My voice croaked, choked by the lump in my throat.
Nothing could have prepared me for this.
I could hardly take in the image before me. I started to hyperventilate—could this be some tortuous dream concocted by the crooks of Hydra?
"How—I don't—what happ—Nick?" I started several sentences but couldn't manage to finish any of them.
Maria rushed to my side, touching my arm lightly to soothe my trembling breaths. She breathed a slow, guided rhythm. I tried to get my breath back in check, but I couldn't help the roaring thunder of thoughts suffocating me.
The father figure prematurely ripped away from me, that I mourned and avenged—was alive.
"Hey, now, breathe Coulson. It's okay. I know it's a lot, but you gotta calm down so I can explain it to you," Nick implored.
"Nick, I've got to go get them. They've been intercepted," Maria reports after checking her device.
"Go on then, we'll meet you all back here." Nick nodded and Maria turned on her heels.
After a few seconds, I mustered as much courage and regular breathing as I could. I gawked at Nick with the bravest anticipatory look I had. Nick begins to tell me how he ended up there, that we were underground in a concrete dam.
During my internal summation, I braved a response. "Nick, I thought I lost you."
"I know, kiddo, and I'm so damn sorry for that. I'm sorry you had to deal with my death, but I trust you understand now why it happened like this."
I recited everything that happened to me over the last few days, keen to fill him in on urgent matters. "Nick, Nat and Steve—they had to leave me behind. And Pierce, he's behind all of it. And S.T.R.I.K.E. And Rumlow, he did the lot of this to my face," I gestured to the various cuts and bruises adorning my temple, cheeks and nose.
"And Nick, the Winter Soldier—he's real. He's the 'fist' of Hydra, that's what Pierce told me, they're all Hydra and Hydra's S.H.I.E.L.D. and—"
"Listen, I know there's a lot of information in your head right now, but I promise I'll explain everything once Agent Hill comes back."
"Where did she go?"
"She's going for Romanoff and Rogers—"
A yell down the hall cut off Nick's voice, from what sounded like Maria.
"GSW. She's lost at least a pint."
An unfamiliar voice followed, "Maybe two."
"Let me take her," a third voice said.
"She'll want to see them first," the Maria voice retorted. The footsteps of the voices grew nearer. Maria's hand grazed the curtain blocking the view of the voices. She pulled it back, revealing both Nick Fury and myself. A grave look of shock and awe from Nat and Steve appeared. I didn't recognize the man stood next to them.
Nick rotated his head toward the group, and in his sarcastic best said, "About damn time."
...
"They cut you open. Your heart stopped," Nat exclaimed.
"Tetrodotozin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work great for him but we found a use for it."
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve inquired.
YOU ARE READING
LEGACY: a bucky barnes story
FanfictionShe's got everything to prove as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but when thrown headfirst into the demise of S.H.I.E.L.D. hellfire, she's hellbent on proving her worth and owning her legacy. What she didn't plan on was catching the eye of the infamous Winter...
