Chapter 44

A/N

Imma make this short, read carefully from here on out.

https://youtu.be/UPAJLlS4XkM

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I expected the usual.

Unconscious bodies, panicked civilians, chaos, and destruction-- you know where I'm going with this right?

"Whoever thought to build the Centre connected to a mall needs to get slapped in the face," I mutter out loud, breaths heaving from my chest as we run out of the building, entering into some sort of an in-between lobby between the two.

Tony agrees by nodding. "It's like they want, civilians to be caught in the crossfire."

"I think they have a call line for complaints, we should dial the number--"

"Now is most definitely not the time," Natasha growls at my brother and me, irritated by our lack of seriousness. "We still got people running around out here, we gotta get them out the way before Barnes--"

Too late.

We skittered to a halt as a guard is thrown two feet in the air right in front of us.

Shit.

"Go left," Gesturing to Tony, we quickly hid behind the pillars, using them as shields as the Winter Soldier enters the fray, slowly making his way--no, decimating his way across the Lobby.

I eye him, letting my powers rise between my fingertips so I can get a read on what he's feeling.

There was nothing.

Just this cold, ice feeling.

Three words.

Complete the mission.

It's echoing in his mind like a bell. 

He's going further down the rabbit hole and if I don't get him out soon, it might be too late to bring him back.

Turning my head to Natasha, I nodded at the pillar from across the room, holding both palms paralle with one another. 

The Spy nods in understanding, knowing I meant for us to corner him from all directions. She leaves our side, taking Sharon with her and leaving my brother and me to figure out what to do next. 

"Get ready," I tell him, hearing and feeling the Winter Soldier as he stalks menacingly across the ground floor, all remnants of my Protector gone. 

Civilians are still fleeing the building in terror, we can't engage so soon or he'll go on a rampage.

 The thought makes me wince.

Dammit, if I find out who the hell did this to Bucky, I'll tear that bastard apart.

"We're in position," Natasha tells me, her red hair peeking out of the pillars.

Rolling over to an overturned table, I hid behind it, keeping my hand steady on the wood, so I could speak to comms. "Once I'm close enough do not engage." 

"Blues I hope your plan doesn't include you going at him guns ablazing--minus the guns because you have none," Tony warns through the comm, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. 

I glance over at him, watching his eyes narrow at me. 

"Of course not," Slowly creeping forward, I keep myself soundless and out of sight, practically bounding on the tip of my toes. "I'm just gonna bash his head real hard."

Should be easy right?

I'm almost behind him when out of the blue, two guards appear from different corners of the Lobby, guns out, screaming instructions at the Winter Soldier to stand down.

He doesn't hesitate, meeting them halfway, arms out, crisscrossing the guns in front of him so they shot sideways.

The guards are flabbergasted by his monstrous strength and though they try to fight back it's useless. The Winter Soldier practically batters them out of consciousness, his knuckles turning red from the cuts and bruises.

"Shit--"

A figure moves from behind me; straight suit, brown hair, wait a damn minute--that's my idiotic brother!

"Tony!" I hiss loudly, furious that he disobeyed my command, and launched himself straight into the fight.

His Iron gauntlet is strapped to his hand, features focused as he sidesteps the bodies on the floor and shoots out a sonic boom toward the Winter Soldier. 

I don't miss how the man winces, head-turning over in pain.

My brother doesn't let up, his gauntlet flickers again like a flashbang. The light shoved directly onto the Winter Soldier who tries to fight back only to be blinded at once.

The two advanced on each other, fighting hand-to-hand.

I hold my hand out at Natasha and frantically gesture for her to stay put, knowing we couldn't risk aggravating the Winter Soldier any more than we already had. 

Tony angles his hand and slams it forward into a fist, deflecting the Winter Soldier's powerful punch.

I keep my eye on them as I constantly move in between hiding spots, slowly making my way behind him, inch by inch. 

While I can feel Tony's determination to take him down loud and clear, I don't feel anything from the Winter Soldier. Not any ounce of emotion, not an ounce of feeling.

He was empty.

And that scared me.

There was a flip of metal. I recognize it as the sound of a gun cocking in the chamber. I look up, heart in my mouth as a bullet flies, shooting straight at my brother.

Tony's iron gauntlet grasps the mouth of the gun and the bullet stops directly on his palm before it could hit his face.

Jesus Christ. 

It was too close. 

