Catarina was in a dark room, surrounded by metal walls. They started shaking and began closing in on her. She looked for a way out frantically and turned to see a door on the other side. There was a lock, which she tried to use her powers to break, but as soon as she got close... the whole door disappeared. There were no windows. No other doors. No lights, not even a vent. The walls continued closing...
She tried to use her powers to hold them apart, but she wasn't strong enough. They were closing in on her... she was trapped.
Soon enough she was holding them apart with her hands, using all her strength to keep them apart. The walls were still getting closer to her. Closer, closer...
She woke with a gasp, wide-eyed. She let go of a breath. There was no room, no walls. It was all a dream. Nightmare.
"You okay?" asked Natasha, who was now sitting across from Cat. Steve and Sam were sitting in the seats up front.
"I'm, uh.. fine," Cat said. Half-lying.
"Nightmare?" asked Sam, turning around.
"Yeah," she told him. "Need to get my mind off it. Can I drive, Steve?"
"You know how?"
Cat nodded.
"Be my guest," he said. He stood up and put the quinjet on autopilot for a second. Cat took his seat, adjusted it for her own height, and took it off autopilot, putting her hands on the steering yoke.
"You sure you're good?" asked Sam, eyebrows raised.
"Just shaken," said Cat. "I've had nightmares before."
"You know, I did this kinda thing for a living before I got all caught up with Captain America over there," said Sam. "Counseling. PTSD."
"I'd ask you for help," said Cat. "The thing is, I don't know what I'd have PTSD from. I don't think I have a reason to."
"You have nightmares often?" he asked.
"Not lately," she said. "But maybe that's just because I haven't slept in days."
"Makes enough sense," said Sam. "And there's nothing that could be causing this?"
"I wouldn't know what," said Cat. "I was experimented on... but it was never that bad. They did tests, ran simulations... it was... not something I'd want to experience again, but I wouldn't call any of them traumatic events, I guess."
"Maybe," he said. "But would you call it past trauma?"
"There's a difference?"
"Sometimes it's not just one traumatic event, but a whole period that just added up to being too much for you. Trauma."
"Then I guess I would," said Cat. "Thank you, Sam," she said, glancing at him and nodding.
"Hey, it's what I do," said Sam.
"You know, when I woke up five days ago I did not think I would get caught up in any international scandals, let alone be meeting my idols," said Cat.
"Idols, huh?" said Natasha with a smirk.
"I mean, yeah. You, Sam, Cap, and once upon a time, even Tony Stark."
"Really?" said Cap, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I mean, the Iron Man stuff was cool and all, but I really admired all the science stuff he did. I'd just always thought maybe if I met him one day, he could get rid of my powers for me."
"And what do you think now?" he asked.
"Well, I definitely don't think he's all that anymore," she said. "And I don't know if he could have discovered the Indosiate thing. But when he tried to put you guys under the government's control... how could he do that? I mean, what they did to Wanda, that's.. scary."
"If they knew about your powers, they might have done the same thing," said Nat.
"And that's exactly what I didn't want to happen," said Steve. "And it won't."
"We're the good guys, right?" asked Catarina.
"That all depends on how you want to look at it," said Steve. "That's an opinion. But to me.. and, hopefully, to you... yeah, we're the good guys."
——— ✪ ⍟ ✪———
It was Sam's turn to fly once they got back across Europe. He would fly them over Russia and to the small town on the southeast border. The place was a small cover village for the many people that worked at the HYDRA facility. They didn't expect anyone — as they thought their cover was foolproof.
Apparently not.
"So," said Sam, once they approached their landing spot, which was about half a mile outside of the HYDRA base. "What's the plan?"
They all looked at Steve.
"What? I'm supposed to have a plan?"
"You don't have a plan?" said Cat frantically.
"You're Captain America! I thought you were the self-proclaimed plan guy?" said Nat, at the same time.
"You came up with a plan all the other times!" said Sam.
"Okay, well, we'll all have to come up with something," said Steve. "I wasn't even thinking about a plan."
"Drop in, fight our way through, get anything we need, blow the place up?" offered Catarina.
"Sounds a lot easier than it is," said Sam. "It's an active facility."
"Just us four won't be able to handle everyone on our own," said Nat. "We can't attract unwanted attention." She turned to Steve. "Is there a back door?" she asked. "Some other way to get in?"
"T'Challa gave me a map," smiled Steve, seeing what Natasha was onto. "Maybe we can find one."
"As little combat as possible," said Cat. "But we also need to get to the files room. And if it's an active facility..."
"There'll be people in there," completed Sam.
"So it'll take a little something," shrugged Nat. "Not hard."
"Then let's go," said Cat.
a.n.:
WAIT IM SORRY ITS TUESDAY!! literally pls forgive me i actually just like don't know what im doing. anyways —
look at me, so creative with my chapter names. wow, am i extremely bad at that.
ily all, thank you for bearing with me this far if you're here! it's getting good soon i promise!! ahh I've been hinting at something since chapter nine i wonder if you all have figured it out yet
don't forget to vote,
molly
YOU ARE READING
𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 | bucky barnes
Fanfiction[complete!] "𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘?" "𝐀𝐒 𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄." 𝐉ames "Bucky" Barnes had been lost for a very, very long time. He didn't know what it was like to take refuge in a person. He was searching for something else. But sometimes, the thi...
