Marvel: Short stories

The Harbinger - Part 2 - Bucky x Reader

Bucky walked into the clearing, the air around him suddenly growing cold enough that he could see his breath, the atmosphere becoming oppressive and heavy, as his chest tightened and as his limbs became weak.

"Guys, she's here somewhere, I just can't see her." Bucky said into the comms, as the rest of the team watched from a safe distance, doing everything they could to protect themselves from (Y/n)'s powers.

Since their last meeting with the Harbinger, Tony and Bruce had tried to come up with some kind of device to prevent her disruptive psionic blast; but as the full extent of her true abilities was unknown, it had proved a near impossibility for the two men to create anything that might completely protect the team, so somehow, Fury had persuaded Strange to accompany the others to the unusual meeting, in hopes that his powers, along with Wanda's, could be used as some kind of protective shield if needed.

Once the Avengers, and the rest of the building had recovered from their forced sleep, which had been a result of (Y/n)'s last stay at SHIELD, it had been discovered that the Harbinger had been busy bringing down countless HYDRA safe houses, her activities spanning from the States, to Europe, and even north Africa, seeming to prove that she was just as determined to bring down HYDRA and the Red Room, as she had told Bucky and Natasha; and somehow, through all that, Fury and Hill had been able to arrange a meeting with the feared assassin, to discuss friendly terms.

"Are you gonna be ok Buck? Do you want me to come out?" Natasha asked, as she looked up at Steve, his eyes watching his best friends every move.

"No, she said she only wanted to talk to me. I don't want anyone else getting hurt if this all goes pear shaped, we still don't know everything that she is capable of." Bucky replied, his hand brushing inadvertently over the concealed gun that was strapped to his leg.

(Y/n) had insisted on meeting in the middle of a dense forest, deep in the heart of Poland, a place that was all to familiar to the former Winter Soldier, as the two assassins would once hone their deadly craft amongst the ancient trees.

Bucky took a sharp intake of air as the grass under his feet became shrouded in a dense mist, watching, wide eyed, as it slowly crept up the surrounding trees settling like a heavy blanket over the forest. The mist parted as a figure dressed from head to toe in black stepped into the clearing, a small eerie smile gracing her beautiful face, as she walked over to the man that used to be her partner; Bucky could feel his emotions begin to overwhelm him as she moved closer, the memories of their times together flooding his mind as he found that he was unable to move, to run, to hide; the super soldier realising that she had him.

He looked at the woman in front of him, her visage was seared into his brain; she had been the last thing he could remember seeing, the last thing he thought of as he had been frozen in Wakanda, and she had been the first thing he thought of when he woke. He could remember the fear in her eyes as the two had been tortured by HYDRA, the fear as their memories taken from them; but the fear in her eyes was not for herself, but a fear that she was going to lose him, a fear that he would forget her.

Leading up to this meeting, Bucky had tried to remember as much as he could about her while they were at HYDRA together; he and Steve would sit together at night in hushed private conversations where he would relate to him what little he could cobble together from his lost and mixed memories; she had been hard to break, HYDRA had tortured her and he had been able to do nothing but watch as her body was returned nightly to her cell. It wasn't until they had threatened him that she had finally capitulated to their will, becoming the mindless killing machine that she never wanted to be, a dark creature that could rip a body limb from limb with a mere thought.

Now here she was, and all he could do was wait and hope that the meeting went well.

"Ahhhh, the Winter Soldier!" The harbinger hummed, slowly circling Bucky.

"I see you are here alone, but please don't think that this little show of compliance with my demands has fooled me, I can feel the presence of the rest of your team, and another........" (Y/n) told Bucky, as she closed her eyes, seemingly trying to pick up on who else was present.

"Ah, the Master of the mystic arts himself, Doctor Stephen Strange. Are you really hoping that he and the witch can help you if I decide that I am not happy?" (Y/n) asked, as she pulled the hood from her head, staring into Bucky's blue eyes.

"I am a little disappointed that Fury would still think that I am so easy to control, and I am also disappointed in the fact that you still brought a gun to our friendly little meeting." (Y/n) told him, as she moved up to him, her chest now pressed against his, as she rubbed her hand on the gun.

"You know...... if I wanted to, I could kill you and there is nothing that the Avengers, Strange, or SHIELD could do; but as we are here to discuss terms, so that all of us can play nicely for the same team, I don't think that would be the right thing to do." (Y/n) told Bucky, as she cupped his face in her hands.

"For so long I thought you were a traitor, then I hated you because you had got away and you left me alone with those creatures; but then I realise that you deserved to be free, that they had taken everything from you, and it was wrong of me to want you back in that seventh circle of hell. Then I decided that I was the only one that could get me free, I didn't have a man wrapped in a flag to rescue me, so I made my move, those fools had no idea how powerful they had made me, the true extent of what they had created." (Y/n) said, as she backed away from him.

"Now their creation has become their greatest nightmare, and I will continue to do what I do until every last agent, every last cell, every last safe house is brought down; they will create no more monsters like you and I, they will take no more children and torture them as they did with Natalie and the other girls in the Red Room. The Harbinger, is no longer their tool, no longer anyone's tool, not even SHIELDS; sooner or later you will learn to trust me again, Soldier, sooner or later, Fury will see that I am not a threat to you, the Avengers or this world; but until, then I will work alone." She told him, as a portal appeared next to her.

"Come with me now." Bucky called out, reaching for her arm, holding (Y/n) fast as she stepped towards the gateway.

"No, your team does not trust me yet, but they will, they will." She told him with a smile, a beautiful, real smile that he had never seen before.

"Until we meet again my handsome soldier." (Y/n) said, kissing Bucky on the cheek before she stepped into the portal, the opening closing instantly behind her.

"Well?" Tony asked, as Bucky walked back to the team.

"She will work with us when we trust her." Bucky said, looking over at Natasha.

"Then we will just have to learn to trust her." Natasha told him, walking over and placing her hand on his arm.

As the team made their way back to the Quinjet, Bucky knew that he would do whatever it took to make her safe and bring her back to him.