Chapter Nine: What Else Can Go Wrong?
"Oh Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law. Law man has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home." -Styx: Renegade.
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Tony and I pant heavily, for we are out of breath from running as we knock on his door. I look behind us paranoid; Tony keeps rapping his fist against the wood a bit louder. Finally, we hear footsteps approaching from the other side.
"Tony? Monica?" The sleepy Captain America opens the door.
"Yep, we're coming inside," Tony pushes past Steve. I immediately shut the door and lock it behind us.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Steve stifles a yawn, still stunned by our uncalled for intrusion.
"We don't know," Tony answers as he looks around the room in a fit of paranoia.
"You... don't know?" Steve furrows his eyebrows as he watches my father's nervous behavior. He curiously looks at me as I flop down on his sofa. Usually I would have better manners when being uninvitedly in one's home, yet I am too exhausted from the ordeal and use the fact Steve and I are relatively friends to justify my lack of courtesy.
"Do you have locks on your windows?" Tony inspects all possible entrances.
"Yeah, why?"
"Okay, good."
"Why do you sound out of breath?"
"We just ran a mile here. Do you have anything to drink?" Tony sits down on the brown leather couch in Steve's living room.
"If I get you water, will you tell me why you ran a mile to my apartment at two in the morning?" Steve begins to wake up more.
"Sure," Tony puffs.
"You need a drink too, Monica?" Steve asks from the other room.
"Yes, please," I sit up to be a bit more alert.
Steve comes back a moment later with two glasses of water. Tony and I gratefully clutch them and take a gulp. Steve pads over to the armchair. His blonde hair sticks up haphazardly, for we woke him from his slumber. He is only adorned in a white wife-beater and blue pajama bottoms. Steve leans forward in the chair, "Now will you tell me what's going on?"
"You know how Alex was kidnapped?" Tony has already finished half of his drink.
"What? No!" Steve's eyes widen at the news, "I'm so sorry, when did it happen?"
"Last week, but Monica found abnormally large foot indentations underneath his windowsill. We don't know what exactly took Alex, but whatever it was attempted to kidnap Monica this time," Tony's voice is low as he has regained his breath.
"Where were you?
"At a hotel, there was a press conference today about her. She just screamed and when I ran in and turned on the lights and it disappeared."
"Why didn't you use your suit?"
"Neither of us brought them."
"Why?"
"Because we shouldn't need them if we're going to be gone for two nights!" I exclaim as I have not come to terms what my life has become.
"That's true. So what happened after you got it out?"
"We heard it outside so we ran. The valet still had the keys, but I knew where your apartment is and we just ran," Tony runs a hand through his own tousled hair, windblown from the run.
"We think it was following us, but we lost it after the first half of the run," I say.
"Why do you say 'you think'?" Steve cocks his head to the right.
"We heard thudding and saw the shadow behind us," I answer.
"That's a probable assumption then," Steve sighs as he leans back in his seat, "What are you going to do now?"
"Is it okay if we crash here for the night?" Tony inquires, since there is not much we can do until morning.
"Yeah, but, uh, there's probably something I should come clean about... I, uh, you should know that-" Steve is cut off by a fourth voice.
"Steve?" A timid voice call out from down the hallway, "Who was at the door?"
"Whoa, man, I didn't mean to intrude on your... wait, that's a man's voice," My dad looks at Steve.
"Bucky, you're supposed to wait until I tell you it's clear," Steve groans as a shirtless man with shoulder-length messy brown hair comes out.
"Oh shit," The man's, Bucky's, eyes widen.
"Guys, this is Bucky Barnes," Steve looks nervous, paling slightly in color, "Bucky, this is Tony and Monica."
"Hi," I smile as Bucky waves sheepishly.
"Buck, you can come sit down. They won't bite; well, atleast I know Monica won't," Steve tries to relieve some of the untold tension in the air.
"Capsicle, can I talk to you a moment?" Tony's voice is stiff as he points towards the kitchen.
Steve agrees as the two men go to the other room. I do not understand why Tony was cold towards Bucky or why he wanted to speak to Steve privately. I do not see anything wrong with Steve's friend either, for Bucky seems like a normal guy.
In attempt to avoid falling in an awkward silence, I ask Bucky how he knows Steve. He tells me that they were best friend back in the 1930s to the 1940s. Under some circumstances Bucky wound up frozen and here alive in this time. He tells me also that due to those circumstances he was brainwashed and apologizes for if his memory seems sketchy. My original belief of Bucky being a normal man is quickly proven false.
We do fall into a spell of silence as Tony and Steve have been gone for five minutes. I notice that Bucky has a metal arm. Its design is different from my leg, but sports the same concept. I cannot help but watch his prosthetic recalibrate when he ties his hair up in a short and messy ponytail. As I observe his arm, I'm unaware that Bucky is studying my leg.
