Time Unchanging

Chapter 109

Loki and Eva decided to train a bit more. Loki wanted to practice his knife and sword skills while Eva wanted to get used to using her abilities in combat.

While Loki's battling abilities had not faltered near as much as his use of his abilities had, as evident in the many missions he had helped with, he didn't want to rely on his powers as he had before. So, he was going to keep his skills honed like the edges of his blade.

Eva, while having threatened people, the only time she had ever used her powers to attack when she had started to go dark and thrown Bruce. She wanted to be able to call on them when under the stress of a battle.

Everyone else had gathered in the main room to talk after getting rid of the hidden cache. They had caught the tail end of the conversation and saw the look of surprise on Steve's face.

"When did you get so wise?" the blond super soldier asked. "Because the Bucky I know is dumb."

"Funny," Bucky said sarcastically before getting serious. "Look, I started to understand what Rayner was saying since the bond."

"That's great, Bucky," Sharon said, moving some of her hair from her face.

Bruce added, "Yes, it will help your brother and sister. We want to help too, right, precious?"

Wanda nodded and said, "Exactly. So, what can we do for them?"

Bucky gave a small smile. Everyone had accepted their strange sibling relationship with very little hiccups. It made it all the more real to him.

"Don't let them hide the flashbacks from you," he instructed. "And be friends with them. Especially the girls."

"Why specifically the girls?" Yelena asked.

Steve responded, "They respond better to you girls than they do anyone else. Plus, more friends."

Bucky knew this was only a small part of it. The truth was, since Eva and Loki had been brutalized by a woman, it was harder for them to get close to the female Avengers. He wanted them to see that not all women on the team were like their tormentor.

They responded well to Wanda because she had shown them kindness the day of their rescue and she didn't push too hard. Sharon, Yelena, and even Pepper were still up in the air at the moment.

Laura was in between as she had been made a victim of Nat's when the widow had taken her kids. They still were no closer to rescuing the three children, but that meant they accepted her enough to try and comfort her on the hard days, though it wasn't enough for them to call her a friend just yet.

"Whatever you say," Yelena laughed, hiding how it hurt that she wasn't fully accepted by Eva and Loki.

Suddenly, the lights went out. It wasn't a power outage as the monitor in the main room turned on. Everyone got ready to fight. All the lights going out was usually a sign that someone was breaking in or out.

The HYDRA symbol appeared on the holo screen and a woman's voice said, "You are receiving a message from Madam Hydra and her new associate, the Death Widow."

Steve looked at the image in shock, asking, "Who the hell is the Death Widow?"

As if answering the question, Nat's face appeared and she said, "Hello, dearest traitors. You can now call me the Death Widow."