Avengers/X-Men One Shots - The Blood/White Phoenix Saga

ONE-SHOT LIV: But We Still Did It (A What If? Scenario for CACW; Pt. 1)

A/N: Remember reading my fanfic The Blood Phoenix 8: A Captain America: Civil War Fanfiction? In case you don't, this is a twist on the scene in CW when the Avengers and Bucky Barnes fight at the airport against each other. In that scene, in my book, Adelaide leaves Bucky and Steve to fight alongside Team Cap, to cover them while they run to the jet to leave for Siberia to stop Helmut Zemo from 'waking-the-super-soldiers-up.' Of course, if you read the book, Adelaide and the other members of Team Cap are then captured by Secretary Ross and taken to the Raft Prison. During that time, she is tortured for information on where Steve and Bucky are going, and it is then that Iron Man gets her to tell him where they are. After that, she is rescued from the Raft Prison after the whole Siberia thing, taken to Wakanda, where she ends up losing a leg and an arm, and then cryofreeze, and then - so on and so on.

Before I get into that whole thing, this is a bit of an AU for that particular scene, posing the question: What if Adelaide didn't stay behind at the airport, but rather went to Siberia with Bucky and Steve? What kind of situation would that pose for Adelaide essentially returning to the hell where she was practically brought back to life and turned into a monster? How would it affect her and Bucky's behaviour? How would she end up losing her leg and arm if she wasn't ever tortured by Ross? How would the fight turn out, three versus one? Just a few of the questions that arose to mind once I started thinking of writing a few AU one-shots just based on this particular scene and the ones that follow it until the end of the film CACW.

There it is! Read on to find out! (p.s. I think I might end up liking this AU more than my OG version of what happens to Adelaide in Civil War)

Set during Blood Phoenix 8

Bucky Barnes/Adelaide Lehnsherr

I ran behind some packing containers, looking across at Steve, breathing deeply as we looked at the war zone before and behind us. Adelaide ran up next to me, and felt for my metal hand, lacing her fingers through. She looked up at me, and I forced a smile. I looked again at Steve. He was looking at me and Adelaide.

'We gotta go,' I said. 'That guy's probably in Siberia by now.'

'We gotta draw out the flyers,' Steve said. 'I'll take Vision, the two of you get to the jet.' Over the earpieces, Sam yelled.

'No! All three of you need to get to the jet! The rest of us aren't getting out of here.' I heard Clint's voice next.

'As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.'

'This isn't the real fight, Steve!' Sam's voice echoed again.

'Alright, Sam. What's the play?' Steve asked.

'We need a diversion, something big,' Adelaide said.

'I got something kind of big,' Scott spoke next. 'But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half... don't come back for me.'

'He's gonna tear himself in half?' I asked.

'You're sure about this, Scott?' Steve asked.

'I do it all the time,' Scott replied. 'I mean once, in a lab. And I passed out.' He began muttering a string of repetitive words and just then, out of nowhere, a Giant-Man popped out, grabbing onto Rhodey's suit leg. We all stood in shock.

'I guess that's the signal,' Adelaide said.

'Way to go, Tic-Tac!' Sam yelled. At this, the three of us: Adelaide, Steve and I began to run for the jet in Hanger Five. I saw Adelaide look back, watching her team fight. I grabbed her arm.

'We've gotta go, Adelaide!' She looked up at me.

'Yeah - I know.' She gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and taking my hand, we kept sprinting for the jet, not stopping for anything. After a while, I looked up to see the Maximoff girl holding up the falling control tower structure above with her red energy, but she was straining. We were closer now. We ran literally, like hell. Just then, as we were right under the structure, it crashed and all three of us slid under and kept running. But we halted to a dead stop, seeing the Black Widow in front of us.

'You're not going to stop,' she said calmly to Steve.

'You know I can't,' he replied.

'I'm gonna regret this.' She raised her Widow Bites and in an instant, we turned to see T'Challa, the Black Panther, being shocked by the Widow Bites, hopefully keeping him at bay. She turned to the three of us. 'Go.' We ran for the jet as she kept shocking him. We got into the jet fairly quickly, Adelaide strapping herself in next to me as Steve started up the jet. We began to rise in the air, shooting down the debris in our way from the fallen control tower so we could leave the garage. I looked out and saw Rhodey flying towards us.

Steve thrust the jet forward, and I slammed into the seat, grabbing Adelaide's hand. Very suddenly, out the side of the window, a beam from Vision's gem in his forehead hit Rhodey, sending him flying in a puff of black smoke trailing from his suit. I heard Adelaide gasp in horror as the whole scene unfolded in front of the two of us. But we were on our way to Siberia.

Right into the heart of the devil itself.

And there was no telling what we were going to find there.

Adelaide Lehnsherr's POV

God, I hoped Rhodey wasn't dead after taking that potentially fatal hit to his suit. I still grasped James' hand, worried sick about my sister, Sam, Clint, all the others who had helped us escape. I glanced over. James was sitting there, thoughtful. Then I heard him speak up, and the heaviness in his rough, scratchy voice was enough to break my own heavy heart.

'What's gonna happen to your friends?' he asked Steve. Steve glanced back, and for a while, there was silence.

'Whatever it is - I'll deal with it.' It seemed his own heart was just as heavy, and at the moment I couldn't find a damn thing to say to lighten the mood. I heard Bucky sigh.

'I don't know if we're worth all this to you, Steve.' Truth be told, I agreed with him. I didn't even know if I was worth it. To have Steve and the others protect me, care for me, even in spite of what I had done all those years ago when I was brainwashed... a monster for HYDRA and the Red Room. When I was the Winter Phoenix.

'Are we really worth this much?' He looked at me after I had said this. He turned back to the controls, saying nothing. I could hear his thoughts, how worried he was about his friends, that he was sad that I felt I was basically worthless, that I didn't believe in his love for me. He glanced back towards us.

'What you two did all those years... it wasn't you. You guys didn't have a choice.' James looked at Steve and a truly broken look entered his features.

'I know. But we still did it.'