Marvel: Short stories

The Harbinger - Part 1 - Bucky x Reader

"It can't be her." Natasha said quietly, as she looked through the two way mirror at the woman in the interrogation room. As much as she tried to convince herself that the female in front of her, that was strapped to the bolted down table, a power limiter securely around her neck, was not the girl she remembered from the Red Room, deep down she knew it was.

"It's her, you know it is Nat." Bucky said, placing his hand on her shoulder, trying as best he could to reassure the agent.

"But (Y/n) was older than me when I was first taken to that hell hole, this woman looks younger than I do." Natasha said, looking at Fury in hopes of some answers.

Fury stood at the back of the darkened room; his arms crossed as he watched the woman in the other room sit motionless as she had done for the past few days.

"It seems that that is one of the side effects of one of the many serums she was given. From what we have been able to find out, her cells are constantly rejuvenating, which makes your old friend immortal." Fury said, coming up to the mirror and standing next to Natasha.

"Many serums?" Natasha asked, looking back at the woman.

"Yes." Bruce said, pushing his glasses back up his nose as he looked through the medical file.

"It would appear that not only does she have the same serum flowing through her veins as Steve and Bucky, but there are at least 10 others that we have been able to detect. I can only imagine the pain she must have been through, how many times she was experimented on; we did a full body scan, and although physically she is in perfect shape, I would bet that the serums are covering up the fact that she was tortured repeatedly." Bruce said, looking apologetically at Natasha.

"Have you been able to get her to tell you anything yet?" Bucky asked, his eyes never leaving the woman that he remembered going on numerous missions with.

"Not yet, every time we bring her into the room, she just sits there, not moving, not talking, most of the time it barely looks like she's breathing." Fury told him, annoyed that they hadn't been able to get someone that could be a valuable asset to their side, to even look him in the eye.

"I'll talk to her." Natasha said suddenly, making for the door, only to find herself stopped by a metal hand gripping on to her wrist.

"We'll talk to her." Bucky said, smiling sadly as he looked away from the young woman for the first time since he had entered the room.

"We need you to get her to tell us everything she can about the Red Room and HYDRA; if we can get her to understand, then I want to bring her over to us. I don't want to waste such a valuable asset, but if I have to I will." Fury said, throwing the file to Bucky, as he and Natasha left the room.

As she placed her hand on the door, Natasha couldn't help but remember the young woman she used to know. (Y/n) wasn't like the rest of the girls, she had abilities that none of the others had, abilities that the Red Room put to great use. She was never a widow, instead they called her 'The Harbinger' because wherever she went, death followed.

(Y/n)'s psionic abilities made her a dangerous creature, but to Natasha and many other girls in the Red Room, she was like the big sister that they never had; she would use here abilities to make the guards lose their memories, or knock them unconscious just so that she could care for the girls, (Y/n) had been a beacon in Natasha's dark world, but she had not seen her since HYDRA had taken her to join with the Winter Soldier, a fact that she would never forgive them for.

Bucky watched Natasha's hand hesitate on the handle, he could understand why she didn't want to rush in, he could remember how dangerous the young woman was; he could remember their missions, how with only a look, she could destroy an army. He remembered seeing her tortured, remembered how she had fought, how she had tried everything to not become a mindless killing machine; but even the strongest eventually fall to their knees, and when she had, she was the perfect partner for the Winter Soldier. He remembered too what she had meant to him; at the end of a successful mission, she was his reward, her body to do with as he wished; but she had wanted him just as much as he wanted her, they were the only comfort, the only brief period of peace that the two had, then he had left her to the horror on her own, and now he was not sure what they faced.

"Together." Bucky said with a sad smile, placing his hand on Natasha's and turning the handle.

The two stood in the doorway as the eyes of (Y/n) suddenly shot up to look at the pair, a subtle smirk growing on her lips as they finally entered.

"Ah, so Fury has had no luck, so he sends in the big guns." The Harbinger laughed menacingly, as Natasha and Bucky walked into the room, and took a seat across the table from her.

"Natalia, Soldier, so nice to see you both again after all these years." The woman hissed, her dark eyes glaring at the two people in front of her.

"But, I am wrong........ now it is Natasha and Bucky, is it not?" She asked, as Bucky and Natasha began to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"We of course have others at our little reunion, I really should greet them as well." (Y/n) said, closing her eyes briefly, as she turned her head to face the two way mirror.

"Now let me see." (Y/n) mussed, opening her eyes, and looking into the room next door.

"Of course, we have director Fury, but that is only to be expected; and I see we also have Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde, how are you Doctor Banner? Have you and Stark, next to you been able to find out everything that was done to me yet, have you found out all my little secrets?" (Y/n) chuckled, moving her gave, deeper inside the room.

"And of course, we can't have one super soldier without the other, it is nice to finally meet the star spangled banner himself. It would appear that the only things we are missing is an archer and a god." (Y/n) smiled, looking back at a shocked Bucky and Natasha.

"How does she know that we are all here?" Tony asked, looking at Bruce.

"I thought that the power limiter would stop all her powers, the damn thing must be faulty." Tony said, moving up to the mirror.

"To answer your question Mr. Stark........ no, it's not faulty. Did you really think that this little trinket around my neck could limit all my power? I didn't go through years of torture to be brought down by anything your and Banner's pathetic minds could come up with.

Before anyone could react, (Y/n) pulled her arms free of the chains that held her to the table, her hand reaching up and crushing the power limiter in her fist, smiling widely as Bucky and Natasha jumped up from their seats, the rest of the team falling unconscious as the Harbinger wielded her full power.

"Please, I have no desire to harm any of you; in fact, we share the same enemy; but unlike the rest of you I have no desire to be told what to do by Fury or SHIELD, I will never be controlled by anyone again. I have been waiting days for Fury to bring you two to me, and now he has I have something to tell you." (Y/n) said calmly, rising to her feet, and breaking the chains around her legs.

"I will bring down HYDRA and the Red Room myself if I have to, I will not let them destroy another life as they did yours and mine. If you wish to work together then you can consider me a friend, if not....... then I warn you not to get in my way. I loved you as a sister Natasha, and I loved the man that gave me the only peace I ever experienced; but if you get in my way, consider yourself collateral damage." (Y/n) told them, as for the first time she looked at the two Avengers with soft eyes.

"Now, I believe that there are things that I have to do, and as much as I have enjoyed my sojourn at Director Fury's pleasure, I really can't stay any longer." (Y/n) said, a portal appearing next to her as she moved her hand.

"We shall meet again my old friends; hopefully you will all have been able to see that we fight for the same thing, and do give my apologises to the rest of your team when they wake from their brief rest. Until next time." (Y/n) said, as she stepped into the portal, which instantly closed behind her.

Bucky and Natasha looked at one another; despite what they had believed as they had stepped into that room, (Y/n) had now changed everything, and no matter what was to come, they knew that they would see her again.