I’m Echo, I like writing, and sometimes I write fanfiction which is the purpose of this side blog.
I’m on A03 right here
My pronouns are she/her, I believe that love is love no matter what and that trans people, aromantic people, ace people, agender people, women, and everyone who isn’t hateful deserves all the respect you can give them. I won’t tolerate hateful speech.
I’m asexual (sex repulsed) and I like comfort or hurt fics best:)
I enjoy writing (obviously), reading, drawing, and Halloween.
Make sure to drink some water today/tonight and maybe have a little snack if you want one.
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Eight: Considering…
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: Zemo trying to escape? Not on your watch. The first time, anyway. Then he’s not your problem.
A/N: Another short one, my bad you guys😔 I’m going to lock in soon I swear but I need to get my gpa back up for the nhs (national honors society, if you arent in the US)
“Nice try,” you stand in front of Zemo. He’d gotten out of the handcuffs Walker had put him in, exactly like you expected he would, and escaped, exactly like you expected he would. John had gotten impatient, Bucky had gone after John, the whole plan was going to shit, but you weren’t letting this weasel get out of it so easily. “Don’t shoot.” He’d acted like he was putting his hands down in defeat but you’d seen that a hundred times over. You were ready when Zemo pulled out the gun at you, speaking before it was even fully drawn. Zemo didn’t shoot. You could see the math running behind his eyes as he put it together.
”You are a very good actress,” he began, careful now, eyeing you with much more caution than he ever had before. “Even I bought your dramatic performance.”
”What, did you think I was dumb enough for a toaster bath? Please. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t have you killed.”
”I have a few, if you would be willing to listen, Jade.”
”Chop chop, I’m getting impatient and I really don’t like people who’ve tried to kill me.”
”If you bring me back to them alive it will gain you further trust, for one.” Fair enough, that was actually a pretty good idea. “For two, I think you’re going to agree with what I want to do.”
”And what is that?” God, why did this guy need to act like some super villain all the time with his stupid cryptic language?
”You were a part of HYDRA, in their advanced programs, I am sure. You must understand the terrible effect of super soldiers and super serums. I only want to destroy the ones Carly and her flag smashers have. I would be perfectly willing to return if you would let me do such an act.”
—————
There was an underlying tension now, between you and Zemo, that hadn’t been there before. Before, it was just one sided, but now he was just as wary of you as you were of him. Now he knew that you could speak up and have anyone do whatever you wanted. Good you thought, lifting your chin slightly at him as you returned to the safehouse, no closer to convincing Karli of anything, and with two days left until the Dora came to collect Zemo.
He wasn’t doing as well as he could be, barely acknowledging you before going towards the kitchen, looking around for something, maybe a rag to soak and put over his eyes after getting that blow to the head John delivered with the shield. Deserved, in your opinion, but you didn’t say anything just in case he decided to run his mouth too about your little secret. Then again, it didn’t matter. You were only here now because they promised you your sister back, and you could probably ask them right now and be on your way.
You moved to one of the couches silently, Bucky went off probably to the bathroom and Sam looked for and pulled out a computer. Tracking headlines? Messaging someone? You didn’t know, and didn’t particularly care. Who was the best person to ask about Ruby’s whereabouts? Sam, or Bucky? Sam. That was a very quick and easy decision to make. He’d mentioned that he had sent Ruby with a friend of his, which meant he most likely had contact with that friend, and Bucky didn’t. Also, he wasn’t a super soldier. Bucky may have been easier to get to before, but he might not be now. In fact his mind would probably be really hard to get to without it being noticed now, because of the violating trauma of getting brainwashed by trial and error with electricity.
”Sam?”
”Hm?” He was focused on whatever he was doing at the table where he’d set up the computer. Maybe looking for any leads, maybe emailing someone important, maybe playing a video game, it was hard to tell when you couldn’t see the screen and just knew that someone was typing.
”Where in blip rehabilitation did you exactly send Ruby? You said she was safe and with a friend of yours, you never said you knew where she had come from, how would you know where to send her back to?”
”Bucky went down a rabbit hole before we found her in a bunch of old HYDRA documents still on the internet and found a bunch of information on you and your sisters, including place of birth.” It looked like you could pull from him without him noticing just yet, the question was to push it about Ruby yet or not.
”Where did we all come from? I need to settle a bet, Aea thinks that Velvette is Spanish but that’s very clearly not the case and Ithink she’s French, but we haven’t been able to prove anything since we sort of got our backgrounds erased.”
”I have no idea about the rest of you, Ruby’s the only one I know about because she was the one we found and needed to move somewhere else safely.” Why were you dragging this out? This didn’t need to be this long, you just had to tell him to tell you, tell Zemo to go fuck off, and walk out easy peasy. It was that simple. That. Simple.
But you didn’t say anything. You argued with yourself in your mind while Zemo started a new conversation with Sam once sat down on the other couch, something about super serums, and frankly you didn’t care. What you cared about was this sudden moral block that had appeared in your mind. You’d never had any problems like this before, why now? Would it be easier if it was Bucky instead, you wondered, as the super soldier walked back into the room and towards the kitchen to get a drink. You’d done it to him before just fine, right? But even that was tugging at your gut in the wrong way. Arg! What was the point of being a super badass girl with mind control if you didn’t use it to avoid blackmail and leverage? There wasn’t any! Therefore you should…
”Alright, that’s it,” the doors were slammed open, getting your attention back to the present as John Walker and his tag along buddy entered the room. “I’m ordering you to hand him over.” God, what was with this Zemo guy? Why did everyone want him and also hate him? Just kill him and be over it, at this point. Sam and Bucky, John, who else again? A spear whizzed through the air to cut off the men’s arguing just in time to remind you. Oh, that’s right. The Dora Malaje.
So I’m really not trying to be rude, but technically giving “reader” a name and features makes her an OC and can really take people out of what readers thought were a self-insert story…
I completely understand not wanting to use Y/N, but there are different ways to get around it. And if you are going to give reader a name and a physical description, it really should be tagged as such.
it is not an oc, though, and I actually avoid giving her a physical description other than when she looks tired or something in order to keep it that way. Giving a replacement name for y/n doesnt make the character an oc, it’s just a different word to replace another word, also all chapters in the readers perspective are exactly that, in the reader’s perspective.
If you’re referring to the eye-colour being mentioned to be blue, it is mentioned that the reason for that is a by-product of the experiment and was a by-product for a group of people all in differing ethnicities so that you the reader know it doesn’t actually matter
Thank you for bringing this up, but I don’t see what the issue is. I’m glad that you did, so I have the chance to explain it, but no, just giving y/n the name Jade isn’t making her an oc, at least in my eyes, especially when the chapters are still in you/yourself perspective when in her eyes and you can easily substitute any name for any name, so when used in this context it is effectively the same as y/n:)
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Seven: Patience
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: waiting is incredibly annoying, especially when, really, you had no reason to be. It gets even more annoying, though, when some random guy and his buddy show up to harass your new unwilling companions about laws and laying low and apparently Ruby had gotten kidnapped by the flag smashers before and no one told you.
“He’s bribing… children… with candy…” you say slowly, as if double checking what you’re seeing is what’s actually going on. “To get information about another refugee.”
”If you aren’t going to try to help, just don’t say anything.” Bucky muttered back, which you responded to with a wounded expression, though you said no more. You had not yet said anything about the damper being broken, nor done anything with your abilities. As far as they needed to be concerned, now you hated Zemo for trying to murder you. Really, you weren’t all that upset about it, you had expected as much, and it wasn’t even that hard of an attempt, especially considering he’d apparently straight up shot whoever they’d been looking for in Madripoor. And they didn’t need to know you had your abilities. It would make them more wary, more suspicious, more dangerous. You couldn’t very well mind control a person or two all the time, forever, but breaks would leave room for error or paranoia, and then everything would get wayy too messy.
So, you stayed quiet. You were patient, if you wanted to be, and listening was quite the skill that was often overlooked. You listened while Sam and Bucky talked about how Karli, she seemed to be the one in charge of these Flag Smashers, was right, in her own way, in fighting for these people sick and lost in the camps. All over the world, after the blip, people forced out of countries and jobs and homes. You’d half the mind to agree, say that they were completely on to something. Breaking promises was one thing, but offering shelter and then ripping it away was another entirely, especially when they didn’t actually do anything to help.
