Steve, Bucky, the Falcon, and a young 12 year old girl were trapped in some strange, abandoned school. It was eerily creepy, as the classrooms sat, abandoned; the desks spread across the room either tipped over, or still standing, but it definitely wasn't neat.
They had no idea how they had come to be here exactly, but all of them were in agreement on how creepy the building was.
"Okay..I have to admit, it's seriously creepy in here," Bucky muttered.
Steve chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder. "Scared, Buck?"
His friend glanced at him and shrugged. "Not scared, just a bit...I don't know, creeped out?"
"Well finding some way to get out of this mess shouldn't be that hard," Sam said from behind them. "I mean, it's a school! Why wouldn't there be any exits? Or entrances."
The 12 year old girl was quiet. She was stood between Bucky and Sam.
Everyone remained silent, but they soon found themselves walking into a classroom, which was an unforeseen trap.
The door clamped shut behind them and locked from the outside. It also seemed to be made of—strangely—vibranium.
Steve turned and slammed his fist into the door, quickly pulling it back and whimpering. "Ow.."
Bucky's expression turned to both astonishment and confusion as he ran his real hand along the door.
"This is vibranium.."
"No figure," Steve hissed.
"Great. So we're stuck in here?" Sam asked. He took a quick glance at the 12 year old, whose name was Giana. Her expression showed the fear she was feeling, and the nervousness.
"Apparently, unless someone comes and breaks us out," Steve muttered. He turned to Giana. "Are you okay?"
Bucky turned around to face her as well. He felt extreme sympathy for her, having to be faced with a frightening-if not traumatic—experience.
"Yea.." the girl stared down at her feet. She was clearly scared, as it was clearly noticed in her trembling voice.
Bucky knelt down to her level and enveloped her in a hug. "Hey, it'll be okay. We won't be stuck in here forever."
He pulled back, his metal arm gently gripping her small shoulder. He noticed her wipe a few tears from her eyes.
"Okay..."
Bucky stood back up, looking toward Sam and Steve with a look of sympathy on his face.
"We really have to get out of here," Steve muttered, being wary of his voice so the girl wouldn't hear. It would likely cause her to become even more frightened.
Suddenly, they were plunged into darkness as all of the lights seemed to shut off. They heard Giana whimper, likely not being a fan of the dark, especially when they could barely see anyone around them.
"Giana?" Sam asked. "You good?"
Giana swallowed. "I can't see you.."
Steve nodded. "It's okay." Both him and Bucky moved toward the girl's voice. Once they found her, Bucky lifted her up into his arms.
"I like your arm," Giana pointed toward Bucky's metal one.
"Thank you," He gave a small smirk.
All of a sudden everyone, except for the young girl, seems to feel a sudden burst of pain. It causes Bucky to drop her and stumble backwards, before dropping to his knees and losing consciousness. The same happened with the rest of them.
Giana screamed in panic, yelling out to them, but there was no response. A sudden burst of light was let into the room as the vibranium door creaked open. It revealed the 3 men unconscious on the floor. Giana ran over to each of them, trying to wake them. In the end she ended up staying beside Bucky, shaking and crying for the fear of having to possibly do this alone.
A small, yet intimidating-looking man entered. He walked over to the small girl, and she could see the creepy smile appear across his face as he looked down at her.
"Do not worry, little one. Everything will return to as it once was, in due time," the man's voice was slightly high-pitched. Yet, there was a dark tone to it. It sent a chill through her spine.
"Wh-what are you going to do to them?" She squeaked. "P-please dont h-hurt them.."
The man chuckled. "Now why would I do such a thing. Tell me, what is your name?"
"G-g-Giana.." she stuttered.
"Well, Giana—" the man stopped. Bucky was starting to stir.
"Bucky!" Giana gripped his real arm and shook him.
"Stop that, you fool!" The man kicked her, hard. It sent a wave of pain through her spine and caused her to fall backward.
