His Inheritance ~ Chapter 31
Part 31: Girl on Fire
Series Masterlist
Words: 6.7k
Pairing: Mobster Steve Rogers x Mobster daughter reader
Warnings: References to mafia, reference to violence and violent acts, references to sexual violence. Strong language, dismemberment, and physical violence. This is a dark fic. Please read responsibly.
Disclaimer: The author of this work claims no ownership of characters aside from the reader, and original secondary characters mentioned. This work is not intended for those under the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content and darker themes. By reading this work or any works on my blog (jtargaryen18), you agree that you are at least 18 years of age. I do not consent to have my work hosted on any third party app or site. If you are seeing this fanfiction anywhere but archiveofourown and tumblr, it has been reposted without my permission.
Summary: For @alexakeyloveloki. Your father is the head of one of the most powerful crime families in Boston but he’s protected you from that life. In your quiet home outside the city, you’ve been cared for and protected. When the desires of a more powerful man with the will to dominate bursts into your life, all your illusions are shattered as he comes to claim what is his.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Bucky’s phone rang, it didn’t surprise him. When he saw Kat’s number… They didn’t have plans tonight. Why the hell was she calling?
“Hello,” Bucky said, pausing the cage match he’d been watching.
“Bucky?” Kat sniffled, tears in her voice.
“Yes?”
“I’m at the hospital,” she said, clearing trying not to sob.
“Have you been hurt?” he asked, pulling the lever to sit up in his recliner. “What happened?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “It’s my sister, Paulina.”
Ah. “What happened?”
“She’s unconscious,” Kat managed. “I don’t know what happened. But neither of us have insurance…”
Neither of them was legal residents of the US either. Bucky sighed.
“I’ll send someone down there,” he told her, ready to get back to his fight. Before his hand reached the lever on his chair, she started sobbing in earnest.
“Please,” Kat begged him. “Will you come down here?”
Kat wasn’t usually so needy. Usually, she stuck to their agreement. Something had her shaken up.
“Give me a few minutes,” he said before hanging up. Shaking his head, he shot a text to his men telling them he needed the car ASAP.
Erik Killmonger was there in less than five minutes. He’d been a soldier for the Barnes family for the last five years. The entire time, he’d handled the tasks that he was given. He never failed, followed orders to a fault, and was always quiet and respectful, Bucky’s three favorite qualities in a soldier.
Erik’s ambition had been obvious from the beginning. It was in the confident way he walked, the efficient way he took care of business. It was there when he asked Bucky if he could serve him personally. Since then, he had Erik reporting directly to Hansen, and he showed the same respect to him.
The two men were comparable in their abilities, evenly matched when it came to killing a man. But where Hansen liked to put on a show and preen around, psychologically breaking down his prey, Erik was silently lethal. Bucky had to wonder if half of the men he’d sent him to kill even saw him coming.
Now that Hansen was wherever the fuck Hansen was, Bucky didn’t believe for a fucking minute the bastard was dead, Erik was his top lieutenant. Maybe he should have been all along.
He’d put the man in charge of finding Hansen. Erik knew him better than he did. Bucky’s only request was that Hansen be brought in alive. Bucky wanted to kill the fucker himself. The betrayal signed his death warrant. The fact that Hansen thought he was going to just make off with the woman Bucky coveted, the bright jewel in the crown he'd soon wear... Bucky was just sorry he could only kill him once.
“Where we off to?” Erik asked, ready to go.
“The hospital,” Bucky said, following him out to the garage. “Kat’s sister is there. I don’t know what happened yet.”
Erik held the door open for Bucky to climb in the back of the huge SUV. Walking around, Erik took a seat in the front next to the driver.
Bucky caught Zemo’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “We’re going to the hospital. St. Agnes," he told him.
When they reached the hospital, pulling up to the door at the ER, Zemo again met his gaze in the mirror. “Should you be going in there, boss?” he asked respectfully.
“He can go wherever he wants,” Erik said, opening his door. “Nothing’s going to happen to him.”
Damn right. Very soon, Bucky would be the goddamn king of Boston.
He waited while Erik inquired about Paulina, speaking to the older woman at the emergency room desk. His man led him past the desk, swiftly through a maze of corridors until they found Paulina’s room. Kat looked grateful when they arrived, her dark eyes still shiny with tears when she opened the door.
Paulina lay in the hospital bed, curled in on her side. Her hair was a wild tangle around her head and her face was streaked with makeup and tears.
“What happened?” Bucky asked, moving to stand at the foot of the hospital bed. Erik closed the door, staying close to it.
“We went shopping,” Kat explained in her tear-filled voice. “Our car dropped her off first at her apartment building. And then… I w-went home.”
“So she was attacked in her apartment?” Bucky asked.
“I didn’t see it happen,” Kat went on. “But she didn’t make it into her apartment. Someone found her in the hallway… One of her neighbors called an a-ambulance.”
Great. More people in his business.
“My number was the emergency contact on her phone,” Kat went on. “They called me.”
“I’m sorry this happened, Kat,” Bucky said, his patience slipping. “But you didn’t need me to come down here to pay the bill.”
“What if this wasn’t random?” Kat asked.
“What else would it be?” he countered.
“Steve,” she said. “I think Steve is behind this.”
Bucky shook his head. “Why would you think Steve had anything to do with this?”’
“Why?” Kat threw her hands up. “Isn’t it obvious? With everything you’ve done to him? With you taking me away from him? He’s hitting back.”
That had Bucky chuckling. Yeah, he’d put Rogers through some things. And it wouldn’t be long until he finished Rogers, put him and his fucking family down and took the lead that should have been his when the old boss died.
“Yeah, he’ll try.” Bucky stared her down. “But what does that have to do with you and your sister? I didn’t take you away from him. You were all over me when he threw you off to get married if I remember correctly.”