You only actually clocked back in to making a plot of your own when you heard Sam making a phone call. ‘Sharon.’ Someone named Sharon was a trustworthy pair of eyes? Sharon like… the Power Broker? The one running Madripoor, with former S.H.I.E.L.D. connections? Sharon who hired you for Selby to hire you so you could keep an eye on things for her? That Sharon? Or a different one, and you were putting too many dots together that weren’t really there?
—————
“Karli Morgenthau is too dangerous for you guys to be pulling this shit.”
”Ah! How’d you find us this time?”
”Oh God, this guy? You know this guy?” You complain as you, Sam, Bucky, and Zemo stop to be apparently yapped at by the brand new Captain America. In your opinion, the shield should have stayed with Sam. A new world deserved a new Captain America that actually understood things like wealth inequality, not some soldier pretty boy with tons of awards.
”Not by choice,” Bucky muttered back with a slight eye roll, clearly not actually interested in what John (you thought that was his name? Maybe it was Jeff, who knows. Some normal white guy name, that was all you remembered from the news.) had to say about two avengers getting noticed.
”Stop keeping us in the dark,” John snapped, “Quit whispering with whoever your new girlfriend is about whatever lie you’re about to tell us, and start not keeping us in the dark by telling me why you broke him out of prison.”
”He did that himself, technically.” You stifled a snicker at Bucky’s technicality, innocently blinking at John when he made a face at you.
”Right, sure. And who’s this? Another criminal friend of yours?”
”No, not friends. I can’t believe you would get that mixed up,” clearly Bucky really enjoyed pissing this guy off. Which was perfectly fine by you! Especially if it meant you got a front row seat to the entertainment, “no, I don’t like her at all. Frankly, neither does Zemo, which is a problem because it means I have to baby sit and make sure they don’t try tearing each other’s throats out.”
”That did almost nothing to answer my question.”
”I’m another HYDRA experiment, you can call me Jade,” you finally butt in. “If that helps you think more about the truths he just told you. He’s helping me by being the big strong man that saves the day,”
”Don’t say that ever again. I don’t trust her so I’m keeping her around until this is all over, then I’ll tell her where her sister is and we’ll be on our separate ways.”
”I could be out of your hair a lot sooner if you just told me where to go.” A little bitterness slipped into your tone but you smiled brightly anyway at the looks it got from all the men. God, wow, they were all. Men. This new John guy, his friend, your companions… were were women when you needed them?
”Jade, you said? Looking for a sister? That’s funny, wasn’t the girl we saved the other week looking for a Jade?” Bucky was making a clear effort to not be looking at John, but now he had your attention.
”Saved? Who did you find?”
”A korean girl, said her name was Ruby. Real long hair, faded dye, claimed to have gotten dusted and that she was looking for her family.” John’s friend finally spoke up, “Your ‘big strong man’ stopped us from getting her to a proper channel then refused to elaborate.”
”She’s in a proper channel right now, probably already at her old home.” Sam said, clearly sensing where you were starting to take this conversation.
”Who did she need to be saved from?” You ask, a little sharper than before. Who had hurt Ruby?
”The Flag Smashers who we’re trying to stop.” John answered, rather sharp himself with the looks he was casting to all three other members of your company.
“They didn’t hurt her,” Sam was already trying to reason with you. “She said they caught her accidentally listening in then tried to convert her to the cause. She looked like she was telling the truth, and we had my friend Joaquin make sure she was alright while we were getting to somewhere better suited for finding her a path back to Korea.” Keep your head on, Jade. They didn’t hurt her. Actually, she probably would have joined their cause if she was with them for more than a few minutes, so they couldn’t have done anything that bad or had her for that long. You can’t ruin things by lashing out because otherwise you’ll never get to find Ruby. You took a breath. Fine, it was fine, you could live with it and Ruby could handle herself… buuut maybe if there ended up being a fight with these Flag Smasher guys (which seemed likely given the current situation) you’d be able to get rough about it without it looking too bad.
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Six: Shocking
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: electronics and water tend not to mix well. In fact, electronics and water and a person usually end in death because of how electricity works. Luckily for you, you happen to be smart enough to figure that out before a toaster in the bath situation occurs and Zemo gets what he wants.
There wasn’t any soap in the bathroom, that’s what you first noticed with relative annoyance. There was a small bottle of hand sanitizer next to the sink, but that was about it. The room was also suspiciously drafty, making you cold as you started to strip down and run the bath water. At least you were alone now. A little break from interacting with three men you didn’t really know or care about was nice.
Wait, was the draft of cold air coming from under the bath? That was… strange. Moving down to try and peek under the bath resulted in quite the find, you realized, when you were greeted with a black hole in the ground strategically covered up with the bath. A way out? Could you use it? Where did it go? You stopped yourself from getting too curious, standing up off the probably disgusting floor quickly with a sigh through your nose. They’d hear if you moved the bath, that was certain, and you still needed to know where Ruby was. You couldn’t escape even if you wanted to. And if you did you wouldn’t be shocked if the dampit around your neck had a tracker or something in it.
Oh that’s right, the dampit! Could it even go in water? It had to have some kind of tech in it, what if it electrocuted you? Your eyes narrowed slightly at the thought as you stopped the water running in the bath before it overflowed. For a guy who hated enhanced peoples, he’d been quite willing to tell you about the bathroom after you’d complained about feeling unclean. Then again, he did seem like a polite man—an annoying one, yes, but a polite man nonetheless. How could you figure this out without causing yourself a toaster in the bathtub incident?
After a long moment of thoughtful silence filled with the murmuring of voices out in the other room, you reach a finger towards the bath and dip it in the water. Lifting that finger that now came with a drop of water to your neck you let the moisture fall onto the dampit. Nothing. Did that mean it was safe? Surely not, you weren’t that dumb to try something once and then decide it was safe if it threatened your life to be wrong. So, you dipped your finger in the bathwater again and let the drop fall on a different part of the dampit. Then you tried again, and again, and again, until you finally felt a sharp spark at your throat and froze. It wasn’t safe, and you couldn’t risk submerging yourself in water on the off chance it might splash up a little too much and get you electrocuted.
Hey, but… didn’t water break electronics? Most of the time, at least, and if it was sparking out given water… could you break the dampit? Get your abilities back? Your eyes slide towards the doors that led out into the room where Bucky, Sam, and Zemo were still discussing something. Hmm… the sparks might burn you noticeably and they could catch on…
—————
“You tried to kill me!” You burst out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, pointing an accusatory finger at Zemo with your free hand. You’d carefully dipped your hands in the water, standing in the tub so as to not spill it all over the floor, to cover the rest your body with water so it at least looked like you’d gone into the bath before you came storming out to accuse someone of murder.
”Woah woah woah,” Sam was quick to jump in, to keep the peace or something, as he stood with furrowed brows and took a step between you and the felon, holding out his hands like he was stopping a fight.
”He tried to kill me!” You repeat, moving as if trying to step around Sam, who moved between you again.
”What are you talking about?” He asked, glancing back at Zemo who, you note, has remained innocently surprised and quiet from where he sat.
”This thing,” you gestured sharply at the dampit still around your throat, “Can’t go into water without spazzing out and trying to electrocute me!” You change your gesture to bring attention to the now kind of in pain burn you had around the area you’d figured out was dangerous. “If I’d had myself and this stupid necklace under the water at the same time I would have been dead! He had to have known that, or at least suspected something! He tried. To. Kill. Me.” Sam turned to look at Zemo over his shoulder again.
”That true?”
”I will admit I had some suspicions that the prototype device I found in my search for the red book years ago may not be waterproof,” He said, in that infuriating calm voice that didn’t seem to have any range at all.
”You tried to kill her?” Bucky finally said something from where he sat on the couch. He didn’t look too upset or surprised at the idea, but he didn’t sound very thrilled about it either.
”Not the word I would use,” Zemo reasoned.
”She’s our only chance at leverage if her sisters do find us.”
”You know of where their other sister is, I’m sure it wouldn’t be as terrible as you imagine to not have her around weighing down options or trying to flirt with you.”
”Everyone weighs everyone’s decisions down!” You snap, “You weigh them down by having an expiration date until Wakanda comes for your ass! James—”
”Alright,” Sam interrupted you before you could make your next point that you didn’t actually have, thank goodness. “We get the picture. You have every right to be upset,”
”Damn straight I do! First he kidnapped me, then cuts off my abilities, then he tries to kill me? Where are the Wakandians you talked to, James, they can come get him right now. I hope they support torture in Wakanda.”
