The Séance • Marvel

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier: Chapter 21

Sam continued training every day with the shield refusing to receive any help from Vanessa. Claiming that he needed to figure everything out on his own. So Vanessa sat on the side and watched, with a proud smile when he was finally able to work as one with the shield

So it came as no surprise when a few days later Sam came to Vanessa and told her that they needed to go. "Where are they?" "New York." Vanessa chuckled a bit under her breath. "I should've known. Everything always happens in New York" she said to herself. "I'll go get my things."

As she packed everything as quickly as possible, Vanessa caught sight of herself in the mirror. She slowly walked up to it not thinking much of it until she reached her hand out. A sudden coldness spread through her body. She quickly removed her hand, but the coldness continued to spread. Vanessa let out a shaky breath, the shape of her breath left behind. "Death" Vanessa muttered.

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Vanessa walked alongside Bucky trying to find any clue of where the Flagsmashers might be. "I'm almost there," Sam said over the radio. "What's the plan?" Bucky asked. "Karli's gotta be close. Keep your eyes open." "Well, it could be anybody," Bucky said as he continued walking.

"Sergeant Barnes," one of the officers said. Bucky only acknowledged him with a head nod. "And by the way, I called some backup," Sam said over the radio. "I thought I was the backup," Vanessa said mostly to herself.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you supposed to be here?" Asked a man in a hat and coat. As Vanessa was about to ask who he was, the man suddenly took off a nano face mask revealing Sharon. "Sharon, what are you doing here? How are you here?" Vanessa asked the most wanted woman in the US. "Relax. No one's looking for me here."

Over the radio, Sam asked, "Do I hear Sharon?" "Unfortunately" Bucky answered, receiving a hit from Vanessa. As Sharon talked to Sam and Bucky, Vanessa looked at the corner of a building. Standing there was a woman wearing a dark cloak. Vanessa walked over to where the woman stood, "Hey you shouldn't be back here. This isn't a safe place to be." Before she could get a good look at the woman's face Bucky called out to her.

Vanessa turned back to the woman only to find the space empty. The only thing left behind was a cold shiver. "You alright?" Bucky asked. "Yeah, everything's fine" she answered, turning one more time to the spot. 'I really am losing it' she thought to herself.

Vanessa went towards the far end of the building to get a better look at what was happening. However, everything stood silent and there was no movement happening anywhere. "Vanessa, Sharon, Bucky, what's going on on your end?" "Nothing. All quiet" Bucky answered. There was a moment of silence before, "Karli's not coming in. She's trying to force everybody out."

Vanessa, Sharon, and Bucky all walk into the building. Over the intercom, a voice announces, "This is an emergency evacuation. Please proceed with your transports. Group one and two will leave secure vehicles in the basement. Group three will leave via air support on the roof."

"Go you get the basement, I'll head to the roof" Vanessa yells at Sharon as she begins running up the stairs. "God I hate stairs."

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Vanessa reaches the helicopter just as it's about to leave, but before she can do anything to stop it, a hand slaps her across the face. "Seriously," she says to herself. As she looks up she finds the same man from the supply trucks. As the helicopter begins to take off Vanessa runs past the man and grabs onto one of the foot railings. She knows she's not strong enough to pull it back, but she at least can try to climb aboard.

As the helicopter takes off, she feels an added weight to her body causing her grip on the railing to slip. As she tumbles to the ground she is left hanging by the side of the building. The tall man towers over her hanging body, "goodbye," he says grabbing both her wrist and throwing her off the building.

Vanessa is left grasping at air. There is no way anyone can survive a fall the big and it won't be a pretty sight. So instead Vanessa closes her eyes and accepts whatever is to come. But, instead of her body hitting the floor, her side hits the building. Looking up she sees the bright figure of Nate's body holding onto her. "Why do you accept death so easily," he asks with a sad tone.

Vanessa doesn't even bother answering as she crashes into one of the building's windows. "A thank you would be nice." "Thank you," Vanessa screamed as she ran back towards the staircase. The helicopter was long gone by now but there was still a Flag-Smasher that she needed to take care of. As she opened the door revealing the stairs she noticed a shadowy figure at the top of the staircase. Vanessa began to climb up only to be yanked down by a tall figure. "Why aren't you dead?" asked the person who'd pulled her down. "I ask myself that question every day," she said as she stood back up and launched herself at the man. She successfully managed to knock him down a flight of stairs. Vanessa then slid down the railing of the stairs reaching the man just as he began to get up. Before he could even throw a punch she kicked him in the face, blood splattering on her. "You got blood on my shoes," she said. Vanessa knew that she really shouldn't be provoking this man, but she couldn't help it.

Just as Vanessa was about to finally knock the man out, he roughly knocked her off her feet. Causing her back to hit the railing of the stairs. As Vanessa slid down on the stairs she let out a cry of pain. At this point the man stood up and looked down towards her, he let out a dark chuckle, "What? No more witty comebacks?" With every step he took towards Vanessa, she tried to crawl away. She however had no success as she could barely move at all. He continued to approach Vanessa, however, she no longer tried to move anymore. When he spoke again his voice sounded strained, "There is no fun in killing you now. You won't even put up a fight." He moved the hair that had fallen on Vanessa's face and roughly patted her cheek. He then turned and left chuckling to himself.

Vanessa laid at a weird angle on the floor. She didn't feel pain. She no longer felt anything. A very faint blue figure appeared next to her. "Vanessa! Stay with me, don't you dare let go. Just stay with me." Vanessa saw the figure lift her up and take her to one of the rooms near the stairwell. There was shattered glass everywhere and things had been knocked over. "Vanessa it's ok, someone will come and help soon. Just hold on a little longer." "You're really warm Nate, why didn't I ever realize how warm you are?" she asked, her words slurring. Nate stared at her with a look of disbelief, "No, you're just imagining things because of the pain you're in. I'm cold, remember? I've always been cold," he said, trying to convince them both. "It doesn't hurt, I can't feel anything anymore," she said as she looked him in the eyes, "I can't feel my legs."

Nate couldn't accept that this was happening. "Just hold on" he continued to say, praying to any god that would hear him that somebody would come barging through the door. "Just hold me, please" Vanessa whispered as her eyes began to drop close. "What? No, you are not dying. Keep your eyes open Vanessa. Any minute your boyfriend is going to come through that door and you are going to be ok." "He's not my boyfriend," Vanessa argued, even on the brink of death she still had to be right. "Does he know that, because the way he looks at you is the way a soulmate would look at each other. Like it's meant to be" Nate continued to say trying to keep her distracted. Vanessa began vigorously coughing causing blood to drip from her lips. Nate held onto her trying to help in any way he could. As Vanessa finally stopped coughing she leaned back onto Nate's chest and lightly smiled, "meant to be" she said in a voice so small Nate could barely hear her.

Vanessa's head fell back onto Nate's shoulder, and at that same moment, his figure became intangible. Nate stood up as he watched Vanessa's body slide against the wall. "Vanessa!" he yelled at her trying to get his hands to reach out towards her, "Vanessa." Nate could look away as he kneeled down to be at her level, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He continued to apologize to her until he felt his own figure being pushed away by another. The scene in front of him began to disappear as his body began to disintegrate into millions of little pieces. Instead of being surrounded by darkness and coldness, he was met with light and warmth. "I'm sorry," he said one last time to Vanessa's disappearing figure, "And thank you for everything."