Kat looked affronted. “You took me away from him. Paulina? She was seeing his consigliere.”
“Still not seeing a connection,” Bucky told her, ready to end the conversation.
Ready to end things with her period. Pretty soon, he wouldn’t need Kat.
“Banner betrayed him,” she said. “Maybe that’s why they went after Paulina.”
It was plausible. But why hit his family there? As Kat pointed out, Paulina had been Banner’s side piece. Banner was out of the Rogers’ family and no longer any use to the Barnes family. Honestly, Banner was lucky Rogers let him live. But messing with Banner’s mistress after the fact? It didn’t make sense.
It wasn’t Rogers’ style.
That reminded him. Banner had been laying low on Stark’s turf after Rogers ousted him. Then he’d disappeared. Bucky made a mental note to follow up on that.
“Did anyone see who did it?” Erik asked. “Did the neighbor see anything?”
“No,” Kat told them. “They just found her. Beaten… Don’t you understand? She wasn’t robbed or violated or anything else. Just beaten. To hurt her was the point. What else could it be? Am I next?”
Bucky moved closer to Kat, taking her chin in his fingers. She trembled in his grasp, and he knew she was scared. He wanted her to be.
“Pain and death are always the point,” Bucky whispered, gazing into her eyes. “But Steve’s not after you, Katerina. He’s not after you sister.”
Releasing her, he watched indignation and hurt bleed into her expression.
“When Rogers strikes at me,” he explained, “he’ll make it hurt. He’ll make it personal.”
“This is personal,” her voice was rising. “This does hurt.”
“You and your sister maybe,” Bucky told her. “It’s not personal for me. It doesn’t hurt. I’d have to care about you and your sister for this to hurt me and I don’t.”
Tears slid from her eyes now. “You’re wrong.”
Bucky moved closer to the woman on the bed. Her makeup was a mess but on closer inspection, there were no cuts on her face. There could be bruises under the makeup, he supposed. Pulling back a tangled section of her hair revealed her throat. No bruises there or any injuries at all.
Kat said she was beaten. Were they fucking with him?
Grabbing the edge of the blanket covering the woman, he pulled it back to reveal her unconscious form covered by a thin hospital gown with shorter sleeves. He half-expected her arms and the rest of her to be unmarked as well. He was all ready to flip shit on Kat and her sister for wasting his time.
Paulina’s arm? That was a different story. The bruises were red and angry, lacing up from her forearm like macabre artwork. The gown opened at the back, and she lay on her side facing him. Throwing the blanket back, he leaned over to look at the woman’s back. A wild patch of pink and red marks covered most of it. The one contusion right where her kidney was? That had him wincing.
Tomorrow, her skin would be purple, black, and blue and she’d be feeling it. Shaking his head, he pulled the blanket away from the rest of her. More evidence of the beating she’d taken over thighs and upper shins. Nothing close to the ankle…
Kat, still lost in her indignation, glared at him as she grabbed the blanket to cover her sister up again.
“Still think this is random?” she asked, still swiping away tears.
Bucky shrugged as he headed for the door. “I’ll handle the billing,” he said over his shoulder as he walked out.
The entire situation should have left his mind never to return the minute he was back in his car and headed home. Bucky just couldn’t get his mind off it. It was just so off. Why was it done? What did it mean?
Was it a message for him?
***
After finishing his run, Bucky headed for his study to check messages before getting a shower.
“Bucky?”
He jumped at how off-guard she’d caught him. There Kat stood in the door of his study, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Her big dark eyes were on him, a shiny red shopping bag dangling from her manicured fingers.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked irritably. He didn’t like her coming by his house uninvited. She knew that.
“I’m sorry.” She looked it.
As he stood watching her, a sweaty mess behind his desk, she meekly approached him. Stopping on the other side of his desk, she carefully placed the bag on the top of his desk between them.
“It’s for you,” she said forlornly. “Thank you for helping Paulina.”
Blowing out an exhale, he looked at the bag. “She out of the hospital yet?”
Kat nodded. “She’s home. Resting. I’m staying with her since we don’t know who did this… or why.”
Bucky hated wasting the manpower but in the off-chance Kat was right… “I’ll send someone to keep an eye on her place for the next couple of days, okay?”
“And mine?” she asked, flashing him a smile.
“You said you were staying with her,” he pointed out. “You stay with her, someone’s looking after you too.”
The smile faded and he couldn’t even feel badly about it. Kat was one of many. He’d had women who were more beautiful, better in bed. She wasn’t unique. She wouldn’t even be memorable.
And she’d served her purpose a long time ago. He took up with her to piss off Steve, to hurt his wife. While Rogers had been pissed and insulted that Bucky brought his former mistress to his wedding, he hadn’t succeeded in his second objective. The new Mrs. Rogers hadn’t been hurt.
No, the daughter of the old boss and the new bride of his enemy had turned out to be a lioness.
Think of that. The girl had been hidden away like Quasimodo in his bell tower, mutilated and not fit for society. That was what he’d always been told about the old boss’s surviving child. His bitch wife, who’d ripped Bucky’s family apart by having an affair with his father, died trying to get out and killed the man’s son. The daughter was never supposed to be anything for Bucky Barnes to be concerned with.
Even so, Bucky hated her. He’d been glad she was disfigured, glad she’d never be out in the world. He’d even toyed around with the idea of paying her a visit once her father died. Taking care of the disfigured little lamb once and for all.
Rogers had executed his plan well. That he was kissing ass to claim the crown, Bucky got that. He had no idea, however, that Rogers planned to marry the boss's daughter who was supposed to be horribly disfigured. Within a week of her father dying, Bucky gets word that she’s engaged to Rogers and the wedding Is being rushed.
