Zero

“Alright. Maybe not right now, but you’ve been avoiding and ignoring me for the last week. I came into the kitchen the other day, and you left without saying anything.” She was right, you had left silently, not expecting her to notice the lack of an active greeting. But clearly, she had.

“You’re reading too much into this,” You scoffed, your own voice sounding foreign and hollow, echoing outside your body as if it were someone else’s. “I had things to do,”

“Oh yeah? What ‘things’?” You finally looked at her as she rose from the couch, crossing the room in two quick strides and bending down to stare into your eyes. Her arms were braced on either side of the armchair you were sitting in, trapping you.

You spluttered. “Do you need to know everything I do? Since when was this an interrogation?”

“Do you not trust me? Is that why you’re being so secretive? Or do you just hate me and not have the guts to say it?”

“Oh my god- I don’t hate you. Don’t you see how pushy you’re being?”

“So that’s it? I’m pushy?”

“No- you’re-“

John’s voice escaping your speaker was a good excuse for you to break away, offering you something to focus on other than the gentle wafting scent of Ava’s shampoo and her sharp glare. “Hey, I don’t know if you can see this, but there’s some kind of device here?” You squinted into the dark footage of Walker’s bodycam, zooming in on the image of the piece of technology he was standing in front of. A huge metal casing surrounded by thick wires and warning lights.

“Oh… I… I’m not entirely certain what that is. Can you find a panel on it?” you heard Ava chuckle sarcastically.

“I thought you were supposed to be the one who knows everything. First, you don’t know why you’re ignoring me, and now you don’t know what kind of technology we’re looking at.” You sent her a pointed glare.

“I do know why. I don’t have to tell you anything. And I am about to find out what this is.” You started pulling up files related to Val’s bunker, quickly finding a few possible matches for what the device could be, but before you could reply to John, Ava’s face sank lower, hovering within inches of yours.

“So, you are ignoring me.” You freeze, swallowing hard.

“Walker,” You can hear how tight your own voice is. “It appears to be some sort of EMP device that Val has confiscated from an invading military operation. She’s been looking for a way to destroy it. If you can find the wiring, I can help you cut the one to disable it.” Ava grabbed your chin, yanking your face towards her.

“Stop doing that!” You narrowed your eyes at her, standing up and forcing her to back away from you.

“You want me to stop doing my job, just so I can listen to your temper tantrum-”

“No. I want you to stop ignoring me and give me some damn answers.”

“I don’t need to give you anything. And I can’t think straight when you’re around me like this. Back off-” You held your hands up, stepping back to create some space between you and Ava. Her eyes narrowed, and you felt your breathing hitch as the room fell into an awkward silence.

In the heat of your argument, you had missed the impatient voice of your teammate over the speaker. Only now did you hear the resigned “I guess ripping all of the wires out will have to do,” from Walker. You spun back towards the computer.

“Wait- John, don’t!” A massive bang erupted through the speaker of your comms device. Accompanied shortly after by a tingling quake that shook the ground below you.

The lights in the room flickered in the aftershocks from the wave. Ava slowly looked to the ceiling, a growing horror on her face.

“What the fuck was that?”  Your stomach flipped, and you rushed to the laptop that had once been linked to your friend's comms. The screen was black.

“Shit. No, no, no.” You grabbed the laptop, shouting into the microphone frantically. “Yelena? Bucky? Walker? Do any of you hear me?” The silence returning to you was deafening. Blood rushed through your ears as you smacked buttons on the computer, trying desperately to turn it on. After a few minutes, you gave it a final resigned smack and whirled around to growl at Ava. “I can’t get through to them,”

You turned on her. “Why couldn’t you just leave me alone for two minutes! I could have explained everything after.”

“Yeah, because you’re great at explaining things. Clearly.” She glowered.

“I was trying to find the right moment. How do I tell you that I literally can’t stand to be around you right now? That’s not an easy thing to tell someone.”

You looked at her properly for the first time that night, only to be hit with the sight of her curling in on herself in pain. Eyes wide as she processed what you had said.

She gasped in pain as her body glitched, shuddering as it struggled to hold itself together. She groaned, wrapping her arms around herself like she was trying to hold her body in place. “The blast… it must have disabled my suit too…”

You watched her for a moment, growing panic flooding your chest. “Ava – I thought you were stabilised?” Ava visibly grimaced as another wave of pain ripped through her. She began tapping buttons on the side of her suit, with little visible response occurring.

“For the most part. It still happens when I get angry or upset – especially without the suit.”  A pang of guilt washed over you.

You went to walk towards her, to try and hold onto her, but as you approached, Ava stumbled back away from you.

“Ava… I-” A sigh slipped out. “What I said- that… it… it came out wrong.”

Ava shrugged at you, offering little in the way of a verbal response. “I guess you have time for that explanation now. If you can stand it.” The sarcasm hurt, but it was understandable.

You approached her slowly, feeling the way she stared at you like a wounded animal. “ I didn’t mean it like that,” You sighed, gently reaching for her hand. “I’m struggling to be around you because… you’re you.” She eyed you warily while you continued, listening. “I think you’re amazing, you’re funny, you’re smart. You have nice eyes…” Those same eyes caught your own, softening as you spoke.

“I can’t stand to be around you because I want to be with you, and I know that sooner or later one of us will get hurt – or die- because of these missions. So…I’ve been trying to pretend that I don’t like you, in hopes that it would go away and I could be normal around you again.”

“You don’t have to pretend.” She moved closer. “We’re probably going to die from our work anyway; there’s no point in avoiding living because of it. Doesn’t mean you weren’t a dick about it though.” The silence between you both was charged, electric as you drew Ava into your body. She collided with your chest in a gentle thump.

“You feel pretty ‘there’ to me. Has the glitching stopped?”

“Only one way to really find out.” She smirked, pressing her lips to yours gently. The kiss was grounding, gentle. But it was still intense enough that you could feel her intent behind it. As she pulled away, you both sighed, revelling in the silence for a second.

“Oh yeah. I’m definitely there.” You gently thumped her arm as you went to pull away, but she yanked you back in for another go. This time, the kiss was more intense, and she walked you backwards toward the sofa. The pair of you fell into the soft cushions with a grunt, a tangled mess of limbs. Pinned under her body weight, you observed as she pulled back a little, staring at your face as she traced your cheek with her fingers. “I think you owe me a proper apology,” She grinned temptingly as she leaned down to kiss you again, only to pause as the building hummed back to life.

The lights flickered back on, allowing you a much better view of Ava’s mild irritation at being interrupted. The computer had also restarted in the background, resuming its operations as it had before. Walker’s voice crackling through the speakers sent you both scrambling away from each other.

“Dude! What the hell was that?!” You found yourself laughing at the man, who (obviously) had no idea what he had just interrupted. Sending an amused shrug Ava’s way, you shuffled back over to the computer.

And if that happens, he doesn’t just get over you. This man PINES. If he were a dog, there would be an audible whine whenever you walk past. Absolutely everyone knows how he feels about you, but if they ask him, he’ll vehemently deny it. He spends his days with a dark cloud hovering above him, until you walk in, and then he just stares. He studies you like there’s going to be a test on how your hair looked at 2PM on Tuesday the 4th.

And if he finds out you like him? Ooft. That boy is on cloud 9. It will be the ego trip of the century. Prepare for him to be extra insufferable, smirking his way through the day and taking every opportunity to mention how you like him.

Raleigh – The Proud Loverboy

Raleigh is so proud of his feelings for you. There is no beating around the bush with him. He’s been close to death so many times in the fast-paced life he’s lived. Too close to be sacrificing time with the person that he’s literally obsessed with. He may not straight-up say it, but by God, you’ll be a fool if you can’t tell this man loves you. He’s not far behind Newt with the title of number 1 simp, but at least his brain doesn’t go to shit the minute you walk into a room. If anything, you make him better. For you, he’s smarter, stronger; he’d fight a million kaiju’s if you’d just ask him for a kiss.

And even better, he won’t let anyone make him feel embarrassed about it. If they try to tease him, he’ll let it roll off his back with a big grin and a happy sigh, watching you walk away is far more interesting after all.

Mako – The Faithful Sidekick

There is only one way to describe this girl. Loyal. If you manage to convince Mako that you are worth her time and respect, she will be forever found at your side – and that’s only the beginning.

If it somehow evolves on her behalf to a crush, or even love, then get used to people referring to you as a pair. Wherever you are, she isn’t far behind. If you have a reckless plan, she’s in it too – even if she doesn’t necessarily agree with it. All she knows is that if you go down, you’re going down together. If you need a boost, you can stand on her shoulders. If you need a hug, she’ll grab you and never let go.

But don’t get it twisted, this isn’t blind allegiance. She’ll still expect good explanations for any plots. And she’ll demand the same level of trust from you. You might be a duo, but she’s allocated that spot to you; in her eyes, you need to keep earning it.

Newt – The Lovestruck Fool

This man is already a golden retriever in human form. You compliment him, and he lights up. You reject him, and he tries harder to endear himself to you. Tiny presents, snacks, or classified reading sources. He will get you anything. It could almost be dangerous if he falls in love with the wrong type.

There’s just one tiny problem. Everyone will know he loves you right from the moment he first falls, because the second that a smidge of oxytocin hits this man's system, he will become the most imbecilic, simpering fool. If someone were to record him in real time, they would see that the second you enter a room, all of his brain cells disappear. He just wants to please you.

It’s sweet, and kind of pathetic. But mostly sweet.

Gottlieb – The Peacock

Gottlieb is a prideful man. Smart and arrogant to a fault. He relies on statistics, maths, and numbers to rule his life. And as such, things that are not ruled by this practicality confuse him to no end. One such example would be socialising.

If you are another scientist, he will continuously push and challenge your ideas. If you are a pilot, he will be insufferable. Trailing you and prattling about his theories and ways for you to handle the breach for hours. Most of it comes from a good place, the want to see someone he cares about succeed, but a small, dark part of him desperately wants to be the smartest in the room at all times. And not just that, but he wants you to recognise him… to admire him… to praise him. Honestly, just compliment the man on his intelligence, and he might spare you the same weird frenemy-ship he has with Newton. He is extremely susceptible to flattery. Anything nice you say to him will inflate his ego for weeks.

Stacker – The Restrained Overseer

Stacker Pentecost is not a man of emotion. He is logical. Steel in human form. Not because he doesn’t have feelings, but because feelings will only get in the way of this job. At first, he just tells himself that he noticed you because you excelled. You were an excellent pilot; he was simply admiring your skill. But over time, the denial fades. It strikes him when he can no longer deny the urge to look for you in a room. He feels it bubbling in his stomach when other men make you laugh. The feeling settles in his chest when he sees you comforting Mako after a particularly rough day, voice low and soothing.

“How many of these guys do they have?!” Walker growled from your side. Grabbing your weapon, you forfeited giving a reply as you threw yourself into the fight. Adrenaline surged through your body. In this situation, you had the advantage. The soldiers were bulky and muscular, and they were preoccupied with trying to avoid panicking members of the crowd as they attacked you. You, on the other hand, were agile and used to dodging obstacles in favour of focusing on a target. Glimpsing to your side, you could see Ava and Yelena having equal success; however, Alexei, Bucky, and Walker were clearly struggling with the same issues as EE’s super soldiers. Falling back, you stuck near, trying to focus on helping the men with this battle by overwhelming their opponents with your billhook and garrot wire. As you leapt on the back of a soldier who had cornered John, wrapping your wire around his throat, John slammed his shield into the soldier’s face, knocking him unconscious.

“Thanks,” He nodded curtly in your direction, chest heaving from the exertion of the fight. You sent him a thumbs up before running off to kick the legs out from underneath a soldier Bucky was dealing with -  even as you ran off, you could feel Walker’s eyes following you.

After a few minutes, the crowd had mostly scattered, and your team was having an easier time dealing with the soldiers directly. Sensing the opportunity, you started towards the stage. The Enforcer’s smile dropped, knowing that your approach meant he would no longer be able to watch over the fight like a cruel overlord.

“Wraith!” He called to you, slowly backing off and opening his arms as if he were greeting an old friend. “Given your impressive track record of surviving impossible situations, I figure you are the best person to demonstrate the true capabilities of my new ‘Pièce de résistance’.” From behind him, you could see electricity sparking and a portal opening. Mathilde stepped through the threshold, appearing pale and ghostly against the bright screen on the stage. The Enforcer turned to her, stroking her cheek and speaking lowly to her. You could only assume that it was an order because of the way her gaze snapped towards you. “You’ve done well, but even you won’t survive this. Goodbye, my child.” The Enforcer's last words to you were punctuated with a dark chuckle as he walked into the portal, leaving Mathilde alone.

A presence beside you caught your attention, and a wave of surprise echoed through you as Bob scuttled to your side. “Let me help you,”

“But – Bob, you can’t-”

“Neither can you, not without me. You know that I’m the only other person who’s had the sentry serum, I’m her only equal match.” Bob stood up in an unusually confident posture, jaw set in determination. Unease flooded through you.

“But what if The Void comes out?”

“Do you have any better ideas? You just need her restrained so you can try to talk to her, right? No one else will be able to hold her down.” Conceding, you nodded to him.

“We need to get close enough to grab her.”

The pair of you started your approach, but part of you was wary. Keeping an eye on both Bob and Mathilde was proving difficult.

Your target made an effort to levitate above the stage, just out of reach of any normal people. Luckily for you, your experience with your billhook made clearing the distance easier than it would be for most, as you tossed the hook around one of the stage rafters and used the wire to launch yourself towards her. Despite this, you were left flying through the air at an alarming height as she sent a shockwave towards your anchoring point, splintering the metal like it was a toothpick.

Strong arms wrapped around you, grabbing onto your body and launching you back towards the girl, this time sending her tumbling to the ground as you caught her off guard with a solid kick. You broke your fall with a roll and watched as The Sentry floated towards Mathilde. His voice was gentle.

“This doesn’t have to be difficult,”

She stared at Sentry blankly, gracefully picking her delicate-looking body up off the ground. “No, it doesn’t.” She didn’t even look in your direction as she spoke, which might be why you didn’t notice the huge metal bar flying towards you, until your body was sent flying. Pushing yourself up onto your forearms, your blood ran cold as you saw Walker’s familiar form lying limply on the ground, the large pole sticking up at an unnatural angle.

“John!” You ran towards him, stumbling as your body protested being dragged up from the floor. A crash echoed through the air, and the floor rumbled from the force of Mathilde and The Sentry throwing each other around in a series of forceful punches and kicks, but you paid it no mind. Crouching down beside John, cradling his torso in your lap. “What the fuck! Are you crazy?”

“You’re welcome.” A weak chuckle escaped him, his lungs making an alarming wheezing sound, likely from extra injuries due to the impact of the post. He coughed a little, trying to shift but grunting in defeat when it was clear his body wasn’t going to respond. “You need to go after them.” He nodded to a point behind you, and you turned to see The Sentry chasing after Mathilde, the pair of them disappearing off over the buildings of the city.

“No. No! I can’t leave you! Not like this,” a wire tightened around your lungs, constricting your breathing and reaching down to turn your stomach in knots. John reached up, pulling at something around his neck. He laid the daisy flat on his chest.

“You made me promise that she’d stop. Go after her,” he sent you a weak half-smile, squeezing your hand that lay on his chest, feeling his heartbeat as it weakened.

“He’s right, I can get him back for treatment.” Ava stepped up beside you; for once, there was nothing in her voice but urgency.

“Come on, he’s safe with Ava,” Yelena tugged at your shoulder. “But we need to get to them before Bob Voids out,”

“They’ve disappeared, flown off. How are we even going to find them?” Addressing Yelena, you gently shifted Walker off you so you could hand him over to Ava. As you walked off with Yelena, who was tapping at her watch, you took a final look back to Walker, who was being lifted by both Bucky and Alexei’s combined strength. He looked so small.

“I really didn’t expect that you’d have tagged Bob with a bloody microchip,” You addressed Yelena as one of the trucks dropped you off at the warehouse, where the tag was last found.

“Yeah, he’s kind of like my cat, plus Val had it put in after he flew off the first time.”

The warehouse was huge and dimly lit. Metal assembling arms lay dormant, casting ominous shadows up the wall in the light of your torch. Banging sounds caught your attention, the pair of you sharing a look as you bolted towards the source of the sound. Whatever you were expecting, it surely wasn’t seeing Bob lying on the floor, struggling against an invisible force pressing against his throat while Mathilde pinned him to the ground. She wasn’t touching him, and she looked positively bored as her telekinesis incapacitated Bob.

“He’s not The Sentry right now?” Yelena’s voice was low and fearful as she processed the scene in front of her. “We need to get him out of here, quickly. He’s a risk if she hurts him.”

“Go to him, I can distract Mathilde,” She regarded you, sadness in her eyes.

“Be quick, there’s not much time left. Give me the signal when I can jump in.” A hollow feeling settled in your chest while you watched her slink off into the darkness. You had just over 15 minutes to undo years of brainwashing, if that’s what it even was.

Making your way over to one of the computers, you set yourself up by the screen and sent Yelena the signal. Using your friends as a distraction left a disgusted feeling in your stomach, but you were running out of time.

As expected, Mathilde easily intercepted Yelena, giving Bob a moment to breathe while she focused on her new target. That was good news; she struggled to concentrate on more than one person. That meant your plot had some hope. Typing a command into the computer, you stood up, pulling a knife out to use as your decoy.

“Hey!” You shrieked at Mathilde, smacking the button to execute the command as you screamed. You threw the knife as Mathilde turned towards you, her split focus meant she didn’t notice the thrumming of the metal arm as it chugged to life. In a split second, it had reached over and slammed her into the nearby wall.

Yelena bolted towards Bob, and you ran towards Mathilde, who was clearly winded from her laboured wheezing. You clambered up the metal arm, towards your old friend.

“Mathilde? Do you know who I am?” She glared at you, and in the moment of stillness, you noticed something you’d never caught before. A thin choker, wrapped around her neck, with a small light that flashed red every few seconds. Another observation struck you; her eyes glowed in pulses synchronised with the light. “We were friends when we were children” You caressed her face, and she seemed to freeze, leaning into the gentle touch momentarily. But then the light flashed again, and her body jolted.

“I don’t know who you are!” She shrieked, thrashing against the metal arm. A sickly whine sounded from the machine as her telekinesis began to push back against its force. Taking your chance, you surged forward, ripping the choker from her neck as she sent the arm flying backwards. You tumbled to the ground.

“Yelena!” She caught the necklace you tossed her way before you were picked up from the ground by Mathilde’s powers. The glow in her eyes was slowing down, like whatever signal the choker sent was being interrupted. “Yelena! Stop the signal!” you managed to rasp out before that force tightened around your neck. You reached up, feeling no hand, nor the comfort of your necklace that usually sat so close to your heart.

“Stop trying to tell me who you think I am!” Mathilde’s long, blonde hair floated like snakes surrounding her, framing her head in an unholy crown. An idea appeared in your mind. If you couldn’t tell her, then maybe you could show her. Your body struggled to function due to its lack of oxygen, but somehow you managed to navigate the screen of your watch. Mathilde shrieked at you, rage evident in the snarl on her face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” She tossed you across the room, a strange mirroring of your first interaction. But as she approached you again, she froze. Her voice rang out in the empty silence of the room, young and cheerful.

“You’re my favourite, you know?”

“I have to be your favourite, we’re all we have,” your voice called back to her, your signature sarcasm still present even when you were small.

