When I Leave [bucky barnes ≫ the avengers]

Four.

[First Person]

I stared at the unconscious assassin, her familiarity gleaming out at me like a satellite.

She reminded me of one of my best friends. But she had, of course, died- even if she had survived the mass of HYDRA agents, it had been almost seventy years and she was almost certainly six-feet under. And, to add onto that thought, she was always too patriotic to pull a 'Winter Soldier' even if she had, by some miraculous miracle, survived.

She was laying on a white, slightly raised bed, an oxygen mask covering her mouth and tubes sticking into her pale, slender arms. She looked almost peaceful amongst the medical equipment, but I knew she was far from it.

It had been almost two days since she had an allergic reaction to a serum that JARVIS had injected in her neck, and already the doctors had had to perform an emergency surgery to keep her major organs from shutting down. After we had found eye-contacts that were tracking her location and sending details to HYDRA's headquarters, we, the Avengers and Coulson's group of agents, were forced to evacuate Stark Tower and enter the HeliJet, making it close to impossible to be tracked by any malicious agencies.

I had been standing by the door for what felt like an hour, staring at the red-headed assassin, wrapped in the déjà-vu she radiated, when the heart monitor started to beep rapidly. She was going into cardiac arrest.

Not knowing what to do, I strode over to her and removed the mask that supplied her with oxygen, hoping that the doctors would come running into the room.

Knowing that we would need her alive to learn HYDRA's secrets, I began CPR, leaning every now and again towards her mouth to see if she was breathing.

On the fourth try, I leaned over again, smiling softly as I heard her quietly breathing. I raised my hands of her chest and turned around to replace the breathing mask, when I heard a voice.

[Young Blood]

Lights danced in the darkness, forcing me out of my unconscious state. An alien, pungent smell mingling with a familiar, musky smell, and something plush and soft lay beneath me, a thing equally as soft under my head. These were all sensations, the feel of warmth and the most unique feel of safety accompanied these. The senses were numbed as I realized I couldn't open my eyes, fear engulfing me in its terrifying grasp, panic setting in, erasing any sensation I had felt just moments ago.

I had to move. I had to open my eyes. I had to. But I couldn't.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't taste. I couldn't feel. My heart was beating faster.

Faster.

Faster.

And then, nothing. I could feel nothing. The lights had left, the pumping of my heart. Every sensation, gone.

The pounding started after what felt like an eternity. Something cool and rough slammed against my chest in an abnormal rhythm.

One, two, three. Pause. One, two, three. Pause. One, two, three. Pause, annoyed groan, and repeat, gaining speed until the pattern repeated itself four times.

On the fourth repetition, lights started to dance around my eyes and the loud thumping of my heart returned.

I tried desperately to open my eyes after that, and although difficult, somehow they complied.

Blurriness surrounded me, making it close to impossible to know exactly where I was. Perhaps I was in the HYDRA hospital? No, the walls were green there and here everything was a piercing, numbing white.