on our floor you can pick from. I think they should be move-in ready but even if they aren't, this building employs enough cleaning people that it shouldn't be too hard to get it set up. You shouldn't stay stuck here in the medical wing any longer than you have to be."
After that she ducks out and goes to meet Rachel. She's about halfway back and walking through a hallway that's all windows on one side, providing a fantastic view of the city below, when she finds Rachel by running straight in to her. It's only a combination of quick reflexes and years of training on both of their parts that keep both of them standing.
"Ow!" Rachel exclaims. "Gods Cassie! You're as bad as Percy and that guy tried to stab me the first time we met because he thought I was a killer indestructible skeleton soldier. What is up with you? You are normally so much better than this. And wow my head hurts. Has your skull always been that hard? I think you might have given me a concussion. Thank the gods your a doctor anyway."
Biting her lip to cut off the bizarre urge to laugh Cassie reaches out and puts a hand on the top of Rachel's head, feeling a goose egg bump forming below her mess of thick red curls. "Here," she says. With the tiniest bit of concentration Cassie is able to send a few small sparks of magic in to her friend, sensing the bruising reduce and Rachel's headache vanish. "No concussion," she says, withdrawing her hand with a small smile.
Rachel tips back her head and shakes her hair out of her face, reaching up to the side to try to twist the hair in to some kind of controlled braid. "Good because I'm pretty sure when you have a concussion you aren't allowed to look at screens and with the amount of work I have to get through that would be a totally major no-go. But right now that is so not important. I haven't heard anything from you in days! Did you and Captain America of boyfriend fantastic-ness find Sergeant Barnes with the fantastic jawline? Is he here? What's-"
She doesn't get to finish her question because that's the moment that a giant demonic looking bat creature decides to crash through a panel of windows to try to kill them. Which really is incredibly inconsiderate truth be told. But that's evil bat demons. They attack anytime they want with not one thought given to anyone else's schedule or timing preferences.
After several years of training Cassie has a finely tuned reflex for not wanting to die and that reflex is probably what keeps both her and Rachel alive. She launches herself forward, knocking in to Rachel and sending them both to the ground. It's covered in broken glass but the movement takes them momentarily out of range of the creature trying to kill them so Cassie's willing to live with the minor cuts and bruises. Presuming she does, you know, actually live.
By an unspoken agreement Cassie and Rachel roll in separate directions, splitting the target and hopefully distracting the demon enough to buy them a little more time. Cassie follows her instincts and summons her bow and quiver, shifting and maneuvering as best she can to try to find an angle she can shoot from and actually hit a vulnerable point that might kill whatever this beast is. The fact that she can't recognize the demon is worrying. Rachel follows her instincts and screams.
Both valid strategies for facing a monster. Granted they come from two very separate philosophies. Well, mixing methods provides a healthy variety which after all is key in a healthy monster facing offensive.
Cassie fires off several arrows at areas that should be vulnerable like the monsters eyes and nose but the projectiles bounce off. Firing at the toughened skin and hide of the creature's sides yields the same unsatisfactory result. In a fit of frustration Cassie fires in to the monster's wing and finds to her shock that this time the enchanted silver manages to tear a piece away like it's tissue paper.
A flash of inspiration strikes her then as she remembers an exhibit she saw in the natural history museum what feels like a million years ago. It had been some old man's butterfly collection and it had included glass fronted case, after glass fronted case full of the colorfully winged insects. Each individual one had been splayed out and stuck to the paper with a collection of pins through the edges of the wings.
With that imagine her head Cassie launches herself straight up so that she's firing from above and manages to get off four shots in rapid succession, sinking two arrows in to each wing and pinning the creature to the floor. The creature screeches in fury and pain and Cassie prepares herself to launch in to the air again. Rachel catches on to what she's doing and seizes one of the ricocheted arrows, darting forward and stabbing it through the wing closest to her. Cassie manages to fire several more shots, firmly pinning the beat in place.
