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Like A Whisper In The Night - 3

Authors Note: So an early post! I’ve been working on this one a lot, trying to get a decent idea of Layne’s abilities and a hint at who she is outside of The Avengers. I’m so used to seeing these OFCs where they’re healing a broken Bucky and I kind of want to turn it on it’s head a little, have them take care of each other. So bear with me as I work through how I really want to go about that.

Music Note: I’ve been excitedly awaiting DOROTHY’s new album and listened through their entire discography the other day and realized how much their album speaks to the feeling I wanted this book to have. The band will be woven into the rest of this story. All music belongs to them and I would really suggest looking into them, they’re fantastic.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC | Word Count: 7,447 | Warnings: Swearing, Manipulation, Alcohol | Song: Gun In My Hand - DOROTHY

PREVIOUS CHAPTER

~*~

The next day Layne had decided to have a mental health day. She slept poorly, nightmares of Greg Andrews’ memories haunting her. They were mixed in with the girl from Hong Kong and a few from other people she had infiltrated before joining up with The Avengers. In true mental health day fashion, Layne forwent wearing makeup and her long brown hair was twisted up into a heap on the top of her head. She was wearing a thin, black, worn out Motorhead tank top and red flannel pajama pants. She had zero plans of having social interaction with anyone on the team today or even leaving her room. Layne was currently curled up in a mountain of pillows on her bed painting her toenails blue. She took a deep swig out of a bottle of Spotted Cow, the New Glarus sampler pack sitting on the floor next to her bed. It was one of the only home comforts she asked Tony to get for her, the specialty beer only available for sale in Wisconsin. Her stereo was blaring music loud enough to pulse her walls and softly rattle the mirrors. Tony had most of the building set up to be relatively soundproof after Bucky with his night terrors and so far none of her neighbors complained about the volume she kept her music at any time she was inhabiting her room. The guitar and bass hummed together in a deep, melodic tone as the female vocalist rasped over the top of a double bass drum.

“Why did love put a knife in my heart Why did love open up my scars Why did love put a knife in my heart In my bed, in my head, in my heart.

Was it for redemption Was it for revenge Was it for the bottle Was it for the ledge Was it for the thrill that pushes my hope to the edge Why did love, why did love put a gun in my hand?”

It took Layne a few minutes to realize that someone was even knocking at her door under the pounding of her music. She carefully hopped off the bed and opened her door, trying not to smudge her wet polish. Layne was startled again by Bucky being on the other side of her door. She gave a crooked half smile and leaned against her door frame, her arms crossed over her chest. “Well, well, Mr. Barnes. What can I do for you?” Layne tried to play cool, despite the fact that her heart was going a million miles a minute at the sight of him in a tight baby blue V neck shirt that made his eyes seem so much brighter and acid wash jeans.

Bucky looked her up and down really quick, trying to ignore the fact that Layne didn’t appear to be wearing a bra while grimacing slightly at the music that blared into the hallway with her open door. “What is that noise?” Bucky asked, his brows knitting together and looking past Layne. Layne’s smile faltered slightly and she didn’t stop him as Bucky slipped passed her into her room.

“It’s blues rock. Is it too loud?” Layne asked closing the door behind him and then turning down the radio to a more palatable level before she sat back down on the bed and continued painting her toenails.

“Blues-rock, huh? When did that become a thing?” Bucky asked leaning against her couch. Layne reached down and grabbed a Staghorn out of the sampler pack and handing it to Bucky. Bucky took it with a grateful smile and cracked the top off with his metal palm.

“Um, 1960’s? You know, Lonnie Mack and Eric Clapton? No, wait, I guess you wouldn’t. It’s good. I think you’d probably like Eric Clapton more than this stuff; he’s a little more mellow.” Layne pointed her stereo remote and hit a button, Sunshine of Your Love playing softly in the background. “So, this band is technically Cream, but it’s what made Eric Clapton really famous before he went solo. Incredibly talented instrumentalist and his vocals were so necessary for the era.”

Bucky listened and as he intently watched her paint her nails. He couldn’t help but smile slightly at the passion in which she spoke about music. “It’s…groovy?” Bucky asked sounding a little unsure. Layne laughed, a soft bell-like sound that caused tiny wrinkles around her caramel eyes.

“Groovy good or groovy bad?” Layne asked through her chuckle.

“Good. I like it,” Bucky reassured. “More than what you first had playing.”

