Hiding in the closet of the master bedroom, Casey had used her shadows to bring her and Bucky there. While the squad was still shooting blindly, she suggested to open a portal to take them anywhere. Bucky denied, saying he wanted to know who was following him. Instead of opening a portal to New York, Florida, or even Canada, she brought them to the walk-in closet of her bedroom. Once the squad was done shooting up the house, Bucky finally released Casey.

"Whatever you hear, stay here," his voice was incredibly quiet, but she heard him all the same.

"Hell no."

"I can't protect you and fight them off."

"I don't need protection-"

"I won't have you get hurt for me."

As much as Casey appreciated his concern for her safety, she would never allow him fend off these goons on his own. She had forgot what it felt like having someone care about her health; her childhood friend Erin was the last person to show actual interest for her well being. Nonetheless, Bucky was in no condition to fight countless, heavily armed men. "You should have thought of that before bringing them to my door."

Before they could finish their argument, the front door was kicked in. Immediately, both of them shut their mouths. Bucky quickly stood up silently stepped to the wooden frame. Casey narrowed her eyes in order to just see him standing hunched over, a combat knife clenched in his right hand. She didn't care what he requested; she held her own against his tactical team in D.C., she could hold her own against whomever was attacking them now.

Countless loud boot thuds sounded from the hallway and her small foyer. Glass broke under their massive weight and wood chips snapped with each step their took. Casey was attempting to figure out their positions throughout her tiny one-story house; it was hard to tell with debris covering the floors. Suddenly, there was a shuffle and their guns unloaded again. She all but screamed in shock; it had been quiet minus the gunshots. Bucky had shifted his position slightly, but remained ready by the closet door. Straining her ears, The Shadow Stranger was able to hear one of the team to say, "They're still in the house. Find them."

The element of surprise is still our's. She thought, realizing that was what Bucky was counting on; he didn't want to give away their location. He can get them head on, I'll go around back and corner them. She didn't bother informing The Winter Soldier of her plan. Instead, she leaned a palm on the back wall of her cramped space and willed the shadows to open a portal. Crawling through the blackened circle, Casey brought herself to the perimeter wall in her backyard. Outside the house was slightly brighter with the last rays of sunlight beaming over and through the cracks of the skyscrapers of Seattle. Barefoot and wind chilled, The Shadow Stranger followed Bucky's led and crouched as low as she could get while walking. Thankfully, her hair only flared slightly from the howling wind; one perk of having a pixie cut.

Bright green eyes glared around the edge of her house. Casey could see the front bumpers of two armored cars with large wheels. Expecting the frames to be black as night, the front end of the cars were red. She couldn't get a good enough look at the license plates before she picked up on the rifles being fired. Slamming her back against the wall, Casey took a moment to breath and focus on her inner darkness; it was a few months since the last time she used it, was she ready? From inside the house, she could hear Bucky fighting down the men; there was no time to question her ability to control her demons. He needed her, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Cracking her knuckles, The Shadow Stranger brought up her darkness and coated her eyes black; she would need to be quick, so Stage One techniques weren't going to cut it. Following the shattered trail of glass and debris, The Shadow Stranger carefully leaned her head inside her once lovely abode. She saw about five men standing in her destroyed living room, all with thick eye masks and military grade weapons. Their fingers were rested on the triggers and their vision was sharp, continuously scanning the wrecked house. The uniforms weren't black; they were red and gold. Casey immediately brought her head back around, covering the rest of her. Who were these people? Why did they want Bucky? Regardless, they shot up the wrong house.

Her anger combined with her overwhelming sense to help The Winter Soldier gave her more than enough confidence to storm into her house. Ignoring the multiple glass shards pricking into her feet, The Shadow Stranger ran into her living room. The men turned to her; but it was for nothing. With the wind knocking out the power hours before, the natural darkness was her ally. Willing the shadows around her living room, dining room and kitchen, The Shadow Stranger flung her wrist and a large shadow erupted from the ground, slamming into the armed man closest to her. His body smashed into the wall, causing the remaining picture frames to fall. His companions quickly aimed at her and squeezed their triggers.

