The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 95

Juliana was dead to the world when Brooklyn carried her up the flights of stairs to their apartment.

Eighteen hours in a car could do that to a child, she supposed. Brooklyn had listened to the radio for a while, somewhere near the middle of the day, but when breaking news of Avenger activity in Korea had come on, she had taken a deep breath, and turned it off.

She didn't want to hear about it. Steve would tell her, when he came home.
They had left the Barton home maybe a couple of hours after Steve and his team had flown off. Despite Laura trying multiple times to try and convince Brooklyn to stay with her, Brooklyn felt it was better to return home. After everything that had happened, she needed the comfort of her own safe space to process things. Plus, she had been correct when she told Laura that Steve would come home first, before looking anywhere else for her, and she wanted to be there when he did.

The added bonus that it allowed to her to try and get Juliana back on her own schedule was also a deciding factor.

As she maneuvered the little girl out of her clothes, and into her night gown, before sliding her under the sheets and tucking her in, Brooklyn considered her own bed, before sighing. She turned on the night light, made sure her sister was truly out, and left the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. As much as she wanted to crawl into her own bed, she needed to unload the car. She needed to bring everything in, and put it away. If, for any reason, she got pulled over and her car searched, she would have a hard time explaining several of the weapons and gear, especially the ones which still held traces of her HYDRA past. With Steve being gone for god knows how long, it would not be so easy to call him up and ask him to come throw his weight around to keep her from being arrested.

Plus, he didn't need the distraction of her getting into trouble right now, not if she wanted him home in one piece and without a scratch.

God help anyone, or anything, that damaged him.

She stopped, holding the bags on her arms, taking a deep breath as the darkness nipped at her heels.

And for the first time in a long time, she didn't try to fight it

If he came home to her damaged beyond repair, or worse- didn't come home at all, she would burn the world in retaliation. She would lay siege to every country and every government that had ever turned their backs on him, and on what HYDRA had offered. She would soak in the blood of anyone who defied her. The metallic tang of blood would become her new perfume, soaking so far into her olfactory system that she would forget what anything but blood smelled like.

If Steve didn't come home, she would need it to keep from ripping her own heart out. The scent of blood would help chase away the phantom scent of him from her life, or she would reach into her own chest, rip out the offending organ that would insist on beating without him there to keep it warm, and crush the tissue and cartilage that kept her alive. She would offer it on the grave marker they would raise in honor of him, leaving it there, while she finally bled out.

She figured if she did it right, she would have about two minutes before her body suffocated from lack of blood and oxygen flow. That would be more than enough time to complete her last task.

Pops would make sure her body was properly disposed of. So, there was no worry on that front.

Maybe if she was dead, the darkness that remained of HYDRA would finally die out as well.

She took another deep breath, coming back to herself, pushing the darkness back in the box she had created for it, clearing her throat as she shut the tailgate of the Volvo, using the fob in her hand, before re-entering the apartment building. She took the stairs slowly, using each step to measure her breaths, until she was secure in the knowledge that, for another day at least, the darkness was quiet.