(A/N): Happy Holidays! Hope everyone gets the chance to relax some this holiday season!
You know, a reviewer for one of my other stories said I should post a new chapter as a gift to my readers. But, in addition to the fact that Christmas is coming up, it's my birthday on Monday so, if anyone deserves a present, it's me. So, what're you gonna get me?
lolololol I'm so tired.
Shoutouts to KnowInsight, Sora Loves Rain, iChaos, alexaguamenti, Silas Serenity, Alyxia, Pterodactyl1993, Adharablack85-2, Catzandbookz8, KindaTwisted21, Westcoast222, percabethbooklion, MarieGT18, and Guests for reviewing! Loving how much your loving this!
Oof. Okay. What you need to know about this chapter... Well, there's a character that's kind of Marvel and kind of original. Like, a character from the comics and not the movies but that I'm making into my own character because I've never read the comics and I have no clue what she was like in them. You'll understand when you get to her. Oh, and Dr. List is a HYDRA scientist that works with Strucker but it's fine if you don't remember him- he was barely in the movies and only really touched on in the Agents of SHIELD show which I have not seen and do not plan to because I cannot add anymore to this world. I just can't.
This chapter is unbetaed and I am tired so I probably missed things in my review. All mistakes are on you this time because I don't want them and it's (almost) my birthday.
Thank you all for reading! Enjoy!
Loki leaned back against the wall of his cell and watched as Thor walked up the stairs and out of the dungeon.
"Do these conversations happen often?" Mia asked, slumping over to rest her head on her father's shoulder. She had managed to project herself into Loki's cell by using their mental link as a stabilizing point. Since Loki had been brought back to Asgard, Mia came to visit him as often as she could. This was the first time that someone else had also wished to speak with him while she was there though. It was thanks to Loki's illusion that Thor hadn't been able to see her.
"Far more often than I would like," the Trickster god muttered. Once more, the bumbling oaf had come to tell him what Heimdall had seen happening in his daughter's life, as though Loki wasn't well aware of everything Mia did.
Mia hummed. "It's kind of unsettling, the realization that when you told me 'Heimdall sees all' you actually meant that he can see everything. Thor just regurgitated far too much information about my dealing than I am comfortable with."
"I can teach you a spell that can block his gaze," Loki offered. "You will have to use it sparingly though- if it is placed too often, Odin may send someone down to Midgard."
"And what a tragedy that would be," she muttered. "Though, I do believe sending a few of Odin's warriors back in pieces would send him quite the message."
He laughed. "How vengeful. I like it."
"I learned from the best."
Mia stared blankly at the fog surrounding her. It felt similar to the time when she had been trapped inside the Mind Stone and yet not. Was she in another stone?
Mind, Time, Reality, Space, Power, and Soul. The Infinity Stones. The stones created at the start of the universe- each representing a fundamental and unchanging truth. But that wasn't quite right, was it? There was also one other aspect of existence that was ever-present.
Gods, she'd killed them. Mia had burned innocents in order to save herself. How many of them had been on that ship? Who were they? What were they like? What future had she stolen from them?
What had she done?
"You've found yourself trapped in a place you are entirely unfamiliar with, alone without any friends, family, or allies at your back, yet your concern is still entirely focused on the wrongs you've committed. How unusual."
Looking over her shoulder, Mia found a woman standing behind her and watching her with vague interest. She wore a dark purple dress and a black cloak- the dark colors an intense contrast with her pale skin and dark hair.
"Hello, Mia," she greeted. "I thought it was time you and I talked."
Mia was unconscious for the next four days. Despite their best efforts, no one could figure out what she had been dosed with.
Bruce had flown back from South America as soon as Tony got word to him about what had happened. He had been visiting his ex-girlfriend, Betty Ross, in her new lab, located far away from the looming presence of her father, General Thaddeus Ross. Bruce and Betty hadn't spoken since the incident in Harlem and he had wanted to check on her and see how she was doing. Once he heard about Mia though, Bruce had raced back as quickly as he could.
He had taken numerous blood samples, run every scan he could think of with the assistance of Loki and the other Asgardians, but nothing came of it. With every day that Mia didn't awaken, everyone's mood grew even darker.