The Shadow Stranger dropped to her knees and brought another shadow up to cover her from the barrage of bullets. As the men continued their assault, The Shadow Stranger came up with a fast idea. She waited for a man to get closer; hoping that if he stepped nearer, that his bullets would go through her shadow. However, her connection to her shadows overpowered him. Once he was right in front of her, she pushed the shadow out and wrapped around him. Clenching a forceful hand, the shadow around this man began to shrink in size. It was unsettling that she was able to feel when his bones snapped in half, but she couldn't hesitate. As soon as someone broke, she willed the shadow to disappear and release him; Casey Temple was not a murderer.

The last of his team resumed their firing after watching their comrade get caught in her shadows. The Shadow Stranger jumped and slid into her kitchen, using the center island as cover. Hollowed points whizzed past head as she attempted to keep her body was flat against the tile as possible. She was quick enough to open a new portal behind her, leading into her hallway. The Shadow Stranger jumped through and avoiding the firing squad. While they inched towards the center island, she sneaked her way behind them, being as quiet as she could with wood chips littering her floor.

Her chance to take down another man was lost; running through the wall of her master bedroom, Bucky lunged through the plaster and wooden beams, one of the members was under him. The Winter Soldier jumped up and was met with the three members altering their attention and opening fire on him. He was ready, holding up his metal arm to deflect the bullets. The Shadow Stranger ran out of ideas, but that didn't stop her from improvising. Thinking back to her interactions with Steve Rogers, she pulled up another shadow; this one was in the form of Captain America's trademarked shield. For some reason, this shadow held it's shape when she ripped it off the wall. With the manifested shield of pure darkness, she stepped forward and used all of her weight and whatever upper body strength she possessed to throw the disc at one of the men. A loud thud sounded once the disc bounced off his head and the man fell to the ground.

With two men remaining, one altered his target and began to shoot at The Shadow Stranger. She jumped out of the way and into her bedroom, staying low to avoid the rounds unloading by her. Through the darkness, she could just make out unconscious bodies on her floor; she secretly hoped that they weren't dead. Looking through the hole The Winter Soldier had made when he lunged a man through the wall, The Shadow Stranger could just see her friend jumping up and running toward one of the riflemen. While the last one was distracted by watching his fellow squad member getting beaten by The Winter Soldier, the pixie haired girl sprang around the corner and sprinted down the hallway. Bringing up one more shadow, she pushed the last man against the front wall of her house and opened a portal to shove him through. Once he was outside the wrecked home, his body flew through the air and crumbled as he smacked onto the hard asphalt.

Glancing back to The Winter Soldier, he gave one last forceful punch to the rifleman and allowed his body to fall to the ground. All of the red and golden covered men were down. Casey felt as though she was holding her breath the entire time and began to pant. Bucky looked up at her silhouette while walking away from the unconscious man.

"I said to stay there!" he scowled her.

"And I said I didn't need protection," she shrugged her shoulders. He could be mad at her all he wanted, they were able to clear out her house. As she caught her breath, Bucky held a harsh glare at her. "What?" she asked after huffing out a few times.

"Are you hurt?" Although his eyes were still angry, his tone was laced with concern.

"No, I'm fine. Are you good?"

"Nothing serious."

Shrouded by the darkness, Casey dropped her shoulders and exhaled loudly. She relaxed herself enough to bring her own darkness back inside. Once her eyes went back to normal, Casey focused on Bucky's silhouette; he was leaning on the center island and holding his face in one hand. Carefully, she stepped over the men laying on the ground and stood next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Just dizzy," he answered quietly.

"Probably all the alcohol you drank before fighting," she laid a hand on his shoulder, silently offering a support if he needed it. "How much did you drink?"

Bucky sighed and shifted a light under her hand, "Don't know. A lot?"

