If you thought our heroes would have a good time of rest, think again! Baron Mordo's Acolytes are now face to face with Bucky and Wanda, and with two civilian casualties, they now must bring a big fight if they want to make it out of there alive. This one will be action packed, that's for sure!
Enjoy the reading!
SCARLET WINTER
Chapter 5: Improvised Protectors
It happened all of a sudden, but time is running out, giving very scarce room for a proper reaction and only two options: Run or Fight, however, the priority has become to protect Anna, the young girl who has become the target of two magically empowered corrupt law enforcers.
Bucky stands in front of who seems to be the Sheriff, standing in guard while his opponent tries to stand after the first attack, but the Winter Soldier knows that he must not leave room for him to breath, and with that he rushes to the truck grabbing a crowbar to use it as a weapon, ready to give another strike while Anna tries to help Pops.
Anna ran to the tree that was taken down, seeing how Pops is barely on his last breath, trying to speak to her.
"Pops! Hang on, Pops, stay with me" Anna holds his hand, breathing nervously while Pops is barely holding on.
"G-G-Go…to Michigan…" Pops tells her "Find…Lieutenant…Salt…and…Sergeant…Pepper…" he tells her his final words, gasping for one last time until he fades out and dies. Anna starts crying, holding his body close while behind her Bucky keeps fighting against the magic empowered Sheriff, dodging his energy blasts as he approaches and clocks a hit straight to his jaw, leaving him numb enough to strike back with another strike, this one to his gut, finishing with an 'bio-electric charged' uppercut with his bionic arm.
Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch is handling the situation with the other officer, who shoots energy blasts at her, but she creates 'Hex Shields' to block them, seizing her up with each shot as she blocks her moves.
"You are very powerful" the officer speaks to her in a menacing tone "The Grand Master will be very pleased once he knows I eliminated you" she speaks, but Wanda shoots another of her own energy blasts.
"You have a lot of firepower" Wanda replies "But no experience at all" she adds, using her hexes to create a short circuit that explodes the lightbulbs around the officer, distracting her enough to create a spell of magic chains that envelop her "Let's see what I can do about that amount of power" she murmurs as she starts an incantation that start to burn down the energy she possesses "Vestala Haganamina Gurulata" she chants, causing the excessive magic energy from the officer to leave her body and soar up to the sky, breaking through the roof of the house going high enough to explode in the sky.
"What have you done?" the officer mutters as soon as Wanda sets her free "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" she screams at her, making her eyes glow red again.
"I erased your power boost, and you're still weaker than me…do you really want to take the risk?" Wanda comments, creating new 'Hex Shields' to be prepared, and as expected, the officer lunges against her, but Wanda uses her Hexes to cause her to stumble with the rug, charging her energy to shoot an energy burst that pushes the officer several feet away, crashing the front door and sending her against the side of her car, falling unconscious after the strike "Now, to help Bucky and Anna" Wanda mutters, heading to the backyard where Bucky's fight is not faring that well, but her priority is protecting Anna "ANNA!" she screams once she sees her, rushing to her side and looking in horror how she cradles Pops' dead body.
"He killed him" Anna cries when she notices Wanda's presence "That son of a #$%&+ killed him" she then looks at the fight, with Bucky still landing some punches, and even shooting his gun again, but the sheriff shows great resilience thanks to his powers "You have to help him" she tells Wanda.
"We have to get out of here" Wanda tells her, looking back to see Bucky trying to make one last move but the sheriff shakes it off and charges his hands for another energy blast, but Wanda intervenes creating one of her Hexes, causing a gust of wind to blow and throw sand and leaves into his eyes, blinding him enough to create an energy field to buy them time "Let's go to the truck" she says, grabbing Anna's arm to pull her with them, using the brief distraction to escape, getting inside the truck and starting it in order to leave.
The sheriff tries to regain his composure, just to witness their escape in Pops' truck, prompting him to head back to his patrol and start his own chase of them, but as he marches back, he discovers his fellow officer trying to stand up after the beating she received.
"What happened to you, Harlan?" the sheriff asks her with an angry tone.
"That Scarlet #$%&+ took my power away" Officer Harlan replies while she stands "Where are they?" she asks him.
"They're on the move, we're chasing them" the sheriff replies.
"Good, I have a score to settle with…" Officer Harlan tries to complete that sentence but suddenly she starts to feel an odd energy flowing inside of her, just like Officer Brady hade before her "Oh no…No…No…Grand Master, please!" Harlan tries to voice her concern and pleads for mercy "I won't fail you again! Please! Pleeeea…" she tries to speak but the energy inside her makes her body burn down, leaving nothing but ash in front of the sheriff who look astonished at the scene, but then he looks up in the sky.
