"he looked at her
the way she needed to be looked at
like the whole world could crumble
and he wouldn't blink."
-atticus
In which a mercenary and a super soldier meet through extraordinary circumstances.
Marvel | Bucky Barnes
Cover by @blis...
Trigger warning: mentions of drugs, psychological manipulation, suggestions of torture and symptoms that may be similar to or remind you of a panic and/or anxiety attack.
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"Break my bones, and I'll forge them from steel. Drain my blood, and I'll fill myself with ichor. But if you destroy my mind, how will I return from that?"
NADINE
Nadine felt like she was being set on fire.
She didn't wake up. It was more like her eyes shot open and she'd been brought back to life. Her vision was blurred and she was sweating profusely, while her heart was punching her rib cage. It was only when she tried to touch her face did she notice her hands were cuffed and that she was strapped to what resembled a dental chair.
Oh god. Nadine was having difficulties putting the pieces together. She remembered bits of it. The anxiety induced by the zip-line. The glint of the guns when they got caught in light. Kaia's pain when she was shot. Dimitri, holding the sphere. She recalled her shooting it and being engulfed in orange, for a second thinking that she'd been transported to a fiery hell with how potent it was. But most of all, Nadine remembered Bucky, Kaia, and Selene. Their voices. Their pain. Her name being called out in heartbreak and desperation was seared into her mind even as it all blurred together.
Her breaths were erratic as she fidgeted in her seat. She'd been drugged with something and her body felt like it was being pushed to the brink, her mind racing but not being able to focus on anything in particular.
"Bad dream?"
The voice was like an echo. She analyze what she could recognize. Accent was American, and it was deep, baritone and raspy. As she tried to look up the lights blinded her, but immediately she was able to lock eyes on the person asking the question. Stocky build, tall, with cropped, grayish hair. He sat down on a chair beside her, using the backrest to place his arms as he leaned forward to look at her, and she took note of his wrinkles, thin nose, and light colored eyes. "You don't look too good."
He tried to brush her damp hair out of her face, but Nadine violently recoiled, her arms pulling the cuffs on her wrists incessantly.
"W-What did you do to me?" she questioned, her shallow breathing making it difficult to even form a sentence.
Despite her apparent distrust, he still smiled at her, like he was happy that she was responsive. "Don't worry. The adrenaline they gave you will wear off soon."
"Adre-" Nadine blinked hard in an attempt to stop the splitting headache she had. Her mind was moving a mile a minute, just like everything else. "Of course."
