Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys
You used to get it in your fishnets
Now you only get it in your night dress
Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole
Is anything as pretty as the past though?
That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco
Remember when you used to be a rascal?
After Amara's brief attempt at persuading Steve failed, she went back to her father to explain what had happened.
She was annoyed at Sharon for interrupting them right before he was about to change his mind. She was annoyed at herself for not fighting back and following him. She was annoyed at her father for bringing up Wanda before he had signed. But she was annoyed at Sharon, mostly.
Her father reassured her as best as he could. He told her that there was nothing more she could have possibly done.
Still she felt disappointed. Like she could have convinced him if she had approached it better.
"Kid, come over here," Tony gestured for her to follow him out of the conference room and back to where Nat was standing.
On the small screens in front of them, they could see Bucky, in his glass confinement and the man who had come in to analyse him. When the camera switched to the man's face, Amara couldn't quite figure out why he looked so familiar.
She thought back to the past few weeks, anyone that she had encountered, anything she had seen, but she couldn't remember where she saw this man.
Tony must have noticed how uncomfortable Amara looked because he nudged her slightly and looked at her, questioningly.
Amara smiled and shook her head, assuring him that she was fine. Tony wasn't convinced but he turned back to the screen anyway.
"Hello, Mr Barnes," the man said. "I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you mind if it sit?"
Bucky remained silent, as expected as the man took his seat.
"Your first name is James?" The man asked.
—————
Inside another conference room, Steve stood, attempting to watch the screens on the outside of the glass room.
Sam sat at the table, thinking.
"The receipt for your gear," Sharon walked back into the room and handed Sam a sheet of paper.
"'Bird costume'? Come on," Sam complained after reading it.
Sharon looked at him, holding her hands up, "I didn't write it."
She looked at Steve who hadn't looked back or even acknowledged her presence yet. She saw how concentrated he was on the small screen on the other side of the wall.
She glanced around, quickly, making sure no one would see what she was about to do. She pressed a button in the table and, suddenly, the screen in the conference room lit up, the video now on there.
Steve looked back and realised what Sharon had done. He looked on gratefully and Sharon looked down.
"I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James?" He paused, waiting for an answer that didn't come. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."
"My name is Bucky," Bucky spoke for the first time. Steve looked at his friend, helplessly. He felt useless. He couldn't help him. After everything Bucky had done for him, when it counted Steve couldn't do the same.
He picked up Bucky's file, flicking to the security camera footage from Vienna. He closed it again.
"Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?" Steve asked, suspiciously.
Sharon shrugged, "Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?"
"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier," Steve said.
Sharon shook her head, trying to understand what Steve was insinuating. "You're saying someone framed him to find him?"
Sam, who had been listening, intently, to the conversation, spoke up, "Steve, we looked for this guy for two years and found nothing."
"We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads," Steve countered.
"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would," Sharon said, her eyes narrowing as she began thinking.
Steve looked back at the screen, which was now zoomed in on the doctor, "Yeah."
—————
Amara still couldn't figure out who this guy was, but the more she looked at him, the more she recognised him. She was growing quite distressed. Not because she recognised him, but because she knew that the fact she couldn't remember where from meant that it was in one of her dreams. The dreams known to give her warnings.
And this warning was big.
If only she knew what she needed to be warned about.
Tony looked down at his daughter and asked, once again, "Amara? What's going on?"
Amara shook her head, eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "I don't know."
Tony tapped Natasha on the shoulder and silently told her he was gonna take Amara elsewhere.
He led his daughter back into the conference room and let her sit down. He had picked up a glass of water on the way and laid it down in front of her.
"What? No whiskey?" Amara joked.
"I thought about it, then remembered you're twelve."
Amara smiled, weakly.
"What's happening? What's making you nervous?"
"I don't... know, exactly," Amara said.
"Exactly? What do you know... roughly?"
"There's something about that guy: the doctor. But I don't know what it could possibly be," Amara said.