When he went to confront Rogers about it, he was surprised to find her alone and barely dressed in the kitchen. She was uncovered enough for him to see there wasn’t likely a scar or blemish on her. She was amazingly beautiful wearing her whore mother’s face with innocent eyes. That first impression of her had him both hard as a rock and ready to commit murder, right there in Rogers’ kitchen.
Rogers knew what he was doing. He didn’t care who she was, that her mother destroyed the Barnes family. Rogers didn’t care about anything but the throne and it was then Bucky decided he’d do whatever it took to take Rogers’ crown, to take him and his bitch wife out.
But he couldn't get her out of his head. Not once he saw her.
Bucky had assumed for most of his life that Mrs. Rogers was his half-sister. The daughter of his father. After meeting her, he looked into it, knowing her father would have had a paternity test done under the circumstances. With a little patience and a lot of money, Bucky had an answer.
Mrs. Rogers was not related to him by blood. The old boss was her father after all.
By the time he figured this out, Bucky had found his attitude toward Mrs. Rogers shifting. Yeah, he could kill her when he destroyed her husband. No one would be surprised or even blame him.
But he’d never met a woman like her. There was a fire, an iron will, buried beneath the persona. Mrs. Rogers was stunning, beautiful. But according to Loguidice, Rogers’ bride wasn’t just a pretty face. There was a beast in her heart. The lioness could handle her husband, win his men’s loyalty, and even fucking shoot Lloyd Hansen which had been hilarious when his lieutenant had to explain it to him.
And she would be Bucky’s at the end of this. It was going to happen.
Glancing at his current mistress, he knew it was past time to end things. But he’d wait until Paulina had mended. Make sure nothing else was heard about that little incident. Then he’d drop the hammer.
“Do you really care so little about me?” Kat asked him, pulling him from his thoughts.
It wasn’t a bad acting job. Bucky smiled.
“Do we really care about each other?” he wanted to know. “Relationships aren’t based solely on love. That’s the movies. Relationships are based on mutual need. You need someone to give you money to maintain your lifestyle and I need sex and occasionally some arm candy. Don’t make this something more than it really is.”
Hooking a finger in the bag, he peeked into it to see a wad of tissue paper.
Kat watched him expectantly.
Grabbing the bag, he pulled out whatever she had wrapped in that tissue paper. It felt odd in his hand, more than one thing. The first thing he encountered was a small jewel box. Setting the rest down, he opened that to see a set of ruby cufflinks winking up at him from the black velvet.
He had to give her credit. She knew his tastes.
“These are nice,” he told her with a grin. “Thank you… What else do we have here?”
Kat’s brow creased as she watched him pick up the wad of tissue still in front of him.
“There was nothing else,” she said, looking confused.
But there was something else. Peeling away the tissue paper, Bucky stared at the fucking fingers – five human fingers – he held in his hands. In disgust, he dropped them onto the desk as Kat covered her mouth with her hand, backing away in horror.
“What the fuck?” he demanded, staring at those digits.
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I didn’t do that. I didn’t… I feel sick.”
Kat dashed from his study like the devil was chasing her as Bucky muscled his way past the revulsion to study those digits. The fingers of a white man, toughened from work. There was no blood. No rings. No scars or other identifying marks.
Grabbing the bag, Bucky looked to see if there was something else. There was. A business card for a donut shop on Rogers’ turf. He recognized the name of the shop.
Fuck.
Bucky hadn’t ordered a hit on that shop or the girl. No, that was all Hansen who took the girl that worked there. Bucky hadn’t known a thing about it until after Rogers’ faceoff against Hansen who had since disappeared.
Bucky studied the fingers again. Were they Hansen’s? He didn’t think so. Hansen had big hands, he didn’t remember the fingers being slender.
Well, they’d find out.
Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he shot a text to Erik to come right away.
Now he wondered if the attack on Paulina was related. Was it tied to this? Was there more to come?
It would make sense if it was Rogers. But Rogers wasn’t usually so theatrical. He’d hit hard, head on. Anyone who was at odds with him always saw him coming. In his defense, he always hit really fucking hard.
This? It was puzzling. And not Rogers’ style at all.
What game was he unwittingly playing? And with whom?
***
The tap at the door pulled Bucky away from trying to catch up on his investment portfolio, sheets scattered all over his normally immaculate desk. His mind wasn’t on it. He’d been pretending to look at the numbers for damn near an hour.
Erik looked as tired as Bucky felt. He was hoping his lieutenant had some news for him. The episode earlier with Kat and the dead man’s fingers still had him rattled.
“Found out who those fingers belonged to,” Erik got right into it. “Belonged to one of Hansen’s men. One of our guys found the rest of him in a dumpster on your turf. The prints matched.”
Bucky nodded. Hansen likely had the guy pick up the donut shop girl for him. And the ax fell on him because they didn’t get Hansen. Bucky nodded. It was something he’d do.
The donut shop girl. What did she know, if anything, about everything going on? Maybe he should chat with her.
“Hansen’s still alive,” Buck said flatly.
Erik nodded. “There’s no proof he’s not.”
“Anything else?”
His man’s dark-eyed gaze met his. “I sent men looking for Banner, but it looks like he skipped town.”
A wise move on the man’s part.
“You don’t think he targeted Paulina, do you?” Erik asked.
Bucky shook his head. “Not with that temper of his. If Banner decided to do that, she would know it was him. He’d make sure she knew it was him.”
Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Bucky leaned back in his office chair, tried to relax. To think. “Any word on Rogers?”
“You knew Hansen and Frankenstein grabbed Dyson to draw Rogers out,” Erik said.
“Frankenstein?” Bucky asked.
“Neal Logiudice,” Erik explained. “Pop some bolts on his neck and he looks like Frankenstein.”
Bucky snorted. He could see that.