As soon as Mia was brought down to her room, Carol had crawled into bed beside her and refused to leave. The only times she moved were to go to the bathroom and to eat. She just laid there, staring at her daughter, and praying that she would eventually wake up.
Loki, on the other hand, seemed barely able to sit still. Sometimes he would sit on the other side of his daughter and cast spell after spell on her, attempting to wake her up any way he knew how. When that failed, he would lay his hand on her forehead and stay like that for hours in a desperate attempt to link his mind with hers again.
If he wasn't there, Loki could be found roaming aimlessly around the tower. Fury had wanted to leave a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there to keep an eye on the Asgardian, but Tony refused.
"My house, my rule," Tony had taunted Fury, taking his anger about the situation out on the stoic man. "I've already got to put up with the Three Stooges and Thor's jilted lover- I'm not putting up with anyone else."
The longer his sister had been out, the more Tony seemed to spiral and Pepper- who could usually be counted on to be a calming presence for the genius- wasn't doing much better. When Loki wasn't next to Mia, then Pepper would be there in his place. In one of Tony's old sweatshirts and a pair of baggy sweatpants, she looked nothing like the young, successful CEO she was. The large bags under her eyes was proof that she wasn't looking after herself either.
"How long can she go without food or fluids?" Pepper had roused herself enough to ask Carol on the second day. "Should we try to get an IV set up for her or something?"
"No," Carol murmured. "She'll be fine- she can go for a while without eating."
"Like Steve," the redhead whispered.
"Like Steve."
Steve hadn't spoken since he'd told Hermione to be careful. He'd walked around the apartment like a ghost- floating between the Mia's room, his room, and the room Mia had set aside for him as a gym of sorts that contained a punching bag she had charmed not to break.
This wasn't an enemy he could fight. This wasn't something he could help Hermione with. He was useless. He was going to lose someone else he cared about and there was nothing Steve could do about it.
"Who are you?" Mia asked softly. She could feel the power radiating off the woman, but it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. It wasn't like the magic that hung in the air around Loki or the energy surrounding Carol. It wasn't like the lightning crackling off of Thor's skin or even the darkness bound to the Ancient One. Yet, it somehow still seemed familiar to her...
Tilting her head, the woman studied Mia closely. "I have known you for many years, young one. I watched you burn and wither as Hermione, observed you train and strengthen as Mia Lokisdottir-Danvers, and saw as you started to shine as Mia Stark. Through it all- through the tears, the pain, the fights, and the blood- I walked by your side though you could not see me. There were more than a few times where we almost met, but you always managed to escape me at just the last second."
A chill crept down Mia's spine as riddle she'd heard once as a child popped into her mind.
'Some try to hide, some try to cheat,
But time will show we will always meet,
Try as you might to guess my name
But I'm sure you'll know when it's you I claim'
"Death," she whispered.
Of course. Of course Death would be an actual entity and of course it would come to her now.
"Still so very clever," Death remarked softly. "I am known as many things, but you may call me Dabria."
After the second day Mia remained unconscious, Thor had returned alone to Asgard to see if any aid could be found there for Mia. Heimdall had kept Frigga and Odin informed of what was going on and his mother was waiting for him upon his return.
"Do you have a sample of what was given to her?" she immediately asked as Thor stepped towards her.
He shook his head. "We were unable to find anything in the wreckage of the ship. Dr. Banner did gift us with a sample of Mia's blood- perhaps the healers could find an answer with it."
Frigga held her hand out for the vial. "Your father has ordered none to help us with this, but he forgets himself- the healers answer to me, not him."
Thor just nodded, eyes cold and bleak. "What if," he started, giving voice to the thought he had dared not speak in front of his brother. "What if it's too late?"
Grabbing hold of his hand, Frigga squeezed it tightly. "Do not give up hope, my son. All will be well."
"Why are you here?" Mia asked, folding her arms across her chest. "What do you want?"
Dabria stepped to the side and a path suddenly appeared on the ground below their feet. "Walk with me."
"I've heard it's an ill omen to walk with Death," she retorted dully but fell into step beside the other woman.
