stay ; 𝐬. 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 , 𝟐

04 | winter is coming

0 4

winter is coming

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"The Winter Soldier?" Nat said, incredulous. "But...he's just a ghost story." She looked uncomfortable with being in the room, and Cara felt a bit bad for her. Obviously there was some history between those two.

Steve cut her off. "No, Natasha, you know that's not true, it's not worth pretending to believe it." He turned to look Pietro in the eye, and asked evenly, "how do you know?"

Wanda came back without hesitation. "Because they want us, too. Skull wanted to find us, and now they have. We only just got away from the last attack."

"But about Bucky," Steve redirected the conversation towards his friend, "what about him? Why do they want him?"

"It's like we said," Pietro answered, "they want a soldier that will fight for them. Someone who won't ask questions."

"He won't ask questions because he can't," Nat shot out, frustration clear on her face. "They've brainwashed him so many times, I'm surprised he can even remember his own name."

"Some days he couldn't," Steve said softly, and looked down at his feet for a second. He didn't move, but Cara caught the slight slump of his shoulders, the defeatist way he was standing in front of the group.

It made Cara's heart break even more to think that this beautifully broken man was supposed to be the leader of the Avengers.

But before she could reach out with a comforting hand, he lifted his head. He didn't even look as if he'd broken down. Steve's facial expression was livid. "We need to find him. We need to get to him before this Skull gets to him, and then we'll take them down, get rid of them before they can take you, or anyone else." His words were strong, but Cara still sensed the shakiness underneath. He was worried about his friend, this Bucky Barnes that she'd never met.

"It's not that easy," Wanda objected, and they heard a chorus of agreements from most of the others in the room. "You can't just pluck him from all their plans. They may be a relatively young organization, but they aren't stupid. These plans, these attacks, they've been planned for months. Years, even."

"There's no stopping it, is there?" Bruce said quietly, hanging back in the corner, just now coming into the conversation. "Whatever we do, we've never been able to stop the Winter Soldier from coming to kill us. And I don't think even Steve would be able to get him to stop."

Steve shook his head firmly. "No, this is my best friend we're talking about, I'm not just going to let this happen. He's been through too much, you all know that. We're the Avengers, we don't leave anyone out to dry, even if they don't recognize us. Yes, maybe we can't save everyone all the time. But that doesn't mean we don't try, that doesn't mean we won't fight tooth and nail for our allies--our friends--to have any chance at survival. Buck needs our saving. Otherwise the Winter Soldier, not Bucky, will be coming for us."

There was a silence that lay thickly in the air, surging with an electric energy, empowering not only Cara, but everyone around her.

And then, just in time to ruin it, Peter fricking Parker opened his mouth.

"Oh, so I guess you could say Winter is coming," he smirked, crossing his arms.

Cara rolled her eyes, turning around to face him. "Peter," she growled, "you're done."

His smirk faded into a look of surprise, and stumbled to say, "sorry, so sorry, I didn't mean it offensively--"

"Well, it came out that way, don't you think?" She retorted. Ignoring her Aunt May's apologies, she stomped up to her cousin, grabbed him by the ear, and dragged him out of the living room, curses flying out of her mouth in skillful strings. Her vision was so tunneled with rage she didn't even see Steve's pronounced cringes at her language.

"Seriously, Cara," Peter said again once they were out of sight and earshot, "I didn't mean to, it just came out, I don't know what happened--"

"Here's a lesson," she snapped, letting go of his ear. "Think before you speak. It'll do you wonders."

He ducked his head. "Sorry, I'll do that next time."

"You know," Cara's voice softened, "I get that you're the youngest in the group, but you're not twelve. I've heard that you've done some pretty great things while in that suit, so why can't you act like Spiderman right now? A superhero ready to save the world, ready to help out another friend." She patted his shoulder. "I want you here, I really do," she insisted, "I just want you to take this seriously. This isn't going to be all rainbows and unicorns, Pete. Far from it, actually. So if you want to be with us, you need to start acting like it."

He nodded, eyes wide with hope. "Okay, I'll...I'll behave." Her cousin took a step in the direction of the living room, but Cara planted a hand on his chest and pushed him back into the wall. "What?" He asked.

"Oh no, you're not coming back. Not for now, at least," she said simply. "Now, you sit here...and, think about what you've done." She waggled a finger at him, smirking the whole time. She loved the power she had over him.

Leaving her cousin to sit in the hallway, she reentered the living room. "What'd I miss?" She asked.

"Nothing," Tony replied. "Where'd you take Petey?"

She grinned. "Oh, he's in a timeout for the time being. But he'll be okay, I gave him a pep talk, told him he has to act serious if he wants to be with us, he--"

"No." Tony's word was sharp. "There is no way we're including him in this. He'd be a liability, dead weight--"

"Hey, that's my nephew you're talking about," May stepped forward, fire in her eyes. Then it died down as she said, "but I have to agree. I don't want him involved in this."

"Aunt May, he'll be fine, we'll take care of him, and I will personally--" Cara tried, but she cut him off again.

"No, Cara. I don't this for him." May's tone was final.

Cara glanced up at Steve, "alright, we're down one. What does that leave us with?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're going to save Bucky, are we not? I think we need a good amount of people involved. And if Spiderboy's out, then we've got..." She scanned the room and did a head count. "Nine people."

Steve sighed. "Not nine. We'll have more."

"What, do you know some people?" Cara asked.

Steve shrugged, a hint of a smile on his face. "Let's just say that I've got some old friends I can give a call."

[i really hope you liked this chapter, I've been procrastinating all day tbh -mae]