LIGHTNING ▷ BUCKY BARNES [UNDER EDITING]

22| WHITE NOISES

"No one is killed, yet." Steve spoke up once everyone assembled at the top floor of the tower. Everyone stared at the two hellicarriers not so far away from the tower and all bumbled unintelligible things under their breath. Valerie straightened her back as she grew tired of her non-straight posture, even though her ribs screamed no. Bruce was no medical doctor but he did help her ease the pain and she was grateful for that.

"We need to get those down." Valerie said and Thor slightly chuckled at her words but when she gave him a confused and distasteful glance he couched it away. "Lady Val, can I call you that?" Valerie slowly nod her head and Thor continued, "I think it is for the best if you stay here at the tower due your broken bones." He suggested and the rest of the team seemed to agree with him as they all nod their heads. "And do what? Watch you guys fight HYDRA while I stay here watching helplessly?" Valerie exclaimed and she crossed her arms in displeasure.

Tony snorted and Valerie's eyes darted to him. "You're so cute when you're mad. Actually..." he started, quickly glancing to Steve before looking back to Valerie. "There may be a particular soldier who needs to get checked up on." The whole team now looked at her and Valerie's posture softened. Her once darkened eyes were back to its normal hazelnut color and she uncrossed her arms. "I'll see you guys later." She made her way to the elevator but quickly looked over her shoulder to look at the team. "Don't die." She warned the team who started laughing. "All of you." Thor was surprised at her words but smiled at her in return. He couldn't help but feel a bit hopeful at the thought of her dropping the 'Thor murdered my mother' thing. And even though Valerie didn't want to admit is, she was.

Valerie came to the conclusion Thor was just a man saving earth. And her mother was just at the wrong time and place. She couldn't blame Thor for the Dark Elves' ship crashing in Greenwich. But there was this feeling that it was slightly his fault but if she in fact was an Avenger like Tony said she needed to start forgiving him. It will take time, of course it will, but they'll get there.

—

The doors of the sealed room opened up and Valerie stared at the man in pity. Bucky's head hung low and his long hair covered his face. "How many people?" He asked lowly, his throat was dry and you could hear the self hatred in his voice.

"Don't do that to yourself." Valerie warned him and his head shot up in an instant which made her take a step back. She held her distance from Bucky not wanting to invade his personal space until he lets her.

"All they did was say the damn words." He cursed under his breath and let his head drop back down once again. Valerie walked out of the dark from the hallway into the brightly lit room. Her footsteps echoed through it and Bucky looked up to the woman standing at a safe distance from him. His eyes filled with self hatred expand at the sight of the woman hurt and bruised. "I did that..." he mumbled, his voice slowly cracking.

"No, the Winter Soldier did. You didn't do anything wrong." She extended her hand towards him and he stared blankly at it before dropping his head once again and training his eyes on his lap. Valerie sighed and walked over to him before sitting down in front of the man. They sat in silence for a while before Valerie grew tired of it and reached her hand towards Bucky's.

It surprised her that he didn't flinch nor protested at the contact. Valerie couldn't see it but a small and grateful smile was plastered on his face. He loved it how he for once held a warm hand in his instead of a cold metal gun. He loved how her hand fitted perfectly in his but he hated to see the bruised on her wrist. He hated the sewed cuts on her hand and the dried blood on her knuckles. He hated how he caused her those so he pulled away from her hand as he didn't feel worthy for her hand in his.

"Come on." Valerie suddenly said as she was in the middle of standing up. She winced as the bones in her back cracked at her sudden movement and not a second later she felt a hand on her back and in her other hand. Bucky helped her up and once she stood up straight she looked up at Bucky who was already starring down at her.

"We should help Steve." Bucky mumbled under his breath, taking a step back from the closeness between the two. "And the rest." Valerie corrected, raising up her eyebrows in amusement when she caught a small smile on Bucky's lip. "And the rest." Bucky repeated, correcting himself.

—

"Do any of you guys copy?" Valerie asked as she tapped on her earpiece she grabbed from the lab. She rolled around in her bureau chair, waiting for a respond from anyone on the team. Bucky stayed close to her and occasionally stopped her from spinning in her chair to prevent her from getting sick later on.

"Valerie?" A muffed voice said through her earpiece. The voice was too quiet to make out who was talking but her computer showed it was Steve. She typed all out on the keyboard to make the call on loudspeaker so Bucky could listen in. "Yes. What's happening right now?" Valerie asked, hearing the fire crackling in the background along with some whispers.

"Winn, he is-" Steve's voice cut off and so did the line. Valerie rapidly tapped her earpiece but to no avail. Steve didn't answer and the line on the other side was nothing but a white noise.

A loud explosion followed by the ground shaking caught both Bucky and Valerie off guard. Valerie steadied herself by grabbing Bucky by his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

A fire caught Valerie's eyes and she quickly turned to the wide windows in the lab. She ran as fast as she could with her broken bones and watched the two helicarriers explode and radiate a bright light. "Valerie?" Steve's voice echoed through the room via the loudspeakers. Her body stiffened and she looked through tears at the explosion. The helicarriers fell down right into the SHIELD building and her heart ached like the rest of her body. "The rest came out alive. Winn, we, we couldn't save him. I'm sorry."

Valerie slowly pulled the earpiece out of her ear and stared at it in silence. "Valerie?" Bucky whispered from behind her in worry but she ignored him as she electrocuted her earpiece to ashes which disconnected Steve and her.

Winn Miller was turned and he had killed. But he was her best friend and stood with her through everything and she wanted to return that favor. She wanted to stand next to him as she would turn him back to his normal self. But now, now it was impossible.

Winn Miller was dead.

——A/N——
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