#iris hunt

Tension hung in the air, heavy and suffocating, the four heroes stood in front of the monitor watching as a figure moved in the streets. Bucky was in front of everyone, his hands clutching the edge of the terminal with a force that could surely rip it from the wall if he wanted to. It felt like everyone was holding their breath, eyes steady on his tensed shoulders. Bucky pushed himself back and turned, heading for the weapons locker on the quinjet.

         “Bucky…” Steve started, following closely behind.

         “I’m going to get her,” he slid open the gun rack and instead of retrieving his usual weapons he shoved his side arm and rifle in and slammed it shut.

         “She’s not her right now. Are you sure-,” “Were you sure?” Bucky snapped around, fierce blue eyes staring down Steve, but as intense as they were Steve could see the worry in them. Steve sighed, he guessed he deserved that.

         “Yes.” He said quietly, dropping his head slightly.

         “Then you have no right to stop me from going after her. I’ll bring her back.”

         “Wait,” Natasha stepped forward.

         “No,” Bucky turned to leave, not wanting to hear any more excuses.

         “If you want to bring her back unharmed, I suggest you use this,” Natasha offered him her hand, in it was a small metal container with three syringes.

         “One of these can take down an elephant. It’ll sting but it’ll knock out her or… whatever is controlling her long enough for us to get her somewhere safe.”

         Bucky hesitantly took it from the redhead, clicking open the top of the canister before closing it and shoving it into his pocket. He gave her a nod, probably the only thank you he could afford at the moment before he headed for the back of the quinjet. The ramp lowered onto the empty city street, all signs of civilians gone. Iris had done a good job at scaring everyone and everything within a couple blocks, and thanks to Tony NYPD had backed off. As Bucky approached he could feel his gut twisting at the sight of her. She didn’t look like her, her usually dark mahogany hair was a bright white, whipping in the wind as she paced the street, small bolts of electricity touching down on the earth every now and then.

         As Bucky got closer he could see her new clothing, skin tight black pants and a white jacket with various metal pieces attached to it for unknown reasons. On her wrists however there were two very scuffed looking bracelets, or rather they looked like shackles, a Hydra symbol etched into both of them. When he was only twenty feet from her she paused, lifting her head as if she were just sensing him before she turned to him.

         Bucky swallowed back the lump in his throat as she faced him, her eyes were sunken and her cheeks hollow. She looked sick or stressed; either way he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what he looked like not too long ago. The most shocking thing however was the way her usually deep brown colored eyes stared back at him, only completely inky black.

         “So, they finally sent in the cavalry, I was getting board,” her voice sounded hallow, echoed by something more sinister beneath the surface. This wasn’t Iris that much was clear.

          “Iris?” Bucky couldn’t keep the slight waver out of his voice.

         Iris, or rather whoever was occupying Iris, threw her head back and let out a laugh.

         “Little Iris isn’t here right now. Too weak, too tired, whatever I don’t give a shit. Honestly I thought she’d never leave, but after escaping she was just too beat. So here I am,” she made a slight bow, arms outstretched on either side of her like she was presenting some grand show.

         “I am number thirteen. You must be the guy Iris pines after all the time,” her voice was mocking.

         “I want Iris back.”

         Thirteen’s confident smirk faltered slightly, that obviously wasn’t the reaction she wanted.

         “Why? Iris is so boring. You know I could have killed that Hydra agent, oh what was her name? Emerald? But Iris didn’t want too, what a fucking child.”

         “I don’t care what you did or what you think. That is Iris’s body you’re occupying. I want her back,” Bucky’s voice was forceful, his eyes staring back at her pitch black ones.

         Thirteen sighed heavily and crossed her arms.

         “Well, you’re just like talking to a brick wall. I don’t know what Iris sees in you, honestly.”

         She turned and kicked at a pebble, walking away from Bucky as if she were board of him already. Bucky reached forward and seized her arm, lightly enough that he wouldn’t hurt her. Thirteen spun around and sent a bolt of energy through Bucky’s temples. Something that strong would probably kill a normal person but Bucky merely stumbled backwards, blinking heavily as his mind slowed temporarily. Thirteen didn’t stop her attack, she swung at him again, connecting with his cheek. Bucky had sparred with Iris before and while her powers were strong her upper body strength left something to be desired. This punch however knocked Bucky off balance, something that he was not expecting. It seemed that Hydra hadn’t just made her powers stronger, but they also amped up her physical strength.

