Introductions Are in Order
Paring: Robert Reynoldsx Fem!Witch Reader! Past Avenger!
Summary: Bucky asks a favor of you and ends up getting you entangled with one of Valentinas ploys.
Warnings: SPOILERS FOR THUNDERBOLTS*, talks of mental health, depression, anxiety. Some violence (bc its marvel), some language. Trauma. Angst. Decent amount of Hurt/ With some comfort!
Word count: 2.7k
AN: Hi! Welcome to my fic! this is probably multi part idk my plans yet. I'm leaning more towards multi-part bc I'm usually a chapter by chapter writer so there isn’t a lot of Bob in this one but I hope its a good intro to maybe a 2-3 parts. I literally fell in love with Bob's character during Thunderbolts and this man gave me motivation to write again. I didn't have a Beta reader for this one so pls forgive any grammer or silly mistakes. Forewarning (y/n)’s powers based off of the Marvel character Morgan le Fay just to throw that out there, she’s definitely not Wanda but definitely not Morgan. Think morally gray/ hates everyone except like 3 people/ witch trained by the past avengers. Next part will have more Bob I promise, just wanted to introduce the story here >:3
Song for the chapter: https://open.spotify.com/track/09fDemXgXzRReTfb7UWxjD?si=7e0b5d606b824813
xoxox
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“I need your help with something.”
You sighed heavily before responding, “Hello to you too Senator Barnes!” You heard the man grumble from the other phone line.
“You know I hate when you call me that,” Bucky said.
“Well…what do you want, Buck?” You said, rolling your eyes. You look around your empty apartment for something to fidget with while Bucky chews your ear off about calling him another stupid nickname.
“Y/N, Valentina’s got this guy apparently named Bob-”
“Bob?” You ask, cutting him off. Who names their kid Bob in this day and age?
“Yes, Bob! I’m with Nat’s sister and she said we have to go get him because he’s part of some Sentry project,” He explained, voices yelling at him in the background of the phone call. “Can you just meet us at the tower?”
A wave of nausea rolled over you, “The tower? Bucky, I don't go around there anymore.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t be calling you if I had anyone else to call.”
“How nice,” you taunt. You were never any of the Avengers first calls. To be fair you weren’t sure if it is because they were scared of you or your lack of social skills. “Also Nat’s sister?”
“Later,” Which means he says he’ll tell you later but in reality he’s never going to bring it up again unless you find the answer yourself.
You sigh, walking over to the bookshelf in your apartment that’s filled with books, both regular and magical, and pictures. Your hand brushes across a photo of yourself, Steven Strange, and Wanda, “I don’t fight anymore Bucky. You couldn’t just ask Sam?”
“He’s uhmm..busy,” He answered, “I know how you’re feeling y/n.”
“You don’t,” You interrupt. How could he possibly understand how you’re feeling when he barely reaches out to you unless he needs something. Him and the rest of the remaining team abandoned you, after Wanda, you had no one to turn to. You felt the all too familiar dull ache in your chest. You chewed on the skin around your nails waiting for Bucky to respond.
“ I think we need you for this one.” Which means in Bucky terms that whoever they are fighting is a mutant and something he can’t fight.
“Fuck,” You mutter to yourself.
Ever since Wanda vanished you refused to step back out on the field.She was the only one that truly knew what you were capable of considering she was the one that found you all those years ago. Not even Thor, a god, could hold you back during training sessions and the only avenger to understand your pain was Wanda. And now she’s-
You closed your eyes and took a deep breath to ground yourself. You haven’t been able to sense her magic anywhere. No matter what realm you went to, you couldn’t find her.
Fuck you Bucky Barnes.
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“She already knows we’re here,” You try to explain to the group in front of you. Bucky gave you and the rest of the team a run down of Sentry and what Mel, Valentinas assistant, told him about Bob. That doesn’t stop them from driving a truck through the lobby destroying the front of the building in the process, “Awesome,” You have no choice but to join the fight to defend the group. Defense only, you tell yourself
While Walker has his back turned, a soldier on the ground fires a few stray bullets, you toss your hand up and redirect the shots to the wall behind him, “Watch yourself walker,” You growled. Before he could reply you went back to the fight. Using your magic to cast illusions into the minds of the soldiers fighting to give the group an advantage when attacking.
“I just had that drywall put in. You can just come up, you know that right.” Valentina’s voice rang out over the intercoms, “But I know you knew that already y/n. Come on up!”
Yelena and Ava looked at you, knowing you had previously stated that and they had just refused to listen. You just rolled your eyes at them before motioning them to go in the elevator.
“You are not coming,” Yelena asked as the group of 5 squeezed into the elevator.
