the dark sapphire -Bucky Barnes-

92

A full two weeks passed, during which the group prepared for the fight against Karpov. While Sam was still helping out in the IT department every day, analyzing the data brought in by the drone and thus had a pretty good picture of Karpov's hideout, Ally spent most of her time training for the fight. In the morning after breakfast, she was scheduled for combat, strength and endurance training with Sharon each day and Ally was pleased with herself, she was in pretty good shape.

Then, after lunch, there was gun and weapons training with Bucky. They practiced Ally's aim on the range and fought each other with knives and other weapons on the mats. Buck's strength and size made him more of a challenge than Sharon, and the rubber knife also made fighting him more strenuous, but Ally still performed quite well and Bucky seemed quite pleased with her as well.

After that she continued training her powers together with Clark, who really turned out to be a great help. Not only was he able to explain to Ally from time to time how her powers were triggered, since he knew from experience, but he also always organized agents who volunteered so that Ally could train her manipulation powers as well. By now she had her powers under control enough to use them loosely in a fight, but she knew she could not yet draw on them to their full potential.

After dinner, there was a briefing with several agents almost every day. They exchanged new information, discussed already parts of the plan and decided how to proceed the next days.

Afterwards, Sam, Bucky and Ally retreated to their floor and spent the evening together on the couch, before they said goodbye to their rooms. Ally and Bucky enjoyed themselves, Sharon always grinning when she discovered the bruises on Ally's body in the mornings during practice, especially when they were on Ally's neck. Afterwards, Ally fell asleep in Bucky's arms from exhaustion before the next days brought exactly the same.

But tonight was different. It had been clear for three days now that tomorrow would be the day they would storm Karpov's hideout, with the goal of arresting him, as well as his comrades-in-arms, and getting information through them to bring down Hydra once and for all. Everyone was visibly nervous, as it was clear that Karpov would not give up without a fight, and Ally sensed that everyone was banking on her powers, which only made her more nervous. Already all day she was not quite at her best, often in thought and playing with her bracelet.

Bucky, noticing during the briefing that Ally's mind was elsewhere, put his hand on her thigh and leaned over slightly. "Doll, you should listen. We need to stick to the plan tomorrow very carefully" he murmured to her and Ally startled out of her thoughts and nodded. she mumbled an apology and put her hand on Bucky's before looking up at Sharon who was standing in front of a blackboard that had a layout of Karpov's hideout as well as the tactics they would use tomorrow.

Ally was relieved when they were finally dismissed and she was allowed into her room with Bucky holding her hand, since they were supposed to be fit tomorrow, they had agreed with Sam to go straight to bed tonight. "Excited about tomorrow?" Bucky asked as Ally lay down next to him in his Tshirt that he had given her with the explanation that apparently the way to do it these days is to give the girl a piece of your clothing and that Ally was now wearing to sleep. "Excited is the wrong word" Ally sighed. "Worried, anxious, nervous is more like it" Bucky pulled her to him and pressed a kiss to her temple. "You don't have to worry about it so much Doll. The plan is good, we'll be fine. We're prepared. You've been training so hard the last few weeks, it can't possibly go wrong."

Ally sighed again. "I know, but what if it does?" she sat up. "What if he shoots you again? Or someone else? What if I overestimate myself and yet nothing works out the way it should?What if he suspects we're coming and we walk into a trap?"  "Nothing will happen to us, even though nothing is without risk, but we have to take the risk if we want to take down Karpovs, you want that too, don't you?" Ally nodded and snuggled back up to Bucky. "You have the best agents and Sam and me by your side, Karpov doesn't stand a chance" Bucky stroked her arm.

They were both silent for a moment and Bucky had almost fallen asleep when Ally sighed again. "I'm afraid to face him" she whispered. "Who?" "Sean...Karpov. Last time I saw him all I felt towards him was anger and disgust because of what he did to me. Now I have even more anger inside of me. He shot you, attacked us. But I only attacked him because I was controlled, because it was my order. He's a psychopath, but I'm still afraid I'll fall for him again. i lived with this man for so long and didn't notice anything. What if I can't do anything to him?" Ally's voice grew quieter. Bucky pulled her closer to him so her head was on his chest. "you mean you can't attack him without being controlled because you have a history together?" Ally nodded.

"I don't have feelings for him anymore, you have to believe that. It disgusts me to think that I slept next to this man, but there is still a block in me that I can't overcome" "that's ok, Doll. You used to have feelings for him and he was important to you. It's normal that you might not want to hurt him then, but you don't have to worry about that, OK? if you don't, there are plenty of others who can overpower him and arrest him" Ally nodded and snuggled up to Bucky, sighing. "We should sleep, we need to be fit" Bucky nodded. "Good night, Bucky. I love you" Ally mumbled, already closing her eyes. "I love you too, Doll" Bucky whispered back. 

LOVE YOUUUUU ♥️