That would be fantastic if Cassie hadn't slightly misjudged her landing. Instead of dropping safely to the floor she ends up falling through the air with nothing but the creature itself below her. She tries to adjust her fall path but as anyone who has ever tried to change the direction of a fall in mid air will know, that's practically impossible. There are things to do to keep herself from completely face planting and Cassie does them, bending her knees and controlling her own personal gravity as much as possible. Unfortunately the creature's fur turns out to be slippery and wire like in consistency, allowing for no purchase and Cassie is sent spilling sideways on to the floor.
The impact knocks the breath out of her lungs and Cassie lays stunned on the ground as the creature screeches and writhes barely feet away. Cassie gasps and tries to move. She can't just lie there! The bat creature isn't dead, just trapped and pissed off and Cassie's arrows won't keep it where it is for very long. Rachel is a few feet away shouting for Cassie to get up, for help from anywhere. From her angle on the floor it looks like Rachel is throwing pieces of the damaged wall and window at the bat creature's head.
With a groan Cassie rolls out of the way and barely avoids a flailing set of claws. The impact has jarred her shoulder badly and her ribs ache with an immediately blooming bruise. This fight needs to end, and it needs to end soon.
What happens next happens so quickly that even Cassie's enhanced eyesight can barely follow it. Something clamps down over her shoulder and Cassie barely has time to process the feeling of hard metallic fingers before she is practically thrown sideways down the hallway and comes to a stop next to Rachel. Her ribs grown in protest at the fresh impact and her vision whirls and goes fuzzy for a moment before settling. When it settles she has to blink for a few moments because what she's seeing isn't making sense.
Bucky Barnes is directly facing off with the bat-like demon, the bloody bandages on his chest still in place. He seems to be punching the creature repeatedly using his metal hand. Thinking quickly Cassie shouts his name to get his attention and then knocks and fires an arrow. It makes the creature rear back and screech but Cassie's angle is wrong. She adjusts and fires again and Barnes catches the arrow by the shaft. "Aim for the mouth!" she shouts. "The inside of the mouth!"
Apparently that's enough as far as instructions go because Barnes turns and rams the arrow through the roof of the creatures mouth and up in to it's brain. His metal arm sinks in to it's gullet as far up as the upper arm and Cassie hears a disgusting squelching noise as he pulls it free. Then, with a sound like a bean bag puncturing, the monster disintegrates. Eventually all that's left behind is a pile of yellow sulfurous sand.
For a moment there's nothing but silence and the faint whistling of the wind as it blows around them and in through the shattered window. Cassie then hauls herself to her feet and reaches one arm out so that her skin is under a beam of sunlight. Her ribs heal and her shoulder reduces itself. Several pieces of glass revere themselves out of various cuts on her arms and legs and once they're out Cassie turns and pulls Rachel up behind her.
Rachel stands shakily, expelling a deep breath and looking not a little bit shell shocked. She shakes it off fairly quickly though which Cassie supposes is a side effect of dealing with this kind of thing and being able to see through the Mist. Although in truth prophets don't actually get attacked very often since they were considered sacred. Cassie always wondered why her father's prophet was considered more sacred and precious than she was as his daughter. Even now it sometimes leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.
"Well," Rachel says haltingly. Her eyes are fixed on Barnes who is breathing hard and the pile of sulfurous monster remains at his feet. "I guess that answers my question about weather or not you found Sergeant Jawline."
Barnes is looking at the both of them, or more specifically at Rachel. He's blinking like that one sentence is more confusing and disorienting than the unnamed demonic creature of evil he just killed. The question of what Barnes might have actually seen flits through Cassie's mind. She wonders if it's possible that a side effect of what HYDRA might have done to him over the last seventy years might be allowing him to see through the Mist. Maybe all of the electrocution fried the part of the human mind that works on denying what it can't explain.
With a deep breath Cassie steps between the two of them and makes a broad gesture. "James Barnes meet Rachel Dare and vice versa," she turns more towards Bucky. "Rachel is the friend who helped us find you."
Barnes frowns very slightly. "The one who lives in a strange place," he says, clearly remembering what she told him before.
Rachel's eyes narrow, first at Barnes and then at Cassie. "You know I could decide to take exception to that, but seeing as the strange place I live in is a cave in a hill designed, conceptualized, and created by your father I don't think I will."
