Large explosions and the sounds of shots rang out around me. The rough dusty ground shook beneath my body. My eyes fluttered open. A large dying brown battlefield stretched out before me. How did I get here?
"Bucky!"
My head swiveled up, to find…Cap?
"Bucky come on you have to get up!" he called out to me.
How was this possible? Christin told me he was dead. Wait! Where was Christin? Or Arrow, or Taiga? A large explosion made me flinch away. A large hand grabbed my shoulder pulling me away from where I was lying. It was my left shoulder, the one that lost its arm, and it hurt. I groaned, but when I looked over, I found that my arm was still there. What?!
I was leaned against something; it was hard, rough and clearly dusty. My breath was hard and fast, what was going on? Someone crouched in front of me, Morita. He grabbed my face, clearly trying to look into my eyes.
"Is the kid alright!?" I heard Dum Dum shout, over his shooting.
"I think he's got a concussion!" Morita shouted back. He shook me gently, trying to get my attention, "Hey, kid?"
"Where's Christin? Arrow? The others?" I mumbled.
"Who?"
Cap tried to make his way over to us, but the battle was beginning to reach a fever pitch, "Is he alright?!" Cap shouted.
"Definitely has some type of head injury! He's mumbling nonsense!" Morita shouted.
Another large explosion suddenly rattled us, sending rubble and dust crashing down. I couldn't stay down here right now, I had to get out there and help. I started to shift to my feet, trying to stand, but Morita pulled me back down.
"Oh no you don't! Cap will kill me if you go back out there hurt," Morita shouted.
"I can help! I'm fine!" I shouted back at him.
"No, you're not! Not until you've seen a real medic! Stay here!" He shouted just before running out from behind the rock that was our cover to join the battle.
He should've known better. I leaped out a few moments after him. Running into the fight, I saw Cap ramming soldiers with his shield. And the rest of the commandos running through the rest of the tropes. It wasn't long until I was swarmed as well. One Nazi soldier would come from the left then from behind. Over and over again, and I was trapped in this dance of death and destruction.
"Bucky!"
I froze. What was that? I knew that voice. Someone started calling my name. Was it Cap? No, it was too high. Too, feminine. Was it Peggy? No, it wasn't her. It wasn't the right accent. But I didn't have the time to dwell on it. I had more important things to worry about, like not getting shot.
The moment I got a chance to breathe, I looked up towards Cap. His last Nazi went down with a strike of his shield. I couldn't help but smile and he smiled back at me. He was there, he was alive. But then my eyes widened…there was one left…with a gun pointed right at his head…and the trigger was pulled…
I screamed.
"Bucky?!"
My eyes flashed open. My breath quick and harsh. Where was I? What was going on? Someone had their hands on me. Instinct kicked in and I started to fight back. My legs felt like they were tangled in something. Was I tied up? Captured?!
"Bucky!"
Wait! That voice. I knew that voice.
"Bucky! Calm down it's me!"
My vision finally cleared; I was fighting…Arrow? Relief washed over me and I collapsed back on to the…bed? That's right, I was in the future. On a magical sub. Missing an arm. With people who could make cap look like last year's car model. And I didn't even know what twenty-first century car looked like!
"You, okay?" Arrow asked.
I nodded, I couldn't let her think I was going crazy, "Yeah, I'm alright."
"You sure. That sounded like one heck of a nightmare."
"How did you know?"
"Well, you rolling around and mumbling in your sleep seemed like a pretty good clue."
I tried not to flinch, "Was I…did I wake you up or something?"
"No. And be thankful that didn't happen with Jenette. You would've been slapped. Hard."
"Then how did you…?"
"Dad, sent me get you."
"Why?"
"It's time to get off this boat and Dad needs you present so we can dock. You ready?"
I nodded. Still a little shaken up, but I didn't want her to see that. By now I didn't need the wheel walker anymore, Dr. McClain had determined that my ankle had healed enough over the course of our underwater adventure, to not need it. I just had to wear the large black plastic caste on my leg now. And in few more weeks wouldn't need the caste either.
"You sure, you're, okay?" Arrow asked from the door away.
"O-of course. Why?"
"You're shaking."
Was I shaking? How did I not notice? "I'm fine."