”They don’t, and they’re probably long gone by now.”
”Look, go get your clothes back on, calm down, do whatever you need to do.” Sam said, placing a hand on your shoulder and forcing you to meet his calm brown eyes. “Three days, and he’ll be gone. Until then, we’ll keep an eye on him, after this is all done, we’ll bring you straight to Ruby so you know you aren’t getting set up to be arrested and are going to the wrong place.” You stare at him for a long moment, hoping you look like you’re seething with enough anger before you turn sharply to march back to the bathroom.
”Fine.” You kept your response short, slamming the door behind yourself before you let a slight smile twitch across your lips.
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Five: Safe House
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: you’ve made it to a safe house, and are decidedly not part of their plans to stop some group of anarchists. With a dampit on that stops your abilities, you can’t get what you want without actually playing along, so at least you can try to have a little fun while you wait for them to tell you were Ruby is.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re really hot?” So far all you’ve figured out was fun was flirting with Bucky, who apparently did have morals and was just grumpy, so the most he would do is push you out of his space if you got too close. That and joining him and Sam in yelling at this Zemo guy.
You had all made it to that safe house or whatever, and Bucky had (rather suspiciously, in your opinion) hung back saying he was going to check the perimeter. You’d been trying to convince Sam to take off the dampit since he agreed that it was suspicious so you could get him to tell you all what he was up to but Sam refused. Apparently ‘Bucky’s had enough people messing with his mind, and I trust him more than you.’ So you’d dropped the topic, going to instead sprawl dramatically across a couch until Bucky returned taking off his leather jacket. He ignored your comment.
”The Wakandains are here for Zemo.” Huh. Apparently this guy was just open to telling everyone about his suspicious activity.
”Great. We might still need him, did they give us any time or was it like a warning?” Sam asked, crossing his arms.
”Three days.”
”That can’t be enough time.”
”Well, it’s the time we got.”
”Aren’t those the ones who got their king killed by that guy?” You ask, twisting to lay on your stomach and propping your chin up on your fingers. “Pretending to be you? And then there was that whole problem in Germany, and Siberia…”
”Yes. They’re also the ones who helped fix what HYDRA did to me, so I owe them a lot right now.”
”Do I count as what HYDRA did you you~?”
“No.”
”I feel like you’re ignoring me.” You pout, frowning at him and rounding your eyes pathetically, “That’s not very kind of you.”
”Using loneliness against a man who’s been a prisoner for seventy years to pretend to be innocent and like you aren’t violating his mind to grain trust because you work for those people who captured him also isn’t very kind.” Well then. Rude. Someone’s been holding grudges.
”Oh, come ooon, I didn’t have a choice, you don’t even know who I actually was back then. And I didn’t know you! Oooh, let’s start over, James, that way—”
”You can lie again?” He raised an eyebrow, “How about no. How about we focus, you don’t do anything to mess us up, and then we show you where you can go to find Ruby after we’ve done what we need to.” You narrow your eyes at him slightly.
”Fine. As long as you don’t leave me alone with that one.” You gave a pointed look towards Zemo, who had the audacity to widen his eyes innocently.
”Why not?”
”Because I’m pretty sure he wants to kill me.” You answer flatly. “Enhanced person, guy who hates enhanced people, guy who apparently previously knew of me and my sisters and assumed I was the one survivor they dragged out not Ruby, guy who had this weird dampit in the first place… guy who probably intends to use me to get my sisters… what could possibly go wrong?”
”…Fine.” Well you got one win out of this. Maybe if they left you completely alone you could find something to cut off the dampit. If it could go on it should be able to come off, right? That made sense.
”Lovely. Now I don’t know about you but I feel gross wearing the same clothes for more than twenty four hours and there was totally a market I saw nearby so how about you guys discuss… whatever it is you’re dealing with, the flag… fuckers? Smashers! That’s right, and I…” Bucky moved an arm in front of you as you tried to step towards the door.
”You’ll survive.” He said bluntly.
”But this is so boringggg, come on, James, let a girl take care of herself. I don’t care about your dumb saving the world issues. I wouldn’t even be shop lifting, I have my wallet with me still because apparently you guys don’t think it necessary to take away a prisoner’s things. I’ll come right back, I still need to find Ruby.”
”You will be just fine.” He repeated firmly, narrowing his eyes slightly at you when you sighed dramatically.
”If it helps, there is a bath in the room over there if you would like to clean yourself up.” Zemo offered politely.
”Thank you. At least someone cares about other people here,” you cast another look at Bucky when you start moving to the room Zemo had pointed towards.
”Guilt tripping doesn't work if I don’t feel guilty about it.” He replied, moving to sit on the couch you had previously been lounging in.
”Not yet it doesn’t.” You counter lightly, winking at him even though he couldn’t see you. “I guess I’ll have to keep trying. Or figure out something else! Hey, question completely unrelated to the topic at hand, are you seducable?”
”Either go have a bath or stop talking.” He said, without looking back at you as you started pulling off your leather jacket. “And no, I’m not.”
”I’m going, I’m going.” You mutter, rolling your eyes. “So inconsiderate, telling a lady to stop talking.”
”We can all still hear you.”
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Poll because I can’t decide what to do next and Need Your Help->
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Four: Revelations
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: You’re now a captive of two super heroes and a felon they broke out of prison who somehow had what they needed to damp your abilities out. Which is especially annoying when you really really want to get back to your sisters but can’t mind control them into making it happen.
Text
“Stop that.” Bucky said, eyes closed and leaning his head back on the seat in the private jet this Zemo guy owned.
”Stop what?” You didn’t waste a second in responding as sweetly and as innocently as you could.
”I can feel you staring at me from here. It’s not going to work.” You roll your eyes but do look away, lifting your feet to take off your heeled boots so you could curl up more comfortably on the seats. Unfortunately for you, it was only you kidnapped by three men you barely knew, and one of them somehow had a damper for your abilities. How does that even work? Who even was this bitch? You didn’t even get an explanation, one moment you were digging your abilities into the brain of a guy you used to know and the next you had gotten electrocuted and woke up with a simple choker necklace that you couldn’t get off that muted your abilities.
”Why did you people even grab me.” You complain after a moment, “I have… stuff… back there, it’s not like I’m going to try and hunt you down or something, I couldn’t care less about all of you!”
”We weren’t making that risk.” The one you didn’t didn’t know said reasonably, Zemo, that was his name. “If someone with abilities like yours is selling work to Madripoor, where I have many enemies, you can imagine my being careful.”
”Yeah, great job, random man,” you say sarcastically, “now there’s only three people with abilities like mine selling work in Madripoor.” That got his attention.
”There are more of you?”
”Sure. HYDRA didn’t just make one good result and toss everything out of the window, my sisters are still there and once they figure out what happened you will have to deal with ‘people like me’ hunting you down on purpose.”
”You say sisters and act like you’re all dating.” Sam, Falcon, former avenger, muttered probably just to himself, but it still got your attention and you narrow your eyes at him slightly. The urge to say ‘maybe we are’ just to fuck with everyone was strong. Especially because it might actually be the case. You had never sat down to talk about labels but you were all certainly very close, you flirted with each other all the time for fun, complimented each other every chance you got…
“At least there aren’t four morally unstable women with mind control after us.” Bucky mused, supposed to be an offhanded comment, but you latched on to it.
”How do you know were missing someone.”
”I could have just said that meaning you, but glad to know you’re still not over that topic.” He replied.
”I think it unfair for you to call me more of a bitch in person when you make comments like that.” You grumble, almost embarrassed by how quickly you had assumed he knew about… about Ruby. Except hey, wait, he just said ‘not over that topic.’ He did know! “And how do you know about her?”
”Because we ran into Ruby about a week and a half ago.” He replied, opening one eye to look at you. You felt the world slow down.
”You’re lying.”
”I may be an asshole but I’m not an asshole enough to lie about someone somebody else cares about to get a reaction.” He replied.
”Ruby’s alive?” You said so softly you were almost sure he couldn’t hear you, as you sank back against the wall and your eyes flicked to the floor in horror. “She’s alive and we left her? We left her behind? Where is she? Is she okay? Did she talk about us? Does she…”
”She missed you guys a lot, actually.” Sam spoke this time, shooting a look at Bucky that you didn’t care to think too hard about. “Said you guys were her family and that she’s been looking for you since the blip.”
