Wanda and Madison made their way down to the gym still laughing and chatting away. Walking in, they could hear the repeated thudding sound of fists hitting a punching bag. Walking around the corner they saw Bucky wailing away on said bag as though he were releasing all of his built up anger on it. Both girls just stood there in awe watching as right punch after right punch was thrown. Suddenly Bucky threw a left jab that made the entire bag rattle and strain under the pressure. "Ladies," Bucky said, having caught sight of them watching him in the gym's wall mirrors. Grabbing the bag to stop it from moving he added, "You going to join me or just stand their staring."
Bucky leaned up against the bag as Madison came closer. "You know if you take a picture it will last longer," Bucky whispered to Madison his intention to make her blush. But Madison got the better of him by stepping back and holding her hands up like a square before her face and making a clicking sound. "That's definitely a keeper," Madison whispered back to Bucky making him smile, ducking his head before she saw his blush. As Madison slid her hand down the length of the bag where Bucky had been pounding on it, she was surprised that she didn't see any cracks or tears in the material. "Tony came up with the design. Steve kept busting bags with his punches, and well," Bucky flexed his metal fist indicating that he could do some real damage as well.
"So he came up with this nanotech bag that is constantly repairing itself if it ever gets damaged. So if I hit it just so," Bucky threw a hard southpaw jab at the bag, "the bag is constantly adjusting to the damage I'm doing to it."
Madison watched, fascinated as the bag virtually restitched itself every time Bucky's fists came in contact with it. "You wanna give it a go," he asked, holding the bag in place ready for Madison to throw a punch.
"Oh no," she uttered, "Knowing my luck I'd break my wrist. Remind me to tell you of my overly clumsy nature one day and the many trips to the ER I've had in my lifetime."
Bucky laughed at the thought of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff's kid not being graceful and poised. "I definitely got my dad's pre-serum genes that's for sure," Madison said, laughing at her own misfortune. "I even broke my arm one time tripping on my own shoelaces before falling down a flight of stairs. They had to insert two pins in my arm just for it to heal properly. Thought mom was gonna have an aneurism when dad told her about it." Madison rolled her forearm slightly intending to show Bucky the scars where the pins had been but was surprised to see that the small scars were no longer there.
"That's weird," Madison said, not understanding what could have caused the scars to disappear.
Bucky gently stroked Madison's forearm continuing to listen to her recounting of the accidents she had in her short life. "Another time I fell at school and busted my chin open," Madison tilted her head back to show Bucky the scar. "Sixteen stitches to close it up. I had to have an all liquid diet for an entire week because it hurt too much to chew."
Bucky closely examined Maddie's chin but there was no scar to be found, "Babe, I don't see anything."
Madison darted past Bucky to get an up-close look at her chin in the gym mirror. "You've got to be kidding me," she said as she continued to look for the other scars she had received over the past several years. One-by-one she found them all to be gone.
"Maddie," Bucky asked, stepping over to her as she look at her lower back just above the waistline of her panties. "No bruise no nothing, how weird. Everything has disappeared." Bucky reached up and gently stroked Madison cheek with his fingertips, "Just as beautiful as the day I met you." That did make Madison blush, which Bucky found adorable so he leaned in and kissed her check before grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around back to the middle of the room.
Wanda had been watching the whole exchange between the two love birds and couldn't bring herself to interrupting them, but when Bucky had finally turned Madison's attention to her she knew that was her que to get to work.
"Okay, so according to Bruce and Tony the running theory is that you have somehow made a carbon copy of my powers." Wanda brought her hands up in front of her chest where a small glow of what looked almost like red flame was beginning to form. Madison watched in amazement as Wanda formed it with her hands, rolling it slowly around with her fingers, allowing it to grow and shrink in size as she spoke. "My power is drawn from chaos. The infinity stone brought this power out in me, something that apparently I had lying dormant inside of me already."
Wanda stepped closer to Madison, "Eventually, you could be able to do exactly what I'm able to do. You just need to learn to control it," with a quick flick of her wrist Wanda sent a burst of energy toward the punching bag Bucky had been using previously. The bag shook with the impact of the burst and for a split second you could see the inside of the bag as the energy ripped a tear before it quickly restitched itself.
