Avengers: The Recruits (On Hold)

Chapter 9

With the windows rolled down,I drive down a long dirt road letting the wind blow throughout my truck as I drive by fields with crops sprouting out of the ground. I catch a glimpse of sunlight bouncing off my shades in the rearview mirror as I listen to music. A content sigh escapes my lips as I watch the beautiful shades of green pass me by. I then come up to an intersection and take a right down the all too familiar dirt path that will bring me into a forest of tall pine trees. After a few minutes a small clearing comes into view and my eyes are set on my house.
Home sweet home.

After putting my black truck in park and turning it off I grab the groceries from the passenger seat and make my way into the house. "Dad I'm back from the store," I say loudly as I begin placing the bags onto the kitchen table. I get no response,hmm maybe he is in the gym. I go over to the bookshelf and pull a book slightly out of place (I can't tell you which one,because it's a secret) and then the bookshelf moves back and then retreats to the right as it reveals a hole in the flooring with a metallic ladder leading down into the darkness.
   I climb down the ladder and then turn around to find myself in front of a grey door with a scanning pad to the right of it. I place my hand on the pad which lights up green and I say "Harley M. Barnes."
"Access granted,"a computer voice responds as the scanning pad goes dark and the sound of locks sliding back fills my ears before I turn the knob of the door and push forward. I find myself walking into the all too familiar tunnel as I make my way towards the gym. As I step onto the hard concrete floor of the gym the sound of soft 40's music fills my ears.
I find my dad sitting on a wooden bench with his back towards me as he stares at the wall across the room,listening to "Its Been a Long Long Time" by Harry James and His Orchestra. He slowly taps his foot and then looks down at something.
   "Hey Dad,"I quietly say and he quickly turns his head to find me standing in the doorway of the gym.
   He clears his throat and says "you startled me Harley."
   "I'm sorry,"I apologize as I turn my gaze to the floor not meaning to scare my dad.
   "It's fine sweetie,did you get all the groceries?" He asks as he stands up and places something in his pocket before making his way to the sound system to pause the music.
   "Yes sir,I just got back from town and I was about to unload everything but I wanted to let you know that I made it back."
   "Thank you sweetie,I'll be upstairs in a few minutes,"he replies as he takes the towel off of his shoulder and wipes the sweat off his face.
   I give a short nod and then make my way back down the dark hallway. Once back in the kitchen I begin unloading the grocery bags. I put the ground beef in the fridge along with eggs and cheese, then I begin working on putting the rest of the "don't have to put in the fridge" items into the pantries. After I finish putting up all the groceries I collapse onto the comfy couch and pull my phone out of my pocket.
I have no notifications from Alex and my new friends,they are probably relaxing since we are on leave for a week. Before we left, Agent Hill told us that we will all meet back at The Avengers Tower next Monday (a week from today), so I have a week to chill. I open a text message for Alex and say:
What's up?
After a minute my phone buzzes from her reply. A:On a date, my eyes grow big and then I snicker.
H:Your dad is actually letting you go on a date? Who's the lucky fellow?
I tap my fingers on my thigh as I wait for her response.
A:Yeah but him and my mom are with me,John asked me to join him at the movies.
H:Well I'll let y'all enjoy the movie,have fun! Not too much fun though!
I stifle a laugh after she replied back with an emoji rolling its' eyes. After our conversation ends I think about texting Allie but she doesn't have a phone and she is at Asgard, lucky. Madeline is probably on a mission with her mom,Darin is probably busy with his dad, and the only guy that's probably not busy is Victor. Do I really want to text him, I ask myself after I have narrowed down my options. Nah.
I slide my phone back into my pocket and then let my eyes lazily scan the room. My gaze slowly moves along the bookcase but stops abruptly when my eyes spot a folder wedged between two books. That's new. Quietly I leave my spot on the sofa and make my way to the bookshelf,not taking my eyes off of the folder. Standing in front of the dark shelf,I run my fingers along the edge of the folder and then carefully pull it out without spilling the contents on the floor. The front cover has words written in Russian, which I haven't learned yet, so I just carefully unravel the thread that holds the folder closed and move the top flap to my left.
   My eyes land on an old picture of a man in a tube which is being frozen,Dad. His eyes are closed and his hair is shaggy as his body is incased in that dark,cold tube. My eyes scan the picture and then I glance down at another picture that is paper clipped to the folder, this picture can fit in my palm. It is a photo of my dad in the forties when he was fighting along side Uncle Steve,before he became the Winter Soldier. The right corner of my lips turns upward as I remember my mom jokingly calling my dad "Sarg" when I was little,the smile that dances upon my lips drops as I turn and look at the report on the right side of the folder.
