Written in the Stars: Bucky Barnes

22. Agent Stark

After the events that led Tony to admit to being Iron Man and outing Stella as a Stark, she had decided to take Coulson up on his offer of joining S.H.I.E.L.D. She wanted to make a name for herself and use her powers for good, to make an actual difference. She was currently in Iran with another agent on their way to Odessa with a nuclear scientist who they were charged with protecting.

"So newbie, how'd you get into this line of work?"

"Agent Coulson recruited me."

"You're Tony Starks sister, aren't you? What made Fury set his eye's on you."

"Maybe you'll find out one day," the answer seemed enough to quell the other agent's suspicion for the time being. "What about you, how'd you get into this?"

"Maybe you'll find out one day," the other agent said with a small smirk playing at her lips. They rode in silence the rest of the way to the rendezvous point and once they arrived Stella noticed her partner tense up.

"Somethings wrong, it's too quiet."

They got out of the jet and Stella went on high alert waiting for any sign of trouble. Within seconds an explosion went off sending Stella and her partner in opposite directions effectively separating them. Stella's ears were ringing and she was trying her hardest to expel the dust from her mouth as she got back up. She spotted the scientist and her partner and made a run for them as a man did the same. She reached them just in time to watch the assassin toss them off the cliffside.

"No!" Stella screamed mustering her powers to have the air catch them in time to give them a softer landing. When they appeared to be okay she turned her attention to the man taking in his threatening stature. He wore a leather jacket with one sleeve missing showing a metal arm and had guns strapped to several holsters on him. His brunette hair was at his shoulder and his piercing blue eyes looked at her threateningly behind a mask of black grease paint. He quickly threw a punch which Stella dodged expertly her years of hand to hand Howard had made her do kicking in. He went to pull a pistol on her and she disarmed him easily melting the gun and dropping it causing the man to cock his head to the side questioningly.

"I don't want to hurt you, just leave," Stella pleaded. He didn't listen going in for another attack she stayed on the defensive hoping he would eventually tire himself out. When he showed no signs of stopping she went to throw a punch and he grabbed her arm yanking her close to him and kneeing her in the stomach before throwing her behind him. He pulled another gun out and aimed it at the scientist and agent below. Stella heard a gunshot ring out and he turned back towards her as she stood back up. They continued to fight Stella using her powers where she could to block him. He'd throw a punch, she'd bring the earth up in front of them blocking him from hitting her. Having not used her powers in this way she could feel her energy starting to dwindle and she knew she wouldn't last much longer if she didn't end this. She summoned fire into her palms and something in her made her hesitate when she caught his gaze. He took her hesitation and grabbed her by the throat raising her up and slamming her on the ground knocking the breath out of her. She went to raise her hand to try and use her powers to fling him off of her, he saw her movements and grabbed her wrist pinning it to the ground with his knee.

She used her other hand to grab at his wrists trying to rip his hands away from her throat. "Please, stop," she pleaded as a vignette danced at the edges of her vision.

"Soldat! Enough!" a voice commanded and she felt the man get ripped away from her.

Stella gasped for air turning onto her stomach trying to get back on her feet. Her throat hurt and her lungs screamed in protest as she took in as much air as she possibly could. She forced her body to stand and face the person who seemed to command the assassin. Stella brought her hand up slightly willing fire to form at her fingertips. She looked at the new possible threat she had brunette hair that reached her waist and stood at about the same height as Stella she couldn't have been older than twenty. Stella's dark blue eyes met her caramel-colored ones and an unspoken agreement seemed to have been made.

"Mission report?" The brunette demanded.

"Target eliminated," the man replied in a monotone voice that felt somehow familiar to Stella.

"Let's go then." With that, the brunette looked at Stella once more and nodded. Stella reciprocated and let the fire extinguish. The other two turned from her and she ran back over to the cliffside jumping off using her power to control her descent landing with a small thud next to her partner and their mission. Stella ignored the scientist and went straight to the other agent seeing blood pouring from her stomach and back the assassin had shot through her to kill the man.

"This is Agent Stark, we were ambushed we have an agent down," Stella said into her earpiece before giving her coordinates. "Natasha, this may hurt some, but it's better than dying of blood loss out here," she said before using the last of her energy reserves to cauterize the other woman's wounds. She passed out and woke back up in a sterile-looking room at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"You saved my life out there, twice."

"Yeah well, I kinda have a thing about letting people around me die."

"Thank you, and I guess now that I know why Fury wanted you I owe you a story."

Natasha regaled the story of her life to Stella all the way from when she was in the Red Room, to when she escaped after failing to assassinate Nick Fury. She even told Stella the story of how she destroyed the Red Room with her other partner Clint who Stella had yet to meet. Stella also shared her life story before they were called to de-brief.

Stella told them everything about their fight omitting the part where the girl stopped the other man. She told them a version where she was knocked  unconscious and the man fled. She couldn't exactly place why she had decided to try and protect the other girl except that she had a chance to kill Stella and choose to spare her life instead. And that damned man something about him felt so familiar to her but she couldn't shake it.

Natasha started to try and track the man down, but something in Stella told her he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be. She eventually brought Stella her research and she now had a name to call her attacker The Winter Soldier. She also had the pleasure of meeting Clint being told she would be working with him while Natasha was sent to keep an eye on Tony, which she was under strict orders not to reveal.

AN: New person enters?! Who is she, and what does this mean for The Winter Soldier? Why did she save Stella? Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it will be a while before all this will be revealed. That is unless people want me to go ahead and start on her book now instead of waiting. If I do though that one will be slow to update and shorter chapters as Written in the Stars and its sequels are my main focus currently. Another question because there is so much I have planned for Stella would we rather see one super long book or several shorter ones? Please let me know and don't forget to vote and comment!