"Alright, I'll see you on the bridge," Arrow walked out of the room, looking not entirely convinced.
Shaking, nightmares, and Arrow didn't say but I could tell by the look in her eyes that I had been screaming. I felt fear settle in the pit of my stomach, heavy like a brick. These were symptoms of shell shock. I can't let that happen again. I can't let them see that I have it.
I sighed shakily, before heading to bridge.
The walk was short, and the halls felt small. But somehow Christin still managed to sneak up on me.
"Morning," Christin said.
"Morning sir," I mumbled.
"You slept in."
"I did?"
"Yeah," He looked at his watch, "It's 10:30, east coast time."
"Oh, why didn't you wake me up."
"To be honest. You were on the bed in really weird position and we thought that if we touched you, you'd fall off and get hurt."
I tried to snicker.
"Are you alright?" Christin said.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you?" I said, really wanting to change the subject.
"Well, I'd say I'm doing alright. I'm going home. I'll see the rest of my family. My people. My students."
I nodded my head slowly realizing, "That's right you're going home to day."
"Guess I am."
"What's it like there?"
"Well, it's home. Nothing could really beat it. I was raised there, I raised my kids there, and they'll probably raise their kids there. So, we're probably biased. But if you want more details. The community is nice. Everyone is very accepting. We call each other kin, even though most of us have almost nothing in common with one another. And other than 'we are all one', we don't really need a reason to."
"It must be nice to have a home like that. The Army was kind of like that for me. Especially after, my parents and sister…"
Christin, put his hand my shoulder and made us stop, "James Buchanan Barnes, you listen here and you listen well. Don't ever think you are without a home with us. I told you that here you are not alone, and that we would take care of you. Maybe someday you'll find home somewhere else, but for now your home can be with us, if you want it."
We restarted our walking. I didn't know how to say how much his words meant to me in that moment. I probably should've said 'thank you' or something, but I only just nodded. Thankfully Christin started talking again.
"Course it's not perfect, there are idiots who live there; one counseling member in particular," he gritted through his teeth.
"Sounds like he's trouble."
"Oh, Alkeli, can be, but he wouldn't do anything drastic. He needs the main settlement for his clan to survive."
"Speaking of the main settlement, what's it like there?"
"Oh, uhm… well compared to the rest of the world, it's something out of one's dreams, but not overall too grand. It's a decent sized city. Built with efficiency and eco awareness in mind. A large group of the counsling's citizens live there, particularly ones from my clan, but it's not over crowded. There's no school there yet sadly, but we have a decent hospital and engineering facility."
"Sounds like a nice place."
"It is, but I still prefer to live outside of it."
I raised a brow, "You don't live in the settlement?"
"No, I live in my family's old farm house, inland."
"But don't you have to be there for your clan?"
"My clan isn't just in the settlement. I have members who live inland like I do, those in the settlement know where I am and can easily get to me if they need me, but for those who live inland it's not all that easy."
I nodded.
"Is it hard being a Clan leader?"
"Oh, not entirely. I'm pretty involved with my Clan, but I don't really mind. I understand them and they understand me. Welcoming the new babies, finalizing love by marrying folks, watching the young blood grow up. It's fulfilling."
"Sounds like it."
We walked onto the bridge finding everyone but Dr. McClain there. I figured she was with the little ones, who always traveled in the back.
"But you also have to account for yearly migration patterns," I heard Taiga said.
"Not to mention, the environments we passed through. You have to account for the number of marine species that live there," Arrow said.
Jenette groaned and said from her pilot seat, "You know what forget I ever asked."
"And what is this stellar debate about?" Christin asked, as he and I made our ways towards our respective seats.
"How much fish pee we have passed through on this trip," Arrow explained.
I choked, and started laughing into my only hand.
"Yeah, and then Row and Tai, had to ruin it with their logic and science," Jenette grumbled.
"You asked a question, and we merely tried to answer it," Taiga defended.
"I was joking!" Jenette exclaimed.
"Alright, alright, that's enough of jokes, we have to dock," Nico snapped from his chair next to the monitors as I learned they were called.
"Killjoy," I heard Arrow mumble as she took the seat next to mine.
