Winters War Phase 3: Some Kind of Monster

Chapter 15

Steve took his drink out of the coffee machine. He stared at the foamy layer in his cappuccino and felt the warmth through the cardboard cup as his thoughts were with Julia and Bucky before taking a sip. He looked up when he heard footsteps and saw Bruce approaching, who looked at the trio and just shook his head with a sigh as he stopped close by.

"What's wrong?"

"I just read her file, written by SHIELD. It's much, much worse than I expected," Bruce explained as he gave Steve the file. "Super Soldier Serum, Adamantium skeleton, Inhuman DNA. Also I've read about GH.325."

Steve narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow as he listened while flipping some pages.

"What's GH.325?"

"Alien DNA that brought her back to life," Sam contributed unexpectedly explained out of the blue.

"What?" Steve snapped as he looked at him.

"Oh my God," Wanda gasped as she covered her mouth.

Suddenly they heard Julia screaming. The Avengers glanced in the direction of the holler and ran back to Bucky's room. In the hallway Steve heard a long beep. His own heart started beating faster and started breathing faster as the sound got closer

"No, no, no!!"

They rushed into the room and saw an empty bed, with the breathing tube and the sensor stickers from Bucky's chest in the middle of it. He nearly froze and stared at it with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"Bucky?"

"Down here," his husky voice answered.

Steve rushed to the end of the bed and saw Bucky sitting on the floor with a shivering Julia in his arms. His eyes widened, amazed to see his best friend sitting on the floor with Julia huddle in his arms. Her eyes wide. Her breathing is rapid and shallow.

"Can I have some water?"

Steve just froze, but Wanda took action and filled a glass of water from the tap in the room. She gave it to Bucky while Julia was in an absent state of mind. He set the glass to her lips and tipped it gently. When the water touched her lips, she woke up and started to drink a little bit. With shaky hands she took the glass and took a few more sips.

"You okay now?"

Julia swallowed down the fluids while she nodded without looking at him. She mouthed a thank you.

"What happened?" Bruce asked.

"I just woke up and saw her on the ground screaming," Bucky explained as he looked at Julia, who tried to calm her breathing.

Steve looked in Bucky's bed and saw the breathing tube lying there. He took it in his hand to have a closer look at it. Bucky saw him examining the object.

"We really needed that thing in the forties just for your asthma," Bucky chuckled.

Bruce glanced between him and the tube with wide eyes.

"You pulled this out of your throat?"

"Yup."

He pinched his nose bridge and sighed deeply. He didn't want to believe what he heard.

"You could damage your trachea, Bucky. If you don't do it with gentle care."

"Nah, it went fine. Most important now is..." he looked back at Julia again. "...her."

With his vibranium hand he moved a lock of hair out of her face and moved it behind her ear. He felt she got more relaxed in his hold.

"I'm sorry. For what I did to you," she apologized softly, voice still shaky, scared to look at him.

"Don't be. You were not in your right mind."

"Those damn words," she mumbled while she rubbed her face and the back of her neck. "HYDRA created them and now SHIELD has them too."

It broke Bucky's heart. He knew what it means to have trigger words used against him. He looked at his fellow Avengers.

"We need to bring her to Wakanda."

"Not going to happen," Sam interrupted, as he leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. "SHIELD wants her back tomorrow."

Bucky hung his head as he mumbled a curse. He felt a gloved hand on his jaw that made his head move sideways. Their eyes met. He noticed her pale face and dark circles underneath her eyes, like she hadn't slept for days. It worried him but still he put a smile on his face.

"You're tired?" She just nodded. "You can sleep in my room." She looked at her hero with a furrowed brow. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Bruce and Steve will take care of me. Get some rest."

She nodded in acceptance. He slowly released her when Steve approached them. Wanda, who was sitting close to them, reached out her hand and the teen took it to pull herself up. Wanda and Sam, with Julia between them, left the room. The teenager looked over her shoulder and saw Bruce and Steve helping get Bucky back into bed.