In Another Life | Sergeant James 'Bucky' Barnes / The Winter Soldier + Ikaris

Chapter 15

Scarlet had seen some horrible sites and scenes. She had witnessed events from nightmares, but none of them matched the scene she was walking onto.

"Are you the SSR folks?" The detective at the door asked.

Thompson nodded and showed his ID. "What the hell happened here, detective?"

"Hell if I know. I've got 47 dead, heads bashed in, eyes gouged out. Not a single survivor. Come on."

Scarlet was fairly certain that she didn't want to see the damage, but it was, unfortunately, part of the job description.

The entire lobby of the theater was lined up with bodies under sheets.

"Good Lord," Peggy said in disbelief.

"It's like some kind of monster got in," the detective said. "Never seen anything like it."

"All this happened inside the theater?" Sousa asked.

"This way," the detective led Sousa and Peggy away.

Scarlet followed Jack towards the body of a man that was being photographed.

It was a horrible sight. The man's face was a mess of scratches, bite marks covered his shoulders and his skin was covered in blood.

Jack bent down and lowered the sheet a bit more, until they could see his hand, which was holding a clump of hair.

"No monster killed these people," Scarlet said, looking around at the other bodies, and then at Jack. "They killed each other."

"What on Earth could have caused them to do this to each other?"

"I have no idea," Red murmured, fighting down the urge to throw up.

"Come on," Jack walked into the theater, which was full of personal effects of the victims. Clothes, shoes, purses and wallets littered the ground. Most of it was covered in blood.

"This was done in blind rage," Scarlet said quietly.

"What could Stark have created to induce this?" Jack asked.

A man began to cough violently, getting Scarlet and Jack's attention. It was Agent Sousa.

"Sousa!" Jack walked toward the agent, Red and Peggy following. "Sousa! Hey. Hey, what happened?" He knelt next to the man, grabbing his shoulders.

Sousa stared at him for a moment, before grabbing him by his suit and shoving him to the ground with a yell.

"Daniel!" Peggy launched herself onto Sousa and tried to pull him back.

Sousa turned and elbowed her in the face, sending her tumbling back.

Scarlet grabbed a baton from a police officer and used it to smack Sousa on the back of the head, sending him to the ground.

Jack sat up and pushed himself away from his unconscious friend, grabbing his throat and coughing. "What the hell?" He asked, looking at Peggy, who was bent over and breathing hard.

"Are you guys alright?" Scarlet asked, handing the baton back to the officer she had taken it from.

Peggy straightened and looked down at Sousa, who was being restrained. "He didn't hit me that hard."

"Blind rage, right?" Jack asked, pushing himself to his feet.

Scarlet nodded, "yes."

"That's what that was. I've never seen so much anger in one man's eyes."

"Why would Howard make something like this?" Scarlet asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"Mister Stark is going to have a lot to answer for when we find him."