“Yea, but still – who else would I leave my special necklace?”

Mathilde slumped down, hands grabbing fistfuls of her hair. “Stop it! Stop! I don’t want to- I can’t!” She let out a monstrous scream, halfway between animal and human, and then she flew towards you, towering over your broken body with a murderous look on her face. Acceptance weaved its way through your splintered bones. This was how you died, at the hands of your first friend. It was almost ironic.

Mathilde’s hands were around your neck for real this time, weakly, you grabbed onto them, offering no struggle against her actions. Your vision was blurring. Everything felt cold.

And then there was the release, like a balloon that had suddenly popped, and your friend slumped down onto your chest with a big jolt of her body. For a moment, you sat, holding her form in your broken arms.

Yelena ran over to you.

“I can’t believe that worked! I couldn’t hack into the signal, so I had to short the electrics in the collar and-” Yelena’s rambling became background noise as you stroked Mathilde’s face. She looked exhausted. Pain split up your sides with every breath, which wasn’t helped by the stirring of your friend’s body on top of you. Mathilde blinked, pushing her body up slowly. As she regained consciousness, a small gasp left her mouth.

“What did I do?” Her big, green eyes welled up with tears. She looked around at the state of your trio. “Have I hurt people? Is anyone dead?” Yelena’s stoic face and your lack of a reply were enough of an answer for her.

“Hey, hey,” You hushed her awkwardly, unable to really move to comfort her small frame. “It’s ok, we understand,”

“No, you don’t – I was never supposed to be this,” She turned to face Yelena and Bob. Slow realisation dawning on her face. “You need to get rid of me, I can’t be something someone uses to hurt people, please.” Bob wandered over to her side.

“I do understand. I was never supposed to be… like this either.” He motioned towards himself with an uneasy face. She looked at you with a mixture of misery and tears on her face, scanning your injuries that she had caused.

“Did you do things like this?”

Yelena interrupted the conversation. “No, technically, he forced New York to relive horrible memories through a bunch of interconnected shame rooms,” Bob side-eyed Yelena, who made a ‘what’ face in response.

“What Bob… and Yelena, are trying to say is: we can help you. You just have to agree to work with us?” You grunted, trying to sit up as you spoke to her, though it quickly proved to be a bad idea as pain radiated up your side. Mathilde sniffed, rubbing at her face and nodding.

“You can try, but I want to fix this – not stay this way,”

“That’s something we can work towards,” You reassured her, “Now I might need one of you guys to carry me home.” Mathilde went to pick you up, but Bob placed a gentle hand on her arm.

“It might look better if I do it – we still have to call Valentina off her manhunt,” Yelena, taking the hint, nodded and started towards the exit. At least if she was the first out, they wouldn’t shoot. Probably.

-------

The white lights of the hospital buzzed above you, and the smell of antiseptic wafted through the air. You had forgotten how uncomfortable hospital chairs were, even in the private medical wing of the Avengers Tower. Your left arm sat in a colourful sling, the other had simply been bruised; it seemed your left side had taken the brunt of your fall. Beside you, Walker’s sleeping form stirred. You reached your free arm over slowly, taking his hand in yours as he shifted in his bed.

“Hi,” You gave him a small smile as you greeted him, standing up and perching yourself on the edge of his bed.

“You’re here?” He blinked in sleepy surprise, a small grin finding it’s way onto his face.

“I had something to come back for,”

“Oh, right.” He reached over to the table at the side of his bed, pulling your chain necklace out of the drawer. As he laid it in your hands, you tried your hardest to stifle a laugh. His face had returned to the serious stoic look he got when he was trying to seem cool and detached. “There, I looked after it for you.”

“Is that what you thought I meant?” You laughed at his grumpy pout, and he regarded you with offence.

“What else did you mean?”  With a sigh, you rolled your eyes, leaning forward and planting a kiss on his lips. He froze, staring up at you with wide eyes as he watched you pull back. As you raised your eyebrows at him, he blinked at you.

“Are we good then? You’re not demanding that I run off now that the mission is done?”

“Well, I won’t… if you give me another kiss,” A chuckle escaped you at his childish attitude, as you leaned down you whispered across his lips.

“One more kiss, and then you have to take me on a date before you get any more.”

“Deal,” his breath was hot on your cheeks, and this kiss was much more intense. He held your hips gently, clearly holding back from applying any force to your body.

“Oh ew! Ew ew ew!” Yelena threw herself back from the doorway, hands covering her eyes like she’d been attacked. As you launched yourself backwards away from John, he groaned in pain at the sudden shift in weight on his chest.

“Ow! What the hell, Yelena?! Didn’t anyone ever teach you to knock?!”

“Well, I didn’t expect you two to be getting it on in the hospital bed!” She dumped the basket of gifts on the table as she growled back at John. Ava drifted into the room, her signature smirk on her face.

“I told you, I follow the drama.”

An exasperated laugh left your body as the blondes continued to bicker, and the rest of your new family piled in. Mathilde was on temporary monitoring, and everyone else, although injured, was alive. You allowed yourself a moment to laugh at your friend's antics, as Alexei grabbed John in a crushing hug, warbling something about him ‘staring death in the face.’

You gave her a withering stare, finding no amusement in the concept of being trapped in a room with Walker to discuss your feelings. Hell, sometimes you didn’t know if he even had feelings. He was pragmatic, logical to a fault, and lacked any semblance of common sense.

“I’ve already tried to talk to him about this before, every time I seem to make things worse.”

“Because you lose your temper,” Ava cut back in, arms crossed and jaw set in an unusually tense stance. “Look, I get it; the guy is easy to fight with. Trust me, I understand. But we, as a team, are not going to get anywhere with this weird stalemate between the two of you.” This was an unusual approach for Ava, and that was what got you. You had listened to Yelena being the ‘voice of reason’ many times, and sometimes it was easy to forget that what the blonde said was often the truth. But the reality of the situation was settling in; if Ava was the one hitting you with honesty, then it was bad.

Silence seemed to be the best option as you continued along the halls. There was no getting out of this, and ruining what good relationships you had left with a bad attitude didn’t feel like a smart choice. You slowed to a stop just outside the door, dread rumbling in the pit of your stomach. Yelena’s hand, which had not yet left your arm, gave you a reassuring squeeze. She led you into the room, and Ava hung back in the doorway like some sort of guardian, blocking any possible escape attempts.

“Right, you two.” Yelena’s voice was strong and authoritative as she sat you at the opposite end of the table from Walker. This wasn’t an idea; she was commanding you. “This is where you get over your… issues. We can’t complete this mission until we know you’ve resolved this and are at least willing to try and get along with each other.”

“Which means you can’t leave this room until you’re on, at least, decent terms.” Ava finished her statement.

You stared down the table. John didn’t make eye contact. Instead, he stared intently at the table's wood, as if the grain held the secrets of life.

“Now, you’re not locked in. You can leave if you want. But if you don’t resolve this, you’ll be removed from any future missions until it’s settled. Is that clear?” Yelena looked between you both. You nodded, clenching your jaw tightly to prevent any unwanted sass from escaping.

“Walker?” She demanded a response from the man, who returned a grunt of agreement. Accepting your, admittedly weak, approval of the situation, Yelena nodded and left the room with Ava in tow.

“Just so you know, all of your other plans for today have been pushed back to make room for this. So, you have all day to fix your issues,” Ava tossed the remark casually over her shoulder. You swore she had a wicked grin stretched across her face, but you barely had time to process it before the door slammed shut behind her, leaving you in the simmering silence of the room.

The pressure was suffocating, the weight of anticipation hot and harsh against your skin. Tingling through you like a lightning bolt, yet the room was quiet. You tried to swallow but found that your mouth was a desert. Speaking also proved futile, your mouth opening and closing soundlessly as you tried desperately to form a sentence that might save you from the horrific anticipation. Walker still stared at the table, neck bent like he was saying a silent prayer. You wanted to scream, shout, ‘Look at me’. Anything that wasn’t this deathly silence.

“Neither of us wants to be here, so let’s get this over with.” Walker’s voice was low, and even from where you sat, you could see the tightening of his knuckles on his fisted hands, which sat awkwardly on the desk like he didn’t know what else to do with them.

“Fine.” Rage burned in your chest. How dare he act like he hadn’t started this? “How about we start with you telling me what your fucking problem is with me?” Finally, he looked up, blue eyes stark and burning into you with an intensity that made you want to shrink back into yourself. You didn’t. Instead, forcing yourself to maintain eye contact with him.

“My problem? Are you joking?” His stare was somewhere between angry and incredulous. He sat bolt upright in his chair, puffing out his chest.

“I am not. Ever since I’ve arrived, you’ve treated me like crap.” You held up your hand, using your fingers to count off his offences. “You’ve been suspicious of me, have accused me of multiple instances of betrayal. Then you’ve turned around, had sex with me, saved me, and now you’re back at square one.” You stood up, slamming your hands on the table. “So, what is it? Were you just playing nice in hopes of fucking me again and then flipped when you realised that wasn’t going to happen?!”

Walker stared at you with wide eyes for a few seconds. “Are you being serious right now? I had sex with you because I’ve been in love with you pretty much ever since we met. But I’m an asshole to you because I can’t be in love with you.” He stood up too now.

“What does that even mean?!” You threw your hands up, circling away from the table as Walker stormed towards you, grabbing you by the arms.

“I can’t love you because I can’t fucking trust you!” He shook you slightly with every word, blue eyes boring into you with a mixture of anger and sadness that made your soul hurt. His voice dropped. “I can’t…. I can’t be with someone like you. You’ve proved multiple times that you’re willing to abandon me if you want to. You do it every time I think about forgiving you again.” Your heart was pounding as you looked into his eyes.

“…Wha..what?” he sighed, body slumping in on itself as he loosened his grip, leaning forward to rest his forehead on your shoulder.

“You left me when we were on that mission, just after Olivia and I divorced. And I-I almost died because of it.” Your heart sank. The memories were coming back to you in bits and pieces. You’d run after a rogue agent, trying to chase them down. An image appeared in your thoughts, clear as day: a group of soldiers tackling John. And he was right, you’d turned away, for the sake of the mission.

“And then… in the facility. You set the building off and just… I can’t go through that every time you decide to choose the mission over me. And I get it – it’s our job. That’s why I can’t love you. And it’s why I have to be like this with you, because if I don’t hold onto my reasons, I will fall so, so in love with you.” He stood up, backing off.

“John… I-”

“Look, we just have to complete this mission, and then that’s it. So just… stay away from me until it’s done. And then we can go our own ways.” You stared at him as he made for the door. He stopped, waiting for your agreement to his plan. So, you nodded, not because you wanted to agree to never seeing him again, but because you didn’t know what else to do.

This time, you watched him leave.

You smacked the punching bag with kick after kick, chest heaving with the intensity of your training. Was this some form of self-punishment? Who knows. All you could do was grit your teeth and smack the bag again as another wave of guilt washed through you. A voice by your side made you jump backwards defensively.

“I take it the talk didn’t go very well then?” You glared at Bucky for a moment, sighing and rolling your shoulders as you returned to your kickboxing stance. Instead of responding to him, you focused on the bag and threw another kick. That seemed to be enough of a response for Bucky. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I get it.” He stopped the bag’s swing with his metal hand, keeping it just out of kicking distance. “But, talking does help,” As he released the bag and turned to leave, you sighed.

“I thought he was just being a dick this whole time… but I actually understand his reason, and it pisses me off.” Bucky halted, still facing away from you. Somehow, that made it easier. “There was a mission that we were sent on together. It wasn’t too long after he and Olivia broke up, and during the mission, we were ambushed. The target tried to escape during the fight, so I ran after them. But… running after them meant that John was on his own with the soldiers.” Bucky turned to you now, his gaze quiet but steady. Your eyes started to burn, and the sound of John shouting after you was loud in your mind.  “I had to choose between losing the target and helping John, and the target was too valuable to lose. John… he never spoke about it with me. People told me he was fine, so I didn’t check on him. Just left and got on with the next mission – people get injured all the time in our work. But I just looked through the files, and he ended up being on leave for a few months because of how badly hurt he got; because I made a bad call.” Your shaking legs suddenly felt like jelly, clearly not willing to hold you up much longer after the battering you had given them. Instead, you lowered yourself to the ground, collapsing with a small thud.

Bucky crouched down next to you. “So, you made a bad call, happens all the time. What matters now is getting past it. You two can’t continue with this fighting – it’s not good for anyone.” He paused for a second. “There’s clearly more to this situation than just one incident – because I think Walker would have understood making a bad call. He’s dumb most of the time, but he’s a soldier with a past of his own at the end of the day.” Bucky stood up with a grunt, patting you on the shoulder reassuringly. “You don’t have to explain it all to me but maybe talk to some other members of the group. The more we understand, the better we can help.” He walked away, leaving you watching his dark form retreating from the gym.

He was right, and you hated it.

Logically, your next stop was the therapy duo. Well, actually, it was the shower. But then you made your way to Bob’s room.

The hushed voices behind the door immediately halted when you gently knocked, and a very confused-looking brunette appeared as it opened.

“Hi Bob… can I come in?” His eyebrows shot up, and he quickly nodded.

“Uh… yeah… yeah, come in!” Shuffling past him, you saw Yelena curled up on his bean bag that inhabited the corner of his room, the indent making it clear that she’d been there for a while. The lights were low, and a couple of gentle scented candles were lit around the room.

“Am I interrupting a hangout session?” You chuckled sheepishly, motioning towards the books the pair were holding.

“No, no. It’s just the book club Bob and I hold once a week.” Yelena grinned at you.

“Yeah... It’s fine. We were nearly done anyway,” Bob’s quiet voice piped up as he made his way past you and slumped back against his headboard. “So, what brings you to my humble abode?”

You flopped down onto the end of Bob’s bed, staring up at his ceiling fan. “Oh, you know. Turns out the guy I thought hated me is actually in love with me and just had a, very valid, long-standing grudge against me. And now I’m not sure I hate him either because we did have sex that one time, and it was pretty damn good, and-“

“Wait. What?!” Yelena’s voice rose an octave.

“Oh yeah, did you not hear that part?” Bob looked at her with a hint of surprise on his face. She ignored him.

“You had sex with Walker?!” You sat up.

“Yeah… that’s what I just said – didn’t I?” You looked to Bob, as if confirming your statement, and he nodded in response.

“When did this happen?!” as you were about to respond, Ava walked in through the door.

“I heard Yelena shouting, what’s going on?”

“Oh, of course you can come in.” Bob’s sarcastic retort earned a devious smirk from Ava.

“You know me, can’t miss the drama.”

Yelena leapt up from her beanbag, marching over to Ava with a betrayed look on her face.  “Wraith slept with Walker! Like actual sex!”

Ava looked at you with confusion. “What- just now?”

“No–no, it happened a little while ago.” You clarified, trying to get a word in around Yelena’s ever-increasing volume.

“And we’re only just finding out about it now?!” Yelena shrieked, scrunching her hands in her hair like she was going to rip it out.

“Well, technically, you’re only finding out about it now. She told me just after it happened…” The two girls looked at you with a sense of betrayal.

“So… was it any good?” Ava probed with a coy smile. You smirked at her, wiggling your eyebrows in a brief response.

“That’s not important right now; what matters is that he hates me and I think I love him.” You stopped, thinking for a moment. You had slipped up, and now the reality of the situation sat right in front of you. You were in love with John Walker. Bob held his hand up.

“But you just said he loves you, so what do you mean he hates you?”

“Yeah, it’s complicated. I thought he hated me, and he kind of did, but apparently, he hates me because he loves me, and I left him to die a couple of times. So, he doesn’t trust me enough to date me, but he does trust me enough to have had an awesome one-night stand in a cave. And now it’s awkward.”

The trio stared at you in silence for a few moments, which you took as a sign to continue. “Anyway, guys, he said we should just be civil and get on with completing the mission, and then we never have to see each other again. But I don’t really want that – so what do I do?”

Ava was the first to respond. “You don’t want to be civil because of the amazing, feral cave sex? Or you don’t want to never see him again?”

“Ava!” Yelena elbowed her in the side, earning a hiss from the girl.

“What? I’m just clarifying.”

You shook your head, ignoring the two women bickering and turning to the person whose advice you’d really come for.

“So, what do you think, Bob?”

“I think you need a therapist more than I do,” He chuckled, placing a bookmark in his page and laying the book down on his bed as he fully sat up. You stared at him with a deadpanned expression instead of responding. When you said nothing, he thought for a couple of seconds, contemplation visible in the scrunch of his eyebrows. “Do you want to be with him?”

You nodded, voice hoarse and barely audible over Yelena and Ava’s bickering. “I think so,” Bob nodded, a wistful expression on his face.

“Then I think you need to prove he can trust you.”

-------

The team stared on in horror, watching the large screens as the televised news reports flooded in. New York was in chaos, as it tended to be. But this time, you guys weren’t involved. Not even slightly. Instead, you watched as a familiar figure spoke to the crowd of terrified onlookers and cameras from a stage that looked similar to that of an arranged press conference.

“People of America. Superheroes have been around for years now, and will continue to be for many more to come. But this comes with changes.” The Enforcer looked into the camera; it was like his piercing eyes were staring into your soul. They drew you in with a magnetic pull, the same commanding presence he had used to keep you in line for years before your escape.

“Your ‘heroes’ are nothing more than a group of assassins, and one metahuman who your CIA has no control over.” Pictures of your team flashed up on the screen, clips of you all being knocked around by the super soldiers you had faced at the facility, and other previous struggles. Notably, all cutting off before you had won your battles, demonstrating your struggle to the public.

“You, the people, need real heroes. And that is where EE can provide.” The enforcer stepped back on his stage, motioning towards a large screen behind him that displayed a proclamation: ‘The Newer, Improved, Soldiers of America’.

You looked towards Yelena, only to find her already staring at you, blue eyes blown wide and mouth agape.

“What the heck is this?! Alexei screamed at the screen, pacing around behind the rest of the team.

“He can’t get away with this,” You pleaded, well aware you were stating the obvious, but it was all your mind could muster. A voice spoke up from behind you, gruff and defensive.

“He won’t.” Bucky clapped a reassuring eye on your shoulder, and his eyes burned with a rage that you’d yet to have seen in the older super soldier. “They’ll pay for what they’ve done – to you and your friend.”

You didn’t stay to listen to the rest of the enforcer’s spiel, and neither did your team, who instead bolted towards the equipment rooms to grab your gear. The fight was on.

As it turns out, you weren’t the only ones throwing yourselves into the fray. Your trek towards the air hanger had your team running into Val, who had a host of PR assistants and various social media managers following her like a gaggle of ducklings.

“Are you seeing this shit?!” She all but screeched at your team. “They get one moment in the spotlight, and they’re trying to take away everything I’ve built.”

“There’s something a little more pressing here, Val.” Bucky cut through her verbal lashing. “We’ve seen the methods used to create EE’s current ‘big hero’, and there’s no way she’s stable.” Valentina paused; you could see the gears in her mind turning.

“If she gets out into the public, this could be The Void 2.0 – but who knows what other things they’ve added to make this girl ‘better’” Yelena was trying to get through to Val – but you could see the way Bob shrank back a little at her words, and a spark of indignation flooded your chest at the way they discussed your first real friend. The real Mathilde would never hurt anyone. Alexei scoffed at the use of ‘better’, mumbling something about ‘cheap knock-offs’.  You didn’t speak up – they were right, of course. But it didn’t make it hurt any less.

