Thank you very much to everyone who has read, reviewed, added to alerts and favourites.
I hope you continue to enjoy as the story unfolds.
First meeting coming up...eek!
All mistakes are mine and mine alone.
XXX
Chapter 3:-
The muggles say, give a woman the right lipstick, the right pair of shoes, and flawless lashes, and she could conquer the world.
Andromeda Tonks says the right amount of beauty charms and your hair a certain way, and a witch could triumph over anyone who thought to put them down.
Holly personally felt that if you gave a woman something she felt confident in, regardless of what it was, there was nothing she could not do.
It was why as she stepped across the threshold of the Avengers Tower on her first day, she was grateful she had listened to her gut and donned her dragon-hide boots, charmed to blend in and not look out of place amongst the muggle world.
Because wearing them, Holly felt like she could conquer the world. She also happened to have gone for the practicality of dressing smart enough to work in an office, but comfortable enough that should it come down to a fight she had the freedom of movement.
And if she so happened to have added an extra layer of mascara and painted her lips blood red, then that was her prerogative.
It was her armour.
Her mask perfectly perfected.
She looked more like herself than she had for her interview.
She felt more like herself.
Holly couldn't lie and say that Luna's visit wasn't a welcome respite, a reconnection to her old life no matter how brief, even if she couldn't ever be that person fully again.
Too much had changed.
She had changed too much.
In more ways than one.
Holly's mind whirled, as she walked across the lobby to the reception desk, ideas and plans spinning around and around.
She knew she had to tread carefully, now that she had the job, the hard part started. Holly could not afford to draw too much attention to herself.
She needed to keep her head down, get the job done and gather the information she needed.
And just because she was working at the tower didn't mean she couldn't pursue other avenues of investigating either.
Holly shifted her bag on her shoulder and gripped the file in her hand. All the papers and documents, Hill had requested her to bring.
The receptionist slid her, her new ID badge over which would allow her to reach the upper levels of the tower with little fuss and Holly thanked her with a small smile before making her way towards the lift.
Holly followed the same path she had four days earlier and waited patiently for the doors to slide open.
The only difference this time was, she wasn't alone.
He was already waiting patiently as she approached. Tall with a muscular build and arms that she couldn't help but let her eyes trail over. They were some pretty impressive muscles and matching broad shoulders.
He didn't look up at her approach right away, busying himself with his phone, but they stood mere inches apart as they waited.
Holly was painfully aware of the heat radiating off him, painfully aware of him in general.
He had a presence to him that you couldn't ignore, even if he weren't doing anything particularly exciting.
Something was pulling at her...calling her. Not quite like when Ron had cast the Summoning Charm on her, but far more profound.
As if something was tugging on her insides.
Holly pushed the strange sensation away from her thoughts as she became aware of eyes watching her from the corner of her eye.
She glanced up at him.
Blue eyes studying her, Merlin his eyes were seriously blue!
Full-on Prince Charming, bluebell flames bright blue. As if his eyes were permanently containing the dancing flames.
"Morning," he greeted with a smile.
"Morning," Holly answered, her lips turning upwards on their own accord.
The tugging was back, stronger than it had been before and something kneaded her mind in anticipation, shadows purring quietly and Holly felt as if her entire body was vibrating.
The lift doors opened, and he made the motion for her to enter. Holly tensed slightly as she stepped in front of him, she didn't want to be rude, but she didn't like the idea of giving him her back.
The air shifted ever so slightly, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention; her senses prickled, and her magic stirred opening almost sleepily eyes to view the world around it.
Tasting everything around her.
There was a nudge in the back of her mind, and Holly was hyperaware of her surroundings.
Of him.
Her stomach dropped.
An unexplainable tug as her magic reached out.
Something about him was pulling at her.
A deep sense of dread rose from her stomach as realisation dawned on her.
Oh, fuck no.
The universe was really fucking conspiring against her.
Holly's eyes snapped upwards to him and really took note of him. Looked past the friendly smile, the piercing blue eyes, and the good looking exterior.
She could see the furrowing of his brow. His jaw clenched tightly, and tightness around his eyes.
Holly wetted her lips nervously and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
Soulmate.
Soulmark.
Her entire body was singing once she finally paid attention.
He knew as well.
She knew he knew.
Not everyone had a soulmark, a soulmate.
Names marring their skin.
Nobody knew where the marks came from, or why some were born with them.
They were taught the stories; the tragedies in school.
They were rare, random, and abnormal if you listened to people like her aunt and uncle.
Some religions stated that the marked eased the separation from God. A blessing to those chosen few lucky enough to bear the marks on their skin to help them find a way to endure the challenges they would face.
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Trial by fire, it was whispered. Tried and tested throughout their lives.
Saints regardless of the religion, origin, they changed the world.
Science stated that those marked were an anomaly. No gene showed who would be marked until they were born. There was no prediction, no pattern forming. It was random, chaotic even, but they and the Historians agreed that those who were marked were unique, exceptional world changers.
Good or Evil.
Trial by fire.
They suffered, and the world suffered with them.
A friend, lover, co-worker or partner, and to whom one is usually drawn to fulfil a specific mission.
Nexus, domino effect.
A curse or a blessing.
Not everyone who changed the world had a soulmark.
Not everyone who was marked changed the world in such a significant way.
Holly personally felt that alone disapproved any theory on what they were, and why some people were born with them.
They weren't something that could be understood, explained, only speculated and whispered about, adding to the legend and the myth and the weight to those that found themselves marked.
The Wizarding World had, at the very least, offered something more tangible to why some were marked.
