Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter One

Blue waves of energy swirl in the corners of my vision as Zola blinks in and out of view, holding a syringe filled with an icy blue liquid. Despite my efforts, I can't move, and my pleas fall on deaf ears as he injects me with the serum. Zola disappears once more, returning a moment later holding a glowing blue cube.

"Let's see what else the Tesseract can do," Zola muses, placing it within the machine suddenly appearing before us.

He flicks the switch, and the machine powers up, shooting a beam of energy at my chest.

My vision shifts, and I find myself sprawled across the floor of a speeding train. Stilled dazed from the blast, I watch as Bucky jumps forward to grab Steve's fallen shield, using it to protect his body as he tries to shoot the enemy soldier. The soldier fires his weapon, and the blast ricochets off the shield, ripping a hole through the side of the car and knocking Bucky out of the train.

"Bucky!" I scream, running to the opening to see the love of my life clinging to the outside of the destroyed train car.

Steve recovers his shield, and he throws it at the enemy, dispatching him before taking my arm and pulling me out of the way.

"Bucky! Hang on!" Steve shouts, climbing out of the car. "Grab my hand!"

Bucky inches his way toward us, but the railing he dangles from tears away with a painful screech. He falls.

"Bucky!" I scream. "No!"

I jolt up in my bed, hair plastered to my forehead with sweat and the bedsheets wrapped around my legs. Blue waves of light dance around the ceiling and I look down at my hands to see the energy swirling around them. I take a few deep breaths, trying to steady my racing heart, and as I calm down, my powers dissipate as well.

I glance at the clock to see that it's only 04:30, but knowing that I won't get back to sleep, I detangle myself from the bed and throw on a pair of jeans and a plain white t-shirt before heading out into the living room.

SHIELD placed me and Steve in temporary lodgings as we get settled into our new lives. The apartment is small, and a little dingy, but it reminds me of the one I grew up in, with its faded wallpaper and creaky floorboards.

I pad across the floor to Steve's ajar bedroom door, but as I reach to close it completely, I see through the crack that his bed is empty. I smile softly to myself, I'm not the only one who had a rough night.

Grabbing the television remote from the couch, I place it at one end of the coffee table before moving to stand at the other end. Slowly, I raise a hand toward the remote, but nothing happens. My brows pinch together in frustration, and I close my eyes, trying to pull my strange abilities to the surface. After another breath, I open my eyes to discover the remote floating in the air, surrounded by glowing blue energy.

I came out of cryofreeze six months ago, and since then, Steve and I have been trying to adapt to the 21st century, and to find where we belong within it. We struggle to find any sense of familiarity, the world has changed so much since the war, but we do have each other, so at least we're not left to adapt on our own.

Director Fury told us that Steve was found in the Arctic Ocean, frozen within the wreckage of Schmidt's plane, and due to the Super Soldier serum running through his veins, Steve somehow survived being preserved in ice for seventy years.

I've also filled Steve in on what happened after he went down with the plane, that I helped form SHIELD, and that I chose to go into cryofreeze. However, I couldn't find the courage to explainwhy, or what my life has been like since.

Over the next few hours, I stand in the dark living room, moving the remote from one side of the table to the other. Suddenly, I hear a quiet knock on my door and, startled by the noise, I whip my body around, launching a ball of energy toward the door, but hitting the wall instead.

Realizing that the visitor is not trying to force their way in, I slowly approach the door and answer it to find Director Fury himself. I take a few steps back, giving him space to enter, and he walks a few paces before turning to look at the scorch marks on the wall.

Fury whistles before turning back to face me. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"What can I do for you, Director Fury?" I ask.

"Is the Captain around?" Fury asks instead, glancing at Steve's bedroom door.

"I'm surprised you don't have his location tagged," I answer, letting my sarcasm drip through.

"Oh, I do," Fury replies with a smile. "But it's more polite to ask."

I smirk his humour as I put on my Converse shoes, leading Fury out into the hallway and locking the apartment door behind me.