Valentina grabbed her phone. “Alright, guys, we need to out this information.” Her nails tapped against the screen, likely setting up a meeting with various journalists. “If we can show that EE are attempting to overthrow us with half-finished, untested, dangerous assets, then we can sway the court of public opinion. We need them to bring out their big finisher, and we need to stop her.”

“Valentina.” Your voice gave everybody pause. “She’s my friend, let me see if I can get through to her before we try to destroy her. I can guarantee she doesn’t want to do any of this.”

“You want to ‘power of friendship’ your way out of the destruction of America at the hands of a superhero elitist cult?” Val regarded you judgmentally, relenting with an exasperated sigh when you offered no sarcastic retort. “You get one hour. If you can’t talk her down by then, all of the data we’ve pulled goes public – and that includes everyone your little friend has murdered to get us here.”

“Are you sure about this?” Ava’s voice strained to be heard over the rattle of the truck carrying your small group.

“No.” Your confession was small, and you found yourself staring across the troop compartment, eyes locked on Walker. He refused to look back at you, staring at the floor instead. Even now, you could sense the unease he felt, although his face was stoic, and his words from earlier echoed in your mind: ‘Are you going to be able to do what you need to do?’

Would you? You had to decide.

Shuffling across the small space, you slotted yourself in the chair beside Walker.

“John?” He turned his body towards you, keeping his eyes on the chair where you had been, but clearly listening. “I think you’re right; if I can’t get through to her, I’m not sure I’d be able to… to do what it takes.” He finally looked at you, the deep blue of his eyes drinking you in and leaving you floundering once again. “I need you to promise you’ll stop her, no matter what-” You swallowed hard, looking away from him as you finished your thought. “Even if I get in the way.”  Reaching up, your hands fumbled with the small clasp on your necklace. The heat of his body radiated through you as you slipped the chain into his palm, the tiny daisy seeming almost laughable in his large hands.

“Oh, Buck- look… look at what they did to her…” You sucked in a deep breath. It only clicked that something was off when Bucky’s reply never came; instead, you felt the shadow looming over your shoulder. And you only needed to look in the reflection of your screen to realise that it wasn’t Bucky standing behind you. You felt cold steel against the side of your throat, almost certainly a knife.

“Move, and I’ll gut you like a fish.” The voice was a man’s – not anyone you recognised. Strangely, you felt eerily calm. Being an assassin had its perks; you were rarely fearful when someone cornered you in a room – after all, you weren’t trapped with them. They were trapped with you.

“Did you really think this would be a good idea?” Even you could hear the dangerous lilt in your voice, the subtle challenge and mockery that a normal person wouldn’t dare use against an aggressor. Before your attacker could reply, you threw your body weight backwards into them – causing you both to tumble backwards onto the floor. The brief distraction allowed you to roll away while you both scrambled to your feet. You felt your blood rushing, and a grin began to twitch at the corners of your mouth. The attacker wasted no time, charging towards you like a maddened bull. You danced on light feet, ducking and dodging their blade like your life depended on it. Because it did. Adrenaline junkie or not, that was still a deadly weapon, and you were very underdressed for this fight. This time, when you dodged, you grabbed your opponent, swinging him around into the wall. As he was stunned, you tried to ground him with a kick to the knee. It worked, and you scrambled over him, desperately hoping to pin the arm with the knife. The rush of blood roared in your ears. His arm. You needed to break it- you needed to-

A solid hook to your side winded you, and you felt him move as your weight shifted. He grabbed your shirt, throwing you sideways across the room with a grunt.

“You didn’t think they’d send a normal agent after you, did you?” his voice was sinister, like he was mocking you. As you tried to stand, you were quickly immobilised again by a powerful taser – still reeling from your previous winding, you collapsed under the pressure. “Now, they want you alive, but it’s not necessary.” You felt the knife press against the spot just below your shoulder blade, not cutting but present. A humourless chuckle wheezed out of your pained lungs as you twisted your head to look at the agent. You saw him reaching into his pouch for something, probably some form of restraint. If your arms weren’t dead, maybe you could roll, grab the knife? But your muscles were still tingling from the shock – and if they had sent a super soldier after you, you were going to need a miracle to pull this off.

Your miracle promptly came in the form of a sickening clang and a thud as your attacker was launched away from you and into the large table with a crash, scattering your items across the room. Rolling over on the floor, you gasped for every breath like a fish on land. A familiar, bulky build and blonde hair tugged at you, pulling you up to your feet. John checked you over quickly before turning to face your attacker. He had placed himself between you and the man, a human shield to match his own, bent one. The man, still reeling from being slammed by Walker’s shield and colliding with the table, planted his feet like he was trying to steady himself.

Walker didn’t give him the chance to adjust, racing towards him and smacking him again, hard. The man tumbled backwards under the force, but John kept going, slamming punch after punch into the man. Granted, your assailant wasn’t going down easy, trying in vain to swing and claw at Walker. But nothing matched John’s rage, even you could see that from the way Walker threw him around like a rag doll as the two tore through the room. You swayed a little as you stood, slowly limping towards the duo. And as you got closer, realisation struck you – the man still had the taser.

Your realisation came a little too late, though, as the assailant-turned-victim managed to fire it towards John. Whatever kind of weapon it was, it was strong enough to bring John to his knees. John Walker, the man who could shrug off gunshots if it meant getting to his goal, was being brought down before your eyes. Something shining on the ground caught your eye. The knife- the man must have dropped it when John threw him. You shakily bent down and grabbed it off the ground, slowly moving around the broken table as your assailant started to walk towards Walker’s stuck form, gloating. Your heartbeat was in your ears, silencing the world as you watched this vermin spit venom at John. You willed your body, ordered it to move. There was a weak spot, fabric where the plates of his armour connected. And on shaky legs, you ran, throwing yourself towards the man with all the speed you could manage, driving the knife deep into the side of his chest.

His words turned silent and breathless as you forced the air from his lungs. When he stumbled backwards, you followed, ripping the knife out and forcing it forwards again, higher this time. Your muscle fibres burned with every movement, electrifying your skin with a delicious tingle. The man clattered to the ground, gasping and groaning as he died. And you hovered over him, knife in your hand as the rush slowly wore off. You stared at his still corpse. Your chest just felt heavy, and the tiredness was starting to creep in past everything else. Your body stilled, not even reacting when John stumbled over to your side.

“Jesus, what the hell was with that taser?” He rubbed at his arms; he was probably still feeling the tingling from being shocked. His voice turned surprisingly soft as he brushed a hand up your arm, gently taking hold of you. “Are you ok?” You stared at him for a few seconds, a flash of numbness and confusion resting in the bottom of your chest. You had a theory. And you just almost died. So, fuck it.

You turned in his grasp, raising your arms up around his neck, and tugged him down towards your mouth. The kiss was tender, and you could feel his surprise in the way he stilled. For a moment, he didn’t move, and a flash of cold fear ran through you. But your worry was misplaced, as he responded eagerly. His large hands moved to circle your waist and pull you deeper into the kiss. It was warm and soft, and nothing like what you had both shared in the cave. As you broke away, your faces stayed close, noses hovering next to each other.

“John…” Your voice turned into a breathless whisper as you looked into his eyes. A dazed look crossed his features, and his gaze flitted across your face. “You feel something for me- even if you won’t admit it.” That snapped him out of his daydream. You saw confusion cloud his eyes, and maybe denial, as he pulled back. He shook his head, and you let him go – offering little resistance when he tugged himself away from your grasp.

Walker was sluggish as he wobbled towards the door, and a pang of guilt ran through you when you remembered that he was fresh off a mission. He was probably exhausted, and yet he had come to your rescue. And now you had made things worse by confronting him about his feelings. He muttered something about calling a team to clean up the room, glancing at you over his shoulder as he disappeared off into the dark hallway, leaving you alone with your thoughts and a corpse.

You let your fingers ghost across your lips, the memory of his mouth fresh in your mind. Your heartbeat was thundering in your chest, and your blood flowed in a monstrous rush through your ears. A blinking light pulled you from your daze. You could see a flashing screen that lit up the intruder's wrist. Slowly, you picked your way through the scattered debris of the room, winding through the thrown chairs like they were landmines. The flashing light was a watch, cracked from the altercation, but clearly advanced enough to act as a communications device. You pried the buckle from the limp wrist; maybe there would be something useful coming from this research session after all.

The watch proved to be a useful asset, containing a multitude of files that your attacker had needed for the context of his mission, and a set of coordinates for a lab base where he was supposed to bring anything he could gather from the tower.

As you sat on the plane, being carried to the location, Bucky’s words rang fresh in your mind.

“They’ve likely moved everything away from their rendezvous point when their agent went offline, but it’s the best lead we have as to the whereabouts of your friend.”

Your friend. Mathilde. Was she even Mathilde anymore? You saw her vacant stare, her pale figure. Maybe you were chasing a ghost. You jumped when you felt gentle fingers on your wrist. Yelena tilted her head at you.

“Are you ok?” You blinked; the others mulled about the cargo hold, readying themselves for the upcoming fight. Ava and Bucky were going over the first stage again. She was to set the push in motion, breaking through the lab's defences using her powers. You cleared your throat.

“Yeah, just… apprehensive.” Yelena raised her brows at that, confusion evident on her features. “Don’t get me wrong, I like a fight as much as the rest of us. It's just… we’re going in blind. And whatever soldiers they have… did Walker tell you about that soldier?”

Yelena nodded, mouth set in a grim line. “He said he’d never fought a soldier like that before.”

“Yelena, I saw the notes on Mathilde’s procedures. I think the soldiers we’re fighting are different. The ‘old’ super soldiers aren’t good enough anymore. Everyone has one. They want to make the ‘new’ generation of superheroes.” Alarm flashed through Yelena’s eyes, despite her face remaining stoic. You knew she had taken your warning seriously, though; her curt nod confirmed to you that she’d been thinking the same thing.

The plane's intercom crackled to life, announcing that the group should be prepared for the drop, and you saw the others make their way over to their backpacks. As you moved to grab yours, you caught Walker staring at you. There was some unreadable expression on his face. Something melancholy, something regretful. As quickly as it came, it vanished, and he continued strapping into his parachute.

You allowed yourself a small moment of humour when you saw the way Yelena was strapping Bob into her two-person parachute. It was similar in build to the ones used for commercial skydiving. Typically, Bob would have been left alone in the tower; however, given the looming threat of Mathilde, Valentina insisted that he should come with you as the only other ‘real’ superhero.

Upon landing at the facility, a horrible pool of cold dread made itself comfortable in your stomach. Something was very wrong. You figured the lab would have been abandoned, but it looked like a ghost town with the way everything was strewn about and abandoned mid-use. The group, clearly, felt the same, given the apprehensive looks you shared with them.

“This feels… bad.” Ava was the first to make the observation aloud, leading the group towards the building. All of the defences had been powered down and abandoned, adding to the eerie feeling you got as you approached the building. Ava glanced back at the group with a nod before phasing through the door. You shared a worried glance with Bucky, who, through his tired façade, looked just as alarmed as the rest of you.

“Be ready for anything,” His voice was authoritative. And usually, the group would have challenged such an attitude, but his tone held an edge that prevented the rest of the group from challenging anything he said. Instead, the rest of you raised your weapons, and you felt Yelena move to push Bob to the back of the group.

The door heaved, shuddering and groaning as it shifted with a horrible screeching sound, and started to slide open slowly. Ava’s form was revealed, standing behind it in a manner that could be described as unusual for her. Her usually cynical and sharp gaze was blown wide, pupils dilated and her face stern. You stared down the entry hallway of the building, attempting to see anything in the shifting darkness of the building. It was only once you stepped closer that you realised why Ava was so alert. The scent hit you before anything else. The metallic tang, sweet and heavy in the air. Blood. A lot of it. Your small group shared a look, falling into formation seamlessly. Bucky took the lead, acting as the authority of the group. Yelena and Bob followed behind, allowing you and Ava to keep an eye on your less experienced accomplice, while  Walker followed at the back of the group. Even now, in the midst of the group’s unease, you could feel the way John’s stare flicked occasionally towards you. Whether it was a protective eye or a wary one was something you had yet to determine. Slowly, you all crept down the hallway, flashlights reflecting off the floor tiles with a glare. The sickly scent somehow only grew stronger as you continued your journey into the belly of the building, and you could see Bob, wholly unused to the concept of death, growing uncomfortable.

The hallway ended in a large, sealed door. Well, it was supposed to be sealed. Eerily, the door was cracked open as if someone had just left and was still planning to return. With a nod to the rest of you, Bucky leaned forward and gave the door a harsh shove. All of you braced. But the room gave no response, only the deadly calm. The team fanned out around the entryway, and you could hear the hushed voices as your groupmates deliberated on the plan. You were distracted, though, something shining in view of your flashlight caught your attention. Stepping closer, you realised it was a pool of dark liquid. Slowly, you moved your flashlight along the puddle, stopping when something new came into view. You reached back, grabbing whichever teammate was closest to you.

“Can you see that?” A familiar low voice hummed back at you. Walker stepped forward, the pair of you inching forward towards the object of your interest. A hand. Before you could move your flashlight away, the building buzzed to life, revealing the destruction that had been hidden in the darkness of the room.

The entire floor was a smear of red and white; various bodies in lab coats lay askew across the room. You heard a retching sound, and you turned to see Bob attempting not to throw up. The rest of your team stared on, frozen in place. Yelena quickly moved away from the light switch, pushing Bob back through the door while the rest of you processed the state of the room. None of you were strangers to death. But the sheer number of bodies was overwhelming.  For some, their cause of death was obvious, with bullet holes in various parts of their bodies. But what really intrigued you were the bodies without bleeding. Instead, their limbs were twisted and jagged, bones sitting at unnatural angles like they were puppets that had been thrown about.

“What the hell happened here?” Ava was the first to chime in.

“They’re all scientists.” Bucky pointed out the obvious. Usually, someone would jump in with a sarcastic remark, something biting in the face of such a redundant statement. Instead, he was met with a hollow silence as the group stared on at the massacre.

Walker’s voice was authoritative, a clear instruction in his words.

“We need to find the security footage.”

A warm, sickening feeling washed over you as the screens in the dingy security room flickered to life.  The footage was surprisingly grainy, given the newness of the technology in the labs. The screen showed the scientists, gathered in a small group, watching the outcome of one of their experiments.

“An experiment gone wrong, maybe?” Ava cautiously speculated from your right. On your left, Yelena was completely still. Bucky and Walker stood at the other end of the line that your group had created, the pair tensely poised in expectation. You felt Yelena shift, gently placing a hand on Bob’s arm from where she stood next to him.

“Bob, you don’t have to watch this if-,”

“No, no.” his voice was gravelly, and he swallowed hard. “I’ll be ok.”

The footage continued, and you saw the group of people shuffling around. From the edge of the screen, a dark figure appeared. The scientists seemed to skitter backwards like a group of frightened deer, all of them visibly uncomfortable around the figure.

“It’s Him.” You spoke more to yourself than to the others. But Bucky, now intimately familiar with your past, thanks to your various research sessions, pressed further.

“The Enforcer?” You felt yourself nod, and a heaviness settled in the tips of your limbs, like they were disconnected from the rest of your body. Your skin tingled as you watched the figure move about the screen, phantom pains throbbing from each bruise and cut you’d received from the monster.

A smaller, pale figure followed him about. Floating across the screen in a ghostly manner. Your stomach twisted. The blonde hair and slight body were unmistakable. Mathilde. Taking a deep breath, you forced yourself to keep watching. The tension in the room was suffocating, a heat that pressed in on your skin and fluttered like it was alive and trying to cook you from the outside in.

A familiar and uncomfortable fear slithered about in your stomach as you watched the enforcer tilt his head. Remembering being on the receiving end of that glare sent a cold shiver down your spine. He had a tell. Whenever he was irritated or amused, he’d tilt his head to stare at the perpetrator like a snake devouring prey, but when he was really, truly pissed? He’d fold his hands behind his back, like an army general preparing to scold his men.

Dread weighed on your chest as his arms disappeared behind him. You felt the urge to reach out, to shield them from their fate. But this was the past, and there was nothing you could do to save the scientists now. It only took a moment, a flick of his wrist, and Mathilde was set loose. She threw some of the group about like ragdolls, and gunshots echoed over the speaker as a group of soldiers swarmed in through the door. The scientists tried to run, scattering towards the edges of the room as if that could save them from their fate. Hot bile burned at your throat, and it was Ava’s gentle hand that snapped you from your vice-like stare towards the screen.

As you backed away from the machines, wandering towards the opposite wall in an attempt to ground yourself, the others started to chat lowly, trying to figure out their next steps. A presence pressed up near your shoulder, and hot breath fanned across the back of your ear.

“You’re too close to this. Are you going to be able to do what you need to do? Your friend is dangerous.”

“I’m fine, Walker. Don’t act concerned about me now.”

A noise stopped the brewing dispute, and the entire room went silent. Any previous preparations went out the window as the door suddenly made a sickening splintering sound and three large soldiers barrelled through it.

One of them made a beeline straight for Ava, meeting Bucky instead as she phased through them.

Another gunned for Yelena, reaching her successfully and sending her flying backwards. A movement which was quickly repeated on the super soldier as Bob slammed into them, lifting them by the straps on the front of their uniform and tossing them backwards.

“You don’t get to hurt her.” His voice was stern, a meld between himself and Sentry. Which was something you really didn’t want to deal with right now.

The last soldier circled you, gun in hand. Walker was no longer by your side and instead was currently helping Bucky as the two ‘old brand’ super soldiers took on one of the ‘new’ stock. Yelena was still on the floor, and Ava? Wait. Where was Ava?

Attempting to focus on the fight, you pulled out your weapon. An old faithful, which had stuck with you from job to job. Her blade glinted dangerously in the low light, hungry: A curved billhook. As you let the length of the wire extending from the short wooden pole drop, you eyed your opponent. Big. Lumbering. Her pole handle felt secure and sturdy in your hand, familiar.

“A billhook? They said you were interesting.” The soldier's voice was gruff, a harsh bite in his tone, but amusement still punctuated every word. Disgust rippled through you; even under the mask, you could see the way he looked at you. Like prey. “It’s a shame we don’t have the time to play with you properly.” His sneer was met with a glare of your own as you threw your blade forward, ripping the gun from his hand and tossing it away from you both. Your assault didn’t stop, though. Instead, you launched into a barrage of twirling and swinging, sending the brute backwards as he stumbled to avoid your blade. Knowingly, you allowed the hook to swing in a slow, obvious arc. He took the bait, grabbing the blade with a successful grunt; however, his face fell as he saw your tactful grin. With a smirk, you yanked the wire backwards harshly, tightening it around the soldier’s feet and sending him tumbling to the floor. Yelena appeared, jumping onto the soldier’s body and locking him into a chokehold. Your wires aided Yelena in her mission to knock the man out, as he thrashed on the floor, and Yelena delivered a heavy shot of a paralytic agent into his side with a small needle she had recently installed in her suit.

“Jeez, you weren’t kidding about these guys!” She huffed, clambering up off the floor. The room around you was particularly quiet, and you suddenly became aware that the men had finished their opponents off as well.

“I am many things: a schemer, an adrenaline junkie, a murderer. But I am not a liar,” You chuckled, bowing towards Yelena with a corny flourish.

