The Void - A Bucky Barnes Novel

Chapter 23. Guilt and Regret

Bucky didn't go to breakfast but he gave Sam permission to share the news about Molly's relapse, just not the details of what triggered it. He went to see Nate and his parents himself to tell them Molly was experiencing a form of PTSD from her relationship with Jack. Both of them were concerned about her and whether they should delay Nate's treatment to support her. Before Bucky could respond Nate spoke.

"Jack hurt Molly," said Nate, looking at his parents then past them. "Jack bad man. I hurt Jack."

Bucky kneeled down in front of Nate. "Buddy, what did you do?" he asked. "Please tell me so I can help Molly get better."

"Kick him," said Nate, still looking elsewhere. "Hard. Break the tie."

He looked up at Nate's parents who shrugged. They didn't understand what "break the tie" meant either and Nate wouldn't say anything more. With a sigh Bucky stood up.

"Go through with his treatment," he said. "What has happened to Molly is emotional and psychological. They didn't do any scans of her brain because they didn't want to disturb her empathetic abilities otherwise it would have shown up then. Shuri is going to treat her the same way they helped me. It's not going to be easy and I may have to leave her here when the quinjet repairs are complete. I'll tell Shuri what Nate said. Maybe it can help uncover what really happened to her."

Jessica and Dale hugged him, then took Nate for breakfast, saying they would see Bucky later in the medical centre. He went to Shuri, relaying to her what Nate had said.

"He said that much?" she asked. "By Molly's accounting Nate was only there for about week before Jack made the decision to take him out of the Void. I'm going to have to rescan Nate's brain to get to his memories. There's something there, something staring us in the face that we're not seeing."

"Did Molly say anything more?" asked Bucky.

Shuri looked to the cubicle where Molly was. "No, she's still asleep," she replied. "Her brain was exhausted, probably from the strain of keeping her Void memories with Jack suppressed. It's a common coping mechanism for victims of physical and sexual abuse unfortunately. I have, however, discovered who Jack was."

She motioned him into an office and set the windows into privacy mode. Then she looked at Bucky, still debating whether to show him. Full disclosure won out and she turned on the computer, entered her log-in information, then brought up Molly's memory image of Jack compared to the real image of Jack, a mug shot, from 2002.  It showed a man in his early thirties, shaved head, a skull tattooed over his entire face, and eyes that glared at the camera.  There was nothing to suggest he was the type of man who would help anyone.

"Jackson Miller," she said. "Gang member, arrested several times for sexual assault, assault with a deadly weapon, murder, extortion, ... not a good man. Disappeared without a trace on Christmas Day, 2004. He saved Molly probably because she was female and after six years without he was ... in need. Good for Nate for kicking him as even he recognized that Jack was evil." She hesitated for a moment then continued. "I described him as a wolf earlier. He is a wolf that is threatened by you, White Wolf. In his eyes you have stolen his mate.  Removing him from Molly's mind is going to be a very delicate process."

She closed the computer down and they both left the office. While Shuri returned to her readouts Bucky went to Molly's cubicle, sitting next to her bed. Her hand was on the sheet next to the edge and he placed his forehead on it for a moment, then kissed it and began waiting for her to wake up. At some point he became aware that Nate was there and he put his hand out to the boy drawing him in.  Nate allowed it, to his surprise.

"She's sleeping," said Bucky quietly. "Everything that Jack did to her is still in her memories. She tried to forget them but they won't let her and it's made her very tired."