The Black Winter

Chapter 19

Bucky's pov
Once more, Joan is secluding herself in the computer room. I understand where she is coming from, I just wish that she would trust me and let me help her. I could tell that something was off with her though, but it was none of my business.

We're all just hangout on the common room. Natasha, Wanda, and Rose were all baking different things. Rose was on cookies, Nat on brownies, and Wanda is working on a cake. Steve, Tony, Thor, and I were all playing a card game. Sam, Clint, and Peter are all watching tv, then the smoke alarm starts going off.

We all turn out attention to the three girls baking in the kitchen. Tony gets up from the game and starts to swat at the smoke with a towel. Steve and I are dying of laughter.

"Oh my gosh!" Tony says, starting to cough.

"Aren't women good at baking?" Thor asks.

"Not Nat," Clint laughs.

Natasha throws a spatula at Clint, hitting him in the forehead, and Wanda throws brownie batter in his face. This only makes Steve and I double in laughter.

"Remember when you tried to bake that bread Stevie?" I howl with laughter.

"It only came out that way because you forgot to set the timer!" Steve laughs.

Then out of no where, Joan bursts through the doors. In her hands is a gun. Her eyes scan the room. I hate that she always wears that mask.

"What are you doing Joan?" Tony asks still swatting the cloud of smoke.

"Joan, put the gun down," I tell her, standing up. Something was wrong, I could see it in her eyes.

"There were alarms going off," she says.

"Smoke alarm dumb ass. Your being paranoid," Tony says.

"They were flashing red," she says through the mask.

"Yeah, we have deaf people in the building, the lights let them know that something is on fire. Besides, if something was wrong then the lights would be flashing blue," Steve explains.

"Something's not right," she says to herself.

"Take off the mask Joan," I try telling her. I could also tell that it made Rose feel uneasy.

Then, Joan quickly points her gun down the hallway.

"Joan, come on," I try reasoning with her.

"Shut up," she commands.

"Oh for the love of-" Tony starts, but is quickly shut up by Joan.

"Shut. Up," she commands once more, this time more coldly.

She starts making her way to Tony's room. We all follow her, now thinking that something was wrong. She opens the door and checks the bathroom, the closet, every nick and corner of his room. Her grip on her gun, becoming tighter and tighter.
She opens the balcony door and checks out there. Looking over the balcony and above it.

"Ok, can you get out of my room now ya psychopath?" Tony says rudely.

Then, the gun falls from Joan's hand. I can see her knees give out as she catches herself on the wall, the other arm on her head.

Something's not right. Her eyes are closed shut. We all just stand there, unsure of what to do.

"Shut up,"she says through her teeth.

"Joan, no one said anything," I say, trying to get through to her.

She turns around and faces me. Her pupils growing and shrinking by the milliseconds. She goes to reach for me but quickly pulls back, dropping to her knees. This isn't good, something wrong.