Madison stood there in shock, as she pointed at the bag, "You want me to be able to do that?"
The seriousness on Wanda's face disappeared in a flash and suddenly she was the bright and happy Wanda from before, "Of course you can do that. It will take some practice, but we'll get you there, don't worry." With that Wanda clapped her hands together before adding, "Shall we begin."
Bucky and Madison turned to one another in stunned silence before looking back at Wanda's grinning face. It was going to be a long day.
The trio had been practicing for almost forty-five minutes before Tony was able to join them. As he strolled into the gym, dressed in his own workout gear, he saw that Wanda was showing Madison how to form and hold a ball of energy in her hands. The only difference between Wanda's and Madison's was that Madison's was made up of blue energy.
"Blue," Tony asked from where he was standing at the entrance to the gym?
"Apparently it's traditional magic," Bucky answered for the ladies as they both seemed to be concentrating deeply on what they were doing. Tony sat down opposite Bucky as the two men watched fascinated as the women slowly exchanged energy orbs back and forth between them. Madison was actually sweating slightly from the exertion.
"This will get easier the more you practice," Wanda offered words of comfort to Madison who was growing tired.
"Can we take a break just for a few minutes," Madison asked of Wanda. Bucky watched as Madison's eyes began to drift closed. Her energy orb was also beginning to fade the more tired she became. Wanda clapped her hands together to stifle her own energy as Madison's seemed to disappear into whiffs of smoke.
As Madison slumped forward in her sitting position, Bucky slid closer to pull her into his arms. She was visibly tired as though she had just had a long workout session. Brushing her hair back from her face, Bucky offered Madison her water bottle to which she eagerly gulped down half the bottle before gasping for breath.
"Is it always like this," Madison asked fanning herself as a bead of sweat rolled down her neck.
"It can be physically taxing if you are using a great deal of concentration to hold the energy in place. Like I said, it will get easier the more you practice."
Madison had finished off her own bottle of water but was still thirsty so Bucky offered up his own. She smiled and thanked him before taking two more long pulls to try to quench her thirst.
"If she had a copy of your powers, why are hers coming out blue," Bucky asked drawing his legs back into a more comfortable position now that Madison was more awake.
"I have a theory about that, but I'm not exactly sure Madison is going to like how I plan to test it out," Wanda gave a mischievous smile.
Madison didn't like that look. That look, she had quickly come to learn, meant that Wanda was up to something and more than likely it would end up making her blush with embarrassment.
Wanda leaned in close to Madison and whispered instructions into her ear. "Wanda," Madison squeaked out in shocked response.
"Just do it," she said, with a huge teasing smile on her face.
Bucky and Tony continued to look on not wanting to get in the middle of the slight spat of words the ladies seemed to be having.
"Close your eyes and focus on what I told you," Wanda said closing her own eyes as she instructed Madison to do. Madison begrudgingly closed her eyes completely embarrassed with what Wanda had told her to focus on however, she had to confess it was very easy to do.
Slowly a ball of flaming yellow formed in Madison's hands, its shape much better formed than the blue energy orb had first been. This one seemed to almost pulse with energy but it didn't seem dangerous, in fact as Bucky and Tony watched it almost seemed to shimmer and throb like a heartbeat would within your chest.
The look on Madison's face was pure bliss and it seemed as though she were using hardly any physical energy to conjure it. "Open your eyes, Madison," Wanda instructed.
Madison looked down at the glowing ball of yellow energy that felt warm in her hands. It was like holding sunshine in your hands, it felt amazing.
"Now, I want you to try to pass it off," Wanda told Madison.
Madison began to lean forward slightly to hand it off to Wanda but Wanda only shook her head, "Pass it to Bucky." Bucky looked at Wanda in stunned silence. He couldn't do what they could, he had no doubt of that, but Wanda only shook her head in the affirmative at him, urging him to participate. Bucky couldn't help but pray that his friend knew what the hell she was doing.
Slowly he reached his right hand out to Madison knowing full well that he couldn't hold the power in his hands. It was different between Wanda and Maddie, they had powers, Bucky, not so much.