"I won't fail you Grand Master…I will get that girl and the medallion" the sheriff proclaims, stepping inside the patrol to chase them, hoping to find them back on the road and fulfill his Master's duty once and for all.
HOURS LATER
The attack was swift, but the Scarlet Witch and the Winter Soldier managed to gain enough time to take Anna with them and escape on Pops' pick-up truck. Bucky remained behind the wheel while Wanda kept her sights out of the passenger's window to ensure no one is following them and Anna remains nervous in the middle of them.
"Do they have a way to track us?" Bucky asks Wanda, being the 'magical expert' in the group.
"They could, but she is the target, and I doubt that she has magical potential" Wanda replies, looking at Anna, who is still in shock after Pops' death "Where are we going?" she asks him.
"Michigan" Bucky replies "Pops said that we could find someone who could help us over there" he adds, but he frowns his face as he does not know whom exactly should they be looking for.
"Lieutenant Salt…" Anna whispers, catching the attention of both Bucky and Wanda "Pops said…to look for Lieutenant Salt and Sergeant Pepper" she adds.
"Are you sure he said those names?" Wanda asks her sounding a bit skeptical due to the 'Sergeant Pepper' reference.
"I swear to God that's what he told me!" Anna exclaims, snapping due to the shock, prompting Bucky to stop the truck on the side of the road.
"Stay here" Bucky tells both women to stay in the truck, since he can tell that Anna really needs a moment to snap out of her funk. He steps out of the car and checks his phone, discovering a text message from Sharon to call her back, which he immediately does.
"Bucky? I just saw on the news that someone attacked your location" Sharon's voice is heard through the phone with major concern in her tone.
"We were" Bucky replies in lower voice, taking a deep breath to explain what happened "We got found by two more officers, both magically empowered, we managed to escape but…"
"The old folks died…that's all over the news as we speak Buck" Sharon interjects, revealing that the attack has been broadcast all over the media.
"Totally expected" Bucky replies, sighing in frustration "We're on the move to Michigan, we'll be searching for an ally of Pops, someone named Lieutenant Salt, can you search that for me?" he asks her.
"I'll do my best Buck" Sharon replies "Right now I'm trying to do some damage control with this situation, you try to be careful" she adds "And Bucky…I talked with Steve, he also knows what happened and you know he'll do everything he can to ensure Pops and his wife will rest in peace" she comments, referencing how Steve always takes great care of his comrades in arms and their families, moving Heaven and Earth to ensure their well being.
"I know he will, and thanks for the help, I'll work on my side to keep the girl alive and once we're clear, I'll let you know and complete the work, alright? Take care" Bucky replies, ending the call and then he takes a deep breath, but when he turns to head back to the truck, he discovers Wanda standing nearby.
"So this girl is a mission for you?" Wanda confronts him, yet Bucky remains calm but serious.
"Why'd you left her alone?" Bucky asks her, changing the subject.
"She's asleep, I made a quick spell to put her mind at ease" Wanda replies, retaking her stern look "Now you answer my question, this girl is a mission for you?" she asks him, to which Bucky sighs in response.
"She contacted me through the Tor Network for help, and that's what I'm doing, helping her out of this life" Bucky replies, looking back at Wanda who slowly starts to look confused about that statement.
"Helping her out with what? And what's a Thor Network? What does Thor have to do with anything?" Wanda issues a few question, but Bucky gestures with his hands to signal her to calm down.
"Is not Thor Network is Tor Network, T-O-R" Bucky starts to explain "Is a private web network that people use to avoid usual detection, experts in computers tend to use them" he starts to ease her in the explanation "Sharon Carter and I developed a message board for people who want to abandon the criminal life, people from HYDRA, A.I.M. or whatever corrupt organization they are tend to contact us in order to extract them from those lives, then once Sharon makes the background check, I proceed to remove them and send them to a new location, so they could start a new life" he concludes, causing Wanda to look at him now more calmly.
"In other words, you help people search for some sort of redemption?" Wanda asks with curiosity, to which Bucky nods in response.
"It's the only thing they search for" Bucky replies "I help them find the redemption I'm still looking for" he comments more to himself, but he failed to realize that he said it out loud, sparking more curiosity from Wanda towards him "How about you?" he asks her Not to sound ungrateful but I'm curious about your involvement in this matter" he poses the question, bringing Wanda back to the conversation.
