bulletproof

18

a/n *sorry for the short chapter :/*

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A sleek black jet descended from out of the sky, landing quietly on the gravel before opening up to expose the back of it. Two men walked out first, one with a shining metal arm, glinting in the evening sunlight, and another in a brown leather jacket with his blond hair combed cleanly back, hiding its natural shagginess. The former of the two men appeared nervous and shifty-eyed, glancing left and right like a wounded animal. His appearance, however, gave the impression that he was dangerous and wicked, contrasting to his innocent, haunted look on his face and in body gestures.

Slowly behind them emerged a man with a phone seemingly glued to his ear. He was talking in a hushed voice into the device as he walked out the jet and clicked a button on a key ring dangling from his fingertips in his loose hand, locking it up.

"Yeah, we've brought a...a wounded soldier," Sam muttered into his phone, unsure how to explain exactly what Barnes was. Inhuman? Ex-HYDRA agent? An ol' war buddy?

He shook his head, stealing glances at the former Winter Soldier, hunched over with his arms wrapped around him as Steve spoke softly to him, his face a picture of concern and a need to comfort him.

Sam sighed as Tony replied, his voice getting drowned out by loud work tools going at a piece of metal, "Look, we'll have a debriefing about this, but for the moment, Cap wants the guy to stay with us in one of the spare rooms. I'm just passing on a message, talk to you later." He ended the call, annoyed at Steve keeping the rest of the team in the dark about the newest 'addition' to the household.

He looked up at one of the large windows to the living room and spotted the figure of Y/N, staring right back down at him. He raised a hand up in greeting and she placed hers against the glass in reply. He couldn't really make out her facial features but guessed that she was a little more like herself.

"Sam." He turned to his best friend's call, "Can you get everyone to meet me in the conference room? I'll see them in about ten minutes, give or take a few."

Sam nodded gravely and spun on his heels, striding towards the main HQ doors and pushing them open. He lifted his head up to the ceiling, unable to help himself as he ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y. to let everyone know about the meeting. It was a force of habit, trying to find where the AI's voice came from. She refused to tell him the specific location, but that didn't stop him from guessing exactly where it might be situated.

~~~

Y/N was binge-watching episodes of 'Sherlock' when she heard the jet land outside. She had leapt to her feet and darted towards the window, watching the aircraft open up and people walk out.

Her breath caught in her throat when she recognised the curled up figure walking beside Steve. The Soldat.

She slapped a hand over her mouth in shock, preventing a frightened scream to escape out of her.

No.

No, no, no.

She remembered being forced to train with him. Remembered staring at her skin afterwards, peppered from head to toe in scars and bruises. he just wanted life to go back to normal. Why was her past coming back to haunt her?

She lowered the hand from her mouth when she spotted Sam come out of the jet. If Sam was part of this secret mission, then it can't be too bad, right? Steve had a tendency to let his emotions cloud his judgement, but Sam was always quite level-headed.

She felt sick to her stomach and was about to turn away when Sam looked up to her and raised a hand, almost in a frozen wave. She pressed a hand on the glass, half in support, half in greeting,

Why? Why was this happening to her now? Why to her, too?

She forced a smile to dance on her lips to hide to painful turmoil going on inside her. Her heart was beating loud, warning her that she was teetering at the edge of a cliff of panic.

No. Y/N pushed herself away from the edge of the emotional cliff.

She wasn't going to let that significant part of her life come to revisit her. There had to be a valid reason as to why Steve and Sam had decided to bring the Soldat into their lives.

~~~

a/n*hey...I'm so sorry about the short chapter (especially after I was super sure I could make my chapters longer and I even said I would do it), I've been plagued by the dreaded 'Author's Block', but I promise (cross my heart, hope to die) that I'll make the next chapter longer (even longer than the usual chapters)

Anyways, happy holidays and I hope you have an excellent week!!!❤️*