Eminent Silence

by Tristan Carey

  'Don't worry about it, no harm done.' She finally opened her door. 'I'll see you around.' She hurried inside, closing the door behind her and leaning against it, releasing a breath. She reached up for her neck, it wasn't tender or bruised, but the cold metal fingers had left a different kind of impression on her.

  She shook her head of the memory and moved to have a shower.

  Bucky stood looking at her door for a moment, before he continued onto the common area. Steve was there talking to T'Challa, they both looked at him as he entered, worried looks on their faces.

  'What is it?' he asked.

  'The results came back from the exam,' Steve answered, grimacing. Bucky didn't need to ask what they were, he had known it would be inconclusive.

  'We will continue to work, we will figure it out.' T'Challa nodded to Steve before turning and leaving.

  'Breakfast?'

  Bucky nodded and Steve set to work in the kitchen while Bucky leant against the bench. He couldn't get his mind off the scar on Paddy's neck.

  'Hey, what's Paddy's deal?' He asked finally.

  Steve nearly dropped the pan he was holding, juggling it slightly. He put it back down on the stove top. 'What do you mean? Paddy?'

  Bucky raised his eyebrows, surprised by Steve's reaction, it was unexpected to say the least. 'Yeah, what's her story?'

  Steve turned to face Bucky with his arms folded across his chest, trying to appear nonchalant. 'Story? She's got no story.'

  Even without a lot of his memories, Bucky could still tell when Steve was lying, and right now was probably the worst acting he had ever seen.

  'Really?'

  'Now Bucky,' came Wanda's voice, as she seemed to float into the room like she always did. It was just the way she walked, she seemed to float everywhere. 'Vielka's story is her own to tell, nobody else's,' she said looking pointedly at Steve, who pursed his lips together looking slightly guilty. 'Just like your own. It is no one else's story to tell.' Bucky furrowed his brows at the woman. 'Besides, none of us know anyway. Well, maybe T'Challa, but she has proven her worth and loyalty more than enough and I trust her with my life, plus she never complains about my cooking.' So that was her real name, Vielka. Even the name seemed to have a fierceness to it.

  Wanda smiled after offering her wisdom, before stealing some of the bacon Steve had cooked and moving to the lounge area to watch tv.

  Bucky looked back at Steve, raising his eyebrows again. Steve shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant and returned to cooking. Bucky narrowed his eyes at Steve's back. Something about the Australian put Steve on edge, and Bucky wanted to know what it was.

  A few weeks had past, and still Vielka did her best to avoid Bucky wherever possible. It didn't go unnoticed.

  Quite often, T'Challa would find his favourite lady warrior practicing in the virtual sparring room. And these days she seemed far more accepting to spar with him. For months after her arrival to the facility she refused to train with him, even after being assigned to accompany the Black Panther, yet now she happily accepted.

  On this particular day, she seemed exceptionally fierce, her swords slicing through the air with such ferocity he thought she may actually penetrate his vibranium suit, again.

  She was distracted, it seemed, as he spotted an opening and took it, lunging forward beneath her strike and collecting her about the mid section, before his claws poised over her face which she strained to avoid contact.

  'You fight with a great deal of anger, but that clouds your mind, creating openings to your enemies.'

  She huffed in annoyance as he released her. She ran a finger along her cheek bone where one of his metal claws had only just caught her olive skin, wiping away a sliver of blood.

  'We all have bad days,' she replied, sheathing her swords.

  'Perhaps, but you seem to be having a lot of them lately,' T'Challa said, removing his helmet to look at the tall and stoic woman. She scowled and turned to walk away, but not before an alarm sounded in the depths of the facility.

  Rogers face flashed on the screen above the training area. 'Guys, we've got trouble.'

  'Who is it?'

  'Hard to say, looks like it might be some of the remnants of Hydra.'

  T'Challa glanced at Vielka, he saw the glint of pleasure in her eyes that he always saw when they were called to battle. She glanced back to him, nodding. With that she ran from the training room, her sleek, black ponytail trailing behind her like a black ribbon.

  Bucky ran through the corridors beside Steve. T'Challa had looked into the original designs of his old Winter Soldier uniform, but had made some improvements to it. He was now less restricted by his clothing and felt far lighter as he sprinted easily to keep up with Steve.

  As they rounded the corner, he saw Vielka appear out of a doorway ahead of them. She was dressed in her black jumpsuit again, slipping her two swords into small slots at the back of it with a resounding 'click' as she ran.

  Steve and Bucky sped up to catch up to her, which Bucky found curious, as they were enhanced and she seemed just as fast, if not faster. He recalled the fight at Leipzig, where she had managed to keep with them, at one stage even seeming to catch up to them.

  'Corporal,' Steve said, as they drew closer to her. She turned her head slightly, glancing at them both. 'Captain.' Her eyes hardened when she saw Bucky, but she continued running without another word.

  She ran to the end of the corridor and burst through the door at the end, skidding to a stop as they were outside.