”Do you know what happened? Why we didn’t see her? We searched for… we stayed in the rubble of that building for days, we…”
”She said she got evacuated before the building was blown up. That HYDRA decided one siren was good enough but that she would have chosen to stay and find you if she could.”
”Oh my God…” you move a hand over your mouth before dragging both hands through your hair. “Oh my God, where is she? Please, please tell me where she is, let me go find her, please, I’ll stay out of your hair forever, I’ll make sure my sisters leave you alone, whatever, where is Ruby?”
”We convinced her to go into blip rehabilitation in Korea.” Sam replied, his voice much gentler than it had been moments before, “We said we’d find out what we could about her sisters for her. We’ll get you to her as soon as we can, but we do have other things going on. It wasn’t my idea to kidnap you, for the record, both of us were opposed to it, but we can’t really turn the jet around at this point.”
You move your hand down from your head, still staring at the floor in shock, and subconsciously hook a finger through the dampit around your neck. If only you could rip it off. You could make them turn the jet around, go back, get your sisters, and find Ruby before… what if she finds her actual family? You feel a stab of something, first jealousy, then a little bit of self loathing for being so selfish. What if she likes them more than you and your sisters? What if she finally sees how terrible you all are? What if she doesn’t actually want to see you at all?
You can feel all three of them just watching you, too. You know it’s happening. Sam seems concerned. Zemo just looks interested and it makes you hate him more, and Bucky… you don’t know what he’s watching you with. It wasn’t a cold look, it wasn’t an annoyed look, it was… weird. It was something else you couldn’t quite name, but you didn’t have the time or care to bother trying to figure it out because Ruby was alive and they would get you to her if you just played along.
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Three: You Again
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: alcohol mentioned, slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: While trying to get information from Selby about the Super Serum being tossed under the table, Bucky has to come face to face with… you again.
“He will do anything you want.”
Bucky hated this. Pretending to be the Winter Soldier. Following Zemo’s orders. It felt like ice was cutting him from under his skin. He was uncomfortable, he kept getting reminded of when he actually was the Winter Soldier, and that little voice in the very back of his mind kept pointing out ever so helpfully how easily he did it. Slipped back into being a mindless order following assassin.
”Alright. I’ll tell you what you want to know. But first I want to make sure he’s the real one.” Selby’s words made Bucky tense, barely noticeable under the leather he wore. Why was he concerned about that? He was the Winter Soldier. Had been. Past tense. He could do whatever it was to convince her, and then they’d get the information they want, and the plan would keep going smoothly.
”Of course. Anything you need, I can prove it for you.”
”Oh you aren’t going to need to do anything. I happen to have my own expert.” From the corner of his eye Bucky saw Zemo’s eyebrows raise.
”Do you? And who would that be?”
”Oh, she’s fun, you’ll like her,” Selby flicked her hand and tilted her head to talk to one of her goons. “Go grab her, tell he we actually need her for something that isn’t a bar fight.” He nodded and walked away, disappearing from the room and leaving them in an uncomfortable silence where Selby and Zemo forced small “not forced” calm smiles at each other. No one spoke. The door to the room opened again and Bucky heard the extra pair of footsteps before he saw who was entering the room with Selby’s guy.
”I’m actually kind of drunk right now, just so y’all are aware. It’s great out there tonight, have you seen those women? All out, it’s wild. I’ve gotten soo many free drinks tonight—who do I need to tell you isn’t the real Winter Soldier? God this happens a lot more often than you think it does—“ she cut herself off when she actually opened her eyes and noticed Bucky. Bucky had already figured out who she was, and was trying to keep his face from changing or giving anything away. That was impossible. This was ridiculous. First remembering things a few weeks ago, then Ruby, and now this?
Jade didn’t speak for a moment, just watched him with raised eyebrows. She wore a small, strapless, glittering gold top that Bucky himself would barely count as clothes considering it covered almost nothing but some of her rib cage. She wore long black flare pants and a black leather jacket to balance it out, along with gold eyeshadow and accessories.
”Jade.” She blinked and looked at Selby, tipping her head slightly in an apology.
”Yeah, sorry about that, no, this is him.” It was Selby’s turn to be surprised.
”That’s actually the Winter Soldier?”
”Yes. I’m just as shocked as you are, wow, where’d you find him?”
”I have many resources.” Zemo replied.
”How cryptic,” Jade came closer. Bucky avoided her eyes. He didn’t need to get stuck in those again. “What are you doing with these two, Kitty?” She’d turned her attention for a brief moment to Sam while she circled Bucky who stayed perfectly still.
”Our agendas collided.” Sam stayed in character. Spoke firmly. Didn’t leave much room for conversation. “Figured we could use each other instead of starting anything dramatic.”
”You’re sure it’s the Winter Soldier?” Selby interrupted. Jade was so close Bucky could smell the slightly fruity alcohol on her breath but she turned away when Selby spoke.
”One hundred percent, don’t worry about it. That’s him.”
”Then get back over here, you don’t need to be breathing in his ear, I don’t know if you’re going to mess up his programming if you’re drunk and don’t know what you’re doing.”
”I’m only a little drunk! Tipsy, at most!” She protested, but did back away, casting a flirty smile back over her shoulder at him that Bucky pretended not to see.
”Now that you know it’s the “real deal” how about that information on the super serum, hm?”
”That’s the Zemo I remember. Glad I didn’t kill you immediately. The super-soldier serum is here in Madripoor. Dr. Wilfred Nagel is the man you wanna thank. Or… condemn, depending on what side of this you’re on. The Power Broker had him working on the serum, but… things didn’t go as planned. Don’t get too cocky, though, you won’t be able to find him without me.” Selby was cut off by the sound of a phone vibrating. Bucky’s eyes flicked towards the phone. Towards Sam. The entire room seemed to freeze.
”Answer it. On speaker.” Selby had gone from fake friendly diplomacy to suspicion immediately. That’s when everything went to shit. It had been Sarah. Sam had tried to play it off, and failed.
”Jade! Be useful!” Selby shouted over the fighting to the woman who was watching from the edge of the room with a vaguely interested expression that was otherwise unbothered.
”Fine, fine. So rude.” She muttered, walking forward and swinging herself over the couch to get into the conflict. “Hi!” She greeted brightly when she got in Bucky’s way and be almost backed off before reminding himself that she was, in fact, working in a criminal empire. After working in a criminal organization. “So you aren’t the Winter Soldier right now? What are you actually like? What’s your name?” She kept dodging his hits, making it look almost too easy.
”My name is James Bucky Barnes.” He muttered, managing to actually get in a hit to her stomach. “And I’m a lot less murderous and a lot more in charge of what I’m doing.”
”Are you, now? You know, I’m sure I could get you on the ground like a dog in seconds if I wanted to~” she purred, blocking one of his hits this time and leaning over his arm to be only a few inches from his face.
”Wow you’re kind of a bitch when you aren’t pretending to be innocent.” Bucky commented, trying to grab her and throw her out of his way, but she slipped out of reach before he could manage. She fake-gasped and placed a hand on her chest as if injured.
”Name calling! How hurtful.” She moved forward, zig-zagging before managing to grab onto his arm and swing around him, knocking him back into the wall with the momentum and getting one arm against his throat, using her free hand to grab his jaw and forcing his face towards hers, making him meet her unnaturally hypnotic eyes. He remembered them having a pull. He didn’t remember them being so hard to get out of. “Take it back.” He could practically taste the poison she was filling his ears with, and clenched his jaw in in an attempt to not speak, almost loosing the battle when she let go with a sharp yelp, jerking for a moment before crumpling to the floor. Zemo had managed to get behind her with a taser.
”I had her.”
”And I helped. We need to leave. Grab her while you’re at it.”
”Excuse me?”
”We can’t have her an enemy on the run, grab her, let’s go.”
”Come on you two, get moving! I can’t move in these damn heels but we need to get the hell out of here!” Sam shouted from where he was trying to get out the door.
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter Two: An Uncomfortable Ride
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: Sam and Bucky try to figure out what to do with Ruby
Text
“…May I speak?” Ruby finally asked, well after they had taken to air and they had sat in cold silence with Joaquin looking between the three of them confused but unwilling to break it.
”I don’t know, are you planning on saying anything magic?” Sam replied, but his voice was not as icy as Bucky’s would have been. Ruby shook her head, but kept her mouth shut until Sam noticed that she actually intended not to speak unless one of them gave her the okay and he nodded at her, eyebrows raised.
