Chapter 26: Avengers Tower

No one spoke as they packed, the feeling of despair was overwhelming in the tower. Even knowing Morris might be forming a death squad couldn't help them much if they couldn't find the bastard. In this case it was almost a guarantee whoever went on defensive would lose. Inessa, without much to pack, spent hours with her mind half in the shadows, looking for any sign of their enemy or anymore beacons from Project Helius. She couldn't trust even the shadows with something like that on the loose. No amount of searching turned up results.

Was Pryor her enemy, assigned by Morris? Could Project Helius' resurrection be a part of all this? Neither answer explained what was happening, or what any of them could do to stop Cul Borson.

After a long, tense discussion they elected to let Inessa bring them to Clint's farm via the Valley. As useful as the jet may be in battle, there was no way to guarantee their mysterious archer wouldn't be able to destroy that too. They had to assume he was on equal tech footing with Clint, but with how things were progressing superiority was likely.

They needed Tony, but not long after being locked up it was like whatever happened to turn him against his principles went into overdrive. He was now convinced the others were working against him, trying to edge him out of his own life. Steve had him moved from a crafts room to his apartment once all the electronics were removed, but he practically devolved. He was almost feral, twitched uncontrollably, and was obsessed with making more and more devices to control Inessa. Steve allowed him a box of crayons to draw plans out on the walls with after they caught him trying to gnaw at his own wrist to use blood as ink.

Inessa didn't know what to do to help him. Tony's madness only kept growing, and it had to be a result of Pryor's manipulation. She convinced Steve to keep them at the tower an extra day, if anything happened at the farm she could have them there in seconds. Inessa couldn't tell them about Pryor without losing that precious new trust the Avengers placed in her, but she couldn't do anything to help Tony either. There had to be actual psychics that SHIELD knew of, someone who could undo whatever manipulation was raging out of control, but how to tell the Avengers they needed it?

Bucky too was on edge, but for a very different reason. He couldn't stop thinking of what happened in the Hydra base. It felt good to pay back some of what Hydra had forced him to dish out- better than he was probably supposed to admit. It made him feel righteous, powerful, in-control and not at the mercy of anyone. It felt the same when he killed Dimitri Aristov, Nikolai Ryker, whoever that creep thought he was. No, Bucky corrected his thoughts, it felt better. While he had Aristov tied up and broke him bone by bone, he was constantly worried about Inessa seeing him from a shadow he might have missed illuminating, or of the Avengers somehow tracking his location. When he fought with Inessa it was honest, brutal, vengeance. For both of them.

Is it possible to be addicted to killing? He told himself it was just Hydra, but if it wasn't wrong to kill organized evil, was it really wrong to kill unorganized evil? A mugger on the street could do just as much harm to a life- he saw it on the news every day. Maybe the others were wrong for refusing to see it- just how many people the world would be better off without.

Bucky squashed the line of thought as soon as he realized where it was taking him. He didn't want to be some rabid killer, he wanted to be a hero. He'd always wanted to be a hero. If he let Hydra change that- even if it ended up working against them- then they won in the end. He had to be the Avengers definition of "good", just to spite his enemies. Even if it was frustrating as hell.

His vision still haunted him- the Avengers dead, the Tower destroyed, Sam coming to kill her- being so invested in seeing her death that he was ready and willing to shoot her through him. Inessa didn't know about it, everyone agreed that wouldn't be a good idea, in case knowing somehow pushed her in that direction. He doubted the others were still thinking about what he'd told them, but he knew firsthand that the dream tried to tell him something- someone needed him to know.

There were too many layers, too many things lining up that demanded his attention, and Bucky had a feeling that was the plan. Keep the Avengers attention divided. The visions, the team forming against them, Project Helius- three missions, three mysteries, but which one was the real threat? "Where's Inessa?" maybe she could shine some light on the devices she'd seen in the Japanese base- all he knew was that it was keeping soldiers hidden and somehow touching the device supercharged her own abilities. Perhaps the key to their salvation was Helius- max out Inessa's power then set her loose to find this Morris guy.

"Miss Inessa is in the armory," JARVIS chimed. "Based on my analysis of her fighting techniques and style I have synthesized a protective uniform for her should the need arise."

It was like a lead weight fell on Bucky's shoulders. He wanted to run from his room on the third floor all the way to the armory, but for some reason his feet weren't working quite right. They were going too slow. In his vision he'd seen her in a modified combat suit, something that looked like a cross between Natasha's tactical suit and Clint's archer duds.

She doesn't have the neck implant anymore, he told himself, that part of the dream is already wrong. He needed Inessa to be strong- to not turn into the killer his dream showed. That was how he could fight Hydra- by keeping her from the same slope he was slipping down. Bucky stopped at the door to the armory and wiped his sweating palms on his shirt before punching in the code to open the door.

Inessa was out of the locker area and inspecting the suit in a mirror- Bucky couldn't be happier. The weight vanished as soon as he saw the suit- it looked just like Natasha's, but with the coloring changed to black with silver accents. There was thinner fabric over the crook in her elbow and her shoulders, but it couldn't have been further from what he'd seen. He didn't even realize he was grinning until Inessa shot him a frown. "Sorry," he covered the smile, "Nice suit. Decide on a weapon yet?"

"Those," Inessa pointed to a case on the bench behind her, "Steve doesn't want to rely on these in case Morris has the signal," she held up a hand, the silver in her eyes flashed brighter, and long, shadowy talons appeared.

Bucky opened the case and his smile returned, "Perfect." two long, curved daggers with forked hilts. The only vaguely resembled the other weapons, the scythe-axe hybrid weapons, "Do you want to spar later? Try fighting in the suit?"

"No," Inessa said quickly, "I want to fight Steve." Of course, fighting with me and fighting me are two different things. She isn't ready for that yet. He held no hard feelings, he was just relieved.

"I'm sure it'll be great," the world was going to hell, but he could cross one thing off his To Worry About list- the visions weren't playing any part in the impending fight. "I'll just get back to-" he quickly excused himself to give her time to get used to her uniform- not that he hoped she would have to don it anytime soon. Bucky smiled to himself again and went to find the others.

"Thank you, JARVIS," Inessa turned back to the mirror once Bucky was gone, "it's nice, but what about the suit I designed?"

"I have fabricated that as well," a panel slid down to reveal the other uniform, "however, it does not have the same safety features as the one you are currently wearing."

"It'll be easier to move in though," Inessa put a hand out to touch the rough, durable fabric, "speed might be more important." The other suit was entirely black. Her eyes would give her away in any shadow if she opened the door too far, but the suit she had on might give her away much sooner- it was too bright with all of the silver decorations. This one was simple- the pants looked like those Steve, Sam, and Bucky wore, the top was reinforced with Kevlar plating, but the sleeves were only the width of two or three fingers, her shoulders would be free to swing without resistance. To make up for the limited protection of the shirt she would have upper arm guards made of thick, reinforced leather and forearm guards that were a dark, dull metal. She could catch blades with her arms without losing versatility in the joints. Finally, there were black fingerless gloves, studded at each knuckle to protect her hands and damage her enemies a bit more.

Bucky isn't the only one with dreams. The only difference was that Inessa didn't believe them for an instant- though it didn't mean there wasn't a tip to be taken from the little glimpse into the future. "JARVIS, what do we have in the way of scythes?"

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