Earth's Mightiest Problem (Avengers Fanfiction)

Chapter 14 Nightmare

Steve's POV
I laid in bed as I thought about the things that happened today, after the jog with Amanda. We cleaned up the last bit of Hydra around the city, but the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. By the time we came back from hunting down Hydra Amanda had cooled off and was back to her usual self. And now here I am in bed drifting off to sleep. 'I need to think of a plan of what we will do if Hydra strikes again...' I thought as my eyes began to close. 'Maybe tomorrow...' And with that I fell asleep.

Steve's Dream
I was on the train, that stupid train. I knew exactly what was going to happen but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop it from happening, no matter what I was stuck doing the same thing that I did last time. "Bucky! Grab my hand!" I yell, tears in my eyes. Just lean a little further Steve! You can save him this time. The pole started to fall. "BUCKY NO!" It was too late. There he goes, I failed him again. I cried into my shoulder. 'I have no one left.' I thought.

The scene changed. Bucky was getting injected with a serum, my serum. Well something close to it. After that he tried to escape. I wanted to help him but I was stuck in place, unable to move, forced to watch as he got caught.

"Wipe him." One agent said to another

They hooked him up to a machine in a chair, and I crumbled when I heard him scream in pain. 'Oh Bucky, what have they done to you? They're making you a monster!' When he got out of the machine his eyes were dead. He didn't care for anyone, he was there but he wasn't. He was a machine. Forced to do whatever Hydra asked.

The commander there spoke. "Time to meet your new partner." He smiled and gestured to a women just entering the room. It was Amanda.

"Amanda no!" I scream. "Please not you too. Listen to me! Someone!" Amanda had that same dead look in her eyes.

"Your new target, is him." A hydra agent said pointing to me. I was all of the sudden visible and I could move. "Do you know him?" The agent asked.

"No." They both said in unison, pulling out their guns.

"Bucky no! Amanda! It's me, Steve! Don't do this, this isn't you this is Hydra! You have to fight it." I walked up to them and grabbed Bucky's shoulders, shaking him. "Wake up Buck!" Bucky punched me in the face and kicked me down. I turned to the Hydra agent. "How could you do this!" I spat.

"Oh, I didn't do this Cap. This was you. I wasn't the one who dropped Bucky from a train, I brought him back to life. And Amanda, you let this happen to her. You couldn't save her, we captured her but you weren't good enough to save her. You need to take better care of your friends Captain." He smiled. "Take aim."

Bucky and Amanda raised their guns. Amanda's eyes focused and I had a glimmer of hope that she might be ok. "How could you do this Cap? Look at me, I'm a monster. Why couldn't you save me? Now I'm stuck working for them." A tear came in to Amanda's eye "I don't want to kill people Steve. Help me."

Bucky started to speak. "Help me Steve. Why won't you help me? After all these years of torture the least you could do is help. What have I ever done to deserve this?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I started to shake. "Change them back RIGHT NOW!" I yelled at the agent but he just laughed. "This is all my fault..." I looked into Bucky and Amanda's eyes as they fired their guns at the same time. I heard the sound of the guns ringing in my ears. The bullet was about to connect with my chest. 'How could I let this happen?'

I woke up with a jolt. I was shaking and sweating, I felt around my chest for a bullet hole. Nothing. 'It was just a dream, it was just a dream. Amanda is here, safe. She's just in the next room over. And Bucky, Bucky... I just need to find him, at least he's away from Hydra. He started to remember me, he saved my life.' I thought of back on the train, when I let him fall. Then I thought of recently when he saved my life when I fell from the Helicarrier.  'When I was the one falling, he jumped after me... What kind of friend am I?' Tears started rolling down my cheeks.

Just then I heard Amanda scream in the next room. I bolted out of my room and into hers to see what was happening. She was laying in her bed trembling and mumbling under her breath. "No please no, don't kill him. Take me instead. Please. No, NO!"

I started to shake her awake. "Amanda, wake up." I whispered as gently as possible. "It's ok, Amanda. Wake up."

"He was just trying to save me, why couldn't I save him?" She continued to mumble in her sleep. "He wasn't supposed to be there, it was supposed to be me. It's all my fault. How could I let this happen."

I dared to raise my voice. "Amanda, wake up." I commanded.

She sat up quickly and took a sharp breath. There were tears in her eyes. 'Come to think of it there are tears in my eyes too.' She backed up to the wall and was panting.

"Amanda, it's ok." I reassured. I stretched out an arm but she shrunk away from it.

"He's dead." She managed between heavy breaths. Then she looked down. "And it's all my fault."

'She must be in some sort of daze right now, she thinks someone just died.' I tried to snap her out of it. "Amanda, nothing's your fault. It was just a..."

"Yes it was my fault." She snapped. "He did it for me... And now he's dead."

"You can't save everyone."

She looked at me. I stared into her eyes and saw sadness, anger, regret. "I could've saved him." She put extra emphasis on the word him.

"Amanda, it was just a dream. It's me Steve, remember? You're at the Tower. Thor called you here to find the tesseract."

"Thor..." Something clicked on her brain. "Steve.... Oh Steve, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" She relaxed

I was relieved she was back to normal. "No, no. I was already awake, that's how I heard you. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I was just... Wait, are you crying?" She was shocked.

'Oh crap!' I wiped my eyes. "Oh, yeah. It's nothing I was just... Bad dream." I stood up straighter. "So are you ok then? You will go back to sleep?"

"I'm fine. You ok?"

"Of course." I lied. Seeing her reminded me of my dream. 'There is no way I'm going back to sleep.' She started to stand up. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"I think I'm just going to be up for a little bit."

"You're not going back to sleep, are you?"

She sighed. "No, I can't. Whenever I close my eyes..."

'The memories come back.' I knew exactly how she felt. I can help her, she's probably one of the only people here that can really understand what I'm going through. "I know." I say. "I'm not going back to bed either, there is no way am going to risk nightmares by sleeping."

She looked at me with a knowing gaze. Our eyes met and I felt comforted. She sat on the edge of the bed and patted the section next to her. "Then let's just talk, I need to get my mind off of this."

I sat down beside her and we just talked. About anything really. We told stories, talked about the other Avengers, and just laughed. Amanda has this attitude, she can light up any mood, brighten any dark and dreary day. I love to just be around her. It was about four in the morning when she leaned on my shoulder and fell asleep, in the middle of telling me a funny story about someone she met. I was about to get up and go to bed, but I was so tired I couldn't get my legs to move. I somehow found myself falling backwards onto the bed. 'I'll get up in a minute, I'm just gonna rest right now...' I was out before I knew it.