Trigger Warning: this chapter is a bit dark.
Elskling is Norwegian for "sweetheart"
********
Winter woke with a start. She found herself tied down to a chair. Bucky was across the room from her. He had a look of complete fear in his eyes. He tried to call out to her but there was a gag in his mouth. She noticed his eyes shifted over to the side. Turning her head as best as she could, she saw Steve and Natasha hanging by their wrists to her right. They were both badly beaten and bleeding on the floor. She looked towards her left and saw Sam and Tony tied down to tables. She watched as she saw a man in a white lab coat make his way towards Bucky, hooking him up to the device that would wipe his memory. As Bucky started yelling out, the man in the coat turned and smiled evilly as he flipped the switch. Winter’s eyes grew as she recognized her father. Winter started screaming for him to stop, but it was as if her voice was lost. She jerked in the chair, trying to break free.
Suddenly, Winter sat up, tears streaming down her face. It was only a dream. Or was it?
“If you are wondering what that was that you just saw, that is a possible outcome of the future,” she heard a deep voice say.
Winter looked over to the chair next to her bed in the healing ward. Odin sat, watching her. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her breathing.
“He has them, doesn’t he?” she asked quietly.
Odin nodded, “Yes, child, he does.” They both sat in silence. Odin spoke up, “Your uncles are rather fond of you. They are working with the Asgardian guards and your bow wielding friend. But the only way to end this is between you and your father.”
Winter’s head snapped over to Odin. “What do you mean?”
Odin stood and walked over to the bed, sitting on the edge. “There was a prophecy, written long ago, long before you were born. Our fates are sealed. The ending of our stories written by the Norns themselves. Your father, being who he is, decided to find out his fate. Something that can drive a man crazy, knowing the outcome of one’s life. His fate is that his demise will be his firstborn. You.”
Winter shook her head in disbelief, “I don’t understand.”
“Your father swore that day that he would not have any children. Thought he could outsmart the Norns. But what is written is to happen. I fear that his treatment of you was his way of trying to rewrite his fate. Either make you his weapon or break you. But he was too blind by his ego and further sealed his fate. He did make you into a weapon, a weapon destined to kill him.”
Winter sat in silence, trying to process everything Odin had just told her. He reached out and took one of her hands, an uncommon gesture for the Allfather.
“You my child, are the only thing, the only person who can put a stop to this. But you must face this trial alone. This is not the destiny of your uncles.” Odin stood and made his way towards the door. “Heimdall awaits you at the bifrost. He will ensure that you arrive where you are needed. The others will follow, but I can stall them for a short while.”
Winter watched as Odin began walking out. She quickly called out with the one burning question she had, “Grandfather?” Odin stopped. “Do you know the outcome of my fate?”
Odin smiled, “I know all my child. And your fate is sealed just as the rest of ours are.”
Winter sat in the silence for a few minutes after Odin had left. Trying to wrap her head around what she had to do. She began going through what she knew. Her father was the son of Odin and Frigga, brother to Thor and Loki. She was an Asgardian princess. Her best friend, who was like a brother to her, was the Winter Soldier and now an Avenger. She was in love with a man who, while deaf, had eyes like a hawk and could wield arrows without having to look. Her father escaped his fate Odin had laid out for him, perhaps Odin’s own way of hoping to spare her own fate. Her father was a member of Hydra and the one who made her into the fiery killing machine she had become. And she was going to put an end to it all. An end to both her father and Hydra.
********
Winter landed on the cold, wintery ground. She smirked when she noticed her stance. The “superhero” pose as Loki liked to tease her about. She took in her surroundings. She shivered from the cold wind as she adjusted the knives on her thighs. Loki gave them to her before Heimdall sent her down. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to sneak out of Asgard without someone noticing. She felt guilty for not saying anything to Thor or Clint, but knew if she had, they would have stopped her or came with her, two things that she couldn’t allow to happen.
Winter took a deep breath as she made her way to the mountainside. Knowing Hydra, the base was carved into the mountain, hidden from the outside world. Finding a lack of guards on the outside had her extra cautious, and she made her way to the entrance. The base seemed abandoned. She stealthily slipped through the large iron doors and used her hands to create small flames so she could see where she was going. As she slowly made her way down the twisted hallways, she finally came to the room that she saw in her vision. The room was like a gladiator pit. Windows incased it for others to view down upon. Just like in her vision, Bucky was sitting in a chair, strapped in with a gag in his mouth.