”You know Jade.” Were her first words, blurted out quickly before she could actually articulate anything and Bucky’s jaw ticked slightly.
“I doubt I actually knew her at all, but sure.”
”You said one of us had a long term with you, Jade had one of those, she was the one of the only ones of us to get long term projects, and you said her name first.” Ruby pressed while her eyes focused solely on him and he made sure to keep his out out of hers. He remembered that pull, he just hadn’t recognized it when it happened years before, he wasn’t about to be stupidly enough to let that happen again.
”Yes, that sounds about right.” He grit out.
”Are you the Winter Soldier?”
”Not anymore.”
”…Who are you, then? What can I call you?”
”Bucky.”
”Okay, Bucky. Can you help me find her? Jade, or any of my sisters, if you don’t want to see her. Please. They’re all I have, all I had.”
”Why weren’t you there when the base collapsed? How are you alive?” He changed the subject, finding a better question to ask her. “I went back to that base where they were. No one was there. No bodies, no anything.” He watched from the corner of his eye as she practically glowed with that information. Like maybe she had been running on the lie that they had to be alive for so long knowing it was a thread bare possibility that hearing it confirmed that no bodies had been found was all she needed to keep going. “Where were you?”
”I was evacuated.” She answered, and she sounded truthful. “They were testing me when they got the information that something happened and decided one of us was good enough and ran, I didn’t have a choice, I wouldn’t have left if I did. I barely got out anyway though, they had been leaving when the bombs had already been set off.” Ruby lifted the right side of her shirt up and Bucky let his gaze flick over to her, seeing the burn scar up across her side disappearing under the rest of her clothes.
”What if I helped you find the people you knew before HYDRA.” He offered. There was no telling what any of the other ‘sirens’ had gotten up to in the past years, and he was sure that it wasn’t good and that he didn’t want to go anywhere near anyone who would try to get into his head. At least Ruby seemed to be trying to not do so, for now anyway.
”You… could do that?”
”I have a lot of experience finding people. I found the files for you and the other ‘sirens’ a few weeks ago, so I already know your name, it shouldn’t take much digging.” She actually seemed to be considering it.
”…But… what if they think I abandoned them? What if they hate me, I need to find them and explain everything.” Ruby insisted, anxiously twisting a strand of her hair. Bucky just sighed to himself and leaned back, moving his gaze to the ceiling of the plane.
”…Am I allowed to know what’s happening?” Joaquin finally asked, looking almost too nervous to do so.
”Apparently HYDRA tried making people who could manipulate people with their voices, and Bucky has a past with one of them. Not this one, evidently, but he had trust issues—reasonable ones, in this case,” Sam made sure to stare at Bucky for emphasis, “But she was separated from the other four when HYDRA fell and wants to find them. We still need to decide what to do with her.”
”Blip rehab.” Bucky interrupted, sitting up straighter again with the idea, turning his eyes to Ruby. “We can get her to a blip rehab in Korea, I’ll give her all the information I found on her so that she has it, and she should be able to go home. I’ll look into what I can find on the rest of them and tell her if I find them.” And then turn them in to the police, if they’re doing the illegal things I’m sure they are he added mentally.
”That’s… actually a pretty good idea,” Sam mused, glancing over at Ruby sitting off to his side. She looked incredibly concerned about this proposition and was playing a little faster with her hair compared to a few moments before. “Are you alright with that? Try to go home and find anyone of your old life while we work on finding any information we can about more ‘sirens’ from HYDRA?” Bucky didn’t like the way Sam stressed that word “we” but didn’t mention it yet. He could probably shake him later. But for now, if Ruby agreed without a problem, they could actually focus on the problem at hand involving the flag smashers and the super serum that seemed to be floating around.
”I… I don’t know, I mean, I’ve just, I’ve been gone for… I haven’t spoke Korean in a while…”
”It’s going to be alright. Joaquin can help you find your way around, he speaks a few languages. We’ll get back to you about your friends.”
Sirens in Winter: Part Two: White Wolf: Chapter One: Ruby
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: There was actually a hostage situation, when Bucky and Sam first find themselves dealing with the flag smashers, and Bucky quickly recognizes who exactly that supposedly innocent hostage is.
“We might have a hostage situation.” Bucky didn’t waste time when Sam said those words, and started running after the trucks, Sam close behind. Being a super soldier had its perks, he was willing to admit that, as he was able to easily catch up with the two trucks and jump onto the back of the first one and use his vibranium arm to pull the doors open. Inside there were two people, a woman, who looked frightened and was sitting in the furthest back corner, and another person, who barely looked old enough to be an adult, with curly hair and freckles.
”I found the hostages,”
—————
Bucky didn’t like John Walker. The way he pretended like he knew Steve. Like he was good enough for the shield. Sam shouldn’t have given away that shield he thought, while glaring and keeping quiet as they rode with John and his companion to the airport. There had actually been a hostage, one, not the girl. That girl had had super serum and kicked their asses. The woman though, she had barely spoken once they got her out.
She had black hair, long, almost waist long, with faded red dye on the ends. She looked Korean, she had to be, but something was off with her eyes. They weren’t brown, or dark, or any of the regular colours. They were blue. A darker blue than usual, sure, but they were blue, and they shouldn’t be.
”And what’s your deal? How did you get caught by those guys?” John asked the woman, the conversation about the fact that those people they’d just fought were super soldiers to wards the woman, who blinked as if having not been paying attention.
”Me?”
”Yeah, what’s going on, did you know them? Have any idea why they’d take you hostage?”
”No—I didn’t know them, at all. I accidentally came across them having a conversation. I didn’t hear much of anything, I just noticed that it sounded suspicious and was going to back away and leave, but… they noticed me first.”
”Did they hurt you?”
”Not—not really, um. I mean, they kidnapped me, but I think they tried not to hurt me, weirdly enough. They tried to convince me to join their cause, actually.”
”What’s your name?”
”It’s… Ruby, my name is Ruby.” Bucky felt his blood freeze. Subject 812: Min-ji Song. Civilian (life guard) kidnapped. Success. Has renamed self “Ruby” most concerns for empathy.
“Well it’s nice to meet you, Ruby, I’m glad you aren't hurt. Do you have any family nearby? Do you live around here?” Sam had taken over asking the questions now, and Ruby shook her head.
”I’m looking for my… family, thats why I’m here, I’ve been looking for years, we got separated about five years before the blip, I think, I just got back from being dusted…”
”Jade.” Bucky interrupted, looking at her sharply. “You had four friends, one of them was named Jade, right?” She just stared at him in surprised for a moment before replying, perking up quickly.
”Yes, yes, actually! Jade, and Asyani, and Velvette, and Aea, do you know them? Do you know where I can find them?”
”No, I don’t know where they are, but I know who you are, and now I don’t trust you.” Her face fell so quickly it almost made him feel bad about it. Almost.
”What? Who is she, do you know her?” The man sitting next to John asked, looking between Bucky and Ruby with the same confusion on John and Sam’s faces.
”Who are you?” Bucky countered, tone almost too prickly but he didn't care. He had no reason to explain this to them. They’d ask too many questions. Questions he didn’t want to answer in front of John of all people.
”Lemar Hoskins—Battlestar.”
”’Battlestar’?” Bucky repeated, unimpressed
”Yeah, John’s partner.”
”Stop the car!”
”Look, I... I get it, okay? I get the attitude, I do. You didn't think that the shield was gonna end up here. I get it, Bucky. And I'm... I'm not trying to be Steve. I'm not trying to replace Steve. I'm just trying to be the best Captain America I can be. That's it. It'd be a whole lot easier if I had Cap's wingmen on my side.” John tried to reason, but Bucky was already leaving, scoffing at that last line.
”You’re coming with us.” He said to Ruby, ignoring John and making long eye contact with the woman. She looked a little frightened but nodded anyway and followed him and Sam. At least she hadn’t tried anything yet.
”Hey, you can’t just take a former hostage! We’re better able to get her somewhere safe and find information on her.”
”Yeah, and I’m better able to not be an idiot. I’m not going to hurt anyone, I don’t do that anymore. Besides, Sam has communications too, and I have better questions to ask her than you do.” Eventually, John got the message and drove away, leaving Bucky, Sam, and Ruby in an uncomfortable silence with Bucky glaring only at the road ahead of himself.
”If it helps,” Ruby offered after a long moment, “I promise I won’t do anything.” Bucky just snorted
”Haven’t heard that before.”
