A Birdie Lost in Time | Bucky Barnes

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She slipped off her pants, pulling down the pencil skirt she'd tucked into them before shrugging off the blue jacket with PRESS printed across it big grey letters. Beneath, she wore a long sleeve white button up, her fingers begrudgingly tying the dangling fabric from around the collar into a bow; making her feel like a gift; wrapped and on display.

Last one.

Running her fingers through her hair, she stepped from behind the barracks she'd appeared at. After checking for passersby, she rounded the corner, walking straight to the key pad where she punched in the code Steve promised would work.

If it didn't...

Before she could think that far, the pad blinked green and she slipped inside, shoulders relaxing as the elevator started to drop.

She descended to the fourth level, following the vague instructions Steve gave her into a ware-house-like space, packed to her shoulders with stuff—unrecognizable tech, experiments, and schematics.

A giant underground workshop.

She was weaving her way past boxes and desks when voices drifted towards her, urging her to slip behind a machine just in time to see Tony and Howard Stark pass her. They spoke about something she didn't catch, but her mind wasn't focused on their words.

She hadn't known Tony, but she watched him give the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of the universe could continue. Watched as each person around him took a knee, grief thick in the air. They knew it wasn't enough, but it was all any of them could do.

Seeing him was a surreal moment that had her head spinning.

He's alive.

But also not.

Not for long.

A bark of laughter knocked her from her stupor, and she pressed on, trying to retrace the steps to wherever Tony had just came from.

Alive, her mind repeated.

If the name plate above the large storage unit wasn't indication enough, the red hot and still smoking hinges were the tell-tale sign that she'd found the right desk. Pulling open the unit, she found a void shaped perfectly for the cube within her case before her eyes landed on a pair of heavy duty pincers she assumed had only one purpose.

Opening the case, she pulled the cube out carefully, sliding it into the void and not wasting another moment to push the unit closed and split.

Her eyes watched the clock in the elevator as she descended further into the base, running through the directions Steve gave her to get to Pym's lab.

"Sixth level, straight from elevator D, left at the fork, it's on the right, double doors; can't miss it."

"Would you like to draw me a map?"

"I just want to make sure you're prepared."

"It's one left turn from the elevator. I think I've got it."

She followed the instructions, stopping herself at a cork board as she made herself look busy, waiting, only moments, for a shaggy haired doctor to run from the lab. After him, she watched Steve slip through the door.

Alright, hurry up old man.

A few moments passed and he was back out, so without hesitating, Marlow went straight for the door, slipping in undetected.

Her eyes scanned the room; from the tables piled high with ant paraphernalia, bottles, and notes, to the different glass chambers that seem to make up half the walls in the lab. Then she caught sight of the red vials on the far wall to her left.