Chapter Eight: He's No Threat
**Authors Note**
First and foremost I'd like to apologize for going on such a long hiatus. By the time things had settled down with personal issues and writers block, I had lost interest in the story and found it next to impossible to continue writing at the time. Truth be told, I realized that I probably shouldn't have even written a second installment, let alone a third. However, I don't much care for having an unfinished story just sitting around. So I've been biting the bullet, per say, to work on it again and finish this piece (once and for all). Chapter uploads may be a bit slow since I'm doing a lot of re-reading to get back on track.
"What the hell is going on, where are we!?" Kade hissed, instantly on the defensive.
Andromeda let out a hearty laugh, which was rather disconcerting for Kadence, her eyes flashing in every direction of the darkened room; providing it was a room at all.
"You don't recognize it?" Andromeda purred, taking a step toward Kade.
"Should I?"
"We're in your head…though it's understandable you wouldn't recognize it, you've managed to block those memories. Tell me, are you still having trouble sleeping…remembering all the things I did in that body of yours?" she mused, giving Kade a wide berth as she started to circle.
"Shut up…" Kade growled, keeping a leery eye on Andromeda.
"…I thought I got rid of you"
"My soul yes, only because I underestimated your determination, but my spirit…the only way to get rid of that, is to get rid of the stone" Andromeda cooed.
"I'm working on that"
Kade began to pivot, not wanting her back to the woman who was clearly the pestilence of her subconscious.
"Are you now? Then I'm sure you're aware that the only way to rid yourself of it, is to give it an acceptable host in return. Of course your life will become forfeit, as well as the lives of everyone else on this miserable rock, providing you don't flip switch and do it yourself" she laughed.
"I am not, going to turn into you" Kade seethed.
"You're not going to have much choice!" Andromeda spat, advancing up to Kade so quickly that they were nearly nose to nose in seconds.
Kade steeled herself, trying to hold her ground, feeling the ghost of nerves spike the hair on the back of her neck; though she realized it wasn't really happening.
"The stone demands destruction, it demands carnage…but you already know that…don't you? You can feel it on every inch of your body, it comes easier to you now, but you're finding it harder to control. You're losing your grip on it, little by little…and that scares you…doesn't it? You know what it's capable of, what you're capable of, and you know that all it takes it one wrong move and BOOM!..."
Andromeda struck her hands together in front of Kade's face, forcing an uneasy jolt from the latter.
"…everything you love is gone"
Kade let out a slow sigh, taking a step backward to put some distance between her and Andromeda.
"You can try to scare me all you want…I won't let that happen" she assured.
"You won't have much choice. You think the oracle's vision was nothing more than a dream?"
Kade felt her breath catch in her throat, recalling the old woman from the Triad some years back; the warning she bared ringing in her head like a bell.
"Marianna's vision was just a dream, because I stopped it when I stopped you" Kade argued.
"You stopped nothing, you merely postponed it…you will become the destroyer…because if you don't, he will" Andromeda purred, her eyes darting over Kade's shoulder.
She felt an unpleasant chill race down her spine, like the feeling one would get when something dangerous is just an inch away from breathing down your neck. Kade swallowed and turned around, feeling the sudden wash of fear claim her breath, paralyzing her as she looked into a pair of menacing blue eyes belonging to some form of humanoid creature.
It's features were undistinguishable as it reached for her, a hand going for her throat. Kade let out a cry and in an instant she regained the ability to move, suddenly coming up into a seated position, a dying scream fading from her lips while she met with a pair of hands on her wrists to keep her from striking out; one of those hands bearing the cool kiss of metal.
"Whoa, Kade take it easy, it's alright" Bucky soothed.
Her bearings slowly settled around her, though her ragged breathing was not ready to level; the fear and adrenaline still pumping through her blood. Kade darted her attention around the room, quickly establishing that she was still in her home, on the living room couch to be exact, with her husband kneeling next to her trying to keep from getting punched in the face.
"Bucky? Oh god" she sighed in relief.