“Yeah. Right, so everything that's going on has been purely coincidental, then?” Irritation flashed through your body in the form of that familiar bubbling heat under your skin.

“What are you on about now, Walker?” You sighed, rubbing your face with your hands as you addressed him.

“I just think it was really interesting that things always go wrong when you’re involved. You needed me to save you the other day, when you almost died, but today you’re able to take a soldier down nearly completely by yourself? It’s just a little too convenient that you were the only one who got attacked, while you were alone.”

“Walker-” Yelena tried to interrupt his accusations, but he was advancing closer, and he clearly had no intention of stopping.

“Plus, you’re the one who keeps dragging us into these bases. In which we just so happen to be constantly getting attacked, even though they’re supposed to be empty. OR we have a plan, which you ignore and completely derail, and put us all in horrible danger.” The distance between you both could be closed with a step. But you stood still, head held high and defiant as you stared back at Walker.

“You are being ridiculous right now. We keep getting attacked because we’re in enemy territory. I have been attacked by EE multiple times since I left the company. Why would they attack their own agent?” He glared at you, jaw set. “And why do you keep looking for reasons to turn on me?!”

“Because you keep ruining everything! We were doing well before you came; the team was great. We were winning, we were successful. I was doing well before you-” He stopped. Eyes flickering to the wall behind you.

“What did I walk into?” Ava phased back through the wall as Walker stumbled to a stop. You saw him looking around, the reality of his untimely monologue settling in.

“It’s nothing.” He growled. “Let’s just get what we came for and go.”

“Waaay ahead of you,” Ava stopped Walker before he could march off, waving a USB at everyone.

Yelena, seemingly desperate to break the tension settling in the room, gasped. “So that’s where you went? While we were getting beat up, you got to run off and play with computers?!”

You awoke with a jolt, sweat dampening your skin and the creature’s words ringing in your ears. After a few seconds, the panicked breathing began to slow, and your heart rate started to regulate. You sat still in bed for a little longer, refusing to move. You couldn’t make your body do anything, even if you had wanted to. A timid knock on your door pulled you from your own head.

“Hey… It’s me, Bob” You could hear the uncertainty in his voice, and while you’d usually just wait for him to leave, you didn’t really feel like being alone.

“Y… Yeah, come in.” Your voice was almost hilariously pathetic; you weren’t even sure he could hear you until you heard his reply.

“Uhm… You have to open it. I don’t know your door code.” Stupid fancy doors. You groaned as you hauled yourself out of bed and activated the switch. The metal door slid open to reveal the shy man. Bob held himself awkwardly, torso curled in on itself like he expected you to shout at him. He thrust one of the two coffee cups he held towards you. “I brought you coffee!”

A chuckle escaped you in response to his nervousness, gently taking the cup from him and motioning for him to move into your room with a flick of your head. You could already feel the tension leaving your muscles. “Well? Are you gonna come in or hover in the door?” Bob shambled into your room, looking around with wide eyes as he observed your private space. You understood his confusion. You had brought very few items with you, meaning your room was simply what you had been given. There was nothing about the room that screamed you. Maybe there was nothing to be screamed about you. He cleared his throat, pulling you out of staring into the dark liquid of the cup.

“Soo…” He swung his arms at his sides, like a little kid. “Are you ok? You pretty much ran through to your room when you got back, and you didn’t say anything… to anyone.” A sigh escaped you, and Bob took it as annoyance, instantly backtracking. “N-not that you have to tell me anything about how the mission went! You were probably just tired, right?”

“The mission went to shit.” You interrupted him, mouth set in a grim line. You heard a small ‘Oh’ from Bob. “Val’s gonna kill me,” You groaned into one of your hands, rubbing your face as you rocked back and forth.

“Yeah... she seemed… not happy,” You noticed Bob’s wince as the words left his mouth.

“That bad, huh?” He nodded wordlessly at you. Maybe it was your lack of sleep, or you had just decided that since Valentina was going to kill you, you should just be honest anyway. But you found yourself shuffling sideways on the bed, making room for Bob to sit next to you. He hesitated until you patted the sheet beside you.

The bed groaned a little under both of your weights, and you waited until Bob was settled before you voiced your thoughts. “Bob, can you keep a secret?” You pointedly stared at the wall, ignoring the feeling of his horrified stare at the side of your head. Both of you were sitting tucked up, leaning into the headboard, backs against the pillows and knees to your chests. Part of you was glad when his eyes followed your gaze towards the wall, alleviating you from his observance as he offered a response.

“Is it a ‘state secret’ or a personal secret?” You chuckled at him, glad for a bit of release from the coils that wrapped themselves around your chest.

“Personal.”

“Then it’ll be like I never heard it.” You paused. Were you really going to tell him this? You needed someone’s opinion that wasn’t yours. Yelena would judge you secretly. Ava would judge you openly. And Alexei would tell everyone. There was Bucky, but he was kind of like a dad, so that’s a bit weird. And Bob was Bob; he was easy to talk to, and he didn’t judge. Or at least, you didn’t know if he did.

“Something did happen on that mission.” You paused. The ghoulish face from your dreams popping into your head, you didn’t want to talk about that yet. “Something unrelated to the mission, I mean.” Bob didn’t reply, but you could feel the movement of the air next to you that indicated he was nodding. You winced. Better to rip off the band-aid, right?

“I slept with Walker.” You turned to meet Bob’s eye. At first, his face didn’t change. He just blinked at you. Then you saw his eyes grow, the whites appearing and pupils shrinking as he processed, his mouth fell agape and shut again – like a fish. And then his face went still as he turned to face the wall across from you both again. You watched him, staying silent as he blinked at the wall a few times. Like he was signalling an SOS in Morse code to the concrete.

“Oh.” Bob’s voice was small yet surprised. “You… and…”

“Yep.” You nodded, cutting him off from saying it.

“Right. Uhm,” He cleared his throat a little, not looking at you. “Why?” You sighed, sinking back into the pillow a bit.

“Yeah. Why.” Your voice was grim, frustration nipping at the edges of the words. “I think he hates me,” Bob side-eyed you again.

“But he slept with you?”

“He did, and it was good. Very good.” Bob visibly winced a little at that revelation. Maybe you were oversharing a little there. “We’ve been butting heads ever since I got here, and I know he hated me before. But we were good before that. I mean, he had Olivia, so obviously it wasn’t like that… or was it? Maybe it was from me, but-“Bob cut off your verbal diarrhoea.

“Why would he sleep with you if he hated you? He has to like you... like at least a little, right?”  You paused.

“Yeah, but like, what if it was hate-sex? I don’t think I could deal with that.” Bob frowned.

“I don’t think he hates you,” The silence lingered for a moment, and just as you were about to speak again, a knock sounded on your door. Slow and solemn. Like, whoever was knocking really didn’t want to. You and Bob stared at each other for a moment.

“Who’s there?” You called as you stood up to open the door.

“Walker.” You stumbled, turning to Bob with wide eyes and a motion that said ‘Don’t say anything’. As you opened the door, you saw an incredibly dishevelled-looking Walker. His eyes, which had seemed sad as the door slid open, immediately zeroed in on Bob. They narrowed a little as he looked between the two of you, who stared at him.

Your antagonistic response was instinctual, as you threw an accusing “Well?” at him. He looked away, pulling back from the door a little, like he was trying to get away from the situation.

“Valentina and Bucky want to talk to you. They’re in the meeting room.” He turned to walk away, but you didn’t miss his parting comment.

“Try not to add Bucky to your checklist, yeah?” That felt like a truck had hit you, your mouth hung open as you stared at his retreating figure. You whipped around to see Bob staring at the doorway in terror.

“Maybe he does hate you.”

The air was thick as you stepped into the meeting room. Stuffy and suffocating, and the thick hoodie you had yanked on was certainly not helping. Valentina sat at the head of the table, face stiff and fingers laced together in a death grip. You could see the tinge of white around her knuckles where the pressure was too much. Bucky was a different story, staring into the document that sat on the table rather than at you, eyes flickering over the notes. You stayed standing, as close to the door as you could, hoping you wouldn’t be asked to sit.

“Sit down.” Shit. Valentina’s voice was terse, sharp, and pointed. Like she was a bow drawing an arrow. You tentatively lowered yourself into a chair, back stiff and all your nerves screaming at you to escape. She pointed towards the file Bucky was leaning over. “That,” She jabbed her finger accusingly towards the document, “Is Walker’s mission report.” You felt yourself swallowing hard. How much had he written? How much had he told them? You stayed silent.

“That file tells us everything. From how you got into the building, to how you took the cameras out, to how you found the lab.” She glared at you. “What it doesn’t tell me, is why you decided to compromise the mission by blowing up the entire building.” It was a question worded like an accusation. Part of you was relieved John had said nothing, but explaining made everything so much harder. Explaining meant that Mathilde became a target, a problem. And maybe she was, but she was your problem to fix. You needed to save her. So, you said nothing, choosing to pick at your fingers like a sulky teen.

“I have my reasons.” Valentina didn’t like that answer.

“Well, your reasons are ruining everything!” She slammed her hands onto the table as she stood, looking almost entirely different as she seethed at you. Her teeth were on full display, and her hands clawed at the files scattered under them. Like a wildcat poised to strike. Bucky remained silent, watching the exchange like he was a bystander. A knock at the door distracted Val as some poor soul interrupted to tell her about someone arriving to meet her. She stalked out of the room, but not before giving Bucky his instructions. “Can you please remind Wraith that she is here to help me! Not hinder the entire team for her ‘reasons’.” And with that, she stormed out, slamming the glass door behind her.

Bucky let the silence linger briefly before sighing.

“You know how important this is; it’s why you were hired. It’s the point of the mission.” That made you falter. It was important for many reasons. But Bucky was right; it was what you had been chosen for. He tried a different approach, moving chairs to sit closer to you. He leaned in, and you were positive he was staring at you with that tired, disappointed look he gave so well. You didn’t know, though, you were too busy staring at the metal hand so that you could look at anything except his face. It didn’t work so well when you were still picturing it. “Look, it’s evident you found… something in that lab. But if I know that, so does Val.”

You sighed, finally looking at Bucky. “It was someone I knew. Really knew. But it wasn’t her.” Bucky nodded, grim realisation setting in as you started to explain. “They did something to her – something that got rid of everything before what she is now.”

“And what is she now?” You felt heat burning at the back of your eyes, hot and uncomfortable. Your throat faltered, and you voice wobbled as the past two days hit you in full force.

“They changed her… using the stuff f-from the sentry project that they… that they stole.” The words turned into choked sobs as your tears finally flowed freely. Bucky’s jaw visibly clenched at the mention of the sentry project, but it wasn’t frustration at you, you knew that from the way he gently placed a hand on the back of your upper arm. Rubbing in soothing circles in an attempt to comfort you without forcing contact on you. You were grateful for that, almost certain that a real hug would have you comatose from how hard you’d cry.

“You need to tell Valentina,” You immediately shook your head at him.

“No, no, I can’t. What if they hurt her? I need to help her. I can fix it.” Bucky shushed you and took your hand.

“Maybe you can help her, but you won’t be able to do that without help.” He was right. But that didn’t make it sting any less. A heavy, stuttery sigh escaped your chest. Bucky caught your eye, a flicker of a plan visible in his eye. “Y’know, Valentina really wanted you to be a part of the team… I bet if you offer to join the team on the condition that you get to use her resources to help your friend, she’ll jump at it.” You stared at him, putting the pieces together as he spoke. “And, then you get to have control over the operation, Valentina gets you on the team, and EE is ruined.’

“I wouldn’t know where to start…” You confessed, the stress already burning a hole in your chest.

“I’ll help you; we can fix this as a team.”

Bucky made it sound easy; hell, he even made it look easy. Once Valentina returned, he laid out your deal, and it was like everything seemed rosy again. Val had happily agreed to lend you the resources, positively jumping once she had heard the terms and realised that you’d be hitting two birds with one stone. And with that, the meeting had concluded. The weight on your shoulders a little lighter, and saving Mathilde feeling a little less impossible.

The group gathered in the common room, eyes expectant and curious as they stared at you and Bucky. You felt your hands grow clammy and your skin prickled with alternating heat and shivers. Bucky clearly noticed your nervousness and stepped closer to you, placing a reassuring hand just under your shoulder blade. How could you be so nervous about this? You knew the others fairly well at this point; you’d even tentatively say you were friends with a majority of the group. You’d spent most of your evenings in their company during your stay at the tower. So why did you feel the familiar, twisting unease at the bottom of your stomach when you thought of their reactions? How could you picture their disgusted faces so clearly, quirking in annoyance as they rejected you from their team? Maybe it was because one such expression was already staring you in the face, his familiar blue eyes burning lasers into you. Walker was positively glaring, although when you looked deeper, you noticed he wasn’t looking at you. Instead, his pointed glare seemed to be directed at Bucky’s limb, like he was trying to prevent the contact between you both telepathically. You observed Walker for a few seconds, a tingle of something in the bottom of your stomach. The way he was starting wasn’t good, but there was something about the way he seemed… possessive? He was damn near predatory. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest, fingers digging into the skin where his hand connected, knuckles turning white. His jaw was set, clenching and unclenching, almost like he was visibly trying to hold himself back from saying something. You studied his form, the way he leaned back in the chair, head tilted upwards in what could only be scrutiny, but you were quickly ripped from your observation when his eyes met your own. They stayed steady for a few seconds; he must have realised he was staring, because he quickly looked away, drawing in on himself. Bucky’s announcement cut through your interaction.

“So, Wraith is officially joining the team, as of today,” Alexei responded with a loud cheer, and Yelena and Ava side-eyed each other.

“Wait, you weren’t already part of the team?” Yelena sounded genuinely confused, pointing half-heartedly at you as she tried to process. You shook your head at her with a small smile and a chuckle, but left Bucky to answer her questions. He had taken charge of the situation, and you weren’t against letting him do all the talking right now. There was a numb feeling after the array of emotions you had experienced today. He started to explain how Val had only brought you on temporarily before, and how you were originally supposed to leave after the mission at EE’s base. Ava interrupted with a fake-shocked scoff and an exaggerated tone.

“You were just going to leave us after all of our time together?” Yelena joined in, a hand held over her chest as if you had shot her.

“Were you even going to tell us?!”  Despite their joking, there was a slight sting to their comments. Your previous arguments with John and your recent nightmare came to mind. You had just assumed that they knew – were you wrong in doing so? You saw John’s familiar glare from the corner of your eye, and there was a hint of hurt and confusion in his stare. While the girls may have been joking about it, he wasn’t. But he had wanted you to leave soon, hadn’t he?

You couldn’t look at him anymore, so instead you stared at Bob, who offered you a small supportive smile. Alexei had completely missed the girls' joke and was now loudly explaining the obvious to them, interrupting Bucky’s pre-prepared spiel. The ex-winter soldier turned to you, tone surprisingly gentle.

“Would you like me to give a short explanation of what we talked about? Or do you want to tell them?” You sucked in a cool breath, feeling the tension building in your chest at the idea of having to explain everything.

“Could you give them the quick version, please? I don’t want to explain it all right now. It’s… too much.”  You hadn’t noticed how close Bucky’s face was to yours, but the group had noticed your low whispering to each other. And they were all staring curiously. The only one who knew any better was Bob, who was switching between watching Bucky and Walker. Bucky patted you on the shoulder, turning back around to give the group a short explanation of what you had told him. But when he finished, Walker’s voice cut in.

“And how do you know all of this about Wraith?” His voice was dangerously low, almost accusatory.

“She told me.” Bucky’s tone was sharp, too. Authoritative. He must have picked up on John’s attitude, you thought.

“So, what? You two are buddies now?” Walker tilted his head, gaze flickering between you both as he slowly stood up. He started stalking towards the pair of you with a puffed chest. Bucky moved to block you from his view. From the corner of your eye, you could see the group all staring in shock, although they were focused on the men. That was, everyone in the group except Bob, who was sending you a dramatic, shocked face, and a silently mouthed ‘what the fuck?’, which you responded to with an equally confused shrug.

Alexei’s brash voice burst through the wall of tension as he positioned himself between the two men, throwing his arms over both of their shoulders.

“Of course, they are buddies, we are all buddies here! Right?!” He turned to the girls and Bob, who echoed a small chorus of agreement. Walker and Bucky stayed silent, but clearly a message had been sent, as John turned on his heels and marched out of the room. Confusion washed over you as you watched him retreat, leaving a lingering feeling in your chest. He was acting as if he hated you, but he was also trying to fight Bucky for talking to you. How were you supposed to talk to him when he was so on edge? You sighed in defeat, and the group all whirled around to confront you and Bucky.

“What the hell was that?!” Yelena’s accent became thicker with her exclamation.

“He’s always weird, but that was really weird.” Ava joined in. “That was worse than last time, right?” You groaned at the memory of the kitchen confrontation. Ava was right; it was only getting worse.

“Last time?” Bucky echoed, clearly expecting an explanation.

“John came into the kitchen before the exam, back when he was refusing to train with me.” You elaborated for him. “It was pretty bad, but he didn’t actually say anything – this time was definitely worse.”

“Well, that didn’t seem to be directed at you…” Bob chipped in, voice trailing off as you indicated for him to stop. Bucky stared at him for a few seconds.

“You think I did something?” Bob frantically shook his head, launching into a frantic explanation that went along the lines of ‘he just seemed frustrated about something else’, but Bucky didn’t seem convinced by his cover-up.

You tried to focus somewhere else, desperate not to have this conversation with the group. But instead, you felt embarrassment creeping up on you when you made eye contact with Ava, who watched you silently for a few seconds before a smirk crept up on her face. A sense of panic washed over your body. Did she know something? Or was she just assuming? As much as she picked at John, they were pretty close – did he say something about what had happened?

The yawning mouth of the cave came into view just as the rain really started to pour. ‘Great,’ you thought, rolling your eyes and cursing the sky. You limped into the entrance, expecting to find an abandoned camp. You wouldn’t have been surprised if Walker had been picked up already and was celebrating finally being rid of you. However, you hadn’t expected to be met with a gun to your face, and Walker’s eyes peering out at you from behind his shield. His mask was off; clearly, he had been expecting a soldier. A moment of awkward silence passed as you stared at each other.

“Hi?” you winced, that probably wasn’t the best thing to say. He didn’t even acknowledge you after that. He just dropped the weapons and stormed back over to the campsite. A sigh escaped you; you deserved that. Heading further into the camp, you beelined towards one of the tents set up. After further investigation, you figured out which one he had taken – so, naturally, you took the other.  Walker was messing with his comms device, trying to get in contact with the team back at the tower. But eventually, he gave up on the comms device and started shuffling about in the space outside of your tents, his silence accompanied by lots of clattering and thumping. A small triumphant sound echoed from his throat as the emergency radio crackled to life, this time proving successful when he spoke into it.

“Hello? Is anyone reading me?” A crackly pause punctuated his question, and the radio sputtered back at him.

“Walker? Is that you? It’s Buck-” Bucky was cut off abruptly by a shrill voice.

“What part of quiet didn’t you two understand?!” Valentina shrieked into the receiver. You emerged from the tent only to see him pointedly staring at you.

“There was a… change of plans.” His voice was sharp, bordering on vicious.

“Okaaay… Well thanks to the ‘change of plans’, you’re going to have to wait.”

“Wait? What does that mean…? Bucky!” John hissed back. You heard the apology in Bucky’s tone when he replied.

