AVENGERS CIVIL WAR

Chapter 6

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The news of Peggy Carter's death flooded S.H.I.E.L.D HQ and Avengers Tower. Tony was stunned when he was told the news and quickly excused himself thereafter. Sharon openly gave way to tears and went to her room. Steve didn't cry. He was too numb, too heartbroken. He couldn't feel anything. Agents offered condolences and he nodded and weakly stumbled a reply, feeling as though this was a horrific nightmare.

He remembered the dance he never gave Peggy. The life they never got to have together. Their one kiss they shared that had given him the courage to face the impossible. The fact that he never would get to live a life with her. And now, she had passed on and Steve would have to face the rest of his life without her.

The very thought made his heart shatter.

Tony murmured a word of kindness to him, when he saw Steve. For a moment, the hostility between them diminished.

The funeral was that Sunday.

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Bucky Barnes opened his eyes and saw a plain white ceiling. Panic overcame him as he wondered where he was and how he'd gotten there. It took a moment to register; this was a hotel room.

Natasha came out of the bathroom, having just bathed, with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. She was startled and relieved to see Bucky awake.

"Who are you?" Bucky asked, with curiosity, gazing at the scantily dressed woman in front of him.

He doesn't remember me, Natasha thought. "Agent Natasha Romanoff. I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Does that name sound familiar?" She carefully asked. 

Somewhere in his mind that sounded like he'd heard of it before. "Sort of."

Natasha ran a brush through her long red hair. Bucky had never seen a woman so beautiful before and was transfixed.

"We're going to keep you safe," Natasha told him.

Bucky wanted to trust this woman but he held back. Decades of training taught him that. "How did you get me here?"

"I knocked you out with an injection which converted your mind to my brainwashing, which got you to follow my orders and escape. Then it was just some cognitive recalibration, once we got out."

"What?"

"I hit you really hard on the head." Natasha's lips formed a tiny smirk.

"So where am I right now?"

"A hotel room in Moscow. I was going to let you wake up before heading back to New York." Her eyes looked him up and down. "You can trust me."

Bucky felt unusually calm. He felt as though he knew her, and her presence was reassuring. Something told him to trust her. He'd never in (what he could recall) of his life, trusted anyone. He drew in a soft breath.

"You'll get me out of here?"

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"Exactly how do you want the funeral prepared, Sir?" Maria inquired, sitting across from Nick Fury who was at his desk. She pulled out a notepad.