Belonging - A Bucky Love Story (Marvel/Avengers)

9

As Jasper scrambled to get up and run away, Steve told Brenna firmly, "sit this one out." He then raced after the bald man.

Though she was disappointed, Brenna remained in place. She was already beginning to feel a sibling-like connection growing between her and Steve, with him acting like her protective older brother. So she simply watched the interrogation until it was time to go.

• • •

Jasper was squished awkwardly between Natasha and Brenna in the back seat of Sam's car. After learning about Zola's Algorithm and HYDRA's plan, it was time to take action. They would drop Brenna off at Sam's house to keep her out of harms way. It was already risky having brought her on this mission.

"You know, I could be really helpful," Brenna tried to convince Natasha and Steve to let her come with them.

"And no one's saying you couldn't," Natasha told her, "but you're inexperienced."

"Not to mention, your dad thinks you're only training right now," Steve added. "I'm sorry, B, but no."

But fate had a different plan. As if signalled by the captain's words, something thudded on the roof of the car. A metal arm thrust through the the roof, grabbing Jasper and throwing him into the traffic to meet a messy death.

Brenna's eyes went wide and her heartbeat quickened. However, when she realized that it was the Winter Soldier, she found herself calming down; perhaps she could manage to get through to him again. Until a much larger car slammed into the back of Sam's. As the car went flying, Steve grabbed Brenna and threw them both out of the vehicle. Natasha and Sam jumped out as well, immediately ducking for cover as automatic guns began to fire.

Steve rushed Brenna to behind a parked car and ordered, "stay here, don't move, don't make a sound."

Brenna nodded in understanding. But it wasn't long before a gun was aimed at her from afar. She raced to another car to get better coverage, but only ended up in another line of fire. Two bullets met her right shoulder. Crying out in pain, she dropped the the ground. Brenna scooted up against a large truck tire and held her shoulder.

"Ah..shit," she hissed. But when she looked down at the wounds, she was surprised to find the two bullets being pushed out of her flesh by an invisible force. Her body was rejecting the unwelcome metal. The two rounds dropped to the road with a small clinking noise. Looking back to her shoulder, she watched the bleeding already beginning to slow. The pain subsided into that of only a bad bruise.

Brenna grinned, realizing her strength in a brand new way. She mentally prepared herself to jump into the action and help. Sure, Steve had told her to stay put, but she was getting shot at anyway. So she figured she might as well help. With a deep breath, she stood and hopped over the truck. She was surprised by the height the leap gave her, reaching almost seven feet before landing strongly on her feet on the other side of the truck.

Whipping her head around, she focused her attention on a man who was shooting at Natasha. She ran toward him with speed. Before he could turn the giant gun on Brenna, she punched him in the jaw. When his grip loosened on the gun, she ripped it from his hands and wacked him in the face with it hard. The man fell unconscious.

Another pain tore through Brenna's back as three more bullets entered her body. She growled through the pain and turned around. The man who'd shot at her wore a pail face when she didn't fall dead. She should've. When Brenna heard the clinking of the bullets falling out of her back, she made her way over to the other man.

Brenna kicked the gun out of the way and grabbed his head. She then forced him down, slamming his face into her knee. There was a sickening cracking noise that made Brenna want to throw up. But looking down at the man, she saw him still breathing; she'd only broken his nose.

After this, the gunshots stopped. Brenna whipped around in search of her friends. She found Steve fighting the Winter Soldier. Racing over to help, she stopped a few yards away as the metal-armed man went flying, his mask falling off on the way.

Brenna slowly moved to stand next to and slightly behind Steve, who still didn't know she was there. She watched the Winter soldier stand and turn back around. A single word escaped Steve's mouth, "..Bucky?"

She'd hear of this 'Bucky' before. He was Steve's best friend back in the 40's. Realizing he must've somehow suffered a similar fate as Steve, Brenna couldn't help but sympathize.

But Bucky only glared. He lifted his gun and got ready to fire. Brenna jumped in front of the captain and held her hands out toward the Winter Soldier. She silently prayed that her powers would do something helpful. Just as the gun began to fire, a wall of transparent, glowing, yellow plasma shot out from her hands, protecting her and Steve like a massive shield. And every bullet that hit it vaporized, drifting to the ground into tiny piles of ash.