Layne’s laughter died a little and she nodded, twisting the cap onto her polish and setting it on her nightstand. “Well, when you’re listening outside of your preferred genre you have to separate it out. Start with the words, add the voice, then put in the instruments. But it’s probably a good thing these guys never got picked up, the vocalist just couldn’t hack it,” Layne responded, her tone clipped. She caught Bucky’s confusion and waved her hand before he had a chance to respond. “Never mind Bucky. You never answered on why I’m graced with your presence this morning.”

Bucky hesitated, trying to figure out if he had offended her in some way before getting down to the matter at hand. “Stark called a mandatory meeting and you didn’t show up, so they sent me to come find you.”

Layne’s caramel eyes widened and she dashed over to her desk to check her phone. “Oh, shoot. It died and I didn’t realize,” she tossed her phone back down on the desk and looked at him oddly. “Did they send you because you just found out where my room is?”

Bucky groaned and ran both of his hands through his hair, the orange of the lamps in Layne’s room reflecting softly off of his metal arm. “Vision ratted me out, huh?” Bucky had gone down his list for eliminating rooms yesterday to figure out which one was Layne’s when he was left with two doors that he didn’t know. He chanced the one on the right only to have Vision faze out of the wall next to him. Bucky didn’t even know Vision had his own room. Vision had kindly directed Bucky to the only other door that he couldn’t figure out, the door that happened to be right across the hall from Bucky’s. Feeling like an idiot, he had thanked Vision, not thinking that the android would later go and tattle on him.

Layne laughed again, opening a few drawers in her dresser and pulling random articles of clothing out. “Yes. I was wondering how you managed to find me. You had never been neighborly before, but I figured you found me because of the racket. I’m just going to get changed really quick; you don’t have to wait if you don’t want.” Layne said, disappearing into the bathroom. She took in her reflection in the mirror and grimaced, not expecting to have to leave her room or have anyone in her room she really didn’t put any effort into looking presentable. Layne tried not to think too hard about the fact that she was hanging out with Bucky without a bra on as she got dressed. Putting a little bit of foundation powder on her face and a light coat of mascara she deemed herself relatively okay for a team assembly. She thought a moment on her choice of apparel, knowing it’s not everyone’s version of comfy, but most of Layne’s clothes were concert ready since that was her scene back home. Whenever Layne wasn’t working on papers or in labs for school she was either on or behind a stage. She wondered if Bucky would judge her on the holes and the bare midriff, and then stopped to wonder why she cared so much. Bucky hadn’t put any interest in her until now and she certainly wasn’t looking to turn heads at work.

Bucky waited for the bathroom door latch to click before striding over to her stereo and popping the player open. A burned disc with ‘DOROTHY’ written across the top in purple Sharpie sat in the tray. “FRIDAY? Can you get me a copy of this?” Bucky asked, looking at the ceiling. Recognizing the name he looked up at the walls and saw the poster with the name DOROTHY scrawled across the front of a woman’s bright red lips, tongue out, and two switchblades crossed on other side poised to cut the appendage off.

“Can do, Sgt. Barnes,” came the response, a little too loud for his liking. He looked up as the bathroom door clicked open and quickly shut the tray, moving back to his spot on the couch.

Bucky’s heart sputtered momentarily as he took in Layne’s torn skinny jeans that settled on her hips and her flat midriff showing below a maroon shirt with Motley Crue stamped on the front. She was throwing a navy blue flannel around her shoulders, buttoning it up to just below her breasts and covering the exposed flesh of her abdomen. She looked up from her buttons, noticing Bucky was waiting for her and let out a dazzling smile that made Bucky’s heart sputter again. He cleared his throat and walked over to meet her at her front door, confused about the emotions he was feeling.

“What’s Motley Crue?” Bucky asked, reaching out carefully and moving the lapel of the flannel aside. Layne tsked and shook her head, looking at him with disapproval, not being able to hide the soft pink flush behind her hair. Bucky wanted to run his fingers across her cheeks and feel the heat that sat there.

“If you’re going to keep showing up at my door, Barnes, we’re going to have to do some music education,” Layne responded, heading off ahead of him towards the common room. Bucky shut her door behind them and took a moment to admire how tight those jeans were for a moment before catching up.

“And why all the holes?” he asked motioning to her pants.

Layne laughed, light dancing in her eyes. “Everyone likes a good draft, Barnes.”

