Winter's Immortal (CWAC Book One)

Chapter 6: Lycan

Natasha pulls on her jacket as Steve and Bucky do at the door. She moves to Selene who looks over the Subject One file on the counter.

"You didn't give them the big file..." Natasha tells her.

"They're not ready" she answers looking up from the file. "This skims over everything......just enough......" she looks to Bucky. "He needs to read it...all of it" She pushes the file to Natasha. "Skimming over the first page is not enough....he needs to know that he can trust me and that he knows he can't hurt me" Natasha nods and grabs the file.

"We never really talked about your time with Hydra...."

"There is not much to talk about, I was frozen for the beginning and after that they found a way to control me"

"Selene....given what you are...how the hell did that happen?" Selene shrugs.

"Good invention on their part...." Selene leans on the counter. "A collar...." she touches her neck. "with these little capsules around the inside....if I tried to escape....a capsule would explode.....filled with a special irradiated fluid that emits ultraviolet light" Selene looks to Natasha. "Daylight... harnessed as a weapon"

"Selene...." Natasha reaches over and takes her hand. "I don't remember you ever wearing a collar"

"They took the collar off once I became complacent....I was just waiting till I saw opportunity to escape"

"Ready to go?" Steve asks Natasha who smiles at Selene.

"Yeah" Natasha answers moving towards him, Steve wraps an arm around her waist as they leave, Bucky rubs the back of his neck as Selene approaches, she grabs a pen and takes his human hand.

"Think about what you would like to try" she tells him writing on his arm. "For fun....." she pulls the pen back. "That's my cell phone number and the apartment number.....you can call whenever you want....even if you just need to vent to someone" she teases, he smiles at her.

"Thank you" he looks to the numbers on his arm.

"And read the whole file.....Natasha's got it" he nods.

"Sure.....and thanks, for lunch" she shrugs and smirks back.

"You might not be thanking me tomorrow if it makes you ill" Bucky laughs a little.

"Well.....I guess I'll see you around" he tells her backing towards the door.

"See you around, Barnes" she tells him as he leaves, he smiles back at her before he walks down the corridor to the elevator. Selene closes the door and sighs rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Suit up" David states behind. "We've got a lycan sighting to investigate......"

"The sun doesn't set for another hour...."

"I know how long it takes for you to get into your suit" he teases walking to her living room and dropping onto her couch.

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Bucky sits on his bed with Selene's file open in front of him, the pages scattered about as he reads through the reports and experiments. They butchered her and she just stitched herself back together again. Guess that kind of explains why she looks so young. He lifts up one of the photos of her, a thick collar around her neck, attached to a lead, which was then attached to four Hydra agents, four huge Hydra agents. But her eyes.....they still shine through defiant even in a black and white photo.

.....................................

Selene and David move down the stairs into the underground station, why do Lycan's always hide out in underground stations? Selene looks to David who nods and veers left whilst she moves right. Selene walks at human pace, blending in with the crowds, difficult given her outfit and the fact that she stands out naturally, her pale skin and dark hair, even the way the light catches her eyes. Selene strides forward, her steps calculated, her senses alert. Modern lycans no longer need a moon to shift, evolution it seems works even in the creatures of the underworld. It also makes them harder to spot, no longer rabid beasts.

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Bucky tries to sleep, awake and then asleep, awake and then asleep. He's being haunted by these ice blue eyes that peer down on him, always peering down at him. Everything else, every other detail is missing, fuzy, distorted. Bucky sighs and sits up running his fingers through his hair. His eyes flicker to the file on the desk, he'd put away hours ago now. There is only so many times he can read and reread all the information there, he's also sure there are pages missing, dates that don't add up, jumps in location, different handlers, but she gave over the file to show that they are alike, that she can relate to what he is going through, that he is just a few steps behind her, that he can trust her. He looks to his cell phone on the side and the note he scrawled her number down from his arm. He could call her. She did say he could. He reaches over and grabs both the phone and the note and dials.

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Selene is leaning against a tiled pillar mid-platform when her phone rings, she digs into the inside pocket of her coat and answers it.

"This is Selene" A masculine chuckle reaches her ears.

"Do you answer the phone that way all the time?" She smiles subconsciously, Bucky.

"Just my cell phone" she answers. "What can I do for you?" her eyes flicker around, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling away.

"I just....I couldn't sleep.....and well you said I could call......unless you are busy?"

"No, I'm not busy....just working" Bucky scoffs.

"Yeah, not busy" he teases, she chuckles a little.

"It's just.....observation" she tells him.

"You never said what you do now?"

"I work for a private contractor in security......my department is....investigation and retrieval" her eyes catch a figure ahead of her staring off to the left, right at David. "Shit" she curses.

"Selene?"

"I think my partner just got made.......two seconds" she tells him as she lifts her hand to her other ear and presses her coms. "David......to your right...."

"Shit" he curses back. "Selene...." the figure starts towards David.

"Damn it" she pulls the phone back to her ear. "Can I call you back?" she asks Bucky as she follows the figure.

"Yeah, yeah, sure...."

"Thanks" she hangs up and slides the phone away before she runs, the figure pulls a gun and points it towards David, she lost her last partner to a well placed UV bullet and she is not going through that again, and not David. Selene grabs her guns from her thighs and vaults over a bench before shooting at the figure. David spins around a pillar and covers himself from the fire.

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Natasha, Fury and Clint Barton lean over the body of the dead man in the subway. Natasha purses her lips and pokes at one of the bullet wounds.

"Liquid silver" Fury mumbles.

"Death Dealers strike again" Clint states strapping his bow to his back.

"I don't know whether to thank them or to arrest them" Fury states. "Every dead body is that of a human man with canine strands in his DNA.....as far as Banner can tell...in theory it would make these men......."

"Werewolves?" Clint teases raising an eyebrow. "There's been no evidence....."

"We know the Death Dealers are vampires" Fury points out. "We've worked with them before.....why can't werewolves be real as well?" he asks Clint who shrugs.

"Their numbers are increasing" Natasha states standing, the two men joining her. "This is the fifth Death Dealer kill in a week......I thought Lycan numbers were minimal"

"So did I" Fury states. "You still have that contact?" he asks Natasha who nods. "Good...I want to meet her"

"Of course, Sir" he nods.

"And as usual, get the body back to Banner" he starts to walk away, noticing the CCTV above them. "Romanoff?"

"Yes?" she turns to him.

"I want that footage" he points to the camera, she nods.

"Yes, Sir" he turns and walks away again.