"Better walking with Death than courting it," Dabria snorted, eyes turning hard.
Silence fell between the two, but Mia could only stand for it so long before she spoke again. "You didn't answer my questions."
For a long moment, the only sound to be heard was the swishing of Dabria's cloak moving back and forth and the trod of their feet on the path. Finally, she said, "You know, from the very start of your life you may have been considered a slightly unusual human, but you were nothing outstanding. You were intelligent, clever, outspoken, and strong, but so are many others. There was never really anything about you that was enough to draw my attention because you were turning out to be so ordinary."
That was not at all what Mia was expecting and her feeling of unease increased. "Well, what need was there for me to be special when the-Boy-Who-Lived was hanging about?"
She laughed. "That boy was even more boring than you. Dumbledore's little lamb that was too stupid to avoid the slaughter. If he ever managed to have an original thought in his head, it was quickly swept away by the nonsense being spewed at him by the adults surrounding him. No, out of your entire group, the only one even slightly interesting is Luna. Looney Luna, able to see through the veil between the worlds without going mad and understand what the whispers coming through the cracks are saying. And, of course, young Neville."
A half-smile appeared on Mia's face at the thought of Luna. "Yes," she agreed. "Luna was far better than the rest of us put together- so was Neville. Could he also-"
"Out of all of you, Neville was the only one who knew the truth," Dabria interrupted. "Can you guess what that truth is?"
Hermione thought for a moment, remembering the young boy she'd met on the train who'd turned into the young man she'd fought shoulder-to-shoulder with in the Department of Mysteries. She remembered Bellatrix's cackle and a gum wrapper. "There are worse things than death," she whispered. Hermione had almost succumbed to one herself.
"Funny how you can see that yet are still blind to the obvious when it comes to so many other things."
"And what do you mean by that?" Mia challenged, unable to help taking the bait.
Dabria looked over to meet her eyes. "Death is infinite- a constant in reality that can never be changed. You try to fight the inevitable because you fear that, if you don't, you will turn into someone you hate."
Mia flinched. She knew what Dabria was saying. "'For the Greater Good'."
"Precisely," Dabria nodded. "The shadow of Albus Dumbledore still looms over you, even after all this time. You fear that if you let someone die- or if you do not let the weight of the dead bring you to your knees- then you will be exactly like him. But in allowing your fear to govern you, you have missed the most basic of lessons."
For some reason, Mia couldn't help remembering the moment the Time Stone had shown her of the Ancient One and a man. "And what lesson is that?"
"That death is an inevitability of life and it's an inevitability of war. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to save everyone. You are entering into a war, little one. You are starting the fight of your life- one that will span across the universe. People are going to die no matter how hard you seek to change that fact and the longer you fight against that reality, the worse it is going to be for you."
"You're here because of the people I killed," Mia hissed through clenched teeth.
"The people you killed mean nothing in the grand scheme of things," Dabria told her impassively. "What is a handful of lives compared to half of all live in the universe?"
Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "They died because I killed them. That wasn't a war or a battle- that was a choice. I killed them to save myself."
"And in doing so you saved the lives of many," Dabria answered. "For after the Kree had fled with you, they planned to destroy the planet- a fact you were well-aware of. Besides, what do you think would have happened to those refugees if you hadn't killed them?"
That made Mia pause. What would have happened had they lived? For all her thoughts on the lives they might have had if she hadn't blown up the ship, they were Kree hostages.
"What you did was sacrifice," Dabria spoke, knowing what she was thinking. "But what could have been was a slaughter. Yon-Ragg and his men would have taken them back to Hala along with you and then made a public spectacle of murdering each and every one of them. Their deaths would have been long, painful, and more terrifying than you could ever imagine. There was never going to be a happy ending for them, Mia- either they would have died on that ship or they would have died on an unknown land, but it would have been death all the same."
"That doesn't make it okay!"
"Does it not?" She sounded almost genuinely curious. "When you kill someone to save another, that is just. Why then is it wrong to kill in order to prevent a greater tragedy from happening?"
"Hello, Mr. Stark," came the mild greeting from the elevator.