~*~

“Alright, everyone,” Tony started, clapping his hands together when Layne and Bucky finally arrived. “The star of today’s meeting is officially here.” He strode over and took Layne by the elbow she let out a small squeak of surprise as she was drug in front of everyone. Her caramel eyes widened and a flush took over her cheeks as she looked up at Tony and then out at the rest of the team that was either lounging on or around the big leather couch in the middle of the room. The only one that wasn’t being apart of the meeting was Loki, who was sitting off to the side in a window seat with a hefty leather-bound tome.

“What? The star?” Layne asked, her mouth going dry. Was she being made an example of? “Did I do something wrong?” she asked hoarsely.

“What? No! Just after the last couple of missions and watching the tape from your incredible interrogation yesterday I think all of us are a little curious to see what you can do in a calm and safe environment,” Tony explained enthusiastically, clapping his hand sharply in the middle of her back. She sputtered and her flush brightened and she looked around the room for any sign of help to get her out of this.

Steve was leaning on the back of the couch and he straightened and walked over to her. “It’s so that we can all get a better idea of how to place you on missions and how to move forward training you. We know your hand to hand combat is mediocre and your gun skills are sort of lacking so maybe it’s better to keep you back as support, like Wanda. Which is okay, we just need to understand it better and the field is too chaotic to watch it happen and get a grasp on it,” he explained softly setting his large hands on her shoulders.

Layne’s eyesight came up to only Steve’s collar bone; she was close enough to take in the sharp, pine sight of his cologne and fresh tang of his shaving cream. He was dressed in a white button-up shirt and jeans and she couldn’t help but smile as she noticed he missed a button. Layne buttoned it for him quick, startling him slightly before stepping back and nodding.

“Yeah, alright. So what do you guys want to know?” she asked fiddling nervously with her fingers. She dug deep inside herself to find that rock star she had always wanted to be, to pull that confidence out and not shrink down to a meek little girl in front of her teammates. She needed to prove she was strong and that she deserved to be here.

Natasha raised her hand from where she sat in between Sam and Wanda on the couch in a white tank top and yoga pants, she must have just come from working out. “Can you show us the thing you did with the persuasion?” she asked, resting her elbows on her knees. Layne licked her lips and stepped over the wooden coffee table that was separating them, sitting on it carefully. She held her hands out, palms up, to Natasha who hesitated for a moment before putting her palms down on Layne’s. Layne slowly wrapped her fingers around Natasha’s wrists and rubbed little circles with her thumbs, she caught Nat’s gaze locking Natasha’s green eyes with her own, her caramel eyes lighting up with flames.

“Tell me, Natasha, how old are you?” Layne asked simply.

Natasha ground her teeth together slightly and cocked her head to the side. “Thirty-three,” she responded, sounding breathless.

“I knew you weren't twenty-five!” Sam exclaimed and clapped his hands together. Natasha twitched a little in Layne’s grasp and Layne raised an eyebrow. Natasha relaxed back into Layne’s grip, seemingly placated.

“Do you talk about me behind my back?” Layne asked and Natasha’s expression darkened slightly.

“Yes.”

“Tell me what you say,” Layne cooed softly.

The team watched in fascination as the skin that Layne touched glow with a soft orange light. Sam reached out to touch Natasha’s skin but was stopped when Layne calmly stomped on his foot. As she didn’t have shoes on it certainly didn’t hurt him at all, but it stopped his advance.

Natasha gritted her teeth and her breathing sped up a little. She made a little humming sound and Layne just tightened her grip in response. “That I don’t think you’re up to being an Avenger. That I think that training you is a waste of time and you’re just going to get someone killed,” Nat finally spit out quickly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she took a deep breath and her expression went back into that look of calm complacency.

The others cast worried glances at each other. The Russian hadn’t exactly been quiet about her opinions on the new recruit, especially after the end of Layne’s mandatory ten hours of gun training. Natasha wasn’t convinced Layne would be good at anything other than getting in the way. However, Natasha was always relatively pleasant with Layne when in the same room or during training.

“Really? How about you tell Loki something you’d never want him to know?” Layne directed sliding her hands up Natasha’s forearms. Layne’s face was calm and passive, she was trying to sound indifferent, but the team could hear the underlying hurt in her voice. Loki looked up with interest for the first time during all of this. He had shown up only because this was supposed to be a team learning experience, he had been working with Layne for months on her skills and none of what she did was very new to him. Even though he had heard and been amused by Layne’s stories of petty vengeance that she would get on her brother’s back home, he had never gotten a chance to witness it in person and was pleased that he got to be apart of her getting a bit of revenge on the red head.