The clear relief in his eyes is obvious. He narrowly escaped death. 

Panicked, I look down at my hands, willing them to flower with my powers, willing the light to come out, but nothing happens.

"Come on, come on--" The light doesn't come out, and the sparks I'm familiar with refuse to appear. 

I snap my fingers, again and again, forcing myself to ignore the stabbing pain of the veins as my body refused to do what I ask. I wasn't an idiot. My body knows it's weak. If I pushed it any more than this, it wouldn't end well.

But I didn't care.

My brother was going to get hurt if I didn't do anything.

Tony has taken advantage of the pause, determination flashing in those brown orbs. I hear him pull the gun, breaking it off its axle and swiping it hard against the Winter Soldier's cheek.

The Winter Soldier flinches but doesn't deter, quickly slamming Tony off his feet like a bowling pin making my brother fly through the air.

I reach for him, teeth gritted, forcing out a barrier that could soften his landing as he hits chairs and goes down. 

The moment I felt my powers leave my fingertips, cold numbness gripped me, seizing my veins, and freezing them in ice. I pull back my hand and wrench the sleeve up.

Damn it.

The glow was back. Burning through my veins like something alive. A quiet gasp slips out from my lips as I fight to control the energy overpowering my body. 

Just a moment. I only needed a moment. Give me a moment--

From somewhere in front of me, Sharon has decided to attack, Natasha right on her heels, both of them going on two fronts.

While Natasha slams her body against the Winter Soldier, making him stumble back, Sharon tries to go for his leg. It's not enough. He simply picks her up and throws her against the table.

Natasha only had a moment reprieve but she remains on target. She flips her body and clambered up his neck, wrapping her legs around. She slams her hands on his head multiple times, grunting with effort.

The Winter Soldier slams her on another table and grabs her throat. Squeezing.

"You could at least recognize me," She huffs, choking.

They can't win. 

I stare at the disaster around us, feeling the anxiety crawl up my neck, feeling the chaos of everything that's happening.

It's infuriating. It's frustrating. I feel that anger building, that volcano on the precipice of exploding. How did we get here? How did this happen?

Screw my powers, screw the Accords, screw everything!

"Soldat!"  My voice is loud, echoing across the lobby, a beacon. 

Something dark settled in the air between us, something cold, something terrifying. 

The Winter Soldier turns, slowly, dark eyes indescribable.

His hand is still on Natasha, I hear her choking, I hear her struggle. "R-Riles--"

"Polozhite. Yeye." I unclench my right hand as a blue hue began to glow in between my fingertips, morphing into an energy blade as long as a sword. 

Put. Her. down.

The blue light is flickering, dying, but I can still feel it, even as my once bright color morphs into black, the gleam much more attractive than anything I've ever produced.

For a moment I feel the darkness. I feel ice-cold pain.

I feel... unparallel power.  

I raise my blade in front of me, letting the reflection showcase the glowing blue in my iris."Seychas."

Now.

Dark eyes scan me, head to toe, flashing with something else. 

He could have ignored me, could have killed Natasha right there and then.

But I knew better.

A predator rises to another and do you know what happens when you put two predators in close proximity to one another?

Nothing good.

He lets Natasha go, his fingers inching off of her throat slowly, obviously taunting. He knows she's my weakness. He's making it clear to me that he could have killed her but chose not to. 

I watch him as he approaches, footsteps soft, careful, very unlike the stomp from earlier.

"Stay out of this," My words are to Natasha who is coughing, to Sharon who struggles to get up, to Tony who is dazed from being thrown back. "You'll only get in the way." 

We circle one another, eyes never once breaking.

It's obvious now. Why that gaze looked so unfamiliar.

This was the Winter Soldier before he met me.

I thought about it too late, however. "Oh, fu--"

He throws a powerful kick that would've easily broken my bones if I didn't evade it earlier. I swipe my blade, angleing myself in a way where he would be forced to deflect the blade.

I wasn't intending on hitting him. I only wanted to regain some control to figure out what to do next. 

The longer I played the defensive the more likely I would lose.

"Come on Bucky!" I shout, pissed off. He dodges my blade, swiping under, uppercutting my wrist, and wrenching it high. I cried out, the blade evaporating in an instant as the two of us are locked together. 

"You idiot, do you really want me to knock your lights out?" Out of breath and heaving precious oxygen with each moment that passes, I knew time was against me. 