"Like a... like one of your dreams? Like a warning?" Tony asked.
"Yeah," Amara nodded.
"But, warning us about... what?"
"I have no idea. And somehow, that's even scarier than knowing," Amara replied, wide-eyed.
Tony switched on the screen in the room, back to Bucky's analysis.
"Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"
Bucky stared dead ahead, "I don't want to talk about it."
"You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop."
Amara scrunched her face and moved closer to the screen as she saw an alert pop up on his screen. Only small. Insignificant to anybody else, but Amara saw it.
"Don't worry."
He tapped the screen and the message PACKAGE DELIVERED showed up on the screen.
"We only have to talk about one."
And from that ominous look, Amara remembered where he had seen that man. And simultaneously, all of the electricity went out.
"Shit! Dad?" Amara said, emanating light from the palm of her hand, looking around frantically for Nat or her father.
"I'm here," Tony said, reaching out to hold onto Amara. "I'm here."
He led them out of the room, walking back to where the others were standing.
"That guy. He was in my dream. He had a red book with- with a star on the cover. I don't know what was in it, but it was bad, Dad."
"Red book with a star. Got it," Tony said. "I mean, it doesn't help us right now, cause we can't see each other, let alone colours, but, thanks for that."
"Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes," Ross said.
Tony put his FRIDAY glasses on, "FRIDAY, get me a source on that outage."
—————
Meanwhile, in Steve and Sam's isolation room, the two heroes looked around in confusion. Worried looks plastered on there faces.
After Sharon spoke a few words into her radio, she looked at Steve, sighing, "Sub-level five, East Wing."
Steve and Sam ran out of the room and down the hallway towards where Sharon had told them to go, catching the attention of the Wakandan prince on the way out.
Steve walked out onto the level, Sam trailing closely behind, the floor littered with knocked out agents. Steve knelt down to check they were still breathing. His eyes scanned the floor and they landed on the doctor lying helplessly in front of him.
"Help me," the man said, frailly. Steve got up and stared walking towards the man. "Help," he repeated.
"Get up," Steve said, not buying the guy's injured victim guise.
When the man didn't listen, Steve grabbed the man's collar and lifted the man up to the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"
The man simply smiled, eerily. "To see an empire fall."
And that was when Bucky made his presence known, and the fight began.
—————
"The outage was caused by an electronic wave blast. Took out a nearby power station and everything around it on a five mile radius," Tony said, walking hurriedly.
Amara's eyes widened in realisation, "Dad! The package. The doctor had a package. He got the notification that whatever he got was delivered. You don't think...?"
"What? That the doctor did this? I don't know. But I do know, we gotta go."
"Evac all civilians," Everett Ross stated into his radio, as Natasha, Amara and Tony ran hurriedly towards the corridor. "Get me a perimeter around the building, and gunships in the air."
"Please tell me you brought a suit," Natasha asked Tony.
"Sure did. It's. A lovely Tom Ford, three-piece, two-button," he said sarcastically. "I'm an active-duty-non-combatant."
"Maybe try deactivating that as soon as possible," Amara quipped, as she pulled her mask out from her pocket and put it on.
"Follow me," Sharon said as she ran up to the group and back into the hallway they had entered in.
—————
Tony and Amara approached the hall where Bucky was currently thrashing anyone who came in his way.
They had split up from Sharon and Natasha and they were hiding behind a square pillar, their backs flat against it.
Tony looked around the wall and moved, swiftly, to a closer pillar.
"We're in position," Nat's voice sounded from their comms.
Tony looked at his daughter once more, who had put her mask on to keep her identity as Aura a secret, and nodded at her once.
She nodded back, her nerves clearly getting to her.
Tony pushed a few buttons on his watch and pulled a small version of his ironman repulser over his hand.
The plan was to attack him one by one. One person couldn't take him down, but maybe if they consistently threw punches at him, he might fall.
