Aftermath
“Kid, do I even wanna know why you got four heavily armed guys sneakin’ around your cabin and another one trying to tear it down inside?” Tension left her body. It was Vinnie. “Your timing, an’ hearing, never cease ta amaze me ol’ man.” The big man stepped out from behind the tree and swaggered across the small yard, dressed in worn jeans and a red flannel. He had his favorite rifle in hand. Anwyn could just barely make out his features in the moonlight as he carefully skirted her defenses. Vinnie was in his late fifties, big and barrel-chested with a thick New York accent.
She’d accidentally run across him, beaten bloody in the basement of a drug-lord’s estate while she was on a job. Turning him loose had been one of her better decisions; they’d been friends for the past twenty years. She was fairly sure he had once been either an enforcer or hitman, but had never asked. He had that countenance to him though, and more than enough knowledge in underworld dealings to give him away. At least to her. But all that mattered to her is that his brush with death had set him straight, and he helped her in setting the world straight when she gave him the chance.
Vinnie toed the man he’d shot. “You still gotta way to deal with these? I’ll drag ‘em round back if you wanna go see to that bull in your china cabinet.” he smiled widely at her, previously broken nose wrinkling as he chuckled. Anwyn leaned into the firm one-armed hug he offered, nodding at him. “Yeah, I can get rid of ‘em. Search ‘em though, before they bleed on anythin’ too important?” He tightened his arm around her warmly before he jerked her back and eyed her shoulder. “Didn’t hit nothin’ vital but you better have either me or your noisy friend dig that slug out and stitch ya up, kid. Be inside in a few.”
Holding her right hand to the bullet wound in her left shoulder, Anwyn shuffled towards the front door while Vinnie began dragging a dead HYDRA agent towards the shed. She could just barely hear Bucky inside punching walls and doors but the soundproofing muffled his words. “Stormy, go ahead an’ let me in. Leave the bedroom measures engaged…I’ll need to talk Bucky down…” Soft clicks sounded in the darkness as the gears pulled the heavy titanium sheeting away from the windows and front door. As soon as Anwyn pushed inside, she could hear Bucky loud and clear, alternating between anxiously yelling her name and cursing.
“ANWYN!? GOD DAMN IT, ANSWER ME! WHATS GOING ON? ANWYN!!” Bucky bellowed as his metal fist hit the sheeting that sealed the bedroom door again. Anwyn winced, sure that the seal was dented beyond repair by now and would need replaced. She slumped to the floor and leaned against the bedroom door, head lolling back wearily. Two weeks of fighting HYDRA, hiding, running, sleep deprivation, worry, and now a bullet wound had caught up to her. She was exhausted.
“Bucky, stop tearin’ up my defenses will ya? We may actually need ‘em.” She sighed wearily. The pounding ceased. "Anwyn!? What the fuck is goin’ on?” She thumped her head back on the door. “We had guests. Old friends of yours. They won’t be leavin’…but I've got a bullet in my shoulder. Can ya pull yourself together an’ play doctor?” He was silent for a few moments before responding “Why did you lock me in here? I could have helped you! Open the damned door and let me out.” “Stormy, open it up.” Anwyn breathed tiredly.
She felt the door give way behind her and barely caught herself against the door frame. Peering up, she saw Bucky’s face shift from harsh and angry to concerned before she could blink again. He knelt and tugged at the hand she held over the bullet hole in her shoulder. “Its not a through an’ through. You’re gonna have to dig it out. There’s a medical kit in the dark room.” He roughly tore the bloody fabric of her baggy t-shirt as he vied for a better look at the wound.
“Shit. Why didn’t you let me help? You got shot for no reason.” Anwyn’s eyes snapped to his, full of anger and pain. “Because if they knew those words you mentioned, I’d have had four well-armed idiots an’ a super soldier to fight. That is NOT a chance I was gonna take Buck. I didn’t need your help then but I do NOW. Go get the damned kit from the dark room before I call Vinnie in here an' put you on body duty instead!”
It was the first time she had been harsh with him since she’d taken him under her wing, and it stung. Bucky knew she’d made a good call, keeping him out of their reach…but it made him sick that she had been hurt trying to keep him safe. “Vinnie? Wasn’t that the old man she mentioned earlier? What the fuck is he doing here…” Bucky’s thoughts were rushing as he staggered to the button under the drawer to get the dark room opened up.
He was vaguely aware of the advanced technology in that tiny basement; the computer, weapons, a large, strange tank of some sort and several heavy leather and woven metal suits. Not all of them were Anwyn’s size, so he assumed this place was used by other Sentinels at some point. He pawed through shelves before he saw the first aid kit mounted on the wall. Wrenching it free, he stomped back up the stairs to find that Anwyn had moved over against the sofa. She’d positioned herself under the lamp and slumped over again, eyes closed. A trail of blood led from the bedroom doorway to the lamp she huddled under now.
“Doll?!” Bucky gasped at her as he pulled her back into a sitting position. Her eyes fluttered open and she waved a hand at the kit on the floor next to them. “Am fine. Just sore. Tired…I’ve pushed myself too far lately…Need yellow syringe. Bullet can wait…” He rifled through the kit and found what was unmistakably what she described and uncapped it. “Where-“ he began to ask before she grabbed it, stabbed it into her leg and injected it all.
An agonized groan escaped her as heat spread through her body like a wildfire through dry grass. He could feel the heat rising off her body, as if he were sitting next to a raging bonfire. Several minutes passed of her writhing and twisting as her veins burned molten copper from whatever was in the syringe. Bucky watched in terrified fascination until finally, the fire in her blood flickered out. She slouched over again leaning on him and breathing hard.