Bucky watched as Madison lay the back of her hand in his outstretched one. He could feel the edges of the pulsing of the orb against his hand. Just as he was coming to assume Madison couldn't do it she moved her hand quickly away and the orb was left in Bucky's. It hovered there almost coating the skin of his hand with the energy before slowly spreading all over his hand and up his arm. It was like being slowly dipped in water only this was warm and comforting, however watching it was another thing. Bucky could feel his breathing begin to pick up as the energy slid slower up his forearm and bicep.
Madison noticed that Bucky was beginning to breathe harder as he watched it climb up his arm which concerned her. Reaching out she stopped the spreading energy and it slowly seeped into his body.
Everyone sat there in shocked silence not knowing what had just happened.
"You did it," Wanda gasped, a huge smile covering her face.
"What exactly did she do," Tony asked still looking at Bucky's arm that had apparently absorbed this new energy.
"Yellow energy is a symbol of pleasure and happiness," Wanda turned to look at Bucky who continued to stare at his arm that no longer had the soft yellowish glow to it.
"Bucky, what did it feel like when Maddie set the energy orb in your hand?"
He was at a loss for words, how did you explain to someone that hadn't felt the same thing you did? Licking his lips to speak, Bucky explained the best he could that it felt like sunshine on a summer day on your skin. It was warm and pleasant. It made him feel happy inside that is until he looked down to see it slowly crawling up his skin. That part made him start to panic. "It was like part of me knew I was safe and that it felt good to be wrapped up in this feeling, but another part of me was worried that it would overtake me and I'd lose control."
Madison sat there wringing her hands together afraid that Bucky would say that it wasn't something he enjoyed feeling when he finally said the one thing she didn't realize she needed to hear, "It felt like Madison was holding my hand and I could feel her emotions; she was…" Bucky looked to Madison who was blushing furiously and unable to look him in the face. This only made Bucky smile more as he realized he was right, Madison was physically turned on by him.
Part of Bucky wanted to pick Madison up and take her to his bedroom and show her just how much he physically wanted her as well. But there was still a big part of him that wouldn't allow his baser desires to run free. She deserved better than what was currently running through his head. Closing his eyes, Bucky tried to slow his breathing down and to tamp down the rising urge 'elsewhere'.
"That's amazing Madison. Not many people can conjure several different types of magic like that. Typically we are good at one and that is our soul source. I can tell already that you are going to keep amazing us with your talents." Wanda reached over and took Maddie's hand giving it a squeeze of love and support for her friend.
If Wanda wasn't holding Madison's hand at the moment, she wasn't sure she would have noticed until it was too late the shift in power surge around Madison.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A little magic class going on?" That voice sent a shiver down Madison's spine and her breathing picked up. "Oh, I would love to join in to see exactly what you can do little witch."
Loki stalked the circle of friends slowly, his hands behind his back, looking down at each person. Tony, sensing a shift in the room stood quickly to try to divert Loki and to encourage him to back up from being so close.
Madison didn't understand it. The Loki she knew in her universe was so different from this one. This one scared her and everything he said seemed to sound sinister and calculated. He had a knack of making her feel uncomfortable even when she knew she was safe, him being so close was causing her to panic.
What she also didn't realize was that her panic was beginning to manifest in another way as well. Bucky and Wanda watched as black mist slowly began to float in whiffs around Madison's body. As it got stronger and thicker around Madison, small strands seemed to reach out for Bucky much like the yellow energy had, this began to cover bits of his body.
"Wanda, what's going on," Bucky whispered trying to understand why the change in coloring of Madison's power.
"She feels threatened. Black is a protection power. It's a boundary power. Madison feels unsafe and so she's protecting herself…and you." Wanda pointed out how the black mist was now covering most all of Bucky's body now leaving only his head and neck exposed but at the rate it was climbing he would be encased in it momentarily.
Bucky took both of Madison's hands in his and pulled her closer to him as he called her name. This seemed to rouse Maddie from the trancelike state she had been in. "You are safe Maddie. I'm here, Wanda and Tony are here. No one is going to hurt you." Bucky was shocked to see the beautiful hazel eyes he had loved looking at so much were now almost pitch black. "Madison!" he yelled.
This did the trick and Madison blinked rapidly, shaking her head. As she did the black mist began to retract back into her body like smoke rewinding on a film.
"Well, it seems your little witch is just full of surprises," Loki grinned as Tony continued to hold him back from getting closer to Madison.
