Chapter 42

FUTURE

If you think about it.

Betrayal and heartbreak are kinda the same things.

Let me explain.

Betrayal; A term that loosely means, to betray. To break someone's trust and stab them in the back, causing pain.

Heartbreak; A term that loosely means, to break. To betray what they thought they felt, causing pain.

It's no secret that these two things had been toiling in my mind beforehand like a mini tornado going round and round, destroying my principles and what I stood for as a person.

Now it was pointless.

I was going to die.

Or, I am, now.

What's worst is that I'll leave this place with nothing.

No one to trust.

No one to seek comfort in.

No one to look up to.

I had no one.

And I was alone.

It's funny how in your last moments of life, you find the one thing you wanted the most was not to be alone.

But rather to spend it with the people you cared about.

I don't have any of those options.

My life was on a timer.

It has always, been on a timer.

Since the day Howard experimented on me.

Since the day I became HYDRA's Dark Witch.

Since the day I came out of that room in the Helicarrier.

Since the day I discovered I was Tony's sister.

Since the day Loki told me what he seeks is me.

Since the day the Winter Soldier hunted me down.

Since the day I fell for Steve.

Since the day the veins appeared.

Since the day Tony built Ultron.

Since the day I saw the Infinity Stones.

Since the day Pietro died.

Since the day the two people I loved ended up being the ones who killed me.

Since the day I discovered, my life was not my own.

And right now the timer's counting its last three digits.

3

2

1

...

What now?

.....

;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;

"Get up,"

I opened my groggy eyes and peer through my lashes.

A guard is standing before me, knuckles knocking on the table I don't remember falling asleep on.  

"Urgh," Groaning, I stretch my neck, feeling the kinks as they phase out. My head must have been on the table for quite something if it ached that bad.  "What time is it?"

"Not long," He answers mysteriously before grabbing onto the chain, a gesture meant for me to get up and follow him.

"Well, can you at least tell me where we're going?"

The guard doesn't respond, he just stands there, looking at me expectantly.

Jeez, real discreet.

Sighing, I decided it was better to just follow for now given I had no choice with the thing still wrapped around my neck.

I rubbed at my eyes not in the mood nor energy to fight. I was going to need to save my strength if I was to keep my friends from fighting each other. It doesn't help that I still felt deathly ill.

The last of the serum was still in that briefcase at the motel. If I don't get that soon I'll keel over faster than Tony can dance.

We made our way out of the detainment room, crossing hallways and glass barricades as the guard led me back to the control room.

I spot Steve and Sam locked behind a glass office situated directly in the center of the room. 

The super soldier had been pacing but upon seeing me, stopped and pressed himself against the glass, blue eyes shifting to my well-being.

I nodded weakly at him but decided not to speak when he mouthed; are you okay?

The guard took me up the mantle and slide open the glass doors to my friends.

He watches our group in nervousness before shifting the chain around in his palm.

He wasn't sure where to put it.

Steve walked over and held out his hand, blue eyes glaring daggers.

The guard gingerly placed it on top of Steve's hand and grimaced.

"Mr Stark says to put you with the rest," He tells me softly.

I flash him a sarcastic smile. "Tell Mr Stark, that his sister, wishes to break his nose again."

The guard nodded vigorously before leaving us.

When the glass doors slide close, Steve immediately wraps an arm around my waist, steadying my weakened body as he sets me down on a chair.

"What did they do to you?" He mumbled in concern, swiping strands of brown hair away from my eyes.

He places the metal chain on the table and traced the outline of a cut above my forehead.

"You didn't get first aid?" He comments, breathlessly.

"The doctor had a needle," I tell him stubbornly making Sam scoff.

"You're bleeding and you're scared of a needle?" Parrot tells me, completely confused.

I gave him a glare. "Needles are the worst."

At least for me, it was.

Partially because I remembered getting pricked and prodded whenever HYDRA did experiments on me.

It wasn't pleasant.

"You're freezing," Steve walks behind me and pulls the chair over so he could encompass his warmth to me.

It's times like this when I can forget everything that's happened. I could imagine that we weren't locked up in here and that Steve and I were still okay. 

Reality isn't so sweet, however. The trust between Ice Pick and I remained strained and though we don't say it out loud, I know we'll never be able to return back to what we were before. 

Not when it came to Bucky. 

I can still feel it, that emotion he kept at the back of his mind.

Doubt.

That I've been keeping Bucky a secret from him, that I've hurt him in some way or form back at DC.

How was one supposed to respond to that? Steve wasn't doing it on purpose. He didn't mean to think that way, it was just the basis of humans. 