         Thirteen swung again but Bucky blocked her, directing her away from him as he regained his balance. Instead of falling with his block Thirteen put her momentum into a spin kick, landing a stiff strike to Bucky’s stomach and sending him back slightly.

         Back at the quinjet Steve, Sam and Natasha all watched what was unfolding on the monitor. Steve’s hand twitched every time Bucky was hit. Natasha placed her hand on his arm, making his head snap up.

         “He’ll be okay,” she reassured.

         “He’s letting her beat him. He can do better than that.”

         “I know, that’s his strategy. Wear her out so he can sedate her,” Natasha said.

         Steve sighed heavily and went back to watching the monitor intently.

         Thirteen was in the process of throwing another punch as she taunted him.

         “Seven and a half months. That’s how long we were in there. God, is Iris a fucking whiney child. A little crazy too, well I guess you have to be crazy to create something as fucked up as me to stay alive.” Bucky blocked her but didn’t counter, leaving Thirteen to land a fist to his ribs “She used to cry at night for you. She said that you’d find her, no matter what. But look where we are now. I had to get this crazy bitch out myself just so I could breathe,” she kicked out his knee and almost connecting her knuckles with his face if he didn’t block her.

         “She never submitted. I guess I should admire her for that, at least she had the resilience not to do Hydra’s shit willingly. But in the end that meant I had to do it. Which most of the time meant killing.” Bucky felt like thorny branches were suffocating his heart, the more Thirteen talked the more it broke.

         “You know I feel things too? I may not have ‘known’ Desiree but I felt her loss.” Bucky froze. Desiree hadn’t been found either, not in the time Iris had been missing.

         “What?” Bucky breathed.

         “Oh yeah. I keep forgetting, you guys weren’t there.” Thirteen straightened slightly, like she was about to brag.

         “I had to kill her.”

         Bucky moved all at once, his metal arm shot out and it collided with Thirteen’s jaw, sending her backwards and down onto the pavement. Bucky’s chest was heaving, breath ragged and hands shaking as he stared down at Thirteen’s body, Iris’s body, lying back in the street. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, he hadn’t wanted to hurt her, much less punch her out like that. Bucky wanted to find Hydra, every last one of those fucking rats, and he wanted to slowly pull their heads off of their bodies one by one. They broke him and that was okay, but they broke Iris and that was not okay. And now, because of them, he was standing over her unconscious body. Bucky reached for his pocket when he heard something.

         It was like a strange gurgling noise which morphed into a laugh. Thirteen pushed herself up off of the ground, her shoulders shaking with amusement. She turned to him, a bruise already forming on her cheek as she turned and spit a mouthful of blood onto the pavement.

         “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

         Bucky stared at her, dumbstruck. Not only had she endured the full force of his punch, but she stood up and laughed it off. She came at him hard and fast, electricity arching as she lunged for his face. He dodged her and with one smooth motion tossed her aside. Thirteen wasn’t playing around anymore and Bucky couldn’t afford to let her get a hold of him with fear that she might ‘reset’ his Winter Soldier persona. The more he evaded her and fought back the more entertained she was. It wasn’t long before they were both breathing heavily, an equal match in technique.

         Bucky hated that she knew how to move the way she did, he hated that he recognized the way she would mercilessly find his weak points and immediately take advantage of them the way he used to when he was with Hydra. Most of all he hated the way she would screw up her face whenever he would best her, there was always a quick and undeniable look of dread when she failed. They had engrained it into her, much like they did to him, that failure meant pain and punishment. Finally Thirteen lunged, trying to grasp for his neck and he went low, his arms wrapping around her middle. Bucky pinned her underneath him, weighing her down with his body as he struggled to get both of her hands into one of his. When he had her arms secured he fished for the syringes in his pocket.

         Thirteen had gone from playful to hysterical in no time flat as she flailed and screamed at him. Soon enough her voice had devolved into animalistic growls as she squirmed under him. Bucky pulled off the cap for the syringe with his teeth before he finally plunged the needle into her neck. Thirteen’s movement stopped for a moment, her eyes going large and her voice catching in her throat before she let out a blood curdling scream.

         “What the fuck did you do to me?” She yelled, tears welling in her eyes.

         “I won’t go back in! I won’t!” She wasn’t reacting to what Bucky had given her, rather she was reacting to what he had done.