   I know the basics about how my dad became the Winter Soldier, while on missions I would hear slight nervous chatter from the other agents working with us about his transformation;they would abruptly stop talking about it when I would turn around and stare at them as they take notice of his daughter standing right in front of them. A strange feeling suddenly grows throughout my gut as I slowly look up from the folder and gaze at the shelf overloaded with books in front of me. I slowly turn around and find Dad standing behind the couch,gripping the towel he holds in his metallic hand tightly.
   "It stuck out,"I quietly begin "the folder,I never noticed it before. I didn't mean to snoop-"
   "It's alright,"he says as he stares at the folder in my hands. I swallow my spit and quickly close the folder,he slowly outstretches his flesh hand and motions for the folder. "Let's sit down,"he says as I begin moving towards him and quietly take a seat on the couch as I wait for him to join me. "How much do you know?"
   "Well I know that you fought in the war in the forties,then you got captured by the enemy and Uncle Steve rescued you,and then y'all helped win the war. I also know that when you and him were on that last mission to stop Red Skull you fell from the train...and that was how Hydra got you,they turned you into him."
   Dad closes his eyes as I speak,explaining what I know. After I finish he opens his eyes as his pale gaze stares ahead at the picture frames that line the bookshelf. "I told your mother that I would tell you the full story one day..."he says quietly as he slowly turns his gaze to the file "she helped me become the Bucky that I once was again. She helped me get over a lot of things. She helped me find a bit of peace in this world."
   I notice his eyes begin to water but he squeezes them tight and then turns to me with a sad smile. "Are you ready to hear the real story?" He asks and I slowly nod as I train my focus on him.
   He begins telling me about the years before he got captured,how he trained and helped Uncle Steve not get his butt kicked in alley fights. I laughed a bit when he mentioned how he was always having to pull Uncle Steve out of a fight,my uncle would never back down from a bully. Dad then told me about him being shipped off to fight the war in Europe.
   "I and hundreds of other men got captured behind enemy lines. The enemy would torture us to try and get information out,they would do anything to make us squirm...some didn't survive it. I and a few others were experimented on. Whatever Zola did to me helped me survive the fall from that train when Steve and I were trying to bring down Hydra. After that, all I remember is being in pain and being dragged through the snow that seemed to cut up my skin even worse." He pauses as he stares off into the distance. "I lost my arm somehow and Hydra replaced it with this metal limb. They later made me into a weapon that they used whenever they needed a threat eliminated."
   He then told me about how he would be sent off on missions and then put back in his cyrotube,stored away for later use. His words painted visual images in my head of what it was like for him to be wiped clean of memories and tortured over and over again.Then suddenly he meets his old pal from his childhood going into adulthood,while on a mission to kill him and other high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agents. Uncle Steve helped Dad regain his memories along with the help of a few other Avengers;my uncle also introduced him to my mom. "Love at first sight" my mom used to say.
   "You and your mother are blessings to me,you two helped me find a little bit of peace in this insane world,"Dad says and then his pale eyes turn to me "even without your mother here...I still have a reason to fight the Winter Soldier inside my mind." His eyes then turn back to the window in front of us. "If I lost you...Harley you and your mother are my world. I've already lost your mother because of who I once was,I can't loose you either."
   "Dad,"I say softly as I place a hand on his left soldier,my hand meeting the cold metal, "I promise you that you won't loose me. You've taught me how to protect myself and how to be careful,you've made me strong. You won't loose me." A small smile creeps its way onto my lips as I reassure my dad and he turns to face me with a small smile plastered on his face as well. He outstretches his arms and pulls me in for a hug. "I love you Dad,"I say as I hold him tight.
   "I love you too sweetie,"he mumbles into my hair as silence then surrounds us. After a minute he suggests "why don't we watch a movie?"
   "Sounds great,which one?" I ask as we let go of each other and I turn my gaze to the cases of all the movies we have.
   "I think Alien is next on the list,"he answers back as I make my way over to the movies and find the list of all the movies that he missed out on. I find Alien,which is the next movie that needs to be scratched off so I get the movie, and plop it into the DVD player. I then scratch it off the list before I make my way back to the couch and throw a blanket over me. As the movie begins playing I feel my muscles relax, forgetting everything in the world,I then let my mind focus on whether Ripley and her crew will survive or not.