The focal point of the weave of life, they whispered. Used by magic herself to influence change.
The Wizarding World had offered dazzling examples as well, Riddle, Grindelwald, Dumbledore, four other Dark Lords throughout history and many others she couldn't possibly name.
For good or for bad, all of them, all of them had changed the Wizarding World in some way, the effects still being felt to this day.
Perhaps that was just one of the reasons why fate had entwined Riddle and her into that fucking prophecy because they both had been marked at the same time, but hadn't matched.
Her name had decorated his skin, but his had been absent from hers.
They had been opposites, opposing sides.
Holly had never been more fucking grateful for that fact when she realised he bore her name and she didn't bear his.
Though Holly wasn't sure whether it was down to her damn Potter luck that she had been born with not just one name, but two, or something else entirely.
Abnormal even amongst the extraordinary.
A freak of nature, just one more nail in the coffin that made her unable to fit in anywhere.
Holly personally thought fate just liked fucking with her.
Holly closed her eyes for a second, and took a breath, pushing away the tightening knotting feeling that was growing in her stomach.
Because while once upon a time, Steven Grant Rogers had remained a mystery to her, just a name, that Holly had been grateful hadn't belonged to her enemy or one of the children she had grown up with.
Holly knew exactly who he was now.
It may have taken her a moment for her to place the face of the man standing in the lift with her, but there was no mistaking who he was now.
Steven Grant Rogers was none other than Captain America, which meant...which meant that James Buchanan Barnes was none other than Bucky Barnes, more renowned for his recent status as the Winter Soldier.
Fate really liked fucking with her, she could accept, maybe, and ignore the idea of two names circling her heart. Those names belonging to two heroes from the 40s; both with superpowers, one belonging to the tag of Earth's Mightiest Heroes after the Battle of New York and the other a former brainwashed assassin, well that was just fucking taking it to far.
Not that she had any room to judge, she was a fucking witch.
Holly swallowed the snort that threatened to escape because wasn't that an amusing thought, a witch and two super soldiers - what exactly did they have in common.
Hydra.
All three of them had Hydra in common.
Holly wasn't entirely convinced that was a great foundation to build upon.
Did she say anything?
Should she?
Or should she push it downwards and ignore.
He wasn't saying anything either.
Holly could feel his eyes pressing along her skin though, she met his gaze once, and he quickly looked away.
Fixing his gaze on the lift doors, as if willing them to open, now so he could make his escape.
That hurt, just a little.
It bothered Holly that it did, that it mattered at all.
She shouldn't be surprised; she never fitted in anywhere, why would actually meeting them be any different.
She was a freak, abnormal, why would anyone want her.
No!
Holly firmly slammed the door shut on that particular thought.
That's not why she was here; she would never have entered the idea of working here had she known.
She couldn't afford to be distracted now.
Holly couldn't afford to lose focus, not even with the fact that she would be working in the same building as her soulmates.
She wasn't that little girl anymore that had clung to the two names like a lifeline when all she had was shadows as company.
When loneliness was all she had ever known.
That wasn't who she was, not anymore, and even if a small voice in the back of her mind whispered, liar. Liar. Liar.
She couldn't afford to be that little girl she used to be; who had craved family and love, and acceptance and the idea that somebody would come and rescue her.
She had learnt the hard way; Holly had learnt to rescue herself.
So while she wanted somewhere to belong, somewhere to truly call home, Holly knew better than to reach for it.
Not with everything she had done; everything she had survived.
Holly was perfectly fine on her own.
She was here for one reason, and one reason only and that didn't include her soulmates.
Holly had never been more grateful when the doors of the lift slid open; she stepped out, leaving Steven standing in there alone.
She turned back to him, pushing a smile across her face, even though she felt as though someone had scooped out her insides and shoved them into a blender. Leaving one mushy slaw, she couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of.
She didn't want to think.
She didn't want to breathe.
But she was Holly fucking Potter. Small but mighty.
She didn't let the world see her bleed, didn't let the world see her weaknesses.
"Have a nice day." Even years later, Petunia's voice was still ingrained into her actions no matter how hard she tried to push the woman's voice out.
Little girls are, sugar and spice and all things nice.
He stared at her in surprise.
They hadn't introduced themselves to each other, so while they both felt the connection, Holly could still play dumb enough to say she didn't realise who he actually was.
"You too," he muttered as the lift doors slid shut behind her.
Holly let her smile drop and used the precious second of privacy to pull her tattered inner pieces back together. Letting the icy cold depths and shadows and darkness shroud her just a little, freezing the inferno of swirling raging emotions she was currently feeling.
She straightened her shoulders, took a breath and steeled her spine.
She was a witch. An Auror. Armed. Dangerous.
And while they didn't know it, Holly had the upper hand right now, because if need be, she could and would disappear in a blink of an eye, and they would never be able to find her.
She wasn't cornered, and while Holly wasn't prepared to run, was more than prepared to see this through, Holly liked knowing that she had a backup plan if everything went to hell.
"Potter, you are here, good, we can begin the paperwork."
Holly turned to face Hill, with a smile she had perfected and followed behind the woman as she indicated to follow her.
The real hard work began now.
XXX
It felt as if explosions were simultaneously going off through his entire body.
His chest burned, his heart thumped, and his soul cried out soulmate, soulmate, soulmate.
Much like it had the first time he had met Bucky.
His plan to feel her out to see if she was genuine had worked, but it had proven almost too much.
Steve couldn't deny the overwhelming urge he had to reach out with the bonds, reach for the empty space and just connect.
