Violet | Bucky Barnes

Two | Assemble

Sam held Delilah's limp body carefully in his arms as he climbed the steps to a huge jet currently obscured behind a clump of forest. Gently he placed her on a solid bed in the corner of the jet, strapping her in tightly. It was for her own safety as well as theirs. Nat had reluctantly put cuffs on Delilah once she had injected her with a solution to send her to sleep. She noticed the horrific scars emblazoned on her thin wrists, releasing the horrors this woman was put through, they reminded Natasha of her own past.

Sam kept sneaking occasional glances over his shoulder at the young woman, making sure she hadn't yet woken. Delilah's brows were furrowed, the muscles around her jaw tight as if she was having a bad dream. The rest of her body lax. Sam's face held a mixture of emotions. Sadness. Anger. Responsibility. He suddenly felt he had found a new purpose, a sense of meaning. He would help this girl. Nat looked on at Sam, she hadn't meant to be here, Bucky had bailed, had other commitments he had said, but she was glad she had helped bring Delilah in. Nat echoed Sam's unsaid thoughts, the ones that were written all over his face in that moment, she would take responsibility for Delilah too.

Sam Wilson had looked over the files on Delilah Lovett previously, he had discovered them in the base she had fled from. Her trail had run cold, but she had been messy, they found her easily enough. Sam knew her story as well as he could. Most of the base had been torn apart and burnt down, one charred steel box remained under the rubble. A young girl taken from her family. They tortured her mother and sister in front of her. The files went into great detail of the horrors she had witnessed. It was disturbing, Sam had to force himself to read all of it. Delilah could do nothing but watch, she couldn't save her mother and sister.

✧

It wouldn't take Sam long to fly back into American territory. Everyone else should be assembled at the hidden base by now, he thought as he checked his wrist watch.

Sam had been with Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier, for a while now, both navigating life after the blip, crusading round Brooklyn together, before Bucky went off the grid for a few days. After hearing of an issue that needed to be rectified, Sam had resorted to calling Natasha for assistance, she was reluctant but upon hearing the story of Delilah, it brought back her own memories of the past, but she finally agreed to help, she needed to redeem herself. She would honour Clint's memory by doing this one good thing before finally making a life for herself.

Natasha had lost Clint to Thanos, and in their search for the soul stone, he had sacrificed himself for his close friend and for his family. Natasha could not stop him, it should have been her.

In turn Nat managed to track down Bruce and Wanda to Sam's cause.

Wanda had been in hiding, she longed to find herself and had been trying to live a normal life, albeit alone. Bruce had been travelling, keeping himself out of the way. Nat had found him in Shanghai living amongst the locals. They too had been reluctant, they had disbanded for a reason. They both trusted Nat and after much discussion agreed to come on board.

The base the team had acquired had not been used. It was a defunct facility still in the stages of being built. It conveniently housed some artifacts from the past, a vast array of files and some useful technology. Natasha had found it, she knew Tony had a few places off the grid in case of emergencies and rehousing. There was ample enough space to house the five of them and keep Delilah safe. "Thank you, Tony." She whispered to herself, a small smile tugged at her lips, when she finally found the safe house after much searching.

✧

Delilah woke to the sounds of muffled voices. Whatever they had done to her to make her sleep was messing with her senses, they kept coming in and out of focus, there was a buzzing in her ears and her thoughts foggy, a metallic taste sat on the tip of her tongue. She kept her eyes tightly shut for fear she might vomit.