Kingdom of Time

All those deaths haunted Bucky over the years, from regular people to those he’d known, Khione was just as wicked as the first day she’d crawled through his skin. Khione eventually expanded her legions, recruiting children. Literal children to be her dogs of war.

Bucky encountered many people during this era, something he hadn’t done in a long time. Khione was most comfortable when cloaked in shadow, so now, her stepping into the light was an unusual move. Most of the time, Kya had appeared to interact with all those “wretched Tau’ri”.  

Khione had him train children to become murderers. It made Bucky sick. These little girls deserved to be just that. They deserved to live their lives as happy little ballerinas without a care in the world, not count their days as cold-blooded killers.

Khione knew it made him uncomfortable and maybe, that’s why she did it. It reminded him too much of a little girl he used to know, with dark brown hair and golden eyes that contrasted his own. His favourite was little Natalia.

Her red hair suited her fiery attitude well, and in time, Khione trained her to be the best of the best. Bucky would love nothing more than to break free of Khione, to take these girls and get them out, but fate wouldn’t allow for something so bold as a miracle to shine through.

He’d lose Natalia eventually; she’d graduated onto even greater horrors. Nearly two decades pass before he sees her again, her attitude as unfiltered as the day they’d first met. She’d been assigned to protect a nuclear scientist in Iran when Khione had placed a target on her back.

Bucky watched helplessly as Khione fired at her car, sending it plummeting off a cliff. Natalia had survived and clung onto the scientist. Khione was infuriated as she drew her weapon and fired at Natalia, killing the scientist in the process. Bucky looked on as Khione led them away once more.

Everything changed when “The Avengers” came into the fold. They were a rag-tag team comprised of people from multiple backgrounds and surprisingly, two people Bucky knew. His little Natalia had made a name for herself among the ranks of SHIELD, and there at her side was Steve.

God, he hadn’t aged a day in 70 years either. He still looked as perfect as he had the last time Bucky saw him back in ’45. He’d heard rumours they’d found Captain America buried in the ice, but he’d never given himself the chance to believe it.

What would Steve think of him now? Would he be able to forgive such a monster?

Steve had made quite the name for himself in the present, but Bucky grew uneasy. He still thought Bucky was dead, didn’t he? What would it mean if they were to meet once more? He couldn’t bear to think about it any longer. Khione knew exactly what he’d been thinking, of course and seized the opportunity to pour salt into his bleeding heart.

What would your love think of you now, James?

What’re you talking about, you snake?

Now now, there’s no need for name-calling. I wonder if the man you love would still love you once he’s seen the monster you’ve become.

You- he starts, but he has no idea what he’s going to say. She’s unfortunately right. He’d loved and lost Steve a long time ago, now reduced to a mere shell inside his own body.

What would Steve think of him anyway? How could he love anyone who’d killed so many innocent people?

★

It didn’t take long for him to get answers. He’d been called upon once more only two years later, to dispatch another good man. Nick Fury. Bucky himself hadn’t heard of the man, but Khione knew all about him, he was the director of SHIELD, the counter organisation to their own.

Khione held Fury in such a high regard of contempt, Bucky knew that Fury had to have been doing something right. Apparently, Fury had been digging a little too much into Khione’s latest project. Insight, as she called it was going to revolutionise the world by eliminating those who’d oppose Hydra and the Goa’uld’s rule over the planet.

It definitely had potential, Bucky thought, potential to kill millions of innocent people.

Khione had been informed of what Fury had done and planned to silence him. She’d sent dozens of her best Jaffa disguised as Hydra agents to dispose of the director, but he’d outsmarted them all. Khione was furious. If she couldn’t trust her own Jaffa to handle it, she’d have to do it herself.

That’s how Bucky found himself in the middle of Washington, standing on a busy road with a grenade launcher in his hands. The battle armour Khione had clad him in was a stark change from the luxurious robes she usually wore. The strengthened Kevlar was itchy against his skin, making him feel even more uncomfortable in his own body.

