#DUFE series
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Chapter Preview: Empire of Miracles
A/N: Hello all!
I’m sure my long time readers have noticed that one of my current projects has undergone some big-time neglect. That of course refers to Empire of Miracles, the second installment of my Marvel Canon Divergence series. I promise, I do not intend to abandon the story! The unexpected hiatus has been born purely out of craziness at my day job, and some narrative changes I’ve been wrestling with making for the series (and of course, keeping my other projects updated).
But fear not! I have finally reached a revised story projection that I am happy with, and can more confidently resume work on. In the meantime, as a thank you to everyone who still asks about this story, and are patiently waiting for what comes next, I would like to share with you a preview of the first few pages of Chapter 12 down, below the cut.
Hope you all enjoy!
Preview:
The Contessa was positively fuming. It was the most Bucky had seen her display any shade of genuine emotion.
“Damn you, Belova,” the Contessa snarled. “I should’ve known you’d made it too easy for us back at the Academy—that you were planning to ruin this. How typical—you’re such a typical, second-rate tool.”
Yelena was less than impressed. “And you’re a spoiled, American bitch who’s bitter someone else got the promotion to Avenger over four years ago. Now that we’ve gotten formalities out of the way, can I get an answer to my question?”
“No! You aren’t getting a damned thing,” the other woman insisted. “You made your choice years ago. You can live with it, and what little it’s clearly left you with.”
Bucky watched on numbly as the Contessa unleashed a full tirade at Yelena, which the rogue assassin seemingly couldn’t care less about, based on how she continued to study the room. Presumably for signs of Natasha. Bucky watched the scene unfold for a few listless moments, not quite processing it as reality. But then, as feeling began to return to his hands and legs, sense started to creep back in, too.
He wasn’t on ice again. He was OK.
And his would-be captor was well and effectively distracted.
Trying to be inconspicuous, Bucky began to flex his arms, particularly in his metal arm. He’d never been so grateful for Stark tech, as the sleek, advanced plates made little sound, nor visibly moved as he pushed them against the metal restraints over him. If he could just break the one arm free, he knew he could easily get the rest of himself out, as well.
His confidence, however, wavered when he looked up to ensure his efforts hadn’t been noticed. The Contessa may not have been looking at him, but Yelena sure was. A flash of panic coursed through him as he caught her gaze, which was fixed unblinkingly at him with a tilted head and narrowed scrutiny.
To Bucky’s surprise, though, she didn’t say anything about his subtle efforts to pull himself out of his restraints. Instead, she asked in a flat, only half-interested voice, “What are you doing to him?”
“Nothing of your concern,” the Contessa stated firmly, stepping in front of Bucky with her arm stretched out. If not for her possessive tone, the action may have seemed protective. “You should just count yourself lucky I haven’t ordered someone to put you in the chamber, and just walk away.”
Yelena scoffed. “Yeah. If only we both had the hands to spare for that.”
“What the hell are you trying to prove—”
“Madam,” the doctor interrupted, stepping in between the two women. At the last moment, he veered closer to Yelena, reaching for the bend of her arm. “If I may, I think we can still resolve things in a civil—”
His hand was only a few inches shy of actually making contact with the long sleeves of her suit before Yelena’s own hand was darting forward to grab his wrist, tight enough to make the doctor gasp sharply. Her seemingly bored expression changed as suddenly as the flip of a switch, deceptively round and soft features hardening to an almost primal level of defensiveness.
“Do not touch me,” she growled, anger highlighting the strong inflections of her native accent.
The Contessa stepped forward as well, ushering the medic aside. “You can leave us, doctor,” she ordered. “I have some experience reasoning with stubborn dogs.”
Yelena glowered at the other woman. Then, as the doctor tentatively made his way around her to leave, sneered at him in an equally condescending voice, “Yes, run along, little rabbit.”
It effectively spooked him into moving faster.
The Contessa demanded to know what Yelena was trying to accomplish by ‘raiding’ her base. With all remaining persons effectively distracted once more, Bucky resumed his attempts to wrench himself free. Of course, it was to no avail, which was to be expected from restraints that had so effectively kept him contained during years of imprisonment with Hydra. Though it didn’t stop him from trying. And also keeping an ear out for whether either of the women in the room noticed him, as his efforts gradually become less conspicuous.
“I know my sister is here,” Yelena snarled in answer to the Contessa’s question. “I received a—”
The Contessa didn’t let her finish. With a haughty laugh, she leaned in closer to Belova. “Sister? You still believe you have any sort of family? Well, then, pray tell me, where were they when the Red Room tired of you? Who was the one to claim you—to offer you a new home, with an actual purpose, hmm?”
Yelena faltered. Even while paying only half-attention to them, Bucky noticed it. Then she was continuing as if the Contessa hadn’t spoken at all, bearing that stony anger she had first appeared with. “I know Natalia is here. We received signal on a channel that’s been dormant ever since she left home. She explicitly said she’s ready to finish the fight we started back at the Academy.”
“A signal?” the Contessa demanded incredulously. “From what?”
Bucky knew the answer to that. There was only one member of the team who was even more old-fashioned than him; who still considered old-fashioned tech valuable, let alone would think to bring it with him on a mission.
Curbing his efforts to physically break free for the time being, Bucky decided to try something else.
