The Blue Siren and the Winter Soldier | Bucky Barnes x OC

Part 1

I appreciated the peace of the city. Riga was small and charming, with the Baltic sea backing its elaborate historic buildings. I had spent the last 5 years there yet I felt like I was always finding something new to love about it. Though I found myself traveling by sea less and less with each passing year, it was comforting to know that if I had to, the water would welcome me back. It was the only thing that would welcome me back.

I sipped my coffee, still scolding hot from being freshly brewed that morning. With a quick blow into the cup, I cooled the drink down to just the right temperature. A simple spell, but one that often did the trick. An early morning coffee from my favorite cafe was just the thing to get me going before I had to finish the latest music project I had been working on. I was grateful that the band, an indie artist by the name of Vera, had given me an extra week to finish it, but I wanted to get it in as soon as possible so they could approve it before releasing it as a bonus track on their upcoming album.

With my work on my mind, I almost didn't hear the screaming coming from the street on my left. I stopped in my tracks, scanning my environment to see where the noise came from. It was common to hear yells throughout the streets of Riga; Children playing, couples fighting, or friends chanting. But this was different. This was urgent.

That was when I saw it: A group of people in dark clothes jumping down from the apartment building rooftop into the cobblestone streets. Their faces were partially covered by hoods. Each of them wore the same set of black robes and equally dark pants. Though their faces were obscured, I could tell that they were quite young--agile, fast, and strong. Perhaps too strong. They were closing in on two men, the only two to not be wearing the robes. The men were taking care of themselves well enough. I watched them fight, throwing each other back several feet and jumping in the air like it was nothing. I thought back to the news over the past few days or so: there had been 3 random attacks on civilians by cloaked entities. No one had been killed, at least not yet, but people had reported being beaten, choked, and even stabbed. Whoever these attackers were, they were clearly Enchanted's--or at the very least enhanced in some way. But what was the motive?

One of the cloaked attackers caught my attention. They were approaching three small children who were huddled under a table next to the square fountain. They whimpered as he grew closer. Don't do it, Elle, I thought, Don't get involved. 

But of course, I had to get involved. 

"I can't even finish my coffee without dealing with this kind of bullshit," I whispered to myself as I threw my cup to the ground and ran to the cloaked man. "Hey!" I yelled. I thrusted my arms out and he flew back several feet. He skidded along the stone ground before jumping up again. I turned to the children, "When I say go, you run." They nodded at me, their big eyes full of fear and confusion. Out of the corner of my eye I could see their mother crying behind a building, wanting to run to them yet too scared to come out. Several other people huddled alongside her, watching in fear and awe. "Go!" As the kids ran behind me, I created a barrier of magic between us and the attacker. As soon as the three children were with their mother, I let down the barrier just in time to punch one of them in the face. I resisted the urge to cry out in pain and retroactively decided that I was going to stick to magical combat as opposed to physical, for my hand's sake.

"Who are you!?" one of the two non-cloaked men asked me mid punch. I didn't take the time to focus on him, but he clearly had some kind of combat training, as he handled the attackers quickly and swiftly.  

"Now is not the time for introductions," I responded while simultaneously throwing one of the assailants into the side of a building. He didn't argue and the three of us continued doing our best to keep the group from causing any more harm.

"Damn it, these guys just keep coming!" The other guy yelled. As he kicked another cloaked person, I could have sworn I saw a glisten along his left arm. Was that metal?

One of the attackers grabbed me from behind, locking my arms behind my back. The back of my head collided with their nose and they loosened their grip just long enough for me to use magic to throw them backwards. I spun around to another masked person and focused on lifting them up off the ground. They let out a gasp as they flew into the air. "Catch!" I yelled to the men I was fighting alongside. One of them, the dark haired man with the prosthetic arm, grabbed the cloaked figure out of the air and slammed them down into the stone ground. And with that, the fight was over. The remaining masked figures ran off into the city, while a few lay unconscious.

Out of breath, I glanced between the two men. The other one, having deep brown skin and the shadow of a go-tee, was the first to speak, "Let me ask you again. Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter," I said while slowly backing away, "But you're welcome." Before either could respond, I was off, making my way to the water for a quick escape.