“The area is swarming with soldiers at the moment, both on the ground and in the air. Picking you up isn’t safe.” You could feel the rage radiating off Walker as Bucky explained how to use the cloaking device that would keep the cave concealed while you waited out the majority of the search.

You kicked yourself, because of your own stupidity, you were going to be stuck in a cave with the world’s angriest super soldier. Instead of focusing on that, you decided to change out of your soaked suit. However, unbeknownst to you, the bright floodlights behind the tents weren’t just lighting the place up – they were turning your tent into a living shadow-puppet show.

You peeled your suit off, sighing as the wet fabric released its grip on your skin. As you wiggled it down your hips, you felt something shift. John had gone quiet, far too quiet. Maybe you were overthinking it? You focused on switching into the soft cotton tank top and joggers that the setup team had provided with the equipment. When you emerged from your tent, Walker’s gaze was heavy, weighted with a combination of anger and something else that you couldn’t place. He almost looked… hungry?  

He was sitting hunched over on a large rock near the radio, facing your tent, shoulders visibly tensed. The silence was thick, a sign of something stirring between you. Guilt gnawed at your stomach, hollowing out your insides as you contemplated the silence. You moved towards him, closer to where he sat, but still somewhere that meant you didn’t have to look at him. Instead, you stood and watched the rain as you gathered the courage to speak to him.

“John, I- “

“I can’t fucking believe you left me. Again.” You felt your chest tighten, so much for apologising. Heat flared up your neck.

“I needed to see, I had-” Walker interrupted you, standing up abruptly.

“No! You didn’t need to do anything. We would have dealt with it, but instead, you had to compromise the mission for your ego.” You felt your jaw tighten, still refusing to look at him.

“This had nothing to do with my ego; I made a promise.” John shifted in the corner of your eye, pacing in small steps like a tiger in a cage.

“You make a promise every time you go out on a mission, to keep your partner safe!” He approached you, shoving his face into yours. “Will you look at me, goddammit!” He grabbed your arms, shoving you into the cave wall. The stone was cool and sturdy against your back, a stark contrast to the heat radiating off your skin and the electricity that sparked where he held you.

“What do you want from me, John?” You glared back at him defiantly. “An apology? Do you want me to grovel at your feet? Beg your forgiveness?”

“No,” His voice was low, breath fanning on your face. “No, that wouldn’t mean anything coming from you. Because you don’t change.” You let out a humourless laugh. This was the hallway conversation all over again, but this time, you wouldn’t back down.

“I never change. That’s rich coming from you.” He was dangerously close to you. And you were hungry for it. Pushing yourself toward him, daring him to do something about your rebelliousness. Instead of giving you what you wanted, he pulled back with a low groan.

“No, I have changed. If I were still that man, I would hav-“

“You would’ve what? Screamed at me? You would’ve beat me into the ground? Go on!” You held your arms out, an open invitation. “Hit me, get it out there! You know you want to!” That worked, like he had been a beast, tearing at restraints, the chains snapped. Walker stormed towards you, slamming you back into the wall and placing his hand on your throat. Before you could speak, he kissed you. Hard. Like he was devouring you whole. You responded quickly, as if your body was on fire, and he was gasoline. Only increasing the intensity. He groaned into your mouth as you bit down harshly on his lip, and he responded in kind by grabbing onto your hips with a bruising grip. A moan left you from the feeling of his hands on your skin; it was searing. Everything was hot, too hot.

You pulled at his shirt, yanking it over his head with a ferocious grunt. When you dragged him back down, his hand quickly found purchase in the hair at the back of your scalp, tugging your head back for access to your neck. His beard scratched at you as he nipped and kissed his way down to the soft skin of your clavicle. A lustful whimper slipped past your lips when John sunk his teeth into the skin, the action sent heat to all the right places. You tried to clench your thighs together, desperate for some relief, but he pressed you further into the wall, his knee wedging its way between your legs.

“Not yet.” The growl reverberated on your skin, tingling. A dark chuckle escaped him; you could practically hear the idea forming. “You owe me a show; I only got half of the picture from your little performance.”

“Performance?” Realisation dawned on you. “You watched me change?”

“It was kind of hard to miss, especially with the lights behind your tent.” Heat rushed to your cheeks as he pulled back. You watched as Walker got comfy, settling onto the ground and motioning at you to begin. Two could play that game. You slowly approached him, stretching your body up, and enjoying watching how his eyes followed your fingertips as you gently dragged the hem of your shirt up your torso. Once it was off, you let it drop to the floor next to him. It was all deliciously slow, after all – you were patient. With your shirt off, he tried to reach for you, but you batted his hands away with a sharp ‘tsk!’.

“You said you wanted a show, didn’t you? You’re not allowed to touch the performers, you know.” Much to your surprise, he obeyed. Your hands reached up to unclasp your bra, revelling in the way he looked like he was committing your body to memory. You threw the fabric at him, hitting him in the face. You swore he growled at that, but you were too busy noting the large bulge which had formed in his pants thanks to your actions. Finally, you allowed your fingers to dance down your body, stopping when you reached the waistband of your joggers. You sent him a sly smile, and Walker leaned his head back with a shaky breath, before you loosened the fabric from your hips. You slid them down your legs and stepped out of them, kicking them indignantly towards him. You wandered back over to John, dropping to your hands and knees as you crawled over to sit in his lap. You grabbed his chin.  “Just to be clear, you’re still an asshole, and this changes nothing,”

“I know,” he raked his fingers up your side, blunt nails leaving light scrapes in their wake. You tried to pull back a little, preventing him from kissing you – but he chased you like a predator hunting its prey. Grabbing harshly onto your hips and rolling his pelvis into you as he swallowed your moans. The kiss evolved quickly, returning to the clash of tongues and teeth that had started this whole thing – until you didn’t know where you ended and Walker began.

You felt him shift, and suddenly you were on your back. He caged you in, just like he had when you were sparring, except this time he didn’t back away. He pressed closer into you, grinding his erection into your core. You whined as he continued to bite and nip at you, kissing over the swell of your breasts and latching on to your nipple. He was clearly enjoying the high-pitched keening it was dragging out of you, as he quickly moved to the other side. Teeth sank into your flesh again and again, like he was claiming territory as he moved lower. Finally, he settled between your legs. Fingers tracing over your heat with a feather-light touch that had you squirming and trying to close your legs in on him. John smirked, tilting his head as he watched you try to grind against his hand, desperate for any form of relief. A gasp tore through your body with a jolt when he pushed your underwear to the side and began to circle your clit, the movement felt delicious and elicited all sorts of pants and moans from you, only egging him on more. He pushed a finger into you, groaning as he watched you writhe. “You’re so wet – have you been this desperate for me the whole time?” Despite all his snark, you hadn’t failed to notice the way he was grinding himself against the floor as he pumped his finger in and out of your core. He added a second finger and started to curl them in a way that hit just the right spot. You swore you could see stars as you felt the knot in your stomach begin to tighten. Walker must have noticed the way you were clenching around his hand, or maybe it was the sinful sounds you were making that tipped him off, but either way, you were suddenly left empty as he pulled his hand away before you found your release.

“No, no… What are you…” You whined.

“You think you deserve more than one orgasm after how you treated me?” He patted your underwear, signalling for you to remove it, and did the same with his own cargos and boxers. You felt yourself staring at his cock – he was big… really big. The head was angry and flushed; he was clearly worked up from your teasing. Trying to cover up your shock, you feigned annoyance.

“Can you just hurry up and fuck me?” he lined his head up with your entrance, emitting a chuckle that instantly made you regret the attempt at teasing.

“If that’s what you want,” he punctuated his sentence with a snap of his hips, slamming into you without a second to adjust. You felt your jaw go slack as you wrapped yourself around him with a strangled moan. The stretch was amazing.

“Oh... s-shit!” He silenced you with another searing kiss as he continued to ram into you at a brutal pace. His name was quickly becoming a mantra on your lips, especially when he swung one of your legs over his shoulder. The new angle was intense in a way that made your toes curl, and your eyes roll back. But he suddenly stopped again - this was starting to get annoying. “What the fuck?!” You growled at him, indignant over the loss of yet another orgasm. He grabbed the lower half of your face, covering your mouth.

“Shut the hell up.” You could see him listening intently, and when you strained your ears, you could hear it too. Footsteps. Both of you stilled, not breathing or moving out of fear of being caught.

“I thought you set up the cloak.” You whispered, letting your leg slip off his shoulder.

“I did, but if we’re too loud, they still might look.” You were about to suggest that you stop, but Walker slipped his hands under your thighs, tugging you higher so he could grind into you.

“What are yo-” He pressed into you with a grunt, deeper than he had been before.

“You need to be quiet.” His beard tickled your ear as he whispered to you, covering your mouth when you whimpered. He started up slowly again, paying attention to the sound as the footsteps moved away. He sped up, muttering against your neck as he pounded into you.  You could make out brief statements, things like “You’re so annoying,” and “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep my hands off of you?” Each comment was punctuated with a nip at your skin. And you were already overstimulated. Once he reached down to rub relentless circles on your clit, you were sent screaming towards an orgasm that had your eyes rolling and nails raking up his back. His hips started to stutter as he reached his own limit; your muscles clenched around him, bringing him ridiculously close to his high. He turned brutal, all teeth and claws as he repeatedly slammed into you. John came with a growl, hips jerking forward and stilling as he painted your insides. Then he collapsed down onto you, chest heaving and sweat on his skin.

Neither of you spoke, detangling from one another in silence and reaching for your respective clothes. The air was heavy with something unspoken, and now you were certain that you’d never be able to go back to how you were before all of this. You collapsed in your tent, exhausted. What had you done?

The plane ride back to the watchtower had been ridiculously awkward. Walker had sat as far away from you as possible in the small cargo hold. And when you returned, you bolted off the plane. It seemed the aversion was mutual. You hadn’t told anyone – hell, you were only just coming to terms with what happened. Let alone telling anyone else.

“If you give me a minute, I can hack our way thro-” A loud crash shattered the glass next to you, causing you to flinch away from the exploding shards. Walker righted his posture and checked his shield, looking too proud of himself, considering he had just about taken you out.

“Problem solved.” He motioned for you to climb through the, now-shattered, window pane. You shook your head at him as you climbed into the room.

“You’re such an idiot.” He held his hands up in mock confusion.

“You wanted in, didn’t you?”

“Yeah I wanted in, not nearly bulldozed through the bloody thing.” Walker approached you, clearly about to reply, before you held a hand up to silence him. You stood still for a few seconds, allowing him to study the room.

“What?” He snapped impatiently.

“I just wanted you to shut up,” A smirk etched itself on your face as you continued towards the terminal. You ignored his utterance of some insult as you pulled the box holding the data collector out of your pocket. The process was fairly easy, so Walker left you to it. You could sense him pacing around the lab as you worked, investigating the samples present in the room.

As you selected the files to copy, a document caught your eye. You scanned it while the downloads completed, then disconnected the collector. “Walker…” The smallness of your voice caught his attention, and he moved quickly to be by your side, reading the screen with haste.

‘Mathilde, subject 4B’. You felt an involuntary shudder run through your body. Mathilde had been alongside you in your training days, she was a bright and sweet girl who was always eager to please. Little Mathilde, the girl who had told you stories when you had nightmares, stroking your hair until you slept soundly. The one who had held you when you failed a test and were sobbing in the aftermath of a punishment. The one with golden hair and green eyes, and that teddy she’d always carry around, that she had fashioned from some torn bedsheets and a black Sharpie.

“This document…” Your voice was hollow, like you were holding something back, “it says she volunteered to be experimented on. But – but Mathilde always hated that stuff. She’d never do it willingly.” You took a slow breath in, turning to meet Walker’s eye. If you did this, you would be resetting all of the progress made. Would he ever forgive you after this? Was it worth it? You swallowed hard as you made your decision, remembering Mathilde’s smile and the way you promised you’d come back for her. “She’s in a lab on the other side of the building,” You could see it now, the panic setting in on his face as realisation dawned.

“No. No, you are not doing this to me again.” His voice rose an octave as he stepped closer. You didn’t argue, you just grabbed his hand. He froze for a second, allowing you to shakily place the data collector in his palm. Quickly, he put the device in his pocket and grabbed your upper arms as if he were going to shake you. “Wraith, please! Let’s just stick to the plan, escape using this uniform, we can figure out the Mathilde stuff after.” He pleaded with you. But you had already decided what you were going to do.

You tried to reach for the computer, but he pushed you backwards, enough to create distance but not to send you flying. He stood between you and the terminal, using his body as a block. “I said no.” His growl was half-hearted, voice cracking in desperation. You paused, allowing a shaky breath to escape. And he stopped moving, like he thought he was convincing you. Instead, you stepped back. Before he realised what you were doing, you activated your helmet's protective wear and tossed a flashbang between you. You took advantage of his temporary incapacitation, and it only took a few clicks of the terminal's buttons to set up the command.

“I’m sorry John, I… I have to help her.” You activated the building’s self-destruct sequence and bolted from the room.

Walker’s shouts faded as you sped down the hall, easily bypassing the flood of escaping scientists and soldiers who were alerted by the speaker’s detonation announcement. Your heart was thudding in your ears, and a sickly, nauseous feeling burned at the back of your throat. John would get out in time, right?

You didn’t have the time to think about that. You had just under ten minutes before the sequence was complete. Ten minutes to find her, to do what you couldn’t in the past. You owed it to her.

The door to the lab was wide open, that gave you pause. You were impulsive, but you weren’t stupid. Knife in hand, you clung to the doorframe, expecting a stray bullet or a shout. But when you peered around the door into the lab, it was vacant. Glass littered the floor like confetti, and vials of mysterious chemicals were left unattended. A large cylindrical chamber sat in the middle of the room. The large glass door was lifted off. Had they evacuated her? You peered over the rim of the glass, investigating the restraints that sat on the foam bed inside. The foam was moulded into the form of a person, still warm to the touch and smelling slightly sweet. The restraints, although worn and stretched, weren’t snapped. It was like whoever was inside had struggled but conceded eventually – images filled your mind, of how similar restraints had kept you in your own bed for many years. Gingerly, you rubbed your wrists, feeling the heat of the rope burn all over again. She had been here recently, you just had to find her. Quickly.

You spun on your heels; the lab must have some record of- oh.

A girl stood in front of you, tall with tanned skin and wild blonde hair that reached past her shoulders.

“Mathilde?” The whisper was like an explosion in the silent room. Her vibrant green eyes flickered over your face. You stumbled towards her, stopping in your tracks as you really looked at her for the first time in years. She was thin, and she had grown into her gaunt face – it was a haunting kind of beauty. Especially against the stark brightness of the hospital gown. You could see faded bruises littering her arms and legs, the marks the restraints had left on her wrists – but that wasn’t what caught your attention. No, it was her eyes, but they weren’t really hers, they were completely devoid of life. Hollow. And not just hollow, you could see familiar flecks of gold held within them. No. Please no.

“Matty, I am so sorry.” You approached her slowly, palms held high in a show of submission. “I didn’t know… and I- I tried to come back,” You took a shaky breath in. “What did they do to you?”

“Who are you?” She tilted her head, leaving the question to linger in the air. It felt like someone had just stepped on your chest.

“What?”

“You seem to know me, but I don’t know you.” She stood tall, face eerily calm and unbothered by the looming threat of the building’s detonation.

“You.. you know me – see?” You pulled the daisy necklace out of your suit and fully removed the stolen helmet so she could see your face. “You gave me this.. y-you remember, right?” Despair screamed in your chest at the vacancy in her eyes. A coiling, slithering, cold hopelessness settled in the pit of your stomach.

“I have no idea who you are.” With a flick of her wrist, you were launched backwards into the concrete of the wall. You felt pain sear up your sides but there was no crack like you had expected. She held you there, with an invisible hand curling around your neck, squeezing the air out of you.

“Ma… Matty… Please,” You gasped under the pressure of whatever force she was conjuring. Darkness curled at the edges of your eyelids, threatening to pull you under.

“Now, now Mathilde. There is no point wasting your energy on her.” Pins and needles prickled at your skin. That voice…

Then you were falling, dropping like a stone as Mathilde released the pressure on your neck. That’s when you saw him. The Enforcer. You never knew his name; you never needed to. He wasn’t a friend, he wasn’t even an acquaintance, he was a force – someone who beat you down and tore you to shreds. Someone who had killed the old version of you and replaced it with whatever machine you were now. And now, he was someone who had stolen your best friend.

“What did you do?” You spat in a voice laced with venom and blood.

“You never were very bright, Wraith. You know very well what we have done,” he motioned to the lab around you, looking pristine and misplaced against the shattered room in his dark military uniform and black, slicked-back hair. The Enforcer’s dark eyes fixed their twisted glare on you. “How does it feel? To know what you missed out on? You've only had a taste of her power, yet here you are – writhing in the dirt like the worm you are.”

“You’ll regret this. I’ll make sure of it.” You lolled your head back, enough to see his terrifying smirk and the chuckle he didn’t even try to conceal.

“No, you won’t, you’ll already be dead.” He motioned to Mathilde, and they walked out of the door – leaving you curled up on the floor.

A robotic announcement pulled you from your not-so-quiet suffering.

“Warning: The self-destruction sequence will activate in three minutes. Please proceed to the nearest exit.”

Your ribs groaned in pain as you stumbled to your feet. There was no time for grabbing the stolen helmet, no time for reflection. You had to run. Now.

Your lungs grasped desperately for oxygen once again, still struggling to regulate as you bolted back through the abandoned hallways of the base. Out of the corner of your eye, the first lab came into view. It was empty as you rushed past, the bright lights nothing but a blur in your peripheral vision. You prayed Walker had gotten out. Your muscles burned, screaming in agony as you pushed on by the surveillance room at full sprint. You heard the final minute warning as you ducked through the garage. The room was mostly vacant except for a small gaggle of soldiers piling into a truck. You ignored them, and their shouts, as you bolted out into the yard. Nearly everyone had left, maybe you’d get out scot-free?  A gunshot whistled past you. Not so lucky.

You needed to keep going. They were running after you, heavy boots crunching on the gravel, following you out past the gate.

Dropping from the plane was always your favourite part of missions like this. The air rushing past you, the haste, the euphoria – it was like your body was floating. If you could feel this forever, you would happily. But you couldn’t – so instead, you released your parachute, navigating expertly to the blind spot that you had been briefed on. Walker was close behind, having hesitated for just a moment when you threw yourself from the plane. The second you both landed, you were rushing to detach from the hulking sheet. Dropping to your knees, you crawled forward; the cliff you had landed on was overlooking the base. No normal person would attempt to enter from this angle – but you two weren’t normal people, and you were prepared for this. You yanked your parachute bag forward, pulling out a pair of grappling hooks.

“Jeez, this place is crawling with guards,” he muttered, watching the spotlights from their torches shifting around in the low light.

“Did you think we were just going to be able to walk in?” You chuckled as you started wrapping your hook around a large tree nearby. Unbeknownst to you, the jab got a sly smirk in response from him while he watched you secure the rope. Although, he was composed when you came back. “These only go about two-thirds of the way down; there’s gonna be a pretty big drop.” Walker didn’t hesitate.

“I’ll go first, I can catch you at the bottom that way.” Standing, he took one rope from you, disappearing over the edge of the cliff quickly. You followed, slightly slower since you had to be more careful than him. Your knees wouldn’t heal as quickly if you shattered them.

