The Serum and The Bask Book 2 || b. barnes [ ON HOLD ]

Chapter 1 - How Times Have Changed

Madripoor, the house of the Bask

"What next boss?" The man stood in front of me as I sat almost engulfed by the velvety green chair I was in. I took a sip from my glass of vodka pulling it away from my lips and swirling the clear liquid in the glass before leaning it against my temple.

"Dimitri..." my voice came out low and stern as I looked up at the man in front of me.

"Yes boss?" his words were drenched in fear as his voice came out cracked and pitchy. I could tell by the way he was fidgeting, shifting his weight from foot to foot, that the man before me was not only terrified but intimidated by me.

He knew of my power, he knew I wasn't afraid to use it...and I loved it.

"What's one thing I have asked of you..one thing... yet you still fail to listen?" I asked, the annoyance evident in my voice.

Dimitri stood there silent. I watched him take in a deep breath, his chest rising and falling very slowly.

"I-i uh..I don't-"

His stuttering was cut off by the bottom of my glass slamming onto the table beside me. I stood up from my velvet throne and took two slow steps towards the man in front of me, my long black dress flowing elegantly as I walked.

As I stood before him, I could tell he was fighting the urge to step back. He stood there shaking in fear of the woman before him who was a foot shorter but was nonetheless afraid, intimidated and unsure of what I might do next.

I paused reaching my hands up adjusting the black tie against his chest. The hard and fast beating of his heart I could feel underneath my touch after I fixed his tie, patting his chest. He knew of my super strength, he knew I had enough intimidating power alone as the leader of the Bask, and he was afraid of what I would do with it.

"I've asked you countless times Dimitri, to not question, but to wait for my next order.." I said slowly taking my hands from his chest, reaching up to brush my hair out of my face, slowly flicking a blonde strand.

"I'm..I'm sorry.." his voice came out shaky as he kept his gaze above me, staring directly at the wall behind me, not daring to make eye contact.

I huffed, rolling my eyes as I turned around walking back to the table that had my drink.

"Pathetic," I spoke in Russian, my voice shifting the warm air in the space around us to a bone chilling cold as I brought the last of my drink to my lips, the slow burn moving down my throat. My back was turned to him as I twisted my head to the side glancing around the room.

"Kill him," my Russian words signaling one of my men to appear from the shadows. Before Dimitri could even whimper, a muffled bang came from the gun of one of my men.

I put my glass down and turned to see two more of my men dragging Dimitri's lifeless body away, blood staining the carpet as they dragged his body. I rolled my eyes but quickly the maids came and began work on cleaning up the red before I could even ask them.

My head ached as I walked over to the liquor cabinet. I put a hand to my forehead, pressing against the spot of pain. I opened the cabinet door, pulling out the bottle of vodka and set it down on the counter eyeing it carefully, battling with the idea of having another drink, but soon giving in and pouring the transparent liquid into my glass.

My head chasing the drunken feeling, but the super soldier serum coursing through my veins stopping it from ever happening. Instead I reveled in the slow pain of the burn going down my throat. I turned leaning against the counter my head laying back against the cabinet as I clutched the glass to my chest.

"Heiress," A gentle and hesitant voice came from beside me. I turned my head, still leaning against the cabinet. One of my assistants stood several feet away from me with a tablet in her arms, an anxious look written in her features.

"What is it?" I asked pushing my head off of the cabinet, my attention fully on her as I set my glass down.

"It's him..." she said quietly handing me the tablet, "he's been looking for you."

I looked up at her before looking down at the screen full of various snap shots of the man I used to know too well, the man I once loved. It had been years since I thought of him, running the Bask had fully consumed me, making me an entirely different person. Making me more powerful.

"Bucky?" My chest tightened at the sight of him, even in a photograph, but my heart ached at the thought of him, of our time together.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has ordered another hit on you, much more expensive this time," my assistant explained as I swiped through different photos of Bucky, and snapshots of his computer. I was unfazed by her information about the hit, only focused on Bucky. My assistant leaned over the tablet, clicking on a few buttons before pulling up a recording.

"We picked this up on one of our restricted channels," she said, her finger shook as she hovered over the button before pressing play.

The voice coming from the tablet, almost broke my heart in two all over again.

"Lina..." Bucky's voice crackled from the static of the recording.

"Lina..my light...you need to stop this," his voice paused, the static taking over. I could almost picture him perfectly even after not seeing him for three years, his blue eyes were pictured perfectly in my mind.

"You're losing sight of who you are, of the woman I know you to be. You've let power consume you. You need to come home...I need you to come home. Stop all of this," my heart broke at the pain in his voice, but the pain ran even deeper as I remembered the day he broke me. The day Bucky was no longer the feeling of home for me. Small tears began form in my eyes as I continued to listen to the recording.

"This is all crazy, it wasn't supposed to end this way- " his voice was cut off and the recording ended.

A tear escaped my eye and splashed onto the tablet. I sniffled softly, wiping under my eyes, my mascara smeared across my finger tips. I turned to my assistant who was looking the opposite direction, as if she was pretending she wasn't seeing me so vulnerable.

"What do you wish to do?" she asked, still looking away from me, her eyes on the wall in front of her.

I downed the last of my drink, the burn at the back of my throat almost comforting now as I set the glass down against the counter.

"Bring him here, and let the Power Broker know. She will be interested in putting a price on his head as well, but I need him," I paused moving my hair out of my face as I shoved the tablet into her arms. I took off brushing past her but I stopped toying over the thought in my mind.

The last time Bucky and I spoke, there was so much pain and heart break between us. So much so that I could feel the past boil into anger inside of me. I turned to her and that was the first time I had ever seen someone since Bucky have a look of pity on them as they looked at me. It made me feel weak and that was not something I ever wanted to feel again.

I pushed my shoulders back, straightening my posture as I looked at her.

"Dead or alive."