It didn’t take long before Khione came into play. She’d seen Fury escape in his car and Bucky felt his arms fly up, aiming the disc grenade at a bullet-riddled SUV. The grenade flew onto the car, its magnets locking onto the metal undercarriage. He stepped aside as the car flipped several meters into the air in a spectacular blaze.

He wants to scream. He wants to make sure everyone around him stays away from Khione, but his mouth is no longer his own.

If he can’t even get Khione to stop from inside his own head, what chance does he have of saving these people?

Khione pays him no attention as she looms over the crash. Peering inside the car, Bucky expects to find another good man dead by his hand. Surprisingly, there’s no one in sight. It appears that Fury had burrowed his way into the sewers below. Bucky was so happy, he’d cheered.

Silence Tau’ri! I will not let him get away. Khione screeches in his head.

It’s nice to see things go my way for a change. He smirks, further angering her.

You will pay for this, James. She spits, and he feels an even more oppressive grip take hold.

All Bucky could do was slink back into that corner of his mind, his sanctum, where all the happy memories had collected themselves over the years. He didn’t know how the Goa’uld did it, but they’d managed to make him a remnant inside of his own body.

They truly had no use for the old life of the host. After all, as far as they were concerned, nothing of the host survives.

Did all the hosts of the Goa’uld suffer like this? Did they all cower in fear without being able to retake control of their own bodies?

Bucky didn’t want it to end this way. He knew he had to do something. He began to sift through all the old relics of his life, trying desperately to form a coherent sense of himself to disarm his serpent captor. He’d been so caught up in arranging the broken pieces of his life, that he’d barely noticed Khione had pursued the very much alive Fury to a nondescript apartment block.

Bucky couldn’t believe what he saw next. This wasn’t just any apartment. It wasn’t even a safe house. This was a small apartment belonging to Steve Rogers. Bucky’s eyes grew wide as he saw the familiar blond looking out into the darkness.

If Bucky’s hunch was correct, Fury was no doubt attempting to warn Steve of what was to come. Khione was quicker than he’d anticipated, however, and aimed a large gun at the window, using Steve to calculate the angle of her shot. He’d have been the last person in the world to praise a Goa’uld, but he did have to admit that Khione was an incredibly talented markswoman.

An unusual feat, he was sure of it. It was so unlike a ‘god’ to actually involve themselves in all the chaos, usually the poor Jaffa were left to be slaughtered instead. Khione swiftly fires multiple rounds from her vantage point before disappearing into the night.  

Steve, ever the courageous hero, leaps into action pulling Fury aside and attempting to staunch his wounds. Steve spots them, even in the dark. He jumps through the window, landing on the roof before leaping onto the building Khione had chosen.

Steve’s far quicker than he ever would be, probably because he’d actually received the ‘right’ version of the serum back in the war. He crosses the distance between them in a matter of seconds and Bucky feels Khione recoil, which confuses him. Usually, Khione was a ruthless fighter, capable of slaughtering any enemy she happened upon.

Why was she afraid of Steve?

Steve tosses his shield towards them and Khione catches it with ease, only the sound of metal-on-metal clanging in the night as Bucky’s metal fingers grip the disc. He looks over at Steve and sees his eyes wide with shock. He’s not met anyone who can catch his shield like that before. Khione fumes, swinging his arm with enough momentum to push Steve backwards when he catches the shield she flings back at him.

Steve blinks in confusion as he looks at them. Bucky wants to yell to him, tell him to run. Get as far away as possible but no sounds leave his lips. Khione doesn’t want anyone to get in her way, especially not him. Bucky’s body turns and he leaps from the roof onto the silent streets below.

★

Bucky’s heart drops in his chest when he learns who their next targets are. Steve and Natalia have been busy working to dismantle the corrupt underbelly of SHIELD. He’s both proud of their efforts and sickened by the lengths Khione has gone to in defence of her plan.