You think the worst of people, even if that person is someone you cared about.

But just for this one minuscule moment, I want to pretend that everything is okay. I want to pretend that this isn't happening and we're back at the Avengers Headquarters, debating about what to eat for dinner.

Because then I won't have to face the fact that Steve hurt me. I won't have to face the fact that Tony, hurt me.

Forgiveness wasn't easy, it had to be earned, but there's a cold truth to it. One that screams at me. Forgiveness takes time. 

Time, I don't have.

I guess I'll never be able to stay mad at my two boys.

Steve and Tony.

The two people I care about the most in this world. My pillars, my reason for strength. 

Even though my mouth may think differently, my heart had already forgiven them. 

Family and love.

They weren't that different. They stand for the same thing.

What Bucky and I shared, however...

Maybe even deeper.

But I will never be able to know until the day it speaks itself.

"How long have we been here?" I asked after I feel warmer. There's a bright light shining above us and the intensity only makes me squint. 

"A little over a day," Sam answers, sighing tiredly as he spins the office chair around.

"Bucky?" My voice sounded like chalk. 

Steve immediately reaches for a pitcher of water placed on the table and pours me a glass.

I drank the cool liquid greedily, humming in approval.

"They're going to evaluate him soon, probably now," Steve speaks softly, those blue eyes glowing. His emotions hit me hard. If he could talk out loud he'd say;

I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say.

I don't answer that. I can't.

Not yet.

From my peripheral vision, I spot Natasha sitting in front of a huge screen outside the glass office. Her arms are folded, her emotions anxious. Neither one of us like being here. 

Subconsciously, my eyes dart around, silently looking for my brother. I can't find him. It edges me.

"Hey Steve, click that monitor," Sam calls out, suddenly standing.

Apparently, he's noticed what we all didn't.

Steve reaches over and clicks on the monitor.

It projects to a screen at the corner of the room, revealing Bucky, trapped in his glass cage with a person sitting in front of him.

Protector.

We can't hear him due to the fact that we didn't have access. 

I grow frustrated, nerves flaring.

It doesn't look like anyone's hurt him.

Yet.

"The receipt for your gear," Came, a voice I didn't like.

Sharon walks into the office and hands Sam a paper.

I didn't miss how Steve straightened himself and scoffed.

People don't change.

"Bird costume?" Sam growls, reading the paper. "Come on!"

"I didn't write it," She retorts before coolly walking over to the table monitor.

She glances at Steve's focused face before pressing a button, instantly lifting the mute in Bucky's video.

The Super Soldier and Agent share a smile.

My temper flared at that. 

Don't break. Not. Now.

You don't know where your relationship stands with him.

You don't even know if you're still together.

So, shut up!

"I'm not here to judge you." The man said, speaking quietly. "I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James?"

Bucky remains quiet and I could see his mouth twitch in annoyance at his first name.

"He doesn't like it when people call him that," I grinned, smiling fondly.

All three of them were standing but I was the only one sitting. I might as well, given there was nothing more I could do but bide my time. 

I didn't notice how three of them sent me curious looks. 

Whatever relationship my Protector and I have, that was ours and ours alone. No one will understand, they can't even begin to fathom it, so I left it be, choosing to focus on the screen, my ears straining with the effort to listen in. 

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James." The man continued.

"My name is Bucky." My Protector exclaims, sounding exasperated.

It is a familiar expression that makes me hide a chuckle. Oh, he'd always give me that. How many times had that tone come out of him when he caught me doing something I shouldn't?

Patience now, Soldat.

Leaning forward, I glance at the table before me, noting pictures scattered across the desk. One of the pictures was the one the press released. A black and white CCTV screenshot of Bucky walking in the parking lot towards a van.

He was staring directly at the camera when the shot was taken like he wanted to. Like he planned to.

And therein lies the problem.

My Protector wasn't in Vienna in the first place. 

"Why would the Task Force release this photo, to begin with?" Asked Steve as he comes up from behind me, slowly taking the picture I was looking at.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon suggested, shrugging.

"Right." He agreed. "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."

Sharon nodded in understanding. "You're saying someone framed him to find him."

"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing." Sam sighs. I've no doubt he still suspects Bucky. 

Steve turns around to his friend, frowning at the tone he was giving. "We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads."

"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him." Sharon states. "It guarantees that we would." The two of them turn their heads back to the screen.

Were they done double-teaming?

I'd like to say my words now.

If it wasn't for the fact that I was still exhausted, I would have said something snappy, maybe even sarcastic, but the day is almost over and I can't be bothered with the pretenses.

