Hey guys! I'm back! Our vacation was amazing! The Smoky Mountains are gorgeous. We stayed in a cabin that was on a mountain. Stunning view by the way. Our cabin was three stories, but it was super cheap per night though. Anyways, there was a journal for the people who stay there to write in at the end of their stay. Some people said that they saw bears. We had hoped to see a bear but unfortunately, we didn't.
We took a tour through Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and guess what! There was a car museum from movies and the cars were authentic! And, in the very front of the museum where you could see the entryway, there was an actual S.H.I.E.L.D. truck! And there were statues of the Avengers right beside it. Super cool! And I loved the fresh air. I live in the city, where there is almost no fresh air.
But where my family lives and in the mountains, I can actually take in a deep breath and feel satisfied.
Part of this chapter will be used to commemorate 9/11 and honor the lives that were lost.
~Grace
Melissa's pov
Sitting in a crumpled heap, I was in despair. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe Bucky wouldn't suffer from the years he was killing people. He didn't have to tell me about his nightmare for me to know what it was about.
But what hurts the most is the fact that he ran away. Instead of talking to me and getting it off his chest, he decided to run away from his troubles. Cowardice, that's what it is. I was angry at him, not for almost choking me to death, but because he ran away.
Lifting myself up from the ground felt like it took every ounce of my energy. Walking back to my hut was just muscle memory. I grabbed my shawl and went to a small cliff that overlooked the entire valley. It was only a short hike up to it; the cliff was where I always went when I needed some time alone or something was wrong. Coming around an opening in the trees, it was only a few feet distance from the edge of the cliff. As I stood on the edge, the wind blowing my hair and shawl around, I looked out on the immense valley.
The stalks of wheat swayed peacefully in the midnight breeze, but it felt like salt on the wound to me. Everything around me was peaceful, and I'm just a simple disturbance. Oh, how I had hoped that Bucky would be himself again.
How I had hoped that he would be like he was before The Winter Soldier, before HYDRA, perhaps even before the war. But the thing that I had hoped for the most was that Bucky still felt the same way towards me. Maybe he still loved me. I suppose now, looking back, it was just wishful thinking.
But now, I realize there will never be Bucky and me again. We will never be what we used to be. So I closed off all of my hopes of something out of my reach. Closed off all of my feelings of love towards him. So, standing there on the edge of a cliff, my mind repeated the brokenhearted realization in my head over and over again. Things will never, ever be the same.
Bucky's pov
The sun had just started to come up when I returned to Melissa's hut. I wanted to explain my actions last night and apologize for leaving so abruptly. Raising my hand to knock, but paused when I noticed the door was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, I was met with only an empty hut.
Alarmed, I ran to one of the Dora Milaje who was posted at the edge of the village. "Do you know where Melissa is?".
She looked me up and down, "Check that small cliff over there." she pointed. "She goes there quite frequently.". She gave me directions on how to get there.
Thanking her, I started towards it. I was able to navigate the thick jungle with ease with the directions the woman gave me. I came through an opening and saw Melissa.
She still took my breath away; the wind was softly toying with her waist-length hair, her shawl was wrapped around her tightly. Taking a deep breath, I walked to stand behind her. I knew she heard me coming, but didn't even give me the slightest recognition.
Her jaw was clenched, her face set and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. I felt a sudden pang of guilt at the look on her face.
That's when I remembered what I had come to talk to her about, "Melissa, look, about last night-" but she cut me off.
"You ran, Bucky. You ran away. Why?" she didn't look at me when she said it and there was a blank look in her eyes.
"I didn't want to hurt you." I knew it was a feeble excuse.
"I can take care of myself. I'm an Avenger, remember? I've saved the world a couple times. I'm pretty sure I could handle a single, one-armed man." she said indignantly.
I sighed, knowing that she was right, but I'm not ready to admit why I ran, "It was the only solution I could think of.".
