Ascendancy

Chapter 11

         Snow falls around a dark figure wearing a surprisingly light coat for the weather. The white flurries seem to run from his path. Nature seems weighed down by his very existence.

        A Russian farm house looms in the distance. The man walks toward it slowly, his gait awkward and uneven. His brown, greasy locks slap his face; they look like they are trying to grab his humanity. But his eyes remain stuck in a glaze.

        Two other forms appear behind him. But they make no sound, like apparitions. One is a petite women, with bangs skimming her forehead and eyes wide in anticipation. The other is a man, who is the same as the one heading towards the farmhouse. But while one is dazed, the others eyes are brimming with unspoken despair. Bucky quakes. Ella waits.

        The ghosts fly over the snow. It skims their ankles without a touch. Despite the hologram around them, their eyes are glued to the man meandering towards the barn. Meandering, because he seems confused. Yet, he knows his mission.

         Giggling bites them. Nips at their ears. It stabs Ella and Bucky to the heart. They know what this means. The man drags open the barn door, unsealing his fate, unpeeling it through this neat wooden box.

        Therein sits his souls death. A small, giggling girl. Her course blond hair messily frames her face. Kittens crawl around her lap, and she gleefully sits petting them. Bucky is frozen. Ella gasps.

        The man enters the barn, which has a small fire flittering over the walls. His shadow creeps along as he goes stumbling towards the girl.

        "No," Bucky whispers, watching his younger self pull a gun out from inside his new jacket. Ella's eyes sweep from Bucky to the Winter Soldier. She is caught in the scene of this creepy and horrifying play.

        The little child is completely consumed in her innocence. A gun cocks, contrasting the warm atmosphere around her. Winter Soldiers become kaleidoscope, as his shadow is multiplied throughout the room. The girl looks up. Her scream slashes the air.

        The Soldier steps forward, into the light. His leather jacket and metal arm seem too put-together for his shaggy hair and glazed eyes. Despite the cold, sweat fills his pores. Winter looks sick.

        Arm of flesh meets the metal of gun. Its pointed straight at the girl. She backs away, fear consuming her gaze. "Mama!" The child screeches.

        Suddenly, the man lowers his gun. He shakes his head, eyes clearing. The Winter Soldier just stops. Stops. He leaves.

        Moves on.

        One shake of his head, and a minute of simple staring between the child and him, and he leaves. Gone with the snow.

        Ella looks relieved, but perplexed. Bucky can't blink. Eyes are still glued to the scene.

        There used to be a bang. There used to be a sobbing; from a mother to her child. The girl of Абрам Попов, a Hydra commander who just that morning had gone against very strict commands, used to be lying on that floor as a message. The girl on the list of Bucky's most haunting assassinations, used to melt into the stiff hay. The child with a red hole in her mind: Роза.

        Now, Poзa sits on the floor, watching the assassin leave. The rose finally breaks the spell with a scream. One last, final scream.

///

        I feel sick. Unsettled. Morally infirm.

        Like rounds and rounds of chemo, I try to eradicate the cancer in his brain. The tumor that has enfolded our lives. I stick him into the room T'Challa set up for his procedure. Make him watch his different murders be mutated into a false finale. Over and over.