S U P E R N O V A - MARVEL

Chapter 12: Bucky and Nova

They were being escorted in a van. They had been captured by Hydra, but Nova had her eyes on her lap, she couldn't get the image of Bucky's face out of her head, it was a puzzle she couldn't put together, couldn't find the pieces to. She knew him, how did she know him? Where did she see him? What couldn't she remember? Nova closed her eyes and concentrated.

A few months ago

Nova slept peacefully in her bed, inside the confines of her small apartment. The bedroom was dark, only the moonlight coming through from the windows, mildly illuminating the room. And there he sat. In front of her, the winter soldier. Hydra's deadly assassin, silently watching Nova Adler sleep.

Hydra had sent him to kill off Nova, she was a future threat to Hydra, she was too powerful, she wasn't supposed to happen. She was an anomaly, a glitch in the system, wrong place at the wrong time. He was given the mission to finish her off, make it look like an accident.

When he first entered the room, he held up a gun, easy, quick. She was a lazy and an irresponsible girl. She didn't have any security, her windows stayed unlocked. She didn't care. However, when he stood there, with a gun in his hand, ready to shoot, he found himself unable to do so. For the first time, he couldn't. The Winter Soldier couldn't do it. He surveyed her. He got closer, bent down beside her bed, slightly tilting his head, staring at her sleepless body.

He placed the gun aside and settled down on the couch next to her bed, stared at her. What was it? Why couldn't he do it? What was he going to report back? He was scared. But he couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. He wasn't going to do it.

Suddenly, Nova shifted, The Winter Soldier startled a bit. But she was harmless, still in a deep slumber. Who was she? Why couldn't he do it? He got up from the couch. And towered over her. He held out his hand, and gently touched her head. Suddenly, he saw a flicker of blue energy between the skin of his hand and her head, he looked down at it, confused. The mist died down. He exited her room. And he left. He didn't get the job done.

Nova opened her eyes wide open. She had been in his head, she saw his life, his memories, up until the moment he touched her head, she saw everything. His relationship with Steve, his life as the Winter Soldier. She saw it all that night, in the form of a dream. She never recalled it once she woke up. She never cared enough to. She felt eerie and uneasy, she couldn't reveal it to Steve just yet, it was too hard to explain, she didn't understand it either. But all that she understood was that she knew him, and he let her go, when he could have killed her.

Suddenly one of the guards pulled out an electric rod, we thought it was for us but they neutralised the other guard and knocked him out, The guard took off their helmet. Maria Hill.

"Ah, that thing was squeezing my brain." She looked at Nova, "Good to see you again, Nova Adler," She moved her gaze to Sam, "Who's this guy?"

~

Hill had taken them to an old and dungy secret facility. As they entered it, a man ran to Natasha. "GSW. She's lost at least a pint."

It was a doctor, "Let me take her," He said.

"She'll want to see him first." Hill said. We walked into a room, perplexed to see Nick Fury, alive on the bed.

"About Damn time." He said, he focused on Nova, "Oh and I see you brought poor little Stark into this." Nova grinned.

"Well, I couldn't let your death go unavenged now could I?" She teased.

The doctor started treating Nat's wound. "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache." Fury listed down his injuries.

"Don't forget your collapsed Lung." The doctor said.

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good." Fury joked.

"They cut you open, your heart stopped." Nat recalled.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." Fury explained.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asked.

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." Maria Hill explained.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead."Fury added. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

~
Steve stood on a bridge, looking ahead at nothing, intoxicated by his thoughts. Nova walked out of the facility, and stood next to him. "I'm sorry, Cap." She said. "About Bucky." She said this out of sheer sympathy, because she saw it all, the relationship between him and Steve, It almost felt as if she knew Steve the way Bucky did.

Steve nodded, "He was my best friend."

"Do you think we can get him back?" She asked.

"I don't know." Steve said. There was silence for a minute, Nova was in a war in her head, she didn't know if she should tell Steve, and she didn't know how she was going to tell him.

"Steve, I need to-" She was interrupted by Sam.

"He's gonna be there, you know?" Nova looked back to see the voice came from Sam.

"I know," Steve said, sorrowful.

"Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop." Sam advised.

"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you." Sam said.

"Maybe he does." Nova said, almost as if she was sure. She had been in his mind, she knows he's capable.

"He will." Steve said. He walked away, "You two, Gear up, it's time."

"You gonna wear that?" Sam asked.

"No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform." Steve said.

"Damnit! I don't have my suit!" She complained to Sam.

"Do you really need a suit to fly and shoot blue stuff out of your hands?" He joked.