A pair of green eyes opened and peered at him, reading the question in his face. “Small dose of serum they used to force our mutations. It forces mass cellular regeneration. Feels like being set on fire from the inside…but better healing. Stronger for a bit. I’m honestly due for full reinjection anyway…been puttin’ THAT off. Its not my idea of a good time.”
She forced herself up and he saw that the wound in her shoulder had mostly stopped bleeding already. “You gotta work quick. Wounds will heal faster now. There’s tools in there too, please fish this thing out.” She pulled her shirt over her head, groaning in pain and revealing the sports bra underneath. She stuffed the wadded up shirt between her teeth.
Bucky drew a sharp intake of breath as he eyed her torso. She was covered in bruises, cuts and scars in various stages of healing. All recent. Deep bruises on her ribs told him she’d taken a heavy blow there and cracked them. “Probably when that red head shot a grenade at me on the bridge and she threw herself back…” he mused. The plethora of bruises that dotted her elsewhere though…he wondered how many were from him? The Triskelion? Why hadn’t these healed before now? Considering what she was, shouldn’t she heal better than this?
Pulling a syringe and vial of morphine from the med kit, he prepared to dose her and she shook her head at him. “All, Metabolizes fast.” She said around the shirt. He acquiesced and saw her eyes droop closed in relief as the pain dulled. Grabbing a pair of forceps, he took a deep breath. This was not going to be a pleasant experience for either of them. Bucky prodded her shoulder gingerly, before digging into her for the bullet. To his amazement, she didn’t utter a sound, just ground her teeth down on the shirt.
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Bucky was still digging around in Anwyn’s shoulder when a very large, grizzled older man pushed through the door and slammed it behind him. Bucky jumped and stopped, ready to defend himself and the wounded woman on the floor. “Don’t stop on my account, get that slug outta her. We can chit chat when you’re done, son.”
Vinnie set his rifle near the door and wandered to the fridge. Peering inside, he grabbed a can of beer and proceeded to sit down at the tiny table. Chair groaning under his weight, he leaned back and appraised Bucky as he leaned over Anwyn on the floor. The old man fished a couple of phones and a few papers out of the pocket of his flannel shirt and set them on the table. “Found some info for ya on your visitors, Wyn. Nothin’ that’s gonna make ya happy though.”
Realizing he was shirtless and that Anwyn’s friend was inspecting his arm, Bucky returned his attention to his patient. Another minute passed until he had levered the bullet out. Patting up the trickle of blood with a wad of gauze, he began swabbing the wound with iodine. “That’s enough Bucky, it’ll be closed by mornin’. No need to do anythin’ more. More morphine though…everything hurts.” Anwyn said softly as she pulled the bloody shirt from her mouth.
Without a word, he gently injected her with a second dose and rose to wash the blood off of himself in the kitchen sink. The wounded woman and the old man both watched him as he returned with a wet towel and wiped as much blood off of her as he could. Starting with her shoulders and chest, working his way to her sides and arms. His gentle touch earned him a soft smile from Anwyn as she reached up and patted his cheek. He could see in her posture that the pain had eased and she was riding a wave of drug-induced euphoria.
Vinnie rose from his spot at the table and helped Bucky pull Anwyn to her feet. Exhaustion and the flood of drugs in her system made her a woman-shaped dead weight. The two of them managed to carefully settle her back onto the folded out sofa bed. Vinnie stood back and appraised them both, eyebrow raised. Bucky sat down on the edge near her, not wanting to let her out of his sight.
“Ok kid. I don’t usually question anything you do…but what the hell is the Winter Soldier doin' here? This guy is all over the news.” Anwyn sighed “We- we have a long history, I’m helpin’ him. My “guests” weren’t happy about that.” Vinnie eyed Bucky severely, and Bucky met his icy glare with one of his own. “You’re helping…an assassin. Guy ain’t like you, kid. You kill assholes; he kills whoever is in his way.” Bucky crossed his arms and his face became even stonier.
“It’s more complicated than that. He’s a good man. I oughtta know, I was married to him once.” Vinnie shifted and crossed his arms, the faintest look of surprise on his rough features. “Complicated huh. Apparently. But that don’t tell me why he’s here or-“ Bucky cut him off. “I’m here because I don’t wanna be HYDRA’s mindless, murdering slave anymore. I’m here because I want to be free to make my own choices and she's helpin' me get that chance.”
Anwyn’s eyes shifted between the two glaring men. “They literally practice mind control Vinnie, there's a reason they’re at the tippy-top of my shit-list. An’ you got a second chance….why shouldn’t he?” The older man’s expression shifted to look faintly sheepish. “Now…If the two of ya are quite done with the pissin’ contest, I’d like something ta drink an’ ta sleep…an’ a proper bath. Not necessarily in that order.”
Vinnie sighed and nodded. “I’m stayin’ here tonight. In case any more of these “HYDRA” assholes turn up. Bodies in the hole, you can put ‘em in that tank of yours in the mornin’." He ruffled his salt and pepper hair and grumbled a string of expletives under his breath.
Bucky found a large finger aimed at his face. "You, tin-man. Get her into some clean clothes an’ take her to sleep in the other room. Try anything stupid and I'll fill your ass with lead. Sofas mine.” Bucky's fist clenched involuntarily with anger but he felt Anwyn's soft fingers close over his own. He didn’t care for the tone, but acquiesced when he saw the look on Anwyn's face. Begging for his patience. A subtle challenge in her eyes that didn’t leave much room for argument The old man was staying.