“Then he was supposed to off Dyson and Logiudice,” Erik continued. “Grab Rogers if he could. Hansen changed the plan. He drew Mrs. Rogers out instead of her husband.”
Bucky was still furious about what happened. Dyson would never betray Rogers and Logiudice was collateral damage. The move was meant to break Rogers down. Dyson’s loss on top of Logiudice’s betrayal would demoralize him. Bucky thought it might just finally finish his rival off.
Instead, Mrs. Rogers showed up, playing right into Hansen’s hand. Then her husband showed up and he brought friends. A shootout ensued. Rogers, his wife, and Dyson made it out. So did Hansen and Logiudice, apparently. And Bucky was out several men. Several good men.
“Does anyone know?” Bucky pressed. “Was Rogers shot?”
“Most likely,” Erik told him. “There’s different versions of the story. Some say he got shot. Some say Dyson got shot. Other say Mrs. Rogers was shot to protect Dyson and Rogers got shot trying to shield her.”
Rolling his eyes, Bucky blew out an exhale. Needless to say, whoever did or didn’t get shot in Hansen’s grand fuckup was a moot point. Rogers was fine. He’d apparently had enough of Bucky fucking him and now he was firing back at the Barnes’ family.
There was nothing altruistic about their chosen business. You were either a ruthless bastard or dead. Back when they were both younger and coming up under their fathers’ wings, Steve Rogers had been a cocky, dangerous bastard and Bucky always hated all the attention he got. How Rogers always got away with everything.
Bucky always knew that the minute his father was gone, the minute it was just him calling the shots, that Rogers would fail. Then he’d found another mentor in the former leader of the five families but that didn’t last, and he died too. Bucky just knew that without the mentorship of better men, Rogers wouldn’t make it on his own. He was one hell of a soldier, terrifying if he came after you. But a leader?
Still, something was different. So far Rogers had pulled himself out of the trap Bucky set for him with Hansen, sent him the fingers of one of Hansen’s men in Kat’s little gift bag, and maybe had someone beat the shit out of Paulina, Kat’s sister.
While Kat swore to him she had nothing to do with the fingers, Bucky wasn’t leaving anything to chance. He had her taken to her sister’s place and there she would stay under close watch. He didn’t think either woman had anything to do with whatever the fuck was going on. But he’d keep them under glass for now to make sure.
Rogers?
There was an underlying menace to sending Bucky the dead man’s fingers. It wasn’t just the barbarism of the act. It was multifaceted. It was Rogers letting Bucky know that he knew about the donut shop girl and exactly who abducted her. It was knowledge that she’d been taken under Bucky’s command even if it wasn’t his personal decision. It was accusatory and direct.
It left him feeling unsettled. Bucky had been so close to shutting Rogers down, to finally taking everything he wanted.
And now? Well, he sure as fuck couldn’t slow down now. He couldn’t let Rogers even the score.
“My Vinny’s gotten here yet?” Bucky asked. He’d sent out for food from his favorite restaurant. Vinny’s was the best Italian restaurant in all of Boston and the owner's brother was one of Bucky’s best soldiers.
“I’ll go check,” Erik said, heading off to do that.
It was only a few minutes later that Bucky had his takeout, enjoying it in his recliner while he took in an action movie he’d been wanting to watch. His meal didn’t disappoint. The veal was perfect, just what he’d wanted.
After he’d digested a few minutes, he took his dishes to the kitchen, ready for dessert. The tiramisu was in the fridge and Bucky grinned as he pulled it from its foam box to carefully place it on a plate. With a fresh glass of wine, he returned to his recliner and resumed the movie.
Bucky was two bites in when his fork hit something that felt unexpectedly solid in the layered dessert. Frowning, he worked at using his fork to grab the next bite. But something was wrong. Something was in there…
Taking a closer look, he found something solid in there. Plucking it at with his fingers, he found… meat?
He almost lost his meal to realize that something was the tip of a human ear.
“What the fuck?” Bucky said to himself, his heart starting to race in his chest.
Sitting up in the recliner, he kept digging through the dessert to find an earlobe, just as bloodless as the tip.
It was the dark eye staring up at him that from the bottom that had him screaming, fighting nausea as he slung it all away and sent it flying across the room.
“Fuck me! Fuck me!” he was shouting as Erik and Zemo both raced into the room to see who was killing their boss.
Covering his mouth with a hand, Bucky fled to the bathroom…
***
“I am so sorry,” Erik said for the hundredth time. “I looked in there, but I should have looked a lot closer.”
Soldiers were crawling his house, crawling the grounds. Zemo was at Vinny’s, no doubt tearing the restaurant apart. And he’d specifically requested that Zemo take Vinny’s brother with him. If there was a rat in his ranks or at the restaurant, heads would roll.
Bucky shook his head, sitting in his recliner with his elbows on his knees. He felt like shit. More body parts sent to him set his nerves on edge.
Was it Rogers? If so, he didn’t like the fact that his enemy was running up the score. That really pissed him off. His mind was spinning with the theories forming in his head.
“We’ll try to figure out who those…” Erik shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Don’t worry about it?” Bucky asked, rising from the recliner to glare at Erik. “That’s all I’ve been fucking doing the last three days. You know?”
Erik didn’t drop his gaze, didn’t back down. Bucky admired his quiet accountability.
But it wasn’t exclusively Erik’s fault. It was on all of them. Even him. No one had ever been able to get him directly. People around him, yes. But never him. Taking another drink of his Scotch, his mind spun webs with his instincts. He was starting to form a few ideas on his current situation.
“Boss,” Zemo called, walking into his living room.
Bucky spotted his man, standing a few feet away with a white takeout carton in his hands. He wasn’t going to like whatever was in the box, he knew from the way Zemo shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously.