Melissa glared at me fiercely, "No, it wasn't. You were just too big of a coward to stay and talk about it."
I opened my mouth in protest, "That's not true!".
"Yes, it is! You want people to think that you're okay now, but you're not! Do you think I don't know that you were having a nightmare?!".
"It wasn't a nightmare. It was just instinct that led me to grab your neck." I shot back.
She rolled her eyes, "Bullshit." she jabbed her finger at me. "Wanna know how I know? Because I suffer from the same thing! Do you think that saving the world won't bring nightmares?! Do you think that going on missions to Afghanistan to protect people from the Taliban wouldn't cause nightmares?! Do you think that fighting an army of robots in a flying city won't do it?! You try to hide your wounds because you're embarrassed!" her heart was in her eyes. "Because you're afraid of what people will think or say about you if they knew the truth! Well, if you're not going to explain why you left, and truthfully explain, I'm not going to speak to you.". She walked away, leaving me stunned.
Everything she said cut to the quick. It was all true, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna admit it. Fine, if that's what she wants to do, then oh well.
Melissa's pov
Bucky tried to talk to me several times recently, but I would just ignore him or walk away with a stuck-up air in my step.
One day, I was at the well with the other women when something hit me in the head. Wincing, I rubbed my head and turned around. I saw Bucky with a group of boys playing ball, one of the boys was standing with a guilty look on his face.
Bucky jogged up to me and stooped down to pick up the ball. When he stood up, there was a vulnerable look in his eyes. It was as if he was asking, "Will you forgive me?". I shoved down the rising urge to give in and gave him an icy glare.
A defeated look came into Bucky's eyes, "Uh, sorry about that. We'll go play somewhere else.", he rubbed the back of his neck.
Swallowing my pride, I answered, "It's okay." for a fleeting moment, Bucky's eyes light up. But then he noticed my condescending sneer. Turning my back to him to retrieve my jug, Bucky said, "Well, have a nice day.". I ignored him as I pulled up my jug and when I straightened, I encountered the stares of the other women.
Slamming down my jug, I asked, "Why are you all staring at me?".
"What just happened between you and James?", Tirzah asked me.
"What makes you think something happened?" I retorted.
"Uh, the icy glare, condescending sneer?" Michal replied.
I scoffed, "What are you talking about?"
"That's just like you; you ask a question instead of answering one." Michal pointed out.
I was trapped and I mumbled an excuse, "I uh, have to get ready for 9/11 tomorrow." before they could respond, I hurried away. You don't have to get ready for 9/11, all you do is just remember and I was planning on asking T'Challa if I could use his holographic TV, damn everything is so advanced here, to watch the documentaries that played on 9/11's anniversary.
Entering my hut, I set down my jug on the table and then left my hut. I almost ran into someone, and then recognized Bucky. Stepping to the side to avoid him, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me.
"Melissa, wait.".
Stopping, I looked up and gave him a fierce glare, "Let go of my arm." I said darkly. When he didn't let go, I jerked free and stalked off.
"Where are you going?" Bucky called after me and I could tell that he was following me.
"Going to ask T'Challa something."
"What are you going to ask?"
Turning around, I spat, "None of your business." and with that, I walked off.
He jogged up to me, "Melissa, I'm sorry. I ran because I was embarrassed for you to see me that way."
Shocked that he admitted it, I stopped in my tracks, "Thank you for finally admitting, but I'm still going to need some time."
His head dropped in defeat and he turned and started to walk away when I put a hand on his shoulder, "I forgive you." I said ever so softly. He looked up at me, eyes shining; he nodded in thanks and then turned away.
The next morning...
Sun streaked through my window shades, awakening me for a dreamless sleep. Sitting up with a huge yawn and stretching, I looked at the clock, 7:45 A.M, groaning, I had to hurry and get dressed so that I could get to the palace in time to have a moment of silence with T'Challa, Shuri, and others.