He shows no sign of recognition, no sign of changing. Still bound in his grip, he grapples my wrist and swung me to the pillar, trapping me there. I quickly lifted my knee, hitting him in the stomach and head-butting him in the process.

Pain exploded on my forehead but I didn't care as it did its job.

He releases me, letting me fall forward to my knees unsteady as hell.

Blood is dripping from my brow, the cut I'd gotten earlier in the day is bleeding again. 

"This..." I pant. "Really sucks."

It's like fighting against an armored truck with nothing but arrows. 

"Blues, out of the way!" Tony is suddenly there, arriving like a knight in shining armor, minus the knight, and the armor, because he's as naked as any civilian right now without his suit.

A small scream slips out of my lips as he pulls me down, arms wrapping around my body, taking a hit from what looked to be a metal pipe.

The Winter Soldier had ripped it off the wall and chucked it at me. 

I feel it, rather than see it as it slams against Tony's back from the resounding grunt that slips out of him and the way his shoulder trembles in obvious pain. 

"Shit!" Scrambling off position, I pull him off, of me, quickly checking to see if my brother was okay.

He groaned, eyes screwed shut, teeth gritted. He's holding onto his back, spine crooked. 

"Goddamnit Tony!" My panic is obvious. The Winter Soldier is still advancing. He shows no sign of stopping. 

I weave a barrier, encasing us in, but before it's completed a figure jumps in between us, his leg kicking out powerfully and causing the Winter Soldier to stumble backward.

T'Challa. 

The Black Panther.

Shit.

I'm grateful he decided to arrive and all, but he's still going to kill him.

This day keeps getting better and better. 

"Alright Tin-Man--" I grab Tony, turning him over so he laid on my lap. "Why in the hell would you go and do that?"

His glasses are cracked at this point and he looked a little lost. Aggravated, I held onto this vest by the shoulders before slowly dragging him behind a pillar for cover and out of harm's way. 

"Call it guilty conscious?" He mumbled, shrugging decisively.

"Well, you're not forgiven." Placing my palm on his back, I felt around for nerves and bones, finding them misaligned. He broke something.

I forced my powers to bend to my will, letting them out to soak onto Tony's back. Anything to loosen the pain he felt. 

As my powers do their job in encouraging his body to heal, the clap back is equally as intense as waves of pain hit me hard. I already feel a throbbing headache and know it isn't going to take much before my body said sayonara and passes out. 

Tony visibly sighs in relief as his back is eased. I feel his emotions, telling me he was feeling much better.

When I'm satisfied I did the best I could, I gently lean him against a pillar and shifted on my foot to peer at both T'Challa and the Winter Soldier fighting each other with brutal strength. 

I try to analyze the situation, but my brain comes up empty. 

"I could try to pin him down but I don't know how long my powers will let me do that," I mumbled to myself, observing the fight. 

No.

Fighting with powers was out of the question.

The consequences will only be worse on me.

I had to think of something else.

But as the fighting goes on, with both the Black Panther and the Winter Soldier evenly matched, I fear there was nothing I could do. 

I bit back a tired, sarcastic sigh.

When will I ever catch a break?

This version of the Winter Soldier was unlike anything I'd ever seen. He was cold, brutal, and unforgiving. He didn't know me.

Yet.

He didn't know me yet, of course, he didn't.

Just like that, I knew what to do. 

"Don't you dare." Tony glares at me from his slouch position. He notices the change in my expression, the way I'm looking at the fight with determination. My brother doesn't want me to go head-on with the Winter Soldier and for good reason.

My plan could very well backfire.

Somehow I doubt it.

There's a nagging feeling at the back of my head that tells me I need to do this.

I need to show him who I am.

"Whoever you think he is, that's not him right now, if you go out there Blues, he'll pummel you like a pancake."

Was he joking?

I danced with death and lived. The Winter Soldier was an old enemy of mine.

I wasn't scared of him. I never will be.

"I happen to like pancakes." Smiling apologetically, I tip my imaginary head and slip away from him. "Sorry bro."

"You like cereal, there's a difference!" His shouts is defeaning as I escape, fueled by concern and anxiety. "Blues get back here!" 

They've taken the fight further down the Lobby, nearing the fire EXIT entrance.

T'Challa has the Winter Soldier on a chokehold, steadily loosing his grip against the former's metal arm. Even with the many bruises and aches, the Winter Soldier shows no sign of pain or discomfort.

