Chapter 4: Clint's Farmhouse - Menno, South Dakota
Reason told Inessa she was safe. It reminded her of her rescue by the Avengers, stirred in her mind what scraps of memory she held of her time as only a shadow. Reason told her the pale green farmhouse in the distance belonged to friends- she was safe there. But unfortunately Reason wasn't the only voice in her head, and its quiet reminders were nowhere near as loud as the scream of fear.
She'd been safe- or had she? It was a hot morning, even in the shade of the cornfield, the sun was already bright in the sky. Was it a field? Was it the sky? Was she back in that horrible room?
The man she had pulled through the shadow was one she knew she would fear. That pain- a pain the likes of which she hadn't felt in so long- and the look in his eyes brought everything crashing down on her again. She'd finally learned to sleep without nightmares, even though the memories shouted in her head all day long at least she had some hope. She thought she could handle seeing him- but Inessa knew the dead look in his eyes when he struck her. It wasn't the rescuer, it was the torturer.
Reason showed her the grass waving in the breeze and the clouds in the sky, but fear told her this was some kind of mirage she'd created. A dream brought on by another near-death torture session. The drugs they'd pumped into her always made her see things. Usually they were horrible, but this could be just another torture. Make her think she remembered being safe and sound away from Hydra, then douse her with the reality of her situation. That had to be it. She could feel the metal cuffs still around her arms- or at least her mind told her she could feel them.
At last she saw through the vision, knew the truth: she was in Astana. She was locked in the room, chained to the table. She could see someone approaching- no doubt Dennisson or the Metal Man was coming to see if any progress had been made. What would they do to her? Break more ribs? The boiling water? Peel her flesh away from her in chunks?
By the time Steve reached her she was rocking in place with her knees held to her chest and tears tracing red paths through the dried blood on her swollen cheek. She shook and shivered and watched something only she could see. In many ways it reminded him of how he'd found Bucky in Red Skull's camp the first time- barely coherent and repeating his military serial numbers over and over again in a dazed mantra. Steve put a hand on each shoulder and held her in place, "It's alright," he said softly, "you're safe."
With Inessa that usually helped- forced her to focus on something- but she was too convinced of whatever it was she was seeing. He tapped his comm to address Natasha and Clint, waiting anxiously back at the house, "Clint you were right- it was Inessa out here. We're going to stay for a while, keep the others back."
"I'll let them know, thanks."
It wasn't the first time Inessa had an episode like this. Steve handled the last one- a few days after they'd arrived at the farm- and he knew best how to bring her around again. "Let's see," he settled down next to her and sat with his legs out in front of him, "where did I start last time? Oh yeah, when Sam and I went for that Hydra base on the barge in Alaska..." he told her the story in its entirety- how with the help of SHIELD they traced Project Echo to Astana. How they'd found Bucky there, brought him back and fixed him up- all with the promise that they'd help him find the girl he barely remembered. The Shadow's first appearance not long after that, finding Inessa in the cryo tube in South Korea. He told her about being drawn into the Valley, when he'd seen her the first time fuzed to the wolf's form.
Just as before, reminding Inessa of her story helped draw her back in. Slowly, she calmed down and while she never looked at him, she turned her head slightly to show she was listening. Steve recounted the panic of the other Avengers when they'd finally reunited- only to see shadows pouring from Inessa. They watched the same footage Clint had, and Bucky's suspicions were confirmed (then re-confirmed once Clint woke up)- the Shadow wasn't possessing Inessa like some kind of demon, it was Inessa.
He left out every mention of Dimitri Aristov, and the specifics of what happened to Dennisson. He ended, as before, with the story of how Inessa refused to let anyone call her Nadya. She insisted her name be Inessa, and gave 'Nadya' instead to the wolf that had hardly left her sight that first week. By the time Steve finished, the sun was directly overhead and he could smell food on the grill. "Can I see now?"
She nodded and turned to Steve. With one hand she pulled back the hair that obscured most of her face. Her cheek was cut where Bucky had back-handed her, and there was a nasty bruise on her temple. Another bruise ran from the base of her neck back- vanishing under her shirt. "Can you move your arms for me?" she lifted them slowly, wincing. He put a hand on her shoulder blades and pressed slightly, "Anything feel broken?" she shook her head and put her arms down. "Just bruised?" she nodded.
"He didn't mean to hurt you, I promise. He was convinced Hydra was following him. I'm not saying you shouldn't have Nadya knock him around a bit, but he doesn't mean you any harm." Inessa just looked at the ground, "We're making him stay in the barn until you say he can come out, alright? You won't see him at all, I swear it. Do you understand?" Inessa nodded. "The others are really worried about you, can I walk you back to the house? You need to eat something and take your medicine." She nodded again and he helped her slowly to her feet. Moving hurt.
Steve led her out of the field and towards the distant house where the other Avengers waited.
Bucky walked through the charred, crumbling remains of Avengers Tower for the first time since Dennisson woke him to melt off his flesh. He was so scared the first two times- no one knew he had those dreams. Somehow, Bucky felt they were meant for him, and him alone.
The Tower was a complete ruin- he could barely tell where he was. Somehow he knew to go to the balcony where the strange woman waited. Her armor was unusual- black plated combat pants like the Avengers suits, but instead of a protective suit like Natasha wore, this woman wore only a Kevlar-reinforced tank top and relied on four separate metal bracers to cover her arms everywhere but the joints. Twin scythes were holstered in her belt. Her dark hair was pulled up tightly away from her face, and a strange, four-pronged metal device was fixed to the back of her neck. Whatever it was, it made him nervous.
