Bloodborne: First Blood {1}

Chapter 𝟙𝟙 - The Saddest Song

"Doll, your no fun."

"You're extremely drunk Bucky and so is Steve!"

"So?"

"Steve is mumbling about giraffes flying, he might be drunker than you."

"Tina- what do you you think giraffes would look like without the spots?"

"That's it, you two are going home to rest."

"Doll-"

"Doll nothin', you need to go home."

I thought about the many memories I had of Steve and Bucky as I stepped up the stand at their funerals. I pulled the jacket of my S.S.R of uniform closer to me, I was planning to go back to the base later for some unfinished business.

Even though Steve had gotten a lot of national attention with him being Captain America, the joint funeral for him and Bucky was kept small.

"First of all, I'd like to thank you all for being here for Steve and Bucky," I spoke to the guests trying not to cry any more than I already had in the past few days. "When I was younger, those boys kept me going through everything. And I can't be more grateful than I already am to have known them for this long and I'll— miss them."

The guests were quiet, I saw Peggy and the rest of the Howling Commandos in the front row.

"...I would like to share one of my favorite memories of Steve and Bucky with you all." I swallowed, knowing such a thought might break the emotional barrier had I put up. "Bucky and I were 17 and it had just been Steve's 16th birthday a week ago. All of us walked past this beautiful music store that was in the middle of Brooklyn—" I paused, feeling an onslaught of tears ready to run down my face. "There was a big piano in the store window and I'd just stare at it every time we saw it. One day Bucky and Steve caught me looking at it and the next thing I knew, they showed up at my door with a book filled with sheet music so I could practice reading it."

Instead of breaking down like I thought I would, I felt strangely happy remembering what happened after that. "And after I thanked them, Steve said they when they were rich of course, they would get me the real thing sooner or later, and then, Bucky elbowed him for 'ruining the surprise'." I chuckled. "I've held onto that story for many years, Bucky and Steve embraced my dreams like they were their own and they were the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for." As I walked down from the stand back to my seat next to Howard, I heard the crowd clap.

"You did great." Howard whispered.

"Thanks." I watched as Colonel Phillips went up to say his parting words but, I had one thing on my mind.

—♫—
I opened a cell door and closed it behind me to be met with the stare of Dr. Armin Zola.

"Agent Harding. What a surprise."

"I didn't come to start a fight, I want to...talk."

"So, this isn't about avenging Mr. Stars and Stripes? Interesting carry on."

I dug my nails into my palm, this was a man who had gotten many good people killed, and I had to stop myself from ripping him apart.

"One of Schmidt's men had this...weapon that blew a hole into the train you were on. I need to know what was it?"

"It's far beyond your understanding."

"I bet you don't understand whatever that was more than I do. Start talking I don't have all-day Zola."

"Or what agent Harding." He looked at me smugly, thinking he was untouchable.

"You know, they said not to kill you but, they never said anything about a little—intimidation." I walked to the doctor, his confidence slowly washed away as I grabbed his neck. Routinely, I felt a bit of static shock as my veins became more visible. I felt the blood drain from Zola. His complexion faded.

"Alright-alright- stop!" He said, his voice was muffled. I let go of his neck and folded my arms.

"Talk."

—♫—
I walked out of the cell to be met by Peggy and Howard's concerned faces.

"What?"

"Christina- please tell me he's alive." Howard started.

"What? Yes, of course, he's alive!" They both sighed.

"Bloody hell Tina you scared me. What were you even doing in there?"

"Getting helpful information now, will you two listen?"

Peggy paused before she started to talk, "Go on."

"Zola said that those weapons that Schmidt was using are powered by this thing called the Tesseract, it's supposedly from Odin's treasure. He was going to use it to take over the world."

Peggy raised her eyebrows. "Excellent work agent Harding, Howard try and get some more information on this, Tesseract. Tina, we need to put this on file."

"We'll figure this out Peg, even if we have to do this ourselves."

                                       —♫—
I laid down right next to Howard, tired from my workday but still, for some reason I couldn't fall asleep.

It wasn't because of nightmares, I knew that for sure. Instead, veins again covered my body but they were thinner, weaker, and looked like they could collapse at any moment. My blood circulation was off and, I didn't know why but it had made my abilities less than what they used to be. No matter how tired this made me, I couldn't sleep.

So I did the only thing I could think of that might put me to rest. I got up slowly from the bed so I wouldn't wake Howard up, I closed the door behind me as I made my way downstairs.

I sat down at the piano in Howard and I's home playing "Take the 'A' Train" one last time to honor Steve and Bucky. All while I had a whole new life planned out for myself. The piano took my mind away from the thoughts of me getting weaker to my future.

I originally was going to resign from the S.S.R after the war ended and live my life with Howard but I realized, there was more to this job, something pulled me towards it and I wanted to be a part of it.

I heard from Peggy that she was starting a new operation in New York, my home.

If I wasn't going to do this for myself, I was going to do it for Steve and Bucky, no matter how hard it gets.

I'll become part of the shield that people need.