Not when my Protector is currently locked up and vulnerable.

The enemy was still out there and I needed to get him as far away as possible from here.

It's the only way to stop what's coming.

"Bucky wasn't there," I say out loud, fingers brushing through my tangled hair. "If you'd notice, I've been by his side this whole time, how the hell could he have taken an 11-hour drive and be back just as quickly in the time frame you placed on him?"

The logic is solid, so why bother fighting against it?

"Maybe he took a flight?" Sharon suggested absentmindedly. "Fake ID's? You heard what Sam said you couldn't find him for two years."

"Do you really think he would board a plane?" Scoffing, I can't help but feel slightly irritated at her lack of thinking. "If this was done by him, you wouldn't even know it." 

"You make it sound like he's done this before," Sam points out, frowning. 

"No loose ends." The memory is unbidden. I see it again. HYDRA, the soldiers, the guards, the cells. "HYDRA'S number one rule." 

Cells.

Multiple cells.

Why would they need so many?

Wasn't it only the two of us?

"Lorelie?" Sam is the one that breaks my trance, his hand reaching for my shoulder.

"Sorry," Blinking, I stop myself from going further down the rabbit hole and pull myself back. My memories were returning. I guess the theory was correct then, that the more time I spent with my Protector the more I start to remember.

"He wouldn't have left any trails," Gesturing at the photo Steve was still holding, I let my hand drop. "This is amateur level at best."

"That won't help your case," Sharon places one hand on the table, the other on her hip. "With that conclusion, it'll do the opposite of helping your friend here, these people are looking for the first chance they can get to throw him into maximum state prison."

Frustration is heavy in my bones, weighed down by my tiredness and inability to think straight. Sharon is only suggesting what Ross would probably mention. She's stating the obvious anyone would say. 

It doesn't help that my dislike for her is disturbing my supposed unbiasedness. 

"It wasn't him," The words come out flat, like lead. "He's HYDRA's number one assassin, and it's ingenious if you look at it from a different angle. Whoever that man is in the photo, he wanted to get caught--correction, he wanted Bucky to get caught."

"Regardless, your location remains unaccounted for," Steve lays the photo face down on the table. The furrowing of his brows makes my hackles raise. "They're not going to take your word for it, so Riley, you need to tell us where you were."

I frown at him, my mouth slightly agape. "What are you-"

"Where did you go after the meeting?"

At first, I thought he was simply concerned, but the tone of his voice is different. It's not what I'm used to, it's colder almost. I realize he's speaking to me as Captain America, not Steve, not the one I care about.

A sharp throb erupted from within my chest.

I place a hand over it, fingers squeezing as I use the table to hide my actions. 

What happened in the meeting room was a memory I would like to bury away. Even now I can still feel it, the pain, the sharp sting of disbelief as my team members fought and disagree.

 Through it all, I still remember what Steve said, what Tony... said.

"I know it wasn't you, you couldn't have stopped yourself if they ask you to hurt him."

"You could have hurt anyone, Blues,"

"You just don't remember."

Anger now, rage, I feel it at the back of my neck, I feel it as I slip my hands down to my lap and clench them. Good, let me feel the anger, let me feel the wrath, anything but that sad, lonely, isolating feeling.

"Does it matter?"

"It will to them," He states bluntly. "Both Bucky and you have no alibi other than yourselves, anyone is going to see this as a conflict of interest."

Conflict of interest.

Funny.

"Are you asking to help or are you simply questioning me, Ice Pick?" I shut it down immediately, waiting for him to drop the act. This wasn't about alibi's or figuring out how best to get out of this situation.

He was bringing it up, our personal conflict--now, under the pretense of helping, us. 

"Let me rephrase," Leaning forward, I ignore the aches of my bruise body as I level Steve with a cold hard stare. "No matter what I say next will you trust yourself to not be biased against it?"

He's silent. The corner of his mouth twitched in grim indignation.

Steve may be marketed as America's most righteous man, but I knew better. He was as human as anyone else, he felt like anyone else, he got mad like anyone else, and he gets jealous like anyone else.

"Where did you go Lorelie?"

Of course, deflect and ignore, because what else are you supposed to do in an uncomfortable situation?

"Bucharest," The words come out like gritty sand. "Slept at some dingy motel."

"Why Bucharest?"

"Would you believe me if I told you, I didn't know where I was going, I just hopped on the next flight out?" Chuckles slip out my lips. How screwed over must you be to have my type of luck? That my Protector would somehow be in the same City I was.

Steve folded his arms over his chest then, his gaze narrowed as the air between us charged. In the background, I sense Sam and Sharon's unease. They don't like where this was going.