Tony moved from his hiding place behind the pillar, facing the Winter Soldier and shot his repulsor at him. Only, it wasn't a repulsor, it was more like a sound wave. It made Bucky's balance falter but when he recovered, he looked even angrier as he stalked towards Tony.
Tony held up his hand again and shot another wave, this time of light, to stun him. In the time it took Bucky to stand back up, Tony ran up to him.
Bucky held up his hand to hit him but Tony grabbed his hand and pushed it down.
Tony noticed Bucky reaching for a gun so he grabbed the arm with the gun with both of his hands and directed it away from him, but Bucky quickly pulled it out of his grasp and instantly aimed it at Tony's chest.
Tony held the gun with his bare hand and blocked the end of it with his armoured hand, just in time as Bucky pulled the trigger.
Amara could see the fear on Tony's face, wondering if the bullet was stopped or if had managed to lodge itself into his palm.
When he was sure he took a small breath of relief, not too long, though, as he still had work to do.
Still holding onto the gun, Bucky tried to yank it out of Tony's grasp, but was unsuccessful as the bullet chamber detached from the pistol and remained in Tony's hand.
Tony looked down at the bullet chamber in surprise and quickly used it to hit Bucky square across the face with.
Bucky quickly retaliated by elbowing Tony in the face. Tony backed up, his hand on his head where Bucky had just hit him. He was so stunned from the blow to his face that he didn't even notice Bucky's fist, aimed for his torso.
When the hit came, Tony was thrown back into some tables, knocked unconscious.
"Dad!" Amara shouted, but she couldn't be heard over the noise of the Winter Solider's arm punching its way through anything standing in its way.
Amara ran forwards, anger all over her face as she kicked Bucky in the stomach.
He moved to punch her again, but she used her powers to lock his arm in the same position and then stilled the flow of air through his lungs. She made each of the atoms freeze in place, unmoving.
Bucky struggled for air, a confused expression on his face, as he limped over to where he figured out the source of his discomfort was: Amara.
She threw a ball of fire, which he deflected and then a created a small blade made out of the earth to slice him with when he got closer.
Although he was weakened, he was still strong enough to grab Amara throat, constricting her breathing as she was doing to him. She used the knife she quickly crafted earlier to block the Winter Soldier's metal arm from crashing down on her head.
Amara struggled for air, but more importantly, she struggled to keep her grip on the air she wasn't allowing to run through Bucky's lungs.
Then he head butted her, making her focus waver, in surprise. She, involuntarily, let go of her hold on the air and moved her hands to the metal arm that was clamped around her throat. He lifted her up, slowly, off the ground as Amara struggled to keep her feet on the floor. Her eyes widened in fear as Bucky punched her once in the head and threw her to the side, finally letting go.
Amara was on the floor, coughing over and over and over again. Trying to fill her lungs with the air it had missed out on, but for Bucky it hadn't seemed to make a difference.
He didn't even need three seconds to recover from his loss of air before he got up and started again.
Sharon ran forwards, kicking Bucky in the chest. Natasha running close behind. Then, Sharon twisted and kicked him again with her other leg. But it was like nothing to him.
He tried to punch her in the face, swinging his fist around, but Sharon ducked out of the way, allowing Natasha to take over.
Natasha ran up to him and lifted her leg to knee him in the stomach. Then she bent closer to the floor and punched his leg, trying to get him to trip over.
That was when Sharon joined the fight again. She swung her leg around to kick Bucky in the face and then spun around to kick him again but Bucky caught her this time.
He grabbed a hold of her leg and flipped her over, sending her down and crashing into the nearby tables.
Natasha grabbed him from behind and held onto his neck as she lifted her legs up on the side and twisted so that she had wrapped her legs around his neck, attempting to strangle him.
She elbowed the man four times, hard, on his head, but even this seemed to make no difference to him.