You shake your head before pointing up. You close your eyes and feel the familiar stomach reeling feeling of teleporting to where the penthouse once was. Where you shared few but long lasting memories. Your eyes wander across the empty walls and fairly empty room before you look at Val.
“Ah! Y/N, so lovely to see you darling. You see I’ve always wanted to work with you,” The woman said.
“Can’t say the same,” You said in a sarcastic tone.
“Hmm, well maybe he’ll change your mind.” You just raise an eyebrow.
You don’t have the chase to question her because Bucky and the team come through the elevator doors ready to arrest her for crimes. You look between each person and back to Valentina, honestly not sure what is going on.
That's when you feel it. A humming. Power. You look around only to notice no one else in the “Thunderbolts”, as Alexie is calling them, notices it. You try to pinpoint a mind to tap into to find where this power is from but you can’t, a black shadow blocking you out. Shit.
“Meet Sentry.”
You look up to where a man is clothed in a…ugly suit, with unnaturally yellow blonde hair.
“Hey guys,” He greats. You study him for a second, the power dripping off of him but there's something else there, something all too familiar. You try to invade his mind but there's something keeping you out. You pull and claw at the black void keeping you out.
“Y/n.” You vacate the attempt on his mind and meet his eyes. You cock your head to the side, he knows what you were doing, “That won’t work,” his voice coming out cautious.
“Take care of them Robert,” Valentina orders.
“I don’t want to hurt you guys,” Bob says, looking around at all of them in front of him, “Please just give yourselves in.”
“Wait-” Yelena tries to interrupt.
Alexie yells before running towards the man. Instead of following the rest of the team you stand back and observe. Everything they throw at him gets blocked or countered. Teleportation. Flight. Strength.
Bucky shoots at Bob only for the bullets to be sprayed back at him and Walker. You hold your hand up blocking the bullets and directing them towards the already broken window. Thats when Sentry notices you.
“I knew I liked her,” Walker says to Bucky, getting ready to fight again.
“Wanda’s not here to save you this time.”
You barely move after hearing the voice in your head when the rest of the Thunderbolts move to attack Bob. You shake your head as if to clear your thoughts but you feel his eyes on you. Instead of the blue you saw earlier, Bob’s eyes have a golden hue.
“She left you, just like you told her to.”
“Stop,” You whisper to yourself, rage boiling beneath your skin.
The fight breaks out and you watch as Bob grabs Bucky's Arm.
“God damnit,” You whisper, before running towards the two to save Bucky. Bob tosses Bucky to the side, his arm now torn off. You shot a blast of energy towards him only for him to teleport out of the way. I don’t want to hurt you, You try to telepathically tell him.
“You can’t hurt me,” He says aloud.
“Says who,” You taunt. Your feet leave the floor before you can’t register your rage taking over. Blast after blast and nothing is hitting him.
He teleports in front of you and grabs your neck. What he doesn’t expect is to look behind you and see a beach. A sunset. He furrows his brows as he looks around in confusion.
That gives you enough time to grab his wrist and teleport out of his grasp.
The illusion collapses around the two of you as you lose contact. With every fight you’ve been in, usually your opponent will be thrown off once coming out of the illusion but Bob…He raises a hand before you can counter and you slam into the concrete wall of Avengers Tower, the wall cracking behind you.
You feel an arm hook under your shoulders and begin to drag you to the elevator which you see is already occupied with the rest of the team besides you and Yelena. “Get off of me,” You grumble. You teleport out of her grasp and out of the tower completely. Your knees are wobbly beneath you and you assess your surroundings. Guard still up.
“Are you hurt?” You turn and see Bucky running towards you, the rest of the Thunderbolts following in suit.
“You know I’m not,” You used your magic to heal yourself immediately after the hit, “I tried to help Buck but I’m not strong enough anymore. I’m leaving.”
“No, let us regroup and we can go back in,” Alexie tries to argue.
“All of you just got your asses beat, you especially-”
“Well I am just rusty but now I am ready to go,” The older super soldier bellows.
You see Yelena put a hand over her eyes. You just laugh out of disbelief and begin to walk down the street.
“Wait y/n,” Bucky follows after you, “Just wait-”
You turn, he can feel the rage dripping off of you, “What!” You shout, “What do you want from me?”
He just stares at you, “I was going to ask if you were okay.”
You laugh, “Am I okay? God, you should've asked me that when Tony died. Or when I lost Vision and then lost Wanda. Or Nat. Or Steve.”
“You acted like you didn’t even care about half of the team, what did you expect me to do?” He argues.
“I didn’t want to hurt any of you!” You exclaim, letting your emotions run wild on the streets of New York, “If you think that up there I used all my power, you're wrong. I didn’t want to hurt any of you so I stayed away.”