  Monday...
   My hands rest on the restraints of the safety belt that criss-crosses across my chest as I sit quietly in the black Quinjet with Alex on my right and Darin and Allie directly across from us. Madeline is sitting in the cockpit with the pilot as we are making our way to pick up John. I lean back into the seat and my back is met with a hard leather,my eyes scan the plane  and then they snap towards Allie and Darin's direction. Their pale hands are extremely close to each other and their faces seem to be a slight shade of pink. Darin's pointer finger "accidentally" touches the back of Allie's palm and she turns away while biting her lip,a look I know to well as she fights the sudden rush of heat to her face.
   Without saying a word,I gently nudge Alex with my elbow. She looks at me curiously and then I nod my head slightly towards the two love birds in front of us. Alex follows my nod and then a small smirk grows on her face as her eyes meet mine one again. She bites her lips as she forces down a laugh from erupting.

I feel the landing gear lowering itself from under the plane as I grip the safety belt and look past John's head towards the cockpit. I spot skyscrapers coming into view. Finally,I thought we would never arrive. After the plane finally landed on the landing pad,I unfasten my seatbelt and stretch my limbs. I stretch my neck and feel relief spread throughout it as I pop my neck,releasing the tension. The back part of the plane lowers itself with a mechanical purr as my friends and I begin making our way towards the ramp.
My eyes grow big as I gaze up at the massive tower and then I turn my gaze to my left and find myself looking at the top of the A on the tower...THE Avengers Tower! A smile creeps its way onto my lips as a rush of satisfaction spreads throughout my chest,I'm a young Avenger!
"Don't just stand there and stare all day!" Alex teases me with a poke to my shoulder. I turn around with a quick laugh as I find her sticking her tongue out at me with John's arm loosely swung across her shoulders.
"Hey guys!" A familiar voice says as big glass doors open revealing a huge,high tech living room. My gaze is met with a pair of brown eyes that shine a shade of caramel in the sunlight,Victor. The corners of my lips tug upwards as he turns his attention to me.
I follow the others inside with Victor walking behind me. "I still can't believe you live here," I say over my shoulder to him.
I hear him scoff and then say with a slight sad tone "all my life."
I turn around and smirk at him. "Mr.Rich Boy isn't happy with his life?"
A smirk grows on his face as he rolls his eyes.
"Hello everyone,welcome,"a familiar voice calls from a metallic stair case. I turn my attention back to the front of the group and find Agent Hill coming towards us with a clipboard in her hands. "Follow me,"she says as she takes a left while beckoning us to follow her. She leads us down a hallway and then taps on a translucent door before opening it wide to reveal a long black marble table with black leather chairs. "Have a seat,"she says as we begin filing into the room.
My eyes dart to a dark man with an eyepatch at the end of the table as I sit down into a chair between Madeline and Victor. Alex,John,and Allie sit across the table with Darin at the other end. Agent Hill hands the eyepatch man the clipboard and he begins laying out seven papers with tons of information on them...like a medical record or a report.
"Hello,I am Director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Congratulations on making it onto the team,you guys are kind of like a junior squad for the Avengers. Young Avengers,therefore you have responsibilities to uphold,"Director Fury begins as his eyes seem to scan each of us. "If you do not uphold these responsibilities or follow the rules, you will lose your position on this team. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir,"we respond in unison.
   He then picks up a folder in his hands as his dark eyes begin scanning the pages. "Alright then,let's get down to business."

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Hello everyone! I FINALLY updated 😅😪 I want to apologize for such a long wait,just about every night I have to study,do homework,and teach myself (because some teachers just don't teach). Here lately I have had very little free time and if I ever have free time it's when I go to sleep. I will start writing the next chapter ASAP 😁 wish me luck!

-American_Sk8ter

P.S.-I hope that you are enjoying this book and please vote and comment. Share the love❤️