”I don’t know you, I don’t know why you know me, and you have every right to be suspicious, but I’m telling the truth I swear. I won’t do anything, I won’t use any of my abilities, I won’t even look at you. I can stop talking, right now, if that helps.” Bucky didn’t answer.
”Bucky.” Sam said, after a moment, his tone serious as he looked over at the super soldier. “What is going on. Is she HYDRA? Have you met her before?”
”I haven’t met her before but I met one of her “sisters” before. And yes, as far as I’m concerned, she’s HYDRA.”
”They like you?”
”Different project. There were only five survivors of the tests, her and those other four she mentioned. They called themselves sirens because HYDRA gave them the abilities to manipulate people with their voices. One of them was assigned to me long term a few weeks before HYDRA crumbled with the helecarriers, I just remembered her name a few weeks ago and managed to find the files still online after everything got released.” He answered frostily. From the corner of his eye he saw recognition on Ruby’s face and she looked like she was about to say something before remembering she had just said she wouldn’t talk.
”Do you know if they got their memories wiped?”
”The file said they did but it wasn’t taken as seriously as with me and their other assassins.” Sam was looking at Ruby more warily now, but not enough for Bucky to be sure that he understood the situation. To be fair, Ruby was acting as innocent as could be. Frightened, considerate, and trying to help and stay out of the way. A lot like someone else he could name who did those exact same things to earn his trust.
oh ho ho? What is this? A sneak peak into what may happen in the coming chapters of Sirens in Winter: Part Two? (Bucky x reader fic but Extreemely slow burn)
For the record rq this is for a Bucky x reader fic, for those seeing this without context, and the red head is not the reader (I try to avoid a reader description as best I can so as many people can do whatever w the idea)
oh ho ho? What is this? A sneak peak into what may happen in the coming chapters of Sirens in Winter: Part Two? (Bucky x reader fic but Extreemely slow burn)
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: HYDRA had fallen before you even got that chance to get back to Pierce, or say goodbye to the Winter Soldier. It had happened that day. You were training with Velvette, Asyani had been watching, when suddenly yelling took up the halls. In the chaos Asyani, of course it was Asyani, took charge. Found Aea in the room and demanded where Ruby was. The labs. But the labs were gone before you could get there. The whole building was being blown up, the labs were the first to go, to cover their tracks. You escaped with your sisters and searched the wreckage for days, didn’t leave the wreckage for days. She had to be there, she couldn’t be gone. But you couldn’t stay, couldn’t wait forever. You and your still living sisters would starve. So you went into the world, with no information of latest news, your pasts, or any expectations of what would be to come. And now? Well, working for the power broker in Madripoor wasn’t half bad. Meanwhile Bucky Barnes was trying to get his life back together again after the battles with Thanos, the blip, losing Steve, cutting his hair, getting pardoned, and being forced into government mandated therapy.
He didn’t remember much, after he trudged away from dragging Captain America from the water. He remembered he was hurt. He was confused. He couldn’t trust HYDRA anymore, that’s what part of him was saying, but he dragged himself back anyway. He didn’t know why. But he did remember only being greeted by rubble and ash. They had burned it down. To hide themselves. But he was so sure, so sure there was something there that he was looking for. He remembered… he thought he did, in his fracturing brain, a voice. A calm, gentle voice. He had aimlessly looked around in the rubble for a while, confused, alone, before leaving. Going off on his own.
It was now, in the dead of the night, that he remembered. Years later, his mind back, his name pardoned, alone in his apartment, jolting awake from another nightmare. The thing was, this one hadn’t exactly been a nightmare at all. Just a faded, older memory of when he was the Winter Soldier, in a cell after a beating disguised as training, when his head had been resting on someone’s lap. Someone gently playing with his hair with, and murmuring quiet things to him he wasn’t even sure he heard. She smelled nice, he knew that he just couldn’t remember exactly what she smelled like. She wore only a doctor’s gown, like one they might have someone put on for an X-ray, and she must have been in HYDRA for a while, but still she smelled nice, and sounded nice, and he remembered a name, after sitting awake for hours wondering if he even had remembered that or just made it up in his depressingly lonely mind. Jade.
HYDRA’s information had been released to the public, that day when the helecarriers had crashed and he’d saved Steve. It was still out there somewhere, he was sure of it. And he was right. All it took was a few good google searches on his phone, and hours pouring over the sickening files HYDRA had kept. There. Jade. Ruby. Asyani. Aea. Velvette. Five women who named themselves after they had been experimented on, succeeded in surviving and maintaining the abilities given to them, and gotten their memories erased. Noted calling each other “sisters,” they were part of Project 825161415195, whatever that meant, and the name ‘Siren’ had been given to it as a shorter code.
Subject 809: Nicky Dunavar
Former U.S.A marines
African American
Notable Medical History: Lung Cancer Survivor
Health: good
Status: Volunteer
Report: Success
Notes: Has renamed self “Asyani” appears to have taken charge among the group after they were put together.
Cell Change? (To be determined)
Return of Lung Cancer: Survived
Subject 810: Raja Ali
Former Fashion Model
Indian
Notable Medical History: Eating disorder, possible OCD
Health: Good
Status: Volunteer
Report: Success
Notes: Has renamed self “Aea” does not do as much physical training, trains abilities often.
Allergic to ? (To be looked into)
Subject 811: Juliette Animair
Red Room Assassin
French/Italian
Notable Medical History: None
Health: Good
Status: Drafted (Drekov)
Report: Success
Notes: Has renamed self “Velvette” retains her former Red Room training, does not seem as keen to use given abilities but remains useful and continues to practice with them.
Subject 812: Min-ji Song
Civilian (Life Guard)
Korean (South)
Notable Medical History: Allergic to blueberries, diagnosed with severe anxiety.
Health: Good
Status: Drafted (kidnapped)
Report: Success
Notes: Has renamed self “Ruby” repeatedly asks to keep her hair dyed red, surprisingly good at physical combat, most concern about empathy
Subject 813: Angelica Swanson
Civilian (Jobless)
American (no clear ethnicity)
Notable Medical History: Former meth addict, severe depression
Health: Medium
Status: Volunteered
Report: Success
Notes: Has renamed self “Jade” appeared most insecure with the others at first
Physical training caused many improvements in health, was the one to start referring to the others as “sisters”
Cell Change? (To be determined)
Least likely concern for Empathy (?) next to “Velvette”
Given long term project; paired with the Winter Soldier: Successfully gained comfort and trust with the Soldier, reports are well.
“And the nightmares, how were they last night?” Doctor Raynor asked, tone as even as usual as she looked across the room to Bucky.
”I didn’t have any.”
”Bullshit.”
”It’s not! Normally, sure, but no, not this time.” He defended, exasperated a little but other than that just as sarcastic and cold as usual during these sessions.
“You had to have dreamed.” It was an accident that he hesitated, but she caught onto it immediately. “Barnes.”
”Everyone dreams.”
”If it wasn’t a nightmare then what was it.”
”Just a memory, like the rest of them. I just wasn’t killing people.”
”Was it about Steve?”
”No.” Silence stretched on between them again. “Come on, the notebook? Really?”
”If you don’t talk, I write, we’ve gone over this.”
”Okay, fine, whatever.” She paused and he let out a long sigh. “It was about a girl.”
”Before the war?”
”In HYDRA. They sent her to my cell every day for weeks. I just remembered her name, I tried looking her up and finding the HYDRA files online, it turns out she was a willing participant in an experiment. A bunch of people died from it, she happened to survive.”
”What was she to you?”
”A liar, as it turns out.” He said, almost too sharply, then avoiding the look the therapist gave him. “She was part of a project code named “Siren” where they tried to make people who could use their voices to be persuasive. Their eyes and skin were affected too, and they didn’t need to eat much after they had survived the changes. They brought her to me in order to see if they could get the Winter Solder to come back to HYDRA on his own even if he broke protocol if he thought someone there meant something, and she was one of them with the least risk of getting “emotionally attached.””
”Did it work?”
”…Yeah..” he didn’t like to admit that, or the way his voice got quieter. “Right after I saved Steve that day when everything got released. They wiped my mind the night before but I still went back to the base. It was gone before I got there and I didn’t remember why I even went back until later.”
”Did you know any of the other ‘sirens’?”
”No. She talked about them though, at least I think she did. I only remember one of the names, Asyani, she got sick or something and it really wrecked her.”