He ran a hand through his hair, grateful that he had a few precious moments of privacy to gather himself before he faced the others, with his confirmation.
There was no denying that this Holly Potter was their soulmate.
The elevator doors slid open with a soft hiss, and he came face to face with Bucky, who seemed to barely contain the pent up frustration and energy that was vibrating through his entire body.
Their entire bodies.
Steve had pulled on the bonds a little too much to anchor himself while he had been so close to Holly.
Blue eyes that held more coldness to them, than he could remember narrowed as Bucky looked at him.
"It's her."
Two words, two fucking words, was all it took for the reality of the situation to hit him right in the stomach.
"It is," Steve answered, stepping out of the elevator.
Bucky fell into step alongside him, neither of them spoke, and Steve wasn't sure whether it was because they had nothing to say, or because they just didn't want to break the silence that had fallen between them for the last four days.
Four days, had really only been four days since Hill had uttered her name, spinning everything on its axis.
He had been busy working with Tony and his team of lawyers on what should be included in the contract and what shouldn't. Pepper and Sam the voices of reason when the lawyers tried to pin it down too firmly, but they needed to make it as iron tight as they possibly could.
If Holly wasn't Hydra, then they needed to ensure the knowledge of who she was never fell into enemy hands.
But the only one who hadn't said anything, who hadn't put any input into the contract was Bucky.
Bucky who had actively avoided anything to do with it, and in turn had evaded him for the last four days.
Steve had hoped that they would be able to talk, honestly talk, about this new development, that they could work together in how to face it.
But Bucky had remained closed off and silent.
Steve couldn't even judge through the bonds exactly what he was feeling or thinking.
Words had always failed him when describing the bonds. He didn't believe they did it justice and how could he possibly describe it to those who had never experienced it before and wouldn't unless they had their own marks themselves.
The closest he could get was it was energy. An electric current that passed through them, it could be as comforting as stepping into a hot bath, chasing the chill from your bones and your soul. It could be as light as a summer breeze, brushing across his skin.
It was home.
At least it had been always between him and Bucky.
Now, now he was starting to question everything, Bucky who closed himself off almost as much as he left the bond open. Bucky who was both a raging ocean and an Arctic polar vortex.
He knew Sam said to give him time, and he was, fuck he was, he was trying to hold back, trying not to push, because Bucky had suffered enough, but Steve wanted, to talk to him, to make everything better, to go back to the way they used to be.
When it had been like breathing.
But that was then and this was now.
And all he could feel was emptiness.
Together, a united front on the outside at the least, they walked into the War Room where the others were already sitting and waiting.
Tony looked up at them, the question written across his face, didn't need to be voiced.
"She's our soulmate," Steve said.
"Right, well, the contract is ready. Everything is ready for when Maria has finished and brings Holly Potter up here." Tony nodded before continuing, "Jarvis, can you bring up the camera in the interview room they are in."
The large screen flared to life, allowing them to see Holly and Maria, going over the paperwork, dotting the I's and crossing the T's.
"She's not what I was expecting," Clint said softly.
Steve frowned.
No, she wasn't what he had been expecting either, he had been taken aback by the red-painted lips and British accent that reminded him so much of Peggy that for a brief moment, Steve had forgotten to breathe and then he had been hit by the energy of the bonds, and he had wrestled for control.
The universe is cruel, taunting him with another soulmark, another soulmate that reminded him of a woman he fell in love with seventy years ago. He had fallen hard and fast for Peggy Carter, she had taken his breath away and while he loved Bucky, would always love Bucky, he had wanted something with Peggy.
Now it seemed one cosmic joke he was connected to another British woman, who appeared to be opposite Peggy Carter in every way possible.
If he was to have another soulmate, then why couldn't it have been her, though had it been, she would have been condemned to live a life without him.
And Steve wasn't selfish enough to wish that on the woman he loved.
And there was still a part of him that loved Peggy...Steve couldn't deny that.
Bucky's eyes flickered his way, hardened considerably before he fixed his attention back onto the screen.
Had he pushed that thought out a little too loudly?
He pushed down on his feelings and strengthened his own mental shields, carefully ensuring that he kept everything on a tight leash.
Steve rubbed a hand across his jaw, aware of Natasha eyeing him up, of Sam looking at him with concern swirling in his warm brown eyes.
He hadn't wanted to think about it when he first got out of the ice, and then Steve had been thrown straight into an Alien invasion, and he hadn't be required to think about it.
He had refused Fury's offer of trying to track her down.
He hadn't wanted to know. Not when the loss of Bucky was still too raw.
He didn't need - no, he didn't want another soulmark.
Then there was Hydra and Bucky alive and breathing.
There had been no point when he had Bucky back.
Yet here she was flesh and blood, living and breathing.
He had been inches away from her.
And that part of him, that was the mark was desperately reaching out to her to complete the connection. As if it knew, and sensed.
"It's okay if you don't want to be here," Natasha stated, offering comfort in the way she knew how. Offering to take the burden off his shoulders.
"No, I do."
Natasha nodded once, in understanding, and stepped that little bit closer, offering support in the only way she knew how.
"You know it will only work if she isn't Hydra. I don't think they will give a flying fuck about a lawsuit or not," Clint stated.
"But what happens then? After she has been set up with everything?" Tony asked.
"We put her to work," Natasha answered, "That's why she was hired in the first place."
"I need help working through the list of potential Doctors to work alongside us more permanently. That's not exactly top secret; she can work with me on that. If she tries anything the Hulk will more than be able to handle it," Bruce offered.
"And we monitor everything else, we watch her closely. If she is Hydra, she might let something slip," Natasha continued.