He grabbed her and slammed her on a nearby table, her legs still trying and failing to keep a strong hold on his neck, and clasped his metal fingers around her neck.
She grabbed his hand, trying to pry his fingers away from her. "You could at least recognise me," she said in a strangled voice.
That was when T'Challa appeared and kicked him in the chest, moving him away from Natasha and taking over the fight.
He kicked him three times, skilfully, and every person in the room could tell that he had been professionally trained.
Natasha was still on the table, choking and gasping, her neck bright red.
T'Challa threw punch and punch and kick after kick, alternating to throw Bucky off, as he tried to do the same.
Bucky punched T'Challa in the face and the prince returned the punch.
In anger, Bucky punched T'Challa right in the chest throwing him back onto the floor, but he got up again, almost instantly, watching as Bucky ascended the nearby stairs.
He ran towards the other side and used the railing to leap up onto the platform that Bucky was now standing on.
They both stared intensely at each other, hate clear as day in their eyes. T'Challa threw the first kick, then another and another.
He swung his leg up to Bucky's face, but he ducked just in time to avoid it.
Bucky lunged for the prince, but failed as T'Challa grabbed onto his silver arm, twisting it behind his back.
Bucky struggled to move his hand out of the man's grasp, but it was clear from the look on both of their faces, T'Challa was struggling just as much.
The prince looked at Bucky and then the wall behind him. He saw a fire hydrant and grabbed it off the wall, throwing it at Bucky and making Bucky fall back and down the stairs behind him, in shock - T'Challa falling with him.
The prince wasted no time as he got up instantly and attacked the soldier, again. Bucky punched T'Challa once, and watched as the man fell back, but instantly got up again, throwing his fist back into his face.
With one final kick, Bucky went over the small stairwell railing and appeared to have fallen down to the lower level where they started.
T'Challa jumped down to the ground floor to continue the fight, but when he landed, the Winter Soldier was nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Tony, Amara and Natasha had finally recovered, Amara moving over to both of them to check their current state.
"Dad? Nat?"
Tony groaned, sitting up, "Yeah, we're good, kid."
Natasha stood up and reached for Amara, "You okay?"
Amara nodded, slowly at first but then faster as if she was desperately trying to convince herself that she really was okay.
She looked around, "What happened?"
Sharon groaned from where she had been thrown into the table, getting up slowly, "He went that way."
Amara nodded and started moving in that direction before her father grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, "No. absolutely not."
"Dad! We have to get him. He's out of control!"
Then the prince of Wakanda walked slowly and disappointedly into the vicinity. Amara stopped struggling with her father and Tony let go of her when they saw him.
"He got away. I don't know where," T'Challa said.
"It's not your fault, your highness. We all tried," Natasha reassured him. "We'll find him eventually."
"I will get him. But that's where you're wrong, Agent Romanoff. I will get him. You will all stay out of my way."
They all watched as the vengeful prince walked back to his office.
Amara sighed, turning around and she caught a glimpse of a dirty gray T-shirt and blond hair. Steve.
She quickly turned to her father, Sharon and Nat who were currently occupied on discussing their next strategy.
"We gotta cover all exits, get all your agents on it," Tony said to Sharon, typing something into his phone.
"We gotta move, now," Natasha said. "Amara, we gotta-" she looked around. "Where's the kid?"
"Damn it! I gotta put that kid on a leash!"
—————
Amara raced after Steve, following closely behind, but not so close that he could see her.
When she realised he was heading up to the roof, her eyes widened in shock. The helicopter. The one I got here with. It's still up there.
Amara sped up, running up the stairs as she finally made it to the door. She opened it frantically and rushed forward, seeing Bucky in the cockpit and attempting to fly away. Steve ran up to the helicopter and jumped, grabbing a hold of the landing skid.
He tried to plant his feet on the ground and pull the helicopter back but it wasn't working. He was being dragged closer and closer to the edge.
