Magic And Manipulation

How do you know each other?

You and Bucky stare at each other for a second, mentally pinching yourselves to make sure you were really awake and that this was really happening. 

The trance you both were in gazing at each other was immediately ruined by Tony loudly clearing his throat and looking at you both expectantly..

"Well?" he said slowly, "How do you two know each other? or are we supposed to be playing guess the story?" he raised his eyebrows at you, head tilted to the side, like a young child wanting a bedtime story, immediately.

You stole one last glance at your old friend, and then faced the others, beginning your explanation.

"We were imprisoned in one of Hydra's bases together, for a few years. Our cells were side by side at the end of one of the quietest hallways, we were the only two prisoners left in our particular section of cells, the others were all dead or had been moved to other areas of Hydra, either for missions or for experimentation-" You stopped speaking suddenly, swallowing hard, you looked between Bucky and Loki for reassurance, Bucky nodded and Loki squeezed your hand gently in his own, placing his other arm around your shoulder to make you feel safer.

Settling into Loki's embrace, you continued your story..

"Every morning, we would wake up to the other screaming in pain or terror, or being dragged away down the corridor screaming and crying, and every night we had to listen as the other cried harder than we had ever heard anyone cry before, in pain, fear, loneliness, and just pure anger. Each and every day, we would try to help each other cope, making each other laugh or smile whenever we were alone in our cells watching the minutes, feeling as long as hours, tick by. We would sing together too.." you trailed off for a moment, thinking back to your time in Hydra's cruel hands before continuing.. "James here has a lovely voice you know.."

Loki looked heartbroken, tears in his eyes, as he mentally tormented himself because he didn't save you, and that he couldn't take away your pain.

"I am so sorry y/n, I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you, you were there for so long alone without us. I wish I had known where you were, I would have come for you." he cried quietly, hurting deeply because of your trauma that he couldn't save you from.

Bucky smiled sadly at Loki and you. "It's ok, she had me there to keep her going, she spoke about you and your home for a long time, until of course.." trailing off his sentence he looked down at the ground sadly.

"Until they stole my memories in order to fashion me into their perfect assassin, a weapon to end all enemies of Hydra. They used me for my abilities and turned me into a puppet, tied down with strings of horrific torture."

Loki looked horrified at this, and placed his hands on your shoulders and looked you in the eyes almost pleadingly, subconsciously telling you that he just needed to make sure you were ok.

"Loki it's ok, I have you all back know, I have my memories back thanks to you and I am not planning on making a return visit to hydra's cells any time, ever."

Steve, Tony and Thor all watch on at you with looks of horror similar to Loki's after hearing just the smallest part of your 11 year long ordeal with Bucky, at the hands of Hydra.

you continued, addressing the five in the room with a solemn look, 

"This is why I need your help, Hydra are going to try to get me back, it has happened before, the last time I got out, and I need your help to take them down before they can get their hands on my abilities again, I can't do it alone.."

Steve cleared his throat gently, choking back a reaction to your traumatic story, and nodded.

"I think we need to call in the rest of the team, to get you all introduced firstly, and also because this is a huge undertaking, we need their opinions on the situation." 

You nodded slowly in agreement, nodding once at Tony to signal to him to call the meeting.

Now it really was time to meet the Avengers in its entirety, as you place your life entirely in their hands.

No pressure.. right?