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18

As soon as Bucky stepped out of the house that night, he'd committed himself to figuring out what the hell was going on.

He'd never thought about it before, but he'd never left the 'central area' of Westview. There never seemed to be anything going on out there, and y/n never seemed to express any interest in walking that far. It was odd. So, that was obviously Bucky's first plan.

Everything was eerily quiet, no lights on in the houses, no cars driving around, nothing. At first, Bucky suspected it was just because everyone was asleep, but that idea was quickly thrown out of the window when he finally caught sight of a person.

The super soldier sped up a little, his shoes echoing on the pavement as he hurried toward the woman. He didn't want to run toward her, but it did feel awkward just quickly walking toward her. He was shocked she hadn't noticed him yet. "Ma'am?" Bucky called out, eyebrows knitting together in curiosity. However, as the woman came more into view, Bucky realised something that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

She was in a loop.

A real woman in a loop. Almost like somebody was pressing the rewind button, going back a few seconds, pressing play, and then pressing the rewind button again. Over and over again.

The woman was supposed to be getting the groceries out of her car. She'd lean into the car, grab two grocery bags with both hands, stand up straight, and then that was when the loop hit. She'd lean back into her car, put the bags down, stand up, and loop again. Again and again and again.

Bucky took careful steps toward the woman, swallowing nervously. "Are you okay...?" He asked, concern riddled in his eyes as he set a hand on her shoulder.  The poor man was desperate not to believe what was happening right in front of him, but when he didn't get a response from the woman, he had no choice.

He took a sharp breath, standing up a little straighter as he watched her continue to loop. It was a real woman, just like Norm, just like Agnes, just like everybody else in the town. But because she wasn't important in y/n's world, she was stuck doing the same thing for hours on end. The poor woman couldn't even blink.

Bucky had to help them.

*****

The further Bucky walked, the worse it got. It went from people being stuck in loops, to people being completely frozen. It was like he'd walked into a photograph. Children on bicycles, frozen in the middle of the street. People washing windows, stuck on ladders. People taking their dogs for walks, driving their cars, having conversations, completely stuck. Not able to blink, not able to breathe, not able to do anything. All because of y/n.

Bucky felt sick to his stomach. He thought he knew y/n like the back of his hand, yet he never expected her to do something like this. He couldn't understand why she'd do such a thing. Why she'd control thousands of people, but only give a few people real roles. Why she was trying so hard to live a perfect sitcom life. And why she was lying to him.

All Bucky knew was that he needed to get help.

There was obviously something going on with 'outsiders', because the townsfolk had talked about Geraldine not belonging, and then Wanda turned up completely out of the blue. It was far too odd or coincidental to simply be a new side character in their sitcom world. There was something going on outside of Westview. And Bucky had to figure out what it was.