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

Chapter 32

Malibu, California

The next morning, Christine was lying across the bed, obviously naked and partially covered by the sheet. "Good morning." A voice announced. Christine's eyes shot open at the sound of the voice. She even let out a short gasp, her body was covered barely by the covers. "It's 7:00 a.m." The voice continued and Christine grabbed the covers to protect her chest as she looked around to see the source of the voice. "The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds," J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke as the AI let the windows show the outside world. Each frame blinked open like a light, the viewer can almost assume that it isn't a window and just Tony's technology giving the sight but it is a window. Christine sat up, got out of the bed, and looked around before standing in front of the window.

Tony's mansion was hanging off the side of a cliff. The whole thing appeared to glow in the Malibu sunlight as it was purely made out of glass and white materials with the only flicker of colour being the swimming pool.

Christine walked through the house having pulled on a pair of underwear and a designer shirt one of which probably belonged to Tony. "Tony?" she called out as she walked out into a lounge area. "Hey, Tony?" She walked around for a while examining all of the art that Tony had up on the walls when she came across an access panel to one of the lower levels. She contemplated her next move for a moment before reaching out and touching the dial on the panel. The door access device flashed red and beeped loudly causing Christine to jump back.

"You are not authorized to access this area." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"Jesus," Christine said backing away.

Scarlet decided to speak up. "That's J.A.R.V.I.S.. He runs the house,"

The blonde nearly jumped out of her skin and screamed, before recognizing Scarlet and calming down. Christine put on her dazzling news report smile and shook the cyborg's hand despite Scarlet being uncomfortable with her presence.

"You must be Scarlet Silverthorne-Blake-Barnes-Dean. My name's Christine Everheart from Vanity Fair Magazine, we briefly met last night." She introduced herself with a smirk on her face. "So...how's it feel being Mr. Stark's assistant? Is he like his father?"

At this point, Scarlet was really craving her coffee because she was an absolute monster in the morning. Christine didn't seem to understand that she was not relaxed, and continued to pester Scarlet further.

"I hear you've been seeing this man with a metal arm." She laughed. "I also heard rumours that you killed your second husband and you threw yourself off a moving train in the alps in the 1940s going after a member of your team, are those rumors true?"

Scarlet then gave her an icy glare before giving her the most fake smile the cyborg could muster, trying to impersonate her as Scarlet lost her patience with the woman.

"Leave Lance Corporal Blake, Sergeant Barnes and James Dean out of this. Don't you dare speak their names. How's it feel being another pointless one night stand for Mr. Stark?"

In less than five seconds, it was Scarlet's turn to smile at the look on Christine Everheart's face. Her smug smile quickly faded before replaced with a deep frown.

"Excuse me you bitch?" Christine glared at Scarlet. "Says the one who was married two times. How does it feel to be a widow three times over?"

Scarlet's eyes darkened even more. "Don't you ever bring my family into this." She threatened. "Both my fiancé and first husband gave their lives for their country so you could live. You'll be excused from this property in under ten minutes, Nancy Drew."

"Hello, as Scarlet must have explained, that was J.A.R.V.I.S.. He runs the house." Pepper added, she was dressed in a business suit with high heels and her hair pulled back into a ponytail but the image of professionalism was somewhat ruined by the dry cleaning bag that she carried.