“Steve’s radio,” he said aloud, winning Yelena’s attention and making the Contessa grimace. “It must have been. He’s here, and Natalia’s with him. They wouldn’t leave each other.”
“Well, now, that I believe,” Yelena said with a pompous quirk of her eyebrow. “Only figures Russia’s greatest traitor would pick America’s favorite boy wonder, of all people, to latch onto.”
Disregarding the Contessa entirely, Yelena pushed her aside to stride closer to Bucky. “Where are they, then?”
The Contessa intervened before Bucky could answer, stepping right back in between them. “You have no right to speak to him! You aren’t—”
“What?” Yelena demanded sharply. “Not authorized? Not human enough anymore to interact with another one of ‘the Assets’?”
The Contessa sighed shortly at the spitting vitriol in Yelena’s voice at the last few words.
Turning back to Bucky, the spy asked again, “Where is Natalia?”
“I don’t know exactly—” Bucky started to say, only to have the Contessa interrupt again.
“He is an Asset!” the Contessa reminded, pulling Yelena’s attention back to her for the briefest of moments. “You think we would tell him anything that could compromise our—”
“I may not know, but I know someone who does!” Bucky insisted quickly, trying to raise his voice to be heard over the Contessa, only to croak on the hoarseness of his own voice. Most likely from his screaming just minutes before. “My partner is a telepath. If she gets close enough, she can pick up on whose thoughts are whose.”
Yelena tipped her head back slightly in thought. “Oh, yes. I know of the witch.”
“If we find her, we can find Natalia,” Bucky reasoned. “She can point us in the right direction. If you just let me—”
The Contessa spoke over him again, this time going so far as to slowly approach Yelena. She appeared to be speaking to both the spy and the former Winter Soldier now. “You think we would let something that dangerous down here? If she got so much as a papercut, she could make this entire facility cave in on itself! You think I wouldn’t take precautions to have her transferred to another location by now? Do you truly think so lowly of me, Belova?”
“I do, actually,” Yelena retorted dryly.
Bucky swallowed hard, battling with his own fear that the Contessa was telling the truth about sending Wanda away. He didn’t think he had been on ice that long—it hadn’t even been long enough for him to lose consciousness. But there was no telling exactly how long it had been, let alone whether the Contessa had enough time to actually send Wanda away.
He didn’t know what he would do if he’d come this far just to learn someone had taken his sweetheart away again.
“I saw her,” he tried to convince Yelena. And perhaps himself, too. “They have her in a padded room—”
“You’re going to listen to someone in his position?” the Contessa demanded, gesturing to Bucky’s overall form. “Look at him! He would say anything to get out of there.”
Yelena’s impassive front held strong, making it impossible to know who she believed more. Bucky could feel an icy brush of panic rise in him again.
He wasn’t going to give up, though. He couldn’t break out of his confines by himself, so convincing Yelena to help seemed to be his only hope. “Do you want to take that risk? If there’s even a chance I can show you where Natasha is?”
“You’re going to trust the man who taught you how to be the ruthless killer you are?” the Contessa challenged. “He trained you and all of your sisters, and didn’t think twice of any of you once it was over. He couldn’t even name you right now—”
“Yelena.” Now, Bucky was the one to cut in. “You think taking the word of someone who clearly doesn’t respect you is any better? Someone who just wants to get rid of you?”
“I didn’t ask to be rid of you!” the Contessa said, sounding almost incredulous. Bucky could see beneath her eyes, though, that it was artificial. Purely for show, to prey on something Yelena had probably contested with her before. “You were the one who chose to leave.”
Yelena grimaced, jaw clenching as though she wanted to say something. If Bucky knew anything of the two women’s past together, he would have used it then, while more of Yelena’s defenses were down. But alas, he knew virtually nothing of what he would be working with. He barely remembered his own history with her and Natasha in the Red Room, which she’d tried to kill him over back at the ballet academy.
“You knew of our plans,” the Contessa went on. “You knew we wanted to bring the Avengers into it. And yet, you still left. Don’t you remember it?”
Yelena didn’t answer. Instead, she only huffed a heavy, distressed breath.
“You’re the one who left,” the other women egged on ruthlessly, now going so far as to physically step further into Yelena’s space. “You chose to hate the Black Widow so much you didn’t even want to see her face, let alone help us find justice for everything she put us through. You would rather hide and sulk from that…that whore with a misguided hero complex, rather than help bring down her and her lackeys.”
In the middle of the Contessa’s spiel, there was a sudden, palpable shift in Yelena. Her shoulders tensed, and for a split second, her eyes widened, before returning to their seemingly impassive state. She exhaled raggedly as the Contessa uttered a mocking laugh, no doubt ready to drag Natasha and the Avengers’ names through the mud some more.
But the jeering didn’t come. Before the words could even leave the Contessa’s tongue, they were cut off by her own inhuman screech. Her body tensed, muscles contracting and seizing to the point that she gracelessly fell backwards, bracing herself against the wall behind her and grunting in agony.
As her body slid down, Bucky was able to see the stun baton Yelena had subtly unveiled from the sleeve of her prototype Black Widow uniform. The weapon looked bulkier, and was most likely weaker in terms of power than Natasha’s, but it was certainly enough to daze the Contessa, even when the bolts of electricity stopped coursing through her body.
