SURVIVORS - A Bucky Barnes FanFiction

Chapter 2: Time

The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an Allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Dr. Erskine and myself were one of the founders. As young as 15 years old, I created one single pill that would get rid of your headache in an instant. At the age of 17, I graduated from special nurse training and ended top of my class. At the age of 20, I was the first female and youngest doctor the world had ever known. Or actually, hadn't known. The program recruited me the moment they saw my potential, however, this meant my achievements could not be shared with the world. The formulas of my final products would be given to much older, male, doctors. There was always a part of me with rage and sadness, seeing my achievement being celebrated by others. However, over time I learned my medicine helped millions. The smiles of cured people and thankful faces of gratitude have always kept me going.

Two years back I had the fortune of meeting Peggy Carter, who at the time was also struggling to find her place in a man's world. We met during Special Force training, her being top of the class of course. The only thing I'd seen at the time was the inside of a lab, a operation table and my bedroom. Let's just say I wasn't the most athletic person there. She helped me train and within 2 weeks, I was ranked 3rd of the class. I am lucky to call her my best friend, one of my only friends really. I prefer quality over quantity, however due to me being the youngest and only female in my line of work, quantity equals zero. I've told her about Steve and Bucky the moment I heard their stories. It's motivations like theirs that me me believe we can actually win this war. She chuckled at their relationship and promised me to keep an eye out in case she trains one of them. And as luck might have it, she is now training the love of her life. She doesn't know it yet, too stubborn to admit, but I know they are made for each other. I smile as I am already planning their wedding in my head.

A door opens and Agent Carter herself walks into my lab. "What are you smiling about, red?" she says. I shrug my shoulders. "Nothing in particular." She shakes her head and smiles. "God, how I would love to see into your head sometime." "How's Steve doing?" I say with a smirk. She facepalms herself but I see her trying to suppress a smile. "He brought down the halfway-point flag today." I widen my eyes. "Nobody's got that flag in 17 years." She shrugs as I nod my head. "Respect, Rogers. Respect." I whisper. "So Doc, what have you been working on?" I wait a second before answering. "Do you remember when I said I started working on a super duper secret project a year ago that nobody, not even Dr. Abraham Erskine, knows of?" "But me?" I roll my eyes. "But you." She smiles. "Yes, I remember you almost tried to bloody hit me when you thought I accidently rat you out to the commander." I wave the accusation away.

"Yeah, yeah, that. Anyway, I haven't told you the complete truth." She frowns and sits down. "Do tell." I sigh and open the box on top of the lab table. A green glow meets our eyes and inside the box there is a stone. A green, glowing stone. Peggy's eyes widen and she looks at me confused. "About a year back, just before we even thought about creating the Super Serum, I was working on a healing project. I wanted to create a pill that could heal any wound, no matter the size. We all knew the war was coming, and the nurse in me just had to do something. I was working late and fell asleep during one of my tests. When I woke up, this box was on my table with a note saying 'this is the final peace you need, keep it safe. Tell and show no one. You have two years."

Peggy listens carefully as I continue. "I first thought it was a prank by one of the other doctors but as time passed I got curious and started experimenting." I pause and walk to the cabinet with sharp tools. I take out a small pocket knife and sit back down in front of Peggy. "Don't be scared." I say, before I lift up my sleeve and make a deep cut in my skin. I take a sharp breath as the pain rushes through my veins. "Are you mental?! What are you-" she shouts but immediately stops as she sees the blood stream back into the wound. The deep cut heals within seconds and Peggy looks at it, flabbergasted. "I experimented a bit too much and somehow the stone went through me, allowing me to use it's power." She look up from my arm, confusion still lingering in her eyes. "It allows me to turn back time, just a few minutes. The longest I've tried to go is 5 hours, no more." A moment passes as Peggy processes everything I just told her. "So, you can... time travel?" I chuckle. "Sadly,no. I can't physically take my body somewhere back in time. Maybe I would be able to do that with the stone but I haven't tried. This... power allows me to heal wounds, taking the body back in time to its original state, before the wound."

She nods slowly. "But that's not all." I say as I put out my hand. "Do you trust me?" She puts her arm in my hand. "With my life," she smiles. A small smile forms on my lips and I slowly make a cut in her arm. I look at her pained face and quickly put the knife down. I cover the wound with my hand and a green grow forms beneath it. I retrieve my hand and no scar can be found on her arm. Peggy's mouth is open, amazement shown all over her face. "Y/N, you know what this means right? You can heal everyone. Every soldier, every man, every person fighting this war!" she says enthusiastically.

My face saddens. "That's the thing. The bigger the injury, the more energy it takes from me. I would love to be able to heal everyone, for a moment I actually believed I could. But the more I tried to heal, the more it drained me. That's why for the past 5 months I've been trying to recreate the effect I have on wounds into a pill." Peggy nods understandably and takes my hand. "You don't know how, do you love?"

I bite my lip and fight back the tears. "I've been given a gift that no one can know, no one can see and I can't use to heal the ones who need it. It's so stupid!" I let out a sob. "Why would you give me this when I can't even save the people I love!" Peggy's face saddens as she pulls me into a tight hug. "You couldn't save your dad Y/N, power or not. He was already declared dead before even arriving at the med point." A tear rolls down my eye and I let out a sigh. "I know." I say with a broken voice. "But he deserved better." "I know love, I know."

We stand there for a moment, the silence and pair of arms around me providing comfort. I loosen the hug and look at Peggy. She wipes away my tears and we start laughing. "I don't want to know how I look right now." I chuckle and she shrugs. "You're my beautiful panda," she winks. I shake my head and we start packing my stuff. I put the box with the stone inside my back and we walk towards the exit. Peggy pauses a moment before opening the door. "Y/N?" I turn to her. "Can I ask you for a favor?" I smile and nod. "Always." "It's about Steve... I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. And I'm scared of losing him. Can you promise me you do everything in your power to keep him alive?" She looks at me with a hopeful gaze. I nod, not feeling the need to say anything else. She nods back and opens the door, the fresh evening air stroking my cheeks.