Longing
Rusted
Furnace
Daybreak
Seventeen
Benign
Nine
Homecoming
One
Freight Car
Elysia's blood turned to ice in her veins as the words appeared on a holographic screen in the middle of the conference room, along with the same old photograph from Bucky's file that Tony had shown her back in Arizona. The rest of the team all sat around the table, reading over the words as a heavy silence fell over the group.
"Alright," Tony announced, breaking the silence. "All of you know what these words do, we've been over this several times. You're all to be on alert with Barnes walking around the building, to protect him from being exposed to them, and to protect anyone else that might find themselves in his vicinity should these words ever be spoken aloud. Any questions?"
"I can't believe Tony's actually agreeing to this," Natasha murmured to Elysia, catching her attention as she looked over at the redhead.
"His behavior's shown that he's stable enough." Wanda pointed out from her other side. "Besides, if anything happens, Vision and I would be able to incapacitate him again in a heartbeat. Trust me," the Sokovian woman said with a smirk. "They know the kind of damage I can do."
"If there's no questions, then it's time." Tony announced then, rising from his chair as the hologram disappeared from view, taking the words away with it. "Remember, eyes up at all times. Until Sparky and Drs. Valente can get those outside of his head, he's free to walk around the compound so long as those words never reach his ears."
Tony led the team out of the conference room as they walked back to the interrogation room where Bucky was still being held, Steve hot on his heels. The rest of the group watched with bated breath from the other side of the viewing glass as Steve and Tony walked into the room to meet Bucky, the latter flipping a switch so the metal crusher loosened against Bucky's arm, setting him free.
Bucky stared down at his metal arm, rotating it back and forth and finally moving it again for the first time since his initial meeting with Elysia, Tony, Carlos, and Fernanda. He smiled over at Steve, who watched his movements in awe, finally being able to stand eye-to-eye with his best friend in peace for the first time in seventy years. Tony stood stiff, as if waiting for the Winter Soldier to lose control at any second and begin wreaking havoc against the Avengers, though to their relief, the moment never came.
Elysia watched as Bucky and Tony shook hands, and Steve led the three of them out to the observation room so he could begin giving his best friend a tour of the Avengers Compound, to see more than just the two rooms he'd been privy to over the past week. They stopped short in front of where Elysia stood between Sam and Wanda, and Bucky's eyes quickly found Elysia's before he gave her a grateful smile.
"Good to see you on your feet," Elysia said.
"Welcome to the compound," Wanda greeted, their first conversation since she'd held him under her control back at the HYDRA base, though Elysia couldn't even begin to guess what had been going on inside his brain during that night.
Bucky nodded back at her in greeting. "Ma'am,"
"Your room's upstairs," Steve said to Bucky, nodding back at them before leading him back towards the door. "We'll get you settled in, and later on I'll show you the rest of the compound."
Elysia watched as Steve and Bucky disappeared into the hallway, and shortly after they were out of sight, her phone began to buzz from the back pocket of her jeans. Pulling the phone out and glancing down at the device, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as the name Cara flashed across the screen, along with the request for a video call.
"Sorry, I have to take this," she mumbled, hurrying out of the room and rushing back to the living quarters before she missed the call.
Elysia rushed into her apartment, not even bothering to shut the door behind her before hitting the button to accept the call and diving onto the couch in the small living room. As she tried to catch her breath, the familiar head of blonde hair and blue eyes appeared of her best friend back in Arizona, giving Elysia a cheery smile.
"Lyss!" Cara exclaimed through the phone over the sound of music blaring from wherever she was making the call. "I haven't heard from you in forever, how are you?"
From the red plastic cup visible in Cara's free hand, Elysia could tell that her friend wasn't completely sober, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of her friend at a party so early on in the day, even if it was game day for the ASU baseball team. Behind Cara, she could see a handful of people mingling about, all dressed head to toe in gear to represent the school.
"I'm great," Elysia assured her. "How are things back home?"
"I miss you," Cara insisted. "When are you coming back?"
"My internship's supposed to go until the end of the summer." she explained. "Once the work's done, though, I'll be on the first flight back."
"Well, as soon as you're back, we're going out to celebrate." she proclaimed. "But I'm proud of you, and I hope the internship's going well!"
"Yeah, it's... different, that's for sure." Elysia said simply, chuckling to herself, and she watched as Cara's attention was pulled away by something else behind where she held her phone.
"I've gotta go, E," she said quickly. "Keg stand's open, but I'll catch you later? Love you!"
"Love you too," Elysia said, fighting to keep the smile on her face. "Bye,"
Elysia hung up the phone, setting it down next to her as she leaned back against the couch with a sigh. As her first friend she'd made upon transferring to the university, she and Cara had hardly gone more than a week without seeing each other, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't missed her best friend amidst her newfound feelings of homesickness.
Upon seeing the cheering of the students ready to support the team in the game, a location Elysia knew all too well that she would be at currently if she weren't back in New York, another stabbing feeling of homesickness spread through her, causing her to shut her eyes tightly in response. Although, a feeling of guilt also crossed Elysia, knowing that, until the call, she hadn't thought much about her friends back home at all since the first couple of days after her arrival at the compound.
"Trouble in paradise?" a voice asked, startling Elysia as she sat back up quickly to see Bucky leaning against the open door frame.
"I guess you could say that." she said.
"Sorry if I'm... intruding, or whatever." he apologized quickly. "Stark put me next door, so I thought I'd stop and say hi to the neighbors. I also wanted to thank you again for keeping me company the past few days."
"You're not intruding," she assured him, waving him inside to join her, and he stepped over the threshold to the room, taking a seat on the couch next to her. "And really, it's not a problem. No one deserves to be alone in an unfamiliar place."
"So what was all that about?" he asked, gesturing to where her phone still lay between them, long discarded from her phone call.
"Just a call from a friend back in Arizona." she explained. "Feeling a little homesick, I guess."
"Born and raised in Arizona?" he asked, but she shook her head.
"New York, actually." she admitted. "I moved away when I was twenty-one to go to school, just pretend I was normal for a little while. My friends gave me that normal life. I repressed my abilities so much that there was nothing to give away that I was different, and now I have no control over using them anymore. I had to leave them so suddenly to come here that I wasn't able to give them much of a warning. If they knew about any of this..." she gestured around them. "They'd never look at me the same way again."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Bucky asked.
"For them to realize I've been lying to them for the past few years?" she chuckled humorlessly. "Let's just say I've done better things. But now I'm here, without those friends and without control of the powers I left to get away from, and I'm just in some sort of weird in-between, I guess."
"I know I'm the last person who should be giving advice on this subject," Bucky admitted. "But maybe you're meant for much more than just the normal life. Don't sell yourself short, Sparks. You might just miss your true calling."
Elysia fell silent at his words, a retort ready at her tongue, but she soon felt it slip away. A small part within her couldn't help but wonder if he was right. If, after all this time, maybe she'd finally found herself back where she was meant to be.