  Bucky shielded his eyes for a moment, it was the first time he had been outside since she dragged him out of the forest. When his eyes adjusted he saw Steve and Vielka running towards an aircraft that was already beginning to power up. He quickly followed.

  As he jumped into the cargo bay, he looked around to see Vielka walking to the cockpit, where he could make out T'Challa's voice.

  'Where are we going?' Bucky asked, watching as the back of the aircraft closed.

  'South East Asia,' Romanoff said, appearing from the cockpit as she and Vielka swapped places. Steve looked from her to Vielka with a questioning gaze, but Romanoff gave the slightest of shakes of her auburn head. 'Crossbones has been stealing biological weapons, again.'

  Bucky saw Wanda balk at the mention of the name.

  'I thought he blew up?' Sam asked incredulously.

  'Guess not,' Steve replied, looking at Wanda apologetically.

  'What's the plan?' Bucky asked, looking around.

  'We won't know more until we are on the ground. The problem with not being the Avengers, is that we aren't privy to a lot of information anymore,' Romanoff replied as she walked back towards the cockpit.

  Within half an hour, they were landing on a rooftop in the middle of the night in China. As they waited for the back of the aircraft to open, Vielka appeared beside Bucky, he glanced sideways, but she paid him no attention, instead, placing an ear piece into her ear.

  She held up one to him, without looking at him as she slid a black armoured face piece over her eyes. The white eyeholes faded to black, giving her an ominous appearance.

  He took the ear piece from her fingers, brushing the tips of her fingers as he did so. The feeling when he touched them was nearly electrifying, but before he could thank her, she ran out the door the second it was wide enough for her to fit through.

  Steve handed him a rifle, its familiarity giving him a small comfort. 'Follow me,' he said, motioning out the door.

  They quickly ran across the roof top, although Bucky couldn't help but notice Vielka and T'Challa were looking over the side of the building, as Sam spread his robotic wings and leapt from the building.

  Steve kicked in the door of the fire escape and Romanoff quickly ran in, weapon raised. Steve followed her, quickly followed by Bucky and Wanda trailing up the rear.

  Static came through their ear pieces. 'Heads up, there's a lot of movement on the next floor down,' came Vielka's voice. He couldn't he
lp but notice it was a very cold voice, nothing like the girl he first spoke to in the forest.

  'You got any numbers for me, Paddy?'

  'A lot...' Steve sighed and shook his head, which Bucky found mildly amusing.

  They stacked up by the door to the next floor, Wanda waiting to pull it open on Steve's signal. He looked back at Bucky then Romanoff, both nodded once, then turned back to Wanda and nodded the go ahead. She concentrated on the door and soon a red mist ripped it open, Steve, Bucky and Romanoff storming into the room under a hail of gun fire.

  Bucky crouched low, moving to cover as Steve flung his shield towards some men who were charging straight for them.

  Another two appeared around the corner of the desk Bucky was using for cover, they fired at him but he rolled towards them, grabbing one's weapon with his titanium arm and bending the barrel. The man looked at him in alarm, before looking to kick at him. He blocked the kick and then jumped sideways as his offsider fired at him, rolling behind another line of desks for cover.

  He waited until the clip was empty before standing up and firing his own weapon. His shots were on target and both men fell to the ground. There was shattering glass and weapon fire as Sam soared past the windows, shooting at some of the hostiles charging at Steve, catching Bucky's attention.

  He was about to run forward and help Steve when he was tackled roughly from a door to his right. He was thrown roughly to the ground near the windows.

  He looked up, seeing a man with his face covered by a helmet, painted orange and black.

  'Well, well, well, look who we have here,' he said standing over Bucky. 'The Winter Soldier.' The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Bucky but he couldn't place it.

  'Bucky!' Steve shouted, moving to help but was stopped by yet more hostile men. Bucky got up slowly, eyeing the man, cursing himself for losing his weapon. Rookie error.

  The masked man motioned for Bucky to get up and fight, and as he stood with his back to the windows of the office building, there was static over their ear pieces.

  'Sarge, duck.'

  Taking heed of the warning, he quickly ducked, before there was a shattering of glass and a body smashed into the masked man, knocking him backwards. Glass shattered over Bucky, tinkling to the ground all around him.

  Bucky looked up as Vielka stood up, her head cocked to the side as the masked man groaned and moved to stand. She had an air of animalistic curiosity as she tilted her head from side to side, watching as Crossbones stood before her, as if she was measuring him up.

  T'Challa swung into the room, using his claws in the side of the building to swing himself inside, landing lightly beside Bucky as Vielka slowly unsheathed one of her swords. 'Be gentle with him, Banzai, I have questions I would ask of him.'

  Bucky raised his eyebrows at the name used by the Black Panther.

  'Banzai? That's you?' Crossbones asked, standing up and looking at her. He laughed loudly and menacingly at Vielka and Bucky couldn't help but feel a little agitated. 'I've heard rumours about you, you're supposed to be some failed female version of Captain America, aren't you?'

  That caught Bucky's attention, but he kept his focus on Crossbones.

  'Hardly, I'm way cooler than Captain America,' she replied, seemingly not even perturbed by Crossbones verbal jab at her, pulling out her swords and swinging them around easily.

  Crossbones laughed menacingly again. 'Let's see about that,' he pulled a gun from his side and started firing at all three of them, but T'Challa and Bucky ducked behind desks for cover, while to Bucky's astonishment, Vielka jumped into the air, sliding one of her swords into the ceiling and using it to swing herself forward. Using her body weight to remove it again, she landed in front of Crossbones. She slashed her swords at him but he leapt back, aiming for her again.

  She slid, dove and rolled out of the way quickly. Bucky quickly moved forward, tackling Crossbones and running him into the wall with his titanium arm. Crossbones threw him back off, utilising the hydraulics of his powered exo-skeleton, causing Bucky to land heavily on a desk.

  T'Challa leapt forward then, trying to pin Crossbones to the wall, to disengage his Exo-skeleton. Vielka tried to assist the Black Panther, but Crossbones kicked out at her, throwing her backwards and causing her to land heavily near Bucky. He hurried back to his feet, glancing sideways at her to check she was okay, as she began to push herself back up.

  Bucky saw T'Challa try to deploy a similar wrist device as what Vielka had used on him in the forest, but Crossbones caught his arm. 'I don't think so, your highness.' He wrestled with T'Challa until he was able to fling the Wakandan royal away from him. 'Sorry, I can't stay, I've got meetings, you know how it is.'

  He sprinted past Steve, dropping a grenade as he ran past, before jumping out one of the windows.

  'Everyone, down!' Steve shouted, putting his shield and body over the grenade like the lid to a saucepan, while Bucky dove and covered Vielka with his body, sending them both crashing to the floor.There was an explosion, and debris began flying everywhere and the building started to groan as part of the floor gave way, being blown out by the grenade beneath Captain America's shield as it had nowhere else to go but down.

  Vielka felt the floor beneath her vibrate violently and tensed her body as she felt it giving way, ready to brace herself for the fall and rough landing, but instead she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, taking all of her weight and lifting her with great force as they began to soar through the air. There was a rough landing but nothing near what she was expecting.

  She landed heavily, feeling the wind knocked out of her lungs, but other than being breathless, she was basically fine. She felt a heavy weight on one side of her, trying to push herself back up to check on the others.

  There was a groan as she did so, and she turned to find Sgt Barnes lying over her, again. He had grabbed her, shielded her from the blast and then pulled her to safety before the floor could collapse beneath them. She grimaced as she tried to force him up off of her, but he was easily 150kg of solid muscle as she had found in the forest of Romania.

  'Sarge,' she grunted, still trying to push herself up even with his weight on her. 'Come on, mate, we've got to check on the others.'

  She felt his weight begin to shift from her as he began to lift himself off of her back. 'You okay?' he asked, rolling himself off of her, breathing heavily.

  'Yeah, fine, come on, Sarge, move it,' she said getting to her feet, looking around for her swords and activating the homing device on her wrist. She heard the faint pings echo from the hilts of her swords.

  'Stop calling me Sarge,' he growled under his breath as he got to his feet. 'It's Bucky.' She ignored his muttering as she began looking for the others and her swords, he followed her as she carefully walked the edge of the now gaping hole in the floor.

  'We need to find the others and get out of here before Iron Man and the Defence secretary get to us. She peered down into the hole. It was a mess, building supports and debris were scattered several floors below. 'Cap! You alive down there?'

  'Barely...' his muffled voice replied, before she heard movement below the rubble. 'Found your swords!'

  Vielka looked around the floor they were on. 'Natasha? Wanda?'

  'That hurt,' came a voice from behind a piece of fallen concrete ceiling. Bucky, as he preferred, looked at the piece of ceiling before smashing his titanium arm through it, and easily lifting some debris. She hated to admit but she was glad he was close at hand, because without her swords, it was unlikely she would have broken through the debris like that.

  They peered down to see Wanda, using her powers to hold a metal beam off of her, Natasha, who was holding her side, and T'Challa, who had grabbed them both and pulled them to relative safety away from the collapsing floor but had been caught off guard by the collapsing ceiling.

  'Crap,' Vielka muttered, before hurriedly grabbing onto the metal beam and trying to lift it. She strained but made little difference, it
was too heavy for her.

  'Move,' Bucky said, hurriedly pushing her aside. He took hold of it with both of his hands, and Vielka watched as he began to take the weight, hearing his titanium arm's hydraulics working as he lifted it.

  She was almost awestruck, but quickly grabbed Natasha and Wanda, while T'Challa removed himself easily. Bucky let go of the beam when he was certain they were out of harm's way. The beam crashing to the floor loudly.

  'Guys!' came Sam's voice over their ear pieces. 'We've got to move!'

  'Cap!' Natasha shouted down the hole in the floor.