Natasha’s eyes went wide and her skin pale, she shook her head slightly and licked her lips. “No,” she rasped out hoarsely. Everyone knew that Natasha was still upset with Loki for taking over Clint’s heart back in the beginning and they all stared at Layne and Natasha with held breath. No one thought that Layne could convince Natasha into saying something sweet to the Norse God, let alone something she was keeping a secret, the Russian would sooner cut out her own tongue.

“Do it, Natasha,” Layne demanded with more force.

Natasha started making that soft humming noise again, her cheeks flaring red and she bit her bottom lip. Layne stared at her patiently, rubbing Nat’s forearms slowly. “I think his ass looks amazing in those pants he always wears,” Natasha just about screamed. Layne unceremoniously took her hands away, breaking the contact. Natasha gasped, her hands flying to her heart and her skin tinged with a green undertone. The whole room burst out into laughter and Loki smirked to himself, looking pleased, before returning to his book.

“I’ll have to change my wardrobe. I wouldn’t want my ass to distract you on a mission, Ms. Romanoff,” Loki chuckled, serenely turning a page.

“What the fuck, Hardin?” Natasha hissed, venom lacing her words. Everyone’s laughter died out into awkward chuckling. Everyone immediately prepared themselves to have to pull the red head off of Layne before she did any damage to the smaller girl.

Layne just calmly stared into Natasha’s green eyes, her own eyes having cooled and returned to their usual melted caramel color. “I’m sorry that I embarrassed you, but I needed to make demands that everyone knew you wouldn’t want to answer. Although I must say, I had ulterior motives. I definitely thought you were talking about me behind my back,” Layne stood and swung her legs back over the other side of the coffee table so she was standing across from the couch again.

“What did it feel like, Nat?” Bucky asked from his stool at the breakfast counter. He had been watching the exchange just as intently as he had back in the interrogation room yesterday. He could care less about things the ex-mercenary had said and more about how she had been reacting as she was saying it or trying not to as the case may be.

Natasha shook her head, still rubbing at her chest over her heart. “It was like I had sunk into a warm bath and it was like cotton was filling every part of my head. When she asked me a question,” Natasha paused, giving an icy glare. “I wanted to answer, to make her happy. The more I tried to hold the answer back the hotter Layne’s fingers got and it felt like hot coals were sitting in my stomach. Once I answered everything was pleasant again like I was back in the bath. And then Layne let me go and it was like she’d broken my heart. I feel like I have an empty hole in my chest.”

Layne pursed her lips and frowned softly. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a cure-all for that; it will go away by tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t hurt worse than my pride,” the redhead responded sinking into the couch.

“Would it help if I come do a dance for you in just the pants?” Loki called over from his spot in the window, not even looking up from his book.

Natasha just closed her eyes and looked like she was counting backward from ten. Her fingers twitched towards the blade she kept snapped on her hip.

“Alright, alright, team. That was a perfect demonstration, Layne. Maybe a little too perfect,” Steven said holding his hands up. “How are you feeling, Layne? Can you show us taking someone over?”

Layne looked at Cap and chewed her bottom lip. She should have known that they would want to see that. “I could on, like, Clint, Sam, or Tony if they’re okay with it? It’s probably the safest bet. They’re not enhanced or an Inhuman and I don’t really to put Natasha through that too.”

Natasha’s glance shot up at Layne before back down to her lap, it looked like she was giving her a small look of gratitude. Her heart being controlled like that was more taxing than Natasha thought it was going to be. Sam calmly took Natasha’s hand in his own and patted it softly, trying to ease some of whatever Natasha was still feeling.

Tony shook his head and raised a hand to silence Clint who had started to step forward to volunteer. “We were hoping you’d take on one of the big guys,” he said addressing Layne carefully. “Mostly because we were hoping they could fight back.”

Layne whirled on Tony and sent him a steely glare. “Excuse me? Do you have any idea what that felt like? It was like a chainsaw was ripping my skull in half and I didn’t even ask how Andrews was feeling, but I know you saw how an ass ton of blood vessels in his face all burst.”

“Well, yeah, but the big guys heal quick,” Tony said, still sounding chipper as he thwacked Steve on the bicep. “And we have the doc.” Banner frowned, looking uncomfortable by the whole scenario. Layne and him had spoken some when she had come down to work with Banner in the labs; she told him how much she hated taking people over and how their memories always stuck with her. He couldn’t begin to fathom what awful things Layne had seen in that pedophile's brain and he knew she still wasn’t recovered from it.