“What is it?” Bucky asked, trying to be ready for anything.
“We went through Vinny’s, and we found this in Vinny’s office,” Zemo explained carefully. “It’s for you. Vinny swears he didn’t see who left it and he doesn’t know anything about it.”
“You believe him?” It was an honest question.
Zemo nodded.
Bucky motioned him forward, not looking forward to his latest surprise with the dark red stains at its bottom corners. He plucked the card off the top. It simply read, “Hint: It’s not Snow White’s.”
Bucky really shouldn’t have been surprised to find what appeared to be a human heart in that box. He really shouldn’t have. Once he started laughing, it was hard to quit. His laughter was manic, a stress response. Something he hadn’t done in years.
It’s not Snow White’s.
Erik looked concerned. “I’ll get on figuring out who that is,” he offered.
Laughing, Bucky sank back onto his recliner, still laughing as he set the carton on his end table like it didn’t have a human heart in it.
“I think… I might know who this is,” Bucky said when he caught his breath. “It’s not Snow White’s. What did the magic mirror tell the evil queen about the heart the huntsman delivered to her? The mirror said it was the heart of a pig.” Laughter threatened to halt his conversation as pieces of the puzzle started to slide together in his mind. “This is the heart of a pig.”
His men didn’t speak, looked like they had no idea what to say to that.
“This is making a little sense now,” Bucky told them. “Erik, you and Zemo stay. Everyone else, fuck off.”
The soldiers cleaning and checking everything cleared out fast while Erik and Zemo moved closer.
“Who do you think that is?” Erik asked.
“That?” Bucky pointed to the carton. “That’s the heart of a pig. I’ll be really fucking surprised if it’s not Bruce Banner.”
Zemo’s brows shot up. Neither man spoke.
“Kat was right,” Bucky said. “This is Rogers hitting back. But… it isn’t.”
Rising from the chair, Bucky started pacing. Both men watched him in silence.
“Think about each incident,” Bucky told them as he paced. “Paulina was attacked. Then the fingers, eyes and ears, now the heart. All of it’s personal. It’s very, very personal.”
“Personal?” Zemo asked.
That stopped Bucky. “Don’t you see? Paulina was Banner’s side piece. Someone did a number on her.”
“In a way that could be covered up,” Erik muttered.
“Yes!” Bucky pointed to him. “Exactly. Hold that thought… And now, here’s the cheating, deceitful pig’s heart.” He continued pacing. “The tiramisu? I think that must be Logiudice. He was my eyes and ears in the Rogers household.”
Understanding lit up Erik’s face. “What about the fingers? That guy?”
Bucky shook his head. “The guy Hansen sent to kidnap the donut shop girl isn’t the point.”
“What is the point, boss?” Zemo asked.
“Each of these messages were sent on Rogers’ behalf,” Bucky explained. “But I don’t think they are from the man himself. No, this is someone else… All three messages have one thing in common… A woman scorned.”
Erik nodded, listening. He was always quick on the take. Zemo still looked confused.
“Bruce Banner was married to Rogers’ sister, but she didn’t love him,” Bucky told them. “She loved her high school sweetheart, Clint Barton. Banner knew this. That's why he’d beat his wife where it didn’t show. It's why he shot Barton.”
“Then,” Bucky stopped in front of Zemo. “Hansen got away but I was sent the fingers of the man who took the girl from the donut shop by Hansen’s order. Hansen was my right-hand man. A reminder of the wrong done to that woman.”
“Explain Logiudice,” Erik said.
Bucky smirked at him. “Oh, I can. He betrayed Mrs. Rogers herself right before we grabbed Dyson. Her husband had restricted her to their bedroom he was so pissed..” An idea with merit.
“You think a woman gave these orders?” Zemo looked puzzled.
“Maybe,” Bucky muttered, as something occurred to him. “I need to talk to one of these women first.”
“Who?” Erik asked.
“I need you to find the girl from the donut shop,” Bucky told them. “I need to see if she knows anything we don’t before I make any decisions.”
***
Bucky was both surprised and pleased to see the girl waiting for him. The park this time of day was quiet with only one man walking his dog, and she was sitting on the bench by the giant sandbox, just as he instructed her.
When he walked around, she didn’t look up. Hell, she probably had no idea who he even was. He didn’t mind keeping it that way. There was no reason she needed to know anything else about their world. All she had to do was be nice, be cooperative, and he’d help her find her way out of his world.
Carefully, like he was trying not to frighten a doe, he sat a couple of feet away from her on the bench, setting the bookbag he brought with him between his feet.
She didn’t look up until he called her name and then, her eyes were wide in alarm. The lower half of her face was covered by a medical mask, maybe because of the flu going around. She’d made herself small, slouching on the bench with her hands folded on her knees.
He introduced himself just as Bucky, that was all she needed to know. Her cold hand was trembling when she shook his. He knew she was scared, and he didn’t intend to keep her long.
“Thank you for coming,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you would.”
She nodded, her gaze on the floor in front of her.
“I want to apologize to you for what happened,” he said without preamble. “The man who… While he was a soldier of mine, taking you wasn’t an order I gave. I know that doesn’t change a lot for you. But you should know that.”
Again, she just nodded.
“And I do want to help you,” Bucky said slowly, leaning a little closer to her. “I’ve brought you a substantial gift. Enough to help you get back on your feet and back to school somewhere else.”
“What do you want?” she asked quietly.
Bucky grinned. It was a smart question.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “There is something I want. I want to ask you a few questions about your time with him. Will you answer?”
She squeezed her eyes shut at the mention and guilt pricked at him. Hansen was a fucking weirdo, and he could only imagine what he might have done to her. It had him wishing he’d framed the question in a different way. But it was out now so…
“Do you know his name?” Bucky asked her.
“Lloyd,” she said. “Sir.”
