Spectre | Bucky Barnes

Part 2

Bruce, the kind one, had a deep passion for helping, he was a scientist with a secret. Being able to fully control himself and his emotions was sometimes tricky, he would turn into a raging beast when provoked. I found this out very quickly, Natasha had managed to calm him down. I had run to my room soon after, he had scared me. I had never witnessed anything like this before. When Bruce scared me I had moved very fast to my room, they say I moved like a ghost, a wisp of smoke in the air, my body shimmered. Bruce and Tony worked together to understand my physiology.

I suddenly remembered how they had said I was hazy, almost blurred around the edges, I looked down to inspect my body, I didn't look blurred. Wanda, she had said I looked almost transparent. It confused me as I stood looking at myself in the mirror they had wheeled into the room, all the tubes now removed from me. How could I be special, someone extraordinary, this was something I would never, could never grasp, I looked... normal. Malnourished maybe but, normal.

There was a deep burning sensation in the back of my throat all the way down to my stomach, it whirred around my head like an explosion, I tried to hold it back, I clenched my fists and screwed my face up, but I couldn't help the feeling. My body ached, and my stomach grumbled. I was hungry. I couldn't remember the last time I had eaten. I don't remember Ruskin feeding me, I could only remember the pain. My body and brain suddenly felt separate from one another, my body wanted to escape, to kill, but my brain ordered me to stop, it wanted my every thought and emotion to be invisible. Wanda tensed, hearing my every thought, her wisps wrapped around me, and I let it happen. She could sense and feel the conflict between my brain and my body. Steve tensed in the corner, as Wanda calmed me. They watched as my body went in and out of focus before them. Bucky tensed in the corner, leaning his body in my direction, getting ready for... something. Wanda calmed me, the purple man stood next to her, reading my vitals as if he was in tune with my body.

I felt no immediate urge to hurt anyone, I just wanted to get away. I could hear a thumping sound, it sounded close by and like blood rushing back to a heart and round its body again, I could stop that. "No." I thought aloud, my voice hoarse. Everyone flinched at the sudden sound escaping from my lips. That's wrong. I'm hurting no one. Stop it Anna. Anna. That was my name. Anna Perry-Weather.

"We should get her to a room." Steve spoke. His voice was soft, understanding. 

"I'll have FRIDAY put her on lock down, monitor her." Tony spoke, his voice full of distaste." Looking back I knew he meant well, he didn't know me. He didn't trust me back then.

What, why? Had he heard my thoughts, I was hurting nobody, why this take in things. I crouched now in defence, without realising it. I heard a growl, it was Bucky. He wasn't happy with Tony's tone of voice, he was treating me the same way he had been treated. Like a monster. Even though he was unsure of me, he still protected me from Tony. Steve took a hold of his arm calming him down. I stayed crouched. Nat smiled encouragingly towards me but I stood my ground. Teeth bared. I felt suddenly threatened by the people surrounding me. They were going to lock me up.

When I think back to that day, I understood the reason why I was locked in my room. They didn't know me. It didn't stop me from breaking down when they finally got me to me new abode. As I said, I screamed most of the night. I didn't want to be locked up. Not again. I thought back to my time with Ruskin. My mind flashed back to him locking me away in between experimenting on me. Sometimes it would be for days, sometimes it would be for weeks. I hated being alone. I would try and claw my way out of my cell, after that they would sedate me or put me in a chamber in cryostasis so I couldn't hurt myself.

They spoke a while longer before moving me from the lab. Steve and Bucky escorted me up many hallways to my new room, the building was like a maze. Bucky walked behind me, as if trying to stop me from running. Tony had insisted on putting cuffs on me, Steve wasn't best pleased, but agreed to his conditions if I was to stay here. Everyone else retired to do other things, Vision and Wanda headed to the kitchen. Steve walked beside me as we roamed the deserted building, passing different rooms. Steve named some of them as we passed. My own room was not far from his, but on the same floor as Bucky's, much to his annoyance. I didn't pluck up the courage to converse with either of them. I was a shy and quiet person in my former life. I prefered to be left alone most of the time, that I knew. I never changed, never strayed from my introverted persona, but now I could change. Be someone different. Someone new. Someone better. But I knew, somehow, I would always be the quiet invisible one, I wasn't going to escape from that. 

Wanda and Vision delivered food to my room, Vision fazzed through the wall and set it down on a table for me. I sat in the corner looking at the distruction I had caused. Even though I was hungry I barely touched the food in front of me. Vision smiled as he left, urging me to eat and rest. My room was filled with a few items of furniture, that were now strewn around the room, there was a bed in the corner. It felt too soft when I sat down on it. I had grown used to the solid floor of my cell when I had been awake. I gathered a sheet and curled up in a ball under the window, watching the stars float around in the clear dark sky outside, unaware that Tony was watching me on a hidden camera. Checking up on me. He felt a pang in his chest then, he felt guilty. I was only a girl, a young woman. I had not hurt him. I was not a monster, not yet. He shouldn't feel hatred towards me just because I had come from the clutches of HYDRA. He vowed to himself to protect me. To help me.

It had been decided after spending many months into my lockdown, that I would stay here at the Avengers compound, as it was known. I could leave if I had wanted or needed too, I was not being forced to tie myself to them in anyway shape or form. But they would be here to help me, mentor me. I was being accepted into this family. I had no place to go, so I stayed.

I had been offered the place as an Avenger and to take the name 'Spectre'. Sam thought of the name, he was pleased with himself. Steve wanted it, so I only saw fit to please him. He had after all helped me escape but rescueing me and taking me in. 

The story, to everyone else, was that I was a distant relative of Steve's, they were to keep my abilities to themselves, my parents had died a few years previous, and I had been put up for adoption as a young child, as they couldn't find any living relations, until now. I had good foster parents, but they agreed to help me find my true relations, and that is how I had come to be where I was today. It seemed like a good enough story to me, so I went along with it. I had no other life now, other than the one set out in front of me. 

Nat helped me get in shape, she trained me in many fighting techniques, I almost matched her.
Bucky would watch our sessions, in what he thought was secret but Sam knew, he saw him watch me. He told me one day, of how the super soldier couldn't keep his eyes off me. On one of our training sessions I looked out for him, he hid on the balcony above us, his arm glinted in the light, bringing my attention to him. Realising he had been caught he stepped out from the shadows, to stand closer to the balcony edge, his gaze through me off. Nat went in for the hit but came against nothing, against air. I had vanished in front of their eyes. Bucky rushed down to the place I had been standing, Nat just stood shock and confusion on her face as Bucky searched for me.