Aim: Hydra | Y/N Story | Sequel to "Aim: Avenger"

29. Dark Days

3 HOURS EARLIER - AVENGERS TOWER

"Hey Steve, I'm going to be out for a few hours." Bucky said, pulling on a rain jacket over his suit.

"Okay." His friend responded, glancing up from the sketch he was drawing. "Where are you going so dressed up? Is there an event I forgot?"

"No, just going for a walk." The brunette smiled at his friend, although it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Ready to go, Barnes?" Stark asked as he came into the room.

"Wait, you're both going somewhere?" Natasha asked, looking up from the joined kitchen a few feet away, her eyes bouncing suspiciously between the two standing men.

"Yes, why is that so hard to believe?" The genius said with slight exasperation in his tone.

"Because the last time you spent quality time with Barnes was never." She quirked an eyebrow.

"Things of the past, right, Bucko?" He shot back, clapping a hand on Bucky's shoulder, whose hands were in the pocket of his jacket.

"Yeah." He said, and the two disappeared together into the elevator.

"That was . . . weird." Steve pointed out, eyebrows scrunched together.

"Very." The woman responded, glaring at the closed doors as her brain swarmed with reasons Anthony Stark would ever go to an event alone with his parents' killer.

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Today was a very strange day for Y/N L/N. First, she woke up for the first time, in a long time, alone. The General wasn't there, yelling at her to get up, or telling her how much she'd fallen from her 'peak.' It was an eerie sort of stillness, broken only by the soft pattering of rain against her window. Sighing, she glanced up at the black outfit that she'd bought yesterday for the funeral with a heart so heavy with grief and dread that she felt it would burst and leak from her skin like a poison. Pulling herself off of her bed, she slipped the clothing over her head, slipping her shoes on after that. A knock sounded on her door, as when she opened it she saw the face of the man who saved her. He pulled her into a tight, comforting hug without her needing to ask as he led her down to the car. The whole ordeal had taken about ten minutes, since she'd slept in and felt too numb to do much else. In her clouded state, she'd neglected grab the one thing she never left her apartment without; her photostatic veil. And, she failed to noticed a hooded figure slipping into her apartment as soon as she'd left.

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"You know, this is the first funeral I've ever been to." I mumbled as I stared at the coffin in the ground, hanging onto Bucky's arm. He hummed, allowing me to continue, "I never got to bury V and Ben, never got to learn their real names. I don't even know where Hydra put their bodies." 

"How are you feeling?" He asked, looking down at me. I opened my mouth, ready to brush the question off when he added, "really. How are you really?"

I sighed, but answered honestly, "not great. Not good at all. The General's been really quiet today, though, so that's nice."

"Do you think she's gone? You can come home now?" Tony asked gently, speaking up.

I shook my head. "She's leaving me alone for today, but I know she's still there. I can feel her in my head."

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I don't know how to help." The century-old man said, his voice laced with pain and worry. I turned and smiled at the both of them.

"Being here is all I needed you to do. Thank you, both of you." I took a deep breathe in, forcing air past the lump in my throat. "I should get back."

"Want me to drive you?" Stark offered, but I shook my head.

"No. I could really use the walk." I could Bucky was about to put up an argument, but one look from me softened his resolve.

"Just promise me you'll stay safe, okay?" He pulled me into one last hug, squeezing me before letting go, and Tony took his place, wrapping me in his arms as he placed a kiss on the top of my head.

"If I were a gambling man, which I am, I'm going to say you're running into the wind soon?"

"Stark, the General is still there, she can still control me. You may be a gambler, but I'm not."

"Figured I'd ask. You know, we're always going to be here for you, kiddo. You know you're always welcome in the Tower." I nodded, and with one last look at it, I walked away from the final resting place of my friend, the words on her tombstone forever ringing through my head.

AMBER RAINES
2001-2016
Esse quam videri bonus sallust.
"To be good rather than to seem good."
You were good, inside and out.

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The weather was odd today, I noticed on my walk home. It would rain, then stop, then start and stop again. It seemed even the water itself felt Amber's absencense, confusing it; or maybe I was just tired from the days events. I swung my door open and shut it tightly behind me, locking all three of the locks that were there. Of course, they turned out to be an ineffective deterrent to the woman sitting in my kitchen.

"You know, most people decorate their living spaces with photos, or art. But some people leave them empty, because they know they'll have to move again. Guess which category you fit in." I didn't answer, just looked over at the woman I'd already met. "And the bag you keep packed with enough supplies to last you a week tells me that you're ready to run at a moment's notice. Now that I see you, you have the posture of a fighter, and the scars on your knuckles confirm that." She stood as she spoke, approaching me carefully. "Who are you?"

"A girl who's tired." I mumbled, walking past her only for her to catch my wrist tightly. 

"How do you know Barnes and Stark?"

"None of your business, Nat-asha Romanoff." I almost slipped up.

Too bad she noticed anyway; stupid training. "Strangers don't call me that. I'll ask again; who are you?"

I chuckled dryly, smiling sadly at my old friend, the woman I saw as an older sister, the very presence of her without the usual warmth in her gaze stabbing into my soul. "We met a few months ago, not that you would remember it. God, I can't do this right now, not today of all days." I muttered, walking away from her only to feel a strong hand pull my wrist back.

"Don't make me ask again. I saw the veil, I know it was you who broke into S.H.I.E.L.D. a few months ago. So, I can arrest you here, right now, and drag you back to the Tower, or we can do this nicely."

"Oh, Romanoff. You have no idea what I'm capable of." I replied darkly before pulling her hand off my wrist and flipping her over so she slammed into the ground on her back. She retaliated quickly, sweeping my legs out from under me, but I rolled away, rocking back on my heels into  low crouch. We both took a breathe, readying for a fight.

"You're good. Who trained you?" She asked, scanning her eyes over me, trying to analyse it.

"Lots of people." I responded before launching myself backwards, away from her and towards my bedroom. I heard one of her Widow Bites fire and quickly ducked out of the way as it embedded itself into the wood, inches from my head. I kicked off the wall, spinning my other foot to hit her in her abdomen, knocking her away long enough for me to swing the door closed and lock it. Snatching my go bag from the closet and yanking open the window, I flew down the fire escape as quickly as I could, jumping from railing to railing. As soon as my feet touched the floor I took off running, making sure she wasn't following. "Sorry Nat, but I'm not going into another cell, and I'm not putting my family at risk."

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