Docking, I honestly though that meant we would be going up. But no, that meant to dive, even though it was clear that we were in relatively shallow water. I honestly thought that I would hear the sub crash into the sandy ocean floor, but to my shock, the sand split open revealing another type of tunnel. Driving through it honestly felt like when we originally launched, but it was clear that this wasn't a naturally occurring tunnel. It wasn't all that twisting, and the walls were made of perfectly circular and smooth stone, rather than of jagged and random rocks.
We finally surfaced in large underground, clearly man-made, cavern. Jenette slowly pulled us into what I guess was a dock. I couldn't really tell as all that could be seen from the front window was rock. The excitement on the bridge, quickly escalated. Arrow's, Taiga's, and Christin's smiles grew larger and brighter, while Jenette and Nico seemed to be a bit more relaxed. They were all clearly glad to be home.
"Alright, grab your bags, and meet on the roof," Christin said.
Everyone rushed out towards the barracks, clearly going to grab their stuff. I didn't follow as I didn't have anything to grab. After about a minute of standing awkwardly Christin asked me if I could help Dr. McClain with the little ones, which I was grateful for. It was nice to be able to do something to help out.
Dr. McClain gave me a grateful smile, when I got there. Over the sub ride I had learned quite a bit about the kids. Billy, and Scales acted the most like normal kids, as apparently, they were taken from their home in New Mexico, only a few months ago. Moony and Alexis, had been in the system for about two years, and due to that their powers had become unstable, but they were slowly recovering. Mazy, was the eldest and was much more mature than others, she would always split her meals with the others, and was quite wary of the other adults. But Black Sheep, he was a complete mystery.
Unlike the others, Black Sheep never said anything. Not about where he was or what powers he had. Any language (with was quite a few) Arrow or others tried didn't get any sort of response. While the other kids tended to be quiet, they could usually get some information out of them. Particularly about their powers and where they were from. But Black Sheep, he would just sit there. Quiet as a mouse. Still as a statue.
So, considering that I was quite shocked to find that in the chaos of everyone trying to get off of the sub, that the black-haired boy ran over to my leg, clinging to it like his life depended on it. It was clear that he didn't like ruckus. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn't really pick him up with only one hand. So, I brushed my only hand over his shaggy hair.
"Hey, you're okay, it's going to be alright," I whispered to him.
Black Sheep clung to my hand all the way up to the roof. The observation dome was retracted now, allowing us to use a simple wooden ramp to step onto the stone dock. The chamber we were in was large, and lit with dozens of small glowing lights floating in the air that barely made the grey stone walls visible.
There were two people already on the dock, both of them wearing strange nearly skin tight clothes and masks. Both of them Christin a strange salute and greeted him with handshakes and bright smiles. Clearly these guys were members of Christin's clan. Both of them were quick to take the little ones and me. Black Sheep didn't want to let go my hand, but one pealed him away from me. And they even tried to pulled me along by my shoulder too, but thankfully Christin stopped them.
"You don't need to take him. He's a special case," Christin said. The people looked confused but they eventually nodded and took the little ones with them.
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Just some of my carriers."
"Carriers?"
"They take care of the children that are brought back from rescues. They teach them, track down any remaining family they might have, and in the worse cases finding those kids new homes."
I nodded, but I still didn't like them dragging the kids away. Especially, Black Sheep.
"So, you ready?' Taiga asked me. He had just exited the sub, with a large duffle bag around his shoulder.
"Ready for what again?' I asked.
"To see your new home," Taiga said.
"I don't know if I can call it home, yet. I don't even have a roof over my head."
"Don't worry about that, you're bunking with us," Arrow said walking up to us.
"I don't want to be a bother," I tried to refuse.
"Nonsense, it's no inconvenience to us, and we have the room. Besides I doubt Dad will let you decline," Taiga said.
I nodded, "So, uh…up that tunnel and I guess would be stairs up there, is the settlement?"
"Oh no, we aren't that close to settlement, it's at least three-day trip, that is if you walk. If you took a boat, it would be a few hours," Arrow said.
I raised a brow, "Then where are we?"
"This is a private dock on our family's property. Up that tunnel and stairs is our house. You should be glad that we didn't park at Nexus. The population there is mostly of my father's clan. We would've been swarmed. I don't think you would want to be in the middle of a crowd right now," Arrow explained.
"You got that right," I nodded.
"You don't need to go right now Nico," I heard Christin say.