"You're like me," Bucky says in a small voice before clearing his throat, "Do you mind if I ask what happened?"
"Have you heard of the battle of Berlin just a bit ago?" I ask, a for I am unaware on how current this man is with today's world. To my relief, Bucky nods his head. "Well, I was fighting in that and got caught in a burning building where a ceiling beam fell onto my leg."
"Oh," Bucky doesn't offer pity.
"Can I ask what happened to you?"
He looks towards the kitchen before asking in a quieter voice, "I fell out of a train off of the side of a mountain into an icy ravine."
"Oh," I want to question how he survived such a fall, but I the last thing I want to do is pry when we just met. The way Bucky seemed hesitant to answer keeps me holding my tongue. Plus, I know I can find out all these little details when I get home.
"Why were you fighting in such a monstrous war?" Bucky inquires.
"It's my job," I click my tongue, "It was only my first."
"Steve said you're only seventeen?"
"Yes."
"And you're Howard Stark's granddaughter?"
"I've never thought about that, but yes, I guess I am."
"I knew him."
"Howard?"
"Yeah, I don't remember him, but I know that I knew him... So, why are you here?" Bucky asks bluntly, not being rude.
I tell him about my dad and mine's encounter with the mysterious kidnapper. Bucky listens intently as I first tell him about our night. Going out of chronological order, I then tell him about Alex's vanishing. He asks a few questions about Alex and myself as he tries to understand the situation. After I finish the story, Bucky is silent for a minute.
"You love him, don't you?" Bucky asks, breaking the silence.
"More than I thought possible," I glance down at my feet.
"You'll find him. Everything works out for the best, even if you're dragged through hell first," Bucky nudges my metal leg with his knee, "Your leg feels really warm..."
"I hope so. And what- ah!" My hands fly to my prosthetic as my leg feels as if it is on fire. I immediately retract my hands as my leg is much too hot. The base absorbs the heat as well, burning my amputated leg.
"What did I do?" Bucky jumps back in panic, fearing some fateful accident occured.
"I don't think you did anything." Tears uncontrollably well up in my eyes as the pain is crippling. I feel like an unidentifiable force just set it on fire. "Tony!"
"What?" Tony runs in the room with Steve right behind him, "Is it back?"
"Something is wrong with the prosthetic," I clench my jaw.
"What?" Tony relaxes a bit, no longer fearing the monster.
"It hurts, where it's connected," My bottom lip quivers involuntarily.
"What happened?" Tony tries to visually spot the problem.
"I don't know!"
"What the hell did you do to my daughter?" Tony turns to yell at Bucky.
Bucky raises his hands, "Nothing, I swear!"
"I-"
"He seriously didn't do anything," I vouch, "Please, just fix it!"
Tony gives Bucky a hard look, as if he still does not believe Bucky is innocent, before turning his attention back to me. I don't know why he would think Bucky would harm me, but that is not the most pressing matter at the moment. "I don't have any tools or Jarvis to diagnose what's wrong with it."
"There has to be something you can do!" I cry out as it burns.
Steve and Bucky look helpless, not knowing what to do. I screw my eyes shut as the pain intensifies.Tony crouches down as he touches my leg. He hisses and promptly retracts his hand, burning his fingertips.
"The cooling unit is shot. Everything has overheated," Tony shakes his head, "Steve, get me an oven mitt, a paper clip, and a cold wash cloth. Also, if you have any burn ointment, that'd be great."
Steve dashes to the kitchen again and returns with the supplies. He sets the haul on the coffee table. Tony grabs the paper clips and unbends it. He holds my leg still with an oven mitt-clad hand. "Mon, the only thing I can do is take your leg off."
"Then do it!" The base of my real leg is turning bright red as it begins to blister from the heat.
Tony goes to work. He locates a teeny hole on the side of my upper thigh on the outside of my prosthetic. He sticks the paper clip in this hole. Bucky offers his real hand for me to squeeze as I am in so much discomfort. I can see it in Bucky's eyes that he knows a very similar pain.
I hear a click, then another, and then another as Tony maneuvers the skinny shaft down farther into my leg. With one last pop my leg unlocks from its base. Tony sets the burning prosthetic on Steve's coffee table. I feel near instant relief when Tony presses the cool wash cloth to the now uncovered base.
"Cap, can you get another wash cloth?" Tony asks as clear liquid stains the rag.
"What is that?" Steve sounds mortified when he sees the same liquid runs out of my prosthetic and on to the coffee table.
"It's a plasmatic discharge. It's from the leg, not the body and it will be staining your couch too if you don't get me another wash cloth," Tony replies curtly, rolling his hand to hurry him up.