After the training with Wanda, Madison and Bucky decided to go for a run around the track of the compound to try to help Madison clear her head. They started off at a slow pace, just jogging but it wasn't long before they were both full-out sprinting. Bucky was fast, being an enhanced it just came as part of the package, but what he didn't count on was that Madison was having very little trouble keeping up with him at his current pace. Her face held a mixture of determination and anger as her feet pounded the track.
Bucky decided she needed a way to release her energy and frustration might just be the thing to break whatever she was holding back so he sped up minutely. Madison was beginning to fall behind as he continued running, with each stride getting a foot or more further away from her until she finally screamed out in frustration.
"Goddamnit!" Madison's roar of anger and frustration brought Bucky quickly to a stop turning just in time to see her crumble to her knees where she had stopped running.
It took only seconds for Bucky to reach Maddie's side, but in that time he realized she had hurt herself when her knees and palms had hit the turf.
"Hey, hey, let me see. Easy, easy," Bucky said as he gently straightened out Madison's leg after she had sat on the grass next to the track. She had a bad case of track burn, having drug her knee along the asphalt when she fell. Bucky immediately felt guilty pushing Maddie so hard that she now had hurt herself. He knew there was a medical kit nearby and he would need some water to wash the wound clean before he could dress it and would have gotten up to go get it. Only Maddie was proving she wouldn't need it.
Madison and Bucky both watched as slowly the wound began to heal all on its own. Little by little the blood withdrew back into the open wound and the skin restitched itself leaving her perfect knee cap wound free.
"Well that's new," Bucky smoothed his thumb over where the broken skin and blood had been on Maddie's knee.
Looking up, Bucky was met with the saddest face he had ever seen on another person. Maddie looked to be on the verge of having a major melt down as he quickly sat beside her.
"Why is this happening to me," Madison asked, burying her face in her hands.
Bucky didn't know what to say so he did the only thing he knew he did well for Madison and that was to comfort her. Scooting close he wrapped his arms around her small frame as she softly cried. Hearing her crying broke Bucky's heart. He never knew someone that had that effect on him before.
As the Winter Soldier there were lots of times when people cried. Sometimes it was crying begging him to not do what he was tasked to do, other times it was someone crying after he had carried out a mission. Each time though his programming had been too strong for him to ever feel anything other than accomplishment.
After his time in Wakanda and Shuri had worked her magic to remove the HYDRA programming, Bucky realized that crying bothered him more. But it never moved him so deeply that he felt compelled to cry with that person. With Madison it was different. Everything she did seemed to touch a nerve with him. If she was happy, he was overjoyed. If she was sad, he was miserable. Right now it was breaking him that he couldn't give her answers and he couldn't just fix it all for her.
Madison clung to him like a lifeline. The day had been both emotionally and physically exhausting and it was only half over. She still had to go inside for a sparring session with Natasha and a skills test with Clint. Part of Madison just wanted to go inside, shower and crawl into bed and forget the rest of the day.
"Why can't we just stay like this," Madison mumbled into Bucky's neck where her head was currently nestled.
Her breath tickled his skin making him laugh at the feeling but before he could answer, the answer came in the form of her stomach growling in protest of not having been fed. "That's why we can't stay like this. You've got a hungry monster trying to get out of there," Bucky reached down and began tickling Madison around the waist which made her fall back to the ground giggling and thrashing about trying to get away from Bucky's fingers that were savaging her sides.
Bucky found himself laying partially on top of Madison's slim form as she tried to calm down from laughing so hard. "God you're beautiful when you are happy," Bucky whispered mesmerized by how Madison's hazel eyes seemed to sparkle when she laughed.
Slowly leaning down, Bucky gently pressed his lips against Madison's letting her set the pace for how far things went between them. He could feel Madison's fingers slipping into his hair, her short nails gently scraping along the back of his neck and she pulled him in, holding the kiss longer.
"I wish I had a Bucky Barnes in my universe," Madison said breathlessly as Bucky slowly pulled back.
"I'm glad you didn't," came Bucky's response which puzzled Maddie at first, "I don't like the idea of sharing you with anyone else," he finished, leaning down and nipping again at Maddie's soft, plump lips.
Laying there in the grass with the cool spring breeze blowing felt so right to them both but real life needed them again and this time it was Bucky's belly doing the talking as his grumbled out a protest at not being fed on time.