Sirens in Winter: Part One: Chapter Nine: Alexander Pierce
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: You’re finally sent to do your job. Calm the Winter Soldier when he’s unstable. And meet the leader of HYDRA Alexander Pierce for the first time while doing so.
“You get to actually do your job today, Goldfish.” You tip your head slightly at agent Kose as you walk down the concrete halls of the HYDRA facility.
”And what do you mean by that, agent?” You ask, curious, and noticing that you don’t make the regular turn to the Winter Soldier’s cell. Not only that, but this visit had already been strange as, simply, you had already seen him that day. A shorter visit than usual, sure, but one none the less.
”You’ve gotten his trust, you’ve gotten him talking to you, now we need you to actually use your pretty voice and get him to calm down. Heard he’s been violent. The boss wants him stable before he get’s here.” The boss. Pierce. That had to be who he was talking about. You’d never met him before, just heard his name a few times. Would you get to see him today, you wondered, as your eyes look around the new hallways further down underground in the base. You had never been down here before, it was less clean than the rest of the base, the lighting almost a sickly yellow rather than the blinding white you’re used to.
”Calm him, yes?”
”That’s right. Don’t make him go unresponsive, though, Goldfish.”
A metal mesh gate is pulled away before someone with a keycard actually opens the door to the room. It’s a lab, it has to be, of some kind, and you’re fast to change your face before it’s seen by anyone inside. Agents with guns pointed at him like an animal, a scientist crumpled on the ground across the room, and him, the Winter Soldier, sat on a harsh looking metal chair looking lost and afraid more than anything, the yellow-green light of the room making him look almost too pale, too sick. You’re fast to fit into the situation, get into character and rush forward with the concern of a widow looking to the body of her husband, freezing and allowing yourself to flinch to a stop when his eyes move to you and he tenses, like a gun about to be shot.
”Hey, it’s me, it’s just me,” you say, making your voice as soothing as possible without using your abilities. “You know me, remember? It’s just Jade.” You see the recognition flicker in his eyes and the way he warily leans a little away when you slowly take a step closer, crouching a little to get to his level.
”Why are you here?” He sounds almost suspicious, like he doesn’t trust that it’s really you as you make your way a little closer.
”They want me to calm you down.” You answer honestly, but start sewing in the persuasion of your abilities into your words while you do so. “They made me special, remember? You asked me just the other day why they wanted me to talk to you, it’s because they want me to get inside your head without the machine. I’m not going to do that, I don’t want to violate you, but if you lash out again they’re going to hurt you,” you’re close enough now to hold out a hand to him, making it tremble slightly to make the situation more believable. “I don’t want them to hurt you. Can you please, please calm down. For me, just for a little while.”
You can see the conflict in his eyes when you speak, the way his eyes flick to your and then to your eyes and back again a few times before he grimaces slightly, starting to nod when the door of the room is opened again. You spin around fast, backing further away from the door and the man who walked in quickly only to stop beside the metal chair with one hand on the Winter Soldier’s shoulder. The man wore a gray suit, and looked old. Not elderly, but his face you were sure had seen younger years, with faded hair and sharp dark blue eyes. This had to be him, had to be Pierce. There was no other explanation, and you found yourself holding your breath.
”Mission report.” He says, and the Winter Soldier doesn’t answer. He still looks lost, too lost, and Pierces eyes flick to you, somewhere between a ‘is this your fault’ and á ‘well, I’m waiting’ face, and you give the tiniest shake of your head and an almost unnoticeable shrug, but you squeeze the soldier’s shoulder. He still doesn’t respond. “Mission report, now.” You flinch accidentally, raising your eyebrows when Pierce actually slaps him, the Winter Soldier, HYDRA’s best assassin or so you’ve been told, and this man just slaps him across the face. But it did work;
”The man on the bridge…” His voice is unused, like you’re used to hearing, and he looks at the floor like a confused and sad dog, “Who was he?” You tilt your head, letting your facade slip a little out of your new interest in the conversation. You didn’t get to leave HYDRA at all, and now you wanted to know who he was talking about too.
”You met him earlier this week on another assignment.” Pierce replied, after a moment of considering his words carefully.
”I knew him.” The Winter Soldier said softly
“Your work has been a gift to mankind.” Pierce said, sitting in front of him. He sounded like a politician pretending to be empathetic. “You shaped the century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves.” That was curious. What did he mean by that? What had been going on while you spent years without seeing the world.
”…But I knew him.” That was actually kind of sad to hear him say that in the tone he did. Suddenly he wasn’t a frosty assassin without a brain. He was just a man without his memories, trying to remember someone who meant something to him.
“Prep him.” Pierce said after a moment, standing up.
”He’s been out of cryo freeze too long.” One of the scientist said, not quite arguing, and in fact looking nervous to bring up something that seemed like a valid reason to ignore the order.
”Then wipe him, and start over. You, you can come with me, I want to talk to you.” You feel your stomach drop when he points at you. What would he want to talk to you about? You couldn’t argue, that would be idiotic, so you quickly follow him when he starts walking back out of the room without waiting for a response, glancing back over your shoulder to see the Winter Soldier being clamped down to the chair with metal, a mouth guard being given to him while the chair was leaned back.
—————
“It’s nice to meet you, Jade.” He finally spoke after walking through the halls of the building for what felt like forever, waving off the agents that were going to follow them. He pulled out a case of the ear pieces they used to avoid getting affected by your and your sister’s voices, “I’m sure you don’t mind the precaution.”
”Not at all.” You actually find it a little harder to get back into your usual skin while talking to this man, especially after hearing screams echoing behind you after leaving the vault-like room you had just been in, but you manage. “And the pleasure’s all mine.”
”I hope you also don’t mind that I needed to have your friend back there erased. It’s disappointing given the progress you’ve made, but necessary. We’ll probably be laying him off after we get this latest plan into action.” You blink,
”Really? I thought you all liked having him around. I heard he was a prized assassin, but I don’t have many sources to go off of.”
”He is a prized assassin. Some of HYDRA’s best work, in my opinion, and he’s done some great things for us as you heard me mention in the other room, but once this plan is carried out we won’t need to worry about it.”
”What is this new plan, if you don’t mind me asking, sir?”
”Not at all. It’s a little complicated in the details if you look too hard, but we’ve convinced the governments of the world to let us release three next generation helecarries connected to satellites, weaponized to kill whoever we need to. We’ve convinced them it’s for criminals, but, well we all know that’s not the case. Zola, the scientist on HYDRA before our lovely Yeva, made an algorithm to locate every possible threat to HYDRA before they even become one. We can kill them thousands at a time, and then HYDRA will be able to make sure the world gets its new world order. A peaceful order, without wars.”
”That is… very clever…” you say slowly, mulling the idea over in your mind. Sure, murder of millions might not be great, but it was actually really smart.
”isn’t it? Here’s the thing, that’s going to cause a lot of messy chaos that we’re going to need to put a lid on. I’ve been watching you and your fellow women lately after getting the good reports about your progress with the Winter Soldier and I want to offer a new job for you. You won't be needed for calming assassins anymore, but you could be important for keeping the people of the world calm. You and your sisters, that what you were made for. Pass the offer along to them for me tonight, will you? Think about it, I’ll talk to you again tomorrow night after everything is all dealt with.”
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: Asyani comes back to your cell and explains what happened to her, trying her best to comfort all of you.
“Asyani!!!” Ruby was the first to move at the door opening, as she had a bottom bunk and the best view of who was outside through the crack of the metal being pulled open. Velvette sat up too quickly and hit her head on the bottom of the top bunk above her but ignored it to get up and join Ruby and both you and Aea in throwing yourselves at your sister. Asyani made an ‘oof’ noise on impact but still managed not to stumble back, wrapping her arms around you all as best she could with a rough chuckle.
”Was I missed this much?”
”We were so worried!” Aea replied, almost crushing Ruby who was in between her and Asyani as she hugged the other woman. “We thought, well we didn’t know if—“
”Do you even know what’s wrong?” Velvette cut off Aea before the woman could cut herself off with tears.
”I do, and I think they managed to fix it, but I’m not sure and they’re going to be keeping very close eyes on me.” Asyani replied, voice steady like an old tree in a storm as she slowly moved to sit on the ground with you all instead of standing. “My memories kept… coming back, and I don’t know if they’re going to try to erase things again or if they don’t care at this point, but the coughing up blood that Jade saw and panicked about, sorry you had to see that Jade, happened before… this. I had lung cancer. I can’t quite… remember, I may have needed to quit my job over it, I don’t… quite know what I did. They thought they had it fixed, or I think that’s what happened, but it came back, that’s what that was. Don’t worry,” She emphasized, immediately seeing the look on all of your faces, “HYDRA works fast and has surprisingly good doctors for an evil organization, they believe that they got the tumor removed and I’m going to need to do some more at the labs every day to make sure that it stays gone this time.”