Bucky blinked, his eyes drifting around the floor until they landed on the man standing above him.
"Who are you?" He growled.
The man rolled his eyes. "Soon to be the death of you, I suppose," He took a gun from his pocket and aimed it at him.
Giana jolted upright, shivering and her eyes wide.
The man turned the gun on Giana.
Bucky sat up, eyes drifting to meet Giana's. He then whipped his head back around to stare at the man. "Don't shoot her!"
Steve seemed to begin to stir as well, Bucky noticed, but the man seemed to grab a nearby object and threw it, hitting Steve in the head.
"Ow.." he muttered, then was rendered unconscious once again.
"Steve!"
He glanced back at the gun aimed at Giana, then got to his feet, ran in front of her, and put his metal hand in front of them.
The sound of the gun echoed around the room, but the bullet seemed to bounce off his metal arm, striking the man in the leg.
The man yelped in pain and fired another bullet. This time it bypassed the metal arm. Giana gasped and flinched away, but Bucky threw his arms around her, not even flinching when the bullet made contact with his back.
Giana blinked. She was visibly crying now when she opened her eyes.
Bucky grunted and winced as he pulled back. Giana could see, through the man standing behind them's pained gaze from having been struck in the leg by a bullet, that he was smiling.
Why was he smiling?
Giana looked at Bucky.
"...Bucky?"
The man looked at her. It looked like he was attempting to smile, but the pain radiating across his face seemed to deny it.
All of a sudden he fell forward, nearly crushing Giana, but she managed, despite her small size, to catch him.
She glanced over at the other two unconscious men. They didn't look like they'd wake up soon.
She felt Bucky shiver. His flesh hand gripped at the back of her shirt instinctively from the amount of pain.
Giana lifted her head to get a look at his back, which was soaked in blood.
She swallowed hard, her breath catching in her throat.
Bucky managed to push himself back up onto his knees to look at her. His eyes were dark with pain.
"I'm okay," he muttered, swaying slightly.
Giana felt tears begin to flow down her face. "But you're hurt-"
Bucky coughed and craned his neck to get a look at his back.
"I've had worse...trust me, you wouldn't want to know."
Giana got to her feet. Bucky grabbed her hand and pulled himself up, slinging an arm around the young girl's shoulders.
By now, the strange man had fled, but the vibranium door was still wide open.
Steve was still unconscious, but Sam had woken up already, spotting the two inching across the room.
"Now what happened?"
Bucky gave a weak shrug. "That crazy man shot me. How's Steve?" He glanced down at the unconscious and bruised man still laying on the ground.
"As unconscious as ever," Sam muttered. "You know, he's not gonna be happy that you allowed yourself to get shot."
Bucky gave Giana a soft smile. "It was for a good reason."
Sam just nodded, looking at Steve and then gripping his shoulder to shake him. "Hey man, on your left!"
It took a few seconds, but Steve jolted awake, coughing and sputtering. "Wha-"
Steve glanced around and spotted Sam. "Oh," he grumbled. "Hi."
"Hi," Sam responded, helping him to his feet.
"Are you okay?" Bucky asked, glancing worriedly at Steve.
The man rubbed his head. "I think I'll be fine. Few bruises," he spotted both of them and noticed the blood dripping from Bucky's back. He instantly rushed over. "What the hell happened?"
Bucky winced. "Got shot."
"Why would you let yourself-" Steve started, but seemed to quickly understand when Bucky stole a quick glance at Giana, who seemed to be struggling under Bucky's weight. He was leaning heavily on her, since he was struggling to keep himself up.
Steve noticed and slung Bucky's other arm around his shoulder, allowing Giana to let go. She looked toward them as they walked out of the door. "He'll be okay...right?"
Steve laughed. " 'Course he will. He's tough, and he's been through worse." He quickly frowned, remembering when Bucky had tried to kill him multiple times.
Bucky grinned and nudged Steve. "Hey, cheer up, pal."
Steve looked up and rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, jerk."