"I will accompany Amelia back to Nexus, so she can see her daughters, and while there I will alert the clan of your return. As well as set up the appointments with the appropriate professionals in order to aid our amputee. No exceptions," Nico stated.
"Nico you don't need to, those can wait until the morning," Christin said.
Nico held up his hand as if to silence Christin, "Brother, you have children to return to, I do not. Let me handle this, you have a duty to your family." With that Nico stalked down the exit tunnel shortly followed by Dr. McClain.
Christin shook his head and sighed.
"Dad?" Arrow asked.
"It's nothing, flare," Christin said, "Come on, let's go home."
Christin led us down the exit tunnel, and up the flight of stairs. The door to the surface wasn't anything special, it was practically a bomb shelter door. Heavy and metallic. We emerged into what looked like some kind of fruit orchard. The warm air, sunshine, and number of blooms on the trees indicated that it was sometime in the spring. In the distance I could vaguely hear the ocean waves beat against the shore. After nearly four weeks on the sub, this place was sight four sore eyes.
"So, uh, how come you guys don't dock on the shore?" I asked, "I know you like to be secretive, but the tunnel…"
"Seems like over kill for just the sake of being hidden?" Arrow, finished for me.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"The sea shore is considered sacred ground in mutant culture. Building on it is disrespecting it. So, all of our docks are under ground," Arrow explained.
"They must be very important if you go through all that trouble," I said.
Arrow nodded.
The path through the orchard was worn smooth with time, and by the many pairs of feet other than ours that had walked it. I could hear a few birds chirping above us. It was peaceful there. The orchard finally ended in a large open field. The path continued up to what looked like a very large mix match-built house, but that didn't stop me from looking at the rest of the property. There were large dirt patches that looked like training fields, and a bunch of smaller cabins dispersed among the grounds. What were they for?
I didn't get my answer as there was loud, but happy, screeching coming from the house. I looked over. I saw three younger children running from the house's door. Two boys and one girl.
They all screamed and laughed as the crashed in to Christin, a reunion that was long time coming. The chosen tongue chatting began as soon as they embraced, but I didn't need to know the language to understand what they were saying. The little girl looked over to me, her smile fell off her face. I could see the question coming before she said it.
Christin looked back at me, before rearranging the children so they could see me better, "Kids, this is Bucky. Bucky these are my youngers, Timothy he's 14, Shawnen who's 11, and Sable she's 9."
The first boy, Timothy, he had deep purple skin that was covered in pure white swirls, and fangs could be seen in his smile. The other boy, Shawnen, had the same hair and complexion as Arrow, and he was fast. He literally became a blur, and I barely had time to blink by the time he was in Christin's arms. And finally, the girl, Sable, her complexion was pale, paler than mine, with soft golden curls that twisted and twirled down her head and neck.
I waved shyly, and said, "Hi."
Sable looked at me curiously, before looking back up at Christin, "I don't want another brother."
Arrow, and Jenette started to laugh, and while Taiga was trying not to laugh it was pretty clear he was having a hard time.
"Don't worry about it, Say!" Jenette said, "He's a legal adult, we can't adopt him."
"But…That doesn't mean we treat him anything less then family," Christin said quickly.
Everyone nodded, when we heard door squeak open. I looked up, seeing a shorter, slightly pudgy, pale skinned, woman, with long black hair and glasses standing at the door. A gentle smirk printed on her face. Was this…?
"It's about time you got back, Striker," she said.
"Auntie Kate!" Arrow shouted, running over to the woman and hugging her.
Auntie?
"Oh, little Flare! It's so good to see you again!" The woman, Kate, said, "Good to see your not dead Christin!"
"Ha, Ha, Ha, I forgot how bad you were at comedy," Christin said, dryly.
"You may be a Clan Leader Christin, but I'm still your sister-in-law, I get to make fun of you all I want," Kate said, before turning to me, "Alright, now who do we have here?"
"I'm Bucky," I said, awkwardly, as Kate walked around me, clearly inspecting me.
Kate, hummed, "An amputee?" She turned back to Christin, "I'm guessing you've already sent your brother to Nexus to schedule him an appointment with Eye-spy, and Clipper, for a new hand."
"Yes, I'm hoping that we can get him in tomorrow," Christin said.