She’s tracked them down, having targeted a SHIELD employee they took to bypass the security systems. Khione acts swiftly, jumping from her armoured jeep onto the roof of the car they’re travelling in. His bionic arm grabs hold of a man in the back seat, flinging him into the path of an oncoming truck. Khione had drawn his weapons now and fired into the front of the car in an attempt to eliminate its occupants.

Bucky smiled. He’d trained Natalia well, she had managed to dodge all the attempts on her life, even protecting Steve and Sam in the car all the while. Khione leaned in for the final shot, but Steve worked quicker, slamming the car to a stop. Bucky flew several yards into the air, across the highway, while Khione used his metal limb to slow herself down.

She looks at the trio in the car, if they’d been able to see her face they’d have seen a look of sick delight as she revels in the chaos. She moves quickly as the car accelerates towards them. In one fluid motion, Bucky feels his body flip and land expertly back on the roof of their car.

His metal arm smashes through the windshield, ripping the steering wheel from Sam’s hands. The car begins to swerve across the highway and Khione retreats to the safety of the armoured jeep. Bucky looks on in horror, but thankfully, Steve manages to get them out before the car flips.

Khione looks towards one of the agents who promptly hands her an even larger grenade launcher than they’d used on Fury’s SUV. Bucky tries to stop her, but Khione pulls the trigger regardless, sending a grenade towards Steve.

Steve moves to defend himself, unintentionally getting himself blown off the bridge and into a bus full of innocent civilians below.

What was Khione playing at?

She’d never worked this openly in broad daylight before, so Bucky was just as confused as Steve and his friends were.

Khione snaps back towards the two remaining members of the group. Natalia has begun to fire on the team behind him now. He tries to fight Khione but she shoves him aside once more to fire another grenade towards their targets.

Khione screams at him now, not that it’s any of his fault, but of course, she has to blame someone for her mistakes. He sighs, unable to do anything more than watch.

She walks over to the side of the overpass now, randomly firing on the unsuspecting targets below. Things change when a shot hits him in the eye. Or almost in the eye, had the protective goggles Khione insisted on wearing not been present.

She angrily tears them off, crushing them in her hand before firing directly at the shooter once more. Natalia had managed to avoid the grenade and had ended up on the stretch below them. Her training pays off as she’s not been hit by a single bullet, yet. Agents appear behind him now, and Khione issues a sharp warning.

“Find Rogers. Romanova is mine.” She barks, skilfully jumping onto a car below.

Khione stalks the streets looking for Natalia as bewildered civilians run past in terror. Bucky feels for the people, wondering what it must be like to live without superpowers in such a messed-up world. His thoughts are cut off when he hears Natalia’s voice from afar.

Khione removes a ball grenade from a pouch in their belt before quietly rolling it towards their target. The explosion is quick and leaves Khione distracted as Natalia sneaks up behind them, attempting to garrotte them. Bucky hopes she’s successful, it’d at least put him out of his misery but alas, she isn’t. Khione slams her into a nearby car and she falls to the ground in a heap.

It doesn’t take her long to recover, and she swiftly throws a small disc at his metal arm. He isn’t quite sure what it’s supposed to be, but it works like a charm. In a matter of seconds, his metal arm malfunctions, buying Natalia the time she needs to escape. Khione huffs in disgust before swinging the metal limb back into operation.

Khione’s running now, trying desperately to stay ahead of the spy. They crouch behind another car now, and she uses her incredible aim to shoot clean through Natalia’s shoulder as she tries to help civilians in the line of fire.

She ducks behind a car, and Khione seizes the opportunity to strike. Leaping onto a parked car, she aims her launcher at Natalia’s hiding spot before Bucky catches a blue streak in the corner of his eye.

Steve.

He charges forward, clambering onto the hood of the car before Khione lashes out with his metal arm. Steve blocks the punch with his shield, causing a loud clang to ring out around them. Khione retaliates, kicking Steve squarely in the chest.

He falls hard, but oh so like Steve Rogers, never stays down long. Bucky smiles.

That’s his Steve all right, but god, what was Khione trying to do? Make his living hell of a life even worse?