As you found yourself reaching the bottom of your rope, you stilled, trying to peer down at him. “Come on, quick!” he whisper-shouted, and you could see why as the spotlight quickly approached your direction as part of its routine sweep. You let go of the rope, feeling your body drop like a stone, and John let out a grunt as you collided with his arms. But he didn’t drop you. Instead, he held you for a moment – close, too close, before either of you remembered what was happening. His strong arms shifted under you as he gently placed your feet on the floor.

“Thanks,” You patted his chest, stopping awkwardly when you realised what you had done. You two still weren’t back to normal, and it was evident. You both swiftly moved on, skulking further into the yard and hiding behind a heavy military truck. “Right, now, how do we get over there?” You pointed at a door that led into the underground garage. The plan was to enter through the garage and sneak into the heart of the base, which was located at the back of the building. You just had to get into the building first.

You turned to Walker, a sly smile starting to form on your face. “You’re, like, really strong, right?” Immediately, he sent you a wary look, probably prompted by your sudden flattery.

“Uh- I’m pretty strong, yeah. Why?”

“Do you think you could throw me towards the doorway of the garage if we get a bit closer? I can get us in that way, and then we can disable one of the spotlights and cause a distraction so we can get the intel.” He peered out from behind the truck, scanning the area for suitable hiding spots to enact your plan from. After a brief contemplative silence, he nodded, and the two of you crawled closer to the large door. Your new hiding spot was behind a large set of tarp-covered crates, and you were certain it was only successful due to the darkness that was now enveloping the compound. “Once you throw me, pull back – we can’t risk getting caught right now.”

“Don’t tell me how to do my job,” He muttered, positioning himself for the stunt. The large, moving spotlight was on the other side of the compound. And, fortunately, no patrols were close enough to you to see your movement, so you positioned yourself for the run-up. You steeled yourself for a moment, and then barrelled towards John, feeling the air rush past you and your foot land securely in his open palms as he braced against you.

You were sailing through the air again, black suit nearly invisible against the cool night sky. Automatically tensing your muscles, you prepared for the landing. You shifted your weight so that you broke your fall with a roll, distributing your weight to prevent breakages. It hurt a little, but it wasn’t a broken ankle – and that’s what mattered. You made a quick dash towards the door, curling up beside the frame. Final checks ensued; your tasers and throwing knives were ready. Carefully, you twisted the door handle down and slipped through. First things first, the cameras had to be taken care of. Your smartwatch was a genius piece of tech, able to send out short-range signals that would disrupt technology within a certain radius. Using it would buy you time to take the guards out before they called the others.

There were two soldiers, and they hadn’t noticed you yet. You took up position and triggered the signal, then, with your knife in hand and taser at the ready, you pounced. You threw yourself at the larger of the duo, using your bodyweight to send them crashing to the ground. Using the opportunity, you fired your taser at the smaller one – temporarily downing them so that you could drive a knife into the larger soldier’s throat. The tasered guard started to recover, and as they went to stand, you slammed a foot into the back of their knee and a harsh elbow into their head. They slumped to the floor, unconscious. You took a second to study the larger soldier’s uniform – it wasn’t too bloody, so you’d use it as a disguise. Your comms device crackled into your ear.

“Everything ok in there?” Walker’s voice was hushed but impatient.

“Yeah, soldiers are down. I think I know where I’m going; these bases are mostly the same layout. You can come in – I’ve got us uniforms.” You waited for a few seconds, and then you heard the door. Walker raised his eyebrows at the guards you had taken down. You couldn’t tell if he was impressed or if he was judging your handiwork.

“These are our uniforms?”

“You’re welcome to find other ones.” You bit back, waving your hand vaguely towards the rest of the building.

The two of you worked together to move and strip the soldiers, dragging them into the backseats of some of the trucks in the garage for a temporary hiding spot. The uniforms were a bit baggy, fitting nicely over your gear. You pretended not to notice the way Walker stared as you shimmied the uniform over the top of your suit. The masks covered your faces and muffled your voices a lot. “We should probably keep our comms lines open; it will make it easier to talk.” You saw Walker nod at you through the tinted visor.

EE were predictable. Their bases were always uniform and laid out for maximum efficiency. They were repetitive. This efficiency worked both ways, allowing you to navigate easily to the surveillance room even though you’d never been in the base before. It was likely one of the saving graces of this mission. You could sense Walker’s unease, likely the result of having to blindly trust you to lead him to the surveillance room.

Walker checked the hallway before the two of you peered through the door to the surveillance room. The hall was empty, but you expected a decent number of people to be present inside, watching the cameras.

Your observation had been quiet enough not to disturb the guards keeping watch. You counted 5 of them, signalling the number to Walker with a hand gesture and a nod. He watched as you reached quietly into your own suit and produced a flash grenade– a useful tool in situations like these. Motioning to John to cover his ears, you activated your helmet’s protective gear. It was specially made so that you wouldn’t be affected by your own tools. The grenade bounced into the centre of the room with a clank. The group of guards, alerted by the noise of metal clattering to the floor and the door slamming shut, turned to face your direction – only to be hit with the glaring light and ringing noise. You both sprang into action, bursting in through the door and taking out those closest to you. You fought close to the ground, trying to stay low enough that the guards wouldn’t be able to grab you in their current state. Guns were an obvious no-no in a stealth mission, so you utilised the baton that had come with the soldier’s uniform to prioritise knocking people out. You turned to see one soldier aiming his gun at Walker, who was dealing with someone else. A flash of cold fear pierced through your chest, and you sprinted towards the soldier. Yanking the hidden garrotte wire from your smartwatch, you wrapped it around the soldier who was desperately trying to beat you off as you choked the life from him. But still, you held tightly, even though he had already gone limp, only releasing when you felt a gentle hand on your arm.

“Hey,” John’s voice was surprisingly soft, as he gently caressed your wrist to loosen your grip on the weapon. “Let’s put this down,” You released the wire, quickly grabbing his arm so you could assess his body properly in the low lighting. No wounds. A sigh of relief escaped you. You wiped yourself down, standing on shaky legs.

“Sorry. I’m good, no worries.” You raised your hands to try and convince him, but you could tell from the way he was staring that he didn’t believe you. You moved past him, focusing your attention on the panel of switches on the wall. “We can try and make a plan of attack using the cameras, EE’s bases usually keep a floor plan somewhere in the surveillance rooms.” Walker set out to search for the plan while you identified the switches you’d need to deactivate if you wanted to take the perimeter searchlights down. A triumphant noise caught your attention, and you turned to see Walker waving a roll of paper he’d found in a drawer. He rolled it out across the desk next to you.

“So, where exactly are we collecting the data from?” You saw Walker’s brow furrow in concentration as he studied the layout.

“The main data terminal should be in the lab. Once we take the perimeter lights down and cut the wires, we’ll need to move fast.” You replied, matter-of-factly.

“So, we do it at the same time. And then take this route down…” You leaned over his shoulder, breathing his air while you followed his fingers across the map, displaying the explanation of his plan. John tensed slightly, briefly stumbling over his words, and your breathing stopped when you caught his eye. A waft of his scent hit you, a mix of sweat and cologne that made your throat dry. You had been too busy watching his hands to register that he had asked you a question. He noticed your confusion, opting to repeat his statement rather than give you a hard time about it. “I said, are we ready to go?” You muttered out an agreement, quickly moving away from him before the last tethers keeping your concentration in place snapped.

He had avoided you completely since the fight; if you were in the room, he left. This meant he had excluded himself from a large majority of the group’s hangouts over the week. And now it was the night before the week of compatibility exams started. You were playing cards on the kitchen table with Ava, Alexei, and Yelena. Alexei was going on about poker faces and how he had beaten an entire gambling ring in his time. The rest of you were teasing him based on details that Yelena corrected; it was a merry atmosphere. Until John walked into the room. He didn’t acknowledge anyone – even though you were all staring at him in silence. You, especially, made a point of being obvious about your staring, watching him like you were inviting him to a rematch of your earlier training session. Challenging him to say anything to you. The game remained paused as he went about making himself some form of snack, slamming cupboard doors and drawers shut with unnecessary force. When he stormed back out, Yelena broke the tension.

“What the hell was that?” You sighed, shaking your head while you scrutinised your cards in an attempt to avoid their gaze.

“He has been very, very unhappy lately,” Alexei’s tone was surprisingly light and jovial, considering the overbearing weight of the elephant in the room. Ava smirked, staring at you unabashedly.

“I wonder what that’s related to.” You met her eye, exasperation reaching its limit.

“I don’t know what to do about it. When we were sparring together, there was a moment where he acted like he used to, but he ruined it like two seconds after.” Yelena tilted her head at that.

“Like he used to? I thought you said your first meeting wasn’t good?” She probed. Alexei gasped.

“Oh no, there is drama?” he didn’t sound as upset as he pretended to be, immediately launching into a barrage of questions. Ava shushed him pointedly so you could answer.

“We worked together for a little bit,” you tried to sound nonchalant, like it wasn’t nearly a year of being in each other’s company. “But… things went badly on a mission. We didn’t part on good terms.” The metal daisy on your necklace grounded you, keeping you in the present, rather than in the past and with those lost to your memories. The others were strangely silent; you couldn’t tell if they were waiting for you to divulge more or if they were pondering what you had said. Alexei hummed, jerking his head in the same direction that John had left.

“So, how was he different before all of the drama?” The question was surprisingly serious coming from him.

“Uh.. I don’t know- he used to be nice, I guess? Now he’s just an ass.” You focused on shuffling your cards about, trying to ignore memories of how he had made your stomach flutter with nerves when he smiled, or the way he used to send you a cheeky smirk after every lame joke he made.

“I didn’t know he could be nice,” Ava sarcastically drawled, earning a chuckle from everyone. “Do you know how much of an asshole he was when we met him?” You raised your eyebrows at them.

“Did you deserve it?” Yelena replied with a high-pitched noise that translated into ‘kind-of’ before launching into the tale of the group's beginning. You felt a smile grow as she animatedly described their rage at Val’s betrayal and how she had been tasked with taking Ava out, which Ava seemed to find particularly amusing. You felt warmth bloom in your chest. It was starting to feel like you were part of the group.

The compatibility exams had officially started. They were to take place over a few days, allowing for the quickest pacing while preventing you from tiring too much – since you would be present alongside every candidate. The test was simple: a simulated fight in which you and your partner were to defend an object – a small metal box which housed the plug-in data collector, to be exact. The exam required that you wear skintight latex suits, not unlike your actual fighting gear, but these suits had small sensors which would imitate pressure based on where you were ‘hit’ by the randomised simulated enemies. Any successful hits were to be logged and used alongside the recording of your fight to assess compatibility with each candidate.

It was easy in theory, but the reality of having a group of simulated soldiers attacking you was quite different. Working with someone, rather than against them, was quite a learning curve for you.

Ava was your first partner, a good omen, you had thought. And her phasing proved to be especially useful in the context of the testing. The pair of you worked well together, but you found yourself heavily relying on Ava’s abilities to play some variant of ‘piggy in the middle’ with the target. It was a risky strategy and almost failed a few times when a stray enemy would come close to grabbing the device during the transfer between you. Additionally, your impulsive nature led to some moves that Ava wasn’t quite able to keep up with – like when you threw yourself at an opponent without warning. She only just managed to cover your exposed back, but not without a snide comment about how you would be ‘trying to get yourself killed in a real fight’. Luckily, your mutual skills in evasion had proved to be successful. The after-test feedback had stated that the main ‘issue’ with your run was the speed. It had taken nearly double the expected time due to you and Ava both favouring fighting styles that picked off individuals, rather than being able to take out multiple people at once.

You had grinned when Alexei arrived for his turn. Initially, you had been thankful to be working with the cheery man. You were glad to see someone who enjoyed the energy of a fight just as much as you. But you didn’t account for the fact that both of you would be impulsively offensive. It became especially clear when you saw Alexei tearing through the simulated enemies that you would be the one left to do the defending. That felt a tad unfair. Regardless, you tried to pull back to protect the target. However, when you turned, you saw one of the opponents reaching for the pedestal it was sitting on, and a rush of panic surged through you. Your heart started palpitating before realisation hit you, your throwing knives! The simulation dissipated in a flick of your wrist and a flash of steel, and you dashed back over to the target. Alexei paid no mind, happily beating his way through the imitations on the other side of the room, but there were a lot of them. Both of you had found yourselves surrounded and separated from each other. You tried your best to recover the situation, grabbing the target off the pedestal and using the post as a way to gain some height over the projections. By the time the fight was over, both of you were panting heavily and exhilaration danced through your veins. The target was safe, but it had come at a cost – the test was a failure. Because Alexei had been distracted, you had taken a ‘lethal’ hit during the pedestal scrabble, which had rendered the rest of the test irrelevant.

Bucky was almost the reverse; he was sturdy and steadfast, but he remained nearly completely stuck to the target the whole time. While you usually appreciated the excitement of dancing with danger, his refusal to let you protect the target in his stead meant that the enemies were getting awfully close to it. And he wasn’t letting you pick up the slack. That left you attempting to push them back, something you were struggling with due to your smaller stature. You were beginning to realise why Val had always paired you up with muscular fighter types, as you could see that Bucky mowed down the enemies you had missed like it was nothing. Eventually, getting exasperated with his lack of trust in you, you pulled back to fight directly alongside him with a pointed ‘Let me help you’. That seemed to work a lot better, allowing the pair of you to cover each other’s weak spots. In the end, the test was a pass, although a bitter feeling settled over you at the sense of inadequacy that he had inadvertently caused by refusing to accept your help.

Yelena’s test was an adrenaline junkie’s wet dream. You were both aggressive, quickly adapting to enemies as needed. The fight was fast paced, sending volts of excited electricity through your body at every turn, keeping you alive like you were Frankenstein's monster. But the individual nature of your jobs was shining through, it was more like you were fighting alone in the same space than actually fighting together. The realisation struck you when you noticed Yelena struggling with a particularly large enemy – the simulation had records of many different kinds of soldiers, and you both were on the smaller side. In an attempt to remedy the lack of teamwork, you grabbed the target to prevent another enemy from taking it, before running towards the simulated soldier and slamming your body into where its legs would be. Yelena was on the floor already, and quickly took the opportunity to lock the target in a chokehold and employ her wrist tasers. Both of you giggled when you helped her up. It was certainly a tense fight. And the feedback reflected that, showing that both you and Yelena would technically have been injured by the simulation – although the fact that it wasn’t lethal like Alexei’s meant it was a pass. You knew Yelena would never let him live that down.

Walker was the final teammate to take the exam. The tension between you was palpable right from when he walked through the door. He stared you down, eyes travelling across the span of your body before he approached. You felt yourself freeze when he leaned down to speak lowly in your ear.

“Try not to mess this up.” You jerked back from him with a glare and a conflicting warmth in your chest.

“I was about to say the same thing to you. Keep your head on, yeah?” You heard him let out an unamused chuckle, but you refused to look. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. When the fight started, you both threw yourself into action, adopting a method where the pair of you circled the target like a protective shield. It was almost natural to be fighting alongside him again, both of you were unpredictable, but in a different way than how it had been with teammates like Alexei. Your unpredictability complemented each other, turning into more of a dance than a fight. You’d draw a target in pulling it close to John, enabling you to duck under his shield and focus on another enemy while he took the previous one out. Another thing about your fights that you enjoyed was John’s willingness to use you as the weapon you were. He had no qualms about tossing you into an enemy, having full faith you would catch them in some form of hold and decimate them. At the end of the day, as much as you both tried to deny it, you still trusted each other completely in combat. That was made even more obvious when John grabbed you by the waist, pulling you in close and using his shield to block the blow that you were about to be hit by. It was like time had slowed down, you were pressed tight against his chest, hands splayed over his tense muscles. You stared up at him in shock, watching quietly as he reflexively checked you over for injuries and then pulled back to continue with the fight. You recovered quickly, determined not to be useless as John threw his shield through a group of projections. The fight ended shortly after, neither of you speaking to one another as you made your way into the viewing room. The after-test feedback mostly focused on your chosen method, with the overseer critiquing the fact that you two hadn’t moved the target. But you honestly hadn’t felt the need to – you had been confident the two of you could manage the whole time.

The announcement meeting was held in the evening after your fight with Walker. When you stepped into the meeting room, it was like the air was charged. You were expecting to catch his eye when you walked in, but to your surprise, he wasn’t there. Everyone else was strangely quiet as they all crowded around Bucky. He was sitting at the table, with a laptop in front of him and the entire group was reading off of the screen. Bucky must have noticed your confused staring. He went to speak to you but paused for some reason, you felt all of the hairs on your neck stand on end – there was someone behind you. Turning, you came face-to-face with Walker. Neither of you moved for a moment, just observing to see what the other would do, but eventually he looked away, choosing to step around you rather than engage in whatever game of chicken was being played. You felt a pang of disappointment as he moved away. You weren’t sure what was worse – being ignored or being hated. Bucky tried again now that the distraction had passed.

“Valentina has sent the results in an email, and judging from the verdict, I think we know why she didn’t want to be here.” His eyes flitted towards John, who had plopped himself down in a chair and propped his feet up on the table.

“Bucky…” Your voice was lower than you’d intended it to be. “What does that mean?” The group shared looks, like there was a mental pulling of straws going on right in front of you. Yelena had evidently pulled the short straw, as she stepped forward.

“Walker is your partner…” she paused, shrinking back with an awkward smile before she let out a high-pitched, and very unsure: “surprise?” You saw Ava shake her head at Yelena with a quiet laugh, and everyone turned to look at you and Walker in wary expectation. Walker broke the silence.

“You’re joking, right?” Ava snickered, taking the chance to get under his skin.

“Not according to your ‘Excellent teamwork in combat’ and ‘High knowledge of one another’s capabilities’.” She made it clear when she was reading from the email, enjoying the discomfort it brought Walker. You sent her a warning look and turned to Walker.

“Can we talk about this, privately?” You had expected him to deny your request, as he’d refused to even be in your presence for the past week and a half unless necessary. But shockingly, he conceded with a nod. You could hear the group bantering back and forth about their own reviews as he followed you into the hallway just outside of the meeting room. You took a deep breath, refusing to look at him. The awkward tension was driving you insane, but you weren’t going to be the one to broach the topic first. Instead, you focused on Valentina’s decision. “Look,” You couldn’t see him with your eyes trained on the floor, but you could feel that he was watching you intensely, attention fully on you. “We clearly have our… issues.” You winced at the word; issues was putting it lightly. “But if you really don’t want to work with me, I would support you asking Val to reallocate the mission.” There was a beat of silence before he replied.

“I’m not going to do that. I was given a task, and I’m going to get it done.” He stepped closer to you, invading your space and pressing your body up against the wall. John grabbed your chin, forcing you to meet his eye. “But if you pull the same shit as last time, I swear I’ll…” He stopped, you weren’t sure if he had noticed the proximity or if he had realised that he was out of line. You tilted your chin down, eyes narrowing in a challenge.

When you emerged again, you were in your training clothes: a pair of cropped running leggings and a sports bra that was covered by a baggy hoodie. You made your way down the hall towards the lift, mentally preparing for the session ahead. Training was generally supposed to be a group effort. You were expecting to spend most of your time preparing, working your body to the bone. And you were ready for that. This mission could not fail.

Yelena was stretching when you reached the gym. She stood alone in the middle of a large mat, and a cheeky grin appeared on her face when she spotted you. “You ready to go?”