With a role of her eyes Cassie mutters, "How nice of you."
"I try."
The wind whips Cassie's hair across her face and she makes the decision to move this little post-nearly dying party to a different locale. Maybe a less breezy one. She chivvies Rachel and Bucky back to the apartment and pushes them inside, locking the door behind them. "JARVIS," she calls, looking in the direction of the ceiling. "You there?"
"Indeed Miss Morgenstern," the smooth name of the British programed AI says. "I have been monitoring the hallway and noticed the windows breaking. Shall I put in a request with the maintenance department to do clean up and have the window replaced?"
The offer makes Cassie release a sigh of relief. She might have to explain what an AI is to Bucky later. Gods only know how that conversation is going to go. Maybe she can get Banner to do it. Rachel at the very least is continuing on as if everything is still normal. She looks pale and her freckles are standing out starkly against her face, but she's also turned her attention to the fruit bowl Steve likes to keep stocked and seems to be trying to decide on which apple to eat.
Cassie nods as she says "Please do. Thank you JARVIS," even though JARVIS is a robot and probably can't see her. Unless he has cameras in this apartment and can watch her movements. Which would be weird.
Crap now that thought was going to fester.
Once that's taken care of she calls up to the infirmary and says to call her if anything goes wrong. She also leaves instructions for her staff to work on the paperwork and standard day to day issues that need to get done. Then she turns to address the elephant (read: metal armed super soldier and prophet) in the room.
Telling the skinny versions of the necessary explanations of who and what everyone else in the room is takes several hours even without most of the details included. By the time she's done Cassie's throat is sore. She had to explain her own recent history, a short version of her own messy genealogy, and tell Rachel about finding Bucky. Rachel listens and contributes where she can and Bucky says maybe six words the entire time to prompt answers on pieces of the story she hasn't brought up. What she doesn't tell either of them is anything that Steve doesn't know yet. She has a feeling routed deeply in her bones that doing that wouldn't be fair to him.
When she's said everything she knows she turns the conversation over to Rachel and lets her talk about her studies, work, and life in general. It also gives her the opportunity to hear about how everything is going back at camp. Thankfully, enrollment is up and none of the older campers have died or gotten hurt since the last time she was there.
Really the entire afternoon feels incredibly disjointed from the events of that morning. It's almost- almost normal. It's chatting with an old friend she hasn't seen in a while after explaining her life story to her boyfriend's not dead best friend.
Okay so maybe her "normal" isn't actually NORMAL.
She knew that already.
After a lunch of extreme mack and cheese Rachel starts blinking sleepily and yawning. After the third yawn in ten minutes she apologizes and explains that she's been running on coffee for the last couple days waiting to hear about Barnes. After that Cassie practically shoves her in to the guest room to nap. "You don't have to leave until tomorrow morning," she says. "I'll wake you up at six."
Under different circumstances she thinks Rachel would protest more but at the moment she just sprawls over the covers and is snoring in minutes. When she walks back in to the living room she find's Bucky curled in to a ball on the floor in front of the window. It doesn't look comfortable, but his back is flat against the wall and his eyes are shut. His breathing is even so Cassie leaves him where he is after covering him with a blanket and putting a pillow down near his head. She curls up on the sofa with her computer to do some work that doesn't need to be done in the office.
About twenty minutes after she gets started she hears the sound of the computerized lock on the door popping open. She looks up with a frown and feels herself go instantly on the alert. Her hand goes up to the charm on her necklace that will summon her bow on instinct and sets her computer to the side. "JARVIS?" she asks cautiously. "What's going on? Can you give me a report on anyone approaching the apartment?"
"It would appear that Captain Rogers has returned," JARVIS reports neutrally. "I opened the door because he seems to be in some distress and I do not believe you wanted it broken down."
Cassie frowns and stands up, moving towards the door. "Thanks JARVIS."
"You're welcome," the AI replies. "Shall I engage my Privacy Settings?"