"Okay. Well, besides your blood-alcohol level, we have to leave."

"And go where?"

"Some place where people aren't shooting at us is a good idea."

Ironically enough, a quiet gun was fired and hit it's target. Casey felt a small prick at the side of her neck. She reached up and cupped around the thin dart sticking out of her throat and yanked it out. With the faint light of the setting sun barely creeping through the countless holes in her house, Casey was able to carefully examine the meager needle. Curiosity filled her eyes as she felt something slowly slither it's way down her neck. Her hands became weak; even the minute weight of the poisoned dart was too great for her to hold. It clanked onto the tile floor, just as the poison inched into her veins and muscles. Her fingers trembled and her body seemed to gain untold amount of weight.

"Bucky," she whispered as her legs wobbled under her. Before her body hit the cold ground, Bucky had heard her and quickly caught her. On the outside, her body became weak while her muscles shocked into paralysis.

"No, no, no!" Cradling her limp body, he dropped to the floor, shielding Casey from further darts. The duo didn't realize that there was another member lurking in the kitchen window. While The Winter Soldier held his friend's head against his chest and pressed her close to him. "Casey, Casey!"

"She won't die, if that's what you're worried about," a voice called from outside. "Only paralyzed."

The Shadow Stranger felt Bucky's heart rate accelerate with anger. She wanted to calm him down, however the muscles in her mouth wouldn't cooperate. Every command her brain would send out to her limbs went unnoticed by her muscles. Internally, Casey was kicking, screaming, swearing up a storm; but on the outside, she was practically asleep.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," the voice in front of the house called inward. "If you bring her out, we can give her the antidote. Or, we can shoot her dead. Your choice."

Bucky glared down at his paralyzed friend, silently wondering what he should do. Take their bluff; even if they're lying about the antidote, you can still find out who they are and why they are following you. Casey wanted to tell him, but whatever implement was in the dart was hindering her useless. Thankfully, she still had control over her eyes, so she was able to move them in the general direction of the front door. Hopefully, he would understand her intentions.

However, he was never given the chance. The third team seized the opportunity of The Winter Soldier stalling and swarmed the house. Two red and gold members ran in through the back and three entered from the front. High powered rifles and sub-automatic machine guns were pointed at Bucky's head. Even though she could only in her narrow field of vision, she knew that he was frustrated. A trained assassin, never before getting cornered by his enemies; now, because she didn't listen to him, he didn't know what to do. Was he thinking of fighting them off? That would leave her defenseless and probably dead. Would he ditch her and make a run for it by himself? Casey hoped he wasn't as heartless as the reports on the internet indicated. She prayed that she meant more to him.

"Will you come quietly?" a man asked while aiming the barrel of a sub-machine gun to Bucky's dark hair. From Casey's perspective, his eyes were as dark as she imagined her green ones could become.

Yes, Bucky. Go out to their leader, figure out what they want.

With pure hatred boiling in his blue eyes, Bucky Barnes carefully lifted Casey in his massive arms, and held a stare at the man. Her heavy head was resting on his chest as he stood still for a moment, not speaking to their attackers, but giving them a stern nod to confirm that he would follow their instructions.

Oh my God, thank you. Casey tried to mouth her gratitude, but she still couldn't produce sound.

The red and gold members kept a steady radius around Bucky as he followed the men outside her once peaceful house. Stepping over the unconscious members of the squad, The Winter Soldier seemed to struggle to emerge from the wreckage. It was obvious that it wasn't the added weight of Casey's liveless body that affected his walking, his head must have been swimming with the blood rushing as he was fighting. She was a little scared that he would drop her.

Although his steps were uneasy, Bucky was able to secure his hold on Casey as he crossed the threshold. The sun was all but gone from the world and the strong gusts seemed to weaken for a moment as the squa escorted The Winter Soldier outside. The street lights remained off from the knocked over power lines. The neighboring houses were also absent from providing light, however someone had managed to inform law enforcement and sirens were blaring miles away. His hair was messy and covered half his face while gently keeping Casey's head squared and her airway open. Once they reached the leader of the squad, Bucky kept a good cushion of space between him and the man in the red and gold uniform. Over his eyes, a night vision mask shielded his true face. Since Bucky held her head against his heaving chest, she couldn't get a decent look at him.

