Belonging - A Bucky Love Story (Marvel/Avengers)

11

Bucky shot a cold glare at the two men with guns on him. "Stand down, soldier," Pierce's voice boomed.

Turning his glare to Pierce, Bucky removed his mask and explained, "she can help."

Pierce looked appalled; his Winter Soldier wasn't supposed to be having his own thoughts and ideas. Still, he wondered, "..and how is that?"

Bucky grabbed Brenna's unwounded shoulder with his metal hand, pulling her to her feet with ease. "Show him," he ordered.

Realizing that she'd probably be killed if she didn't, Brenna lifted a hand. She let her plasma dance across her fingers in a delicate show. Pierce raised an eyebrow, then looked down to the sun opal in her chest. There was a hole cut out of Brenna's shirt around it, showing the device off. "Huh," he grunted as he thought. Finally, he came to a decision. "Take her to the back."

One if the unnamed men gripped Brenna's wounded shoulder with an unforgiving squeeze. He began to push her down the dim hallway. "What about him?" The other man asked, gesturing to the clueless-looking Bucky.

Pierce sighed and snapped his fingers in front of the Winter Soldier's face. He didn't flinch, but gave his attention to Pierce. "Yes, Sir?" He asked mindlessly.

With a satisfied nod, Pierce told the other man, "he's fine." The second man nodded firmly and began to lead the Winter Soldier back as well.

• • •

The cell Brenna was given was dark, cold, and small. She was surrounded by concrete, except for on two walls. There, thick iron bars were in place, spaced wide enough only for her arms to fit through. With only about nine square feet of space, she couldn't even lay down comfortably. And in the cell beside her, the Winter Soldier was kept.

He had a much bigger space than her. As well as a thin cot, a chair, and a lamp in the ceiling. Yet he sat on the hard ground against the back wall, staring ahead at nothing. Brenna scooted to sit right next to the barred wall that seperated the two cells. She peered over at Bucky, taking in the features of his unmasked face while his mind was in another world.

But, to her surprise, he acknowledged this staring of hers, turning to meet her eyes. Brenna felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment, but remained calm. She was about to speak, but he beat her to it. "You could break out," he told her. "Easily."

This, of course, had occured to Brenna. If her plasma could turn bullets to ash, surely she could get through these iron bars. But she had a goal, and it hadn't been met yet. "So could you," she countered.

Bucky furrowed his eyebrows slightly in confusion. "Why would I do that?" He mumbled.

Brenna frowned in empathy as she realized just how controlled Bucky was. He even seemed to believe that it was his decision to stay. She shook her head and looked down at her lap. "Nevermind," she muttered. The Winter Soldier went back to his mindless staring.

Brenna shrugged off the black jacket she wore to examine her shoulder. Already, the wounds were beginning to scab and heal.

• June 1, 2014 •

The only sign of a new day's sunrise was a tiny hole in the thick back wall of Brenna's cell. She couldn't see out of it, but the sun shone through from the East. It was her only bit of light. Then, she recalled that she could make her own light. Brenna lifted her right hand and watched the bright yellow plasma pulse up between her fingers, as if they were webbed.

She did this for a while, playing with the glowing light, trying new little tricks. Brenna made a decision sitting in the dark cell; if she didn't find anything important out soon, then she'd go ahead and break herself out. Because it was pointless to stay just to be agonizingly bored to death.

Putting her palms together and pulling them apart slowly, Brenna grinned. A sphere of plasma grew in-between her hands. It looked like the sun. Her eyes subconsciously went down to the sun opal in her chest, wondering why exactly it was called a 'sun' opal. She'd always thought just because it is as yellow. But maybe it was even more than that. She made a mental note to ask Thor when she next saw him.

Closing her fists, the sphere of light disappeared. Brenna let out a sigh. She turned to see what the Winter Soldier was doing, but was shocked to find him staring at her. He'd moved closer, only a few feet away from the bars that separated them now. When he saw her notice him, however, he quickly turned his head away.

Brenna smiled in amusement; he must've been watching her playing with the plasma. "Hey," she called to him softly, "look."

Hesitantly looking back over to her, Bucky watched her hands begin to pulse with the energy again. "It's my heartbeat," Brenna told him.

Bucky was surprised. This woman was a prisoner of HYDRA, sitting next to a killing machine while her friends were being hunted down like prey. Yet her heartbeat was slow and steady. It calmed him.