Yelena only canted her head, wholly indifferent as she watched the other woman vainly attempt to keep herself upright.
“Smarts, doesn’t it?” Yelena mocked.
The Contessa only growled, her fury granting her enough strength to drag herself halfway upright against the wall behind her. Yelena swiftly turned and kicked the sole of her boot against the older woman’s hip, effectively forcing her all the way down, onto the floor.
“If anyone is going to be destroying the Avengers,” Yelena said venomously, turning back towards Bucky and quickly advancing towards him, “it’s going to be me.”
#WinterWitch#bucky barnes x wanda maximoff#DUFE series#my stories#of course the next update will also be affected#by how utterly destroyed I will be by Multiverse on Madness this Friday#but that probably goes without saying lmao
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Keldran DLC Master Post
"So, it has arrived. The game we have worked on for two months is finally here. Seeing the overwhelming amount of support and love for this game coming in already has been so encouraging. And, there have been a fair few comments regarding a certain NPC character. Lord Keldrannon von Galen.
To some, this may come as a surprise, but to others, it is a well known fact. Keldran is my favorite character in Deliver Us from Evil. ‘But, why?’ You may ask me. After all, he isn’t dateable and only features so much throughout the game as it is. Lovely fellow, however. Regardless, whenever I got the chance to write Keldran I was filled with excitement.
Reason being, I have a slight weakness for this character type; the mysterious, rich, powerful and more-often-than-not arrogant arsehole with a wealth of secrets and questionable morals. Types that, more often than not, can be dangerous if crossed and your knight in shining armor if endeared to. It is, for lack of better terms, a comfort trope for me left over from my many years traipsing through various fandoms. It’s that allure of that fine line between prince and terror which appeals to me, and, judging by some reactions…
It might be appealing to you too, dear reader.
To wet your appetite further, here's a little preview of what you might expect out of our dark prince, Lord Keldrannon Aurelius von Galen:
To everyone's surprise, you, dear MC, choose to accompany Lord Keldran as a partner in the investigation. After all, he's a perfect mix of worldly and celestially attuned... or is he? As you dig deeper into the mystery of the corrupted wishes, you discover that his connection with a certain incubus runs deeper than anticipated and that the Son of Lucifer has something personal at stake with this investigation. It's up to you to get closer him... that is, if you can overcome his legacy; Pride."
Speaking of pride, and in light of recent events and comments, the folks and I at team DUFE also wanted to let you know that we have made a solid decision about our proposed DLC for the Keldran route.
To put it simply, players who choose to pursue this route will not only be attempting to romance Keldran, but enter a polyamourous relationship with him and other LI Ace. The reason behind this lies in the fact that we want to include a wide range of sexualities and relationships not often represented in Otomes and visual novels.
In both the prologue and the Michael routes, it is hinted that Keldran and Ace are in an open, on-and-off again relationship. Ace is an incubus and therefore has slept with many people of different genders and will do so. However, in terms of romance he is completely besotted with MC and/or Keldran.
With the release of games such as Supergiant’s Hades giving you the option to pursue a poly relationship with the two main love interests, greater representation in video games and visual novels is sorely needed and we want to do our part to give people in open/poly relationships a voice and the feeling of being seen.
While we understand that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, relationships like what we’re planning on writing do exist and if that’s not for you, we have two lovely character routes already here for you to enjoy. Love wins with Team DUFE.”
-Rico
We also finalized a series of rewards in you’ll get if you support our cause:
$6 + gets you the artbook PDF straight to your inbox
$20+ gets you Early Access to the DLC
$50+ (limited slots) gets you a mysterious email from Keldran himself. (*)
*You may also find a voice attachment and (optional) tell us your name so you can *really* blush 😉
DONATE here: https://ko-fi.com/galengames
(Closes August 15th)
#oelvn#dufegame#crowdfunding#if#interactive fiction#visual novel#otome#polyamory#love#lgbt representation#english otome
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List of my Bloomic Fanfics
Summaries will be on the posts/fanfics themselves.
Oneshots
Scum of Society (hurt, assault, mentions of cheating, name-calling, job-hunting)- societyboy as Heath Sousa; post-canon
Summer Days (lighthearted, friendship)- BIGLADY, two2, onionthief, June, nightowl; may or may not be liquidated into a Hear Me Without Hearing Me chapter later IDK; but for now it's a oneshot
Write to Me Right Next to Me (romance, mild angst, fluff, implied sexual content, gender-neutral)- onionthief as Ollie, OC; contains spoilers to Hear Me Without Hearing Me; post-canon
Chaptered, ongoing
Hear Me Without Hearing Me (romance, angst, hurt, comfort)- onionthief, OCs, NakedToaster, the rest of the server; same time as canon but AU
What They're Privy To (mild angst, violent humor, police officers, stalking tho it's Quest)- Quest as Matthew Davis, societyboy as Heath Sousa, OCs; post-canon
Series
The Catfish Chronicles: Hear Me Without Hearing Me, Summer Days, Write to Me Right Next to Me
How Badly Do You Need A Redemption Arc?: Scum of Society, What They're Privy To
Plotless, Bonus
There's an Elephant in the Room and It's as Big as Quest (friendship, fluff, comfort)- Quest, all NPCs except SB, DUFE cameos, and the bots
No Presents, Just A Little Moment (neighbors AU, cute, Christmas, sem break)- onionthief, introverted reader
Twice the Hostage (delinquent/crime AU, humor)- onionthief, stoic reader
He's Just Proud of You (invited for a dinner date, are we fake dating, you are onion's ideal™ partner- onionthief, overachieving reader feeling vulnerable
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How did you come up with the title “Season of the Lion and Wolf”?