Quickly getting dressed, I soon was out the door. I took one of the levitating vehicles (don't know what else to call them) and drove to the palace. It was about 30 minutes before reaching the underground opening, at which point I expertly drove inside and found a place to park it.
Hopping out, I navigated my way through the palace to where T'Challa would be at. By the time I reached them, it was almost 8:30. T'Challa and Shuri were already watching a documentary, "What channel is this on? CBS? NBC?" I asked.
"NBC." Shuri replied, never taking her eyes off the screen.
"Is it 20/20?" I inquired.
"Yes." she replied again. "No more talking please." she added, annoyance in her voice.
Okay... I sat down on a chair and watched. One of the reporters said that most people remember exactly what they were doing when the towers were hit and they found out.
"What were you doing?" T'Challa asked, looking at me.
"Well..."
Flashback...
"How's your conservation thing going in the Amazon?" Tony asked through my phone. I took a sip of the latte that I had ordered from my favorite cafe.
"Pretty good, some complaints from locals, but otherwise it's going pretty smooth." I replied.
"That's good.", Tony said distantly. "I've just come out with a new nuclear missile.".
Rolling my eyes, which Tony noticed, "I know, I know you're not all for it, but if the US military doesn't stay strong, we won't be the most powerful and safe country in the world. If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.".
"So you know your history. Famous Ronald Reagan quote.", I said dryly.
"Wow, you know, you could just say you're proud of me...", but his voice faded as I heard a boom and I turned my head and dropped the phone onto the table in shock. I saw a huge cloud of thick black smoke coming from the World Trade Center.
I heard a "Hello, hello? Melissa are you there? What was that loud noise?".
Fumbling as I picked up my phone again, I responded in fear, "Something's happened to one of the twin towers! Turn on your TV!", and that was all I said before hanging up and sprinting as fast as I could in the direction of the World Trade Center.
I had to navigate my way through the thick throng of people looking at the tower, and once I could see what had happened, I gasped. There was a huge gaping hole in the North Tower. People were yelling, some were just staring in shock, others were starting to break down.
One woman was crying and I asked her what had happened. "A plane just hit the North Tower!". A plane? What? It must have been an accident, maybe the pilot had a heart attack or a stroke. I hope it was a small plane.
"A plane? How big was it?", I asked, still in shock.
"I think it was one of those bigger, first-class planes.", she sniffled.
I was frozen, "Oh my god.", I pressed walked closer to the towers and saw hundreds of pieces of paper flying around in the cloud, there was debris falling from the towers, and I knew that people had to get away. More and more debris started falling and panic set in.
I heard the sounds of sirens and I shouted for people to move out of the way to let the fire trucks, police cars, and first responders through. People began to make a way slowly, some falling and tripping over each other.
"People get away from the tower! Evacuate now!" I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and I was turned around. A firefighter looked me up and down, suspicious. "Why are you telling people to evacuate? Are you in law enforcement?".
"No.".
"Then you have no authority here. I would ask you to join the rest of the people in moving away from the tower." he ordered.
I stepped away from him and held my chin up defiantly, "Do you know who I am?" I demanded.
"You are a citizen of New York and you are not in law enforcement.", he answered.
I lifted my chin, "I'm Melissa Montgomery, formerly known as Lady Liberty. Ring a bell?".
He scoffed, "Uh, she is either in her 90s or dead.".
"Will this suffice?", I flicked my wrist and lifted up the fire hose, pulling it out using the wind.
His eyes widened, "My apologies, if you could be of any help to us, we would gladly use it.".
"Much better.".
"Do you know what we're dealing with?", the man asked, gesturing for the rest of his crew to join him. Once they all gathered around me, I said, "Someone told me that a large plane, possibly a first-class plane.", I heard a collective gasp from all of them.
"We need to consider evacuating the people in the tower immediately.", I said sternly.
They nodded and one of the men walked over to the police to inform them of what I just told them. An officer walked up to confirm, "Is it true?"