Tony's head snapped up, eyes wild and bloodshot. Squinting at the figure for a moment, Tony finally recognized who it was. "Well, if it isn't S.H.I.E.L.D.'s finest agent."
Phil Coulson gave him a tight smile, eyes scanning over Tony with concern. "I see you haven't been sleeping."
"No, really?" Tony sneered. "Wonder why that is. Couldn't possibly be because my sister is currently in some kind of coma and no one can tell me how it happened and why she won't wake up, could it? Or hey, maybe it's because a plethora of fucking agents keep showing up at my door demanding answers that I don't fucking have- though even if I did, I wouldn't tell you shit. I'd ask why you're here but gosh, I think I can guess."
"Mr. Stark," he started, before being interrupted.
"Phil?" Pepper asked in confusion, stepping out of Mia's room. She'd thought she'd heard the agent's voice, but it had been such a long time since they'd last seen one another. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Pepper," he greeted with a small smile. "Officially, I'm here to check on Mia's condition and make sure Loki is still where he's supposed to be. Unofficially, I wanted to see how you all are doing. I know this must be tough for you."
"Tough?" repeated a rough voice from the hallway. Steve walked forward, standing at Pepper's shoulder. "I don't really think tough is the best word to use to describe all this, do you?"
"Captain," Phil started to respond, holding up his hands in a placating manner.
"Save it," Steve snapped, slashing his hand through the air. "I don't want to hear it. I know you've got a job to do but it's not happening here- not now. Until she wakes up, we don't want to see anyone remotely related to S.H.I.E.L.D. within 100 feet of this tower, got it?"
"This is bigger than your morals," Dabria warned. "Larger than the naïve beliefs you hold dear."
Mia stared blankly ahead, focused on nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other.
Dabria sighed. "Fine. Hermione Granger appreciated numbers, yes? Appreciated math and logic and order. So, if I told you that sacrificing the lives of 40 people would spare the lives of 3 billion, would you do it? Would you sacrifice those 40 lives in order to save countless others?"
She didn't answer, but Dabria didn't need her to.
"Is that a number you could live with? 40 in exchange for billions? If not, could you live with the alternative?"
Finally reacting, Mia turned to look at her. "You said something before about half of all life in the universe."
"I did."
"Is that Thanos' plan then?" Mia demanded. "To destroy half of all life in the entire universe? What could possibly drive him to do such a thing?"
"Thanos seeks to court Death," Dabria admitted, the edges of her lips curling. "He seeks my attention and has apparently decided that increasing my workload to an impossible degree is the way to go."
For just a moment, Dabria seemed less the embodiment of death to Mia and more like a person suffering under the unwanted attentions of another and unable to do anything about it.
"I guide every living creature in this universe to the beyond," she continued. "A difficult enough job already considering how quickly this universe and it's creations have traveled and expanded. Now, I am forced to try and find a way to put a stop to a man who has deluded himself into believing that making my life infinitely more difficult is the way court me. It's bad enough that he's large and purple, but this is just very unsexy."
Mia choked on air.
When Thor returned from Asgard, he was met by Loki, Pepper, Tony, Hogun, and Frandral.
"Well," Loki demanded as soon as the Bifrost dispersed. "What did you learn?"
The sad look Thor gave him told Loki all he needed to know and, with a growl, the Asgardian spun on his heel and strode back into the tower.
"Nothing?" Pepper asked, face falling.
"I am sorry," Thor told her softly. "We know not what is happening to her. From what our healers were able to tell us, whatever was given to her by the Kree is gone- she should have awoken already."
"Well she's hasn't!" Tony snapped, hands shaking at his sides. "She's not awake so obviously your healers are wrong." He turned to follow after Loki, throwing one last comment over his shoulder. "What is the point of you being here if you're not even going to be helpful?"
"She is his family too," interjected Fandral- loyal to the end, even if he might disagree with Thor's motives on being there.
"Family," Pepper repeated softly. "Considering how things turned out between Thor and Loki, I wonder if any of you Asgardians really even know what that word is supposed to mean."
"What do you want from me?" Mia asked, coming to a stop and turning to face Dabria. "Why am I here?"