“But Wanda-”
“But Wanda understood me, more than you or Tony or any of them. You don’t understand what I went through, what I’ve done. Bucky, you don’t know who I really am.”
There was commotion behind you, taking your concentration away from the conversation. Citizens were pointing up towards the sky. You and Bucky exchange glances before running to where you could have a clear view of what they were looking at.
A shadow of man floated above Avengers Tower. You watched as he raised a hand and all of a sudden a helicopter came crashing into a crane. Concrete and rubble began to fall from the buildings that were hit. People were screaming.
Typical avenger in New York occurrence.
You and Bucky split off to protect the people from being crushed. You used your magic to stop concrete from crushing a family and urged them to get into a building.
“You’re alone,” You turned to see the man closer to you now. You recognized the voice from just minutes ago, Bob, “You’ve always been alone.” You just stare at him, “It eats you alive doesn’t it, y/n.”
People are screaming, you turn to look behind you and see shadows of people spread across the floor in dark black smoke. You heart drops, what the fuck is this guy.
“The pain goes away. Just come with me,” Bob captures your attention once again, “I can make it go away.”
“How?” You whisper. He reaches a hand out to you.
“Y/n! Stop!” Bucky shouts behind you but something in your mind is telling you to go. Telling you that everything will stop if you accept his hand. Everything will be quiet. Will the pain finally go away?
“Y/n,” The distorted voice urges.
That’s when you close your eyes and walk into the void.
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You open your eyes and find yourself in an all too familiar room. One lined with archaic symbols preventing you from escaping. Your heart drops because you see yourself, younger, wounded, broken standing on the other side of the room.
You know this day, you recognize it by the energy alone. This was the first time you killed someone. The first time you disintegrated someone's body and brain.
“Y/N, Before you is a man who is being convicted of crimes against countless women, including your own mother,” You watched as your younger self balled her hands into fists, “Your task is to eliminate him.”
Younger you nodded.
“N-no,” You ran over to where you stood and wrapped your arms around your younger self, “you don’t have to do this,”
“Get off of me,” Your body is thrown a few feet away from your younger self. That's when you feel it, the pain of a curse of 1000 sharp white-hot knives digging into you, you scream and writhe on the floor. That was your punishment when you were captured, if you ever disobeyed or failed, they cursed you over and over.
“Stop,” You sob, the curse diminishing, “Stop,” You whisper, tears falling onto the floor beneath you. Your mind whirls and your limbs ache, like you’re gripped by a fever that burns through you like wildfire.
“Y/n?” A male voice.
You look towards a doorway where Bob stands, not Sentry, not Void but Bob. You squeeze your eyes shut to stop crying.
“Oh god, I-I’m so sorry,” He runs over to you, “I-I can’t stop it,” He apologized.
“I don’t understand,” Your voice comes out as a whisper, “What is this?” You finally sit up and watch the rest of the scene play out in front of you.
You watch as younger you raises her hand towards the man and he begins to scream in agony. You watch as his skin flairs and melts.
“Don’t look,” Bob urges, grabbing your arm and pulling your attention from the memory. There are tears in his blue eyes. He has brown hair now instead of the fake gold that Val gave him. He’s clothed in a sweater and tan pants. He honestly looks like he’s going to pass out. “I can’t do anything right, I’m so sorry,” He mumbles, “I-I don’t even know you and you’re stuck here with me. It’s this…void.”
“How do we get out?” You ask, looking down to study your shaking hands.
“I-I don’t know. There’s different rooms and each one just gets worse. I’m so sorry Y/n,” He begins to cry. Your heart shatters for a moment thinking about what he must go through if he deals with this constantly, now with the serum it must have fully taken over him.
“Let’s just get out okay,” You place your hand on his thigh and he tenses beneath you. You squeeze his leg in reassurance before standing up, “P-please don’t tell anyone what you saw, I-I can’t. No one knows.”
“I won’t, Why would I tell them?” He asks sincerely. All you can do is nod, “Y-you can trust me.” Once again, you just nod.
“Do you think everyone else is in here?” You ask, trying to change the topic.
“M-maybe,” He saying, shrinking in on himself.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m fine. We’ll all be fine,” You soothe, “Let’s just find them.”
Thats how you ended up finding the team, fighting Bob in a chicken outfit, and getting out of the void. Only to have Valentina throw a new title on the group right after.
The New Avengers. Including you. Awesome.
And that’s how you ended up here, living in the tower after some much needed renovations. Bob didn’t remember anything after the Void incident but something told you to tell him. So you showed him through your magic. He apologized profusely to the team and kept his distance since then. Honestly, he reminds you a lot of yourself when you first joined the Avengers with Wanda. But you refuse to let him fall into that dark of a hole like you did.
You want to save someone for yourself, for once. You want to save him.
part two!