Avengers x Reader // Just Different

Chapter 41

"What happened?!" Bucky groaned as he finally woke up on the couch, clutching his head. You helped him sit up and handed him a cup of coffee.

"HYDRA decided to play a couple of mind games on you," you sighed.

"Oh no," Bucky said, slouching and placing his head in his hands. "Did I kill anybody?"

"Nope," you assured. "Just a few scratches here and there."

"I'd hardly call that bruise on your neck a scratch."

"You and I both know that I've been through worse," you countered.

"Where is everybody?" he asked, noticing the unusually quiet room. Usually, Thor was complaining about wanting coffee and pop tarts (or messing around with his hammer), Tony and Steve would have some argument, Wanda and Peter would be messing around with Wanda's powers, Clint would try to play pranks through the air vents, Sam and Bucky would be doing something stupid, Bruce in the lab, and Natasha joining all of these different groups of people at different times of the day.

"They picked up on some signal from HYDRA. They're trying to track it and decode the message," you answered, feeling a heavy weight settle in your chest.

"We'll catch them, you know," Bucky encouraged, knowing exactly what you were thinking.

"I try not to lose hope. But they've killed my parents, run illegal tests on many people, and yet, even after losing most of their soldiers and after they lost a base, they still find a way to get us every time. I just don't want to lose anything else," you sighed, looking at him straight in the eye.

"I get it. Me too," Bucky agreed.

You gave a grim smile.

"Hey guys," Steve said, running in. His face looked as white as a sheet. "There's something you might wanna see."

You gave Bucky a look, neither of you hesitating to follow Steve up to the lab.

"We've finally decoded the message," Natasha said, clicking on the file.

You grabbed onto the back of her chair, bracing yourself. Even with getting ready to expect the worse, you were not prepared for the face of Fedor Bram and Madame B.

I thought they blew up, you thought.

You cringed when Madame B spoke up.

"We know that you are housing (Y/N). Since you have decided to not listen to our orders or meet our demands, it will result in punishment. You have five days to return (Y/N) back to us, otherwise, HYDRA will be attacking New York. And in case you think you can stop us, we still have a small trace of the serum. Remember what happened with Ultron in Sokovia? With this serum, we have the power to do much worse. You have been warned. We hope you make the right choice," Madame B finished.

Your hands shook as you stumbled back. It would only make sense that the Avengers hand you over to save the lives of many more people. You collapsed back, running into Steve and Tony. You leaned on the wall for support.

"No, no, no," you cried, hot tears running down your face. The stress caused the newest scars on your back to rip open causing blood to seep through your new shirt.

"What the heck happened to your back?" Wanda asked.

You responded by staring into space.

"She's in shock," Sam stated.

"(Y/N)," Bucky said, waving his hands in front of your face.

You looked up at him through glassy eyes.

"We aren't handing you over, you know that, right?"

"But, but that's the only way to prevent anything bad from happening," you answered.

The Avengers gave each other a look. You still couldn't catch on, though Steve helped you to your feet.

"Seriously, though. They've already tried to kill Wanda, Natasha, and Bucky. They're going to attack even more people and --"

"We don't negotiate with HYDRA," Steve interrupted. "So we're going to stop them once and for all."

"Really?" you asked, becoming less worried and more bitter, "Because last time I tried, it turns out that the two people I tried to take down are still alive. How are we going to win?"

"Together," everyone else responded at once.

You dropped your jaw, dumbfounded. They all knew the answer - they must have this sort of argument before every battle they had, too.

"Well this is odd," Nat remarked. "We've all agreed for once."

~~~~~~~~~~

"What do we do first?" you asked after a fresh pair of clothes a fresh mindset. You also ate the ice cream in the freezer. All the Avengers were given a 20-minute break to refresh. The news about HYDRA was heavy; none of you were in the mood for some epic battle.

"Well, we need to have some idea of what HYDRA is planning to do. I think Nat and Bucky should go see if they can figure out what they're doing by infiltrating HYDRA," Steve started.

You gave him a look, slightly offended. "Why not me?"

"No offense, but last time you were at HYDRA, you decided to blow something up, no matter what the cost was. They're going to be on the lookout for you, not them. Besides, Bruce and Tony need help in the lab. They're trying to figure out something I don't understand, so you'll need to have them explain it to you."

"We don't need help!" Tony protested.

"Yeah, we do," Bruce mumbled, clearly not wanting to get anybody riled up.

Tony just rolled his eyes in response.

"Thor is going to try to contact as many of the Avengers as possible. We're going to need all the help we can get. Dr. Strange, Scott, Hope, The Guardians, Wakanda, everyone. This isn't going to be easy."

"You know, I never should have gone to Stark's party," you said.

"The one where we met you?"

"Yeah. A lot of these problems could have been avoided."

"There's no stopping HYDRA. Sooner or later they would have gotten you."

"Thanks," you grumbled.

Steve gave a grim smile. "We're glad you're here, though. Look at us, working together. You kind of brought us together."

You grinned. "Well, we better get to work. We only have 5 days to go."