Path to Protection (BuckyBarnes x OC)

One Last Ride

     The ringing in my head drowned out the distant voice, but I was still able to comprehend the voice as calls of despair, shouting my name. My eyelids felt heavier than a ton, but I managed to flutter my eyelashes open. I gazed blankly into the light illuminating the overhead of Junior's room, wondering how I ended up on his carpet.

     "Peggy! Come back, she's awake!" the voice echoed again, causing a sharp pain to erupt in my head.

     "Pipe it down, would ya?" I groaned as I attempted to get up and escape the white light of the bedroom.

     "Oh dear Lord, Willow, you scared me to death!" Peggy yelled as she stormed into the room, holding a glass of water. "What the hell happened? Who keeps doing this to you?"

     I gathered enough strength to sit up as I looked at her and Daniel by my side, the latter with a hand on my back for stability. It felt like a dream, but the broken window and my son's absence confirmed that everything was real. That meant, James was alive.

     Tears pricked into my eyes as I drew my legs up to hug my knees as a way to comfort myself. My one hand rested near my mouth, so I chewed on my knuckles but still couldn't keep my lips from quivering. Just the thought made it hard to breathe. James' face flashed before my eyes, and I remembered vividly how his metal arm dominated my throat. My fingers grazed the bruises below my jaw as I felt a tear drop down my cheek.

     "He's alive, Peggy," I whispered, barely audible for even me to hear.

     "Sorry, say that again?" Peggy kneeled on my side.

     "He's alive!" I snarled in her face harshly.

     "Whoa, whoa, calm down. Who's alive?" Daniel grabbed my shoulders.

    Nothing seemed real anymore. I felt like I'd been thrown into my worst nightmare. My son was gone, and the man I loved tried to kill me after claiming that he didn't even remember me.

     If he didn't remember me, why didn't he just kill me? Why did he drug me with the chloroform cloth, instead?

     "James is," I murmured cautiously, looking around to see if anyone else was around who might be listening.

     "He isn't with Howard?" Peggy asked.

     "I didn't mean Junior!" I growled again but composed myself after seeing how concerned Peggy's gaze was becoming. "I meant Barnes. He came to kill me. He took Junior with him."

     "That's impossible," Daniel stated. "There's no way he'd survived that fall."

     "It's Zola," I said immediately. "Zola experimented on James once before; he injected a form of the super-soldier serum in him just before we saved him out of the facility, and it helped him survive the fall. Zola must've planned this. Now he finally got his hands on my James."

     The two exchanged a look. I gazed at them from under my forehead, noticing they didn't believe me. It pissed me off more than it should've because I knew I was being honest, but they thought I was being over-dramatic or delusional.

     "I've been to his lab. It's located just below S.H.I.E.L.D.'s offices. I've faced James before; that's how I got that bruise. I didn't know it was him back then, and I managed to escape. Zola... he threatened me he'll hurt the ones I love if I tell anyone," I summarized quickly. "Clearly, he kept his promise."

     "But," Peggy processed the information, "we didn't know about it. Who did you tell?"

     "I told Howard this morning."