Some strange part of you was oddly excited for this session; you had never fought a black widow assassin, but that didn’t change anything. You smirked, tossing your gym bag to the side and meeting her on the mat with a sure stance. “More than ready.”

You collapsed to the ground with heavy breaths when your training session was over. Sparring with Yelena had been relentless, but the rush of blocking and dodging blows never failed to make you feel alive. She was good, really good.

“After that,” you panted, handing her your water bottle. “I really hope I get paired with you for the mission.” She gladly took the drink from you, unscrewing the lid as she chuckled.

“You’re not bad either. I like that leg sweepy thing you did.” She twirled her fingers in some sort of mock example. Both of your heads turned when you heard the lift door hiss open. Ava strolled over to you.

“Having fun?” You hadn’t heard her speak much, other than the occasional sarcastic remark she had made under her breath during the meeting. You took the opportunity to slip in a comment, hoping for a laugh from either of the girls.

“Yeah, I was just getting my ass handed to me. It was a great time.” The task was somewhat successful because your comment earned a small laugh from Yelena and a humorous smirk from Ava.

“It’s my turn next,” Ava sighed as she started to stretch.

“Oh, so everyone’s just gonna take turns beating me up then?” You looked between Ava and Yelena. The girls met you with a shoulder shrug and a unanimous ‘pretty much’. “Great,” you chuckled with a head shake. “I bet Valentina is gonna love watching this back on the cams.”

“What did you do to piss her off?” Ava tilted her head to look at you from her stretch, a smirk evident on her face. You were caught off guard by the green of her eyes – they looked so familiar, like someone you already knew.

“What haven’t I done?” Your laugh was almost bitter. “I’ve worked for Val for nearly three years. That’s a lot of time to fuck up.” 

“Three years?” Yelena echoed, contemplation evident on her face. “So, you would have been around when she took Walker on?”  Every muscle in your body tightened at the mere mention of his name.

“That doesn’t mean she’s met Walker; half of us had never met before we were in that incinerator.” Ava pointed out.

“Yes, but Walker was being very weird in that meeting-” You interrupted the duo as they started to bicker.

“I have met him before.” Your throat tightened. “It was not… the best experience.” You hoped that would be enough for them, and they must have sensed your unease because they quickly dropped the topic after Ava replied with a quick:

“Yeah, that was obvious.”

The rest of the day’s training went on without a hitch. Ava was a good opponent, and her phasing added a unique component that you had never faced before. At the end of your sparring, she had even phased through you, before slamming you to the ground and leaving you there. Your heart was racing, and you couldn’t help but laugh as you lay on the mat, blood pumping through your veins like a racehorse on a track. You hadn’t had so much fun in ages.

The week continued in much the same way. By the third day, you had sparred with everyone in the group (except Bob, who was still figuring his way around the sentry stuff). And he wasn’t the only exception. Walker had refused to spar with you. But your issue wasn’t just that he had rejected the training session; it was the other little things, too. It was how he had barged past you in the kitchen while Alexei was showing off the new brand deals the team had sealed. It was the way he had rolled his eyes every time you spoke at the dinner table, even if it was only to ask a question about someone’s daring exploits. And worst of all, it was the way that he was making you react. You’d never had a good handle on patience, but Walker’s constant jibing and digs had shortened your temper tenfold. The breaking point had come while you were in the common room, Bucky was reading through Valentina’s rota for your daily training. The others were there too. Alexei and Yelena were bickering over some old story Alexei was telling from the latter’s childhood, while Ava instigated, prodding Alexei for more information. Bob watched on in amused silence. They all fell silent when Bucky spoke up.

“Looks like you’re sparring with me today, and Walker.” You froze, looking over at Walker, who was standing off to the side like an outsider.

“No.” Walker shook his head, teeth visibly clenched and shoulders tight. Bucky let out an irritated sigh.

“John, you need to train with her at some point-”

“No, I don’t,” Walker growled, offering nothing other than his rejection. This time, Alexei’s loud, amused voice cut in.

“She is good, he just does not want to lose.” Yelena hushed Alexei, chastising him for being unhelpful. But Ava took the chance to join in on antagonising John.

“No no, Alexei is right. I think she would beat Walker.”

“She would not beat me.” John scoffed; a sneer was evident on his face when he turned to you. “I’m not interested in working with someone like her.” Your face flushed at that; rage burned in your chest.

“The feeling is mutual.” You bit back at him, although he didn’t shrink away. Instead, he started to approach you, only to be stopped by Bucky placing himself between you both, placing a hand on Walker’s chest and raising an eyebrow at the pair of you. There was a beat of silence.

“John, Wraith, and I will meet you in the gym.” You knew an order when you heard one, and so did Walker, who finally conceded. Slowly, he backed away and stalked over to the lift. But his glare never left yours as the doors closed between you both. Bucky turned to you, he muttered a gruff “Let’s get this over with,” and you gathered your stuff.

You watched John and Bucky quietly argue over the other side of the room as you stretched. Bucky was eerily calm; he spoke to John in a low voice. You couldn’t hear anything other than mumbles- but judging from Walker’s tense shoulders and how his hands hung by his sides in tight fists, he wasn’t pleased. Eventually, their little discussion concluded, and the two approached you. Walker hung back behind Bucky, trailing behind him slowly with a grimace on his face.

“You’re going to go against Walker first, and I’m going to be keeping an eye on you both to make sure that you behave.” You rolled your eyes; he was such a dad. “I want a clean fight!” Bucky called after you both as you moved to the training mat. Walker stood across from you, fists raised in a boxing stance. You hadn’t seen him in training clothes for a long time, and he still looked annoyingly good. His dark coloured compression shirt was tight against his skin, leaving nothing to the imagination, and the grey joggers he wore hung low on his hips. You felt your eyes move down his abdomen, chest fluttering a little. Shit. He had noticed you staring; his icy blue eyes were locked on your face with a set determination. And you couldn’t read his expression at all past the dark ferocity he displayed. You shook yourself a little, trying to focus as you took up your own kickboxing stance.

You waited, patient. Walker wasn’t patient. He was all fire and fists – and you knew he’d strike first. You just had to wear him down. In the end, you were right. After a few seconds of watching one another, you broke his resolve.

“You scared?” You drawled, a smirk evident on your face. You saw his jaw flex before he flew at you with a quick jab. You managed to swiftly dodge it and dance away from him on light feet. This would set the tone for the first few minutes of your fight, with you dodging and ducking Walker’s forceful punches, mocking him every time he missed you. But there was one thing you hadn’t accounted for – Walker was a super soldier. And they didn’t tire easily. All of your avoidance was just enraging him more.

“Would you just fucking hit me already?!” He growled at you. In a moment of grim realisation, you sent a roundhouse kick towards his head, hoping to back him off a little. Excitement surged through you as the fight really started, a constant battle of push and pull. Walker would come in close, and you would send him away with a kick or a dodge. But he was relentless. Eventually, a solid right hook connected with your side in a searing burst of heat, and Walker took the opening to get in close. Your heart was pumping, and you were almost certain that the grin on your face was borderline psychotic. This was it. This was the feeling you craved every waking moment, the surge of energy that coursed through your veins like it was the source of your very life.  Walker grabbed your hoodie, poised to swing. But he jolted to a stop, fist inches from your face and huffing like a train. Dazed and slightly disappointed, you lolled your head round to look at Bucky. His arms were crossed, braced against one another tightly.

“No knockouts!”

You looked back at John, pupils dilated and an unhinged grin on your face. “You wouldn’t be able to anyway.” He dropped you on the floor with a snarl.

“Get up. We’re going again.”

The next match started similarly, except this time, you were a lot more aggressive with your attacking. It had taken a minute, but you were beginning to familiarise yourself with Walker’s fighting style. It hadn’t changed much from when you last sparred together, more aggressive and desperate maybe – a little riskier. But it was the same old John. The one who’d swing first and ask after. The one who got sloppier, the angrier he got. And you could use that.

There was movement out of the corner of your eye. Bucky was walking towards the door to the smoking area. Phone to his ear. This was your chance. Walker threw another jab, and this time you ducked under it, slamming your body into his and throwing you both to the floor. As you pinned him to the ground, you wrapped your body around his arm in an arm bar.

“Too slow,” A teasing chuckle left your lips, your fingertips buzzing with an electric feeling of excitement. But Walker was never going to let you off that easily. Instead, his hand clenched, grabbing a tight fistful of your shirt, and you felt his muscles tense below you. If it had been anyone slower, you would have readjusted, but you didn’t have a chance. He lifted your body up from the ground, rolling over onto his knees and slamming you down onto the mat. The wind was knocked out of you in a dizzying rush. An intense heat surrounded you, and as you came back to your senses, you realised that Walker had you caged to the mat. He wasn’t a small man, and this was made starkly clear from your new prison of limbs and a strong torso. “Jesus Walker,” You panted, every breath filled with his cologne, sweat, and your heart thumping out of your chest. That was just from the thrill of the fight, right? He was eye-to-eye with you, staring a hole straight into your soul, like you were everything and nothing at once. And he still had a grasp on your shirt, anchoring you to the mat, his mouth was hovering dangerously close to yours. You could feel the hairs from his beard tickling your lips, your lips which he was staring at.

“Still too slow?” His voice was gruff but was laced with a layer of cocky confidence. You felt a small smile twist at the edges of your lips. Maybe things could go back to normal after all?  “You should never have been chosen for this mission.” An icy feeling ran through your whole body, like a cold wind. He hesitated before he pulled away and got up to leave, and you scrambled to your feet. Just as he was about to step off the mat, adrenaline and rage rushed through your chest. You marched towards him, stopping a few steps away from his broad back.

“What, you’re just gonna run away? Like a coward?!” He stopped but didn’t turn.

“I’m not like you.” Your heart dropped, and a searing pain ran through your chest. You felt a familiar choking sensation around your neck, and a bubble lodged itself in your throat as you tried to say something, anything, back. Bucky returned, stopping in confusion as Walker muttered a harsh ‘We’re done here,’ while nodding back at you. His stare lingered on your form for a bit longer than needed. Walker stalked off, and you took a shaky breath in, pacing back to your stuff while rubbing harshly at your cheeks. Anger tingled across your skin. The urge to scream was strong, but you held yourself together.

“What the hell was that?” Bucky threw his arms up.

You scoffed as you switched the news channel off, chewing on your cereal and staring out of the window into the silent peacefulness of the morning. Or at least it would have been a peaceful morning. If it weren’t for the short, sharp rapping on your door. Sliding off your sofa with a sigh, you abandoned your bowl on the small coffee table beside you. The knocking continued, getting progressively louder and more assertive.

‘Jeez, I’m coming! Just give me a second!’ An exasperated sigh left your chest as you picked at your shirt on your way to the door. Any attempts to make your comfortable lounging clothes at least a little presentable was proving futile. You yanked the door open, ready to give whoever was standing there an earful for their unwelcome interruption of your peace, but fell silent when you saw the ever prim and proper Valentina at your door.

“Good morning!” she cheerily chirped before she shoved past you into your flat. “I have a proposition for you.” You felt yourself groan internally as you turned to see her eyeing the state of your small apartment. She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, keeping a decent gap between herself and any of your ratty furniture. Notably, and unabashedly, she stepped over your rug like it was diseased, making sure to skirt around the rim of it, rather than risk touching it.

Staying quiet, you observed how her nose scrunched, and her eyebrows quirked while she took in your current state. She wasn’t asking you for anything - a proposition just meant that your day off was over. After a beat of silence, you finally spoke.

“And why couldn’t this have been a phone call?” You could hear your voice as if you were standing outside your own body, the tired disappointment and annoyance that you’re almost certain Val had noted and would punish you for in some small way. Instead, she smirked in that horrible cat-like way that only she could. It was a smirk without humour, one that didn’t reach her eyes and was only being used as a mask so that she didn’t look like some emotionless robot.

“We’ve found EE’s containment centre.” Your head snapped around to stare at her, not sure if you were hearing correctly. The very mention of the name left a cold, clawing sensation in your stomach, and yet simultaneously had sweat beading on your skin. Val let the statement settle before she continued with the real reason she visited you. “We believe they have a plant in our group, so to ensure that we were safe, I came to your… quaint apartment to relay the news directly.” She clearly couldn’t resist the jab she had thrown in, but you let it slide in favour of continuing the conversation.

“So, what now?” Val raised her eyebrows at you, as if you were completely missing the point.

“You’re going to help me find out what they know.” It was a matter-of-fact statement, as if you were discussing a typical Sunday brunch.

“Val – I’m good, but I’m not that good. Going in on my own would be suicide.” She gave you that humourless smirk again as she moved close. She had this unique ability of being able to talk to someone like she was bigger than them, even if she was the smallest person in the room. Her voice was sickeningly sweet, like you were a confused child, and her hand landed on your shoulder in a vice grip.

“I know. That’s why you are going to come to the watchtower to meet your team. 2 PM. Be there.”

So, here you were. Standing in the cold metal lift as it ascended the many floors of Valentina’s watch tower. There was a curling knot in your chest that felt like it was squeezing your lungs with every breath. Valentina had many operatives, most of whom you had worked with for single missions before they had disappeared into obscurity. You wondered who you would be paired up with this time. Val almost always sent you in a duo. One for stealth and one for muscle – although there was one occasion where she had sent you in a trio, but that hadn’t happened in years since the endeavour went… slightly sideways. The doors slid open, and you wandered into the empty meeting room. She had said 2 PM, right? The long table was completely vacant, with only a folder resting at the ‘head’ of it. Clearly meant to be Valentina’s sitting spot.

“Ah! Wraith, you’re here.” Speak of the devil, you rolled your eyes while you still had your back to her. As she moved from a side door further into the room, you noted she had a different suit on from earlier. She marched over to rest her hands on the back of her chair and nodded to a seat with a look that said, ‘Well?’ You didn’t protest, pulling the nearest one out and perching on the end of it like you were prepared to bolt. The lift slid open again with a quiet whoosh, and a small group walked in, two older men and a woman with dark hair. The two men quickly found seats of their own, but the lady stayed standing on the far side, making little attempt to hide how she was watching you. The older of the two men spoke up with a loud, booming voice.

“Oh! A new one!” He grinned at you, oblivious to how you looked between him and the irritated dark-haired man with wide eyes. The darker-haired man nodded at you with a grimace, leaning away slightly from the loud Russian. Something shiny glinted on the grumpy man’s wrist. It didn’t take an idiot to notice that his hand appeared to be solid metal. The lift opened again, revealing a blonde woman who strode in confidently and a tall man who followed her like a shadow. The blonde glanced between you and Valentina; her voice carried a similar accent to the loud man.

“What is happening?” Val waved her off non-committedly.

“I’ll explain when everyone is here.” You side-eyed her for a moment. Just how many of you were going to be coming to this meeting? You shifted in your chair, studying the table rather than listening to the muttering between the group. Your hands found your necklace, a daisy on a chain, a keepsake that you always wore and had a habit of fiddling with in tense moments. They all seemed to know each other quite well, and it was a little intimidating. Finally, the lift opened one last time, and your stomach dropped. You didn’t need to see much past the dark blue suit and blonde hair. Walker marched in, and you instantly felt breathless.

“Got held up, sorry.” He raised his hands with a lazy grin, but his relaxed visage quickly changed when he spotted you. He didn’t even try to act normal – in fact, he stopped in the centre of the room, shoulders tensing, and his chest puffed, looking between you and Valentina like someone had spat on him. ‘What is she doing here?”

“Trust me, I’d much rather be enjoying my day off than looking at you.” You hissed back at him. The group went silent, and that tightness rippled through your chest again. You felt your face flush, and your pulse quicken when you glared back at him. But most surprisingly of all, heat bloomed in your stomach as you met his intense eyes. You could see his jaw muscles tensing as he scanned you up and down in return.

“Right. Well, now that we’re all comfy, I have an important mission to announce to you all.” Val pulled a small remote out of her pocket, and the large screen behind her flickered to life. Nearly everyone’s attention was diverted to Valentina’s slideshow, but you could feel the heat of Walker’s fiery gaze as you tried to pretend that he wasn’t watching you.

“EE. Enigma Enterprises. They’re a company that used to train high-quality assassins – Like Wraith over here,” She motioned to you, and your mouth dried up as everyone turned to observe you.

“Recently, there have been reports of some of our scientific shipments being hijacked – many of which were newly rewritten documents relating to the Sentry programme.” You saw the man who had entered with the blonde lady shrink into his chair, and the blonde patted his arm in reassurance. “We have reason to believe these hijackings were related to EE, and that they are attempting to form their own kind of ‘superhero’,” Val made air quotations with her hands as she continued with a grim expression. “We also have reason to believe that there is a plant within our own company.” Walker scoffed.

“Yeah, obviously, she’s sitting right there.” He pointed at you accusingly. You let out an exasperated chuckle, rolling your eyes exaggeratedly. Val mirrored this behaviour, quickly silencing his whining.

“We have our suspicions, but Wraith is actually not one of them.” She then continued, giving the others the background information on what the EE group did, how they broke people and rebuilt them for their own use. She showed slides of their barbaric torture tools from a facility that had been shut down long before you were ever involved, and you saw some members of the group wince in familiarity. Not Walker, though. He kept his arms crossed, glaring at you with his jaw set and a steely look in his eyes. His bitchy attitude was starting to get annoying, so you boldly stared back with a raised eyebrow. Like you were mocking him. If he was going to try and embarrass you in front of everyone, you weren’t going to take it lying down. Finally, Valentina’s history lesson ended.

“Now.” She cleared her throat, refocusing everyone’s attention. “The mission is a stealth operation; we will be sending a pair of you into the facility with the expectation that you destroy the data and find out how much they actually know.” You looked at her in confusion, and the loud man from before voiced exactly what you were thinking.

“If only two are going, why are we all here?” Valentina’s signature smile returned.

“Because that is where our dear Wraith comes in,” She wandered behind you, firmly placing her hands on your shoulders and keeping you planted on the chair as everyone stared again. “Wraith has already been designated as one of the choices; the rest of you will be training alongside her. You have a week to get comfortable, and then we will assess you all for compatibility with her fighting style. The most compatible will be sent with her for the mission.”

Walker let out an exasperated sigh, his hands looping around the back of his head while he paced a few steps away. The dark-haired woman interrupted. “Why has she been chosen before we were even told about this?” Valentina chuckled darkly; her presence behind you was making your hair stand on end. You let out the juddery breath that you hadn’t noticed you were holding, and an icy feeling settled over your thudding heart.

“Because she knows EE’s ways quite well, being an ex-agent, right?” Valentina leaned down to your ear, curling a strand of your hair around one of her fingers as she left that bombshell to settle in the room. You winced, trying to shift yourself free of Val’s intense grip while the others studied you with unreadable expressions.

“We left at 9, and arrived at 20 past. From there, we were taken to our table and…” She waved her hand in a motion that told you to continue her thoughts. A small smile was embedded on her cheeks that made your stomach turn. There was something about her gaze that was halfway between playful and predatory.

“We… uh-” Your throat suddenly felt dry and crackly, sipping on your coffee to clear it, you continued. “We had a couple of rounds of drinks… I think Bucky and John were playing darts. They wouldn’t let Alexei play because he had started drinking early, and he was already stumbling about the place.” You felt a chuckle tug at your throat as you recounted the memories that flashed by with a hazy warmth settling in your chest. Your little family. You focused back on Yelena. “I think my memory starts to get hazy after the first few rounds of shots. I remember coming back from the bathroom with Ava - she had been helping me fix my shirt – and then… dancing. I think there was another round of drinks. And then I went out onto the dance floor with someone.” Yelena leaned back in her chair as you rounded off what you remembered.