Winter crouched down as she saw guards walk by the entrance. She peered over her shoulder to look into the room again. Steve and Natasha were strung up by their wrists, but they didn’t seem as badly beaten as they had in her vision. Sam and Tony weren’t on the tables either. A sign that what she was seeing predated what her vision showed her. Winter crawled over to one of the control panels that had been left unwatched. She quickly typed, all her years of training as a Hydra spy coming back to her. She smirked to herself when she discovered that they still used the same old passcodes.
Finding where the others were being kept, she overrode the system so their cells would open without any alarms going off. She had exactly one minute before all hell would break loose, and the rest of the guards would realize what had happened. Then she did something that she swore she would never do again. She took a deep breath and focused all her energy on all the guards that were not only in the facility but every compound she could find with her mind. As she entered their minds, she slowly took over their thought control and actions. She closed her eyes for a second, asking for forgiveness, as every Hydra guard raised their guns and shot themselves in the head. Hearing the simultaneous gunshots go off, Winter gasped as she let go, blood slowly dripping from her nose.
Suddenly, a loud laugh was heard as the sound of someone slow clapping came from the lab. Winter stood from her hiding position, wiping the blood from her face, and looked down into the lab to see the man in the white lab coat looking up and smiling at her. Her father.
Winter made her way down the concrete steps. Bucky started pulling at his restraints, his muffled screams filling the space. Winter glanced over to him, his eyes pleading with her. Opening her mind, his voice rang loud and clear. Run. Winter slowly circled around the lab, her father watching her with a smirk on his face.
“You’ve still got it elskling,” he said while wiping his hands on a towel.
Winter recoiled at the term of endearment, “Don’t call me that.”
Tyr tilted his head, “Did my father turn you against me?”
Winter raised an eyebrow, “You turned me against you the day you indoctrinated me into Hydra. How could you do that to your own daughter?”
“You,” he said with a sneer and pointing his finger at her, “were never supposed to happen.”
Winter felt her fingernails dig into her palms as she tried to maintain her composure. “Who’s my mother? That’s the one puzzle piece I could never find.”
Tyr scoffed, “Because you don’t have a mother elskling.”
Winter shook her head, “That’s impossible. Everyone has a mother.”
“Your mother was whore who died in childbirth instead of you.” He threw the towel down and started picking up one of his surgical instruments, inspecting it. “I tried everything to be rid of you, but you just wouldn’t DIE!” he yelled as he threw the knife he had been holding towards her.
Winter dodged it just in time as it lodged itself in the concrete wall. Winter breathed heavily as she regained her composure. Bucky was watching her with wide eyes. Winter entered his head. Don’t watch. Close your eyes. A tear escaped his eye as he slowly closed them, realizing what was going to happen. Winter stepped forward, triggering a barrier to encase her and Tyr into the same room, protecting the others from what she was about to do.
Tyr looked around, “What are you doing elskling?”
Winter took a deep breath, “Something I should have done a long time ago but was too afraid.” She slowly formed flames in her hands as the door to the lab was knocked down by a blast.
Tony rushed in with his repuslors fired up, freeing Steve and Natasha. Sam grabbed Natasha and flew her out as Tony grabbed Steve. There was a loud thud as part of the lab wall was knocked down, revealing the Hulk with Thor, Loki, and Clint close behind. Loki made his way over to Bucky, helping to free him from his chair. Clint ran over and began banging on the barrier that was keeping Winter and Tyr from escaping with the others.
Winter looked towards Clint, tears falling from her eyes. Clint’s eyes got wide. “Baby!” he exclaimed, “What are you doing?”
She looked from Clint to Bucky and gave them a sad smile before turning back to her father. “The thing is,” she said as the fire slowly made its way up her arms, “I’m not afraid anymore.” She turned towards Tyr, seeing the fear and realization in his eyes. “You’re a fool Tyr. You let your ego get in the way and sealed your fate when you made me. Your undoing.”
Fire spread across Winter’s body as it began to engulf the small room she and Tyr were in. His screams could be heard within. Bucky cried out, trying to break from Loki’s grasp as Loki looked on with tears in his eyes. Thor was frozen in place, completely numb as he looked on. Clint began banging on the barrier, screaming for Winter to come out. The last thing he saw before blacking out was her holding her hands up in sign language with the words, I love you.
Winter Tyrdottir, the Winter Witch, was gone.
*******
Author's note: Don't worry, we have one more chapter to go 😉