His hands released her wrists, allowing her to cradle her forehead with one while the other curled over her stomach to quell the rush of nausea that followed the dwindling ache of fear.
"It was just a dream…holy Christ it was all just a dream" she breathed.
She could feel his hand press against her back, slowly rubbing back and forth between her shoulders.
"Not all of it" he stated softly.
The words hit her with the strangest sense of dread and she held her breath for a moment, lowering the hand that held her head and turned to face him, reading the look in his face; something was wrong.
"What do you mean, not all of it?" she asked.
Bucky opened his mouth to answer, but his attention was abruptly taken to something behind them. Kade turned toward the living room entryway, and her body stiffened, meeting eyes with Simon, who stopped in his tracks the moment they made contact; going so far as to take a timid step back.
The memories of transpired events rushed back to her, remembering seeing Simon at her doorstep, looking just as leery as he did before. Kade saw red, slinging herself from the couch so quick she nearly fell back over before her center of gravity could be re-established. Bucky caught her around the waist, trying to hold her back against him, to both keeping her from falling over and advancing on Simon.
"Let go of me Bucky" she growled.
"Calm down first" he warned.
"I am calm, and I'm going to calmly tear his head off if you don't mind!" she spat, glaring daggers at Simon as she struggled against Bucky's hold.
"You're upset, it's understandable considering the circumstance" Simon stated, his hands up innocently.
"Upset isn't the word that comes to mind you lying piece of shit!" Kade hissed.
The pair of vases that sat on either side of the entryway suddenly shattered, spraying ceramic pieces in every direction. Simon flinched and recoiled against the explosion, taking another step back; his back against the bannister of the stairs. Kade kept a heated glare on him, unaffected by the fact that her power slipped again. She squirmed further, hearing the whine of his left arm holding her steadfast, which was both aggravating and puzzling at the same time.
"Kade, please just stop" Bucky requested.
"Why are you suddenly protecting him!?" she seethed, turning to glare at him from the corner of her eye.
"Because there's something you need to know first" he answered.
Almost on cue, her attention was brought back to the entryway, as two more appeared from the hall, instantly recognizing both the boy and his counterpart as the ones she helped before she blacked out. Again the girl's eyes struck something deep down, almost on a level of familiarity, as if she were looking into a mirror of her younger self.
The boy also giving her that same feeling, now that she had a chance to dwell on it, and a chill raced down her spine; part of her already putting the pieces together. She felt Bucky's hold finally release her, but she couldn't quite find the urge to move, her desire to decapitate her brother somewhat lower on her priority list with those two present.
"It's them…Jamie and Constance" Bucky breathed.
It was almost like a firework exploded in her head, and she could do nothing but stare at the both of them…Simon's existence a mere void to her. Words jammed themselves into her mouth but she couldn't speak, and she couldn't hear much either with her heartbeat singing in her ears.
"Our kids" he stated, though it came muffled to her.
Kade slowly turned to face him with questioning eyes, finally managing to get words to form in a decent sentence.
"How long was I out?" she asked.
"Okay, you're saying you came from the future…to stop a war…that hasn't even happened yet?" Kade asked, disbelief lacing her tongue.
Jamie, or JB as he seemed to be called, sighed heavily, his arms crossed over his chest; leaning against the counter beside the fridge. The sun had long since disappeared beneath the horizon, and the overhead kitchen light proved enough to stay off the darkness that loomed outside the windows. Kade was seated at the island, with Bucky standing behind her, while Jamie and Constance stood on the opposite side; Constance taking place closer to Kade. Simon, meanwhile, hugged the far corner of the kitchen, leaning against the wall and keeping to himself as much as possible to avoid unnecessary attention.
"We came back to stop…" JB paused a moment, as if quickly rethinking his words.
"…an unfortunate event…we just came too far back" he explained.
Constance lowered her head sheepishly, looking more like a child that just got scolded by a parent.
"I'm sorry" she stated softly, worrying her lip.
"It's not your fault Connie, stop blaming yourself" JB remarked.
