{Song: We Belong by Tom Felton}
~Edited~
The rain provided pretty good cover, but it also made it so we couldn't hear or see if any patrol was nearby. Luckily, I could keep my mind open and hear stray thoughts of anyone in our vicinity. I ended up leading Nat towards the building, evading two groups of agents who were circling the treeline. We stopped at the edge of the clearing where the facility was to allow me time to focus on blending us as well as I could with the constant change in rain.
I grabbed Nats arm and imagined us fading into the greenery and trees, squeezing her arm as a sign to start moving slowly. She takes the lead and I direct her by sending her mental messages about where guards are situated.
By the time we made it to the wall of the building and I blended us to it, my energy was starting to slip away. I watched as Nat set up the device on the keypad and we waited anxiously until it turned green and the lock slide off. I let Nat go through first after making sure the coast was clear, and then I followed. I placed a rock against the door to keep it propped open just enough to not set off the alarm but not enough to make it obvious that it was open.
"Ladies, you're lucky I looped the camera feed. Because if anyone other than me was watching the live feed they would have seen the door open by itself." Tony's voice comes through my earpiece.
I let go of Nat once we were inside and we quietly rush towards the file room, "Thanks Shellhead." I whisper in response. I was following behind Nat when she pulled back and pushed her back against the wall. She motions towards the hallway we need to get to and then holds up two fingers. I mentally poke around and nod when I feel two minds in the hallway.
I hold up my hand and feel my eyes glow blue, leaning out into the hallway just a bit I focus on the two men and watch as they freeze. Without having to hear what I would have told her, Nat goes up and electrocutes both the men. I let go of them and they immediately drop to the floor, unconscious.
"Status update." Steve's voice asks in my ear.
"Shit." I say as a third man exits one of the rooms in the hallway. He was dressed as a scientist so he didn't have a radio to call for help like the two unconscious men do. He stares at us with wide eyes, and before he could react I had punched him in the face and he drops to the floor, out cold.
"Language." Steve mutters over the coms.
"We are in the file room." Nat informs him right as we step into the room the scientist had left. After a brief sweep to make sure the room was empty, Nat grabbed a flashdrive from one of her pockets and inserts it into the main server.
The large screen in the front of the room along with most of the smaller ones on the desks start up and various files open up. Nat mass selects some before diving down to find the file we need. As she was searching I watched as photos and videos were uploaded onto the drive.
Most of them were blueprints of buildings or pictures of other HYDRA agents and their information. But then the videos started to play.
My hand clamps over my mouth but I still let out a whimper that alerts Nat to my distress. I can't take my eyes off the screen though, the videos were playing at a fairly fast speed but there were going to be months worth. I would know, because they were recordings of my time in the Storeroom.
"What happened? Ali's vitals have spiked." Clint speaks up, his voice filled with concern. But I don't move, it feels like I was frozen in place as all the things I have nightmares about are downloaded into the flashdrive we brought with us.
Nat was trying to say something, but my ears were filled with a ringing sound that was only getting louder. Even when the videos blurred as my eyes filled with tears, I still couldn't look away as one of the scientists explained how he was going to extract spinal fluid and the screams I had made at the pain as it happened.
When the screens went black, I realized I had been shaking with silent tears running down my face. Nat wasn't next to me, and there was sounds of fighting in the room. I turn just in time to see a HYDRA agent get past Nat who was already fighting three of them and more were coming.
The HYDRA agent was studying me before she grabs her gun and starts to raise it. My instincts take over as I morph my hand into metal and grab hold of the barrel. I feel it fire into the metal hand like someone had poked my hand with their finger. Using my left hand I punched her as my leg swept her feet out from under her and she falls. I hit her against the face with her gun before throwing it away and taking out my knife.
I launch it at one of the other agents that were starting to overpower Nat, retracting it from his neck before using it to slice the leg of another agent as I ducked his punch. I quickly grab the flashdrive from the server and slide it into one of my pockets. With my help, Nat and I take care of the rest of the agents who had shown up and were sprinting towards the exit when the blast of an alarm sounds through the speakers.
"I think the door closed." Nat pants as we skirt into the last hallway and see a group of agents standing right in front of our planned exit, their guns already pointing at us. I glance around us to try and figure out another way out and see the large windows facing the trees and our quinjet.
These weren't on the blueprint.
I turn my entire body into metal and use my body as a shield for Nat from the bullets that were starting to be fired. Without saying anything, I point at the windows. Nat nods and jumps through one with me right behind her, the rain pelting us immediately. I roll to a crouch and the two of us break into a sprint again, turning myself back to normal as I lost focus and concentrated on getting to the quinjet.
"Hey, America's Ass. Ali and your fondue partner are fine. Pay attention to the fact that some agents are on their way to your position. You might want to take care of that." I hear Tony's sarcastic comment as Nat and I make it to the treeline.
We get to the quinjet just as Barton shoots the last agent in the shoulder, seeing the two of us he runs back to the pilot seat and starts to lift off the ground. Nat and I leap onto the walkway as the bird takes off and the back door slowly shuts.