Amara panicked and attempted to use her powers to stop the helicopter from moving any further, or at the very least to slow it down. But she was still drained from her encounter with Bucky. Red marks still gracing her neck.
Steve was now nearing the edge of the roof, he still hadn't noticed Amara standing behind him. He let go of the bar with one hand, trying to desperately grasp the bar along the edge of the roof, but then he was on the grate.
He reached for the bar and grabbed a hold of it, and Amara tried to bring the helicopter back towards the roof, but she was getting tired, her eyes began to flutter closed, despite her determination to stay awake.
She grew annoyed with herself as frustrated tears fell down her face. She was no help, now it was up to Steve. She fell to her knees and breathed heavily.
But then the helicopter started moving away faster.
Steve had managed to grab ahold of the bar and now had his feet planted on the grate for support as he held the helicopter with one hand and the bar on the roof with the other. He adjusted his grip as his face scrunched up in struggle.
But he did it.
The helicopter couldn't move any further. Amara's eyes opened slightly to see Steve's success. She smiled proudly, until she sensed what was coming.
"Steve!" She shouted.
Steve looked at her in shock and then confusion at her worried expression. And that was when Bucky changed the direction of the copter. He steered it right into Steve as he luckily jumped onto the platform again, just in time.
But as the helicopter had fallen on its side, the spinning blades were going to hit the platform, right where Steve had jumped to.
Amara breathed heavily, getting on her knees one last time and gathering any of the strength she had left and made a forcefield around Steve, protecting him from the dangerous blades as they shattered around him.
Steve had braved himself for the impact, but when he looked up at the forcefield around him and then at Amara, he gave her a grateful expression. But Amara couldn't see it through her blurry vision. She was only focused on keeping her friend safe.
When she saw the flicker of the shield around him, she panicked, because she also sensed the tail of the helicopter was about to come around and hit Steve.
"No!" Amara cried, as she closed her eyes.
And then the forcefield dropped, and Amara fell to the ground.
She breathed a shaky sigh of relief when she saw Steve roll out of the way of the rest of the oncoming blades and duck to avoid the tail from hitting him.
When everything had settled, Amara was crying tears of relief, she couldn't stop them.
Steve looked back at her, his face falling in apology, but Amara just smiled.
Then Bucky's hand smashed through the glass next to Steve's head and Amara eyes widened in fear, once again.
She stumbled towards them, desperate to help, but as she got closer she saw the vehicle start to lean over the edge.
Amara moved quicker (or as quickly as she could) and almost made it to them before the helicopter finally tipped over the edge, taking Steve and Bucky down with it.
"No, Steve," Amara said in a strangled cry.
Amara stumbled over to the edge and scrunched her eyes in pain, and grabbing her stomach, bracing for what she was about to do. She once again, gathered the little bit on energy she had left in her, the energy that had kept her awake, and manipulated the water in the lake below to rise up.
She swirled the water around and around so that it circled the helicopter, Steve and Bucky as they fell. The force of the water around them helped to slow down their descent and encase them in a protective bubble.
Bystanders looked up at the spectacle in awe. Under different circumstances the scene would have been quite extraordinary.
By the time they reached the surface of the water, their fall had been almost completely broken, the impact significantly less.
But Amara's work wasn't finished. She had to regain control of those waves to avoid any overflowing water that would cause a flood. Which would be one of the worser things to happen that day.
Amara wasn't even fully conscious when she was doing this, it was like her instincts just completely took over, even she didn't know what she was doing.
But when she was finished, finally, she dropped to her knees, once again and soon collapsed, completely, on the floor.
The last thing she saw was a small splash of water hitting the pavement around it. She smiled, satisfied with the work she had done and finally allowed herself to give in to the voice in her head telling her to let go.
And that was when she passed out, descending into blissful darkness.
(A/N: We're so close to Peter finding out the truth. But will Amara get the chance to tell him? Will he be annoyed? Will he hate her or will he be fine? OMG I'm so excited!!!)