A Little Song Bird

Setting the Stage

August 12, 2019

3:46 pm

The two words have been on repeat since he called.

Code black

"An old friend of mine called with an important message about some alien with a chip on his shoulder and a thing for glowing rocks...."

Fury's words fade as he drones on. Never did I think I'd live long enough to see this code put into effect. When it was first introduced, I thought Fury was joking. That he was fucking with me, until he dragged me into his office and showed me Goose. Fucking orange feline the proceeded to vomit a blue cube right on his desk.

That was almost 30 years ago.

Since then I have never questioned that man.

Not that I couldn't believe in the aliens bit, fucking look at my life. If that is possible, so aren't little green men.

No, I never wanted to believe a day would come where Fury would want me in charge.

"Just to make sure we are on the same page, our Asgardian friends have returned to their home world."

Loki.... Fuck all of that seems like a lifetime ago. All I can do is stare at the file in my hands, put there by Fury, his words barely register. Little does he know I've had it memorized since he wrote the damn thing in '96. Might be mentally unstable but I'm not an idiot.

"Adhara is going to be in charge, she's going to outrank me. Anything she says goes."

Any protocol involving me or Bucky I have memorized. There are days when I wish we could activate BAHAMA, though that seems like a waste of a file at this point.

Code Black

"You're seriously putting her in charge?" Steve's sharp tone drags me from my thoughts, the voices take pause, before urging me to kill him. Kill him, pet, show him who will win the war. "She isn't even all there! She can't perform a mission without her earbuds and you're trusting her to wage an INTERGALACTIC WAR?"

I don't get the chance to defend myself before Bucky has crossed the room and Steve pinned to the wall by his throat, the thud of his dense body silences the whole room. "No one gets to talk about my doll like that, not even you Steve." Bucky jerks him against the wall again, pure rage has creased his forehead and shaped his eyes into near daggers.

"That's enough!" Fury barks and slams a file on the table, I'm pretty sure all the others are holding their breath. Gripping the edge of the file in one hand, in an attempt to stay in control, I stride across the room. If anything I've learned after loving this man for so long, it is his own unrelenting care for me.

Laying a hand on Bucky's shoulder, the muscle taunt under my fingers. "Not now, Bucky." I whisper but he doesn't move, in fact I watch his fingers tighten as Steve grasps at the metal. Never have I seen him lose control like this, something has been slowly building between them for far too long.

The screams beg for bloodshed but somewhere I find the strength to shove them away. Killing Steve is the last thing I should do right now.