Kade turned her attention to the young woman near her, watching her expression wash into something crossed between excitement and sorrow the minute their eyes met. Her mouth felt dry, recalling the memories she experienced from her future daughter, wanting to pry as to the meaning behind them; what exactly happened in this future of theirs?
"So your x-gene gave you the ability to time jump?" Kade asked.
"Well, not exactly…I'm a teleporter" she answered.
"Teleporter? Isn't that when-"
Bucky's words were cut off when Constance simply disappeared into a wisp of black smoke, appearing beside him with a look of casual humor. He jumped, recoiling a bit to the side with a startled look on his face.
"When we do this?" she chimed
"Yes, that" Bucky affirmed, turning a glare toward Kade.
"She's definitely yours" he quipped, garnering a humored laugh from his wife.
With that, Connie teleported back to her previous spot, bearing a heartfelt smile, gazing lovingly at Bucky and Kade.
"So you just…figured out you had that extra ability?" Kade asked, still smirking.
"No, Uncle Simon was the one who told me it was possible if I honed my power"
"Uncle Simon?" Kade repeated, sounding judgmental on the term.
Connie suddenly shifted uncomfortably against Kade's questioning eyes, as if she said something she wasn't supposed to.
"Considering we didn't even know we had an uncle until he was the only family we had left…yea…Uncle Simon" JB remarked with a condescending tone.
Kadence then turned her eyes to her son, her eye brow raised questionably at his challenge.
"That wasn't resentful at all" she mocked sternly.
"It just would have been nice to know before the end of the world" he argued, holding his ground.
"I had my reasons"
"I know you did, he told us everything…I still think that's an awful long time to hold a grudge"
Kade leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at JB with a humored smirk on her lips.
"You'll have the authority to lecture me about it, when it happens to you…got it?" she warned.
She saw JB steel himself, flexing his jaw as the muscles in his arms shifted and strained, giving her the indication he was trying to control his anger.
"Seriously JB? We haven't seen them in years and the first thing you wanna do is pick a fight?" Connie asked.
"What do you mean years, where the hell are we in all of this?" Bucky asked.
The question seemed to stifle every ounce of life in the room, and the tension that surfaced around them was thick enough to cut. Connie cast a worried gaze at JB, who returned it equally; as if both were unsure of how to answer or secretly figuring out who was going to be the unlucky one to answer. Kade glanced back at Simon, who also looked like he didn't want to speak up about it.
"I'm going to assume the silence translates into I don't want to know" Kade sighed, looking over to Bucky; who wore a similar face of concern.
Kade walked into the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind her before she made her way to the bed, seating herself on her side and resting her elbows against her knees, burying her face in her hands and letting out a heavy sigh.
"How are the kids?" Bucky asked, leaning against the headboard, otherwise occupied with his phone.
"Which ones?" Kade remarked.
He laughed softly, catching the underlying sarcasm in her voice.
"Constance was already passed out, and Jamie has a world of questions. I told him I'd explain it all tomorrow when I gathered more details…he's content with that answer for now I guess. Did you get ahold of Steve?"
"He's alerting the team, we're expected at the compound with our new friends at first light" Bucky answered, tossing his phone onto the nightstand beside him.
"Terrific…" Kade grumbled, letting her arms go lax and plopping down on the bed, her head resting against his hip.
"…once…just once, I'd like for our family drama to revolve around Jamie getting a D in math or Constance throwing a temper tantrum at the Mall…not time jumping and global destruction" she groaned.
"Well we didn't exactly sign up for normal, remember?" Bucky replied, reaching down and lacing his fingers into her hair.
Kade closed her eyes, relishing in the rush of warm ecstasy that followed when his fingers rubbed gently against her scalp, threatening to lull her straight to sleep.
"Well at least this proves you're not crazy" he mused.
"Elaborate if you would" she growled, not even bothering to open her eyes
"You spent how many years carrying that feeling that something was gonna happen…well I think it's happening" he chuckled.