"Did you guys try to take a bath in your clothes or something?" Barton jokes at our soaked appearance. I avoid everyone's eyes as I silently hand Steve the flashdrive before walking back towards the end of the jet and slide to take a seat on the floor, my arms wrapped tightly around my knees as I stared at the floor.
"Ali, you're bleeding." Steve comments but Nat holds him back from coming any closer to me. I can hear her tell the two men what had happened, including the videos that were the cause of my current state.
I stayed like that until I felt the quinjet land, my mind was tortured by the images I had experienced. As soon as the doors had opened I stepped out and without waiting for the others, I walked straight to the stairwell. When I entered the main level, I saw everyone gathered in the living room waiting for our return.
"Hey kid-" Tony starts, his voice filled with alarm at my appearance, but I walk straight past everyone without a word and head directly into my room. I close the door and stand there for a moment, barely breathing. Shedding my suit where I stood I went into the bathroom and ended up standing under a stream of burning water for what felt like hours. I scratched at my scars as if I could claw them off my skin.
I can feel the emptiness that I was radiating, it was nearly thick enough to cut with a knife.
When the water got turned off I tried to turn the knob but nothing happened, "I apologize Miss Maximoff, but Mr. Stark told me to shut the shower off." FRIDAY's voice sounds in the bathroom. With no reaction, I wrap myself in a towel and then realize my mistake. I forgot to grab clothes, and someone was waiting in my room.
Wanda was sitting cross-legged on my bed, fiddling with her hair when I walked in. I looked at her blankly before turning and walking into my closet to change. I put on pajama shorts and Bucky's huge sweater before walking back out and curling up on top of my bed. My sister doesn't say anything, taking in the empty emotion I was emitting. After a few moments of silence she turns to me and I can see the pain in her tearfilled eyes.
They must be going through the flashdrive then.
"I didn't know." She whispered as she lets out a sob, she moves towards me and slowly gives me a light hug but I give no reaction to the touch. She was moving as if one sudden motion would break me, but she didn't realize I was made of stone right now.
After getting no reaction or movement from me, she stands and leaves my room. I stare out the balcony doors, hearing other people knocking at my door but not moving or saying anything. I couldn't. I just... couldn't.
I watch as the setting sun changes to a cloudless night, birds stop chirping and stars start shining. I hear another knock on my door and even though I don't answer, it creaks open. The hallway light bleeds into my dark room as I blankly glance over to see the silhouette of Bucky standing in my doorway.
He scans my room with squinted eyes until he sees me curled in a tiny ball at the darkest corner of my bed. He steps into my room and softly closes the door and then walks over to me and kneels down next to the bed. He says nothing, but by the tense way he was walking and the way he was slowly relaxing while watching me I knew he had seen the videos.
We stay there, staring into each others eyes but not speaking. I was scared that I would see pity in his eyes like I saw in Wanda's, but there was none. Just sorrow and anger, a lot of anger. He slowly raises his hand to cup the side of my face, his thumb tracing small circles on my cheek and breaking the stone that my body was encased in.
"I-I didn't know..." Tears start to run down my face as my voice cracks, "That the- they recorded it." I end up saying the last few words in between heaves as I try to breath in between each agonizing sob. Bucky carefully climbs onto my bed and pulls me into his lap, resting my head on his chest as he slowly draws soothing patterns along my bare leg with his right hand.
He still doesn't say anything, he just holds me. Everytime a sob would escape my throat I felt his metal arm tighten a bit as it ran through my slightly damp hair, cooling my hot skin down. My hands were clutching onto his shirt so tightly I was kind of surprised it hadn't ripped yet.
My breathing eventually starts to slow and my sobs turn into small hiccups as the tears dry up on my cheeks and my eyes droop closed from a mix of emotional exhaustion and the exertion of using my powers so much. I was almost passed the point of consciousness when I felt movement that jolted me awake again as Bucky was trying to place me back on my bed and stand up.
"No." I weakly reach for his arm, "Please. I can't- I can't sleep alone." I cry out when he turns back to face me. He seems to weigh something in his mind until he sighs and turns back towards me fully.
"Okay," His voice was rough but his movements were soft as he gently scoops me up and carries me out of my room and into his. He places me on his bed and pulls the covers over me before letting go and stepping into his bathroom. I burrow into the bed, surrounded by his smell and feeling a calmness envelope me. I hear the shower turn on and peek out from under the covers to see that he hadn't closed the bathroom door all the way, steam was curling out from the opening into the room.
From my curled position, the room was slowly getting warm and my body heat was nearly suffocating my body inside the thick sweater. I slowly pull the sweater off and toss it onto his desk chair, leaving me in a tank top and pajama shorts. I slowly sink back into the bed as I hear the shower turn off.
My head was buried in one of his pillows when the bathroom door opens again. Then the other side of his bed dips and I look up to see him cautiously moving onto the bed. Once he was lying on his back I nervously slide closer, but he wrapped his right arm around me with no hesitation as soon as I was close enough.
"I'll never leave you, I swear." He whispers into my hair as my eyes slide closed and I relax into his body, one of my hands curling across his torso.