“Maybe it’s not the best idea,” Clint spoke up, stepping forward. “She mentioned seeing ‘bad stuff’ in Andrews’ head. The worst she’s going to find in mine is Budapest.”

“Budapest wasn’t that bad,” Natasha said softly from her spot on the couch. “Besides, who knows what’s in your head after your possession from the horned wonder back there. You’re fuzzy on some of it and she could dredge it all back up for you.”

“Okay, we really need to get a beer and discuss what you think Budapest was,” Clint said pointing a finger at her and giving her a sharp look, Natasha just raised her hands in the air and shrugged. “And we all have skeletons in our closet. No matter who she takes over there’s a chance she’s going to see some not okay stuff. But I think either myself or Sam is going to be her best bet.” Clint looked to Sam to help back him up and Sam just shrugged.

“We’ve been fighting less and less ‘normal’ bad guys. They’re enhanced now, Clint, or have powers. Maybe since we have the doctor in the house, it’s not the worst idea to have Layne take on Cap,” Sam countered gently. He looked up as Banner let out an oddly deep grumble. Banner tried to cover it with a cough and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Look!” Layne snapped. “I don’t want to do this to anyone. But I’m one hundred percent not doing it with one of the wonder twins.” She motioned to Steve and Bucky. She’s seen them fight physically she didn’t want to have to fight them mentally. Especially not when she didn’t know that she could be fought against, it was new territory to her and she didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“No, you look, we have the doc here for if anything goes wrong. Which it won't. Because you’re great and we believe in you,” Tony reasoned.

“Stop trying to argue that it’s okay just because Bruce is here,” Layne shot back.

Bucky stood up and walked over to the three. “Listen, if she says it’s dangerous then we should listen to her,” Bucky argued back, stepping between Layne and Tony.

“It’s not dangerous! We’re all here, in a calm and safe environment,” Tony said moving to step past Bucky, but he just squared his shoulders and stared him down. Tony frowned and put his hands up. “Fine, okay, you want to play that way. Kid, you’re not cleared for any future missions until you do this so we can see that you can be in control if it happens again. We can’t just knock you out every time you can’t handle yourself.”

Layne opened her mouth to argue and then closed it with a snap. Tony was right; she couldn’t just go out on the field and become a liability. What if she lost control of an enemy and they attacked one of the team by surprise thinking that Layne had everything covered? She let out a huff of air that flared her nostrils and caused Tony to falter as her eyes flared fire for a split second before she nodded in affirmation. Bucky sighed and turned to her, running his flesh fingers through his hair.

“Alright, doll, let’s do this,” he said bracing himself. Steve immediately stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea, Buck,” he said softly, scratching his head and giving him a look.

“What? She’s not going to go digging in my brain for anything. Are you?” Bucky asked Layne and she just shrugged.

“I can’t technically look for anything. Like, maybe I can? I haven’t tried. Normally I just get a burst of things when I first infiltrate someone,” she explained, chewing on the corner of her mouth.

Steve gave Bucky and even more pointed look. “What if she dredged up Winter Soldier stuff, Buck? They might have done a fine job repressing it all in Wakanda, but she could accidentally pull it all back to the surface.” Steve asked, his brows furrowed in concern. He rolled up his sleeves and turned his blue eyes to Layne. “Alright, Whisper, it’s you and me.” Bucky opened his mouth to argue, but Steve silenced him with a look. Bucky ducked his head and took a step back, throwing his arms out to the side. He understood that Steve was just concerned for him, but sometimes he got irritated with everyone walking on eggshells around him. It had been two years since he had attacked the Avengers as the Winter Soldier and while he was still plagued with nightmares, they had been less frequent and he was finally starting to feel like he was getting into a healthy space.

Tony clapped Bucky on the shoulder and motioned with his head to move back. Bucky shook Tony’s hand off of him and went to stand behind Layne. Layne looked at him with confusion and Bucky just shrugged. “You hit your face on the floor last time. Don’t need to do that again,” he said curtly holding his hands out on either side of her. Layne cocked her head to the side and smiled softly at this thoughtfulness, placing her hands in his. Bucky’s heart skipped a beat as she entwined her fingers in his and crossed his arms around her waist. He glared at Sam as he snickered a remark into Natasha’s ear, causing her to giggle.

