18. An Old Friend

I blocked the bazooka with the force field, which I'd seemed to master in the first attempt.

How did Steve know this guy? The dude had a metal arm, for god's sake. Steve was still in shock, either due to this guy or my recently revealed superpowers. I knew he had to pull himself together soon, as I wouldn't be able to fend off our attacker long. It didn't matter how awesome my powers were, I had spent two entire months trying to suppress them.

'Bucky' or whoever he was, started working towards us. I tried to propel the force field towards him, which threw him back. Just then, a car pulled up beside us.

"Get in!" Maria Hill, shouted, pulling down the window.

I pulled Steve inside, who was still looking in the direction the guy had fallen.

"How are you two even alive? Asked Hill, as we drove away.

That could be explained later. "Where are we going?"

"Safe house." She answered.

I turned towards Steve. He looked distracted. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I knew him. But that's impossible. He can't be alive." He looked confused.

"Maybe he was just someone who looked like the person you knew." I offered.

He shook his head. Then he remembered. "Was that Tesserect energy?" he asked in a low voice.

I nodded. I hadn't expected the vertigo that came with the head movement. I lied back on the seat.

"You okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. I'm just…. I'm not feeling well."

"We are almost there." Maria said from the driver's seat.

Steve supported me as we walked inside a normal sub-urban house. Nick Fury was lying on the couch in the living room. It was such a relief to see him alive. He was a shadow of his former self, frail and weak. I guess open heart surgery does that to people.

There was someone sitting on the arm chair opposite him. I couldn't see who it was. I tried to walk around the chair to see who it was, but everything became blurry as I took the first step. I fell down at the second one.

…

I woke up with something pricking my arm. I flinched due to the pain.

"Stop it. You're hurting her." I heard indistinctly.

"Her blood glucose is less than 50. Do you think she'll thank me for sparing her some pain when she's a vegetable?" I heard Tony's voice, distinctly. He was trying to insert an i.v. needle into my arm, failing miserably.

"Let me do it." I said weakly.

Tony dropped the apparatus on the bed and left the room. "What's up with him?" Steve asked, helping me sit up.

I put in the i.v. in the first try. "I guess I've hurt him. Are you all right?" I asked, seeing his distraught face.

He took a deep breath. "The man who attacked us, he is called the Winter Soldier. He was the one who attacked Fury. He is credited for dozens of assassinations over the past 50 years. And I've a good reason to believe that his name is James Buchanan Barnes."

"He was your friend?" I guessed.

"The best one. I think he has been brainwashed. He'd never do anything like this otherwise."

"We'll have to stop the Insight launch." I reminded him. He couldn't let his friendship get in the way.

He nodded. "Stark and me as leaving as soon as he fixes his suit."

"I'm coming too." I said, trying to get up. The vertigo hit again and I fell back.

"I don't see how you can." Steve said.

There was no point in arguing. "You know it's very easy to sacrifice oneself to do the right thing. Its not easy to do that to our loved ones." I told him.

He seemed to understand what I was saying. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Can you help me get up?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I need to talk to Tony."

He seemed to understand that too. He lifted me up and carried me to the room where Tony was working. Sadly, I was too nauseated to enjoy the ride. He left after putting me on the couch.

"Hi." I said.

"Hi." He replied, in a flat tone, suggesting he was mad.

"What's your problem? I almost died today." I tried emotional blackmail.

"You seem to have made a hobby of it."

I ignored that. "On the news, they announced that you were dead. But I knew you weren't."

"Good for you."

"Oh my god. Why are you doing this? I'm sorry, all right? I shouldn't have left like that. I know that now. But I was really freaked out at that time. I had absorbed all that Tesserect energy and somehow it became a superpower. Not everyone handles superpowers as well as you. Look what it did to me today. And I know I should've told you about this earlier, but I didn't. I'm sorry for that. Please don't do this." My voice broke.

Tony certainly wasn't expecting this. "Superpower?" he asked, finally in his normal tone.

I was surprised Steve hadn't told him. I explained everything to him, as much I understood myself. He seemed pretty intrigued by it. He was back to his normal self, apparently having forgiven me.

After that it was my turn to ask questions. "So, you defeated the Mandarin?"

"Oh, it's a long story. I'll tell you later." He said as Maria Hill entered.

"Director Fury wants to see you." She said.