You hear only breathing for a long moment, feeling your heart racing in your chest, beating like it was trying to escape a cage. You almost lost someone. You could have lost her if you hadn’t been there to see her cough up the blood. It was a previous condition, though. Your thoughts remind you, It can’t be related to what the scientists found the other day.
“Oh thank God.” Ruby breathed from somewhere in the middle of the pile, and you could feel her body relax against Asyani’s. “Don’t ever do that again, you were gone for two weeks and we had no idea what was happing…”
“I know, I know,” Asyani said, calm, sturdy, like she always was. “But everything’s fine, as of right now. Are we sleeping on the floor?” She must have notices the mattresses that you hadn’t moved since about a week and a half earlier. Velvette was the one who nodded against Asyani’s shoulder, your sarcastic, witty, cool as the sea sister apparently just as afraid of this situation as the rest of you. Asyani let out a sigh. “Alright. But if anyone starts kickin’ around in their sleep there are going to be some words spoken in the morning.”
—————
“You look better today.” He had eventually commented after you went into his cell the next morning, moving to sit next to him where you had started getting more comfortable, subconsciously tracing the lines in his human hand, something he’d been letting you do in the more recent of your visits.
”I feel better.” You breathe, leaning your head on his shoulder without thinking and feeling him tense immedietly against the contact but deciding not to pull away. You were in charge, you had to remind yourself. You’re the siren gaining his trust. “My friend, the one who… the one that I mentioned who… got sick, she’s okay. Or… she says she’s ok, but she wouldn’t… lie, not like that.”
”That’s… good..” you could tell he still wasn’t used to really having the words to speak, even though you’d been working on coaxing him out of his icy shell for the past week and a half since he’d first spoken. You nod, closing your eyes. Ever since Asyani had gotten back and you and your sisters had gotten past the fear and the crying of relief tears, it had felt like a weight was being lifted off your chest. It felt so freeing, to know one of the most important people to you was okay now, and that it was unrelated to what might be wrong with you and you didn’t need to worry about leaving your sisters.
Sirens in Winter: Part One: Chapter Seven: Important Conversations
Pairings: Bucky x reader
warnings/info: slow burn, like sloooooowwww burn, I’m talking villain (ish) reader needs to manipulate winter soldier, he escapes HYDRA, HYDRA falls to shit, many years, enemies now, forced alliance, then lots of distrust before they get together. That slow of a burn. I’m talking embers. Anyway, canon typical violence, occasional use of “fuck” but other than that canon typical swearing, no use of y/n because I substitute it with Jade for this story instead (otherwise it feels like a skip in my flow of writing, if that makes sense) no explicit stuff, lmk if I missed anything❤️
summary: You need to explain why you were sedated to your sisters
After your report was written you were brought back to your cell, told that any physical training today would not be permitted if you were still feeling the effects of the sedative in the morning as it would still be unsafe for you, so you waited nervously on your bed. When three of your four sisters returned from their days for lunch you had been able to say something along the lines of “this explaining is going to take more than the lunch time we have so I’ll do it when we’re all turned in for the day” and they had nodded understandingly, concern still in all of their blue eyes. You hadn’t missed the look cast between Velvette and Ruby behind Aea’s head and clenched your fork a little tighter. They had to have already put the pieces together, you were sure of it. For the rest of the day you had been alone. Apparently all your sisters were busy that day, though Aea and Ruby had offered to stay with you instead of doing physical training. You had shaken your head with a small smile, and told them that they should go work out without you and that it was alright and you’d probably sleep while they were gone anyway. While she was leaving behind them you saw Velvette make a face at your excuse and internal cringed at yourself. Of course she knew that was bullshit.
“What happened?” Aea was the one who broke the silence when you had all finished an awkwardly quiet dinner, unlike most where you all could laugh at something and everything was at ease. “Did something happen with the Winter Soldier? Did he hurt you? Did someone…”
“Asyani’s sick.” The words came out before you could even take a deep breath and you almost slapped a hand over your mouth like you shouldn’t have said that, avoiding the eyes of your sisters when all three drew in breaths in varying degrees of sharpness. “It happened the day before yesterday, I went to train with her for the morning because they hadn’t taken me out for my regular visit with the Winter Soldier, we got back to the room and she just started coughing up blood, I didn’t know what to do, I yelled for help but I was panicking too close to the agents or the scientists or something so they just gave me a sedative then made me do my visit with him before coming back anyway.”
“Do you know how bad it is?” Ruby beat the other two to the question, leaning forward slightly, the fear and urgency in her eyes reflecting that in the eyes of Aea and Velvette, and in that of your own soul. “Do you know what happened, did you hear anything at all?” You shake your head, hugging your arms close to your body.
”I have no idea. I didn’t hear them talk about anything of note, I just followed the agents and got put under and stayed in a different prison cell with an assassin half asleep for half an hour. If I knew anything I promise I would tell you, on my heart, on my voice, on my soul.”
”Did anyone notice anything before hand?” Aea was the next to ask a question, gripping Velvette’s hand tightly with her own. You, Ruby, and Velvette make almost unnoticeable faces at each other, but she notices immediately. “What? What is it? What do you know?” Ruby, while Aea’s eyes are fixed on you, shakes her head just slightly and you press your lips together tightly.
”We can’t tell you, otherwise we might all get in trouble.” Velvette spoke for you, thank God, gently squeezing Aea’s hands back with her own. “We don’t want to keep this from you, all I think we can say is that the scientists found something recently. Jade might be next.” You didn’t want to look at the betrayal in Aea’s eyes when Vee explained that you couldn’t tell her, but the bright fear afterwards made it worse.
”What?” You could see the war going on in her head without needing to hear anything. On the one hand, she understood. She knew what would happen if you got in trouble. She knew why, logically, you couldn’t explain anything. But emotionally, you three had been keeping things from her and, presumably, Asyani, and now she knew that she may be losing not one, but two of her sisters, maybe more.
”I know, I know,” Ruby tried soothing the situation out, even though the same fear for the lives of her sisters was in her voice. “We’re going to get through this. Asyani might be fine, and they’re just keeping her to make sure. HYDRA, for all its faults, has good science.” Aea let one of her hands go of Velvette to hold Ruby’s hand at the same time.
”It’s going to be alright.” You try to say without your voice cracking, failing as the gravity of the situation hits you too, like Velvette’s words had finally made the possibility hit you as hard as it needed to. “We can get through anything, remember?”
That night no one slept well. Not at all. And you had all four ended up moving your blocks of mattresses onto the ground to sleep together without being on the freezing concrete floor.
—————
“May I sit with you?” The words felt numb in your mouth as you entered the room where they were keeping the Winter Soldier. In your hand you were subconsciously worrying with a string you’d pulled off the paper thin blankets you were given, and it was almost already frayed into an unrecognizable state. You see an expression flicker on his face, something behind his own numb. Confusion, maybe. Concern.
”You have been.” He eventually replied, voice just as cracked and unused as before.
”Next to you. On the bench. I don’t need to touch you or anything but I want… I just need to be near someone for a little while.” You amend, stumbling a little over your words. That was true enough. You certainly hadn’t wanted to leave your sisters that morning, walk away from their warmth and shared experience and feelings to go convince some HYDRA assassin in the cold that you were on his side.
”… Did they hurt you?” That was the same question he had asked the time before. He probably can’t say much with that static in his head you realize with a blink, still worrying with the string in your hands.
”No.” But your answer feels more unsure now than it had before, and you wonder if he can tell. If he can, he makes no comment, just moves his hand slightly as if in invitation to sit. You make your way forward and sit back on the bench, just close enough to feel a little bit of his body heat without touching him, curling your knees to your chest and wrapping your arms around them while closing your eyes and tipping your head back against the wall. Everything was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine. You find yourself insisting inside your head. On the outside, you can feel his eyes. The way he’s trying to put things together, even with his altered state of mind. It didn’t matter to you, not now, not here. What mattered to you right now, was where Asyani was, how Asyani was, what were they doing to her, and would you be alive to play siren much longer.
