A/N: EXTRA LONG CHAPTER BECAUSE WE NEED TO CELEBRATE BECAUSE I FINALLY GOT MY LAPTOP CHARGER WHICH MEANS I CAN START UPDATING REGULARLY AGAIN AND JUST HELL YES WE'RE ALL EXCITED LITTLE BUNNIES I CAN TELL! Or at least, I'm an excited little bunny. Big thanks to all the people who stuck around with me after the break I had to go on, I'm so sorry and I'll try not to get my charger eaten ever again.

Also, if you like Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) from X-Men: Days of Future Past then please go and read my latest fanfiction 'Kiss With A Fist' which shall be uploaded tomorrow :D

Thanks to Tocilar, Savarra, IkhandoZatman, patty cake rocks, Kima Wolfwood, Singer of Water, Jezebel DeTrazie, BiancaTSparrow101, vilevillian, guest, and BlondeConspiracy for your wonderful comments. You're all bloody brilliant and I love each and every one of you!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real."

― Iris Murdoch

Summer sat up, a dull ache making itself known in her body with each movement she made, and she found that she was in her bed. Blue silk sheets covered the bottom half of her body and she looked to be dressed in a white nightgown. As she blinked, the white of her gown was suddenly covered in speckles of red, her legs felt wet and as she pushed the silk away she found that she was coated in a red liquid. Blood.

As soon as the realisation hit her she jumped out of her bed, swallowing the scream that dared to escape. It was everywhere, covering her hands and most of her body - there were no mirrors for her to fully evaluate how much blood was on her body and she was glad, she didn't want to see.

She was alone, and she had no idea as to whom the blood belonged to so she went to the elevator. It slid open but JARVIS didn't seem to be around. It was cold, or perhaps that was just her as she could also feel a scorching heat which was causing her to sweat, mixing with the blood.

Everything was dark, there seemed to be no light source a all which worried her lightly but she was too tired to fully explore and experience the emotions which crashed around in the pit of her stomach.

The elevator dinged open and the outside was quite similar to what was inside the elevator. Darkness.

Summer could only make out silhouettes, she guessed that she was in the living room, she only presumed that because of the bar which was at the end of the room. Other then that, the place was unidentifiable because the place looks like a train wreck, Everything had been flipped over or thrown across the room; she could feel her heartbeat increase with every step that she took.

She stood barefoot on a broken vase which was on the floor, causing it to make a crunching sound, but thankfully none of the glass pierced the skin on her foot. After the sound of her feet impacting with the glass she heard the sound of something rubbing against the marble ground near the bar.

She didn't bother getting any object to use as a weapon, she hoped her own skills would help defend herself from whoever or whatever was behind the bar, if they/it turned out to be dangerous.

It was probably stupid of her to go running towards danger but she was tired and scared, she didn't care what happened and she didn't even think twice about it as she was stuck in some sort of mental haze.

"Is anyone there?" She asked, her voice coming out slurred slightly as though she was drunk. She got closer and closer until soon enough she was looking down at the floor behind the bar. When she saw exactly she was looking down at, her mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of a scruffy looking Bucky hiding behind the bar while pressing himself as close as he could against the wall. "Bucky?" She asked, bringing his attention over to her.

When he looked up to her though he just pressed himself back against the wall in complete and utter fear and looked at her with fearful eyes. "S-Stay away from me." He stuttered, putting his arms in front of his body as though he was trying to protect himself from her.

"What are you talking about?" She asked in return, extremely confused as to why he was scared of her. "Where are the others?"

He'd rose up while still pressing himself against the wall, "you killed them remember? You're a bloody monster!" He yelled venomously towards her, beginning to walk away. "Stay the hell away from me." He shouted, keeping his hands raised out defensively in front of his body.

She went to take a step towards him, what the hell was she talking about? She killed them all? Who's them all, Tony, Steve? She wouldn't hurt them, she especially wouldn't dare hurt Bucky- she loved them all, she wouldn't hurt them. She wouldn't hurt them. She wouldn't hurt them. She wouldn't hurt him.

So why - when she was so confident about the fact that she'd never hurt them - were there flashes of her murdering them all with a single flick of her hand appearing in front of them. Blood was everywhere. It was like she was making their bodies explode, causing them all to combust. There were screams, her screams mixed with their screams.

"B-Bucky," She said through sobs as tears fell from her eyes after seeing what she'd done. It couldn't have been her but it was her, she'd killed them all. But she'd never kill Bucky, she loved Bucky, she couldn't ever hurt Bucky. She went to raise her hand up to show that she meant no harm but a force seemed to overwhelm her.

She felt it become uncontrollable, like it was seeping out of her body in massive waves. And then before her very eyes Bucky's skin began to melt, she could see his muscles, and then his skull, he was boiling and she was causing it. She was killing Bucky and she couldn't stop it. "No no no." She whispered, trying to stop herself but she couldn't- she was a monster.

He exploded, blood going everywhere and it was just more flashes, more images and the people she killed.

Blood. Screams. Bucky's scream. Power. Overwhelming. Help. Save Summer. For God's sake someone save Summer. More screaming. Then white. Pristine white. A white roof.