Whenever I look at it, my mind jumps to either “Season of the Witch” or “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” lol
It was actually inspired by a song! Specifically, "Lion and Wolf," by Thrice. It was one of the songs I would listen to a lot while mapping out the story because of its ominous, witchy vibe. And the imagery in that song of the lion and wolf competing for the narrator (in a sense) reminded me of the third act, when Pietro is at odds with Bucky over who's better at looking after Wanda, which only served to upset her.
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Of the members of the team in your Empire of Miracles AU, who’s the most likely to tell both of the Maximoff twins, separately and at different times, “You were always my favorite.”
(This is completely in jest lol, but I can think of one person in particular who would attempt this 😂)
My first inclination is to say Sam, since he's friends with both of them, and is the most likely to (playfully) swap loyalties when it suits him in a situation. 😅
I could also see Tony doing the same for similar reasons, but given their collective history together, he might mean it a little more, lol
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I know that Wanda’s age has been the subject of a lot of speculation, and retcons, in the MCU, but I wanted to ask how old she is at the start of Season of the Lion and Wolf? I know the timeline of that AU, but I’m curious about how old she is when it begins.
I tried to keep it vague for this very reason (i.e., canon keeps things vague and/or unclear, so I know everyone just likes to use their own headcanons).
But for me, personally, I wrote Wanda with the intention she was in her late twenties. Specifically 26, since that was how old Elizabeth Olsen was when Age of Ultron was released, and the story picks up immediately after that. Since the series is primarily based on the MCU version of the characters, I often just use their respective actors as reference for gaps like their birth dates and so on :)
#nerd answers#DUFE series#if I recall correctly#didn't WandaVision eventually do the same thing?#i.e. just use Elizabeth Olsen's birthday as Wanda's
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I am so, so curious about Wanda’s powers in your DUFE series. The way you describe the energy as “her scarlet” and give it something close to sentience, or a will of it’s own, is one of the most fascinating takes I’ve seen regarding her powers.
How did you come up with the idea for it?
This is such a great question, I love it!
I remember I started DUFE before WandaVision, so the MCU hadn’t yet established if she had gotten powers from the Mind Stone she was experimented on with, or if it was something she was born with that got awakened there. So, for the fic I tried to meet in the middle and write it as though something alien that was created within her. Kind of like a parasite, minus the degenerative factor.
#nerd answers#DUFE series#I also wanna say one comics line portrayed her magic#more directly like a parasite#including draining her health the more she used it#and I kind of want to explore that angle someday
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Is the Yelena from Empire of Miracles MCU!Yelena? As in, Florence Pugh’s Yelena we saw in the Black Widow movie?
Yes! Obviously, some parts of her backstory were tweaked, and borrowed from the comics, since I hadn't seen the Black Widow movie when I first started mapping out the story, but the intention was always to leave room to work in how the MCU characterized her
#nerd answers#DUFE series#I will say this#I loved Florence Pugh's portrayal a lot more than I thought I would#and it even influenced what I plan to do with her in the next fic
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New Chapter: Empire of Miracles
Link: Chapter 10
Previous: Chapter 9
First: Chapter 1 (AO3)
A/N: Trigger warning in this chapter for discussions of suicide and non-consensual medical procedures. Nothing explicit, but they are mentioned!
Preview: Wanda couldn’t fully describe it, but something about being escorted to her medical eval only heightened her discomfort with the matter. She didn’t look into any of the agents’ minds, for she was too wrapped in her own, trying to cope with both her anxiety at the prospect of facing medics on her own and her anxiety for James, left behind and alone under similar circumstances. However, she was still hyper-aware that something at the surface of their minds was stirring noisily. Restlessly.
Again, she was too absorbed in her own anxieties to worry much about investigating past the surface of activity. Though, she kept a monitor on those distressed tickings even when they reached their destination. It was a spacious examination room, with only one medic there at the moment. He was the same small man that had awkwardly tried to push her aside when James was first being wheeled away. Now, he seemed more in his element, shuffling through paperwork on a counter right by the door. Wanda hovered on the other side of the door as her escort team’s leader got his attention.
Wanda didn’t pick up much of their nothing greetings, but she did pick up something about James. They didn’t refer to him by name, but she just intrinsically knew he was brought up in the conversation.
“Has the injection worn off on him yet?”
“No. He was all out of it when we went by there.”
The medic made a sound of acknowledgement. “And the hand?”
Wanda paid special attention there, having assumed they were talking about James’s metal hand. Perhaps they would even clue her in on what happened to it before he found her.
But then she saw the agent shake out a hand at his side. It was the side facing away from her, so she only got a fleeting glimpse, but she was fairly sure she saw a flash of stark white around his palm. It only took a second for Wanda to realize it must have been gauze, or some other sort of bandaging for an injury.
“Still aches like a bitch,” the agent murmured under his breath, as if it were some scandalous disgrace to admit as much about an injury that had already been seen to. “You got anything for that?”