There's just nothing. 

Throwing myself forward, I slip in between the two of them, maneuvering my foot so I could break them apart.

T'Challa bounces back at my attack while the Winter Soldier stumbles a couple of steps, giving us a wide berth.

"Do not stand in my way," The Prince of Wakanda warns, his eyes narrowing in fight. "I'll go through you to get to him."

He's not lying.

I feel his anger, his rage, his thirst for revenge against the one who killed his father. He's lost to it and can't see anything but that. 

My hand reaches out unconciously, the powers leaving me as I take his pain and soothe it. 

Even in the midst of battle, I feel the call to heal, to protect, to care.

T'Challa stumbles mid-step, unaware of what I've done to him only that he's surprise that he no longer feels so angry.

It must shock him. People usually are when they feel my powers for the first time.

"Tell me who triggered you," Making sure T'Challa remains where he is, I turn my back to him to face the Winter Soldier. 

He's already planning an escape, eyes darting back and forth, uncaring of the consequences.

"Tell me what happened, Soldat." I take one step forward and he shifts his gaze, sharpening at mine.

I don't expect him to respond, I just need him to listen to my voice, to let him remember who I am.  My Protector was still in there, somewhere, despite what happened for his training to kick in. 

He moves forward, intending to fight, his hand reaches out, and I block it, twisting my arm so he held my wrist instead. 

"I know you're in there Bucky," There was a falter in his step, a pause as the sound of his name comes between us. "I know that you know me. You know who I am."

The hold on my wrist trembled, that dark eyes going unfocused.

He shakes his head, once, twice. The furrowing of his brows straining. Whatever he's feeling, it can't be good. 

There wasn't any warning for his next move.

I feel my wrist tighten as he attempts to throw me over his back. I use the momentum to careen myself over his body, legs tightening by his shoulders, pulling myself upright so I'm sitting on top of him.

He grapples for me, trashing me off, but I easily duck and roll, landing gracefully on my feet. 

With each punch I deflect, with each kick I evade. As the fight goes on, something suddenly clicks. I'm playing on the fact that I know his patterns, that I know his style. 

The memories are coming back.

Slow but real.

We've done this dance before, all those years ago when HYDRA had both of us under control.

I start to relive all those moments in HYDRA's facility, going by the book with nothing but familiarity with the way he trained me.

I don't know when we started to fight on auto-pilot, when our moves of attack become so in sync, so connected, that it seemed like we were simply flowing.

To anyone watching us, it might seem that we were fighting for our lives but I knew better, we knew better. This was who we are, who I was.

The Winter Soldier and the Dark Witch.

Death that walks the earth.

Then I feel it. 

A spark of recognition, a hint of something that gives me hope he's starting to remember. He's starting to know who I am. 

Those dark eyes flash. My Protector coming forward, then it's gone as he shuts his eyes, groaning. 

With remembering comes pain--it's brutal, sharp and bitter. 

Sometimes it's better not to remember.

But we never had that luxury.

He launches himself at me, but I'm faster, weaving myself around him and wrapping my arms around his neck. I'm smaller than him but my determination is bigger. 

So even as he slams us against the pillar--thrown towards it more like, I hold on despite the aches and despite the pain. 

From my peripheral vision, T'Challa moves to help but my shout keeps him in place, shrill and raw. "Don't!"

His body is poised to ignore me once and for all, but the look on my face must have struck something inside him. Something that kept him from moving any closer.

I needed to do this. 

I'm the only one that can.

"Nepodvizhnny!"

Still!

My command for the Winter Soldier to do as I ask is not working. He doesn't listen. With my hold on the back of his neck and my powers lending me their hand, the trashing gets worse as sweat beaded my forehead.

I'm getting dizzy, my hold on him weakening. The black was now swirling around me, escaping out of every vein. I didn't have enough energy to beckon them away.

He's in there. I know he is.

But his mind is empty, his emotions are controlled, locked up behind a tight net. I try and I try to tear them out, to get him to focus, to stop the training but it's tiring, it's exhausting. 

Then my strength is broken as he throws both of us forward.

We land on the floor and I'm momentarily dazed from the whiplash. My hand reaches out to support myself but I should know better.

I've always known better.

A metal hand is suddenly on my throat, his knee in between mine. Those dark eyes stare at me, saying everything and nothing at the same time.

