so bad guys can't see me bleed

•tape twenty-three•

"So, where's the boyfriend?" Mom asks me, walking into their kitchen while I eat cereal and scroll through the new phone that Tony gave me a while back but I never opened until recently.

"Uh-uh. I don't wanna hear it," Dad says from the stove. He turns to Mom and me. "No, I do not want to hear anything about that man."

"Christ, let the girl live," Gran says from right next to me, scooping up the air with a spoon instead of her cereal.

"He's a monster," Dad defends himself, pointing at Gran. "And this is why you can't find the cocaine."

"Fuck you."

I drop my spoon in my bowl. "He's not a monster, Dad. You thought the same thing just because that bitch Francis screwed up your face and made you invincible. He was being controlled by HYDRA. Now he's in Wakanda with T'Challa. An upgrade from T'Challa trying to kill Bucky."

"Yeah, I thought he killed that guy's dad," Negasonic Teenage Warhead says from the couch. Jesus, she needs to shorten that name.

"He couldn't have because he was in Romania when it happened," I tell them. "Dad, you kill people for money, you have no room to talk."

Mom clears her throat. "So, how is Wakanda?"

"Wakanda? You went to Wakanda?" Gran asks.

I take a drink of water and shrug. "It was good. You know, still around a king and people that aren't huge fans of me. But they warmed up to Bucky, which means they warmed up to me. Not as much, but I guess it's something."

"How is it to Bucky?" Mom asks me, smiling.

"He's a lot better," I say. "They got all that shit from HYDRA out of his brain. He's calmer. It was just hard. It took a while."

"Cher, is this him?" Yukio asks from next to her girlfriend. She shows me a picture frame that was on the mantle a few minutes ago.

The picture is of Bucky and I, Bucky's arm around my shoulders while I have my lips on his cheek, and he's smiling like an idiot.

I nod. "Yeah, that's him."

"Aw, he's cute," Yukio says, smiling back at me. "You're both cute."

"Who's the American flag in that one?" Warhead asks, pointing to a picture on the mantle. It has Cap, Bucky, and me in front of a coffee shop where Cap is taking the picture at a Facebook Mom angle.

"Captain America," I say, going back to scrolling through my phone. "Steve Rogers."

We sit in silence for a little bit until Gran moves her head and scrunches up her nose. "Do you guys hear screaming or is that me?"

"That's just my phone," I tell her, clicking answer when Cap's name pops up. "What's up?"

"Get to Scotland."

"I'm in New York, and I'm broke."

"You're not even supposed to be in the States right now."

"Not the point. I'm at my parents' laying low. How do you possibly expect me to get to Scotland in under ten hours? It takes eight to get to Italy."

"There's a helicopter on the roof."

"What?"

"Just get on the damn helicopter, Red, or I swear."

"Swear what?"

"Jesus, Cher. They're gonna attack Wanda and Vision."

"Oh, you could have just started with that," I say, rushing into my old room to find my suit in my bag. "I'll be there."

—

"Train stations are a great place for—what the hell are these things?" I say to Nat while her and I are on the roof of a train station in Scotland.

"Aliens," she says.

I nod. "Aliens, great. Why the fuck are there aliens?"

"I don't know." She starts to get off the roof. "Jump in, I'm getting in a different way."

I nod and look down through the glass on the roof, seeing an alien throw something at Cap. He catches it and walks into the light, showing his face.

A second later, Sam flies through and kicks the alien, making her fly through a coffee shop window. He sends a few bullets out from his wings, which hit the other alien. Nat runs in, catching the thing that was thrown at Cap when he throws it to her. She starts hitting the alien with it while he tries to dodge it.

"Cher!"

"Here goes nothing," I mumble, jumping up. I hit the glass and fall through it, landing on the alien's shoulders while Nat continues to hit him.

I grab out a knife and bring it down on his shoulder as Nat stabs him in the stomach. He flips her on the ground while I start stabbing him in the arm to get him to stop trying to get Nat.

"Cher, jump," Nat says loudly, spinning around. I jump up as she kicks the alien onto the ground. I land on the alien's stomach, making him groan.

The other alien comes back and goes to stab Nat with the blue glowing thing that it just stole a moment before. Cap jumps in and stops the alien from getting close to Nat. I grab out my swords, and Nat grabs something else.

The three of us surround the alien and start fighting with it at the same time, making it have to spin around each time.

Sam comes through and kicks the alien back towards the other. He lands on the ground and gets out two pistols, pointing them at the two aliens in front of us.

"If I wanted to look at aliens, I would've asked to be in the '79 movie," I mumble.

"Get up," the woman says.

"I can't," the other says.

"We don't wanna kill you, but we will," Nat says to them.

"You'll never get the chance again," the woman says. She presses something on her forearm, and they are both sent up into the sky in a blue beam. The weapon flies out of Cap's hand and follows after them.

Nat and I put our weapons away, and the four of us walk over to Wanda and Vision. "Can you stand?" Sam asks Vision, helping him up.

Vision grunts, putting his arms around Wanda and Sam's shoulders for support. "Thank you, Captain," he says with a nod.

"Let's get you on the jet," Cap says.

"What are we doing with the helicopter?" I ask him while we turn around and start walking away.

"Let someone hotwire it."

—

"I thought we had a deal," Nat says as we take off. She turns and walks farther into the jet with the rest of us. "Stay close, check in, don't take any chances."

"I'm sorry," Wanda says. "We just wanted time."

Nat sits down behind Sam, who turns around. "Where to, Cap?"

"Home."

—

"How is he?" Cap asks me quietly on the jet.

"Haven't seen him in a month," I tell Cap. "Last I saw he was doing great. He was glowing, Cap. I've never seen him so happy. Not even the other times I visited."

Cap smiles. "How's T'Challa?"

"I think he's doing well."

"And your parents? Your family?"

"They're good. How are you holding up?"

"Better."