Kade tilted her head toward him, only opening her eyes enough to narrow them playfully.
"Thanks for that…it's very enlightening" she scoffed.
"The future?" Steve asked, as if trying to clarify what Kade just told him.
"Yea" she replied, resting her hands on her hips.
It had been a long time since the team was banded together in the meeting room, a relatively small sized conference corner in the Avengers compound. Devoid of any furniture and décor save for the dry erase board that took up the entire left wall. It was designed to be sound proof, which was needed for the current topic of discussion; none of the leads wanting gossip to spread throughout the squadrons.
Kade glanced around the room, catching the curious stares from Wanda, Scott, and Sam. Clint looked lost in his own thoughts, but that wasn't exactly unusual. Natasha stared downward, nibbling on her fingernails; either bored or as deep in thought as Clint. Vision, however, stared intently at her, giving her the impression he was trying to read her mind; Kade learning early on how to block him out when she didn't want him rummaging.
"Can you validate that?" Steve asked.
"I, unintentionally looked into her thoughts…she's Constance, and the things I saw were definitely not from this time period" Kade answered.
"And are you certain they are not a threat?" Wanda asked.
"I'd like to say they're not, but whatever happened in their future changed them…especially Jamie. He's become defensive, and in all honesty they both seem a little secretive" She stated.
"And what about crazy pants here?" Clint mused, gesturing his head behind him.
The team looked over to Simon, who was leaned up against the wall in the corner, looking mildly uneasy about all eyes suddenly being on him.
"He's no threat" Kade replied.
"Somebody get that in writing" Clint mocked, garnering a heated glare from Kadence.
"So the question remains…why go back in time?" Natasha asked.
Kade sighed, returning her attention to Simon; staring him down intently. Simon swallowed hard, taking a step forward and clearing his throat to speak.
"Four years from now…give or take…an alien force invades earth, led by one of the most powerful beings in existence. He calls himself Thanos, and he comes to earth seeking the two infinity stones" Simon explained.
Silence filled the room for a moment as uneasy glances were exchanged, mostly between Vision and Kadence.
"Is he successful?" Vision questioned.
Simon licked his lips, almost looking like he didn't want to answer while he glanced at Kade; the latter catching the hint of remorse in his eyes.
"Yes" he answered simply.
Kade let out a slow exhale, lowering her eyes, her heart skipping a beat as she processed the news, realizing then why she didn't exist in their future. She felt Bucky's metal hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently in means to comfort her. Kade flashed him a reassuring smile, though even she wasn't convinced by the attempt, turning back to look at Simon. His eyes never left her, and she swore she saw the build of tears.
"Over half of the human race was annihilated within the first year. Survivors were forced underground, rebellion forces gathered to mount a counter attack, but it wasn't enough…our numbers dwindled as the years went on. We were part of a strategic force that was nearly a hundred strong…there were five of us in the end…and as for the two we left behind…I can only imagine" he stated, his voice wavering.
It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and seconds felt like hours before someone felt the need to break the awkward silence.
"I'm no expert, but I thought it was against the rules to tell us about the future. Doesn't that change everything?" Scott asked.
"Our future has already been determined, nothing we say or do can change that…but yours…telling you what's going to happen may help prevent it from turning out the same way" Simon replied.
"Considering you just gave us a four year head start, I'd say that shouldn't be a problem" Steve remarked.
"I hope you're right" Simon mused, glancing at Kade.
She stared him down, narrowing her eyes intently, trying her way into his mind. Kade saw the images of the ruined city, bodies in every direction, and she saw her children, growing up in a war zone; growing up in that hell. She delved further, careful not to force it, as she saw Bucky rallying survivors, no doubt to lead an assault. There was a sudden, brief image of a being standing before them, pale purple skin etched with linear tattoos and radiating blue eyes; its face twisted in a smirk as Bucky charged it.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the vision went black, barring her from delving any further into his memories. Kade watched Simon's eyes flicker and his body go rigid, quick to divert his attention elsewhere; which only fueled her suspicion.