Oh, he did not want to know about any of Lloyd’s kinks or hangups.
“He didn’t give you any other names?”
“No,” she said.
“Another man brought you to Lloyd’s house,” Bucky said quietly. “Did you see anyone else. Besides him and Lloyd, in your time there?”
The young woman shook her head.
“Tell me about the day you got out,” Bucky said.
She shrugged nervously. “A man broke down the door and helped me out,” she said. “That’s all.”
Bucky frowned. That didn’t sound right. “You didn’t hear a fight elsewhere in the house? The sound of bullets?”
After a moment, she nodded, still staring hard at the ground before them on the bench. “It was the day before. There was shouting and a fight. Guns…”
So no one found her until the next day. Bucky wasn’t happy about that. None of his men swept the house?
“Where did the other man take you once he got you out?” Bucky asked.
The young woman blew out a long sigh. “To a friend’s,” she said slowly.
He nodded. “I don’t need specifics. I just need to know if you ran into anyone else since you were taken. Did you ever leave his house until the guy got you out?”
She shook her head.
He hated to ask. “Did he let anyone else…”
“No,” she said quickly.
“All right,” Bucky said in a kinder tone. “What can you tell me about the guy who got you out?”
She was still for a moment, before shrugging. “Not much. I wasn’t… trying to look at him.”
“Did you see any women?” Bucky asked. “Any other younger women like yourself, about your size?“ Did she see Mrs. Rogers there?
“No,” she said after a moment. “Why?”
“Why what?” Bucky asked, giving her one last chance to tell him something useful before he handed her the bag of money and told her to get lost.
“Ask about other women?” she asked.
“I was just wondering if you'd seen someone I’m interested in,” Bucky said simply.
“Why are you interested in her?” the young woman asked.
“For many reasons,” Bucky told her as he rose from the bench. “For our purposes here, I’m curious about the part she played in the last few days.”
She sighed again but didn’t move as he stood above her.
Hauling the bookbag off the ground, he held it up for her. It was filled with money, a lot of it, hers for the taking.
“Take this and make a fresh start,” he told her. “But this talk didn't take place. You understand?”
Slowly, she stood, her head ducked making her smaller than him. With a hand, she reached to take the bag from him. She froze. Her hand gripped one of the straps, but she’d stopped moving.
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “I can’t…”
She couldn't take the money?
“I’ve got it,” another female voice came from behind him, with a Russian accent. Before he could turn to see who it was, he felt the blade pierce his clothing, pierce his skin before sliding into his flesh at his side. The fuck?
The pain didn’t subside when the blade was pulled free as he expected. The pain grew in intensity, spreading out from the wound.
Was the blade coated in poison?
The woman in front of him now held the backpack in one hand, pulling the mask from her face with the other. Bucky's pain was breathtaking and had him gasping as he dropped to his knees, gripping his side with his hand and listening to shouts from his men drawing closer.
Bucky stared up in pain and rage at the woman he now recognized as Mrs. Steve Rogers.
“You!” he managed. “You fucking bitch! You’re… You did this?!”
Her eyes were fierce on him. “I did,” she said.
"Evil bitch," he hissed.
"When all of you commit violence, you're protecting your family," she explained angrily. "When I commit violence, I'm an evil bitch."
His gaze darted to the backpack and back.
“And you’re taking the fucking money… too?”
Yelena Belova was there, trying to pull her away.
“I’m giving it to her,” she said as Belova pulled her away. “Just like you wanted.”
Bucky's mind was a mad whirl of thoughts as pain strengthened its grip on him. It was her. Not her husband. Did that mean...?
"Is Steve even alive?" he managed.
She held his gaze. "He is."
"He's not in good shape," Bucky shot back, hating how the pain rendered him unable to wring her neck. "He wouldn't let you... He's bad off if you..."
"We have to go," Belova urged her, grabbing Mrs. Rogers' arm and pulling her behind her in earnest.
“I’m… I'll get you!” Bucky promised, his vision fading to black at the edges. "I'll survive this... and I'll get you!"
"If you survive this," she called back, "Steve will get you."
Then she was gone and his men were there, crowding around him, their shouts fading as he let the darkness claim him.
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— MAKE IT RIGHT THIS TIME
PAIRING — Erik Lehnsherr x fem!Mutant!Reader
SUMMARY — You’re a teacher at Charles’ school where you live with your daughter but the life you’re living is far from what you want it to be. After a disagreement with Charles about your role in his institution, you pay your husband a visit. Maybe there’s still a chance to make the things right.
AUTHOR’S NOTE — I wanted to write it for MONTHS ??? and I finally did in one sitting and I’m so proud of myself! I know that not many people are into X–Men fics anymore (???) but honestly, I just had to write it and get it out of my system 💗 It’s based very very loosely on the plot of the movies and takes place more less when Dark Phoenix’s plot is. Reader’s mutation is NOT specified.
WORD COUNT — 3,150
ENGLISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE.
MAKE IT RIGHT THIS TIME
Raven was pissed. You knew her long enough to see it in her eyes and the way her fingers twitched nervously now and then. Everyone focused on Jane after the weird incident in outer space but from the corner of your eye, you could see Raven’s anger. And you were observing her because you were pissed, too. You knew she would be on the same page with you.
Risking your life for Charles was supposed to be over now. You didn’t sign up for any of that – tight, pathetic superhero’s suit and journalists taking pictures of you leaving the ship, asking you questions; all the sensation and headlines. You never wanted to be a hero. You just wanted to be with your people – with other mutants – safe and happy. You wanted peace.
Charles mostly cared about his school’s PR in front of the humans and it was exhausting. It was nothing like you had been imagining your life to be. Especially now, when you had so much to lose.