"What happened here?" he could only ever whisper in his dream.
"You're the one who was supposed to stop it," her voice was hard, challenging, "You brought it here." the first time he heard it, he thought she was talking about the Shadow- the creature Inessa turned herself into. She attacked them to try and destroy her body- then to try and make a path to reclaim it. As far as they'd known the monster was on the warpath. "You said it would be safe," again- when he turned himself over to Dennisson he made a silent promise to the unconscious Avengers he was only doing it to keep them safe. "And where the hell were you when everything burned?"
But nothing had burned. Bucky thought the vision was to warn him against something- leaving maybe, but it hadn't been. Nothing in the Tower burned- but maybe that was because Inessa had seen him, brought him away from Dennisson's base.
Her stance and tone reminded him of Natasha, but he knew it wasn't her. Somehow he felt that Nat was long gone. "You asked for my help. At least tell me what did all of this."
"As if you didn't know what would happen when you abandoned us. Turn around."
This part of the vision always changed. The first time he'd found himself suddenly teleported to what would one day be the torture room in Astana, but at the time it was where Project Helius exploded- killing Inessa's mother and imbuing her unborn child with the ability to manipulate the shadows. He'd seen the abominable creature- not quite wolf and not quite human.
When Dennisson was torturing him he'd seen blasts of the battle they were about to fight- Steve crushed under a wall of water as Inessa brought Sam through a portal from where he was drowning in the Hudson River- Natasha and the shape-shifter that had taken Clint's form with their weapons trained at one another- Sam crashing to the ground after his wings took a direct hit from the tazer. Hell, even the Hulk throwing Thor into a wall after he'd shot out of the Shadows and Bucky himself, defeated, slumped against a light pole- where Inessa had found him. He remembered the fierce whisper, "Stay in the light". Inessa hadn't been able to speak so clearly when she found him.
This dream was no exception. He turned from the woman and looked back at the Tower. He saw, for the first time, the ruined tower. Someone was hidden just inside the shadows, watching. If they hadn't ducked when he looked he might not have noticed them at all. He took a step forward, but someone else stepped out.
"Sam?" he didn't look right. His dark suit was swapped out for a white and red one. He had his wings on, but also held a gun which he trained on the woman. He looked beyond angry- he looked murderous.
"Good to see you too, now get the fuck out of my way," Sam snapped and twitched his gun to the side. Bucky opened his mouth to respond, but he cut him off, "Don't think I won't shoot through you to kill that little bitch. Won't even lose any sleep over it."
This wasn't the Sam Wilson Bucky knew. It was someone dark and twisted. Whoever was watching from the shadows moved quickly to the side to cover the woman from a second angle. He could only see the end of the assault rifle as they raised it.
"On behalf of SHIELD, the Counsel of Yggdrasil, the Realm of Asgard, the United Nations Security Counsel, Interpol, the CIA, MI-6, and about a dozen other agencies I've been given the honor of declaring you an enemy of the peace, traitor, and war criminal. You've been found guilty in the deaths of Anthony Stark, Steven Rogers, Natalia Romanova, Clinton Barton, Robert Banner, and Prince Thor of Asgard."
"Don't I get a trial?" the woman's tone was mocking. Bucky didn't move from between the two- he was nervous, confused, what the hell was going on?
"There's only one sentence for the likes of you."
From among the ruins spotlights lit suddenly, flooding the area. Bucky stumbled under the force of a frequency he could feel all the way to his bones. The woman grabbed him and threw him off the balcony into the night, then dove after him. Lights slammed on from the undamaged floors of Avengers Tower and the adjacent building, flooding the gap with light. As Bucky fell, he looked up at the face of the woman who had destroyed his friends.
Inessa was smiling. Her eyes burned silver and black smoke rolled from her arms. She grabbed his metal hand, exploded into shadow, and dragged Bucky through into the Valley with her.
He woke so quickly and in such a panic that he dove across the room, ran through the loft, and straight into one of Tony's suits guarding the stairs. He was panting, covered in an icy sweat, and completely manic. "Master Barnes, I am afraid I have been asked to keep you up here for the time being, as a consideration to Miss Inessa."
Inessa. His stomach dropped, but he immediately began to question the dream as the initial shock faded. They were never what he thought. Never. He thought the Shadow was coming after them- it only wanted to go home. He thought they would all die on the streets of New York, but he was seeing their victory instead. This had to be a trick. The vision had to be wrong. Something was missing- some piece.
Sam would never, under any circumstances, try to kill Inessa. She would never hurt the others. The woman had looked like her- but it had to be someone else. Another shifter. Someone wearing her face. Did she have a sister? Maybe there was a twin Dimitri had hidden away somewhere else- one Hydra got a hold of and actually convinced to help them.
That had to be it. Evil twin. Shape-shifter. Sam had never called her Inessa. The device on her neck! It was some kind of mind-control device! Bucky's heart was ice cold and dread coiled in him. He could convince himself it wasn't Inessa, easily, but-
You've been found guilty in the deaths of Anthony Stark, Steven Rogers, Natalia Romanova, Clinton Barton, Robert Banner, and Prince Thor of Asgard.
The specifics of the dream were already fading, but that part he was pretty sure would be etched in his memory forever. He had to find a way to stop it. He had to find a way to save them- and protect Inessa from whatever the hell it was the future had in store, or what the past had hidden.
He also needed to find whoever was sending him these nightmares.
For story notes, visit ProjectEchoFanfiction dot tumblr dot com.