“For a mild abrasion? It’s excessive,” the medic answered dismissively, barely even looking at the injury in question. “It doesn’t need anything now.”
Something sharp ticked at the agent’s mind, indicating that he wanted to disagree. It was different than the varying degrees of agitated activity Wanda had heard in the rest of the patrol’s minds, but not by much. It definitely wasn’t enough to curb her curiosity as to what had made each of them so unsettled. She hadn’t used her telepathy to read past the surface of someone’s mind since being held hostage by Strucker’s son a year ago, but she figured there would be no harm in doing so now, under the circumstances.
Wanda looked deeper into the leader’s mind. She wasn’t going to insert anything new or try to change what was already there, so he would have no way of knowing her presence was even there. She sifted deep into his mind, past the thoughts at the forefront and into more visual segments, into his memories past. There were a few slightly fuzzy ones to go through first; the things he didn’t consider important enough to remember in great detail. But then she reached one that was clearer, one that had more to do with the subject he’d brought up now. One to do with his hand, as stinging spikes of pain shot through it. A set of…of teeth clamped down on it. An animal’s teeth.
A dog’s teeth.
The image shook a little as she saw through the man’s eyes as he tried to shake the animal off of him, but there was no denying it was a large dog. The witch caught another glimpse of white—this time from the dog’s fur—before the image rapidly became swarmed with a glow of red.
Bozhe moi. The realization of what she was seeing nearly jolted Wanda out of the agent’s mind altogether.
Luna. And herself. The moment where they had run after someone else who had been there when Pietro was shot.
#WinterWitch#ScarletSoldier#bucky barnes x wanda maximoff#Wanda Maximoff#Bucky Barnes#Natasha Romanoff#my stories#DUFE series
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New Chapter: Empire of Miracles
Link: Chapter 11
Previous: Chapter 10
First: Chapter 1 (AO3)
A/N: The long-awaited update is finally here! I have no excuses, other than it was simply fighting me, and my muse was more keen on the other projects I’ve started for a long while. But better than late than never!
Don’t think any general warnings apply for this chapter, aside from the usual canon-typical violence and a brief panic attack. Please read and enjoy at your own discretion!
Preview: None of the agents spoke to her during the entire duration of their walk, making an already long walk through unfamiliar territory feel even longer. By the time they actually seemed to reach somewhere of importance, there was a dull ache in Natasha’s legs, as if she had now walked the span of a mile or two, on top of her aimless wandering before the group found her.
The leader of her escort party led her to a door that actually looked vaguely familiar. She didn’t place why until he opened it for her, nodding towards it as a silent indicator she go first.
As Natasha stepped through the threshold, she was immediately greeted by another familiar sight. A staircase leading both upward and downward. The flight of stairs leading up were illuminated by a window overlooking their landing.
It was the same window she had found before, when she found Zola’s Algorithm recorded on paper documents aboveground.
Natasha became rooted in place, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end with an internal chill. She felt rather than saw the agents brush up behind her as they filed into the stairwell with her. She braced herself for the worst, for a confrontation as to what she had been doing upstairs just before this.
However, no confrontation came. The pilot simply looked expectantly at her, as if waiting for her to start speaking. When a few seconds passed without anything of the sort, he gestured to the second stairway, leading further down into the earth. “This way.”
Natasha gave a listless nod as she followed him, temporarily soothed by relief that he didn’t seem to suspect she had been upstairs, let alone had seen what was up there. Though she was unsettled once more as the two other agents waited for her to step ahead of them so they could flank her again.
That unease rolled a bigger and bigger ball across her chest as she was led through the door at the very bottom of the stairwell. On the other side was a room that, quite frankly, looked like a dumpster had thrown up inside. The entryway was littered nearly to the ceiling with decrepit wooden chairs and tables, loose bricks, wooden crates, more medical carts (though they were emptied), industrial-sized cans of food, each with the labels faded so much that they were difficult to read, and God knows what else. Between the junk pile and the right-hand wall was a very narrow path for the agents with her to guide her down. If the descent deeper inside the Earth hadn’t been enough to stir a feeling of claustrophobia in the spy (something she usually didn’t even suffer from), having to fit herself between a pile of decrepit items and the unpaved dirt-wall did.
Natasha’s steps were slower as she continued to follow the leader. She was starting to wonder not only why Steve would want to meet her here, of all places, but how he would have even found it to begin with. Why he would come here. Had he been looking for her…?
That theory was almost immediately disproven.
Natasha and her guide had reached a part of the junk pile that was suddenly cut off and replaced by large cement walls. More rooms, filled with something unknown. That in itself was enough to unnerve Natasha to the point of halting in her tracks. But what set her completely on edge was something she noticed leaning against the first cement wall, partially hidden behind a three-legged table that had been turned on its side. It was a circular metal disk, with leather arm straps dangling limply against the dull silver.
It was a shield. The shield.
Steve’s shield.
Natasha hadn’t even consciously realized she had stopped walking until one of the agents behind her elbowed her. Rather than heed the unspoken command to keep going, the spy just remained frozen where she was.
Then suddenly, she called out ahead of them, “Steve?”
The pilot in front of her startled at the unexpected shout. As he whirled around, there was a split second where he merely stared at her with a perturbed expression. It was worth revealing her suspicions, though, for she was met with pure silence in the heartbeats that followed.