Raven went to Charles’ office to argue with him but you didn’t join her. You had your disagreements in the past but you knew she was tough enough to do it without your backup and you were needed somewhere else anyway.
You passed a bunch of kids – your students – congratulating you on the staircase.
“That was so cool, Mrs. Lehnsherr!” some boy’s cheeks blushed as he gasped like he was choking on air. You faked a kind smile at him.
You didn’t want him to think that risking your life for Charles was something admirable. You didn’t want to raise these kids to be superheroes. You just wanted them to be mutants capable of controlling their forces; future adults feeling comfortable in their own skin.
“Thank you, darling,” you whispered before opening the wooden door and disappearing inside the room. You took a deep breath out of relief when all the outside noise became muffled behind the door.
“Mum!” a young girl’s voice whined and you smiled at the girl laying on the bed. She took her headphones off and pouted at you, “You haven’t knocked!” she scolded you.
Edie was eight years old now – big enough to want her privacy and you hated that. Not because you didn’t want her to have her own space but because you hated to see her so grown up. You wished her to stay little forever like she was when she was two or three, giggling in her father’s arms when he was throwing her in the air in the kitchen.
You smiled sadly at the memory.
“I’m sorry, Edie. I had to hide from them as fast as I could,” you sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. She turned off her walkman and put the headphones away. “Why weren’t you waiting for me downstairs? I couldn’t wait to see your face.”
“You know why, mum,” she sniffled and you furrowed your brows before looking at her face. Then you spotted the dried out tears on her cheeks.
“Oh, Edie,” you gasped before pulling her closer and hugging her tight. She pressed her face to your chest and you hid your face in her hair before kissing the top of her head. “Mummy will always come back to you, little Edie.”
Edie hated you going on missions. She was terrified that you wouldn’t come back to her. She often refused to watch anything related to them on TV (which was difficult) and she would just sit in her room and block out the noise with her headphones.
“I’m back, I’m fine,” you caressed her back.
“I know that you all almost died today. I was nervous and I changed the radio station to news,” she admitted and sobbed as her small body trembled in your arms. Your heart broke.
“I promise I won’t ever go again,” you bit on your lower lip as your eyes filled with tears, too.
“You always say that and then uncle Charles asks you for one last favour.”
You didn’t answer her. She was right.
“I miss dad,” she added and you froze at that.
“I miss him, too,” you only admitted, almost inaudibly.
“Why can’t we be with him?” Edie looked up to meet your gaze. You caressed her wet cheeks and sighed.
“You know why, Edie. It’s not the kind of life I’d want for us.”
“And this is?” she asked innocently but once again there was no answer from you.
You just didn’t know what to say.
“You can visit your dad tomorrow. How about that?” you proposed to make her feel better and she nodded eagerly while giving you a wide smile.
“You’re driving too fast, mum,” Edie giggled and her voice brought you back to reality. You slowed down immediately after realising that she had been right.
“I’m sorry,” you sighed. “I’m angry.”
“Because we’re going to see daddy?”
“No. I had a fight with uncle Charles this morning,” you admitted.
“About yesterday?”
“Yes,” you nodded but refused to share the details. Edie was too young to be burdened with things like that.
“Do you think dad’s gonna like my new trick?” she grinned at you, playing with the metal balls inside her hand. She had recently learnt how to make them float in all sorts of ways and even change their shape. Sometimes it was funny and sometimes it was visually beautiful.
“I think he’s gonna love it,” you assured her and parked the car on the roadside near the trailer park where Erik and his followers lived.
Of course he refused to call them followers. These days, they were just comrades or whatever. But you weren’t a fool. You’d known him for years. He always had followers.
Edie was practising her tricks while walking alongside you all the way to the trailer park and you were smiling at her and pretending to listen to her rambling but, in fact, you were far away with your thoughts.
You were looking around and caught yourself wondering… Would it really be that bad to live there? Of course the standard was way worse than Charles’ huge mansion and you had your responsibilities back at school – all your kids to teach. On the other hand, they weren’t really your kids and there were other teachers, while Erik’s trailer park just felt more free and you knew that it would make Edie happy to live there.
Of course only if Erik wanted you there as well, which wasn’t so obvious.
The forest path ended and you found yourselves inside the trailer park. Edie ran off ahead and you tried to stop her but it was pointless. She felt comfortable there and seemed not to notice all the curious and suspicious eyes. People living with Erik knew who you were but they always stared at you like you were actually sent there with a military squadron supposed to arrest or kill them. After all, your kind – mutants living with Charles – was known for working with humans for the sake of the friendship between the species.
“Hey, little one!” a female voice greeted Edie and you turned around to see a young woman patting your daughter’s head. You had seen her before while taking Edie to Erik or picking her up. That woman’s name was Monica and she seemed to be close with your husband.
Husband by name only. For some reason you had never divorced. There was never any occasion to do so.
“Hi, Monica!” Edie smiled at her and you squinted your eyes at them. Edie had never told you much about Monica. Only that she had been nice.
You had your reasons to believe that Monica was actually Erik’s girlfriend and Edie just chose to cover up for them.
But there was nothing to cover up. It was Erik’s right to live his life without you. It was your choice not to live with him. It was your decision to split up for Edie’s good. Without Edie, you’d go to the end of the world with Erik back in the day. You’d burn the whole world alongside him. You almost did once anyway.
Edie changed everything. You didn’t regret her, though, not even for a moment.
“Hi, Monica,” you stood behind Edie and put your hand on your daughter’s shoulder. Monica looked at you with a smirk. “Is Erik around?” you asked.
“Yeah, let me get him,” she answered before turning around and disappearing inside one of the small houses.
He went outside a short moment after.
