Chapter 2: Clint's Farmhouse - Menno, South Dakota
Very little counter space was left after Clint began preparing dinner. Unlike the kitchens in Avengers Tower, this one wasn't the size of a living room. He loved the company and all the noise around the farmhouse- but cooking for a God, super-soldier, Hulk, and four others was certainly a feat. He was tempted to just order pizza when his name was drawn for dinner-duty, but they insisted on a nice meal to celebrate Tony's arrival (well, Tony insisted).
Four large chickens dusted in garlic salt spun in four large rotisserie units in the loft kitchen, and Clint was busy preparing side dishes in the farmhouse. The small hall between the kitchen and porch door was in deep shadow as the sun set. There Inessa kept a path through the Valley open for Clint to cross between the loft and the farmhouse. She sat at the table with Banner, Tony, and Sam playing cards. It gave all of the Avengers some insight into how Inessa thought and strategized. Natasha banned playing for money- but that was to protect the others. Inessa was a wicked card player.
"Door safe to go through?" Clint always asked before he stepped through it.
Inessa looked up from her cards. Her eyes glowed silver and black mist began to roll along her skin as she let her mind enter the Valley. Her wolf sat on the other side of the entrance, ready to escort Clint lest the rest of the pack try to escape the Valley and run free again. After New York they had become impossible to control. Yes.
"Thank you," Clint stepped through the portal.
The Valley was unnerving, even though by now he had crossed through it well over a dozen times. Sharp gray stones tumbled and shifted across the surface, buffeted by a harsh wind. If he looked up (and he tried to avoid that at all costs) he would see clouds swirling towards a dead light in the sky- it was like being in the middle of a tornado.
A vast nothingness stretched around him in all directions, broken only by a distant ridge. No water, no plants, no animals save the wolf and a streak of black on the horizon that indicated the pack was watching. Ahead of him the view was blocked only by a long, narrow column of shadow- the other end of the path. Passing through the shadows was not instantaneous, but it still cut the trek down significantly. When Clint stepped into the shadow and came out in the loft kitchen, he breathed a sigh of relief and took a few moments to collect himself.
"It is a strange feeling, is it not?" Thor asked as Clint stepped out into the kitchen.
He nodded, "It feels like... Have you ever read the bible?"
Thor thought hard, then shook his head, "I have heard of it while watching your History Channel, but I have not read it yet."
"Well, there's a passage in it somewhere, I don't know where, that says 'Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.' That's kind of how I feel when I go through that place."
"The Valley of the Shadow of Death? That does seem an apt description. It has the feeling of a tomb."
Clint began checking the chickens. Suddenly he stood up straight, "Hey! I just realized- what did we call the thing that was attacking us in Avengers Tower?"
"Inessa, and you shouldn't call the lady a 'thing'." Thor chided.
"No, before we knew it was Inessa... And for the record- I would never call her 'thing'."
"We called it 'Shadow'." Thor reached the same realization Clint had, "The Valley of the Shadow! Ha!"
"I'm calling it that from now on," Clint inspected the last one then went back to the corner he'd emerged from, "Dinner in twenty," he called over to Thor before crossing back through.
"Clint!" Natasha called as soon as he crossed out from the Valley, "We've got a problem!"
Immediately he reached for one of the crossbows he kept hidden throughout the house, "What's wrong?"
"Inessa!" Sam was holding her by the shoulders, shaking her. Her eyes were still burning bright and even more smoke rolled down her arms than before. She sat stock-still and watched something the rest of them couldn't see. There was a woosh of air behind Clint and he turned- he could see into the hallway again, the door was closed.
Tony was standing by, worrying, "Should I get the suit in here with some lights? What's wrong?"
"No!" Natasha pointed to the switch, "Make it darker!"
"How does that help?" Tony argued as Clint hit the button. The room was plunged into deep shadows.
"Look at her eyes!" Natasha waved her hand back and forth in front of them, nothing, "They were like that when she was the Shadow."
"You think she fell out of her body again?" Tony was incredulous, "She didn't bleed shadows back then in case you forgot."
Clint stood back- there were enough people crowding around anyways, "How long has she been like that?"
"Since just after you went to the loft. We thought she was watching you walk or waiting for you. Did you see anything unusual there?"
