Swan Song ✧ STEVE ROGERS [✓]

57 - Keeping a Low Profile

RAEVANNA SKIDDED TO A STOP THE MOMENT SHE GOT OUTSIDE, SURPRISED TO SEE STEVE DRAG-CARRYING AN UNCONSCIOUS BUCKY ACROSS THE TARMAC. Both of them were dripping wet, and Steve looked utterly exhausted as he brought his friend over to her.

"Steve, what the hell happened?" Raevanna asked him, looking at Bucky in worry. "Why is he unconscious?"

"It's a long story," Steve replied breathlessly. "Let's just find Sam and Blake and get him out of here."

Raevanna nodded, taking up Bucky's other side and helping Steve carry him away. Soon they found Sam and Blake, standing by an old, beat-up red pickup truck. Raevanna looked at them in surprise, wondering how they had gotten a vehicle so fast.

"Where'd this come from?" Raevanna asked.

"Oldie here got it," Sam said, jerking his thumb at Blake. "It's scary how many people she knows, she had someone get a car for us in minutes."

Blake shrugged. "When you've been around as long as I have, you meet a lot of people."

"Come on, let's just go," Steve said. "We don't have a lot of time."

The four of them got Bucky into the car, and with Steve as the driver, they left the bunker and drove off through the city. Sam and Bucky were in the truck with Steve, and Blake and Raevanna sat in the back in the truck bed.

"You really care about him, don't you?" Raevanna asked Blake after a moment, noticing that the older woman was looking at Bucky every few minutes.

Blake sighed, looking down. "Yeah, I do. He's been through a lot in his life, and through most of it he didn't have anyone who cared about him. So when I saw that he had rescued you and Steve, and that there was still some of his old self left inside, I decided to be a person who cared, even if I was the only one." She looked up at Raevanna and smiled. "You taught me that."

Raevanna smiled back. "I know you've never believed me, but even though you've killed a lot of people... you're still a good person, Blake. With a good heart."

Blake smiled even wider. "Thanks, Twinkle Toes." Raevanna rolled her eyes in amusement, and after a few moments Blake said, "You know, you never did tell me about what happened with you and Steve."

Raevanna sighed, her face falling as she swept her hair back with one hand. "How much did he tell you?"

"Not much," Blake said with a shrug. "Just that he caught you kissing a woman in the hallway." Raising an eyebrow, she added, "I didn't even know you were into women, to be honest."

"I'm a faery, I'm not partial to either." Raevanna looked down with another soft sigh. "But he didn't believe me when I told him what happened."

"So what did happen?" Blake asked.

Raevanna sighed. "The woman was... weird. She had powers that revolve around infatuation and persuasion, she made my willpower just... vanish. I wanted to do something, but I couldn't."

Blake looked down, her brow creased in thought. "Was her name Aphrodite?"

Raevanna nodded, frowning at her. "Yeah."

"Shit," Blake snapped, half-to herself. "I knew I should've taken care of her when I had the chance."

Raevanna blinked. "What, you know her?"

"Yeah," Blake said. "I know her... and her mother, Venus."

"Venus?" Raevanna repeated. "Like the-"

"Roman version of Aphrodite, yeah." Blake nodded. "It's not a coincidence both names are the same as the goddess of love, that's their power. The ability to cause a loss of willpower and resolve by a simple touch or look, and, when used on humans, the ability to control one's actions and behaviors."