Spectre | Bucky Barnes

Part 6

It was cloudy over head as I sat in my room, gazing out from my window. The air was misty. Jumping slightly, I thought I saw something, someone, move amongst the trees. I did. It was a man.

It seemed as though everyone had become aware of his presence too, FRIDAY's alarms where shaking the building. Red flashing lights lit up the corridors I bolted downstairs to find everyone alert in the living room, Tony had pulled up an interface, observing the intruder on the CCTV. Bucky darted to my side. 

"I think he's here for you." Wanda spoke. 

I looked horrified. "What? Me!" I felt the shock course through my body, and felt it stick on my face. I stood looking at the man on the screen before me.

"He was with you in that... hell hole." Bucky says, his voiced acidic. He grasped my hand in a bid to comfort me.

"What?"

"We think, Ruskin may have enhanced him too. But he was assigned to care for you, when you were being held captive." Steve says calmly.

"When did you find this out? Why are you only telling me now?"

"We needed to be sure?"

"We think, as I said, Ruskin may have enhanced him." Steve says again. "How do you think he got here so fast?"

I just stood there, unable to process the information being fed to me.

"His name is Bennett. Does that sound familiar at all?" I stood my brow furrowed, shaking my head.

"No." I whispered. I had no recollection of this man.

"We ran some scans and we, Tony, believes you both have some sort of connection with or too each other. I don't quite know how to explain it at this time. But that's what it is. An unexplainable connection." Bruce says, coming to stand in front of me. Bucky gripped onto me tighter.

I spoke. I tried to be calm. "I've never met him. I do not know him." I shake my head as strange images scatter my vision. I drop to the ground, my head in my hands.

"He does know you Anna." Wanda leaned down beside, Bucky practically growled when she placed her hands to my temple, she showed me, helped me open up my mind. Images of the strange man outside flooded my psyche. He had tended to my wounds, the ones Ruskin had inflicted on me. Ruskin had forced his hands, to inject me, he got tortured for not obeying. He helped ease my pain, he injected me with something and I felt light headed and sleepy.

"I'm going out there." Bucky said, anger building within him. He almost ripped the door off its hinges as he strode out of the room, Steve and Tony behind him. 

"Bucky. STOP!" I yelled to get his attention. "Please. It's dangerous."

"I just want to protect you." He mumbled as he proceeded to suit up.

I found them outside, the stranger, Bennett had been apprehended. Bucky had him by the scruff of the neck, his metal arm  knelt on the floor, his arms raised in surrender. When he saw me, his face lit up. 

"I'm not here to hurt her." He whimpered under Bucky's gaze. 

"It's okay Anna, I promise. You do believe me, don't you?" He spoke directly to me. "I would never hurt you. I needed to know you were safe."

For some reason I believed him. To this day I'm still not sure why. There was just something about him. Something made me trust his word. Bucky wasn't having any of it. He pulled Bennett to his feet. Steve and Tony weren't sure either. They brought him inside and contained him, in a cell. 

I wanted to see him, speak with him. Bucky wasn't happy about it. But he couldn't stop me. Seeing me go in that room angered him. He didn't like the fact that Tony said we had a connection of sorts. Jealousy propelled Bucky away and to the training room where he butchered every punch bag Tony had before heading to his own bedroom. He stayed there all night and bolted the door. I tried to knock but he wouldn't answer. 

Wanda stayed with me. "I won't be far away." She pecked my cheek, squeezed my hand, and backed away slowly, smiling. She was gone.

He was tall. Dark hair smoothed out on the top of his head. He looked wonderful. He wore casual clothes, where they had once been clean, they now sported rips and tears. Blood and dirt marks created patches on the creased fabrics. A silver ring on his left thumb glisten in the starlight that shone through the window as I slowly paced towards him. His eyes glistened as he stared at me. I nudged myself towards him, I wasn't scared, just intrigued.

"Anna." He spoke my name, it rolled off his tongue. "These people they need to keep you safe. You're in danger. Ruskin, he's still out there. He'll come for you."

"I know." I spoke. It was so soft I barely heard the words leave my mouth as I looked at the ground. I couldn't bring myself to properly look at him. I gulped in a mouthful of air, and held my breath, I bit the bullet. We looked at each other continuously for a few minutes, not saying a word, just assessing one another.

I felt self consciousness as his eyes washed over me, taking me in. A tingling sensation went up my back. I looked away then. He took a step back, and gasped. I looked up, he looked puzzled. I tried to relax, feeling self conscious right now obviously wasn't a good idea, I was going hazy. I looked like I was a shimmering, imaginative ghostly figure, standing in front of a tall handsome, strange, yet familiar man. 

I managed to regain control.

He apologised awkwardly, mainly about Ruskin and his treatment of me. I had nothing much to say back, what could I say. He was amazed at my abilities, and thought they were wildly wonderful, yet he still showed distast and disgust at the way I received them. He told me he couldn't remember Ruskin ever experimenting on him but he accepted that he had because he felt different.

Bennett was a good person I could tell, and he didn't deserve to be locked up in this cell. He said all he wanted was to protect me, that Ruskin was after me, that I was in danger. Now we all were. We needed to prepare ourselves. His revelations made me uneasy.

It took a couple of days for Bucky to get his head out of his arse. I understood how he felt, we had only just started to become friends, more than friends. I didn't know what we were, but there was something between us. He saw Bennett as a threat.
I assured him that he wasn't.
He had finally allowed me into his room. It's strange but I'd never been in there before. I will never forget that day. The day we gave ourselves to one another. It will forever be etched on my memory.

I visited Bennett over the coming days trying to piece together as many memories as I could. I grew to trust him more. He felt like a brother to me. I was certain he felt different though, I could see it in his eyes, and the way they would linger on me. Tony eventually allowed him some reprieve but the compromise was that he would be cuffed, the cuffs dampened his abilities and allowed Tony to track his every move.

Bucky continued to help me practice my abilities, and fighting, he took pleasure in helping me shoot, saying Sam had taught me wrong. When he was around I seemed to focus more, and have a lot more control, especially over my emotions. It was like he was the magic key to my control. Then one night he broke it to me. We were alone, or so I thought, Bennett had walked by the porch doors at precisely the wrong moment.

Standing under the stars, Bucky told me he loved me, and gave me the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen. It was heart shaped, and in it nestled a perfect diamond. It really was perfect.

Bennett tried to leave that night, and Tony actually let him go. He told me later on it was so he could keep tabs on him, incase Ruskin resurfaced, he wanted to check he wasn't really working with him. Bucky knew he had been watching. I loved Bucky too, I truly did, we had a connection and understanding, we were both children of HYDRA, but he also held a piece of my heart.

I never took his necklace off. It was so precious to me. It was a connection I had too him, and it meant a lot. I held on to it, fingers locked around the shiny metal, as I left.