After helping Madison off the ground they both slowly began walking back to the compound intent on finding something for lunch. Afterwards, Madison decided she would go into her next task with a positive attitude, sparring with Natasha Romanoff…and trying not to get her ass kicked by her mom.
Side by side Bucky and Maddie worked to fix half a dozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Half of those were strawberry and half were grape. Madison got down two glasses while Bucky got the milk, pouring both of them a tall, cold glass to go with their sandwiches.
A soft moan of delight left Madison's lips as she tasted such a simple treat, "It feels like forever since the last time I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," she said, licking her finger that had caught a stray drop of jelly from her sandwich.
Bucky took a big gulp of his milk. 'How could someone make eating a sandwich erotic?' he thought as he watched Madison lick her fingers.
Madison had only finished off her first sandwich by the time Bucky had scarfed down his second, "What," he asked giving Madison an innocent look, "I'm a growing boy, I need my energy to grow big and strong." Bucky lifted his right arm and flexed his bicep showing off his toned features for Madison which of course made her giggle. If anyone else had laughed at him it might have given him a complex, but Madison's laugh always made him smile.
Natasha watched silently from behind the corner in the hallway as Bucky and Madison laughed and teased one another. Since joining them, Maddie had brought out a completely different side of Bucky Barnes that Natasha had never seen before. The first time she had met him she was only a teenager training in the Red Room and the Winter Soldier never smiled much less laughed. But since Wakanda, since Madison, Bucky Barnes was slowly becoming an entirely new man. She found that this new man was someone she knew she could count on when the going got tough.
She hated to break up their time of fun, but Tony had been chomping at the bit to get Madison back into the training room after her display of magical power. He wanted to see what else she could do and it was going to be Nat's job to begin training her in hand-to-hand combat.
Stepping out from her hiding place Nat made as much noise as she could in order to announce her presence in case either of the two weren't ready to share their good time with others. But as Nat got closer the smiles and laughs didn't stop. Bucky was trying hard to cover his smiling face with his hand; trying and failing miserably.
"I hate to put a damper on the good time, but Tony is wanting us down in the gym again," Nat said, looking from Madison to Bucky.
"Oh, alright," Madison announced taking a couple more bites from her second sandwich before passing her third untouched sandwich over to Bucky. He made quick work of that and downed the rest of his milk as he waited for Maddie to pass him her glass. Looking over the rim of her glass Maddie smirked as she ever so slowly nursed the last few swallows causing Bucky to drum his metal fingers loudly on the countertop in faked annoyance.
Nat laughed and turned to head toward the gym, "Come along children, I've got asses to kick, and not a lot of time to do it in."
Bucky and Madison rushed after Nat down the stairs to the gym area.
"Finally," Tony said a bit exasperated as he watched the trio walk casually into the training room. "I asked for you to bring them down here thirty minutes ago Romanoff."
"We were having lunch," Madison smiled at Tony as she walked over to the bleachers to sit down.
Tony's look seemed to ask why anyone would be stopping for food at a time like this to which Madison could only shrug and reply with, "I was hungry."
The strongest muscle on the body of Tony Stark most definitely had to be his eyes because he made it a daily workout of rolling them in reaction to someone's antics. This moment was no different.
"Fine," he said, walking over to where Madison and Bucky had sat next to Sam who was wiping his face from having just finished a round on the treadmill.
"Nat would you join me up here," Tony asked. As he waited he instructed Madison what he wanted her to do. "If your Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were anything like ours, then I would imagine their little girl would have some basic training at least in defensive maneuvers." Tony raised his eyebrows at Madison waiting for a response.
"You would be correct," came her answer as Tony stepped up to Natasha. "Now, Nat is a smaller person like you, but being small doesn't mean that you are at a disadvantage. In fact it can be very handy for you to get your opponent to underestimate you." Tony suddenly rushed Nat and she easily caught his arm before hip-tossing him to the ground.
Groaning, Tony praised Nat and her quick reflexes explaining that size doesn't always have to matter if you have the right momentum and leverage on your side.
Madison watched closely as Natasha once again took down not only Tony but Clint as well, both having attacked her from opposite sides. "Oh my god, that's gonna hurt tomorrow," Sam called out as Clint slowly rolled to his side to get back up.