"I'm gonna see about contacting Thor, see if he knows anything about this Thanos guy. The rest of you, get a hold of your contacts if you have any, rally anyone whose willing to fight…training starts now" Steve remarked, striding for the door.
With that, the team slowly made their way to follow, Simon of course being more than willing. Kade stayed behind, watching him intently as he exited the room, nearly boring a hole in the wall before Bucky appeared out of the corner of her eye.
"Something's bothering you, I can tell" he stated calmly.
"A mix of things to be honest, starting with the fact he bared me from his memories" Kade replied.
"You blame him? If this war is as bad as he says, maybe he's trying to forget them"
"It's not the war he's hiding, he's blocking specific memories…something he doesn't want me to see"
"I don't know" Bucky sighed.
"And didn't he say that Thanos arrives in four years?" She asked, turning a questioning glance to Bucky.
"Yea…what does that have to do with anything?"
"Last night, Jamie said they came back five years earlier than intended…how did they intend to stop a war by showing up a year after it already started?"
"Have you tried asking him?" Bucky advised.
Kade gave him a scrutinizing look, gesturing her distaste for his advice. Bucky smirked to defuse the rising tension he was inadvertently causing, crossing his arms across his chest.
"You're the one that said we can trust Simon…are you doubting your own judgment now?" he asked.
She was silent for a moment, processing her thoughts and drawing in a deep breath.
"I'm starting to wonder if Simon is the one I'm not entirely trusting" she sighed.
Bucky looked over at her, and even without making eye contact she could feel the questioning gaze in his eyes.
"Jamie?" he remarked questionably.
"You saw how he was…" she remarked, turning to face him; resting her hands on her hips.
"…he's defensive, he's hostile, and secretive…like he's holding something back"
"War changes a man, I speak from experience"
"You were tortured and brain washed for years" she argued.
"And he likely had to watch his parents die"
Her argument stilled in her throat when the realization of what he said hit her. Though they didn't specifically say so, all three of them gave the notion that both she and Bucky met their fate early on in the battle, and judging by what Simon told the team, her fate was met at the hands of Thanos.
"Those kinds of scars don't heal very well…you never really come back from it the same" he stated, casting his eyes downward as if recalling his own memories of hell.
"You did alright" she mused softly.
Bucky laughed gently, allowing a heartfelt smile to grace his features as he raised his eyes to meet hers once more.
"He'll be alright…just give it some time" Bucky remarked, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her.
Kade breathed in deep, coiling her arms around his midsection and relishing in the feel of his body against hers. Even with her abilities, she always felt safe in his arms, drawing in the scent of his leather jacket mixed with gun powder and body wash with the slightest hint of machine oil. She imprinted that scent a long time ago, when she was just a runaway HYDRA agent and he was a hell hound loose from his cage. Times surely have changed.
"Did you tell them?" JB asked in a hushed tone.
Simon glanced around him as he scurried toward JB, who was ducked inside one of the open hangars of the compound.
"I told them what was needed, and I omitted the details like you wanted me to" Simon stated, sounding somewhat out of breath.
"Good" JB remarked.
"This is not going to end well JB, your mother isn't stupid, she's already suspicious" Simon warned, keeping his voice down to prevent them from being heard.
"Let her get suspicious, I do not want them knowing what that son of a bitch does if I have the ability to keep it from happening"
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"
"I don't know!..." JB hissed under his breath, gritting his teeth to keep from raising tone.
"…we're just gonna have to improvise"
"We came back to take the stone from the child…what are you planning on doing, taking the stone from her instead? Play hide and seek with Thanos!?"
"You know as well as I do, if we take the stone from her she'll die in the process…"
JB went silent, his eyes darting around as he ran his tongue underneath his teeth, gathering his thoughts.
"…I'll figure something out, but in the meantime…keep quiet!" he warned, turning to storm off.
Simon stood there at the hangar door, watching JB as he retreated to find Connie, running his hands over his face in some feeble attempt to keep his thoughts together.