That is, until a shout back could be heard from somewhere on the other side of the bunker.
“Nat?”
“Steve?” she responded, half-expecting it to have been wishful thinking.
However, there was no denying his next reply was his voice. Not just his voice, but the sound of him under duress, the words muffled and rushed, as if he didn’t know whether he would get another chance to speak.
“Nat, go! Find Bucky! And Wanda! Go—”
He was suddenly cut off by a grunt, as if struck with something.
The agent in front of her grimaced. “Shit,” he growled.
#my stories#winterwitch#scarletsoldier#bucky x wanda#Bucky Barnes#Wanda Maximoff#secondary Steve x Natasha#Natasha Romanoff#Steve Rogers#DUFE series
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YEYYY! Thank you 😭 I was worried you will abandon it since you are one incredible author daaamn! Please don’t stop writing bucky x wanda fics cause you are one heck of a talented person. Like forty dogs is soo good!!! I hope you will be uploading any time soon. ❤️
Don't worry! I'm too stubborn to give up on a fic as far along as Miracle Empire 😅 It's just more of a process while also working on something as equally extensive like LFD.
But I'm so happy to hear you like both! They are being worked on at the same time, so an update for either or will be coming soon! ❤️❤️
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Omgggggg I just discovered some really good fics about Wanda x Bucky and yours truly stand out!!! I was wondering when will you be updating for Empire of Miracles? You are giving me a lot of emotions ❤️
Thank you so much!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Unfortunately, I don't have a set ETA on the next Empire of Miracles chapter, but it is coming along! And since it's been a while since the last update, I've been debating uploading a short preview in my next post 😊
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Story Update
This post is for my long-time followers, who have hopefully been keeping up with my main series, Deliver Us From Evil:
I know it’s been a while since there’s been any sign of the next chapter for Miracle Empire, but rest assured, I have not forgotten or given up on it! The Deliver Us series is still very much alive and working towards completion.
However, I wanted to let its readers know that it may be delayed a little longer in terms of posting. I made an announcement earlier about a new story I’ve been working on, which is intended to be a two-parter tale. While Part One focuses strictly on friendships, Part Two will lean more into my usual WinterWitch content.
Meanwhile, there is also a third story in the works that will also feature some WinterWitch goodness, while also featuring some Avengers as Family fluff and stuff! A good dent has already been put in writing the first chapter, so the next update will probably be for that. Afterwards, Miracle Empire will resume its own updates, while sharing the spotlight a little with its new up-and-coming cousin!
So, again, for fans of the DUFE series, rest assured that the series has not been forgotten. It’s just going to need to wait it’s turn for a little while longer. I hope everyone who’s started with it continues to enjoy, and I hope everyone enjoys the new stories, too! Sending love ❤️❤️❤️
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New Chapter: Empire of Miracles
Link: Chapter 9
Previous: Chapter 8
First: Chapter 1 (AO3)
A/N: I decided last-minute to cut about 1/4 of this chapter down, so hopefully it’s not too short now. Next one will be longer, I promise! And as usual, I hope everyone enjoys!! And of course, hope everyone is still staying safe and healthy out there as well. Sending love to everyone ❤️❤️
Preview: There was another beat of silence while Steve thought. This time, he was wringing his hands, which Natasha had noticed both he and Barnes tended to do when they already knew what they wanted to say, but were worried how it would be received. “That also sounds like Bucky,” he said slowly, as if testing her reaction to each word. “Like a reaction to the shock therapy they put him through.”
Natasha could see how he would think that. Try as she might not to, she recognized how well that fit. The skittishness around Natasha’s electrically-charged weapons. Hell, now that Natasha was really thinking back on it…
“That would explain the confusion, too,” she mused out loud. Then, before Steve could ask, she explained, “There was a moment where Barnes confronted her, and she got cross with him. But she said something along the lines of him being the one to take me away from the Red Room.”
“Didn’t he, though?” Steve asked curiously. “You two did go against them when you…had that night—”
“Right, yeah, I know,” Natasha cut in, knowing it made him uncomfortable to even think about the fact that she had been with his best friend years and years ago, even though it had been before any of them truly knew each other. Usually, none of them spoke on it at all ever since she and Steve fought about it when he found out last year. “But I let that happen because I didn’t want to leave. It was just to distract him, so I could get out of trouble with our handlers for messing up the rest of the mission. I had never actually considered leaving until Barton showed up.”
“So, she’s missing the time in between Bucky and Barton? Could something have happened in those years that you didn’t know about?”
“I suppose anything could have,” Natasha remarked dourly. Her frustration wasn’t with Steve, of course, but rather with herself for being so selfish in the past. For leaving without even thinking of how she would be letting Yelena (and probably every other Red Room student at the time) suffer from the organization’s loss of her.
Despite being lost in her thoughts, Natasha was still aware of the way Steve was watching her. His expression was still downturn in sympathy, and his hands were still fidgeting in apprehension. However, when he spoke, there was a sudden hardness to his tone this time. The first traces of anger. “Did they ever do that to you? The shock therapy they put Bucky and Wanda through?”
“No,” Natasha was quick to assure, stroking his arm down to his hand so that she could hold it in extra reassurance. “No, that was more of Hydra’s style.”