I don't blame them, I don't like where this was going either.

"How did you meet Bucky?"

There it was, it was only for a split second. That doubt inside him, the little seed Rumlow planted in his head that is now sprouting and growing weeds. 

He thinks whatever I say next, would be a lie.

But the truth was, I don't know if whatever I tell him will do us any favors, hell it might even make things worse, but I say it anyway.

"It was an accident." I'm sincere because it was just that, an accident. I hadn't wanted to find him, I had just collapsed at that motel, letting sleep take me, and the next thing I know I was in front of Bucky's door. "I fell asleep one moment and the next, I was just standing in front of his door."

The three of them exchanged looks. They find it hard to believe, hell, I found it hard to believe, but it happened, it was real.

"I don't know how I got there, I was just... suddenly there." Unexplained things happen sometimes when my powers are involved. Things I can't do when I wish them, only happening without my control. 

It irked me. How did I manage to find him? How did I get there?

It just didn't make sense.

The first time it happened was at DC on top of the Hellicarriers. One moment I was up there, the next I was on the ground, near the TRISKELION base. 

"That's..." Sharon coughs, trailing off awkwardly. "That's very hard to believe."

"Believe me, I say the same thing myself," Sighing, I rub my face and let out a groan. "Look, it doesn't matter anymore, what matters is whoever this person is." I tap the photo. "We need to hide Bucky, and keep him safe until we can figure out what this guy wants."

"That's not gonna go well for your pal there," Sam nods at the monitor where my Protector is still being questioned. "They're gonna be fighting tooth and nail to make sure he stays where he is."

"Which is why we need to work together and put everything aside for once." This plan would work. We just needed to cooperate together, and have each other's backs. "If the Government sees we're not divided, they'll know we mean business."

"You want us to sign the Accords?" Steve declares flatly.

I jerk at the insinuation, shocked by the disgust in his tone. "I said nothing about signing the Accords. I just want us to work together, regardless of what you and Tony decide."

Steve isn't happy about it, he made it clear by how he turned away to face the glass wall. "Did Tony set you up for this?"

"Of course not!"

Can't he see what I was aiming for? What I was trying to do? I just want my family safe. 

Desperate now, I force myself to stand ignoring Sam as he tries to make me stay put in fear of aggravating my injuries. None of that can ever compare to the hole growing the size of a crater in my chest.

"Steve, this isn't about you, or me, or Tony. This is bigger than all of us, you need to see--"

"Here's what I see," He turns around, chest heaving, angry. "I see that you disappeared after the meeting, you end up in Bucharest, you found Bucky and the bombing happened, now we're here and I have no idea what I'm looking at."

He can't mean that.

I've told him everything. The truth. That's all I've been telling him.

He's just frustrated.

He's just--

"Lorelie whose side are you on? Can I count on you or is your brother going to come between us?"

Silence.

I don't know what to say.

I don't know what to do.

"Believe it or not Blues, a lot of us would like you on our side if things get rough."

Tony's words resound like a bell, toiling loudly in my head, and sending vibrations down my neck.

"You think I'm the only one that thought of it? I'm just the first one to say it."

A weight to tip the scales.

That's all I amount to.

"You won't believe me huh?" I smile sadly, whispering the words through a bruised heart. I wished it wasn't so. "Just like the people who threw us in here." 

It was true.

They went as far as to throw me in the interrogation room without so much as proof that I helped Bucky bomb Vienna.

If the Government was a person, he was going to get a major kick in the balls.

"It's right in front of you," Sharon gave me a pitiful look. "We have proof Lorelie--"

"You call this fucking picture proof?" The bomb detonates. I reach for the picture, balling it in a fist before throwing it at her, completely enraged. 

"Tell me then, where's my mugshot? Where's my evidence, since you so kindly tagged me like a dog, where's your proof that I had a hand in bombing Vienna?!"

Steve attempts to placate me. "Calm, down."

And I see red.

"You want me to calm down?" I hissed at the soldier. "My Protector is in there, getting trialed for things he didn't do! For things, he's been trying to escape from, since the moment HYDRA ended!"

I tugged at the chain as it rattled against the table, creating scratches. "I'm chained against my will because you idiots can't see that we didn't do it!"

"Guys, maybe--" Sam tries to diffuse the situation but he's failing terribly.

Meanwhile, the Super Soldier and I remain neck-deep in glowering.

"Getting mad at Sharon won't change a damn thing." He tells me.

"Oh, and not doing anything makes everything else go faster?" I spat sarcastically, not caring if my head pounded from the rush of anger. 

