VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[1]

The scorching desert sun beat down over the streets of Arizona State University as Elysia Sparks sat under the shade of an umbrella, the ice in her latte melting quickly in the heat. Florence and the Machine blared through the speakers of her earbuds as her fingertips flew over the keys of her laptop, putting the finishing touches on her final project before finally hitting the button to submit the assignment, a satisfied smile crossing the young woman's face as the word SUBMITTED now stared back at her from the computer screen.

Taking a sip from her drink before packing up her things, Elysia rose from the chair in the outdoor dining area of the campus cafe, the graduate student relishing in the freedom that came from having finally finished the semester, the endless possibilities of the summer ahead finally being allowed to enter her mind, pushing the stress of her finals far, far from her thoughts. The smile grew as she took in a deep breath, sighing in relief as she made the trek back to her apartment, eager to get back before she melted in the scorching Arizona heat.

Jogging up the stairs to her apartment complex, Elysia pulled out her keys from her backpack to buzz herself into the building. As soon as she was inside, she welcomed the air conditioning enveloping her body, making her way up the stairs to the second floor, which she called home.

As she reached apartment 214, Elysia turned her key in the door's lock, although to her surprise, the metal didn't click open, signaling that it had already been unlocked. The girl instantly froze, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion as she eyed the lock, a sense of electrical energy beginning to charge in her veins. She wasn't one to forget locking her door, no matter the circumstances.

Slowly opening the door, Elysia peered inside the unlocked apartment, preparing for the worst from an intruder when she took sight of a familiar figure lounging on the couch in her living room. Tony Stark sat on the couch with his feet propped up, a glass of water in hand as he aimlessly scrolled on his phone, much to Elysia's surprise. When he heard the door open, he looked up, an arrogant smile crossing his face as his eyes locked with Elysia's.

"Hey, Sparky," he mused. "I missed you."

Elysia sighed in disbelief, the electrical energy fading from her veins, and she set her backpack down on the floor near the door, crossing her arms over her chest. "What the hell, Tony?"

"I like what you've done with the place, it's nice." Tony mused, ignoring her words as he looked around the apartment. "Simple, elegant."

"How'd you get in?" she asked.

"I still have your spare key, don't forget." he said proudly, spinning the keyring around on his pointer finger and giving the young woman a cocky smile.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" she deadpanned, her glare still dead set on the older man.

"We need you to suit up," he said, rising to his feet and stepping closer to her.

"Sorry, Tony, I can't." she said, shrugging nonchalantly. "I've got school."

"Hmm, interesting." he mused, setting the glass of water down on the coffee table and picking up a stack of papers resting next to it. "Because according to Arizona State's academic calendar, and these handy transcripts F.R.I.D.A.Y. was able to get from the school's database, your last day of finals was..." he trailed off, pretending to glance down at the information in front of him. "...today, making you officially on summer vacation. So I repeat: we need you to suit up."

The pink haired woman sighed in defeat, peeking back into the hallway and ensuring no bystanders were within earshot before closing the apartment door behind her and locking it into place before turning back to Tony. "Who's we? You and Rhodey?"

"The Avengers," he explained.

"Hell no," she said adamantly, shaking her head.

"Oh, come on, it's important." he insisted, but she simply continued to shake her head, the electric feeling returning to her veins, and she began to shake her hands out in front of her, willing the feeling to go away.

"No, Tony." she pleaded. "Seriously, I can't do this."

"Elysia," she stopped short at the use of her first name, looking up to see Tony putting his hands on her shoulders to keep her from moving, his eyes staring into hers. "You know I wouldn't be asking if we had any other choice. It's important. We need you to suit up. Come sit."

Elysia finally gave up, sighing as she followed him back to the couch and took a seat next to him. As soon as both of them were sitting, Tony looked down at his watch, beginning to pull up holographic screen after holographic screen as they began to fill the space around them. Elysia studied the screens, first showing a video clip of a man in a black mask causing mass destruction on a ruined bridge before a blueprint detailing the layout of a building popped up on the next screen.

"What am I looking at?" she asked, leaning forward to get a closer look, her eyes narrowing as she attempted to read the fine lettering of the blueprint.

"This," Tony said, gesturing to the video clip, "is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Or Bucky, as old Stars and Stripes likes to call him. In the forties, during World War Two, before Captain America went under the ice, he lost his best friend Barnes in a mission, when he fell from a train and down the side of a mountain. Rogers thought that was the end of his buddy until about a year ago, when he resurfaced here with a gun, a metal arm, and no knowledge of his former life. Seems he lost his arm in the fall, was taken in by HYDRA, given a new and improved arm, and brainwashed before they put him in the ice just like Steve Rogers. He's a super soldier assassin, nicknamed the Winter Soldier."

"So what does this have to do with me?" Elysia asked, watching the video in astonishment as the Winter Soldier fought against Captain America on a highway spanning over the bridge, the cyborg assassin managing to keep up with, and even overtake, the patriotic super soldier's strength. "Clearly if Captain America can't bring him down, or even the invincible Iron Man, there's no way I can."

"Barnes is currently being held in a HYDRA compound until they can use him at an optimal point against us." Tony explained, gesturing to the blueprint. "They're trying to target the Avengers, but if we can slip in unnoticed and get our hands on him, we can try to reverse whatever's been done to his head. Get him on our side, if we're successful."

"And if you can't slip in unnoticed?" she asked nervously, her eyes falling back to the fight on the bridge.

"They've got a security grid powerful enough to rival our own." Tony said gravely. "If we trip that wire, they'll see us coming and hold us off while Barnes is relocated. If they notice us too early, he's gone. We're toast. We've spent too much time locating where he's being held to be sent back to square one."

She sighed, switching her focus once again to the blueprint. "So where do I come into all this? What makes me the missing piece of your puzzle that one of the Avengers couldn't already handle?"

"Barnes is under an electromagnetic field that we can't get through without HYDRA knowing it's us," he explained. "Wanda's magic, Vision's, they're dead giveaways, same as if any of us were to go charging in with our weapons. We need someone who can override the power and have it cleanly go out without raising too much suspicion before we can get in there. There's only one person I know who can override power like that, and I'm looking at her."

"What about Thor?" she suggested, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're telling me the god of thunder can't cause a power outage?"

"He can't if he's off world and we have no way of reaching him." he retorted. "But I know someone who used to help me and Rhodey who did just that, back in the day."

"Tony, it's been years since I've done any of that." Elysia said dismissively, waving a hand as if trying to dispel the holograms still floating in front of her, the electrical charge still firing her senses, leaving a sense of dread covering her like a blanket. "I don't think I can do this."

"At this point, you're our only hope," he pleaded. "You know I wouldn't be here unless it was absolutely necessary, I promised you that. And you know when we hid you here that you promised if we ever needed you, you'd come back, and I'm cashing in that favor. So suit up, Voltage. You're coming to the compound for the summer."