Questions of Science
Bucky knew that there were a few things Wanda liked. She liked very cheesy soap operas and fashion magazines. She also liked chocolate above all else, but that could only be trumped when chocolate-covered strawberries came to play. With the help of Tony, Bucky managed to get his hands on Wanda's favorite chocolate-covered strawberries from her favorite cafe. He carried the delivered box through the hallway and Steve only shook his head at the sight of it. Bucky ignored it as he made his way into the kitchen to find Wanda already in there, searching the fridge.
"Stop looking now, Wanda." Bucky states as he places the box on the counter. "I got what you're looking for."
This peaked Wanda's interest. Not only was this a rare moment that Bucky interacted with her, but the first time he went out of his way to bring her something. She looked at the box, knowing immediately what was inside it. As much as she wanted to tear the box open and dig inside, she had to find out what Bucky wanted from her and she suspected it had to do with the newcomer.
"I'm assuming you're here for that angel of yours," Wanda states unhappily.
Bucky sighs and merely nods.
"Then the answer is no." Wanda grits out, ready to leave the kitchen. "It'll take a lot more than my favorite food to convince me of whatever you want to convince me with."
"This is a matter of life or death, Wanda." Bucky explains to her. "Please, you have to help me help her."
"Help the woman who terrorizes my dreams?!" Wanda exclaims. "Are you out of your mind?"
She turns to walk away from the kitchen, wanting to end the conversation there, but Bucky doesn't give up.
"You know she's not the same person she was back then," Bucky defends her. This causes Wanda to stop and she snaps towards James.
"I look at her face and see the same woman who would beat us until we couldn't bleed anymore," Wanda tells him. "I look into her eyes and I see the same cold eyes that held nothing but endless torment." Wanda takes a step closer to Bucky. "I look at this woman and see the same monster in that cage."
The genuine pain and fear were reflected in Wanda's eyes and Bucky knew he was asking too much of her, but he had to. He had given his word.
"Is that what you think of me?" Bucky asks her.
"Bucky..." Wanda sighs out, taking a step back.
"Answer me, honestly." Bucky states. "Is that what you think of me?"
"You don't understand," Wanda tells him. "The things you did, it wasn't you. It was all Hydra."
"Doesn't the same thing apply to Angel?" Bucky asks her. "It wasn't her doing these things. It was Hydra and you have to realize that."
"I can't..." Wanda says closing her eyes. "Bucky, she terrifies me and she's a horrible person with horrible powers."
"She'll die." Bucky states.
Wanda slightly shakes, looking away from Bucky's heavy gaze.
"Then at least I can finally sleep at night knowing she no longer breathes the same air as I do."
No more words were said as Wanda turns around and leaves the room. Bucky just watched her go, not knowing what he could do from this point.
Bucky starts to make his way back to the medical wing not knowing how he would break the news to her. She had the right to know before anyone else did. It was a long shot and Bucky was rarely optimistic about this. He had hoped that Wanda would be convinced to save Angel's life but that wasn't the case. Now he had to go back on his word and just watch Angel fall apart by the never ending bullshit Hydra seems to bring their way.
Bucky was about to reach her designed medical room when he heard the twinkling of laughter coming from her room. The door was open and before he could reach it, Bucky felt a rush of air whip past him, which only meant one thing; Pietro.
In a few seconds, Pietro passed him again and Angel's laughter filled the room once more. Bucky entered it and found the room filled with so many objects. A large bouquet of flowers were in a vase on the table nearby, but that wasn't what caught Bucky's attention. It was the Iron Man helmet that laid in Angel's hands, and the Captain America shield laying beside her on the bed. Clint's bow and arrow where resting on a nearby chair while Pietro now held up the box of chocolate-covered strawberries that Bucky had just bought.
"Hey, I got those for Wanda." Bucky exclaims as he enters the room.
"And she wasn't eating them, so I took them." Pietro answered. "I assumed Angel here would appreciate the kind gesture."
Bucky just glared at Pietro before turning to Angel.
"What's all of this?"
"Umm, Pietro heard I was in here so he came to visit." Angel explained to him. "He noticed I was upset and so he showed me his power and brought me all of these things."
"I tried to bring you mjolnir, but I am not worthy to lift it." Pietro said with a sheepish smile.
"With good reason, you quick thief." Bucky grits out.
"I will return everything to their rightful owner," Pietro tells him. "I promise."
"Why don't you start doing that now?" Bucky asks him. "Angel and I have to discuss an important matter."
Pietro didn't like the tone the Soldier was using against him and glanced over at Angel who didn't seem phased by it.
"Thank you, Pietro." she tells him with a small smile. "It was kind of you to keep me company."
"Until we see each other again," Pietro says with a nod before rushing out of the room.
Angel watched him go and turned her attention towards James. He seemed stressed, but that wasn't new. Everyone in this compound seemed stressed from her current situation. She motioned for him to take a seat and James refused. He'll rather be standing when he had to give her the news.
"I...uh..." Bucky starts off, unsure of what to say. Before he could attempt to make a sentence, Pietro rushed in again.
"Forgive me, Steven wants his shield back and I forgot to leave this behind." Pietro dropped the box of chocolate-covered strawberries and then picked up the shield. He looked back at Angel, ignoring Bucky completely. "I'll see you later printsesa."
Pietro placed a kiss on her hand before rushing out again. Bucky saw the light blush on Angel's face that disappeared pretty quickly as she turned to look at him, and then it hit him.