“Super hearing, Wilson,” Bucky grumbled and Sam just smiled wider at him. Clint was giving Bucky the dad eye and Bucky quickly broke his eyes away. Loki had paused reading his book and was watching the exchange with rapt focus.

“Ready, Captain?” Layne whispered. Squeezing Bucky’s hands tightly she took a deep breath, finding her calm center to where she could focus on the beating of her heart and the pulse of blood through her veins. She locked eyes with Steve’s deep blue ones and then everything went dark.

Bucky tensed as Layne turned to dead weight in his arms, he sunk down slowly to the floor and set Layne’s back against his chest, watching his friend intently. Everyone was on pins and needles; Loki had stood and joined the rest of the team around the couch, Clint and Tony were ready to try to knock Steve out if needed, Bruce had come around and knelt down next to Bucky to take Layne’s wrist in his hands and keep track of her pulse. Sam, Natasha, and Wanda all sat forward on the couch looking nervous, Wanda took Vision’s hand in her own.

This was the part Layne always loved, being outside of herself. She felt as soft as a feather, seeing as she had no substantial body or weight. She looked down at the conglomerate of auras, noting that Dr. Banner had two warring inside of him. Layne had never seen Bruce’s aura and she honestly wasn’t surprised to see the calm blue aura battling the neon green. She could see her own body, lit up like a lighthouse in the fog and knew that the army green aura wrapping around her was Bucky and that was not her target. Layne was able to find and hone in on Steve’s aura and pictured her consciousness taking the form of one of Clint’s arrows; she shot herself at the heart of Steve’s aura.

It always hurt a little at first, like getting the wind knocked out of you. Steve’s aura was just as sturdy mentally as she assumed he was physically, it was like ramming into a brick wall. Layne shoved against it and managed to knock Steve’s consciousness out of his body. It happened so fast, the memories hitting her like a freight train.

It was 1940 and Steve was so tiny standing next to a short-haired, clean-shaven Sgt Barnes. Bucky was in full uniform and trying to get Steve to come along with him and two pretty young ladies at a carnival. Steve just dropped his head and waved Bucky on, leaving his friend with a tight embrace before turning away.

The next memory was patched together, flicks of a beautiful woman with brown hair always kept in neat pins and curls changed to a flicker of the woman, much older, laying in a hospital bed. She reached out an aged hand to Steve and he took it, her hand so tiny and frail in his super soldier hand.

The next memory was pain. Layne felt it deep in her core, the pain of losing this woman - who she learned was Peggy. The pain of fighting Bucky on an aircraft and trying to get him to remember who Steve was. The pain of fighting at an airport against his friends to do what he believed was right, the pain of feeling like he will never do enough to serve humankind. The pain behind the fear that he will eventually fail.

The memories passed and Layne gasped, looking out to the rest of the team with vision that was just too sharp and trying to calm the sounds that were just a little too loud. “Oh, fuck. This enhanced thing kind of sucks,” Layne groaned.

Everyone in the room had watched with trepidation as Steve suddenly went rigid before a look of pain crossed his facial features. It was the moment the swear word left his mouth, in his voice, that everyone knew that Layne had successfully entered Steve’s body. Tony walked around to face Steve, sending a quick look to Bucky who looked like he was debating between continuing to hold Layne’s body up or also approach the body of his friend.

“What are you feeling, Layne?” Bruce asked standing slowly and walking over to take Steve’s wrist in his hand to count his pulse.

Layne pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and took a few deep breaths. “I have some vertigo going on from memories of seeing things from a shorter perspective to suddenly being fucking tall. Everything is very loud and very bright. I can sense Steve is trying to figure out how to reenter his body when I’m occupying it, which is odd because I’ve never noticed it with anyone else.”

Bruce nodded and looked away from his watch. “Both heart rates are normal. I’ll see what I can keep track of if Cap can try to take control back.”

Tony clapped his hands together and smiled. “See, this is all working out fine. I told you.”

Loki’s brows knitted together at the same time Bucky started standing up slowly. “I’d look closer, TinMan,” Loki said coldly as Steve went rigid again.

Layne felt it immediately; it was like stone hands clamped down around her chest it felt like she was being crushed. Steve had found his way back into his body and was struggling to regain his control. Layne flexed her fingers, the muscles and veins popping out along Steve’s fore and biceps with the strain the two were causing. Layne fell to her knees, cracking the hardwood floor as she pummeled Steve’s fists into the ground to catch herself from going face first. Both Bucky and Bruce rushed forward, pushing Steve up to his knees.

