seven | avengers

chapter sixteen - missing bucky

anxiety and suicidal thoughts are in this chapter. if you are not comfortable with this, feel free to skip to the next chapter where a rough recap would be there to enlighten you on this one!

"you should be back at the tower, damage control is definitely not your strength. and tony-" he got cut off by a furious ironman, "excuse me. you told us that the kids would be safe here. shield base, 100% safe. those two kids just died. where are the others? you better make sure that they'll be safe from now on." tony stepped forward but peter held him back, making sure he wouldn't burst. tony squeezed peter's hand and gave him a side hug, still ready to argue with fury if he needed to.

"don't blame tony. this is my fault."

steve turned to look at the rest of the avengers and nick fury as he comforted the kid. tony, who was holding on to peter who had stopped crying, looked at him in shock. it was america's ass' fault? natasha was about to burst, her rage could turn her into the hulk if she was bruce, but clint held her shoulder, calming her down tons. rhodey, stephen and fury looked at him confused, why would it be his fault? seven couldn't focus on anything. her senses were going crazy, and she was shaking tremendously.

"we got to get this kid to the medbay, she's shaking so much," captain said as he placed his hands on her shoulder, giving her a good look, "i'll explain when we get to the tower."

the rest of the avengers seemed okay with the plan, they started to leave. tony brought peter with him and they started their walk out of the base, as stephen and steve tried to help the kid.

"tell me," seven's voice was barely a whisper as she looked up at steve. peter stopped in his tracks and turned back, making tony look too. "tell me. please," she said weakly as stephen held on to her.

steve looked at her, then at stephen and the rest of the avengers who had turned to look. fury gave him a nod and steve sat beside seven, telling her everything.

"it was after the last mission," steve started, "i'm sure you know who bucky is, the winter soldier? he's also my closest friend, ever. i told him about the mission, about how the kids were now safe in the SHIELD base." stephen had seven lean on him for support, as he was sitting down. the girl's body slumped onto his as he could feel her shaking, trying to stop an impending anxiety attack. steve continued on as he heard the avengers walking towards him, trying to hear him speak.

"he became the winter soldier again, they came for him last night when he was out buying supper. he must have told them about where the kids were. bucky used to talk about how the hydra members would take in kids to experiment on. they took kids as young as... him, to as old as your age to experiment. if they were successful, hydra would train them to battle against us and any other organisation wanting to take them down. during the battle, they would be in the frontline. either that or... the latter would be to use them as guinea pigs for their new weapons. jeremiah had been mind controlled by them, that's why he took up the gun so voluntarily."

"so... they took the other kids?" seven looked at fury and asked. she hoped that the latter was not true in this case. fury sighed and as he stood beside her and stephen, seven already knew it. "they killed them all," she gulped, turning away and letting out a shaky sigh, "i didn't even get to see them... they killed them all..."

"we found them in a room, but none of them survived. they were all killed by hydra's newest weapons. we're sorry," fury stated. the room turned into a tense silence, each of the avengers' hearts seemed to be breaking for the kid. while they were busy exchanging sad and worried looks, a word came across seven's mind.

gun.

without much thought, seven looked at the gun right beside her on the ground. it seemed perfectly logical, like the best opportunity to end everything. her pain, the emptiness in her. as the avengers were talking about something, she took the chance to reach out for it and grabbed it with all the strength she had. once she pulled the trigger, she didn't have to deal with her powers anymore. no more sensory overloads, no more headaches, no more emotions.

"mr stark," peter tugged on to tony's hand as he gulped as he continued to look at seven.

once she pulled the trigger, she would be free from pain.

"stephen!" tony exclaimed.

once she pulled the trigger, she would not have to feel empty.

stephen and steve looked at tony, then back at seven, their eyes widened.

once she pulled the trigger, her powers would mean nothing.

"hey," stephen pulled the gun out of her grip and tossed it to the other side of the room, "don't do it. you're going to be alright, trust me." he could feel her shaking again, as warm tears fell onto his arms. "no, you- don't know who i am-" she said as she got herself out of stephen's grip.

"rogers," fury said as the girl held on to her ribs, trying to stand up. steve got up, trying to support her but she got out of his grip. "i- just leave me alone... please- 'm tired," seven swayed as she tried to speak, but the amount of blood lose and her pounding headache made her feel dizzy and weak.

she stumbled and fell to the ground, but stephen caught her just in time. "no... don't- please-" she slurred as she tried to push stephen away, but collapse into his arms instead.

by this time, he had seen enough.

"we're going straight to the tower. rogers, hold on to her," stephen said and steve held on to her. stephen quickly opened up a portal that led right to the avengers tower. the avenger walked through it, and steve carried seven through it too. after stephen had gone through the portal, he closed it and rushed after steve to the operating room of the medbay, leaving fury behind for damage control.

please be alright, kid.