"Yes. I will stay here to keep the people on the ground safe from debris. It will give away my identity, but who I used to be doesn't matter with the lives at stake." he nodded and started shouting orders.
I started to push back to people and helped the police put up barriers to prevent the people from getting closer. I watch a large piece of metal fall onto a woman and I dashed over to her, and a couple of other people ran up too.
Once I reached her, I tried to move the piece of metal by hand, but it was extremely hot, and I burned my hand. I used my powers to move it off of her and I saw a bloody object beside her and then I realized it was her butt. It had been completely severed from her body.
Some EMTs rushed over with a stretcher and lifted her up, placing her butt beside her. It was a horrific scene and the only reason why she survived was that the metal was so hot that cauterized her wounds.
When I turned around I saw a large piece of debris. Walking closer, I gasped at the realization that it was part of a plane, a large plane. It was a stripped propeller, smoke was rising off of it, along with broken glass surrounding it.
I continued to push the large crowd of people gathering to watch the horrific scene, I then saw what looked like something flutter in the wind. It was falling, and as it got closer, I realized what it was. It was people, people jumping out of the tower. I could hear the bodies hitting the ground, and it was traumatizing. People started to break down and cry. Men and women were starting to evacuate the underground levels of the North Tower. People looked terrified and confused, some were extremely distraught.
Firefighters were going inside the building to go up and see if people on the upper floors needed to evacuate. That's when I heard a loud whizzing noise, it sounded like a loud buzzing sound, like a large group of bees buzzing around. It was soft at first and it started getting louder and louder. Looking up, I saw something I never thought I'd see.
A large plane was diving down, tilted in the air, and flew right into the South Tower. People started screaming, and I screamed along with them. There was a huge explosion, flames burst out along with black smoke billowing out and up into the air. There was a huge gaping hole in the building where the plane had flown into. For two planes to fly into two towers, not one, couldn't be a coincidence. There had to be some kind of explanation for this besides some kind of medical emergency. My mind flashed back to the terrorist attacks that had taken place a few years before. No, there's no way. It can't be an attack. Oh God, please let it not be a terrorist attack.
Both the buildings were on fire and continuously burning, and hundreds, perhaps even thousands of papers were fluttering around in the wind. More debris started falling from the South Tower and I used my powers to move the debris out of the way. If I couldn't do that, I tried to slow it down or even cool it down. Some small pieces of debris fell on me, burning me and I let out a cry of pain as I quickly brushed it off. The metal had completely burned through my jacket and t-shirt, then burning through a couple of layers of skin.
A larger piece of white-hot debris fell onto my arm, cutting into it and blood started to flow. With all of the falling debris, the wound could get infected. Taking cover, I gritted my teeth as I squeezed my wound shut as best as I could before heating up my hand. Letting out a cry of pain as I cauterized the wound shut. Taking in a deep breath, my arm still in excruciating pain, I stepped out into the street again, resuming my attempts to remove falling objects.
People were staring at me, some moved away from me in fear, some gave me looks of thanks when I kept a piece of debris from falling on them. A huge chunk of white metal was falling and I realized that it was part of the plane's wing. I strained as I tried my best to move it out of the way of a large group of people running away from the towers.
It narrowly missed them and there were screams as some of them were singed because of the extreme heat. They scrambled away, some tripping over each other. I spent the next ten minutes working on the falling debris and helping guide the people who were evacuating the towers.
Debris wasn't falling as quickly, so I was able to focus more on getting the people away from the towers rather than focusing solely on the debris.
Thirty minutes passed quickly and the towers were still on fire. That was when I heard a loud, screeching noise, it sounded like metal being bent by force. It was a loud creaking noise and I looked up at the towers.
I looked at the South Tower because that's where I heard the noise coming from. There was a thundering noise and a horrifying sight beheld my eyes. The South Tower started to collapse on itself.