She wisely let her response end there, not wanting to get too far into the ways the Red Room kept her under their thumb. The more drawn-out torture of mental manipulation, and being brainwashed to believe their ways were the only way. That orphaned girls like her had no other purpose in life but to serve their country from its underbelly.
“I think that’s why it doesn’t feel right to me,” Natasha explained instead. “To think the Red Room was the one that did something to her. Well, that and the fact that they disbanded after I left. If it was that easy to discontinue the project without me, then what else were they keeping her around for?”
“Then maybe it wasn’t them. Maybe she got caught up in some sort of splinter group later, like the sorts we’ve been seeing from Hydra ever since that fell apart.”
“Maybe,” Natasha conceded. Internally, she was begging whatever forces that controlled fate to keep that from being true. “That’s just what we need on top of hunting down Hydra loyalists, I guess.”
Steve smirked a little at her dry tone. He slipped his hand free of her hold to wrap around her shoulders, bringing her close enough to steal a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll figure it out, Nat. And whatever happens, we’ll get through it.”
It wasn’t them that Natasha was worried about. It was Yelena, and this newfound sense of guilt. That sense that she should have never left Yelena behind. It had haunted her before, deep down, but now that she had actually seen Yelena again, and had suspicions that someone else continued using her even when the Red Room was gone, that remorse was all the more visceral. Before, Natasha could have easily shoved it down—maybe even convinced herself there was no point in going after Yelena when she still didn’t know if perhaps the other spy had gotten herself killed working for someone else—but now, she wasn’t nearly as self-important. Now, her feelings felt like a physical burden on her chest, bearing down on her with all the weight of what she’d learned about being a real family from her time as an Avenger. From what she’d seen in Clint, and Steve, and Wanda as they continuously refused to give up on people like her and Barnes.
Steve was right. She couldn’t leave Yelena behind any more than he had been able to leave behind Bucky when he’d resurfaced from their past.
She had to go back for her.
#WinterWitch#ScarletSoldier#Bucky x Wanda#secondary Steve x Natasha#Bucky Barnes#Wanda Maximoff#Natasha Romanoff#Steve Rogers#Yelena Belova#my stories#DUFE series
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New Chapter: Empire of Miracles
Link: Chapter 8
Previous: Chapter 7
First: Chapter 1 (AO3)
A/N: I don’t think any warnings apply, aside from the usual canon-typical violence and language. Hope everyone enjoys! Thank you for the support! I see your comments and appreciate them, even though I always forget to reply to them ❤️❤️❤️
Preview: Eventually, Yelena’s lightning-quick movements became too much for even herself to keep up with. She staggered forward with her next step, turning her trip onto the floor into a full-body roll, putting her in an ideal position to sweep Natasha’s legs out from under her.
Natasha couldn’t stop herself from falling backwards, though made it a point as she did to kick up into Yelena’s chest. That managed to knock Yelena back long enough to give Natasha just enough time to roll over and grab Yelena by her great mane of hair. She rolled again, pulling the other spy towards her on the floor and once again thrust her foot into Yelena’s midriff. This time, the strength of her kick hauled Yelena clear over her head. Yelena slammed into the newel post of the stair rail behind them, the pained grunt that escaped her giving away how strong the impact was against her back.
Natasha took advantage of the additional time it took Yelena to get up after a blow like that. She swayed backwards, then leapt up back onto her feet. Simultaneously, Yelena was quite literally pulling herself onto her feet as well, holding onto the newel post she had just been thrown against for support. Just when Yelena gained the wherewithal to lunge towards Natasha again, Natasha managed to flick her wrist, unveiling one of the stun batons stored in the sleeve of her suit.
Yelena stopped. It was a tiny thing, lasting no more than a few seconds, but it was certainly noticeable after the furious speed of their scrap thus far. Natasha noticed in that brief, fleeting moment of hesitation that Yelena’s eyes went to the baton in her hand, widening ever so slightly as it crackled with electricity.
But then the moment was gone as soon as it had come, instantly leaving Natasha’s mind as she watched the other spy suddenly lurch back and sideways, onto the first stair step. Yelena leapt from the wooden panel with her knife still raised high, only to drop it into her other hand while in mid-air to swing at Natasha’s lower stomach as opposed to the higher attack Natasha had been expecting. The split-second of surprise was costly, allowing Yelena’s blade to slice through Natasha’s suit and nick the space just right of her navel, sending a few droplets of blood flying. It was only a shallow cut, but as Natasha proceeded to fight as though it wasn’t there, it continued to send sharper and sharper pangs of pain through her side.
That flash of red was like a beacon to Yelena. She honed in on the freshly-made cut, swinging her knife towards it and even attempting to land a roundhouse kick against her opponent’s now injured side. Natasha narrowly dodged every advance, trying in vain to land a blow of her own with her stun baton. They were like mirrors of each other, equally fast and vicious, but unable to actually reach each other. That is, until Natasha felt herself literally backed into a wall.
She hit it with a grunt, then another as Yelena brought her knee up and slammed it into Natasha’s hip, pinning her against the wall with enough force to dent the surface behind her. With one hand, Yelena seized her wrist, twisting it to an unnatural degree until Natasha couldn’t help but drop her baton. With her other hand, Yelena raised her knife again, pressing the tip of the blade right at Natasha’s throat.
