We Need More Time

Chapter Three

Few Hours Later

Brooklyn New York

Bucky Barnes walks into his small apartment with his bag hung over his shoulder. Steve had set him up with this a few weeks back in hopes that Bucky would be able to cope with his situation but be able to reach out to the Captain if he ever needed to. Though, Bucky suspected he wouldn't because he truly felt he could work this out on his own, especially if Steve was going through that whole accords crap now.

Something shifts in his living room, causing Bucky to immediately lift a gun from his bag. The soft cloth drops to the floor without a sound as he slowly starts to stalk in the direction of his large chair, that was now facing the window. Bucky, despite being a killer assassin, swallows the lump in his throat before whipping the chair around with his gun pointing straight at it. 

To his unease, the chair was empty. There was no mark left behind and it was obvious no one had been sitting in it. What had he heard? Were his ears just placing tricks on him? No, he could hear something, someone, inside of his apartment.

"You really are the same." A female voice scoffs, causing Bucky to whirl around to its source. A woman, no older than seventeen, leans against the wall with her arms crossed. She wore navy blue glasses, had dark blonde hair that was braided to the side, and wore a suit that matched several agents he had come into contact with through SHIELD. 

Despite this knowledge, Bucky doesn't lower the gun from her forehead. "Why do I know you?"

"In my world." The woman sighs. "You were pretty much my best friend, besides being my uncle and all." 

"I'm sorry?" Bucky questions.

"Here, apparently," She continues. "I'm dead. I died fighting Ultron." 

"That doesn't...what?" Bucky demands.

"Sorry, forgot to introduce myself." She rolls her eyes. "I'm Abby, Abby Rogers-Stark. I'm from a different dimension and I need your help."

"Rogers-Stark." Bucky breathes. "You died two weeks ago!" 

"I know." Abby shrugs. "That's why I'm telling you that I'm not from here. Can you help me now?"

"I have to call Steve," Bucky mumbles while rushing past her, the blonde rolls her eyes again and pushes herself off the wall to follow him. "Tell him his daughter is delusional." 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Abby tuts. "One click on that phone and I'll just knock you out and take what I'm looking for." 

"Looking for?" Bucky furrows his eyebrows while lowering the device back to the table. "It's something I have?"

"No." Abby mumbles. "But in my dimension, you knew where to find it before it got lost." 

"What is it?" He questions. 

"It's a clear sphere with blue dots that connect all around it." Abby quickly explains. "It's my fathers greatest work, something that is supposed to help us survive the next wave." 

"The next wave?" Bucky inquires, confusion written all over his features. "What wave? Who's hurting you?"

"After Thanos, whom you do not know so don't ask, everyone died in my dimension." Abby bluntly states, doing her best to hide her own emotions. "There was no one to stop the next round of invaders, so I stepped up with a team loosely built. Somehow, we won and I was able to obtain some large generator from them. Before they could get it back, I uploaded everything my father has ever done to make it so advanced, even Einstein couldn't handle it." 

"Einstein is alive where you're from?" Bucky gasps.

"No!" Abby throws her hands in the air. "It's to give you an image!" 

"Oh." He mumbles in disappointment.

"Anyway." She continues. "There was a fight that broke out to get the sphere back, so I connected myself to it to try and keep it safe. One of the damn aliens got ahold of it and sent the thing away. Now our planet is infested with the aliens that are trying to take it over, if I don't go back then we'll lose and my dimension will be no more. The sphere is the key to stopping it all. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah." Bucky nods.

"So you're not going to call the others?" Abby pushes. "And you're going to help me?"

"Yeah." He repeats. "Let me just...change." 

"Of course." Abby nods while stepping to the side to allow Bucky to pass to go to his room. Bucky rushes inside and shuts the door, locking it behind him. 

Quickly, he runs to his closet and throws the door open, almost breaking it off its hinges. Bucky shuts the door, releases a breath, and pulls out his phone. It was already dialing before he even lifted it past his hips.

"Bucky?" Steve answers. "Are you alright? I'm a little busy right now but I could come-"

"She's here," Bucky whispers, effectively cutting Steve off. "She's here and Hydra got in her head." 

"What?" Steve questions, now turning the phone on speaker so everyone could hear.

"Abby is here." Bucky hisses. "In my apartment and I think Hydra messed with her head."

"We're on our way," Tony states, already calling his suit to him. "Just keep her occupied and don't leave!" 

"Fine, okay, I can do that." Bucky agrees. "Just hurry the fuck up."

They don't answer one another and hang up, Bucky stuffs the device into his pocket and swallows the lump in his throat. He was a trained assassin, he could do this. With a final breath, he breaks from the closet and tugs on a new shirt. Slowly, Bucky opens the door and peers out to see Abby still standing in his living room, but she was focused on her glasses. At least, he could kind of see a small light coming from the lenses. 

Bucky clears his throat and opens the door fully, watching as Abby quickly shut down whatever she was doing. He moves through the apartment to the living room again, his voice surprisingly calm for such a situation. "So, tell me more about this sphere. How do you know it's here?"