Dabria also came to a stop. "I cannot stop Thanos myself. There are rules I am forced to follow," she admitted. "What I need is a champion to fight in my stead."
She gaped at her. "And you thought I would be a good candidate for the job because I stole away innocent lives so that I could save my own?!"
"No, I chose you because I know now that you're willing to do whatever it takes," Dabria snapped. "You hold fast to your morals and beliefs but, when it comes right down to it, you will do what needs to be done. Though your mind may try and convince you otherwise, that is a truth you can never deny."
"If that's the case, then there's no need for you to make me your champion!" Mia argued wildly. "According to you, I'll do what you want anyway!"
"True," Dabria smirked. "I just thought you'd enjoy having a title. However, I am also aware that this is a relatively new realization for you, so I am going to help you come to grips with this new reality."
The landscape around them suddenly started to change, the fog clearing to show that they were standing in the midst of snow-covered mountains.
"What do you mean?" she demanded. "Where are we?"
"We're at the start of a story and a tragic one at that."
Carol brushed the hair off of her daughter's forehead. "I know you can hear me," she whispered. "I can feel you right now, you know. Loki's too unsteady to be able to but I can. You're still connected to your body but somehow, you're also not really inside it, are you? I'm sure your father would know exactly what's happening, but I don't know where he's at right now."
Trying to swallow down the lump in her throat, Carol continued. "I know you're feeling pretty lost right now- that you're scared and sad and angry and don't know what to do. But you have to know that no matter what happens, you're still my kid- I'm always going to love you and I'll never be disappointed in you. But you've gotta come back now, okay?" Leaning forward, Carol rested her forehead on the top of Mia's head. "You've gotta come back. Please, Mia, you have to wake up.
"Please."
A scream rent through the air, echoing against the mountains, and Mia's head snapped back to watch as a train barreled by overhead. Not far ahead of them, something fell out of the air and slammed into the ground.
Before she could stop herself, Mia was rushing forward. As she got closer, she realized that what fell from the sky was actually a who- a man in a blue coat. When she was close enough to see his face, Mia gasped. It was Bucky.
It was Bucky and he still seemed to be alive.
"What is this?" she shouted, looking over her shoulder at Dabria, who was leaning against a large boulder and watching her with folded arms.
"I already told you- this is the start of a story." She nodded her head at Bucky. "The start of his."
Mia could faintly hear the sound of men speaking and snow crunching beneath boots walking towards them. A group of men appeared from around the corner and walked through her to crowd around Bucky. One of them began barking commands at another and Mia realized that they were Russian soldiers.
'We're at the start of a story and a tragic one at that.'
"No," Mia breathed. It wasn't possible.
"Yes," Dabria countered. "As far as you've come, Hermione, you're still just that same girl who desperately needs some sort of assignment in order to understand the lesson. So, here it is: see just what became of James Buchanan Barnes. Walk a mile in his shoes. Then, once you leave, you're going to save him. You will slay the HYDRA trapping him- you will murder any who get in your way.
"And then afterwards, you're going to have to live with the fact that you have murdered more people than you can count for a man whose hands are soaked are also soaked in the blood of the innocents. Unlike you though, he'll have an excuse for what he's done- an out, if you will. He'll be able to wipe away what he's done.
But you won't. Everything you're going to do is all on you. You will either rise to the challenge or be crushed under the weight of your ineptitude. So, Mia, are you ready to find out just what you're made of?"
Carol pulled away, roughly swiping at the tears in her eyes. "God," she swore. "I feel like I'm losing my mind."
"The implication being that you had it previously?"
"You're too smart for your own good," she huffed. Then, she froze.
"Well, I wish I could tell you where it went," Mia whispered weakly. "I certainly don't have it- as we've all seen."
Slowly looking down, Carol found Mia blinking up at her. For just a moment, her mind went entirely blank. Was this really happening? Or had she truly lost it? Was her grief causing her to hallucinate? "Mia?" she finally choked out.
"Mom," her daughter whispered, tears pooling into her eyes and slowly trickling out of the corners. "Mom, I don't feel good."
"Oh, god, hang on, okay?" Carol went from hopefully relieved to panicked in a heartbeat. "Just hang on- don't close your eyes."