For a long second, Yelena just held her there. Then, with a sneer, she leaned closer to taunt in Natasha’s face, “You were great once. But now? You’re the disappointment.”
Natasha snarled, trying to shove Yelena back. But with her body pinned by the injured side, which was now sending a sharp spike of agony through her, she only managed to dislodge herself for a fleeting second before her opponent slammed her back into the wall again, this time with both her knee at Natasha’s injured side and her arm pressed against her throat. With her other arm, Yelena raised her blade as if to pierce through Natasha’s side again. Natasha bucked against her, legitimately uncertain if Yelena would be willing to kill her given their history together.
Ultimately, she didn’t get a chance to find out. A familiar click from somewhere behind her made Yelena freeze in place. It was the click of a gun being cocked. Slowly, she turned to look over her shoulder, unwittingly granting Natasha a view at who had come for them.
Barnes was there. He had a rifle poised at the ready as he stalked towards them from the other side of the main hall. He practically growled at Yelena, the space between them doing nothing to diminish the ferocity in his command, “Get off of her.”
Yelena compliantly stepped back. Although, it was clear to see that it wasn’t to directly oblige Barnes. Rather, she seemed almost in a daze of disbelief as she half-turned towards him, her gaze never once leaving his form, even to blink of an eye. For a split second, Natasha wondered if she was somehow able to piece together that Barnes had been hiding amongst Natasha’s new teammates all this time. Then she questioned if Yelena even recognized him from so long ago, as one of the other assassins that had been brought in to help train them for a brief period of time.
But then she uttered a growl of her own. “Soldat.”
#my stories#WinterWitch#ScarletSoldier#Bucky Barnes x Wanda Maximoff#Bucky Barnes#Wanda Maximoff#Natasha Romanoff#DUFE series
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New Chapter: Empire of Miracles
Link: Chapter 5
Previous: Chapter 4
First: Chapter 1 (AO3)
A/N: Trigger warning for some very brief blood mentions in this chapter and the next one.
Preview: At the moment, Tony was (pardon the pun) a stark contrast to his wife. He was completely silent. It was eerie, even without knowing how hyper-verbal he usually was, with a wry comment for everything. Right now, though, he was dutifully trained on whatever he was working on with his laptop at the breakfast table nearby. From what Natasha could see (which granted, she didn’t spare much time for while also monitoring the two videos), he had barely moved since he had returned from the crime scene in Central Park. He remained frozen in his place, hunched over the computer and fingers repeatedly pecking at the same few keys on the keyboard. Natasha considered it a legitimate question whether he had even blinked in the past hour.
“How we looking over there, shellhead?” Natasha called across the ways as her form of expressing concern for him.
“It’s coming,” he answered back, the sound partially muffled by the palm of his hand where his face was leaning into it. His other hand clicked at two keys. And clicked again. And again. And again.
“Is there any data from the tracker yet?” Natasha asked, admittedly letting some of her impatience get the best of her. They were nearing six hours at this process, and none of them had gotten any closer to learning who could have shot Pietro or where Wanda had gone. “Even if there’s a delay, I can start heading over to the sites to investigate leads.”
“I wouldn’t trust it,” Tony said honestly. “There is a delay, and it’s way too large. By the time you get there, the lead will likely be cold. Just give me some more time, and I’ll be a little closer to finding where she actually is.”
“Where does the tracker say she is right now?”
“I’m looking at lower Manhattan.”
Natasha’s head swam with the light sensation of hope. “So, she’s still in New York?”
“Well, like I said, the delay for the data coming in is too large. I think it’s better to wait just a little longer to get a more accurate idea of the direction she’s heading in.”
“It’s about to be six hours,” Natasha reminded. “By this point, the longer we wait, the window to find her becomes more and more slim.”
“Those stats are for the average, totally inexperienced abductee. Maximoff has both personal enhancements and an experience with imprisonment that should give us a little leeway.”
Natasha frowned. Her fingers resumed their restless tapping against the countertop. She had yet to tell anyone else what Pietro told her about Wanda’s powers behaving abnormally. It simply hadn’t been relevant to their efforts to search for her, thus far. Now, she wondered if it was worth telling Tony, to let him know the extent of what they were working with. Or would it only make matters worse by putting more pressure on him?
She didn’t bring it up. Instead, she asked, “What if I started looking around the city? If that thing shows her in lower Manhattan after six hours, surely she’s still around there somewhere.”
“There’s a delay in the data,” Tony pointed out again, still not tearing his gaze from the computer screen.
“Well, how big could it be?”
“I don’t know.”
Natasha’s skin crawled at that. She couldn’t place exactly how, but from just those three words, she could feel the icy touch of suspicion. “How can you not know? Aren’t you the one who designed the modified version?”
“I designed the modified tech, but the chip is not a tracker.”
Now Nat was the one not blinking. She turned on her stool to face him, gripping the edge of the breakfast bar until her knuckles paled. “I’m sorry, what?”
There was a beat of silence. Then Tony repeated himself. “The tech I injected her with isn’t a tracker.”
#WinterWitch#ScarletSoldier#Bucky x Wanda#Bucky Barnes#Wanda Maximoff#Natasha Romanoff#Steve Rogers#my stories#DUFE series#poor Nat is so overworked in this story
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