He shook his head, "Just the wolf and the pack, what we've all seen."
Without looking, Inessa stood up suddenly. She took slow, careful steps, and the Avengers scrambled to get out of her way. Whatever led her, she followed it down the narrow hallway and into the foyer. Shadows deepened and stretched around her. Inessa stopped and raised her arm. The Shadows bleeding from it were so dense they couldn't see past the elbow. Steve ducked out of the study to see what was wrong and froze halfway between Inessa and Natasha. She leaned forward as if reaching for something, pulled it through-
A heartbeat later Inessa flew across the living room and into a bookcase.
Bucky avoided shadows religiously- but he couldn't tonight. He'd spent hours considering his options carefully, crossing them off one by one. He had to hope no one was watching. Any plan that required moving the body in the daytime was far riskier than it would be at night. Besides- his contact wanted to double the rate at even a suggestion of doing this a a midday job, and Bucky hadn't been able to find enough of Hydra's old drop-boxes to scrounge up that kind of money.
He waited by the bus-stop as directed with his skin crawling at the slightest breeze. He couldn't be found by the Avengers, not right now. It was too dangerous. He didn't regret what he'd done, but he knew they'd never condone it. He heard the crunch of a footstep in the darkness and waited patiently for the old woman to sit down next to him, "My team will take the cargo as soon as you pay, dearie," she patted his knee. Bucky pulled a thick envelope from his jacket and slipped it into her handbag between them. She lifted it, tested the difference in weight, "Pleasure doing business with you." she checked her watch, "Oh no! Well, fooey, I'm five minutes late for my bus! Isn't that just rotten luck?" she stood up and smiled down on him, "Have a good evening, dearie."
He couldn't move- as instructed he had to catch the next bus to Military Pier and only then could he go on his way. These people were professionals, he had no doubt there was a sniper trained on him at that moment. Mercifully he didn't have long to wait. The bus pulled in and he hopped on, ignoring the stares of the other passengers. He hadn't slept in quite some time, and he was fairly certain he smelled. The kind of work he was doing- you don't usually worry about personal hygiene. Add to that the leather jacket and thick gloves to hide his metal arm (an unusual sight in the middle of summer)- he was sure he wouldn't be fitting in anywhere.
Military Pier housed some of the city's finest museums- and darkest footpaths. The bus dropped him off along one of those. Bucky had been safe on the relatively bright bus, but now? He had to walk through just about pitch-black turf for at least a mile or two. Oh well, if they haven't found me yet then maybe- as he stepped out from the light of the bus stop suddenly he felt a presence. He could hear something behind him- someone following.
It was a different sensation than when Inessa appeared in New York- one that spoke to him as an assassin. He knew someone was there- someone was watching. Hydra? Most likely- their agents in the city didn't know the Winter Soldier had gone rogue, they provided him with excellent assistance in his quest. But eventually word would travel- he'd just been hoping it traveled a few days slower. Particularly after what he'd done to the helpful agents.
Bucky walked slower and listened harder. Four sets of tracks, soft, but not professional-soft. Probably a low-level team who had no idea just who they were dealing with. If Hydra's leaders had any brains they would have sent an assassin, not a gang. A soft breeze blew from over the water and Bucky shivered slightly. He didn't have a knife on him, his only weapon was the arm.
He heard something- another set of footprints closer behind them. So they did send an assassin. Perfect. He only walked a few feet further before stopping and listening. He shivered with anticipation of a fight. The assassin closed in- another mistake. Hydra should have sent someone who struck from a distance. Bucky tensed and readied for a good old fashioned fist-fight. A hand closed around his arm and yanked at him.
Bucky spun- ignoring the wave of nausea that suddenly hit as he moved- and twisted his arm so that he held the assassin. He back-handed his assailant with his metal arm and released, sending them flying-
Into a bookcase?
He stepped forward to look at his attacker and saw her look up from the wreckage with a hand over her cheeck. Oh god. Inessa was staring at him, shaking, hyperventilating. He realized he was scowling and tried to wipe his face, "Ine-" she vanished in a black cloud with a squeak and in her place was a massive and exceptionally pissed black wolf. It snarled at Bucky and crouched low, ready to strike.