Steve flinched as ice-cold pokers stabbed at his chest.
He turned to were Bucky was standing; his cold gaze, all but screaming a warning to tread carefully, as he looked at Natasha.
Natasha didn't show a visible reaction, at least not one that Steve could see, but he knew she felt that warning, that she heard it in every fibre of her being.
"Buck," he breathed.
Bucky turned to look at him, arms crossed, his body to tense, to ready to strike at a moment's notice. The bonds vibrating between them with...too many feelings to accurately pick apart, but it was overwhelming and threatening to choke him.
Steve pushed back through the bonds, and for the briefest of moments, the two of them squared off in a battle of wills, the air growing thick and heavy until everyone was looking at them.
The energy was crackling along his skin, looking for an outlet, his pulse racing as he met Bucky's frosty gaze with his own.
He was reminded too much of the battle on the Helicarrier, where he had battled the Winter Soldier wearing his soulmates face and no recollection of who he was, and what they had shared.
They had lost their balance, and they were desperately trying to find it again before they tore each other apart even more.
And then like an elastic band, something snapped at them.
Sharp and cutting, snapping through their bonds too fucking strongly, and breaking the power game that neither had been willing to submit.
Steve swivelled his head round to the screen in surprise, well aware that Bucky was staring to.
Holly wasn't looking up at the camera though, a tight smile graced her lips, and her fists clenched together, but her eyes never left the paperwork. Never indicated that there was anything wrong.
They weren't even fully there, just a puff of smoke easily blown away, and they would stay that way until they formed the connection, and yet she had still managed to send a surge of power through them. Pulsed energy to snap them out of their silent battle.
She was seven floors below them.
"What exactly just happened?" Tony asked, his eyes darting between the two of them, "you looked like you were about to tear each other to shreds."
"We were," Bucky growled, "she used the bonds."
"That shouldn't be possible," Bruce stated.
"No, it shouldn't," Steve agreed.
"She is seven floors below you."
"I know," Steve said.
"That would have blown her cover if she were Hydra, surely she would want them to be at each other's throats," Sam said. It was the same argument he had been using for the last four days. Sam was firmly in her not being Hydra camp but agreed with showing caution.
"We still need to be certain," Natasha stated, "We don't know her. She's loose cannon, and right now we can't afford that risk. She could go to the media; she could go to many people that would want to hurt us."
"We do what we need to do," Steve said.
The jolt of electricity shot through him, and he was all too aware of Bucky leaving the room as the bonds snapped shut behind him.
Steve sighed.
"This can't be easy for either of you, but we all have to remember if Holly Potter isn't Hydra, isn't the enemy then she is innocent in this. Her having the marks is not her fault," Sam said softly.
"I know," Steve replied, "I know."
XXX
Two hours.
Two hours to complete the paperwork and sign the terms and conditions for her employment.
Two hours for Hill to pass her a new phone and Stark Pad that were to be hers for the duration of her employment, to explain in detail exactly what her new role would actually involve.
All the while, her mind whirled, never silencing for a minute.
Holly liked to think she had prepared for every possible outcome in this plan of hers, but she had absolutely not planned to be working alongside her soulmates.
It meant that she would need to adjust her plan, rethink a few steps along the way.
It was doable; it just meant that she had to be extra cautious.
That she had to shield harder.
Because even though they hadn't bonded, Holly was very aware of the bonds there, teetering on the edge of her consciousness that felt like magic but not at the same time. If she concentrated on them enough she could see them, red and golden threads twisting together and pulsing in tune to a beat Holly wasn't sure she was privy to.
She had felt them - flaring to life like angry sparking live wires, that had bit and stung and forced her to dig deeper to shield herself from the overwhelming sense of others crashing through her.
She hadn't been in the same room as them, and yet Holly had still felt them.
Just as she knew that if she cast her senses out into the building, she would find them first, before anybody else.
Holly resisted the urge to do just that, as Hill spoke to her.
"We just have one further thing that we need to go over, and then you will be given the tour."
Hill gestured her to follow, and Holly rose from her seat and followed the woman out of the room.
Holly wasn't stupid, she had an idea exactly what else they needed to go over, which meant she had little time to prepare herself.
She reached for the icy depths of her mind with open arms, and let it seep into her pores, into her marrow. Pushing back at the flaming licks of fire that were swirling emotions, and the burning of her marks, until they were shoved so far down, they were buried under layers of ice.
Holly took a breath.
She could breathe.
It was just her Potter Luck, to throw something her way. It had been going to well, this hunt of hers for Hydra. She had gotten the job, though now Holly couldn't help but wonder if it was more down to the marks than anything else.
She should back away now.
She shouldn't have taken this job. She really shouldn't have taken the position, except she had to. Needed to.
To save lives.
She could do this.
She could pretend to be normal.
She was fine.
Better than fine.
Nothing changed.
Holly ignored every instinct that was telling her to run as she followed behind Hill.
She remained silent as Hill lead her to the lift and up seven floors from the one she was currently on - did that make it the 92nd floor or the 93rd? If she still had a job by the end of the day, Holly was debating whether she should generate a map just to keep track of what rooms were on what floors.
Not that she had to wait long to find out exactly what was on this particular floor.
Or at least part of this floor.
Hill led her to a large room that fell silent the moment they entered.
A single sweep of her eyes told Holly exactly who was in the room.
The Avengers.
The universe fucking hated her.
She had hoped. Really fucking wished that she would have remained enough under the radar to not have anyone look at her too closely.
Of course the marks on her skin and the realisation that they knew utterly threw that out of the window.