"How about you try it now," Tony said, stepping back and inviting Madison to take the floor. Nat walked up to her daughter and whispered something low into her ear. Madison nodded and stepped onto the mat.
"Twenty bucks says she gets put down first," Sam whispered to a nervous Bucky who was busy biting the corner of his thumbnail as he watched Madison line up against Clint.
"Make it fifty," Bucky said, turning to look Sam in the eye. He had faith that Madison could do it, plus he had a sneaking suspicion about something and Bucky was sure everyone was about to get a huge shock.
Sam's confidence almost faltered but ultimately he agreed to the bet, both men leaned forward from their seats watching intently.
"Come on babe, focus. You got this." Bucky yelled encouragement Maddie's way.
"Don't break her Clint, we don't want to have to put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Sam couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.
Clint smiled at Madison trying to break down her confidence, "I promise I'll be as easy on…" before he could finish the sentence Madison swept Clint's legs out from under him sending him quickly to the mat. She then dropped her leg and heel squarely onto his sternum causing him to grab his chest in pain. Madison then tumbled out of Clint's possible area of reach and reset herself into a fighting pose ready to analyze his next moves and where he might be vulnerable.
Natasha was clapping from the sideline at Madison's success in taking down Clint. Bucky just reached his hand out towards Sam ready to accept his fifty bucks. Sam looked like a fish out of water. He couldn't believe how quick Madison's reflexes were and how quickly she took down Clint.
"Wait, wait, wait," Sam said, smacking Bucky's hand out of the way as he got up from his seat. "That has got to be a fluke."
Sam walked slowly over to Madison who had stood from her pose and was now resting her hands on her hips. "Try me," he said, motioning for Madison to take him on. Looking over at Bucky he challenged him again, "Double or nothing." Bucky only smirked, raised his shoulders and said, "Your funeral," before settling in to watch Madison face off against Sam.
Madison stood upright waiting for Sam to make the first move and move he did. He actually attempted to throw a right hook at Madison which she stopped. Using Sam's arm for leverage Madison twisted Sam's wrist upward before leaping up and wrapping her legs around his neck, throwing him to the ground skidding a couple inches forward because of the momentum. Madison rolled backward, getting quickly to her feet not realizing Clint had recovered and was also attacking from behind her.
Clint's arms wrapped around Madison in a vice grip that she wasn't sure she could get out of until she remembered what her dad had taught her years ago. If a guy ever grabs you like that, remember to make him SING.
Raring back, Madison jammed her elbow into Clint's ribs which loosened his grip around Madison but not completely. She then slammed her foot hard onto Clint's instep of his foot before she reared her head back and reverse head-butted Clint's nose. This caused him to let go completely reaching for his now broken nose but not before Madison finished him off with a swift punch to the groin. This brought Clint to his knees, gasping as he held his groin, protecting himself from further damage.
Madison wasn't ready for Sam who had been waiting for his moment and so when Sam grabbed Madison's hair her instinct was to scramble for control. Her mom had always warned her that her long hair could be used against her in a fight, but Madison never thought she would ever be in a fight to test out the theory. Sam wrapped her braid around his hand to keep her in place and attempted to swing her around to face him. This was where Madison decided it needed to end. Using the momentum of Sam yanking her back to face him, Madison delivered several swift punches to Sam's ribs and kidney area. This caused Sam's grip to loosen enough for Madison to slip away. Summoning her strength she jumped and delivered one final punch to Sam's head, driving him to the mat along with the full force of her fist.
Regaining her balance, Madison darted off to the side to watch her opponent's actions. Neither men were in a hurry to get up, both lying groaning on the gym mat floor.
"That's my girl," Bucky said as he got up and walked over to Madison, passing Sam along the way, "that was low man, grabbing her hair."
Sam just groaned out a response, his head throbbing from the force of Madison's punch.
Madison stood beside Bucky panting slightly from the extra exertion she used to deliver her final punch to Sam's head. She quickly swallowed half the water in the bottle Bucky passed her, feeling her heartbeat flying in her chest.
"Well I'd say it's safe to say you can defend yourself," Tony said as he looked down on the two men slowly recovering from their beat downs. "How are you with weapons?"