' "Put her down, Bucky." It was Steve.
Staring up into Bucky's eyes that were now glued to the captain, Brenna saw the soft blue turn to steel. A low growl grumbled in his throat. He gently placed her back onto her feet, whipping a knife out of his...
Brenna gave Sam a big, innocent grin. "I might have, um, lost it?" She admitted, quickly adding, "I'll buy you another one, though."
Sam rolled his eyes, but still nodded, "fine."
In attemps of escaping the jacket conversation, Brenna turned and went back to the kitchen to finish her sandwich. By the time she was done, Steve was back in the living room with Natasha and Sam. They were ready to go.
Brenna approached Steve with an amused grin and laughed, "nice tights." Natasha couldn't hold back her own entertained smile. "Didn't I see that in a museum?"
Steve sighed, frowning slightly. "It's the original one I wore back in 1945," he explained, "..I'm hoping, if Bucky's there today, he might recognize it."
Brenna's smile faded as she felt the guilt radiate off of the captain's being. "Well, it's worth a shot," she told him. Then, looking down at her tattered clothes, she told Natasha, "let me change real quick, then we can go."
"What?" Natasha questioned in surprise, "you're not going anywhere."
Drawing her eyebrows in with seriousness, Brenna hesitated for a moment. She then went on to remind, "I just escaped a HYDRA prison, without alerting a single guard, and convinced the Winter Soldier to keep it secret." She smiled sideways and added with an assertive voice, "I'm coming with you."
Steve cocked his head a bit at her. "You..how did you.." He began in a weak voice, "what do you mean, 'convinced the Winter Soldier to keep it secret'?"
With a deep breath, Brenna told him in a careful tone, "I think he trusts me. At least..more than he trusts you, right now...I'm sorry."
There was a thick silence between the four. Sam and Natasha shared a look of concern for Steve. But after taking it in, the captain nodded. "Don't be sorry, this is good," he told her, trying to find the silver lining. His best friend was trying to kill him, but trusted this stranger? It didn't feel fair. "At least he trusts one of us."
"Yeah, if you don't mind me asking," Sam piped in, crossing his arms over his chest, "how did you get him to trust you?"
Brenna grinned a shy grin. "I may have, accidently, led him to believe that I belong to him?" She told them awkwardly. "It's a long story, and we're on a tight schedule," she waved her hands in the air and raced back to her room to change.
(Y'all have no idea how many "why DiD you SAy iT lIkE ThAT" comments I've had to delete from the above paragraph. I said it like that because that's what happened?? I mean, come on. Re-read the title of the book. :) )
In less than sixty seconds, Brenna was back. She didn't bother wearing a jacket this time, figuring it would just get in the way. Plus, she doubted that Sam would let her borrow another now.
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Natasha gave her a warning look, and was about to put her foot down. But Brenna spoke first. "I'm going," she stated, "with you, or without you."
With a sigh, Natasha decided not to bother saying 'no' again. "Well, you're not going without us," she assured, then fished a handgun out of her belt and handed it to the Stark daughter. "Come on."
Steve looked nervous when Brenna took the gun and tucked it into her own belt. "You don't need that," he told her with a frown, "you have your powers, right?" He really didn't want Brenna to have to use a gun.
Brenna scoffed and looked at him with pursed lips. "I wish," she stated, "but apparently, my plasma doesn't hurt people. It's kind of pointless, unless I use it as a shield."
Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" Before he could say anything else, Brenna proved her point. Charging up her hand, she pressed the yellow glow right to his chest. He winced, but nothing happened. It just felt warm. He shot her a curious look.
Brenna shrugged and promised, "I'll be careful." Then, the four rushed out of the house. It was time to stop HYDRA's plan.
• • •
Brenna was dropped onto one of the helicarrier by Falcon, while Natasha and Steve took the other two. Since she was still quite inexperienced in actual battle, she had to promise to stay with at least one of the other three. However, that became a problem when Sam had to fly out to protect Brenna from ships that were trying to shoot her down.
She ran down the runway dodging bullets, but still taking a few. One bullet went completely through her stomach, causing her to fall to the ground. But after a brief rest, she was back up again. A voice came through the earpiece she was given. "Alpha, lock." It was Steve. One helicarrier was re-chipped.
"Cap, get over here," Sam shouted, making Brenna wince at the volume, "Brenna's got our chip, but I had to take the sky."
Brenna rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed that she was still being babysat. But she liked knowing how much they cared. "I'm going in now, don't worry about me," she responded as she kicked down a thick metal door.
Inside, six men in all black were running her way, guns blazing. She held her hands up and pulsed engery out into a shield. At least fifty bullets were shot, all of them disintegrated. Brenna grinned in exhilaration and continued forward.