“Well, that means it could be anyone.” A mischievous smirk crept onto her face. “Who do you want it to be?” You choked on your coffee at her probing.

“Do I have to want it to be someone?” she laughed at you heartily, throwing her head back a little. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled.

“Maybe you kissed one of the old men…” She made a grossed-out face, mock fear creeping into her voice. Discomfort curdled at the bottom of your stomach.

“Ok – I don’t need you judging me. Plus, the men are not all bad looking.” She rolled her eyes at you, following as you stood up from the table to dispose of your mugs. You turned around and nearly slammed straight into a broad chest. Bucky, who was stood behind you, grunted a greeting as he reached past you to grab a clean mug. “Well, hello there.” You shook your head at him, bewildered expression etched into your features.

“Hello.” His voice was gravelly and low, he sounded exhausted. Yelena, who was stood a little back, crossed her arms.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” Bucky raised his eyebrows at your questioning, but was only met with silent, expectant stares.

“We had drinks?” You tilted your head at him with a deadpanned expression.

“Well, we had no idea about that.” You heard Yelena snicker at your sarcasm and Bucky gave you an exasperated sigh.

“I don’t know – most of my night was spent trying to wrangle Alexei away from his dance battle with that group of kids.” He stated it like that was an obvious fact you had overlooked. You side-eyed Yelena, whose face lit up like a child at Christmas.

“Oh yes! I remember that! He was dance-fighting some 20-something-year-olds and was doing stuff like this,” She made a crude impression of the sprinkler, and some other flappy moves that you think would classify as retro dancing.

“Yeah, well, I ended up having to drag him out of the bar early because after his display, they wouldn’t serve him any more drinks. And then, he tried to argue with the bartender.” He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. You understood his exhaustion now. “Anyway, I have to go. I have a meeting.” Bucky grabbed his freshly made coffee from the machine and turned on his heels.

You side-eyed Yelena, who was still imitating her father’s moves. “Can you stop that?”

“What?” She abruptly halted and held her hands up in false outrage. “I’m just trying to jog your memory.”

Sighing, you started into the hallway, intent on finding someone in the common room who would answer your questions. Yelena trailed behind you quietly, footsteps light in comparison with your intent marching. Your next victim, unfortunately, found himself in your path as you made your way towards the elevator.

“Bob!” the brunette looked startled at your exclamation, clearly, he had been in a world of his own, as he tended to do.

“Oh, hi. You guys need something?”

“Yes, did you see me going off with anyone last night? After we did that last round of shots?” He looked between the pair of you with wide eyes, lingering on Yelena a moment too long. You swore you could feel a draft of air, like she had been motioning with her hands, and when you turned to look, you caught the back end of a throat-slicing motion. You opted to feign ignorance of her antics, curious about where the interaction would go.

“Uh, no? I mean, I think you went to the bathroom with Ava, but then that was pretty much it.” You eyed him carefully.

“Uh-huh…. And where were you?” He stammered a bit, sounding totally unconvincing in his tale.

“Um, I was just at the- the bar. Yep. Just sitting on the stools…” You stared at him for a few moments, waiting to see if he’d divulge anything further. He shifted awkwardly on the spot, and just as it looked like he was about to crack, Yelena interrupted your staring contest.

“Ah, Bob. Didn’t you want my help with something?” Bob, stuck light a deer in headlights, slowly nodded.

“Oh yeah – I wanted help with that thing,” He scratched at the back of his neck, nervously ducking his head as he moved past you.

“I’ll go help him, I'll catch you when we’re done. You can get on without me, right?” Yelena started to back away, jerking her thumb towards where Bob had rushed off. You hadn’t even finished nodding before she spun and made off after him, walking briskly back down the hall. You watched her back retreating, a strange sense of unease settling in your limbs. It wasn’t until she was gone from your view that you continued on; you had more people to interrogate, after all.

You could hear the shouts from outside the common room before you had even stepped off the lift. Indignant, angered, yelling that almost made you regret ever deciding to start on this mission. What could they be arguing about so intensely? The thought made your stomach flip. Maybe they knew about your deeds? Perhaps someone was being scolded because of your drunken actions? Part of you wished the doors wouldn’t open, and you braced yourself for an incoming attack as you wearily stepped through the threshold.

“Are you serious? I have no houses left – why are you still screwing me?!” Walker's voice rose above the rest. From where you stood, you could see John pacing around, Alexei sitting back with a triumphant grin, and Ava lazily sprawled across the couch. On the table rested a board, and some pretend money… they were playing Monopoly?

Your shoulders sagged as you plopped yourself down by Ava’s upper body, the weight of your anxieties collapsing as you realised your friends were merely engaged in the typical ritual of trampling over the sacred bonds they shared for competitive gain.

“So… Walker’s losing, I take it?” You muttered lowly to Ava, observing as the two men continued to argue over Alexei’s completely unfair attempt at bargaining.

“What do you think?” She chuckled, nodding down at her massive selection of properties and money. No surprise that she was doing the best of the three, given that the other two were incapable of planning ahead. They wouldn't bring an extinguisher, even if they knew they were going to be on fire.

You focused yourself back on Ava, determined to gain some form of information from her. “So, last night was something.” She cocked an eyebrow at you, a sly grin spreading across her face, but she refused to give anything away. She knew the game too well, it seemed.

“It certainly appeared that way.”

“And…. What does that mean exactly?”

“Well, it just seems like you enjoyed yourself, is all, from what I could see anyway.”

With all attempts at subtlety failing, you laid out your question directly. Surrendering to the embarrassment of Ava’s teasing in the hopes that she would show mercy on your pitiful, hungover self.

“So, where did you guys go after the shots? I heard Alexei and Bucky left, but I don’t remember seeing you two.” Ava clammed up a little, clearing her throat and turning her gaze back to the board.

“Jo- Walker and I played pool in the lounge,” Ah. Her little slip didn’t go unnoticed by you. And clearly, not by Walker either, as he quickly jumped into the conversation that he had dutifully been ignoring a few seconds ago.

“Why are you bothered by what we were doing anyway? You’re the one who ran off with Yelena,” He faltered, eyes growing wide. Whether that was because he had declared your actions in front of the group, or if it was because he was being strangely defensive over Ava, was unknown to you.

“Woah… what are you talking about?” The other two exchanged looks, clear panic flashing across their features as they froze. They weren’t aware that you had no memory of the night. Alexei added the context that had been painfully absent from the rest of your investigation.

“Ah yes! Ava said you and Yelena ran away, like little birds twirling on dance floor – so beautiful,” He sounded nostalgic at the concept, a sharp contrast to the betrayal-induced rage simmering in your chest.

You stood abruptly, drawing everyone’s eye.

“That little shit.” And you beelined back towards the elevator.

The metal doors slid open painfully slowly, when compared to the speed of the steam escaping your ears. As they slid back, you were posted face-to-face with your target. Yelena, noticing your expression, gave you an awkward smile and held her hands up before bolting down the hallway. You lingered for a few seconds, glaring holes into her back. A small chuckle caught your attention.

“I take it you remembered then?” Bob’s small, amused smile did nothing to quell the irritation you felt.

“I’ll deal with you later,” You hissed, pushing past him and taking after the blonde woman. Your annoyance only fuelled you in your pursuit of her, as you found yourself catching up exceptionally quickly.

A shriek echoed down the hall when you threw yourself towards her, your weight crashing into her body and sending you both to the floor. There was a kerfuffle of incoherent babbling and arguing as you rolled over one another, her trying desperately to wriggle out from beneath you, and you trying with all your might to pin the elusive assassin to the floor.

Of course, she could escape if she really wanted to, but something about the grin on her face and the laughter bubbling up from both of your throats indicated to you that she didn’t really care to. Your rage melted away as you finally managed to sit on her hips, holding her hands down as you hovered over her. Your panting turned into small, barely suppressed giggles as you stared down at her form.

“Okay, okay! You win!” Yelena’s hands, still held in your tight grasp, were open-palmed in a sign of surrender.

“You! You were my kissnapper!” She rolled her eyes at you.

“Wow, really leaning into the naming now – huh?”

“Oh, shut up! If you knew the whole time, then what was the point of this stupid treasure hunt?” You saw her smile drop briefly, and she tried to conceal her discomfort with a forced laugh.

“Well, y’know.. it was… funny?” Her voice rose with uncertainty and her accent became more pronounced. You didn’t let up, your refusal to budge and intense stare a bold indication that you didn’t believe her excuse. “Uh… well. I- I didn’t think…” her voice got quieter, but you didn’t interrupt. “I’m not really… someone people usually want to date. And I thought maybe it was just – I don’t know, a one-time kind of thing? That maybe you got carried away?” She quickly backtracked when you didn’t respond immediately, avoiding eye contact with you, which was quite difficult given the position you found yourselves in. “Look, we can just forget this whole thing ever happened, no hard feelings, ok?”

“I don’t want that.” Yelena’s head whipped around, eyes widening in disbelief.

“I… what?”

“And if the kiss was a one-off that I wanted to forget, would I do this?” You leaned down towards her, pressing your mouth to hers in a gentle kiss. A kiss that was soft but sure. One that said, ‘I want this’. As you pulled back, Yelena let out a shaky exhale, blue eyes wide with shock and a smile quirking at the corners of her mouth.

“Wow. I- I didn’t expect that you would…” You pulled a knowing face, a little smug in your demeanour. Although any witty comeback you would have given her was cut short by the pair of boots that appeared by your head.

“Can you two take sappy, emotional business to somewhere that isn’t a public space?” Bucky’s gruff voice cut through the moment, and you both craned your necks up to see his disapproving, tired stare. You scrambled away from each other, like two teens who had just been caught by a parent.

As he walked away, you turned to Yelena.

“So, did you guys have a good time last night?” He leaned casually on the counter as he asked, a hint of a smirk ghosting across his lips. Yelena chuckled, clearly having noticed the atmosphere between you both, yet choosing to let you initiate the conversation.

“Uh… yeah,” You rested your head on one hand, propping it up on the table. “I don’t really know what happened, honestly. I can’t remember much,” Bucky’s mouth dropped a little, a look of apprehension flashing across his features.

“What? Like, you don’t remember anything?” You looked for Yelena to help, only to find her taking a long sip of her drink as she watched you, humour bubbling in her eyes.

“I remember some stuff, like dancing and taking shots -  and that awful karaoke cover Alexei did.”

“Oh yeah, that was bad,” Yelena winced. Bucky’s demeanour had changed completely. A few seconds ago, he was relaxed, lazily leaning on the counter. Now? He was bolt upright, gripping his coffee mug with his non-prosthetic hand like he was seconds away from crushing it.

“Are you ok? You that traumatised from his rendition of ‘My Heart Will Go On’?” Bucky stared at you, wide-eyed, as he processed your attempt at humour. His short chuckle felt forced, and he quickly looked away, sipping at his drink. Before you could question him further, a loud commotion caught your attention. Alexei strolled in through the door, still in his AvengerZ pyjamas that he had recently made.

“Hello everybody! Did we have a good time last night?”

“Ugh, too loud, Alexei.” Yelena covered her face with both hands before flopping unceremoniously onto the table to emphasise her point.

“Ah, you are too sensitive Yelena – I told you, when you drink the real, good stuff you do not get these same kinds of uh… things” he motioned briefly with his fingers towards Yelena, taking the cup that Bucky offered him with a nod.

“Hangovers?”  You tried to find the word for the older man, and he pointed at you with a grin as you helped.

“Exactly, see? You get it.” Yelena started to explain how that didn’t help hangovers to Alexei, to which the man told her that he’d ‘fix’ her problem. You saw Bucky take the opportunity to skulk out of the room.

“No, Yelena, I promise you. Put socks in vodka and hot water. And boom – so much better.”

“I do not thin-" You interrupted the start of their bickering.

“Did you see that?” The blonde woman snorted.

“What? The way he looked like you’d stabbed him when you said you didn’t remember? Yes, of course I saw it.”

“What is this?” You considered whether Alexei was a trustworthy person to tell about this issue. However, your consideration was quickly overruled as Yelena announced your problem to Alexei. You cursed her honesty sometimes.

“They kissed someone last night.” The Russian man’s face lit up in pure joy.

“Ah, yes, the drinking drama.” He turned on you, positively predatory in his glee. “Who was the lucky person?” You buffered, sheepishly looking down at your hands.

“They don’t know for certain,” Yelena sank back into her seat. “But that,” She motioned towards the door that Bucky had just left from “was strange,”

Alexei sat himself down in a seat next to you both, coffee abandoned in favour of the gossip he was hearing. “You kissed the Winter Soldier! Many other people would be jumping about like small rabbit if that happened.”

“I don’t know that I kissed him,” You corrected the duo, knowing their tendency to get ahead of themselves. Alexei promptly ignored your correction.

“So, what? It is just a kiss. No one has died.” Alexei paused for a second, “Unless it was not just a kiss?”

“That’s why we have to figure out who it is, because they do not remember.” You saw Yelena roll her eyes, motioning towards you as if her statement was obvious. This sent Alexei on a whole new tirade, and you saw Yelena’s previously relaxed demeanour shift as Alexei began to talk about how ‘he had seen many women in his days’. Taking your opportunity, you stood up to leave.

“You know what, Alexei? I have to go…. Uh…change…my knives, but I’m sure Yelena would love to hear your stories and tell me all about them later.”  Yelena glared at you, drawing her finger across her neck as she frowned, and you strutted off into the hall with a laugh. Even stepping onto the lift, you could hear her father’s loud voice as he rambled on at his freshly abandoned victim.

Peering into the doorway of the common space, you saw a small crowd of familiar faces. Ava, Bob, and Walker were strewn across the sofas in the room. Bob, in typical Bob fashion, was attempting to act as a mediator for the two hot-headed assassins. It quickly became clear that what he was attempting to mediate was simply Ava teasing John about a TV show.

“Look, all I’m saying is that I don’t get it. It was a bad writing move.” Ava shrugged, a small smirk forming on her face as you saw her gaze flicker towards you.

“How do you not get it? It totally worked in the context of the episode!” Walker threw his hands up, voice loud and exasperated.

“Ah, sweet, simple, John.” You wandered up behind him, slapping both hands onto his shoulders in an act of distraction. “Can’t you see that she’s winding you up?” Walker froze, as if the thought had never even occurred to him. Your small group watched in real time as he processed the new perspective, the concept finally clicking as you witnessed him observe Ava’s shit-eating grin.

“Seriously? Did you know that’s what she was doing?” He pointed accusatorily at Ava as he questioned Bob. Poor Bob only gave a nod and a small, amused ‘yes’ before Walker stood up in exasperation.

“It’s ok, Walker. We know that it's hard for you to catch social cues sometimes,” He whirled around on you.

“It is not!” Moving past him with a chuckle, you addressed the other two in the room.

“Have you guys seen Bucky? I need to check in with him about something.”

“Something, huh?” Ava wiggled her eyebrows at you. Oh no.

“You guys know?”

“Know? We, unfortunately, had to see the whole thing.” Walker called back at you. “Watching you two stick your tongues down each other’s throats really wasn’t a fun part of my night.”

“Oh shut up, Walker, let them be happy.” Ava scolded John with an eye roll.

“He’s in the gym, I think. Or at least, that’s where he said he was going,” Bob's quiet voice chimed out between the abrasive pair. You sent him a small nod and a ‘thank you,’ taking the opportunity to escape as John and Ava started yet another disagreement.

After a brief stop by your room, you turned your attention towards the gym. Even from outside the door, you could see Bucky’s dark silhouette throwing various kicks and punches towards an imaginary target. Stopping to stare, you watched the way his body contorted. The bulge of his muscles beneath his compression shirt, the sheen of sweat on his skin, and his mere presence were enough to make your stomach lurch in apprehension. Now was the time to be bold. It was the time to take charge, a terrifying notion when you considered the domineering demeanour of the man shadowboxing before you. Feigning confidence, you shoved the door open, watching as Bucky spun on his heels to confront the potential threat.

“Woah! Easy there!” You held your hands up in surrender, walking slowly towards him. Bucky’s form instantly relaxed when he realised who it was, hands dropping to hang limply at his side and his rigid stance softening. He stared at you for a moment, face undecipherable and stoic, a stark contrast to the brewing storm in your chest.

“Why are you here?”

“To train?” Your reply sounded more like a suggestion. Any confidence you’d previously had crumbled to dust in your mouth after a few moments under his scrutinizing stare.

“Are you sure that you’re in the state to train?” You feigned offense, holding a hand over your heart as you widened your eyes at him. He quickly backtracked. “Just because you drank pretty heavily.”

It was almost endearing how quickly he’d gone back on his words once he thought he was upsetting you. “Bucky, I’ll be fine. I’ll just let you know if I don’t feel well,” That seemed to reassure him, and he gave you a small nod before returning to his spot on the mat.

You joined him, setting yourself up in a kickboxing stance. For a moment, all was still. Then you launched at him, throwing a kick that should have been painful – but he deflected like it was nothing. Of course, he did; he was the Winter Soldier once. Yet he still made no move to attack you, instead allowing you to push forward with relentless attacks. After a few minutes, you paused, panting heavily.

“You’re meant to attack too, you know that, right?” You said it with a chuckle, but you could see the hesitance on his face. He shifted his stance, throwing a fast jab. Even then, you could tell how much he had held back the punch. He only threw punches with his non-prosthetic arm, and none were of any real substance. Eventually you grew frustrated, throwing an especially strong kick into his side. It connected and you heard him brace when it hit. This time, though, he grabbed your leg, driving you backwards and throwing both of you onto the mat. He braced himself over you, staring down at you with a brief look of panic flashing across his face.

“Are you alright?” He pushed himself up off you, scanning your body for any marks he could have created.

“Bucky, Bucky! I’m fine!” You chuckled at him as you grabbed his hands. “I am ok.” He relaxed as you reassured him properly, looking him in the eyes with a smile.

He sighed, sitting next to you on the mat. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s totally fine, it’s all a part of sparring. I wouldn’t be an assassin if I couldn’t take a hit.”

“No,” He sighed, “That’s not what I’m saying.” You stared at him, watching how he curled in on himself as he stared at the ground while he spoke. “I’m sorry about last night, we kissed, and I thought you remembered it. But clearly you didn’t. And I don’t want you to find out from someone else and think I’ve taken advantage of you.” After a brief pause, you asked him one of the questions that had been circling your mind.

“Did we… do anything else?” You tried to conceal the slight twinge of hope that peeked through in your voice, although Bucky was too deep in his self-beating to notice.

“No. We didn’t. I didn’t want to do anything like that with you when you weren’t one hundred percent.”

“When I wasn’t one hundred percent? Does that mean… that there’s potential for something if I am sober…?” You refused to look at him, although you could see from your peripheral vision that his head had perked up and he was now staring at you. He cleared his throat.

“Well, I’d like to actually take you out on a date first. If that was something you were interested in?”

Finally, you looked back at him, his eyes were wide and earnest, like he’d never expected you to actually want anything to do with him. You smiled at him.

“I’d love to go on a date with you, Bucky.” A small, genuine smile made its way onto his face. He stood up, offering you his hand, which you gladly took.

“7 PM tonight? I can plan everything, you just have to show up.” You nodded.