Wraith [MARVEL x Invincible Crossover]

Chapter Three

Rebecca gave him a deadpan look. "I get it."

On his day-offs, Bucky would take Rebecca to the beach. Since he saw her reaction of awe to the sight of the beach, Bucky made a silent promise to always bring her to the beach, even if it just meant them sitting under an umbrella and watch the waves.

Bucky watched from under the shade as Rebecca continued to dip her feet in the ocean. He has never seen her smile so much since... forever. He lightly chuckled whenever she would run away when a wave would come to shore; he noticed how she never swam in the ocean but, rather just dip her toes and play tag with the waves. He wanted to ask her about it, but he couldn't find an opportunity to do so. Rebecca eventually came to where he sat under an umbrella, he chuckled as he tried to get used to the colorful shirt she was wearing – it was like a Hawaiian shirt with floral print, and then a pair of board shorts that were clearly too big for her but used a belt to keep it up.

"Having fun?" Bucky asked.

Rebecca nodded. "It's peaceful here."

He turned to her. "Why not go for a swim?"

She slightly frowned. "I don't want to."

The way she said it made him curious, it was like her reason was far more than just a mood she was feeling. He spoke in Russian when he said, "The reason why we're on this journey is to find answers on who we are... tell me, it will help."

She sighed and then spoke in the same language. "I have dreams about being in a tank... it's filled with water, and something was sticking in my stomach..." she touched where her belly button was. "I would try to break out of it, but when I would start hitting the glass, I would be electrocuted."

Bucky closed his eyes, pained to hear such a thing from her.

"I don't recall HYDRA ever doing that to me... do you?" She turned to him.

Bucky shook his head. "No. They didn't."

And that was the truth. Because when Bucky went to the facility in Alaska, it wasn't just Rebecca he took, but as well as the book that kept her records. All of HDYRA's experiments, training, research on her, kept a detailed record of her. Along with the codes that could activate the chip in her head. He never told her in fear of accidentally activating something that would turn her to the Creature.

"I want to show you something," Rebecca said in a whisper, reverting back to English. "It's back in the house..."

"Do you want to head back to see it now?"

Rebecca shook her head. "Let's stay here for a little while longer..."

"Okay," he whispered.

After a couple of hours of watching the ocean and the sunset, Bucky and Rebecca headed back to their house, but upon passing their neighbors, the Arellanos, they were called by the matron of the family. Mrs. Arellano invited them to join her family for dinner, Bucky declined by the woman was insistent and didn't take "no" for an answer. Eventually, he gave in and he and Rebecca followed the woman inside her family's home.

Rebecca glanced at Bucky, asking him if this was a good idea, he only nodded as a response. Mrs. Arellano had them sit at the table while she and her older children set the plates and the food; they were later joined by Bucky's temporary boss, Mr. Arellano, who was more than happy to find their neighbors joining them for dinner.

"Eat, eat!" said Mr. Arellano as he offered Bucky and Rebecca more and more food from the table. "There is plenty for everyone."

Bucky watched as Rebecca enjoyed every bit of food being served. She savored every bite she had and just seeing her eat made him smile. When Bucky took Rebecca from the HYDRA facility in Alaska, she was thin and that didn't change throughout their journey until they came to San Juan. Right now, she gained a bit of weight but clearly, she was doing her exercises – the ones that HYDRA made her do – so it was well balanced. And since coming to San Juan, he noticed that she was acting more like a kid now, and with it were the sassy remarks. After dinner, they stayed a bit longer to help with the clean-up, and while Bucky was doing his part with cleaning up the table, Rebecca joined the other kids with trying to dance the Salsa.