"S-Soldat..." I feel his fingers close around my neck, bringing me close to a choke.

I grab his shoulders, nails clawing, eyes watering. 

Black mist is intertwining us, growing larger, fluid-like, encasing us both in a barrier. I will not let anyone intervene. Just me and him.

Just me and you.

"You need to fight it, Soldat." My voice is hoarse. Several figures are standing before the barrier, pounding at it, their shouts muffled as their emotions ring with panic.

Tony and Natasha.

I won't be able to hold on for much longer.

The black is massive. Pooling out in thick heavy lengths that seem to go on forever and it's foreboding.

The Dark Witch is my title.

Until now I've never actually thought about it properly. Compare to my powers before, dark, had nothing to do with it.

But now I see.

I was living up to that name.

"Please remember..." My hands shift, going from his shoulders to his neck, slowly making my way up his cheek. "Remember, me."

Something leaked out of my nose. A strange metallic thick substance is oozing out. It smells like blood but thicker.

The liquid splatters on the tile floor and I realize it's black.

He'll never forgive himself if he wakes up and realize he's killed me. I don't want this to be the last thing he thinks of me. I don't want him to suffer anymore. I just want him to live the life he never did.

But my eyes are closing, my heart is thumping and my lungs are gasping. 

With closing lids, I raise a single finger at his right eye. 

He watches me, frozen in place and body tensed as his gaze melts and I see it, I see him, my Protector breaking through, anguished and in pain. 

"I will always..." I thumb the corner of his eye and wiped the solid tear that fell.  "...be there."

Our vow.

It's enough.

There was an earth shattering roar, enough to shake my bones and rattle my nerves. I slip into darkness, passing out at once as all energy leaves me and I sleep.

I only just had a taste of peace, but of course that's not how this works.

"--ake up!" 

Something slam against my chest, probably breaking a bone and I'm gasping awake, the air much too sharp for my lungs.

"Son of a bitch--" I bit back a groan and rolled to my side, unable to move. Every fiber of my being is telling me to do the opposite of moving and that's fine by me. 

"Riley? Riles?!" Natasha is by my side, one hand protecting her ribs, the other on my shoulder. She'd been the one to give me that rude awakening.

I blink and nod tiredly. "I-I'm okay..."

No. I wasn't. Everything in me was burning, when I try to get up, Tony stops me with one hand, his fingers shaking, his gaze everywhere else but me. 

I hastily wiped away the black blood from my nose and held in a sickly exhale.

"W-We need to stop him." I look for my Protector, hoping he was still somewhere nearby but he'd gone. Leaving behind nothing but trails of destruction from his wake. 

"Where--"

"He's already gone," T'Challa answers as he jumps down from the second floor, landing gracefully on his feet, before us. He'd been the one to chase after him. 

"You," His obsidian eyes flicker with unwashed anger in my direction. "That was very dangerous." 

"He could have killed you," Sharon adds, from somewhere behind us, looking like she was bewildered by how I risk my life like that. "That wasn't Bucky--"

"You're right it wasn't, it was the Winter Soldier." I agree, feeling choked up from the pain radiating around my neck. "Which is why I had to bring him back."

He didn't kill me.

That means I broke through.

"We need---" Hacking, I cringe at the soreness of my windpipe, feeling all kinds of torment. 

"Don't talk," My brother adominish, his tone curt and cold. I realize he's not looking at me still because he's aware of how close I'd been to dying. "Not until we put some ice on that."

I nodded and shut my eyes, calmly relaxing my head on Natasha's lap, too worn out to continue.

Before I even had the chance to catch my breath, guards are filing out, single lined and surrounding us, guns drawn. 

I ignore it all, and lay there, watching the chaos, feeling the panic, catching bits and pieces of information from the people that pass.

Steve and Sam disappeared.

A helicopter went down over the harbor. 

Hundred's injured.

Dozens dead.

I realize bitterly that the Avengers just took a turn for the worse.

Whoever did this, succeeded in tearing all of us apart. 

My hands clenched, bitterness crawling up my heart.

The chair beside us splinters to pieces, black and blue disintegrating the material without a single twitch of my limbs.

Someone yells at me to put my hands up, to surrender, but I place my forearm over my eyes instead, hoping it could stop the tears. 

When will this end?

When will I stop risking my life for things I cannot control?

I was already dying. Wasn't that enough?