The only one that she could see was missing was Thor.
Holly felt somewhat relieved at that.
She had no idea if the Asgardian would recognise her as a witch, and it was not something she wanted to test.
Her eyes glanced over each of them. Her mind reeling off everything she had learnt from the files that leaked on the internet.
Tony Stark. -Iron Man, genius, inventor.
Bruce Banner. -Hulk. Scientist. Several PhDs.
Clint Barton. - Former Shield Agent, Archer, almost inhuman accuracy.
Natasha Romanoff. - Black Widow - former Soviet assassin, former Shield Agent. Lethal.
Sam Wilson, his brown eyes the only one offering any sort of warmth in the way of greeting. -The Falcon fought alongside Captain America in D.C.
She finally fixed onto the two that mattered.
That mattered and didn't matter all in the same breath.
Steven Grant Rogers.
James Buchanan Barnes.
Opposite to each other.
Day and night.
Two sides of the same coin.
How, how the universe thought that adding her to the mix was a good idea she would never know. Holly wasn't stupid. She knew that the marks represented far more than what history said they represented.
They didn't mean love.
Or happily ever after.
The real world wasn't a fairytale.
It wasn't an instant, easy relationship or instant attraction, though Holly was honest enough to admit that both of them were attractive, in that way that could make you forget and stop and stare.
They were both watching her, Steve, with an intensity that threatened to burn her alive, holding her gaze for a fraction longer than necessary and then he exhaled, the tension easing ever so slightly and it felt like his body breathed mark. Soulmate. With that exhale.
James' eyes held a dangerous glint to them, hidden ocean depths that lulled you in with a siren's song, knowing full well the dangers that lay there and not caring for an instant. Yet they burned with just as much power as Steve's did, reminding her far too much of the blue flames that had chosen her name as a champion so many years ago.
He didn't so much as relax, as Steve did, but tilted his head ever so slightly, curiously, a predator watching, waiting, coiled and ready for action, yet holding himself in that perfect stillness of an ambush predator.
He would strike when he was ready to strike, and Holly doubted that she would be able to see it coming.
And then she felt them.
Even all the way through the ice she had shrouded herself with.
Even though she knew they were shielding.
A tsunami roaring through her, knocking the air out of her lungs.
Holly stiffened.
And as they both looked at her, and she looked at both of them.
And for a single heartbeat, everything stilled.
A weight in the air.
A building pressure that slammed against her skin, against her very soul.
She couldn't breathe.
The brief encounter she had with Steve in the lift had been a tug, not gentle, but not as intense as it could have been.
But together, the two of them.
They were ripping her apart from the inside out.
Forces, energy, thrashing through her as if her insides and her soul was their own personal playground.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't breathe.
She needed to breathe.
Holly desperately reached for her shields, reached for the layer of protection she needed to push them back. But they slipped through her fingers as if they were water. Impossible to hold.
They were inside her.
Inside her like Voldemort had been when he had possessed her.
Wave after wave of emotions whipped and ripped through her. Feelings that weren't her own but were drowning her, pulling her under all the same.
The bonds hadn't formed or developed fully between them. They hadn't had room to grow or flourish, and yet they were impossibly stronger than they should be. As if they had been there for years and this was not their first meeting.
None of them had reached out to strengthen them in any format.
Hell, she had only become aware of them today.
And yet they were.
Strong.
Powerful.
Gripping her tighter and tighter.
Red and golden threads coiled around her, pulsing with every thump of her heart. Their heart.
Squeezing harder and harder.
So tightly bound that Holly didn't know where her body ended and theirs began, fused together bound by pain, energy, a tightly knotted ball that no one dared unravel.
A tangled web - and there was no escape.
She couldn't breathe.
Oh, god, she couldn't breathe.
Holly clenched her fists tightly together, gritted her teeth and stood her ground.
She would not bend, she would not break.
She had survived too much to lose herself now.
Holly could see she wasn't the only one struggling.
She could feel Steve and James as tightly tangled as she was, and it was eating them alive.
She couldn't block them.
Couldn't shield herself from them.
So she did the only thing she could.
She fell.
She descended into darkness.
And reached.
Her magic hummed.
Her body vibrated.
The chain around her neck, tucked beneath her jumper, the Resurrection Stone warmed against her skin. Hidden out of sight on her right wrist in a wand holster the Elder wand seared. She felt them whispering, I am here. I am here. Over and over again.
Her magic reached for them, brushing over them and the boost they sent her way threatened to explode outwards, and something shifted under her skin, crawling into her soul and rose like a burning phoenix or a roaring dragon only visible to her own eyes. It snapped and cut at the bonds of glittering red and gold that were tightening around her. It wrapped itself around her like an amour of teeth and claws and projected icy knives that stabbed anybody who stepped to close.
Ice filled her veins, power rolled across her skin.
Enough! Back off!
Something snapped shut, a door, a box, Holly didn't know, didn't care, because she could breathe.
She could breathe, and it was just her. Her and her tight iron grip on something inside of her that she was terrified of letting go.
She inhaled deeply.
She could breathe. She could breathe, and think and...feel just her.
"Shit are you okay?" Someone asked.
Holly blinked in surprise, the room coming back into focus, and both Steve and James were panting, hands gripped around the table hard enough to cause it to splinter and crack.
Romanoff and Barton were beside them.
Holly turned to see the concerned brown eyes of Sam Wilson, who was standing close enough to catch her if she fell, but wasn't quite touching her at the same time.
"Can we not do that again in a hurry," she deflected.
"What the hell was that?" Stark was on his feet, moving towards her. Putting himself between her and them.