"So what did you need to tell me?" Angel says sitting up, trying to keep the thin hospital gown down.
"It can wait," Bucky answers as he starts to step back from the room. "I just remembered that I needed to discuss something with someone."
Angel looked at him confused and had no time to ask him about it because James had already left the room in a hurried pace.
Bucky easily found Wanda in the common room. She was seated in the sofa with a big bowl of popcorn watching some sort of soap opera series. Bucky wanted to kick himself for not thinking about this sooner and that's why he didn't waste any more time as he made his way to the common room and stood in front of the tv. Wanda just glared at him.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asks him. "I'm in the middle of my show."
"Hear me out," Bucky states.
"Is this about that angel of yours again?" Wanda huffs out as she grabs the remote and pauses her show. "The answer is no, Bucky."
"If we lose Angel, you'll lose Pietro." Bucky tells her.
Wanda narrowed her eyes at Bucky as he said this. She sets the bowl of popcorn aside and stands up.
"Are you threatening my brother?" Wanda grits out.
"No, of course not," Bucky tells her. "I worded that wrong."
Bucky sighs as he runs his hand through his unkept hair.
"Look, Pietro has a soft spot for Angel." Bucky explains to her. "If she dies, because you didn't want to help her, then Pietro will hate you for it. You know I'm right about this."
"He'll get over it," Wanda says quietly, looking away from Bucky.
"Are yo sure about that?" Bucky asks her.
"She's just some woman." Wanda answers.
"You and I both know this isn't just some woman to him."
Wanda sighs as she hears this and plops down onto the couch again. Her hands press into her eyes as she realizes the decision she has to make. She sighs once more before looking up at Bucky.
"What do you need me to do?"
The room below them was being prepped for surgery. Wanda, Dr. Banner, Tony, and Bucky were all in scrubs while Angel was still in her hospital gown. She was laid out on the table with monitors all around her. She was reluctant on being put down, but Dr. Banner convinced her she really needed it. Bucky remained at her side always, giving her the reassurance that everything was alright. Wanda seemed a bit nervous knowing that Angel's life was in her hands, one mental slip could kill her.
Once Angel was deeply induced with the gas anesthetic did the surgery begin. Dr. Banner made the deep incision and clamped the skin away allowing Wanda to see the artery and the device. Tony was standing by Wanda to instruct her of what wiring she should start to unwrap first. All of this was a slow process and the waiting room above the surgery room was filled with silence.
Steve, Sam, and Natasha were waiting in the observation room watching the surgery with deep concentration. Steve had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing especially with the involvement of Bucky in all of it. Angel had only been there for a whole day now and Bucky was jumping through hoops for the girl. It wasn't the girl herself that was the source of Steve's uneasiness it was Hydra overall. They hadn't sent threats or have attempted to get Angel back. It was all strange to him that they left the girl be.
"Something on your mind, Cap?" Natasha asks Steve, noticing the distant stare. "Still worried about Bucky's involvement with all of this?"
"I trust Bucky," Steve tells her.
"But you don't trust Angel." Natasha states.
"No," Steve answers her. "I just don't trust Hydra."
"She isn't Hydra, though." Sam pipes in. "Well... not that we know of."
"I just don't understand what Hydra is doing." Steve confesses to them. "They gave Angel up without much of a fight and they know where she is. Why haven't they come looking for her? Why are they so deadly silent?"
"Because they know they can't come at the Avengers." Sam states. "And because Stark has this building protected so well that the President's security detail is put to shame."
"Those are not good enough reasons," Steve sighs out. Natasha and Sam share a look before turning to a pensive Steve.
"Steve, you weren't asking these questions when we took Bucky in." Natasha tells him.
"Yeah, Steve." Sam pipes in. "What's with all the sudden doubt?"
"They're planning something, I just know it." Steve whispers.
"Steve..." Natasha calls out to him.
"I just..." Steve says turning around to look at both of them. "Why would they go through the risk of implanting that tracking device on Angel?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asks him.
"The tracking device," Steve repeats. "You've seen how much trouble we went through planning on extracting that thing out, but we never asked the question on how that thing was put there in the first place."
Sam and Natasha just stared at Steve as they realized what he was getting to.
"How did they get that device to wrap itself around the major artery without killing her?" Steve asks them. "Why would they risk her life in that way?"
"Steve..." Sam starts to say before a high beeping noise caught their attention. They all turned to the glass window and see the surgery room turn into a frenzy.
The monitors were lighting up like fireworks. Dr. Banner turned to find Angel waking up through the anesthetic. As much as Bucky tried to calm her down, Angel was already panicking with the mask on her face that she thrashed under Bucky's hold. Tony was shouting at Wanda telling her that the device had to remain implanted. Wanda's hands were trembling badly with the red energy under her control. Sam, Steve, and Natasha were ready to storm the surgery room until everything became deadly silent.
Large amounts of blood started to pool out onto the table and all of them looked horrified by it. Angel fell back onto the surgical table and the heart monitor slowly went dead.
Dr. Banner immediately rushed over and attempted to stop the bleeding. Tony was forcing a crying Wanda out of the room as she realized what she's done. Bucky remained seated there, feeling her hand become cold in his.
Steve watched as Dr. Banner extracted the still active device, blood covering the entire wire. Dr. Banner then looked at the clock before turning off the still beeping heart monitor.
"Time of death: 5:52 pm."
Bucky hadn't moved from his seat, still holding Angel's hands. He was obviously in complete shock. Sam looked at Steve in deep concern.
"What the hell just happened?"