"How is yelling and getting mad going to fix anything?"

"That's the problem!" Shouting now, I whack at my hands, letting a bristle of blue light flow out of me to hit the chair behind him. "God, you and Tony are the same, always thinking that you're right and everyone else is wrong!"

I'm glad the glass office was soundproof if not people would hear exactly what we were saying.

Hypocrites.

Why am I even defending them after all this time?

After what they did to hurt me.

"You don't see the damage you're doing, what you've done to the Avengers, you're destroying my family!"

"I'm doing what's right." He seethes back. "Right now, we're on our own and we need to tone it down. The people have proof, we can only try to work around that."

That was the last straw that set me off.

Tick, tock, boom.

"No," I scoffed. "What you want to work around, is her,"

My finger landed on Sharon who looks like a deer in headlights.

Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. I think he knows where I'm going with this and he does not want to be here. Nope, he wants to be as far away as possible.

I can feel his emotions wafting back at me.

Pained, frustrated, and concerned. It doesn't take an idiot to see that Sam notices it too.

Steve looks innocent and confused. "What are you--"

"I was there, Steve. I saw how you looked at her. I saw how you gaze at her like she was your last lifeline."

He froze. His entire body was solid as a ramrod.

I step forward, hands clenched, glaring daggers at my boyfriend.

Maybe ex? I wasn't sure.

"You know what?" I walked closer to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You were my last lifeline, and you just threw it away."

You threw me away.

I slammed my hand to his chest and shoved him aside to retrieve the metal chain on the table in front of me.

If I stayed here any longer my heart would break into a million pieces. No one would pick them up but me and right now, I won't have the energy for that. 

So I'll leave, I'll escape, anything to get away from him. 

In one swift move, I had it in my hands and stormed out of the glass office, needing to seek comfort somewhere else.

Where do I go?

My gaze finds Natasha and Tony who were both engrossed at the screen. Without thinking, I made my way over to them, not caring if the guards were alarmed by what I was doing.

Natasha was the first to perk up upon seeing my very, angry expression.

"Riles?"

Tony shot up from his leaned-back position, eyes wide and slightly nervous.

His nose had long stopped bleeding and I can see a white plaster he'd haphazardly placed on it. The satisfaction is brief, not when there's a sadness crawling around in my lungs. 

"Blues?"

I stare at him, at my brother, at his brown orbs. 

The words are stuck in my throat like a bad record. I can't say what I want, so instead, I shove my hand over Natasha's and dropped the metal link on her hand.

She grasp it in disbelief before it could drop and didn't stop me as I jumped over her leg and settled down between my brother and her.

Tony's body radiated in wariness and concern as I bury my head in his chest, wiggling closer, needing reassurance.

Natasha watches me quietly with a raised eyebrow and dangerously glances around for the source of my sadness.

"Put them down," Tony orders somewhere above my ear at the guards who had their guns up. I can't see them but I know they're there. 

He places his arms around me and I sank deeper into his warm embrace, feet balled up beneath me, not caring at all how much pain he's caused me earlier.

I just needed...

Something.

Anything.

To tell me everything is going to be okay.

"Say the word and I'll kill him," Natasha hisses, green eyes flashing madly.

I shook my head and shut my eyes, allowing Tony to sigh as he stroked my hair.

I remembered being in this position when we were kids. He'd always comfort me when I was sad.

"No," I tell her, voice soft.

She snuggles onto my other side, her hands wrapping around my other arm as comfort.

Tony lets out an annoyed huff at the action, an attempted to tug me away from Natasha but the Russian remains determined, not wanting to let go.

The both of them shot each other displeasing looks before giving up and holding me together.

It was hard considering the clasp was still around my throat.

"What did he do? Do you want me to put him in the freezer?" Tony asks me threateningly in a brotherly way.

I swallow back a bitter chuckle.

I love them all so much that it hurts.

"No," I raised my eyes to meet Bucky's footage on the screen. "I'm afraid, I'll do the killing and the freezing myself,"

~~@ @ @~~

A/N

Yeah, this part got me a little. I remember rereading the chapter and actually feeling tears well up in my eyes.

I know you guys are unsure at the moment where Lorelie's loyalties lie but you should know from her feelings that she loves both Tony and Steve.

They are her lifeline and despite the two of them hurting her, she can't stay forever mad at them.

Tony's her brother and as you can see from the last few sentences, she seek comfort from him even though he did what he did.

Steve's a little different now and his feelings are changing.

The team, is changing, just to clarify.

But its still clear that they all care for each other despite being on opposite sides.

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