Khione fired indiscriminately now, depleting the ammunition in three of the weapons she’d brought to the fight. She tosses the last one, a small pistol to the side as Steve deflects her shots before opting for hand-to-hand instead. Khione parries his attacks with an effortless grace and Bucky wonders if she’d always been able to do this, even before she took him as a host.

Steve tries to throw his shield, but Khione moves to grab onto him instead. She’s quick, and in a matter of seconds she’s flipped the man head over heels, sending him hurtling backwards after a strike to the chest.

She changes tact, drawing a combat knife and begins to try and stab Steve wherever she can. He doesn’t let her, successfully blocking all of her attacks with ease. Steve slams his knee into his chest and Bucky heaves at the sudden expulsion of air from his lungs.

He takes a moment to recover but Khione catches Steve’s punch as he tries to get a hit in. Bucky can only watch as they move around each other with a sort of perverse grace, as if following some twisted dance routine. Steve’s moved onto the next steps now, moving out of Khione’s way as she tries to kill him with Bucky’s arm.

She’s drawn a second knife, but he quickly disarms her. She’s fuming inside Bucky’s head, calling him all sorts of callous names.

Steve has retaken the shield, having lost it to the back of an unsuspecting van moments prior. He swings out at Khione, and Bucky realises she hasn’t anticipated what he was really aiming for. Steve’s shield gets stuck in a cavity of Bucky’s left arm, right where the two sections connect. A jolt runs down his spine as the two metals collide. Momentarily disabled, Steve seizes his window of opportunity and flips Bucky over his head.

Khione quickly rights them, turning back towards Steve with what Bucky can only assume is a blank expression. It’s not like he can see himself when she’s in control.

Steve freezes in horror, and Bucky realises what he’s staring at. The muzzle covering his face has been knocked clean off during their fight. Bucky feels his heart shatter into a million pieces.

Here he was, a stranger in his own body, controlled by a parasitic snake hellbent on dominating the universe, and poor Steve could only stare at a shell of the person he once knew.

“B-Bucky?” He stammers, no doubt experiencing flashbacks to the last time he’d seen Bucky, as he plummeted to his ‘death’.

Bucky wants to scream. He wants to explain all that’s happened to him in the past few decades.

Steve would understand, right? He’d see past the snake in his head and love him for the person he used to be, wouldn’t he?

He concentrates now, trying to take back control of his own life. He pleads with Khione but she tosses him aside.

“Who the hell is Bucky?” He manages to say, devoid of Khione’s symbiote voice.

He’d finally done it! For the first time in 70 years, he’d managed to say something on his own. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d chosen that particular phrase, he knew who he was, but maybe it would be enough for Steve to realise that something was wrong with him.

He feels Khione grasp onto his consciousness once more, and his eyes flash at Steve in a warning. Steve gasps, presumably because the sight of your dead best friend was nothing compared to the notion that he could illuminate his eyes at people now.

She draws another weapon, -man, how did she keep finding guns?- and aims right at Steve’s head now, issuing a grave warning.

“You will pay for this impudence.” She roars as she gets ready to pull the trigger.

She doesn’t get the chance, as Sam knocks them to the ground. Bucky looks amazed, Sam had a set of wings now, was he some kind of birdman? He couldn’t think much more about it as Natalia fired a grenade at them.

Steve yelled out, trying to stop her but it was too late. The car beside them flew into the air as it exploded, leaving Khione to flee into the sewers.  

Bucky used the opportunity to berate her for it, much like she always picked on him whenever something went wrong.

Well, well, well, Your Highness. That was fun. Your targets survived, and now they know what I look like. Nice job, snake. He leers at her, feeling happy when he senses her rage.

SILENCE JAMES. I have bigger things to worry about now.

What? Like if your feet are gonna be dirty crawling through the sewer like this?

I am the great goddess, Khione. You have no power over me.

Oh, really? What about when Stevie saw my face, huh? If you recall, I spoke to him, not you.