As if to deter whatever threat she may be to them with himself and allow them time to recover.
It said more about him than he probably realised, something that went beyond the image that the public and the media portrayed him as. But Holly knew better than to believe anything that the press said about anyone. Knew better than to listen to gossip and rumours.
She judged on what she witnessed herself.
"The bonds. It was the bonds," Steve grimaced, through clenched teeth.
"All three of us in the room together packs a punch," Holly said, well aware that all eyes fixed onto her.
"Did you know it was going to happen?" Stark snapped.
Holly snorted, that didn't deserve an answer, not really and she knew when to bite back her tongue.
"Did you know you were their soulmate?"
Holly fixed her gaze onto Stark, his brown eyes burning fiercely with an iron determination, but a pinch of curiosity in them. As if he couldn't quite work out if she was a threat or something he needed to observe and analyse.
This time Holly was unable to stay silent, her own irritation biting with every word.
"Yes, because one automatically assumes that the names marked onto their skin for the last twenty-nine years belong to men," Holly paused, glanced at Steve and James before, "no offence," she turned to look back at Stark, "to men who had supposedly died thirty-five years before they were born."
Stark looked at her, his eyes sweeping over her, taking in every detail, a small smirk creeping across his lips, "You have sass, I like sass."
"That wasn't sass," she sniped back.
"Oh, I think I might keep you if boy wonders won't." His eyes were twinkling with amusement, and Holly wasn't sure whether she should take that as a sign to run for the hills.
"I can't imagine why," she deadpanned.
"Oh Baby Spice, what a delight you are."
Holly raised an eyebrow at him, "Baby Spice?"
"You are the youngest out of the three of you, plus your British, it fits."
"Oh no that not what I am questioning, I'm just surprised you are aware of who Baby Spice is."
"It was the 90s I knew all the Spice girls."
"Seriously, Tony," Banner groaned.
"Can we get back on point," Hill snapped, "What the hell actually happened?"
"It was the first time all three of us have been in the room together. The first time always hits the hardest," Steve answered, his gaze darting everywhere but her.
"Three is a magic number, can be found in most religions and is woven throughout history and mythology," Banner supplied.
If only they knew how accurate that was.
"So this was a test?" Holly questioned, crossing her arms and taking a step back, giving her space to move.
She couldn't fault them for testing whether it was genuine. Not really, but Holly was tired of being tested, her whole life it seemed was one giant test to see if she was ready for somebody else's game plan.
"We had to be certain," Sam said as he cautiously looked at her "Being who they are, they have a lot of enemies, which means steps need to be taken to ensure your safety."
"My safety?" Holly frowned. Why the hell was her safety important?
"Take a seat, we can discuss everything," Stark prompted, waving a hand to a chair.
Holly eyed them all, nobody was giving anything away, and yet she couldn't help but feel this was an ambush against her. From form the moment she had stepped into the tower, hell even Steve crossing paths with her in the lift. Holly wasn't sure it was one that had gone according to plan, not with how they had all reacted to the bonds, but an ambush never the less.
It made her hackles rise almost instinctively.
But if there was one thing she was good at, it was thinking on her feet when the odds were against her.
She didn't need to give an inch, open herself up to them.
This meeting didn't change a goddamn thing as to why she was here in the first place.
They didn't change a goddamn thing.
Holly sat down.
The Avengers overall were an intimidating bunch. Each with a skill set that put them firmly in the lethal category. But they were the good guys, and she hadn't done anything that signalled she was a bad guy bent on world domination - which she wasn't.
She didn't fear them.
At least not in the way they would expect.
It was Tony Stark that made a move first, cutting through the growing silence, introducing himself and in turn the others.
He bedazzled and charmed in a way, that made you forget for a moment that he was Iron Man and dangerous. Deflection, defensive, tools Holly knew how to use herself. If all you saw was the charming playboy, then you wouldn't see under the surface, you wouldn't pay closer attention. He would be able to run rings around most of the Wizards she knew back home that considered themselves charming.
But he had revealed more than perhaps he intended to when he had stepped up to face her.
Putting himself between her and two of his teammates.
"A contract?"
Holly blinked, her attention focusing back into the room and on what Stark was saying, rather than what his actions were saying.
"For your protection and ours."
"And then?"
"Then we get you set up with security and ready for the day ahead."
"Just like that?" Holly paused, frowning slightly. "Does everyone know?"
"Only those that need to know," Hill answered.
"You know some would consider it an honour," Stark chimed, taking point from Hill.
"No offence, I get you saved the world and all, but I'm British and Captain America, doesn't exactly inspire the same kind of patriotism to me as he would an American. Not that I'm not grateful that you all saved the world."
Steve's lips twitched ever so slightly, hardly noticeable if you weren't paying attention, but she was so Holly didn't miss it.
Holly couldn't feel anything from either of them now, her own shields in place matched with their own.
She brought her attention back onto Hill and Stark who were busy taking it in turns as they explained everything, pushing the contract towards her to allow her to read through.
The contract itself was fairly straightforward.
Mentioning things Holly would never consider doing in the Wizarding World let alone the muggle one.
Informing the Press, the Media, posting on Social Media sites, she wasn't entirely sure she had kept track of the many different ones that the muggles used, but she definitely didn't have accounts for any of them.
She had no interest in becoming a public face for the world to speculate about. Drawing attention to herself was not what she was here to do, and she already had too much focus on her now.
Holly frowned as she reread the same line twice.
It wasn't just the general public she couldn't tell.
It was no one.
Cutting her off from any support network she may have.