“Layne? Steve? I’m going to grab your arm,” Bruce said trying to sound calm, green tinging the outer ring of his irises. “Heart rate is through the roof. One of them needs to let go.”

Bucky placed both hands on Steve’s shoulders, keeping him upright and locked his silver eyes with his best friend’s. Foam started frothing at the corner of Steve’s mouth and a drop of blood ran from his nose. Bucky pulled his metal arm back and was ready to try to knock Steve out until suddenly Steve let out a sizable gasping breath, as if he had been drowning, and grabbed onto Bucky and Bruce for support. Across the room, back in her own body, Layne stirred. Clint and Loki both rushed to her side to help her sit up.

“Heart rate is slowing back down to normal,” Bruce confirmed clapping Steve on the shoulder before going over and confirming the same with Layne.

“Well, that was one hell of a show,” Tony said, looking from the six on the floor to the four on the couch. “I think we learned a lot. What did we learn, Cap?”

Layne shook off the three men trying to ascertain if she was alright to crawl over to where Steve was quickly. Bucky tensed like he wasn’t going to let her near Steve and Layne hesitated. Bucky relaxed suddenly, realizing what he had done, and scooted to the side. Layne looked at Bucky with concern before looking at Steve.

“Hey, Captain, I’m so sorry. You guys said you wanted me to fight you; I didn’t want to you. Does it hurt? Can I get you anything?” Layne pulled off her over shirt and wiped the blood off of Steve’s face. He still looked groggy and like he wasn’t sure where he was exactly. Steve finally looked up at Layne, his blue eyes meeting her frantic and worried look.

“I’m okay, Hardin. It’s fine,” Steve brought his hand up to push her hand away gently and then swipe at his mouth. “That was, just intense. It felt like a boulder hit me in the chest and then I was blind except for a light, but I had a hard time getting to the light.”

“That was your body,” Layne explained softly, clutching her balled up shirt to her chest. Tears were pricking behind her eyes. “It’s always a light, calling you home.”

Steve nodded in understanding and took a deep breath, nausea rolling the pit of his stomach. “When I finally got to the light, I could feel you already there and I knew you didn’t belong. I remember now that the plan was to fight you, but at the time I didn’t even think of that. I just needed to get you out, but I wasn’t a thing with hands or legs or anything. I don’t understand how it happened.”

“It was just your mind, Steve. You attacked me with your mind because I had your hands and your legs and you wanted them back. That’s how it works when I infiltrate in the first place.”

Steve nodded and stood slowly, relying on Bucky for support. He looked down at Layne who was near tears and felt incredibly guilty for forcing her to go through this. “I want you training with someone. I could feel what you’re capable of and while I’m sure you were holding back because it was me, I want to know what you can do if you’re pushed.”

Loki approached Layne and helped the girl to her feet. “I’ve already been working with her; we’ll continue with a swifter time line.” The Asgardian said coolly, looking at the team as if he was daring them to object.

“I’ll help,” Bucky said, raising his hands before anyone could start arguing. “Listen. I’m a lot more equipped to handle mind control powers being aimed at me than anyone else in this room, besides Wanda or Vision. And she needs to go against someone who is enhanced.”

Steve and Tony squared up, shoulder to shoulder, to give Bucky almost identical stern looks. “And if one of those memories she pulls up are the Winter Soldier activation words? Do you come back into your body as Bucky or as the Winter Soldier?” Tony asked with a small bit of venom. It took Bucky back a step; he thought that Stark and him were moving passed everything that had happened as the Winter Soldier and was shocked to hear the small amount of accusation in his voice.

“I saw every memory she did, Buck. If she sees something you don’t want to see, you’ll see it anyway. I tried to lock down certain memories and she saw them anyway,” Steve explained, sounding desperate and a little embarrassed. He wasn’t sure why his best friend was so adamant about putting himself in the way of Layne’s powers, of being the guinea pig.

Bucky growled, sick and tired of being treated like some wounded puppy. “I can handle that. I need to feel helpful here, guys. We could put her in one hundred hours of gun training with Natasha, but it won't matter if she’s still afraid of them. I could run her through the most vigorous hand to hand combat possible and it won't matter if she comes up against someone who’s bigger, stronger, faster. We recruited Layne, gave her a codename because we saw potential for her abilities out on the field. That’s what she has; we don’t give Wanda a gun or hand wraps, why would we do that to Layne? Steve, you’re too busy being Captain America you can’t be here to take the hits again and again. The world still shrinks away when they see me on the field, let me help where I can. We all have dark memories we don’t to think about again, but I’m not afraid of admitting mine.”

