ℜ𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔅𝔬𝔫𝔢 | Winter Soldier | Bucky Barnes

VII

✪

When Natasha and Steve had showed up at Sam's doorstep with an unconscious Athena, the man, Sam, had been quick to let them in.
Athena had been delicately placed on his bed as Steve and Natasha had explained the whole situation. Sam was shocked to say the least that they didn't look worse, but he eventually stopped asking questions and let the two go clean themselves up as he made them some food.

Steve had cleaned up first and was now carefully and gently cleaning Athena's face from dirt and dust from the debris as he noticed Natasha looking sad and thoughtful. "You okay? What's going on?"

"It's just.. When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but.. I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." Steve was happy that Natasha was beginning to open up to him, but he'd hoped she'd want to talk about what he did back when the missile hit. He felt the need to explain it, to have someone else agree that he couldn't have done things any other way. "There is a chance you might be in the wrong business." He just ended up saying, making Natasha smile faintly.

"I eh.. I owe you." The assassin said softly taking a side glance at their friend on the bed.
Steve felt the weight on his heart already begin to lift. "It's okay. I had no real choice. It was either save one or save none."

It was logical enough to Natasha, but she could see Steve found it hard to believe his own words. He didn't want to have to choose between two lives. "You made the logical choice. No one will blame you for that, not even Athena. She survived Steve."

"What if she hadn't? I..-" His words were interrupted by a panicked gasp for air.
Both agents ran quickly to her side, Natasha softly laying Athena back down from her sitting position.

Athena looked absolutely terrified. "Who are you? I don't..- Steve?" The super soldier sighed in relief as the girl relaxed when she saw him. "Yes, it's me, you're safe. Do you remember what happened?"

"No, I..- Wait what do you mean 'what happened'? Where are we?" Athena said sitting up again, wincing in pain as she did so.
"Wait, what is the last thing you remember?" Natasha asked quizzically.

"Hydra.. Did I hit my head or something?"

"A missile exploded and literally dropped a building on it. We thought you'd died, Athena." Natasha said clearly shaken up about it too.  "Who's Athena?" Both Steve and Natasha froze and looked terrified at the girl's blank and confused face before they began pacing around each other in panic while cursing under their breaths.

Athena broke into a smile, chuckled and then winced in pain as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed, "-I'm just kidding, relax. Were you really that worried about me?"

"Of course! Why didn't you jump to safety? Steve was screaming your name at the top of his lungs!" Natasha scolded concerned. Athena looked lost at her two friends. "I don't know.. I-I don't remember. It's almost like someone drugged me, I remember Zola talking and then things starts to get fuzzy.. I remember being really angry, but I don't remember why. I think it was something he said, it just made me snap."

Steve smiled a bit concerned before sitting down on the bedside. "I'm sure it'll come back to you. As long as you just remember us and what's going on for now, it'll be fine." Athena nodded thoughtfully.

"The host -me- made a wonderful breakfast. If you guys.. eat that sort of thing?" Athena stood on the tip of her toes to look over Steve's shoulder at Sam. "I'm starving! Hello by the way."

"Oh! You're awake! Good, I don't know how I would've handled someone literally dying on my bed."

✪