The Mimic

158

3 weeks passed, and y/n was still in shock. Everyone was.

What was left of the team had all decided to stay in the compound just in case there were any urgent missions that they had to go on. Nobody was in a fit state to go on a mission, but they had no choice. The world was in complete disarray. The only hope that people had were the Avengers, but nobody really understood how icy their relationships really were with one another.

Being back in the compound was a surreal experience. It reminded everyone of the good times that they'd had. From stupid cooking competitions to birthdays and random karaoke nights. But now those sweet memories were poisoned. Poisoned by the remembrance of all the horrible things they'd said to one another, all of the fighting, all of the tears. The compound wasn't a pleasant place to be anymore, and it never would be again. It was now a cold building plagued with tense silence.

The last time that y/n had been in the compound was just before her fateful mission to Lagos, Nigeria. Unlike the rest of the team, she never had the option to pack her bags and leave. Her bedroom was still full of her personal belongings. Clothes, photos, little trinkets, the list went on. Her bed was still all messy, just like she'd left it. But this time it was covered in a quite noticeable layer of dust, and rightly so, that room hadn't been touched in years.

Y/n couldn't even set foot in her bedroom. The door had been left ajar, meaning that she could look inside, but she couldn't even bring herself to close the door. She couldn't. The compound didn't feel like home anymore. It was simply a building haunted with memories that should've been happy, but now every single experience seemed to either bring a tear to her eye or bubble her up with anger.

The memories with Tony or Bruce seemed to be the ones digging up a lot of the anger. She should've seen the signs. Bruce ran tests on her almost as soon as she arrived. Tony had put a tracker in her suit. She was never trusted to do a mission on her own, the team always had to be there. Bruce would keep a record of anything and everything about y/n. The more y/n thought about it, the more the little dots begun to connect. She was simply a lab experiment to them, just like she was with Hydra.

Everyone that she was close to - except Natasha - was gone.

T'Challa? Gone. Sam? Gone. Shuri? Gone. Wanda? Gone. Bucky? Gone. Scott? Guessed to be gone, but was missing in action during the fight. Peter? Guessed to be gone,  but the last time he was seen was with Tony.

Y/n would never admit it, but she wished that she would've been the one to get dusted. Life seemed to never give her a break. Everything bad either seemed to happen to her or around her. Getting dusted would've given her that peace. The only person that she wanted was Bucky, and he was gone. Not injured, not sick, not kidnapped. He was gone. And there didn't seem to be any way of reversing that snap.

*****

The team were currently all sat in one of the meeting rooms, just like old times. They were having their daily debrief of everything going on in the world. It was never positive. Of course it wasn't.

Y/n was sat with her knees against her chest, her chin resting tiredly atop her knees. She'd managed to find one of Bucky's sweatshirts that he'd left behind, and that had been the only thing that she'd been wearing. It still smelt like him. There wasn't much left of Bucky's belongings in the compound, he'd packed most of it up when he left on his trip to Romania, but there were a few small things left behind. Sweatshirts, a few baseball caps, and some other little trinkets. It wasn't much, but it was all that y/n had. She'd even tried to sleep in his bed, but the room was far too empty without him, so she ended up moving into Nat's room and sharing a bed with her.

Y/n wasn't listening to whatever Bruce was saying. She didn't want to. She was well aware of the tragedy that had just occurred, and being constantly reminded wasn't going to help. Y/n was completely spaced out, staring blankly at the wooden table in front of her. She just wanted the meeting to be over, and then she could leave - it wasn't like she'd be doing anything more entertaining outside of the meeting, but listening to Bruce drone on was insufferable.

However, there was one thing that caught y/n's attention, and that was the cereal bar that Nat had slid across the table toward her. She hadn't really been eating properly, and Natasha had seemed to notice that. Y/n wasn't doing it as an act of defiance, nor did she feel self conscious, it was just that she constantly felt sick. She'd watched her soulmate disappear before her eyes, and now she was back in the compound - a place that she'd sworn she'd never go back to. Eating wasn't really on the top of her list. She just wanted to close her eyes and never open them again, but that wasn't an option.

Y/n let out a slight sigh, lifting her gaze to meet Nat's eyes from across the table. She shook her head, mouthing a silent 'no thank you'. She pushed the cereal bar back to the centre of the table, but Nat was very quick to push it back in front of y/n.

Natasha wasn't taking 'no' for an answer. Of course she wasn't. She'd been with y/n for almost every hour of the three weeks. She'd been there through the tears and the anger, even the nightmares. Apart from Bucky, she knew y/n more than anyone, so to see her barely eating was painful. It just reminded her of how y/n and Bucky used to act when they were first rescued by the team.

Nat raised her eyebrows at y/n as she pushed the cereal bar back in front of her. She nodded toward her as if to motion for her to eat it, but y/n just seemed to shake her head and close her eyes. Natasha huffed quietly, leaning back in her chair as she secretly pulled her phone out of her pocket. If y/n was going to close her eyes and ignore her, Nat had to resort to other measures.

Y/n opened her eyes as her phone suddenly buzzed. Her eyebrows furrowed into a confused frown as she sat up a little straighter in her chair. Nobody ever messaged her, she barely had anyone's numbers. Of course, her mind immediately jumped to it being Bucky, which caused her whole chest to flare up with heartbreak for a few moments, but she kept her composure. Y/n reached into her pocket, making sure to keep it under the table as she switched it on. However, as soon as she switched it on, that confused frown turned into a mischievous smile.

'Eat the cereal bar, and then we can flick the crumbs at Steve.' 

That was all it took for y/n to begin eating. Any hint at a possible smile was enough. She wanted to laugh again, she wanted to smile, but it hadn't really seemed possible over the last few weeks. The cereal bar was actually pretty good, especially since she'd been nibbling on the same plain toast for days. She managed to finish it in only a matter of minutes, and her stomach was screaming at her for more, but there weren't any other snacks in the room.

The pair begun to slowly and carefully flick the crumbs at Steve, trying their hardest not to laugh and disturb the meeting. Steve's sweater was slowly but surely covered in little crumbs, and he didn't even notice. It reminded y/n of the times where everyone got along. Stupid little pranks like that were things that she really took for granted. But, before Nat could flick the final crumb, a blinding light outside illuminated the window.

It was a spaceship, being carried through the air by... someone? Y/n had no clue, but their powers looked amazing.