Author's Note: Another little side-story I was inspired to write. I would probably peg this within the same timeframe as Side-Story I but it's nebulous enough where either one could come first.
Louisiana
Sam and Bucky sat on the porch after a long day at the docks. The Falcon was looking at their mutual friend, Phoenix, who was dozing away in the grass. She was on her side with a rut in the soil for the horn on that side. The men privately thought this had to be the first time in their respective experiences with her that Phoenix looked completely relaxed. Most other times, especially when they were all over the place tracking down the Flag-Smashers, she always slept with an air of caution. It warmed Sam's heart to know she felt his sister's home was a safe place to let down her guard. He looked over at Bucky and noticed the soft look on his face. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. The White Wolf glanced at him, settling in his chair. "Just enjoying the sight of one of my best friends sleeping without a care in the world," he responded.
"Nix really has had a hard lot in life, hasn't she?" Sam asked, mimicking him. "Yep. I don't know a whole lot of her history but what history I do know? She's stronger than most people are. Hell, she's stronger than I am. She's inspiring," Bucky said. Sam opened a cooler and pulled out a bottle of beer. "She really is something else. But as strong as she is, it's pretty clear Nix is still haunted by her experiences," he said, handing another bottle to Bucky. "I don't deny it. Nix perceives the passage of time differently than we do, both due to her age and because she's an animal. I'm pretty sure her worst experiences are as fresh now as they were 154 years ago after she was born," he responded, popping the cap and taking a swig.
"I'm very impressed with how she manages it," Sam noted. Bucky was quiet for a moment. "She slips up from time to time but you're right. Nix is pretty well-adjusted. The only thing I worry about is her undergoing an existential crisis. She's told me those were very common when she was young and they got really, really bad," he said. "How bad are we talking about?" the Falcon asked. "This is just a guess because Nix hasn't gone into detail but from what I infer, chimeras can be suicidal. Most apparently don't make it to adulthood. If it's not predation, it's self-destruction. Hell, she told me the story of Chimera, the first of their kind. She practically pulled a suicide-by-cop," Bucky responded.
"This, I need to hear," Sam said, giving him a look of shock. Bucky settled back in his chair, propping the beer bottle on his knee. "Nix told me that she's called a second-generation chimera, meaning she was spliced together genetically and was "incubated" by her mother. Others of her generation otherwise are test tube-grown. Chimera and other first-generation chimeras were basically stitched together and Frankenstein-ed to life via alchemy, the same process that creates chimeras in general," he explained. "Damn. Sounds like there's a major difference between the two generations," Sam whistled. "According to Nix, being created the way they were meant first-generation chimeras were barely living at all. The nature of their creation meant they were in constant pain. Chimera pulled her suicide-by-cop as a desperate attempt to end the pain," Bucky responded.
"Shit. Does Nix know who killed her?" the Falcon asked. "She said it was the High King of the North. I think his name is Genbu. Chimera died the year she was created, which was 1753 and first-generation chimeras were phased out by 1856," the White Wolf responded. Sam gave him a look of surprise. "You said Nix was born in 1869, right? That means she's one of the first second-gen chimeras to come into existence with only thirteen years separating her from the last first-gens. And she managed to live over 150 years when it seems her kind are either killed off or off themselves. Bad as it is, that's quite amazing," he said. Silence fell for a couple of minutes while the men took drinks of their beer.
"Nix told me something about Chimera that stuck with me. She said that when Chimera was dying, she told Genbu that was the first time in her life where she felt no pain. If the process of reanimating stitched-together corpses equals an existence of pain, it's no wonder Chimera was desperate to die again. She was a menace to a number of villages and towns. As Nix put it, she was looking for a warrior strong enough to kill her and found a High King instead. Makes me wonder if she felt honored to be put down by someone who is a very big deal in All World's hierarchy," Bucky mused. "No kidding. Makes me all the more grateful our girl there is a second-generation chimera. Can you imagine her begging us to kill her?" Sam agreed. Bucky finished off his beer and set the bottle down. "I don't even want to think about it. If she had been a first-gen, we never would've met in the first place," his friend replied.