"Well, I hope so," She turned back to me, "What are you sonny? Telepath? Elemental?"
I was silent for a few moments, "I'm not anything, mam."
"So, a dormant? I never thought any of them actually went into the field. What's your full name, and who do you serve for?"
"James Buchanan Barnes, U.S Army soldier," I mumbled.
Kate's eyes widened; she knew who I was. She looked back at Christin.
"It's a long story," Christin said.
"Better be an entertaining one then," She sighed, "Come on, it's about time you all had a nice homecooked meal. Lord know how long it's been since y'all had one."
Kate took us all into the house. It was nice there. A warm meal that tasted better then anything I thought I would ever eat, my own bedroom, and a home that was clearly full of love. The laughter never ended from the moment we walked through the doors. Even when Nico returned, his stern demeanor didn't bring down the mood. These people loved each other, that much was clear. It was happy.
Though, I did have to do a double take when I found out that Arrow had a pet parrot.
It was dark out by the time that things were finally winding down. I was sitting on the back porch just enjoying the stars. It was crazy to think that just under a month and a half ago, I was working back in the 1940s with the whole world waring against itself. Now, I was sitting over 70 years into the future. It was overwhelming.
"Penny for your thoughts?" I heard a voice from behind me.
I turned around, Kate was standing there with two mugs in her hand, both of them lightly steaming.
"Guess I could use the money," I said.
Kate chuckled, as she walked over and sat with me, "Here, I find that hot chocolate helps calm the mind when it's troubled," She handed me a mug.
"Thank you, uhm…" I spoke.
"You can call me Kate, kiddo," she said.
"Okay, uhm…Kate."
"So, are you really him? The Star-Spangled Man's little buddy?"
"Yeah, I am. Anything else you wanted to know?" I took a sip of the hot chocolate, it tasted so good.
"No, the only thing I needed from you was confirmation."
"Is it because of the mask code, that you don't have anything else to say?"
"That one of the reasons, the other is that I know what's has happened already."
"How?"
"Well, I have a few answers to how you got here, I know how Christin helped you, and I also know why Christin helped you."
"How do you know that?"
"I was taught how read people; make good guesses and I've known Christin for nearly thirty years. He was my little sister's husband. I know how he ticks."
"So, why did he save me?"
"Cause he's a good guy. Sometimes too much if you ask me. He's always seeing the best in people, and if someone is drowning, he won't hesitate to save them. Thinks he can make them better; thinks he can help them. It makes him gullible sometimes. He saved you because he doesn't want to see a boy your age suffers."
"A 91-year-old?"
"Let me rephase, he doesn't want to see anyone suffer. That's why he's doing all this for you, pulling you out of the ocean, bring you here and in the morning taking you to Nexus."
"Nexus? You all keep saying that, is that the name of the settlement?"
"That's what we call it, yes."
"Any particular reason why?'"
"We call it that because it is the last connection we have to our people's ancient past. It was the last refuged for our kind. The link between our past, present, and future. But don't take my word for it, I wasn't raised here with the legends of old, like my nieces and nephews have been. Nor do I care that deeply about tradition."
"Is that why you're being so nice to me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I was told that some of you might not like me, because of my history with Cap, and because I'm not technically one of you."
"Well, you don't need to worry about that with me," She sighed, "Well, I think it's time that we both hit the sack, you have an appointment tomorrow," she got up from the porch.
"Wait, Kate. Uhm…The doctor I'm going to be seeing tomorrow, do you know what he's like?"
"Well, first off you're going to be seeing two people tomorrow. The engineer who will building your new arm, and the doctor who will be attaching it."
"Okay, do you know them?"
"I've met them, can't say we're really close. But they're good at their work, and you will be perfectly fine in their hands. Don't worry, Bucky your safe," And then she when back inside.
A/N:
Okay this Chapter turned out a lot longer and took a lot longer than I thought.
So, I got a cameo for the commandos, and Peggy I hope y'all enjoyed those. Been watching the Agent Carter series. I know not the same universe, but it is so satisfying watching her constantly show up those idiots who work at the S.S.R (except for Sousa, he's awesome), not mention the Jarvises.
Next Chapter, The Nexus, and an inventor who gives the Starks a run for her money.
See you next time!