Steve hands another clean cloth to my dad. I slowly release my grip from Bucky's hand as the heat-induced pain subsides. My heartbeat begins to slow as my body relaxes. I lift my head off of the couch to look at my short stump. The skin above it is bright red as it had heated up. I take the wash rag from Tony, since I am fine to hold it myself.
"Just by looking at it, I'll say the cooling unit broke causing a few of the sensors to overheat. Something else melted inside, but I can't tell what. I don't know what caused the malfunction; it may have been from the running or just a mechanical failure," Tony glances at the metal leg. Randomly, he begins laughing. I glare at him as I do not see what could be so funny; Bucky and Steve exchange confused looks. "Do you realize how awful this night has been? Everything possible has gone wrong."
"Let's hope this was it," Steve shakes his head, "What's your plan for in the morning?"
"We'll head back to the hotel room, examine for any more evidence and get our stuff," Tony answers, "We'll fly home tomorrow, too, instead of going to New York. I think if that thing tries to attack again at least we'll be on our own turf. Plus, I now need to fix Monica's leg."
"Have you alerted S.H.I.E.L.D. about this?" Steve inquires.
"Yes, but they have detected nothing," Tony scoffs.
"Is there anything I can get for you, Monica?" Bucky diverts the attention to me.
"I just need to know where your bathroom is," I reply.
"Down the hall, first door on the right," Bucky jabs his thumb in the implied direction.
"Do you need help?" Tony offers me a hand up.
"I got it." Once I am standing, I hop on my one leg down the hallway. I hear Steve and Tony chuckle at what I pressume to be an awkward spectacle. My stub is completely hidden when my shorts straighten out. I find it sad that my pajama shorts are longer than my left leg-remnant.
I find the bathroom right where Bucky said it was. I do my business and use my one leg to support myself up afterwards. However, when I stand up I am off balance. I find myself falling backwards. My bottom hits the edge of the toilet before falling to the ground. The back of my head bangs against the porcelain. "Ow," I rub the back of my head.
"What happened?" I hear someone laughing from the living room.
"I fell," I shout back.
"Are you okay?" Tony isn't laughing anymore.
"I'm fine! Was the thud really that loud?" I chuckle along.
"Yes!" Steve is still laughing.
"You guys are nice," I yell back as I grab a hold of the edge of the sink to hoist myself up.
"Do you need any-" Tony stops as I hop down the hallway, "Help."
"I got it," I sit back down in-between Tony and Bucky. Tony is busy dabbing the burn cream on his hand.
"Well, I think this has been an interesting night," Steve stands up, "But I'm going back to bed."
"Yeah, me too," Bucky gets up too.
"I'll get the extra blankets and pillows." Steve returns with an armful of blankets and a few pillows. Tony and I happily divide them up. "Goodnight."
"Night!" I reply as I take a pillow and a blanket.
"I'll take the chair," Tony states.
"No, I'll sleep there. I take up less space," I argue as I motion to my leg.
"Ha, just take the couch."
"But the chair is smaller than the couch."
"And that's why I want you to take it."
"Oh, hey, Tony," Steve pokes his head into the living room, "Bucky's room has an extra bed if you want to sleep in there."
"No, I'll sleep out here," Tony waves him off.
"Well, Monica, you can sleep there if you want. Or, I can sleep in there and you can sleep in my bed," He kindly offers.
"That sounds gre-"
"No, we'll be fine out here," Tony interrupts abruptly.
"Okay, then, goodnight," Steve leaves us again.
"What was that?" I look at Tony as he takes the chair.
"If that thing comes back, Monica, you couldn't defend yourself. You couldn't even run away," He sighs as he reclines in the chair.
"Oh," I reply as I lay down on the couch.
"And I'm not letting you leave my sight when we're still not safe," Tony says quietly, not intending for me to hear it. He leans over and turns off the lamp. It takes me a moment to find a comfortable position. Everything is quiet where only the radiator hums from the other room. I feel the much needed sleep pull my eyelids close. I reply to him in even a quieter voice.
"Goodnight, Dad."
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BUCKY! Before you question anything like why Tony doesn't want to kill Bucky immediately because of his parents' death, I'm going off of the comics as the Roxxon company is the cause of the death, but Tony still sees Bucky as a hostile.
PLEASE READ: unless you earn the bonus update, THE NEXT UPDATE WILL BE MONDAY- NOT SUNDAY. I will be in Chicago this weekend at Comic Con (meeting Sebastian Stan eeeeek) so I won't update until Monday.
20 Votes for a bonus update.
Dedication to @andrea01luvs because she is so sweet and left me the best compliment ever. <3
Oh, man, I love reading back on this chapter and seeing the beginning of Monica and Bucky's friendship. I think they have become one of my brotps and I hope you guys agree after reading the next book (Chosen) and the one-shots (Coincinnity)!
x JLG