"Miss Danvers, I have alerted the others that Miss Stark is awake," JARVIS interjected, just as Steve burst into the room.
Striding over to the bed, he locked eyes with Hermione. "Hey," he greeted, beaming at her as he sank to his knees beside her bed. "You're awake."
"Steve," she sighed. "Steve, I made a mistake. I made a mistake, Steve- I shouldn't have done that."
Finally seeming to notice her tears, Steve gave Carol a concerned glance before looking back at Hermione. "Everything's okay, Hermione- I promise. Everything's going to be okay."
"No, it's not," she sobbed. "It's not okay."
"Mia!" Loki came racing into the room, Tony and Pepper at his heels. Carol shifted so that Loki could sit beside her.
Pepper came up next to Steve and reached out a hand to brush against Mia's forehead. "Thank god," she sighed. "We were so scared."
"JARVIS said you didn't feel good," Tony interrupted, running relieved eyes over his sister's face. "What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't have done that," Mia repeated. "I saw… I shouldn't have done that."
Loki's expression turned stormy. "Lille duen, what did you see? What's wrong?"
Starting to shudder, Mia finally gasped, "It's so cold."
Without anyone noticing, Bruce had slipped into the room behind them. At Mia's words, he snapped into action. "JARVIS, what's her temperature?" he called, as he moved forward.
"Miss Stark's temperature is currently 97.6 degrees and dropping rapidly." JARVIS' obvious worry caused fear to stab into the others.
"Has her temperature ever gotten that low below?" Bruce calmly asked Carol and Loki, reaching out to take ahold of Mia's wrist.
"Yes," Carol softly answered, keeping her eyes locked on Mia as she ran her fingers through her daughter's brown curls. "When she was experimenting with her father's powers. It never happened unintentionally though."
"Her temperature going that low will not cause her any permanent harm," Loki spoke authoritatively. "But her temperature is generally rests between mine and Carol's."
"Which is?" Bruce prodded.
"Around 103."
Pepper was starting to panic. "Bruce, what's wrong? What's going on? Is she okay?"
"Alright, out- everyone out," Bruce finally snapped. "There's too many people in here. If you are not her parent or Steve, I need you to leave the room."
"Why are we getting thrown out but Steve gets to stay?" Tony demanded.
"Because he runs hotter than normal and I don't have a lot of ideas right now. We need to stabilize Mia's temperature quickly and unless Loki's got a magical solution for us right now, this is one of the safest way's I know to do it." The longer he touched her, the more concerned Bruce became because he could feel Mia growing colder the more they spoke.
"What do you need from me?" asked Steve, ready and willing to do whatever it took to help.
"To use your body heat," Carol answered for Bruce, knowing what he was thinking. Standing up from the bed- and shoving Loki off as she moved- Carol pulled the blankets down off of her daughter. Gesturing to the empty space beside Mia, Carol told him, "With how hot you generally run, you should be able to stop her temperature from decreasing any more than it already is. I'd do it myself, but my core temperature is probably too high for this- too much warmth in too short a time could cause her to go into shock."
"What can we do to help?" Pepper asked, tone firm. She had heard what Bruce said about needing space but neither she nor Tony were going to sit around outside.
Seeming to understand, Bruce told them, "I need you to find some kind of electric blanket and some decaffeinated tea- we need to try and keep her hydrated and we need to raise her temperature before she gets hypothermia." He wasn't initially sure that that was something that could happen to Mia but since neither Loki or Carol were countering him, Bruce thought that it was a possibility.
"I'll get the tea, you find the blanket," Pepper ordered Tony, leading him out of the room.
Climbing into the bed without protest, Steve wrapped an arm around Hermione and brought her close to his chest. His chest tightened at how chilled Hermione seemed and he could feel her shudder against him as she turned to press her face into his neck. "What happened, Hermione?" he whispered. "What did you see?"
"Ice," she gasped. "I… I… there's so much ice and it's too cold and it burns."
Loki inhaled sharply as he moved to sit back down on the edge of the bed, Carol standing beside him. "I believe I may know what is happening, but I will need to check to be sure." He needed physical contact in order to properly weave his magic.