The whole room was silent and staring at Bucky. They all knew he was right; they knew this was the best option. It was Tony who finally clapped his hands together and nodded. “Well since that’s settled and we all agree it will probably end up only a little terribly, I’m going to call this the end of the meeting. If anyone needs me I’m going to be reinforcing a suit for when this all goes south!”

Natasha was the first one to leave the common room, sending one last glance of embarrassment and pain to Layne, Clint following after her. Tony took his leave and Wanda and Vision went back to doing a crossword puzzle they had been working on before the meeting started. Bruce made a comment about being in his lab before also taking his leave. Sam stood up and clapped Steve on the shoulder.

“Let’s go get you a beer or twelve,” Sam said leading the still-wobbly captain away from the group and over to the breakfast bar.

Loki turned to Bucky and Layne. “We start training tomorrow at dawn and see how long we can go and decide how often we will meet depending on how it goes,” he said and vanished in a puff of green smoke. Layne rolled her eyes, always thinking his little parlor tricks were ridiculous.

Bucky turned to Layne and shifted awkwardly for a moment. “Did you need a beer?” he asked softly, still feeling bad that he had treated her like an enemy earlier.

Layne smiled softly, her heartwarming with the offer. “No. I think I’m going to go work on some music in my room. Thanks though, Bucky. For everything. I’ll see you in the morning.” She touched the flesh of his forearm softly as she walked passed him and back down to the living quarters. Bucky sighed, his heart hammering from her touch and went over to sit on the stool next to his best friend, taking the beer Sam slid to him. Not that alcohol did anything to Bucky, but even the taste and feel of drinking a beer was calming to him.

“Boy, you got it bad,” Sam whistled, cracking his beer on the lip of the counter. He looked Bucky over with laughter in his eyes as Steve turned to look at him with confusion.

“What? No. I think she’s a good kid and has the potential to be a strong addition to the team. I just want to help,” Bucky insisted, slamming half his beer down in one gulp. He didn’t want to sort through whatever his emotions were with Wilson; Bucky still wasn’t a fan of how he tried to therapist him all the time.

“Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say.” Sam laughed and just pulled the case of beer out of the fridge, setting it on the bar.

Steve took a drink of his beer and looked out the window behind Sam stoically. “If you’re into her, Buck, you should just say something to her,” Steve said. Steve was used to seeing the old Bucky pick up and put down women with ease back in the day, but once they got him back he hadn’t had much to do romantically with anyone. Which Steve understood, Bucky was healing, but maybe it was time to get back on the horse.

“Doesn’t matter. She’ll want nothing to do with me after she’s been in my head,” Bucky said, shrugging and finishing his drink.

“We told you that you don’t have to do it,” Steve argued again.

“He’s being a self-fulfilling prophecy, Cap. He’s afraid of hurting Hardin, so he thinks once she sees whats in his that she won't want anything to do with him,” Sam said, leaning on the counter and raising an eyebrow. “Tell me I’m wrong, Sergeant.”

“I’ll tell you-you're an asshole,” Bucky said and pushed himself off the stool and stomping out of the common room.

Bucky was trying to sort through all his feelings and thoughts on Layne Hardin and put some semblance of sense to them. It wasn’t long until he shook himself out of his thoughts to find himself standing outside her door. Bucky could feel the soft thudding of the bass rattling the door in its frame lightly. He shook his head, wondering how she could stand it being so loud and raised his hand to knock. It was when he caught sight of his raised metal hand that he froze. Bucky opened and closed the mechanical fingers and took a step back from her door. Layne was already going to need all of her focus on figuring herself out; she didn’t need him adding more turmoil to the mixture. Licking his lips and taking a deep breath, Bucky turned from Layne’s room crossed the hall and locked himself in his own.

“FRIDAY?” Bucky asked the air, laying down on his bed.

“Yes, Sgt. Barnes?” the soft Irish voice asked.

“Can you play that disc from Layne’s room, please?”

“Certainly, I’ll play at a lower volume than Ms. Hardin for you as I know you do not like loud noises,” FRIDAY responded and slow, stomping bass drum started followed by a growl of the guitar. Bucky laid there, trying to understand the feel of the music he was listening to before it dawned on him that he had heard the vocalist before. He smiled softly, as Layne Hardin sang from his speakers about whiskey, foolish men, and heartbreak.

NEXT CHAPTER

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