"Nadya!" Steve was the first to recover enough to take charge, "Nadya, down! Go!" he ran forward and put himself between the dog and Bucky, "Go to Inessa! Go!" it continued to snarl as it backed away from him and faded from sight.
As soon as the wolf was gone though, Natasha came forward and shoved Bucky, hard. He hit the wall and just stared at her, his mouth open, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she shouted, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW FAR BACK YOU JUST SET HER?"
"I- I didn't- I thought Hydra-" he couldn't put a sentence together. How much had Inessa seen? Why was he wondering how much she saw instead of what he'd just done to her? How could he have ever thought she was an assassin? He didn't shiver because he was going to fight or because of the wind- that was what it felt like when she opened the portal. Why hadn't he realized it?
Steve grabbed his jacket and pulled him towards the front door, "You're coming with me right now."
"Steve-" Clint's voice was hard.
"-I've got this! You find Inessa." he shoved Bucky out into the night and slammed the door behind them.
Bucky's hands shook, "Steve, I didn't know- I swear to god I didn't know-"
"Keep walking!" Steve snapped and shoved Bucky again. They walked away from the farmhouse in silence. It was well out of easy hearing range when Steve stopped.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was Inessa!" Bucky tried to explain.
"Did you kill Dimitri Aristov?" Steve kept his voice low, why did it make Bucky as nervous as if he'd shouted?
"What? What are you talking about?" He'd known Steve his whole life, they could read one another's faces easily, but his confusion and guilt over what he'd just done covered any ticks or twitches that might have given him away.
"Dimitri Aristov- Inessa's uncle. Did. You. Kill. Him?"
Always the smart one, "Of course not-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Steve snapped, "I know you went after him!"
"Went after him? Yes! Killed him? Of course not!" Bucky snapped back, "I couldn't find the son of a bitch!"
"If you're lying to me I swear to god," Steve let the threat hang in the air. If he did the same thing to Aristov as he had to Dennisson- Thor had warned him against just this the night he brought his friend in from Astana. If Bucky was going dark he didn't think he could bring his friend back from that. And it terrified him.
Bucky knew how to do this- slip truth into the lies. He knew Steve wouldn't forgive him, not that he'd done anything wrong. It was easier to just lie, "I wanted to find him, yes. I hunted him from Chicago to Russia," or at least was willing to, "I wanted to see how many bones in his body I could break before he finally died," eighty-seven, impressively enough, "and I would have enjoyed killing him," actually, it was a bit disappointing he hadn't lasted longer, "but I didn't find him," lie number one, "and I didn't kill him," lie number two.
Steve stared him down for a long time. He couldn't see anything to call Bucky out on, but neither did he believe the story. He'd pulled Bucky out of Astana, helped heal him, found Inessa, tried to keep the both of them safe, trusted that the Winter Soldier could go back to being his friend. But what had Bucky done? He'd handed himself over to Dennisson without discussing anything, then killed the same man when they both could clearly see he was too weak to put up any kind of fight. Then he'd run off again- after some drunk asshole. Three weeks. Steve had no doubt he found him quickly- that was the Winter Soldier's job, after all. He was so sick of all of this- sick of the fighting, sick of losing friends and sick of false hope. Life had thrown nothing but shit at him and he was done. "SHIELD is hunting for Aristov," his voice was low again, "until they find him alive, consider yourself on lock-down. You don't leave this farm- and you don't even look at Inessa."
He started to walk away, then hesitated, "If they find his body- if you lied to me- then you'd better leave before I find out." Did he mean what he threatened? Even Steve wasn't sure anymore, "Now, go to the barn and get that goddamned jammer out of your head. You're staying there in the loft with Thor. Away from Inessa." he tapped his comm twice to open it, "Tony-"
"Yes Grumpy?"
"Get your stuff, you're rooming with me after all."
"Oh. Joy."
For story notes, visit ProjectEchoFanfic dot tumblr dot com.
I'm guessing there will be a few questions about this, it'll be clarified more in the next chapter, but Inessa gave her real name, Nadya, to the wolf. So from now on when you see Nadya, that's who I'm talking about.
Also- there won't be a new chapter tomorrow night (otherwise I'm trying for a chapter a night throughout most of Part 2). It's my 24th birthday and I'll be busy partying with family :)