"Oh, sorry" Wanda replies a bit nervously "Doctor Strange asked me to investigate a magical disturbance" she starts to explain her mission "Turns out he was right, there seems to be a cult at work, but the information lies on the girl you're rescuing" she adds, looking back at the truck where Anna is asleep.
"Then it's our duty to protect her, but once we're in the clear, we must get answers from her" Bucky comments, with Wanda nodding in agreement since she also has some questions of her own.
They both head back to the truck, starting the engine again to take their march to Michigan, hoping to find Pops' contact. Bucky once again takes the wheel, keeping his eyes on the road while Wanda keeps an eye on Anna, yet she remains curious about Bucky's words of searching for redemption.
"Never thought I'd find out that Bucky Barnes is such a mysterious man, and to think that the whole 'Winter Soldier' story is already a mystery on itself" Wanda ponders in her mind "I can tell that he is broken, because why else could he be in a constant search for redemption? And yet, that's something that is way too familiar with me…maybe I could help him, and who knows, maybe in his experience, he could tell me how I could manage my redemption too" she starts to wonder about their respective paths of redemption, finding an unexpected point in common, but suddenly her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a police siren, a sound so loud that inevitably wakes Anna.
"Huh? What's happening?" Anna asks, sounding startled as she gets awake.
"Seems that the police is after us" Wanda mutters while Bucky starts accelerating "Do you think that's a good idea?" she asks him, sounding more concerned about the situation.
"Either that sheriff warned other authorities or might be the guy himself, we can't rely on any law enforcement" Bucky replies, recalling the previous moment with the now dead officer "Hang on" he warns then as he puts his foot on the pedal.
They try to lose the chasing car, trying to speed up as fast as they can, but the scenario becomes direr when an energy beam flies right by then, thus confirming that they are being chased by the magically empowered sheriff.
"Omigod, Omigod, Omigod" Anna starts to breathe agitatedly, feeling nervous at the scene, but Wanda decides to take matters by casting another of her hexes "What are you doing?" she asks nervously while she sees the red energy glow on Wanda's hands.
"Taking matter of the situation" Wanda replies, focusing her energy while the patrol bumps them from behind until she sees the opportunity she waited for, causing Bucky to swerve to the other side, making the sheriff miss his shot and hit a tree that falls right near him, forcing him to break and flip his car to one side, jumping and flipping in a barrel roll down the road. Anna looks back, shocked at the scene but nonetheless impressed at the Scarlet Witch's level of power.
"Please tell me it's over…I mean, that guy couldn't have survived that right? Right?" she asks both of them, sounding nervous at the prospect of seeing the officer survive that crash.
"Not gonna lie, I doubt that'll kill him, but we won't be staying to find that out" Bucky replies, keeping his foot on the pedal, accelerating to gain enough distance and leave the scene, marching as fast as they can to their destination in Michigan.
HOURS LATER
In what it looks like a massive car wreckage, with the patrol's remains scattered all over the highway, the sheriff's body suddenly awakes, gasping in shock after what transpired. He slowly stands up, cracking his bones back to its place, relocating his shoulder and snapping his neck, having survived the crash, he then starts walking a couple of steps, focused on getting his retribution against them.
"Stop" a voice warns him to stop, prompting the sheriff to turn back and discover to his shock the Grand Master standing nearby.
"G-G-Grand Master" the sheriff mutters "I-I-I'm sorry for what happened, Brady and Harlan failed miserably but I won't fail you" he tries to excuse himself but Mordo gestures with his hand to stop, then he slowly pulls own his hood revealing his face.
"You already did what you had to do" Mordo replies with a calm tone "And you reminded me of something very important" he talks as his hand starts to glow with a red energy.
"P-P-Please, I-I just…" the sheriff tries to talk but he starts to feel the energy charging within his body, just like it happened to his fellow officers previously.
"As the old adage goes, If you want something well done…" Mordo speaks while he uses his energy to burn the sheriff's body down to ash "You must do it yourself…" he completes the sentence with an ominous tone, deciding to take matters into his own hands to ensure the success of his plan and to avoid a more brutal punishment from his overlord.
The corrupt officers are down! But Mordo has decided to chase them down himself, and being much more resourceful, that could mean big trouble for Bucky and Wanda, hopefully they can reach their destination before is too late. The good news is that Wanda's interest in Bucky is starting to spark, so let's hope they start to get to know each other (after all, this IS a romantic story) so stay tuned for further development!
NEXT CHAPTER: THE SOLDIER AND THE WITCH DISCOVER ANSWERS AND OTHER THINGS!