The men looked at each other and Bucky's face grew serious. "I'm going to be straight with you, Sam. Nix and I have grown close over the times she's come here. I'm at the point now where I can't imagine my life without her in it. She's saved me in more ways than one and I would like to think I've saved her in kind. She's the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on and she accepted everything about me without question. I would be so lucky to find a woman who would do the same," he said. Sam cocked an eyebrow but was otherwise quiet. Bucky turned his blue-grey eyes on the still sleeping chimera before a smile grew. "Don't tell her I said this but if Nix had been human and unspoken for from the start, I'd marry her in a heartbeat. She's so easy to love and it's hard to rationalize that with the fact that she's considered an abomination in her homeworld," he admitted. The Falcon gave a hearty laugh and thumped him on the shoulder.
"Gotta crush?" he asked, jokingly. Bucky just turned his own grin to the porch. "Not even a little. Just a hypothetical," he said. The Falcon laughed a bit before sobering up. "Remember when you two broke Zemo out of prison and Nix showed up with him agitated as all get-out? Did you ever wonder why?" he asked. Bucky gave him a look. "Haven't thought about it, to be honest. Why? Did she say something?" he inquired. Sam stood up and stretched. "Of course. I had to talk her down, remember? Anyway, I don't know whose bright idea it was for her to stick with Zemo during his escape but apparently, he implied there was a certain...tension between you and her," he said. Bucky balked a bit. He got the implication. "Oh god, don't tell me…," he muttered.
"Yep," Sam replied, popping the last letter. "That son of a bitch. No wonder she was so pissed off. She's old but she's innocent. There's a lot about human behavior she doesn't know and Zemo practically weaponized it. Her sticking with him for the prison break was his idea. I was against it but she convinced me it would work out better," Bucky groaned. He ran his hands over his face. "So when you were talking her down…," he ventured. "I was telling her that Zemo was being an asshole and not take what he said seriously. The two of you know exactly where you stand with each other and Zemo's intention was exactly as he said. It was to make the charade more believable," the Falcon finished. The White Wolf leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I'm begging you, Sam, do not tell her what I said earlier. She doesn't need Zemo's jabs to sound more legitimate than they actually are," he said. Sam clapped him on the shoulder. "My lips are sealed, Bucky. Don't worry about it," he assured him.
Their attention was grabbed when Phoenix suddenly snorted and rolled onto her belly. She paid the men no mind at all as she shook out her head and her tail twitched between rest position and half-mast. The chimera seemed a bit groggy but to be fair, she had been sleeping hard that afternoon. Bucky and Sam grinned as they watched her. "Though if I may venture an opinion, Phoenix is pretty innocent in some ways but she's worlds wiser in others. I'm pretty sure if you let slip your little what-if to her, she'd know it for what it is. A hypothetical and nothing more," Sam said. Bucky just slowly nodded, keeping his eye on the creature. Phoenix dropped her nose to the grass and inhaled deeply. She then got to her hooves and shook her body out. She looked at her friends and grinned. "Sleep well?" Sam asked, grinning back.
"Very well. Been a while since I've slept without care. The Wilds are no place for a carefree life. I don't live at Seiryu's Castle full-time and old habits die hard," Phoenix responded. The men got up and came down to her. "I want to let you know that it does me a world of good to know you feel safe here, Nix. You deserve some R and R after everything you've been through," Sam said. The chimera smiled before leaning her head to his arm. Sam brushed her face before she pulled back. Bucky stood at her side, a hand on her back scales. "You look like you could use a wash, Nix. Mind if we do that for you?" he asked. Phoenix shrugged. "Why not? I trust you guys and I'm starting to feel like I need one," she replied.
So for the next hour, Sam and Bucky took sponges to her. She was carrying at least a week's worth of dirt and dust so as she was cleaned, her coat and scales shimmered. "Mind if I do your tail?" Bucky asked after a while. "Sure. Just be careful with the stinger. I don't want you stabbing or scratching yourself," Phoenix warned. The men knew she could control venom flow, unlike her genetic scorpion ancestor, but her stinger was as sharp as a rose's thorns and could do some damage with next to no effort. Sam took a polishing cloth to Phoenix's horns while Bucky started on her tail. "What are these horns made of?" the Falcon asked as they started to gain a low shine like stainless steel. "They're made of bone like any horned or antlered animal. They're just covered in a hard substance called alicorn which protects horn integrity and helps with the channeling of magic," she explained.
