Aliens.
Again.
Why does it always come down to aliens?
The Barnes siblings were crouched down in the basement of their bakery while aliens once again wreaked havoc on the city of New York. Hidden among old boxes and utensils, the two siblings each had their own different thoughts running through their heads.
The sister, Becca, had thoughts only on whether her and her little brother would get out of this alive. The last invasion hadn’t been nearly as severe as this one, from what she could see, and her brother had come out of that with one less arm than he had before. She could only hope nothing found them.
The brother, Bucky, had those same thoughts, but in is mind they were pushed to the back burner. His foremost thoughts were on Steve, and if he was fighting. If he was, there would be no telling on what happened to him until it was over. If they lost this battle, that would almost certainly mean that everyone who could fight was either gravely injured or- No! You can’t think like that, Bucky. Everyone would be fine.
Steve would be fine.
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The siblings didn’t know how long they were huddled down there for, arms and legs cramping from staying in the same position for so long. Throughout the whole attack, they held the other close, praying they would come out of this alive. They could hear the screaming and shouting from above, the crashes as buildings fell apart, and the abrupt cut off of a scream as the person was killed.
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When the noise from above tapered off, the two hesitantly uncurled from one another. They waited for a few moments to see if anything would start back up again, but heard nothing. The coast was clear for now.
They carefully crept up the stairs to the main bakery, finding tables and chairs overturned, glass broken, and any bread or pastries they had out this morning horribly inedible. Becca grabbed a broom out of the demolished closet and began sweeping, while Bucky pulled out his phone. His fingers shook as he dialed a number he could recite in his sleep. He held the phone up to his ear, and the ringing filled his ear. He held his breath as the ringing continued, and his nerves and anxiousness ramped up as no one answered. Was he alive? Was he hurt? Or was Bucky just being super overdramatic and Steve had just not brought his phone to the fight, or it got broken?
He was just setting down his phone on the table so he could begin to help Becca with cleanup, when he noticed something weird about his hand. It was almost as if it was… turning into dust? He blinked a few times, just to be sure he wasn’t seeing things, and he felt his terror start to grow exponentially as the dust traveled up his arm, leaving nothing behind.
He called out to his sister as the dust started up his other arm, and his legs.
“Becca? Somethi-, something’s happening.”
Becca was carefully arranging the dust and debris into neat little piles when Bucky called out. She quickly turned at hearing the terror in his voice. She gasped when she saw Bucky’s arms and legs dissolving, and before she could say a word, he stumbled and fell, his entire body shattering to dust.
Becca stood, in shock, for a few moments. Bucky was just gone. She stood there, looking at the dust that used to be her brother, before her brain caught up with her eyes. Bucky’s gone. He’s actually gone this time. Her eyes started to burn as tears began to flow down her face, slow at first, but their pace rapidly picking up. Bucky’s dead.
She stood there, crying, before she saw Bucky’s phone sitting innocently on the table. She scrambled to get it, calling the first number she could think of. No answer from Steve. Same with Sam. She desperately called Natasha, and when the phone was answered, she couldn’t get anything she wanted to say out. She could only repeat what was first going through her head.
Gotta talk to Steve. Gotta tell Steve.
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When Natasha’s phone rang a few minutes after the battle ended, they were all startled by it as the remaining Avengers gathered around Vision’s body. When she answered it, she was even more shocked by who it was.
“Becca?”
Steve’s head whipped around to face her, his eyes wide and hopeful. The voice over the phone was babbling, but Natasha could make out what the girl wanted to say.
“She wants to talk to you, Steve.”
In a flash, Steve was on his feet, grabbing the phone from Natasha’s hand and putting it up to his ear. “Becca?” He asked.
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When he put the phone up to his ear, Becca’s panicked voice greeted him. Steve could hear how fast she was breathing, almost hyperventilating.
“Becca, you need to breathe. Calm down, and then tell me what happened,” he soothed. He had a sinking feeling in his gut. Why was Becca calling, not Bucky? It could have been any number of things, but Steve wouldn’t couldn’t think like that. He had already lost his best friend, he couldn’t lose anyone else.
Over the phone, Steve could hear Becca take a few deep breaths. Nce Steve felt she was decently calm, he asked her again. “Becca, what happened?”
Steve could hear her suck in a sob-like breath, then the whole story spilled out.
“W-we were hiding in the basement, a-and we could hear everything, a-an people were getting killed, and we just sat there. A-and then it was over, and we w-went upstairs t-to start cleaning, a-and he tried to c-call you, and you w-wouldn’t pick up! And then, then-” she broke down in tears again. “He’s gone!” she wailed, loud enough for everyone to hear. “He was there, and then he just- just turned into dust!”
She couldn’t speak anymore through her tears, which was probably a good thing, because Steve wasn’t listening anymore. Bucky was gone. Vaporized like half of the population. Steve couldn’t wrap his head around it. Bucky had been with him through everything, the D.C fiasco, Ultron, the Accords. But now he was gone. Because Steve had failed him. he had failed Bucky, and Sam, and T’Challa, and the tree- Groot-, and so many others. He had failed, and now they were all dead.
Steve couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. His best friend, his brothers-in-arms, his boyfriend, were all dead, because the Avengers couldn’t stop Thanos. Because they had failed. Some heroes they were.
Then his resolve hardened. Thanos had killed Bucky. His sweet, innocent, Bucky, who didn’t deserve to die. None of these people did. He was going to kill this sick son of a bitch, if it was the last thing he did.
“I’m gonna kill him,” he growled, uncaring that Becca was still sobbing on the phone. “I’m going to kill Thanos for what he did.”
“Can’t you see? We’ve already lost! We can’t beat this guy!” The raccoon yelled, his eyes red from crying.
“I don’t care!” Steve snapped, Natasha’s phone getting crushed in his iron grip. “I don’t care,” he repeated quietly.
“If we can’t save the world, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.” Natasha said. Steve recognized the phrase Tony had said so long ago to Loki, during the first alien invasion.
“Exactly,” Steve said.
Thanos was going down, and he would be the one to deliver the killing blow.