❝Whatever happens, I will never stop loving you.❞
. . .in which they are broken and battered, but their love for one another is what keeps them from completely falling apart.
[BOOK TWO]
[Highest ranking: #9 in fanfiction as of 5/26/18]
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★ ★ ★
It had been nearly two hours since the incident back at the Berlin facility. The afternoon sun shone brightly in the sky, and Marlena wanted nothing more than to be able to go out and enjoy it. She couldn't, though, as she was stuck hiding from government officials in a remote location with Steve and Sam. She was tired of running, but she knew she had to if it meant saving Bucky.
After temporarily incapacitating Steve, Marlena, and Sam in a single setting, Bucky had taken off on a rampage through the facility. He had fought off multiple people, including Tony, Sharon, Natasha, and T'Challa. Steve—who Bucky had thrown down an elevator shaft—had been the one to stop him in his haste to make an escape. This led to a helicopter wreck and Steve pulling an injured and unconscious Bucky out of a small body of water, much like Bucky had done to him a mere two years ago.
Marlena sat on the floor of the warehouse they were hiding in, holding her aching head in her hands. The effects of the suppressors were beginning to wear off, leaving Marlena in a state of pain. Her entire body was bursting with pain, but the pain in her head was what seemed to bother her the most. It was as if she could feel her powers trying to push themselves to the surface, only to be thwarted in their actions by what remained of the serum inside her veins. Her mind was playing a nasty game of tug-of-war with the suppressors, and it was one game she did not want to play.
Steve looked over at Marlena from his spot against the wall, his face falling when he noticed the way she was curled up in her seat on the floor. He glanced over at Bucky, and when he saw that he was still very much unconscious, he strolled over to Marlena. He knelt down in front of her, reaching his hand out to touch her arm. Since leaving Vienna, he had been attempting to distance himself from her due to the occurrence that had taken place back at Peggy's funeral, and it had worked to an extent, but as he watched her writhing in pain on the floor he couldn't bring himself to stay away from her.
"What's wrong, Mar?" he asked, his voice soft.
Marlena squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to shut out the pain, but it didn't exactly work. "My head—it hurts. I'm pretty sure Tony's dumb suppressors are finally starting to wear off and it's killing me. I feel like my head's about to explode."
Steve furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to remember what happened the last time she was taken off the suppressors. He couldn't remember her being in so much pain and that worried him. "Was the pain this extreme the last time you were taken off the suppressors?"
"No," Marlena told him. "But back then my abilities were weak compared to what they are now. Tony concocted the suppressors to conform to the strength of my abilities. I guess the stronger I become, the stronger the suppressors have to be."
"I've always hated the thought of using the suppressors on you," Steve sighed. "I just don't think it's fair to strip you of your nature like that. I never have thought it was fair; neither did Bucky."