"I wonder how alicorn compares to steel or even titanium," Bucky mused, making sure he kept contact with Phoenix's flank as he cleaned her tail segment by segment. The chimera had no nerve endings in her tail so she couldn't feel anything with it. She had said once that the only way she remembered having a tail at all was due to its weight. There had been times where she lost some or all of it and the weight difference was noticeable. Bucky thought back to their encounter in 2014. He had shot off her tail between the second and third segments. It stood to reason she felt the difference. "Something about your tail bugs me, Nix," Sam spoke up as he finished polishing her horns. "Oh?" she responded curiously.
The Falcon came around to her flank, her head following him. "You have five segments but that time in Latvia when you threatened Walker with it, it stretched further than it should be able to. I didn't think much of it at the time because of the situation but how exactly are you able to use this thing at all?" he questioned. Phoenix buzzed her lips a bit before seeing that Bucky was about to start on the telson. "As much of a cop-out answer as this is going to be, the inherent magic I have causes temporary adaptations to my tail to allow me to use it as effectively as a scorpion does. This includes causing temporary additional segments to form when I'm striking. It's necessary since my body clearly isn't designed for a tail like this," she explained.
"Makes sense," Sam said. "In fact, my inherent healing ability translates to regeneration whenever I lose some or all of my tail. Scorpions can't regenerate their tails the way I can. They straight up just die because their tails are tied to their digestive tract. I don't have that shortcoming thanks to being 75% mammal," the chimera added. Bucky had finished cleaning the stinger itself by that point and the two men backed away. Phoenix walked over to stand in front of a tree. She raised her tail to full mast and, quick as lightning, struck the tree but sank her stinger deep into it so her friends could see the biological changes that occurred. Her tail had gained an additional four segments from the strike, allowing it to sail over her head with no issue. Sam whistled in awe. "How many can you add?" Bucky asked. "The most I can have in total is ten. Hypothetically, if my magic was more potent, more could potentially form based on my needs," the chimera responded.
She, with Bucky's help, unstuck her stinger from the tree and brought it to rest position. As it uncurled, the extra segments were reabsorbed into her base five. Sam just whistled in appreciation. Phoenix then turned in place a couple of times, looking herself over. "Thanks, guys. That bath felt nice," she said, giving them each a rub of her nose. "Anytime," the Falcon said. He looked at his watch and said he needed to run to do a couple of things in town. Bucky was left with Phoenix and the two went to the porch. Bucky sat down on the stairs while the chimera stood before him. She lowered her head and he wrapped his arms around it. "I know I've said it before, Nix, but you are beautiful," he said. Phoenix chuckled a bit, shifting her weight a bit. "Thank you, Bucky. Seiryu does his best to say so whenever I'm at the Castle. I've lived a long time. I have those periods where I need to be reminded constantly that my life has worth, not just to my friends and family, but to the Weaver Himself. My kind isn't an Original Creation but if He's as good as Seiryu says He is, then my kind is equally loved by Him regardless," she said.
She shifted into her false form and sat down next to Bucky. He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. A companionable, contented silence filled the air between them as they listened to the natural ambiance of their surroundings. Bucky thought about how grateful he was for her strength. Phoenix had a soul that was as equally damaged as his own, if not more since she was so much older. Theirs was a bond formed on a shared foundation of trauma but unlike him, Phoenix hadn't been kept by her creator nearly as long as he had been on HYDRA's leash. However, there were clearly incidents in her past he didn't know about because her eyes always had a haunted look to them whenever she was left to her own thoughts.
But just as Phoenix was content to let him keep his secrets, Bucky was more than okay to let her keep hers. Some things were better left unsaid. With a sigh, he pulled Phoenix close enough to plant a kiss on her temple. The shifter just smiled before leaning against him. "Hey, Bucky?" she spoke up. "Yeah, doll?" he responded. "I know I've said it before but thank you for everything you've done since I've started coming to this world. You're much younger than me but you have wisdom and insight I lack. I've probably learned more from you than I have from anyone else, even Seiryu. You being a human I've grown close to makes all the difference," she said. Their eyes met and Phoenix smiled before setting a hand on his face and pulling it closer to kiss his cheek. Bucky just grinned in response. "In hindsight, me falling from the train changed both our lives in good ways. We probably wouldn't have met otherwise," he agreed. Phoenix just nodded in agreement and silence fell once more.