Superhero Life

• Morning After

Waking up with a bad headache and no memory of what happened must be the worst thing when you drink I used to think. However, waking up in someone else's shirt snuggled up in someone else's duvet was definitely worse. And that after looking around I had to realize it was Bucky's room hasn't made the awful feeling any better.

The bathroom door opens and Bucky walks in, wearing only a towel that hangs dangerously loose around his waist.
"What happened yesterday? We didn't, you know what, did we?"
He laughs, searching his wardrobe for something to wear.
"No, you were way too drunk I would never do that." Something is wrong. He is acting wrong.
"Okay, I don't know what to think of this."
"Think of it like you want, you almost puked on me and wanted to go home with some weird guy you met. I saved you."
"Shut up." I hiss covering my naked legs with the blanket.
"You were very eager to undress last night so don't worry I already saw enough." Fuck.
"Listen, I'm sor-" Jarvi's voice coming through the speakers saves me from embarrassing myself further.

Mr. Stark is asking everyone to come to the meeting room.

"Do you have a pair of pants for me? I can't walk across the hallway in just your shirt."
Touching my boobs in desperate search for my bra I can't find it.
Apparently this situation can get more embarrassing.
"As I said, you were very eager to undress."
He disappears into the bathroom to get dressed while I slip into his sweatpants.

But instead of finding the others in the meeting room, I find it empty.

The Avengers will take care of the mission, you and Mr. Barnes are supposed to stay here.

Jarvis informs me.

A bit disappointed I make my way to the kitchen, Bucky already awaiting me with a book in his hand.
"They won't let us go on a mission yet so stop looking so frustrated about it.
What is this book about?"
I snatch the book from his hand to leaf through it myself.
"Loki left it to me before he had to go back to Asgard. It's about the history of Asgard."

Searching for a pan I turn on the stove in the progress.
"I'll make eggs and bacon on toast for us. Could you get the orange juice from the pantry room?"

On my first night here I raided the pantry room looking for a midnight snack. It's stacked up to the ceiling so if anything bad would happen we would be able to survive for at least a year. And I'm glad I'm no longer the one having to take care that it's full.

A loud crash in the hallway makes me halt.
"The orange juice is at the bottom, it's not that hard to find!" No answer, only silence.
Washing my hands in the sink I walk out into the hallway.
"Bucky? Are you okay?"
Out of nowhere, a headache starts spreading from the back to the front of my head and I let out a pained groan.

"Why doesn't it work on her?"
Asks an unknown feminine voice behind me.
"I don't know." A man answers her, both of them with a heavy accent.
What the hell is happening?

I turn to meet the confused stares of a young woman with reddish brown hair and a young man with silverish hair.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Something hard hits the back of my head, making my eyes water and my world fade to black.

• • •

I wake up to find myself chained to the ceiling, the feeling long lost in my arms.
However, knowing better than to scream for help, I remain silent. I have no weapon nor strength to fight back.

The room is so bright that I need a minute to notice the large window that led to another room where none other than Bucky lies. We are knee-deep in shit.

Dear Mr. Barnes here was injected with poison. If you want to help him you have to let your powers get full capability.

I look around in panic. No one else is in my room as far as I know and I can't see any speakers like we have in the tower.

"If you hurt him I will kill you."

I told you what you have to do. The rest of the Avengers will also benefit from this, they are probably watching what happens right now.

It was a trap, the mission they had to go on was fake. All of this was planned beforehand and now the Avengers can watch our failure live.

"Will this end like the Saw movies? If we don't do what you say we will both die?"

No quite, we would never kill someone with powers like you.

"Fuck, Bucky can you hear me?"
"Yes." He is too weak to free himself.
I have to do it for both of us but the more I move, the more the chains cut into my flesh.

"This is an emergency and I know that I swore I would never go into your head again..." I take a deep breath swallowing the lump in my throat.
"No matter how weak you are, you will not die. I want you to think back to the day you and Steve were at the beach. That was a nice day, I saw it. Try to remember the way the sun shone on your skin." He enters a trance his eyes staring into nothing while his mind is far away.
"Give me the poison, he suffered enough."

You would sacrifice yourself for him?

"Yes, I want you to release him."
No answer to that.
"Damn it, just let him go."
My eyes fill with tears.

Do you remember the day your grandmother died? When you collapsed crying because you realized how alone you were? Do you remember how you took all the pills this evening? Washed down with a glass of wine and nothing happened or how you cut your thighs and the wounds healed in only a few minutes?
Feel all this pain and let it go.

It only takes a ragged sob for tears to run down my cheeks.
"I was weak that day, something like that never happened again," I say remembering the team is watching this right now.

You never told anyone because you were embarrassed to admit it. You are more than weak, you are a coward.

Keeping my head high I ignore the tears.
"Stop it!"
My body heats up to an uncomfortable temperature and a white veil overcoats my skin, protecting me.
Breaking the chains I collapse to the floor and let out a cry so loud that the sound bounces off the walls.

You did it! Wasn't so bad was it?

With a wave of my hand, I tear the door off its hinges. It feels like I've always done this, as if my body knows what to do.

The two guards infront of my door die in an instant, a crack, and their necks are twisted at an odd angle.

Breaking down Bucky's door, my sense comes back like a slap in the face. The realization that I just killed two people leaves me frozen on the spot. I killed.

Bucky's painfully heavy breathing snaps me out of it.
"It is going to be okay."
I assure him as I carefully touch his forehead. He is overheating, whatever poison this was it is eating him from the inside out.

Enveloping him in the same white veil as me, my powers seem to make him float after me of its own accord.

No guards await us like I expected and when we arrive at a red door I wonder if it can be that easy.