Third in the Timeline series |
After being told she was the infamous Agent 4, that every S.H.I.E.L.D agent thought was a rumour, Clara decides to get back in the field. Her old boss, and presumed dead, Phil Coulson guides her as she reunites with ol...
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What happened next was all a blur to him. The roof had shut and he'd had to jump back. But Clara was out and she was safe. Nothing else mattered.
He'd been running for far too many years. He'd been running from his past and it was only inevitable it would catch up with him.
Everything the Winter Soldier did was his past. He did that. And part of him believed that he deserved what he got. He was only glad Clara didn't have to suffer that too.
Bucky had fallen and now lay still on the floor. His breaths came out painfully, shakey and irregular, his body straining with the effort. Rage had possessed him for a minute or two and all he could remember now was charging at Stark, kicking and punching and hitting.
Stark had hurt him, his friend, his love and he was going to pay.
Bucky had pushed him back, pinned him down against a wall and for a moment he was winning. Until a blast from Stark had sent him sprawling across the floor, his left arm was cut clean off.
It hadn't hurt. Whether that was because of the shock or because it wasn't really part of him, he didn't know. So much of his past, his life, was wrong, was a lie and now he couldn't tell what was real.
But through it all, Steve had emerged victorious. He stood over Bucky and stretched out a hand to heave him off the floor. Bucky slung his one good arm over Steve's shoulders and leant on him as they hobbled out.
"That shield doesn't belong to you." Stark bickered as the other two turned to leave. "You don't deserve it, my father made that shield!" He shouted at them.
Steve stopped. And dropped his shield. Then carried on assisting his friend to safety.
Heather was sprawled across the floor of the quinjet, a book balanced on her lap. She jumped up when they returned, a look of horror on her face when she saw all the dried blood on Steve's face, not to mention Bucky's missing arm.
"What happened?" She asked, her words coming out almost as a gasp. "Where's Clara?"
Neither of them knew how to answer that. Bucky looked at Steve in despair. Steve walked forward up the ramp and into the quinjet to stand by Heather.
"I don't know." He said gravely.
"You don't know?" Heather asked in disbelief, "How can you not know? Did you lose her? Are you going to go look for her?"
"The safest plan is for her to find us. She's smart, she knows that. We wait for her here."
Steve sauntered into the quinjet and sat on one of the fold out seats, slumping over to rest his chin on his arms.
Heather too gave in with her arguing, knowing she wouldn't achieve anything and sat in the passenger seat, propping her legs up on the dashboard. She folded her arms indignantly over her chest, refusing to look at them for losing her friend.
They couldn't have been sat in a sort of defeat for more than five minutes before Bucky, who remained outside pacing in the snow, called out to them both.
The air just in front of where Bucky was standing was twisting. Steve rushed out to stand by his side, Bucky turned to him, brows furrowed in confusion. Steve was none the wiser. The two were swiftly joined by Heather.
"Is it Clara?" She called out before she reached them, her words fading away when she saw what the two men were staring at.
"What is that?" she whispered in shock but no one answered her.
Slowly, Heather began to walk around where the air and flurry of snow was whirling. It was a small circle, at about head level, where everything seemed to be converging.
Light was bending around it and the landscape of mountains that they could see through it was being turned upside down. It was bending, like it was being morphed.
It was like this all the way around but Heather could see no cause for it. Everything was the same except for this swirling circle.
Just as Heather had made a lap around it and came back to stand at Steve's side once more, the circle suddenly expanded, releasing a blinding, white light that made Heather, Steve and Bucky wince and tightly shut their eyes.
As quickly as it had happened, the light dimmed and the circle closed with a whooshing sound and a bang. When they all opened their eyes they weren't met with an ominous swirling circle, they were met with a tall, young woman.
"Clara?" Heather whispered. This woman was wearing the same black tactical gear as Clara had. It was standardised S.H.I.E.L.D, had the logos on the shoulders and everything. She even had the same hairstyle and colour.
But her eyes were an icy blue, not Clara's cloudy grey. The woman took a step forward. Both Steve and Bucky raised their arms, Steve with his shield raised and Bucky with his gun. The woman stopped walking abruptly and threw up her arms in surrender.
"Whoa!" She called out, "I'm a friend, I promise!"
"Who are you?" Steve asked cautiously, edging closer to her, squaring up to her intimidatingly but she was unaffected by him.
"I'm Emma- Agent 14 of S.H.I.E.L.D." She corrected, "I'm here to warn you." She said ominously and Steve lowered his shield, motioning to Bucky to lower his gun. "Your lives are in grave danger."
Before Steve could demand more answers from her, this Agent 14 promptly staggerd forward, knees buckling and collapsed. Steve darted forward to catch her in his arms where she lay unconscious. He turned around to face Heather and Bucky who were looking at him in stunned confusion.
"Heather, take her inside. You're a nurse right? Find out what's wrong with her." Steve ordered. Heather nodded hastily and rushed forward to scoop up the girl and struggle to carry her back to the quinjet.
Steve stood up and walked over to his friend.
"Steve," Bucky began, "what does she mean?"
"I don't know." He admitted gravely, her words ringing in his ears.
"If she's right, if we're in danger," Bucky acknowledge with some difficulty, "What does that mean for Clara?"
Bucky looked at his closest friend, imploring an answer to calm his nerves but got nothing. Steve didn't know, all he could do was look at him and shake his head.
"Where is she?" Bucky wondered aloud as he stared out across the frozen waste land. Clara could be anywhere at this point.