"Morning," a calm deep voice sounded from beside her. She turned her head, and saw a curly haired male beside her reading a chart- Bruce, Bruce Banner. She remembered him.

"W-What happened?" She sat up, no amount of pain filling her body, there was only a slight headache filling her mind. Then the images flashed again, "Bucky, is Bucky alive, is he okay?" She asked frantically.

Bruce raised an eyebrow towards her behaviour and he had a small smile on his face, like he was finding her behaviour quite amusing, maybe even cute. "Yeah, he's fine, what you did with the bullet, that was quite heroic." He appraised with a nod of his head, walking over to the bedside.

"Bullet?" She was confused and then everything just clicked, causing the ache in her head to worsen. What she thought had just happened was actually a dream. What had happened, was that she'd jumped in front of a bullet to protect Bucky because she knew that she would be able to survive thanks to her healing abilities. Something was wrong though, if the wound had simply healed as per usual she wouldn't be wired up to all these machines and sat in a stupid hospital bed. "What happened?" She sighed angrily, rubbing her head in hope to make the pain stop.

"You got shot in the loophole." He explained and she knew exactly what he meant so she sent him a slight nod to show she understood what he was talking about, "and then we were keeping you alive for as long as we could, and then Tony came across something about SAIL - the bomb which was technically the cause of all this drama - and it turned out to be a cure or you as well."

This was where she got confused and she made it quite clear through her facial expression that she was ultimately confused. "SAIL turned out to be a mutation, not a bomb, and when attributed through the right process it could help mutate a person. We gave Bucky the decision and he decided that we should go through the process, and it worked. You're a mutant, Summer." He noted bluntly and she just froze taking in all that information.

She wasn't exactly sure as to how she was suppose to take this information so she pushed facing the shock for a later time, now was the time to get through everything and just get through what she needed too for now. Now was the time for being serious, she could cry later. "Alright then Dr Banner, what do we do now?"

"Well," he begun, "I'd like to do a series of tests, when you're ready of course."

Without thinking twice she just stood up from the bed, Bruce quickly went to go and help her from falling but there was only a slight dizziness before she was able to stand upright. "Let's do this then," she said through a yawn while trying to hide the pain she was enduring. She still felt all those emotions from her nightmare where she'd killed Bucky and then there was the pain which spread through her body, pulsating.

Bruce was still a little apprehensive to go though and when he explained she got a little idea as to why he wasn't all for just barging into training, "Well, we need to go to the training room but that means passing everyone, and they're a little…"

"A little what?" She questioned apprehensively, trying to lean on one of the machines without Bruce noticing.

"They're just anxious is all." He shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant about the whole thing and not worry her. He was being careful around her, anything physical or mental could set her off and it's too dangerous right now to be trying anything. Of course, as a scientist he was pretty excited to get deeper into the mystery that was SAIL.

"Well, no time like the present. Might as well face them now." She said boldly and leaned back up from the machine, making her way to the elevator. Bruce quickly rushed into the elevator alongside her, stopping only for a moment to consider whether or not he bring the wheelchair along, just in case. He didn't though. He'd met Summer only three times before this, once when he joined the Avengers Initiative and she'd helped bring Loki down, and he was still amazed at the strength this woman had.

The doors opened to the elevator a few moments later and Summer stepped out, her head held high and being sure not to reveal any signs of pain. Though when she saw everyone (Tony, Steve, Bucky) she almost cried, the images in her head had damaged her internally and seeing them alive made her happier then she could have imagined.

The three companions were experiencing something quite similar to what she was feeling as well though, they'd had their minds set on the idea that he was going to die and by some miracle, she was here with them, alive.

"Summer!" Bucky cried, practically in tears as he ran up to her and lifted her off the floor in a amorous hug. His hands wandering all over her body, making sure she was actually real.

"Bucky- I-" She wanted to say something comforting, she wanted to just say something but there were those flashes replaying over and over again in the back of her mind and she could only think of saying one thing. "I love you."

"I know," he sighed, leaning down and giving her a quick and yet gentle kiss which she would add on to her list of 'most memorable kisses'.

She was the one to break apart though, she sent Steve a smile and was going to do the same to Tony but he wasn't even looking at her and the frown on his face told her something was wrong. She must admit that seeing his face like that brought her happiness down slightly but she ignored it, she ignored all emotions. She had to train, this was a distraction and she needed to get away from it. "I've got to go, but we'll continue this later okay?" She said, directing her question towards Bucky.

He nodded his head, though he did lean down closer to her so he could whisper in her ear. "You're doing it again."

She looked to him in confusion, "doing what again?" She whispered back, removing her arms from around his neck where they'd rested when he'd lifted her up for a hug.

"Being emotionless, building walls, shutting off the world, acting inhuman." He listed.

"Alright, I get it. And no I'm not, I just sort of died and currently have an unknown force coursing through my body and I don't want to risk it becoming worse just because I need to deal with my emotions. I can do that later." She explained, and for the first time in years Bucky finally got to see another side of Summer. This wasn't the broken Summer he'd met, the one that hid from all emotions. Nor was it the contempt Summer he was getting to know. This was military Summer, this was what Summer was like when she was on a mission.