Not that she had to worry too much about that.
The Avengers would never know if she did discuss it with them, considering that they belonged to a whole different world, but it was beside the point.
"I'm not allowed to tell anyone, discuss with anyone. No friends, no family," she pointed out, "Yet all of you know."
Silence filled the room.
"The more people that know, the higher the risk of the wrong people finding out. We won't be able to protect you and others that you would tell," Hill answered.
"You are presuming that I need protection, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Holly answered. Who exactly was it they were afraid of the information getting to?
"Against organisation like Hydra?" Stark snorted, "They would use you, to get to us."
Hydra, they more than likely would. Voldemort would have used Steve and James against her in a blink of an eye if he had known who they were, and they had been around then.
But that fact that Stark mentioned them first was interesting, and something she filed away for later.
Hydra - she had changed from the person she was the first time their paths crossed. They wouldn't find it so easy the next time they faced each other.
Not that it was easy the first time; they killed her entire team.
She pushed away the doubt that niggled at the back of her mind, how does the saying go, fool me once shame of you, fool me twice then shame on me.
Holly would be ready to tackle whatever they would throw at her when she finally caught up with them.
"Anybody you tell, would be at risk of being used to get to you, which in turn would have a chain reaction to get to Steve and Bucky," Sam said softly, trying to sound at least reasonable, "However taking away somebody's support system is ill-advised. Is there anybody we need to worry about knowing about the marks?"
"Like?" Holly asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Parents?"
"No," Holly answered, refusing to expand on exactly when or how they died.
"Any other family?"
"None that I talk to."
A sharp jolt of pain zapped through her, and Holly flinched as she turned to look at them.
"Do any of your friends know?" Steve asked slowly, his gaze fixed onto her.
Holly hesitated, did she answer truthfully, or did she lie?
"Three."
"Who are they?"
"I don't think so."
"We can't protect them if we don't know who they are," he pointed out.
"They are protected by nobody knowing who they are, or where they are," Holly countered with a smile. A smile that was all teeth and attitude rather than pleasant and sweet.
Holly was tired of other people thinking they knew what was best for her. Of course, Holly couldn't fault them that, they didn't know who she was, what she was capable of, and if she had her way, they never would. But even so, she couldn't no she wouldn't allow them to think she was a push-over.
Not to mention she felt sorry for anybody who went after Hermione, Ron and Luna. They were more than equipped in dealing with threats.
"What do they know?" Hill queried.
"They know I am marked, and they know the names, and that's it."
Though Holly was personally beginning to suspect that Luna knew more than she was saying.
"Do you trust them?"
"With my life."
"That's the thing; it won't just be your life on the line," Hill pointed out.
Holly schooled her features to give nothing away, "How about if my life is ever in danger, you don't save me, and I will rescue myself, and then it negates the problem of me being used against you."
Silence followed her answer, and Holly read over the contract once again as they pondered her words.
It wasn't binding in the way a magical one was. Sure if she were to break it, the lawsuit that would follow would have consequences, but she wouldn't lose her magic and her life.
Holly had no intention of breaking it.
She had no intention of sticking around long enough for it to become a problem.
This job was for information only.
If signing it was the only way she would be able to stay and work there, then sign it she would.
And yet...
As much as Holly understood the logic, the reasoning appreciated it all. It was for both hers and their protection.
It didn't stop the light quiver of doubt in her stomach as she saw Steve and James had already signed. Had they hesitated, had they the same flicker of doubt?
Her mind spun around and around like a merry go round.
She wasn't worthy.
She was tainted goods.
She was a freak.
She wasn't wanted.
Holly hated herself for giving into those thoughts, to let them whisper in the back of her mind.
Because it didn't matter.
She didn't matter.
Her feelings weren't important.
She wasn't important.
It was just one more sacrifice she needed to make, and Holly was good at making those kinds of sacrifices, especially if it stopped others from getting hurt.
Holly let out a shallow breath, picked up the pen and signed her name three times on the indicated lines.
She wasn't significant in this.
The children, they were who were imperative.
They mattered.
Holly looked up, pushing the contracts away from her, and gave a tight smile and a tad of irritation slipping through, "I won't discuss it with my friends who are aware that I am marked, so you don't have to worry about them being a danger."
They looked at her in surprise, all of them, uncertain how to proceed.
"What's next?"
Holly had never been more grateful to step behind the safety of her wards at the end of the day. The moment the door snapped shut behind her and the locks clicked back into place she slumped down until her ass hit the floor.
Back to the door.
Knees tucked upwards, making herself as small as she possibly could.
She rubbed at her chest, it felt tight, too tight, hands wrapping around her and squeezing.
A jolt of pain shot through her.
Breathe.
Deep breath.
In.
And out.
Today had been a cluster fuck.
A long day.
The tour of the building had lasted two hours; Holly was surprised exactly how much was crammed into the spaces the Avengers occupied of the Tower. Recreational rooms, including a home cinema and pool, a party deck, which Stark used to entertain guests. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Setting up with security had taken its time, as had ensuring she was set up with her phone and Pad and once it had been done Holly was given her marching orders to go home and start the next day afresh.
Now she was in the safety of her home she could try and make sense of what she was actually feeling.
Even now Holly could feel it vibrating through her body, her blood, her soul.
Her magic purred.
Even the darkness fucking purred.
Holly leaned back and smacked her head against the door.
She needed to focus.
She could handle this.
Holly took a deep breath.
It didn't change anything.
She was twenty-nine years old. She had stopped believing in fairytales when she was six.