Whirling around, I screamed for everyone to run for cover. I started running with the crowd, away from the crumbling tower. The sound was deafening but the worst was yet to come. The collapsing tower disappeared in a monstrous cloud of dust, massive dust cloud came hurdling down the streets. I could see advancing on us, filling the streets and alleyways, and covering buildings. I strained as I tried to lift the dust upwards into the sky. I hinged backward under the struggle to lift the dust. Letting out a large cry, I shot up as much dust and concrete bits into the air, but there was still so much. Instead lifted the dust over me and a large group of people running away.
We all ran for cover behind a bus, crouching down and giving ourselves air pockets in our clothing. As I let go of my hold of the dust, I felt the heavyweight of it coming down on us. It then became dead quiet. You could only hear our steady breathing.
When it started to clear some, it wasn't as difficult to lift up the dust. Once we could see better, we all looked around and saw the streets were white, paper and debris strewn about. There was silence ringing through the New York streets.
We all made our way to the ferries to evacuate Manhattan island. Guiding people to the ferries, trying to assuage their fears so that we could make a safe and effective evacuation. Making sure that I had no one left, I got on.
The ferries set off and that's when we heard another loud noise. My heart stopped at the sound that I regretfully recognized. I turned and saw the North Tower collapses in a billowing cloud of concrete, debris, and dust. The thundering and crashing sound of the enormous architectural accomplishment disappearing from our sight. Replacing where the towers once stood was a monolithic cloud of dust engulfing Lower Manhattan. The dust spread out, making buildings disappear from sight.
There was a dead silence following the North Tower's fall, everybody in shock and horror. people lost loved ones today. Wives without husbands, husbands without wives, children without parents. The entire country would feel the loss of thousands of innocent lives lost today.
It wasn't until later that what happened today became much worse...
"We have just received reports that the events that occurred this morning in Lower Manhattan were in fact part of a terrorist attack. Four planes have been hijacked today, two of them have flown into the World Trade Center, one crashing into a Stonycreek Township, just northeast of Washington D.C, the fourth plane crashed into the Pentagon. This is a terrible, terrible tragedy and evil that has struck our country." the CBS news anchor announced with a solemn and grave look on his face.
The screen changed to a live broadcast of President George W. Bush on Ground 0 where the towers once stood.
"I want you all to know that America today, America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City and New Jersey and Connecticut as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens," Bush said.
Then some rescue workers cried out through a megaphone, "We can't hear you!"
"I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you," replied Bush. "And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."
Clicking a button on my remote, my TV shut off, I ran a hand through my still dust-covered hair. The images of this morning's tragedy flashed through my head, dead bodies crushed underneath falling debris. A police officer was killed by a person who had jumped from a tower to escape a fiery death.
One thing that I knew for sure was America would not stand by and not do anything. We would take up arms against the people who did this. We would avenge the innocent people who were victimized by this act of terrorism. We would bring justice to their families.
End of flashback...
"Wow, I never have had anyone tell me about 911 in such explicit detail. It is horrifying to know that you and so many other people had to experience that right before your eyes." Shuri's voice had a sympathetic tone to it.
"I know that a lot of people block out that time in their lives. It's part of the brain's means for survival. The brain will just forget the memories or the brain will shut down during the traumatic event." I explained. "I haven't forgotten anything because I don't want to forget. And also because of my being a super-soldier."
"May the world never forget this day." T'Challa said solemnly.
"Let us have a moment of silence now." I said. Everybody in the room bowed their heads in respect and remembrance of the day that the world may never forget.
God, I ask that you are with the families of the victims of 911. I ask that you help them through this time of remembrance of the loved ones lost on this horrible day. Amen.
May we never forget what happened on September 11, 2001. I want to honor all of the first-responders, fire-fighters, and police officers who both risked and lost their lives in the process of serving their country and keeping their oath to protect us.
Let us also honor the men who went into enemy lines to eliminate the man who terrorized our nation.
~Grace