He could at least understand that,he'd been in a similar place and so he decided to let her do what she needed to do. "Alright, but, promise me that you will deal with it later." He was meant for it to come out as a request, but it came out more as a demand - which it secretly was.

She nodded her head in agreement with him. "I promise," she locked her pinky finger with his, a tradition the two of them had become use to whenever promising each other.

Bruce was already making his way towards the training room so after giving Bucky a quick kiss goodbye - the sort of kiss which held promise of much more later - she caught up to him. She was only able to speed walk, such radical activity like jogging and running was out of question considering just how out of it she was.

"Hey Bruce, what's with Tony?" She asked quietly, once again trying to play off that she didn't care much over the matter. She couldn't fool Bruce though.

"It's kind of complicated," he begun, using his hands to express himself while talking, "he was the one who discovered the mutant part of SAIL and if anything happens to you because of SAIL then he believes that it'll be his fault. He doesn't hate you or anything, he's just sort of worried."

"More of a reason to sort this out as soon as possible then." She decided, lifting her chin up once again to try and seem intimidating. They entered the room, the door swinging shut behind them. The area they entered into was like a gym with polished floors and a basketball net placed on one side of the walls, there was a table in the room with what looked to be a glass placed on it. She raised an eyebrow and turned to Bruce, he didn't answer at first though so she was forced to voice her confusion, "...I'm confused as to what you want me to do with the glass."

"From what me and Tony could read from the information we'd collected, SAIL should have given you the ability to make things into bombs. You change the atoms surrounding something and then heat it to the point of exploding."

"So you want me to blow up the glass?" She asked, trying to guess what he'd wanted from what he'd explained.

"Pretty much, yes." He answered and she shrugged her shoulders.

But how could she know what to do? And then it clicked, the mutation, SAIL, had given her a guide through the nightmare. She just needed to burst, she felt all the energy in her bod so it should be easy enough.

She closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply. She concentrated on the glass, she pictured the glass, she pictured it exploding and then she did hear an explosion - it just wasn't the glass. The basketball net fell off its hinges in a burning mess. In an instant she was overcome with a mixture of both disappointment and panic, did this mean the power was uncontrollable? Did this mean that she was a danger? Could her nightmare come true?

Bruce stepped up though, placing a hand on her shoulder in hopes that it would soothe her; he could easily tell by her erratic breathing that she was having a miniature panic attack. "I think the problem there is that you're not directing it, can you tell me where the power force is?"

She shook, becoming even aware of the power that rushed through her body. "All around me, I feel like it's burning through my veins and trying to escape through every part of my body- I feel like I'm a bomb." She described, having to stop herself from crying.

A moment of silence passed between the two as they thought. Bruce's mind was on tactics which he knew, that might be of use for Summer. While her mind whirred with dangerously dark thoughts, all she wanted to do was cry and just cuddle up to Bucky, he would tell her that everything was going to be okay and for a split second she'd get to experience the magical feeling of actually believing that everything was going to be okay, even though they both knew it wasn't.

Bruce coughed, gaining her attention. "This is something I was taught once when meditating, I was taught to direct all the dark energy - in your case, your power energy - in to a certain region of your body and let it escape. For you, you should probably direct it to your hand." He lifted up his arm to do an example, his palm open and facing towards the glass.

"Alright," she nodded her head slowly, making it obvious that she was unsure about this.

She breathed in slowly and breathed out at the same pace. Concentrating on the power that crashed through her body like furious waves, waves that had a mind of their own and were thirsty for destruction. Then she tried to direct the waves, starting from the bottom and pushing them all the way through her upper body, collecting the rest on the way as she made it to her right arm. She raised it up towards the glass, her palm open, just as Bruce had done. Then she pushed it out of her body, like a beam of some sort which no one could actually see being shot.

It took a few seconds but she soon heard the sound of glass cracking and hitting the floor, when she opened her eyes she was hit with the pleasant sight to half the glass in broken bits on the floor while the other bit remained on the table. "Half the glass, you're getting good." Bruce applauded.

"Good, but not as perfect as my aim." A male voice spoke up from the doorway which crashed shut, two pairs of hands beginning to applaud her. Both Bruce and Summer jumped from the sudden arrival and they turned around swiftly, only to find Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff entering the room.

"Oh shut it Clint, we both know that I could top you any day in hand to hand combat" Summer sassed, placing a hand on her hip confidently which caused a stir to appear on Clint's lips. A moment passed as they stared at each other, challenging one another. Summer was the first to break out with a smile, walking over to Nat and giving her a quick hug. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well we heard what happened and came rushing as soon as we could," the gorgeous red-head explained, "I would ask if you're okay but it seems a bit stupid to ask such a thing considering the circumstances."

Summer knew that Nat's ramble may have come across as slightly cold but it was her way of showing she cared, it was a vague way of asking the initial question 'are you okay?' and Summer thought it would be an easy question to answer. Instead she looked at the floor, "I'm fine- or I will be at least," she reassured. It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't entirely a lie. They still didn't know if this SAIL mutation was dangerous, hell, they didn't even know how long it would be able to keep her alive…