Belonging - A Bucky Love Story (Marvel/Avengers)

6

Natasha slowly looked back to meet Brenna's eyes. Her face was no longer angry, but shocked. "What?" She questioned in disbelief.

"I found him--or, well..he threw me at a wall," Brenna began to explain, quickly adding, "but I'm okay!"

"He didn't kill you," Natasha realized, then sighed as she began to pace slowly, "which means he is targetting specific people." She whipped back around toward Brenna and demanded, "did he say anything?"

"He told me to stay out of his way," Brenna reported. She then adverted her eyes as she recalled the man's gentle touch when helping her with her hand. "He actually helped me." Brenna held out her left hand to show Natasha her cut.

Again, Natasha sighed. She wore a look of contemplation on her face for a while, then made a decision. "Steve's gonna want to hear this," she muttered, "but no more leaving this house without supervision."

Brenna furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. "What? Why not?" She asked.

"Because," Natasha went on with a dominant tone. She poked the sun opal in Brenna's chest. "If he saw that, and if he does work for HYDRA," Natasha explained, "you've just made yourself a big target of interest."

• • •

The Winter Soldier sat in a chair, strapped down while a mechanic installed a new metal arm to his shoulder. But his mind was jelly. Staring into space, he thought of the girl he'd met the night before. He knew her name, having heard the news of the young Brenna Stark who'd basically come back from the dead. It was a hard name to miss in the city, even when not looking for it.

He recalled the way she looked at him with fear. Why was she afraid of me? He wondered, I wasn't gonna kill her. Next, he remembered her change of attitude when he took the shard of his old arm out of her hand. She had looked astonished. Why? Was he truly that terrifying? He didn't want people to fear him.

The Winter Soldier was torn from his thought by a familiar monotone voice. "Mission report," Pierce requested firmly.

Looking to meet his eyes the soldier blinked and hesitated. But his mind quickly fell to obedience again. "Failed attempt, loss of mechanic arm, subject escaped from the Avengers tower," he listed, pausing for a moment and looking past Pierce to the barred door behind him. "The girl.." He muttered.

"What girl?" Pierce questioned sternly. When the Winter Soldier didn't respond, he raised his voice and repeated, "what girl?"

The Winter Soldier flinched at the sudden shout, but clarified still, "Brenna Stark."

Pierce thought for a moment, wondering why this was important to the mission report. He squinted his eyes at the metal-armed man and asked, "what about Brenna Stark?"

"She tried to follow me," the Winter Soldier reported absent-mindedly.

Pierce sighed and shook his head. A small chuckle escaped his throat as he left the soldier's prison cell of a room. "..How unfortunate for her."

• May 29, 2014 •

"Alright, Brenna, have fun," Tony told his daughter, giving her a firm hug. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he added, then frowned to himself, "actually, don't do anything Pepper wouldn't do..that's probably better."

Brenna giggled as she let go of her father. "Yes, Sir," she replied teasingly. She'd convinced her father that she was going on a false-mission with Natasha as a step up in her training. It would be between three to seven days long, she'd told him. In reality, she was being taken somewhere hidden, safe from HYDRA and the Winter Soldier. Natasha was waiting in her car, sunglasses and a cool grin on her face.

As Tony watched Brenna slip into the black car, he shouted after her temptingly, "hey, when you get back, we can talk about getting you a driver's license, huh?"

Brenna grinned out that window. "Thank you, Daddy!" She called, blowing him a kiss with her hand, "love you!"

(Yes, she calls her father 'Daddy'. That's normal. Stop being weird in the comments. She OBVIOUSLY is not using the word sexually, so please stop sexualizing it.)

"I love you, too, Brenna," Tony told her. Then, he watched the black car zoom off.

Tony sighed in stress as Pepper came out to meet him. She put a hand on his shoulder and told him, "don't worry, she'll be alright."

"Oh I know," Tony assured with a smirk, "that girl can take me down in a fight, as long as I'm not wearing a suit." He stared out to where the car disappeared up the driveway. "I just have a bad feeling."

Pepper sighed and began to pulled Tony back inside. "You're used to always having her with you," she insisted, "it's only natural to be nervous about her leaving home."

Tony nodded and followed Pepper back into the tower. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

• • •

After a three hour long car ride, the two women arrived outside a small home in Washington DC. Natasha told Brenna to go right inside while she found a spot to hide the car. Brenna did as she was told, entering the home to find Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. They both stopped what they were doing and greeted her.

"Brenna, good to see you again," Sam spoke first. He spread his arms out to gesture to the space around them, "welcome to my home." He then went on to tease, "probably not what you're used to, but this is how the middle class lives."