Quickly reaching out his hand, Loki pressed it against Mia's forehead and finally reconnected his mind with his daughter's. Her defenses were shattered, yet there was some sort of block around her mind preventing him from actually being able to see anything that she had observed while she was unconscious. He could see the after affects though. Slipping his free hand into Carol's, he also reestablished the connection with her.
"It is as I feared," Loki said grimly. "A magical bond has been formed between her and another though I am unable to tell who. That connection is somehow causing this."
"She's experiencing what they are," Carol hissed, picking up on some of Loki's thoughts and connecting the dots for herself. "I think… I think they're currently frozen right now, so her body is trying to do the same. After what happened with the Kree, her magic was so… shattered, that it latched on to them and tied them together."
"So, what do we do?" Steve asked, his arms tightening around Hermione. "How do we fix this?"
When the mental bridges to her father and mother were reforged, Mia had begun to relax. Her magic whirled inside her, trying to bring things to right.
Distantly, Mia heard her father saying, "Her magic is what formed the connection- only she can break it."
"Why can't you do it?" her mother demanded. "Your magic is similar enough."
"Because if I do it, it could irrevocably damage not only her magic but also her soul!" Mia grimaced at the rage in her father's voice.
"Hermione," Steve whispered. "I know you can hear us. You need to listen to your father- you need to break whatever bond they're talking about."
She instinctively reared back at the idea. "No," Hermione croaked, pulling back just far enough to meet Steve's gaze. "No, I won't abandon him."
"Mia," Carol softly pleaded. "You're hurting yourself."
Mia's hands came up to cover her ears. As she grew warmer, her mind began to move quicker, and she was remembering everything now.
She killed them.
Oh Merlin, she killed them.
She killed them and now they wanted her to leave Bucky. To abandon him- to forsake him.
But Mia couldn't do that.
'Cause I'm with you till the end of the line.
But no, that was Steve's vow, not hers.
You are to be the new fist of HYDRA.
"I can't let go," Mia cried. "I can't let him be alone. He's not alone. He's not alone."
He was one of her people. She remembered now. Mia remembered seeing his face. He was one of hers, just like the twins she still hadn't found yet.
You're not alone, Bucky. I promise- I'm trying to find you. I'm going to find you. Please, hold on.
"Who's not alone?" Steve asked. "Who is he? Who are you talking about?"
James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier. The Asset. The Fist of HYDRA.
"I'm so tired, Steve," Hermione whispered.
Я жду приказаний
Ready to comply.
"It's no use," one of the scientists told Doctor List, seeming nervous. "Anyone who touches the thing drops dead. And we tried to create a mechanical device to lift it, but it shorts out under less than a minute."
List scowled down at the scepter, resting innocently in its case. "We were told that this artifact was powerful, but we were never warned of this."
"Problems, sir?" asked Jasper Sitwell, moving to stand by the doctor's shoulder.
"Yes, Sitwell, there is a problem. You see, Herr Pierce has requested an update on our work with Loki's scepter but, we can give him nothing. We have no information on it. Our machines cannot be used to study it because the energy the scepter gives destroys all electronics. Our scientists who try and handle it all fall dead at our feet. But we cannot tell Herr Pierce that, can we?"
"No, sir, I would not recommend doing that." Sitwell's expression remained neutral, though he too was feeling worried. While he may not be officially assigned to Strucker's lab, he did peripherally work on this particular project. If Secretary Pierce became annoyed enough with their lack of progress, no one would be safe from his anger.
Sitwell suddenly remembered something he had overheard Fury discussing with Romanov. He had only heard a snippet before they noticed him but… "If I may, sir, I might have an idea."
"You?" List almost sneered. While he knew that Sitwell was an asset to HYDRA, the man was no scientist.
"I heard Natasha Romanov speaking with Fury about how the stone contained within the scepter has a mind- a will- of its own. Perhaps it's not a matter of finding the right machine to wield the scepter- maybe you need to find the right person."
List froze, his mind racing over the possibilities. They knew the stone contained an unknown amount of power but the idea that it had a conscious? That they hadn't considered. "The right person," he mused. "Interesting. I must inform Herr Strucker."
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