In the back of my head I registered that he was shirtless as I rested my head against his chest but I was already asleep before I could react.
🌙🌙🌙
My eyes opened and I was back in the Storeroom, strapped down onto the metal table. One of the scientists was already inside, setting up some equipment on a tray, when a guard steps in smoking.
"You know you're not supposed to smoke in here. Put it out." The scientist says without looking up. The guard shrugs and presses the lit end of the cigarette against my exposed leg until it was completely out. The burning was familiar enough by then that the only reaction I gave was a small flinch accompanied by a low, pained moan.
"I need to get some bone marrow samples today," The scientist says as he turns to me and grabs my left arm to strap into a separate section that makes it so my arm was stretched out to the side. "I am going to start by making a four inch long incision on her forearm, the subject is being left lucid to study her brain activity during the procedure." The scientist continues as I feel the bite of the scalpel dig into my skin and the trickle of warm blood run down my arm to pool on the floor.
Suddenly, the door bangs open and causes the guard and scientist to jump back in alarm. Bucky strides in, slamming the guard against the wall with his metal fist and grabbing the scientist by the throat and lifting him up in the air. The two men fade away and Bucky's warm arms were gently wrapping around my ice cold body as he lifted me off the table.
"Ali, I'm here. You're safe now."
~~~~~
Ever since that first night after the mission, Bucky and I had some unspoken acknowledgement that we would both be sleeping in his bed. I could tell that it helped him sleep through the night just as it helped me. It's only been four days since the nightmare that had changed to me being saved by Buck but I haven't had a nightmare since.
"Has anyone seen Ali?" I hear Steve call from the hallway, and it sounded like he was near the door to my room. So, I gotta confess something. While Bucky and I haven't exactly been hiding our sleeping arrangement, we also haven't told anyone. I was currently sitting in bed wearing one of Bucky's shirts and pajama shorts when someone knocked on his bedroom door.
"Hey, Buck. You in there?" Steve asks from the other side, causing my eyes to widen as Bucky walks out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around himself. God even though I've been spending more time with him and I should be used to him shirtless, that sight never gets old. I watch as a bead of water slides down from his dripping hair all the way until it disappears beneath the low hanging towel.
I look back up at his face only to meet his arrogant smirk as he blatantly watches me check him out. Before he can say anything more there was another knock on the door and his eyes fly over to it in alarm as he takes in my position on his bed and him standing there in just a towel.
"I'm just trying to find Ali but she isn't in her room and I didn't see her on the running trail this morning or in the training rooms with Nat." Steve explains through the door.
"Just ask FRIDAY where she is." Sam's voice chimes in, Bucky rolls his eyes up to the ceiling in annoyance at Sam being outside with Steve. I can hear him mentally praying they would walk away.
"Oh I always forget about her. Technology is still weird to me." Steve says to Sam before his voice gets slightly louder when he turns back to the door, "Buck are you decent? I'm going to open-" He was cut off when Sam groans out, "To hell with that." And barges into the room.
He was the first one to take in the scene before him, Buck launches himself into the open closet and I was sitting in the bed with his shirt on. Steve steps in after Sam and looks at me in shock, then Sam doubles over in laughter, "Found her." He grunts between his laughs. We hear Bucky let out a string of curses from his closet accompanied by the sound of clothes rustling as he attempts to get dressed in a rush.
"Oh. Um... I didn't know you two were.." Steve trails off and I finally get a hold of myself and stand up from the bed. Bucky's shirt was long enough that it ended at my upper thigh, obscuring the shorts I was wearing underneath.
"Fonduing?" I ask as I brush past the two men and head back to my room to shower and change. Steve and Sam follow me out, although Sam 'accidentally' forgets to close the door behind him. Bucky growls out some more choice words specifically at Sam when he walks out to find his door ajar.
I get back into my room before I turn back to look at Steve, "We aren't by the way. What did you want me for?" I ask.
"Oh. Strange finally sent us a message and said he would be here today. In an hour." He informs me. I nod and slip into my room before either of them can do or say anything else.
After showering and changing into clothes that cover more of my body I find everyone in the living room. After taking a seat at the kitchen counter by Nat and Thor, the latter was trying to figure out how to toast a poptart, I get a sly grin as Nat lightly elbows me.
"I didn't know you and Buck were official." She whispers. After scanning the room and seeing Buck wasn't in the room I turn back and give her a glare, "We aren't. I think." I finish it more like a question as I realize that I don't even know what we are.
"Well your sister and I want all the details on you and your not-boyfriend later." Nat mentions as Steve, Bucky, and Tony walk in. The first two give me apologetic looks while the third just gives me a suggestive wink, quirks his eyebrows, and smirks before walking towards the living room.
"Are we still waiting on Magic Man?" Tony asks as he settles down on one of the couches.
Right as he sits down a circle of gold sparks is created in the middle of the room and Strange steps out with a large book in hand. He scans the room before his eyes settle on me, "I have news. And I think everyone should hear it.".
~A/N~
HYDRA stands for Heroes Yeeting Damsels Really Aerodynamically