"Now, that's a good boy," the leader said in a snarky tone. "Was that so difficult?"

"Give her the antidote," he growled.

"There'll be time for that later," the leader waved off the topic, "For now, you both will be coming with us."

"Give me-" Bucky began to demand again.

"She can walk through walls and open up portals at will. No, I think she should stay paralyzed for a while." Even through the leader's confident voice, Casey was certain that she knew the voice somewhere before. But, without the ability to see the man, there was no way she could remember him. Casey could tell that Bucky was tempted to physically fight them, to strike them down. However, with her still unable to move on her own, she was a liability rather than an asset. "Don't get any ideas. We won't hurt you, but her on the other hand, will suffer greatly before her untimely demise."

He shifted under her head as if he flinched to punch someone, but he held himself back. Casey forced her mouth to move, to speak, to communicate with Bucky; but whatever the needle was dipped in was still having a strong effect. Her lips lightly twitched however that was all she could successfully accomplish.

"Now, get in the car," the leader stepped aside and gestured to an open seat in the red car.

"The antidote," Bucky muttered.

"Right here," he pulled a syringe out of one pouch on his thickly maintained belt. A clear liquid was inside the glass bottle. "She will get it, after we all have a nice little chat. Must I say it again?" the man threatened.

Bucky hestitated. Casey couldn't help but feel as though she was weakening him; without her, he would have been fine against this strange attackers. However, he didn't move toward the car.

He didn't need to. Rather than blaring sirens from the approaching police officers turning down the corner, a deafening roar echoed. The Winter Soldier, along with The Shadow Stranger and the remaining squad members, seemed to hold their breaths. The roar was something none of them heard before; it was booming, loud, and deeply pitched to bring the blood in their veins to stone. The red and gold members began to glance around, from the dark alleys in between the houses to the shutters. Nothing was visible. However, whatever created the sound roared again. This time, Bucky clenched Casey harder to his body in a protective way.

"What the hell is that?!" one of the lesser man yelled. Everyone turned to him; but he changed the barrel of his rifle out into the darkness. "Holy Jesus!" Without warning, he squeezed the trigger and started to fire into nothingness.

Bucky stepped back as the man screamed and unloaded his clip. From underneath a nearby parked car, something of pure black popped out. It resembled a large hand reaching out, with many fingers and sharp claws on them. The shadow hand quickly grabbed the man shooting and yanked him back. Everyone watched in horror as the red and gold armored man was lifted from the ground and brought to the under belly of the car. His screams reminded Casey of Mountain Pass on January third.

As soon as the man was consumed by the shadows, the rest of his team changed their objective and fired in the same general direction. Rather than fighting along with his attackers, Bucky tightened his grip on Casey and backed away from the shooting men. They were shouting absurdities, and greatly distracting their leader. Once he noticed the leader aiming a handgun at the shadows, he saw his chance. Carefully but quickly, he placed Casey on the sidewalk and ran towards the leader. He had faced her away from the small battle, but she could still hear everything.

The screams of the men being picked by the shadow creature ran her blood cold. They were just too similar to the ones from her home town. As the men were being dragged away, the constant pitter-patter of bullets hitting the mailboxes, street poles, cars, and windows slowed. With her paralyzed muscles, Casey couldn't run, fight, or cover her ears from the horror stricken screams. All she could do was get teary eyed.

"Casey!" Bucky shouted her name.

She looked up and was immediately faced to face with a monster. Inches from her nose, a deeply blackened creature loomed over her. Casey glanced up at the beast as it hunched and growled at her. Oh God. This is it. She knew that it was going to take her as it took the others. Maybe, her death wouldn't hurt as much if she couldn't feel her body.