The marks on her skin did not mean, love, acceptance, family and everything she had wanted when she was alone in her cupboard for days at a time. When she was cold, hungry and hurting.
Before she learnt once upon a time only happened in stories and in the real world, the bad guys usually won. She was no fairytale princess.
Holly wasn't that little girl anymore.
She was an adult.
She would deal with this, just like she dealt with everything else. Roll with the punches.
And if that didn't work.
Deny.
Deny.
Deny.
Holly was the fucking Queen of Denial.
Yet one thing she couldn't deny was the Avengers knew.
They would be keeping a closer eye on her.
It made everything more complicated.
She was fucking cursed.
Since the moment she had been born.
Holly had accepted she had been born with her marks, just as she had acknowledged that they had been one more nail in her coffin as to why she was a freak.
She had pushed the idea of ever meeting them aside.
She had been doing just fine - until now.
Her chest tightened in disagreement.
"Oh, fuck off!" Holly muttered.
She took another breath.
She had had her five minutes.
Holly couldn't afford to allow herself any longer.
"Get it together, and pick yourself off the floor," she whispered.
She closed her eyes and reached for her Occlumency shields. She submerged herself into the icy depths, letting the coldness fill her and freeze. Shoving everything down and shielding it in layers and layers of ice. Impenetrable.
She had no doubt that by the time all this was over; she was going to need a bigger box.
But as she opened her eyes, her mind, and her emotions felt calmer. More in control. More focused.
Safer.
Safer not to feel, because she had always felt too much. Too much until it became unbearable. Until she couldn't breathe or think, and just acted.
She controlled her emotions; her emotions did not control her.
She let out a breath, this one shallower, lighter, more controlled, and pushed herself to her feet and away from the door.
What was it she used to tell herself when she was younger?
Small but mighty.
Brave and unyielding.
Holly's eyes burned and molten fire spread through her veins.
She had work to do tonight, her own files to look over. Krum had sent over his figures, and she needed to look at them, compare the dates - try and find a pattern across the world.
Before more children went missing.
Before Hydra did whatever the fuck they were planning to do with those children.
XXX
Bucky's eyes were beginning to hurt as he stared blankly at the bright screen in front of him. He let out a deep sigh that rumbled inside his chest and tried his best to focus.
He was so fucking tired, but sleep evaded him.
And not for the usual reasons of familiar nightmares.
He was restless.
Every part of him.
The Soldier.
The Asset.
Power rippled through him, and that darkest part of himself woke up and pushed its way forward to the front of his mind before Bucky could even think about pushing it back.
The predator.
His entire body hyperaware of everything around him. The vibrations in the air, the slightest change in scent, the approaching footsteps that he shouldn't be able to hear, but thanks to the serum he was, thanks to the Soldier he could.
But it wasn't paying too much attention to the outside, no; its focus firmly fixed on the bonds.
Those metaphysical threads of red and gold that connected him to his marks.
Every part of him was fixed on her, even parts he wished weren't, had been since she had walked out of the room earlier that day after signing the contract.
"Bucky?"
"Don't," he growled in warning.
His heart was pounding; he could feel his pulse under his skin as though it was a live wire.
He could feel Steve's uncertainty as though it was his own, could feel uneasiness in his stomach, his breath catching even though he was breathing just fine.
"Bucky."
His name was said softer this time, quieter, and then it wasn't uncertainty he felt it was warmth.
Sitting by a bonfire kind of warmth, while roasting marshmallows. It was love, unconditional love, acceptance, strength, and everything he didn't deserve. Not with how red his hands were. Not with how black his soul was.
Bucky wanted to soak it up, to stay like that forever, but he couldn't. They couldn't.
Not when he didn't trust himself.
Not when it wasn't safe.
Bucky pulled away, untangled himself, pushing with the coldness that was the Soldier and hated himself just a little more when Steve flinched in response.
"I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Steve said softly, "I shouldn't have pushed."
Bucky stared at him, even now, with the uncertainty of everything between them; Steve hadn't stopped being his friend.
He hadn't stopped being Steve's friend.
Even if it was complicated.
"What rattled the cage?"
"We shouldn't have done that," he answered instead.
Steve faltered for a moment, uncertainty creeping back in, right down to his most subtle movements.
Movements that Bucky knew by heart.
"Done what?"
Bucky threw him a look, not able to hide the disappointment from showing.
"Today. The ambush. The contract. Everything," Bucky answered, flicking a tongue over his bottom lip, "It was a mistake. We should have handled it better. We should have done it differently."
XXX
The universe hummed.
Tiny vibrations trickled over him as the fabric of the universe rippled.
He could taste the power on his tongue.
He could feel the familiar icy caress against his soul...calling him.
His mind stretched and reached, grasping at the whispering threads and promise of sweet death.
He could feel her.
How long had it been since he had felt her presence in the universe?
Too long.
Where had she been?
Why had she hidden from him?
He had searched and searched. He had slaughtered and conquered in her name and still she had not come to him, and now...now he could feel her.
As if she was just waking up.
Yet it was different.
There was a searing heat that had never been there before; his love had always been cold, cold and darkness...soothing but never forgiving.
But the heat burned at his skin.
Power.
Different from what he remembered, new to him yet ancient, he could feel it in the fabric of the universe a pulsing beat.
One he did not recognise but felt all the same.
It changed the melody. It changed her melody.
It shrouded her from his sight. He could not see her.
The universe hummed, but it hummed a different song.
What had happened to his love?
What had caused this change?
He frowned, soon my love, he would find her soon. He would discover what had happened, why she had disappeared, and what this new aberration was and how it was connected to his love.