Well that answered her earlier mental questions. "Please do," she requested. What followed was a slight clicking noise which Cassie took to mean that she was now well and truly alone in the apartment. And none to soon as the sound of footsteps pounded down the hall.
Deciding that it might be better if Steve didn't burst in all freaked out given that she has an Oracle and Steve's oldest friend turned super soldier asleep in the apartment, Cassie hurriedly steps out to meet him. Steve is coming down the hallway and moving fast looking somewhere between panicked and ready to storm a heavily fortified enemy base. He's in front of her before she can say a word.
"Are you alright?" he ask, eyes dark with intensity as his fingers reach forward and skim over her arms and ribs. "I got of the plane and I got this alert from Tower security that there had been some sort of an attack with a broken window and a demented bat that wasn't showing up on the security tape. They said that you and Bucky and another girl-"
"Hey," Cassie interrupts in what she hopes is a soothing voice. "Hey look at me." She covers Steve's hands with her own, pressing one against her waist and drawing the other up to her cheek. "I'm fine okay? There was a problem with a giant bat but it's dead now. My ribs got bruised but they aren't anymore." To emphasize her point she shifts the hand at her waist up so that Steve's fingers can flatten and spread over her now undamaged ribcage. His eyelids flutter closed as he notices the lack of damage below his fingers and Cassie smiles up at him. "Kiss me hello," she says softly. "You've been gone and I missed you."
Her words bring a light flush of pink to Steve's face but he leans down without opening his eyes and Cassie shuts her own as she leans up to meet him. The kiss is warmth and comfort and Cassie hitches herself higher and closer to him by sliding her arms up around his neck and pushing up on to her toes. But Steve's body is still full of tension and Cassie is determined to dispel it so she purposefully deepens the kiss and slides her fingers in to his hair until the rigidity in his neck bleeds away. Steve's breath hitches somewhere in the back of his throat and Cassie actually feels it against her lips. Then Steve has pulled away just far enough to pepper feathery kisses over her cheeks, nose and forehead, gripping her tightly against him. "You're okay," he finally breathes out in to the crook of her neck.
"Yeah," Cassie confirms. "And so is my friend Rachel. She's asleep in our guest room for the night."
Steve nods and pulls away a little, rubbing one hand over his face. Now that she can look at him more carefully Cassie can see that he's still in the black stealth version of his field uniform. Clearly he neglected to get changed in his hurry to get here- to get to her. "I should meet her before she leaves."
Cassie nods back at him. "I'm waking her up at six tomorrow. We can all do breakfast tomorrow. You, me, Rachel," she stops and swallows. "And Bucky."
Steve stops and swallows heavily, his expression shifting in to one of apprehension. "He's really here," Steve breathes. "Here and awake and... him."
"He really is," Cassie confirms. "He's asleep now and he's really confused. Mentally he's going to need a lot of time, and the kind of help I can't give him so I'm going to take some time and find him a good therapist who can be vetted by Fury's people, but he is here."
In the next moment Steve is hugging her so tightly that Cassie's feet fully and actually part company with the ground. She returns the hug and waits for a moment to see if Steve will put her back down but he doesn't. He simply stands there holding her as close as he can with his face buried against her collar bone below the edge of the messy blonde bun of her hair.
For a few long moments Cassie just lets him. This is comfort for the both of them and that's not something she thinks she will ever be able to deny. She tucks her own head and rest her cheek against the top of his and they stay there just feeling each other breath.
Finally Cassie gives his shoulder a light pat and Steve accepts the indicator for what it is and sets her back on the ground. "Come on," Cassie says, looping the fingers of both of her hands through both of his and pulling him backwards with her to the door of the apartment. He comes easily, eyes fixed on her face.
"There's a whole life waiting for us inside."
A/N: So there you guys are. I finally got the casts off of both of my wrists and have full movement again so I decided to celebrate by writing and finishing this chapter. Anyway I hope you guys like it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year a little bit late. This is my first posting of 2018! Anyway as always I am open to suggestions! What did you guys think of Rachel's entrance and Bucky's interactions with Cassie? I know they might need some fine-tuning. Read and Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxxoxoxoxo