Balance

Chapter 1

“Ma’am, are you alright?”

Her head snapped up at the words. They came from a soldier in the cell in front of her, the man crouched down to be at her level and his brow creased with concern.

“Yeah, I am. Mostly.” She replied, running a hand over her ribs. Two broken, at the very least. “Now can someone tell me where we are?”

That seemed to throw them off. Why? She’d been perfectly polite, hadn’t she? Oh, maybe they had expected her to be in hysterics… Of course, most people in her situation would be, she was well aware of that, but she’d gone through this enough times. She wasn’t going to panic.

***

“Agent Lynx. PHOENIX Division of the Allied Forces, Dragon Squad.”

She pushed off the bars, ignoring the gasps of surprise from the men and approaching the door.

“You mean you’re really an Agent?”

“The elite PHOENIX Division? ‘That’ PHOENIX Division?”

***

“When I get my hands on that fucking little up-start I’ll wring his bloody neck until all that cockiness and brashness of his disappear.” He heard her mutter.

By her attitude and her cursing he’d already known that she was the fiery kind, but to hear that she was an Agent of the infamous PHOENIX Division? That did throw him for a loop.

***

‘Why is there an anti-magic ward in a muggle facility? Better yet, why is there an anti-magic ward anywhere at all?’

She tried to reach out to her magic again, desperate, the memories from the last time she’d been on a similar situation overwhelming her.

Suddenly, she wasn’t surrounded by muggle soldiers in an open cell; she was alone, in a small closed stone room. She was waiting for them to come and drag her in front of him…

‘Riddle...’

***

Noise erupted all around at what they were witnessing and he swore he saw red as he watched her back herself to the furthest reaches of her cell.

Her hands were tightly clenched into fists and her eyes narrowed in defiance, but Bucky could see the way her skin tightened around her eyes and her back pressed even harder against the iron bars. She was ready for a fight, but she was also scared.

Bucky was absolutely furious and his rage only grew as Lohmer opened her cell’s door and took a slow step inside, a nasty leer in his face and eyes full of lust.

The men protested and shouted all around, but their voices became no more than white sound in his head.

He didn’t think; just spoke.

Calling a man’s virility into question always worked.

Lohmer’s face turned an awful shade of red and then purple, rage written in every line of his body. But Bucky only had eyes for the startled expression in her green eyes.

Even when two other guards were called in to get him out of his cell and held him as Lohmer beat him within an inch of his life, even when she shouted and raged at them so they’d let him go, so they’d man up and at least give him a chance to defend himself, gripping the cell’s bars so hard her knuckles turned white, he didn’t regret it.

Because it had worked and she was safe for a little longer.

***

When Lohmer died on a freak accident, not even the other guards were especially upset about it. His cellmates’ faces told him everything he needed to know about who’d set it up.

Despite the tiredness after a full day working where the guys pulled most of the weight and the pain going through his whole body from the beating, he had a slight smile on his face as they brought them back to the cells.

A smile that slipped from his face as soon as they got back and saw her cell empty.

***

They dragged her from her cell whilst the guys were away and brought her to a big and cold stone room, full of instruments whose purpose she’d better not know.

She fought them with claws and teeth but without her magic to aid her, she wasn’t a rival against so many guards.

They might not know who they had in their hands, but they did know what she was and they were being careful.

Still, she took some pride on having taken out two of them before they managed to tie her down to the stretcher. And the punch to her stomach and bruises on her face were well worth it in her opinion.

“It’s an honour to be able to work on someone of your kind. I’d never had a chance before.” Simpered the scientist. She’d much later learn his name: Zola. “You should consider yourself lucky: you’re the first step to making a better world.”

It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before and she closed her eyes before the pain began, her mind drifting to the memory of Andy preparing tea and Teddy sleeping in her arms; the only time in her life when she’d believed there was a future for her beyond all the fighting.

***

A couple days later, it became obvious Bucky wouldn’t be able to keep working for much longer. He’d already pushed his body to the limit, the guards not taking kindly to ‘slackers’.

When he fell to the floor for the third time and was unable to get back up, the guards decided to encourage him by kicking him on the gut.

And when a heavily German-accented voice stopped them and ordered them to drag him off to the isolation ward, he didn’t feel any relief. But he wondered if he’d see her again.

***

She let out a soft laugh and he clung onto the sound.

It had been only two days since they had dragged her away from the open cells where he’d been held with the rest of the men, but they’d been the longest time of his life. They’d all wondered what had happened to her, or what was happening, and they’d missed her presence.

For even if dames didn’t belong there, she had. She was one of them, one of the souls trapped in the hands of HYDRA for fighting for freedom.

***

He felt like he was freezing, despite the fact that he was covered in sweat. Bucky was pretty sure he had a fever and his whole body hurt so much he wanted to cry out.

He gritted his teeth and bore the pain as much as he could, focusing on trying to keep his breathing even.

The pain spiked and he closed his eyes.

He opened them when she started to talk and focused on her voice like he was a drowning man and she was his lifeline.

In a way, that’s what she was.

But it took a long while before he realised what she was doing. That she was distracting him from the pain.

***

She was straining against her bindings, just shy of thrashing, the pain after her latest session with Zola overwhelming her. Her body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and her vibrant green eyes were tightly closed. The bruises on her skin stood out more than ever against the unnatural paleness.

He felt helpless. He wanted to help her, to hold her and comfort her, make her feel at least a little better, and yet he couldn’t do anything but watch her suffer.

“You’re thinking too hard.”

When she spoke, he saw her teeth were tinted red. She’d bitten her lip at some point.

“My best buddy would tell you that’s impossible. Me thinking, I mean.”

“Yeah? And what’s got you squeezing your brain so hard, then?”

***

“Must be real shocking to you, I know, but I didn’t end up here because I’m a woman and have no place in the frontlines. It was all a fucking rookie mistake. Literally. My squad had a newbie― been with us for the whole of two missions. Kid got it into his head he knew better when to retreat and when to fight and bit more than he could chew. Stupid me pushed him out of the way before he got shot down and I ended up wounded instead. Must’ve hit my head… Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a cell.”

He hadn’t intended to offend her, as he clearly had, but he understood where she came from when he thought about it. If anyone had doubted his own abilities he’d have felt insulted too.

So he did the only reasonable thing he could do and apologised.

He’d treated her like the dames he’d known back home, but she clearly wasn’t like them. None of those birds would’ve voluntarily put themselves in the middle of the war, much less on the front-lines.

She wasn’t like them and he’d try not to forget that.

***

“You’ve never gone dancing?” he asked in his most incredulous voice.

“Not for the sake of it, no. there was a ball once at my school that I was required to attend, but after the one dance ―and several times stepping on my dance partner’s feet― I hightailed it out of there. I just can’t dance.”

“Everyone can dance!”

“Not me.”

“Well, I’m a swell dancer. When we get out, I’ll take you dancing and prove you wrong.”

Because pretending that it wasn’t the end for them helped dull the ache in his chest a little and that was something he knew they both needed.

He knew nobody was coming, that they couldn’t afford to send anyone to free them, but he still hoped if only for her sake that someone would.

HPMCUHPMCUHPMCU

“Sergeant. Three-Two-Five-Five-Seven.” He kept repeating his mantra, trying to focus.

All he got in return was another hallucination.

“Bucky. Oh, God.”

How else could he explain seeing his best friend’s face over him in this hellhole? A best friend he’d left safely in Brooklyn. And right after Zola came in and then left again in a hurry? He was feverish, delirious and now clearly hallucinating.

Except for the fact that he felt the weight of his restrains fall away as the straps of the stretcher were unclasped.

“Is that…?

“It’s me. It’s Steve.”

“Steve?”

And Bucky was so tired of the pain that he decided to go along with this kindest of all hallucinations.

“Come on.” The blond muttered, pulling him off the stretcher and holding him upright. But that was wrong. What was? What-? Oh, yeah. His friend hadn’t the strength to do that.

“Steve…”

“I thought you were dead.” He breathed out, a touch of wonder in his voice.

Bucky looked at him, confused. Steve wasn’t just holding him upright, he was standing taller than him.

“I thought you were smaller.” He couldn’t help but say as he looked him over and wondered.

Gods, this hallucination may be kind, but it was also so strange…

He was still trying to figure things out when the sounds of gunshots reached them and his friend turned and dragged him ―actually dragged him! ― towards the other stretcher in the room, holding up most of Bucky’s weight.

It was when Steve left him leaning against a metal table to start unbuckling the straps holding a slowly-regaining-consciousness Lynx down that he began to realise this was more than his mind’s made up fever-dreams.

He took a couple of hesitant steps forward, testing his stability and letting out a small grunt when he bumped on the stretcher and almost fell.

“The guys out there said there might be a woman here.” Explained Steve. “Asked me to keep an eye out for her.”

“Lynx.” Breathed out Bucky, watching as she groaned and her eyes slowly became more focused.

“Barnes?” she whispered. “Who’s blondie?”

Bucky, despite the situation, chuckled.

“We’ve got to leave.” Butted in Steve as he helped him pull the dame off the stretcher. “Do you think you can walk, ma’am?”

“Yeah, I can.” She said.

But when she went to take a step to prove her words, her legs failed and she stumbled. Bucky caught her on reflex, forgetting his own protesting body, and latched onto the stretcher with an arm to hold them both up. It would’ve been embarrassing as hell to fall just after catching her.

“Sorry.” She muttered.

“It’s fine. Just take it easy.”

“I can carry you if you’d rather, ma’am.” Offered Steve, looking at them both with worry.

“No! I can walk.” She gritted out, pushing herself to straighten.

“Come on, then.”

Steve held onto his shoulder ―probably to make sure he caught him if he seemed about to fall― and marched them towards the door. A door neither he, nor Agent Lynx, had thought they’d ever get to cross alive.

“Who’s this?” she asked from Steve’s other side.

“Remember the punk of a best friend I told you about?” Bucky said, breath a bit heavy as they rushed through the corridors.

“Doesn’t look much like a short skinny runt to me.” she answered half sceptical and half amused.

And she was right in throwing his words back at him that way, because this Steve was nothing like the one he’d left back in Brooklyn, still getting into fight he had no chance to win and trying to enlist the Army despite the five times he’d been rejected already.

“Yeah.” Frowned Bucky. “Which brings me to another question… What happened to you?”

“I joined the Army.” Answered Steve finally letting go of his shoulder.

“I’m gonna need more than that.” He said, still confused as hell.

As the blonde took point and looked around the corner, Lynx was at his side in a second. She was trembling but she still reached out to steady him when he swayed and Bucky gave her a smile that was probably more of a grimace.

“Sounds like there’s a nice party going out there.” She whispered as the sound of an explosion reached them this time.

“Your definition of a party needs some work, doll.” He replied immediately.

She snorted.

Steve signalled it was clear and they followed him, listening to his explanation. How he finally joined the Army, hellish training, being chosen for Project Rebirth, human experimentation and his body becoming the peak of what a human’s could be. It was confusing as hell, but still made Bucky wish he could punch the punk he’d been for getting himself into this mess. Of course Steve would, stubborn ass that he was.

“Did it hurt?” he asked, stumbling after his friend with a quiet Lynx.

“A little.”

Which knowing Steve was an understatement.

“Is it permanent?”

“So far.” Answered the blond looking back at him.

“Muggles are incredible.”

If he hadn’t been so close to Lynx, he wouldn’t have been able to make out the words she whispered under her breath. As it was, he wasn’t sure he had heard her right. He’d never heard the term ‘muggles’ before. What did it mean? Was it weird British slang to refer to Americans or something?

But he didn’t have much of a chance to wonder as they reached the railing over the main open room of the base ―where the Germans had had them working tirelessly― and they saw it was going up in flames.

An explosion nearly below them had them backing up, Bucky shielding himself and Lynx from the bright flares of the fires.

He guided her to the stairs following Steve ―and hoping he knew where the hell they were going― and made sure she stepped up right before him, both of them holding onto the railings.

But halfway up the stairs, Lynx gasped loudly and stumbled, her legs failing her. Without wasting any time, Bucky held her and pushed to get them both to the top.

“Lynx? Lynx, what is it?” he panted, worried as her body leant more against him.

HPMCUHPMCUHPMCU

All the way from the cell to the main room of the base, she tried her hardest to access her magic despite knowing it was futile. She was hoping they’d get over the edge of the wards at some point and so kept proving her magic.

But when her magic retreated even further towards her core, she gasped and stumbled, her knees hitting the iron steps of the stair.

Barnes was the only reason she straightened, the only reason she even reached the top of the stairs. And she felt so helpless as her body became weaker the further her magic got from her grasp.

She knew what was happening as soon as they saw them, standing together on another of those platforms that hung from the ceiling, on the other side of the room.

The short plump scientist, Zola, and a much taller man dressed in a uniform, clearly the higher up of this place. She tried to focus on the second to avoid the memories associated with the first, and she was sure Bucky was focusing on Steve for the same reason.

They were spotted soon enough too.

She didn’t pay much attention to the words exchanged between Bucky’s friend Steve and the HYDRA official, instead looking the German over and doing her best to try and find the stone.

With every step they’d taken closer towards them, she’d felt her magic slip further away. The stone must be in their possession. If only she could get rid of it…

A ward stone wasn’t easily concealed. They were bulky things, proportional to the ward they were holding. Just from the distance there was from the cells to the isolation ward she knew this one couldn’t be small enough to hold on one person.

Her eyes slipped to the black leather box left near the lift. It was the only thing big enough there to hold a ward stone. But the scientist and the HYDRA higher-up were on the way.

She leaned tiredly on the railing, trying to formulate a plan. Next to her, Barnes was doing the same, trying to regain his breathing, but his eyes were focused on his best friend who was walking towards the man in the black uniform.

And then Steve punched him right on the face. She felt vindication for all of a second, until she spotted something strange.

The man’s face. The right half of it had… slipped? It was the best word she could use to explain it. It was out of place, and not bumping back to its correct position, letting a glaringly worrisome red be visible under his right eye.

Steve got a punch in return, his metal shield unnaturally bending under its force. Muggles weren’t that strong. Was the man a creature? No, a creature wouldn’t be in a good shape under an anti-magic ward.

When the blonde was kicked back, his gun slipping over the edge, she almost jumped onto the platform, but Barnes stopped her and a second later the platform was splitting in two, returning Steve to them but bringing the other guy farther from them.

She cursed lowly.

The platform had been her only path to the stone. Without it she’d have to go back down the stairs, cross the main room and walk up to the platform the lift stood on. Which without her magic and the room going up in flames wasn’t possible right now.

“No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!”

She focused on the conversation for the first time, having deemed the stone beyond her reach for now.

She kind of wished she hadn’t when the man took off his face like it was nothing but a mask ―and maybe it was? ―, revealing a strange red skull covered by the barest muscles needed to keep it together and functioning.

Only the fact that she’d seen more gruesome sights helped her keep everything in her stomach. Not that there was much: she’d had little more than bread and water since her capture.

“You don’t have one of those, do you?” asked Barnes to his friend, his face pale under the grime and his eyes glassy.

He got no answer as the German kept talking.

“You are deluded, Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind.” The red-skulled-german said, throwing his human face into the fire below and walking towards the elevator. “Unlike you, I embrace it proudly. Without fear!”

Her eyes narrowed as the man picked up the black leathery box and another metallic one and boarded the lift. He hadn’t even looked at her or Barnes, so he had no interest in them, only the scientist did.

“Then how come you’re running?” shot back Steve as the lift’s doors closed with the two men inside.

The smile on the red skull chilled her to the bone and her hands tightened on the railing.

Another explosion had them backing off again and looking around for anything resembling an exit.

“Come on, let’s go. Up.”

HPMCUHPMCUHPMCU

When he saw Steve’s great idea to get them out… Well he just went along with it because there didn’t seem to be another way.

“Let’s go. One at a time.” Hurried Steve.

Bucky immediately turned to help Lynx over the railing, but she stepped away.

“You first.” He insisted.

“No way, Barnes. You step up, I’ll follow you-”

“Lynx, I’m not going before you. And you’re the lightest of us three, it’s just logical you go first. I’ll be right behind you.”

She scowled fiercely at him, but his reasoning made perfect sense and he knew he’d won when she walked to the railing and moved over it with their help. Bucky held onto her arms for a second, making sure she had her balance and wasn’t going to fall.

“Okay, go slow, it’ll be easier if you walk sideways and don’t look down-”

“I’m not afraid of heights, Barnes.” Answered Lynx with a roll of her pretty green eyes.

Bucky watched her closely as she crossed the empty chasm over the metal piece that worked as their bridge. She was nimble, moving with light feet and confidence in her steps, as unbothered by the height as she said she’d be, and she reached the other end soon. She jumped over the railing and turned back to them, her face tight with worry but her body standing straighter than it had in the last few minutes.

“Okay, you go now, Bucky.” Steve said helping him over the railing.

He followed his own advice, trying not to look down. Which wasn’t easy as the explosions stole his attention every few seconds.

Then when he wasn’t even halfway yet, another explosion below shook the building. Their makeshift bridge shook and the end on Lynx’s side slipped a little. He managed to regain his balance, holding back the urge to crouch and grab the beam and not move.

He took a few more hurried steps forward then full out run, the beam falling away under his feet. With the impulse from a last desperate jump he managed to hold onto the other side’s railing and Lynx’s hands wrapped around his arms.

They both strained to pull him over the railing and onto the solid platform’s safety, but Bucky immediately turned around, his eyes wide and breathing heavy.

The beam was fully gone and there were no more makeshift bridges around. But there had to be a way, because Steve was still on his other side. Steve, his best friend. Steve, who’d been safe in Brooklyn. Steve, who’d come for him.

“Gotta be a rope or something!” he shouted at him.

“Just go! Get out of here!” replied Steve, his eyes serious and his face firm.

“No! Not without you!” he screamed back, bracing his arms on the metal railing.

A small hand settling on his forearm and gently squeezing made him turn for a second, his eyes clashing with green. He had no chance to even figure what he was expecting because she turned her head back to the way they’d come and shouted:

“You heard the Sergeant! You’d better help us figure something out, because neither of us is leaving you behind!”

That seemed to stump his friend and Bucky smirked a second when he saw him shake his head at the woman’s orders. And neither were fooling themselves that it was anything but.

As another explosion happened, closer still, they watched Steve bend the metal rails on his side so there was a bigger hole in the railing. Another show of this new inhuman strength he exhibited and a nice perk asides from the obvious body improvement, he guessed.

Then Steve back up to the farthest end of the platform, broke into a run and jumped over the flaring flames.

And landed on a roll next to them.

‘The fucking punk.’ He thought. ‘Making us worry… Typical of him.’