It had been years now since he changed so much but every time you saw him after a long while of not seeing him, you felt weird because he looked so different than at the beginning of your relationship. You didn’t mean his face getting older but he used to be such an elegant man in his turtlenecks, jackets, sunglasses and haircut. Nowadays, he was just wearing T-shirts and didn’t shave for days when he didn’t feel like it. Edie would often complain about his stubble scratching her face when they were hugging.
“Hi,” you greeted him awkwardly.
“Hi,” he looked a bit surprised and opened his arms for Edie. She ran into them and jumped on her dad. He picked her up and kissed her cheeks. “I didn’t expect you.”
“Edie wanted to see you,” you approached them and rubbed her back. “I’m sorry. Should have called… But you don’t really use your phone, do you?”
“I don’t know where it is,” Erik admitted.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.”
“But you haven’t been here with her in such a long time. I thought I’d never see her again,” he said and you felt guilty.
“Don’t be stupid, Erik. It’s just… I was very busy,” you looked down.
“Mum saved the world yesterday,” Edie giggled as her dad put her down on the ground. Erik furrowed his brows at you.
“I didn’t. Jane did, actually. Kinda…” you chuckled nervously.
“They almost died, daddy,” Edie lowered her voice and swallowed thickly. You took a deep breath in.
“I know. I’ve listened on the radio,” he confessed and you looked up, surprised. “Edie, can I talk to your mum for a while?”
“But daddy, I wanted to show you a trick!”
“You can show me later, okay?” He caressed her hair.
“Show me first!” Suddenly, Monica appeared next to you. You almost jumped at that. Apparently, superhuman speed was her mutation.
“Okay!” Edie followed Monica to one of the houses and you watched them with terror in your eyes.
“She’s safe. I trust Monica,” Erik assured you. “I trust everyone here. Believe me,” he insisted and you nodded your head before walking away with him to go inside his place.
You sat on the couch and looked around since you hadn’t been inside much before. The place was quite messy and you spotted that there were some pictures on the wall and most of them were of Edie. On one of them it was all three of you when your daughter was a few months old. You stood up again and approached that picture to caress it gently with your fingertips through the glass of a frame.
“We were so young, huh?” you cracked a smile.
“You still are,” Erik stood behind you.
A long silence occurred between you two.
“What did you want to talk about?” you asked in a whisper after swallowing thickly.
“You shouldn’t risk your life anymore for Charles. I mean, I have never wanted you to but now we have Edie.”
“You have never wanted me to risk my life for Charles,” you turned around to face him, “but you have never minded me risking my life for you, Erik.”
“All I did was to protect you and you know that,” he furrowed his brow.
“That’s the excuse that lets you sleep at night?” you snorted at that.
“(Y/N), come on,” Erik grabbed your wrist but he wasn’t squeezing it so you didn’t fight him on that, “don’t pretend to be better than me. Don’t play pretend to be a bigger person. We both know you are not. You joined me because you made a choice. I didn’t force you to join the Brotherhood.”
“I joined you because I loved you,” you gritted your teeth and he clenched his jaw at your words, “and I hated every moment of it. There’s blood on my hands but it was all for love. That’s the excuse that lets me sleep at night.”
“I don’t want you to die for Charles’ ego, do you hear me? Edie needs a mother,” Erik changed the subject and pushed your wrist away. You knew it was a sensitive matter to him. He didn’t want Edie to lose her mother like he had lost his.
“She still has you. You’re going to take care of her if something happens to me, right?”
“Of course I will but I didn’t know you wanted me to. I thought you’d want her to stay at school if anything happens,” Erik sat down on the couch and you took a deep breath in.
“I don’t. I mean, what for? So she grows up to be another X–Man? So they put her in a tight suit and make her risk her life to save humans?” you rolled your eyes. “Fuck that, Erik. And you have the same mutation. You’re every teacher she’d ever need.”
“What do you mean by that?” he looked up and you bit on your lower lip nervously.
“I had an argument with Charles this morning. I know what you think but I don’t want to do the missions for him anymore and it’s been like that for a long time now. I agreed to join his school, to be a teacher, to secure Edie’s future… But I never agreed to that, all that saving humans shit. He always sweet talks me into doing that. He tells me that he needs me. That there aren’t many original X–Men around anymore… Me, Raven, Hank… And I’m too fucking sentimental to say no to him. But it’s over now. I told him this morning I’m not doing it anymore and he… He brought back the past. He told me I probably still have hatred towards humans in my heart, from the times when I was in the Brotherhood. That was too much, Erik. I split up my family for this man… I ruined what was between you and I to join him and that’s how he repays me?” you sniffed your tears back and looked away. “I don’t want to be there anymore. He’s not a better life for me and my girl. I thought he would be but I was wrong.”
Erik examined your face for a while and he was visibly confused after hearing your little monologue. You quietly hoped he’d offer you a place to stay but he remained silent.
“I was thinking… Maybe we could move in… Edie and I… I know you miss her and she misses you, too. Not here, of course,” you looked around his house. “I’d get us our own place. I mean, my place… She could stay here for a while and then for a while with me. Whatever, we’d live close anyway. It wouldn’t matter to her anyway. But I mean… When you’d want some time with Monica for yourselves, no problem…”
“Wha– Wait, wait, wait,” Erik stood up and shushed you before walking up to you. “What are you talking about? Some time with Monica? What?”
“I know you two are like… together,” you shrugged your arms, pretending that it didn’t bother you.
“Have you lost your mind… Who’s told you that? Edie?”
“No,” you shook your head. “I’m observant.”
“No, you’re not observant, (Y/N). You’re jealous,” he laughed and you made an angry face at that. “You’ve always been. Should I remind you about Raven, Emma…”
“You actually fucking kissed Raven,” you interrupted him.
“Because you were giving me mixed signals.”
“That’s no excuse!” you protested and then he shut you up with a kiss.
You gasped at first, still trying to process what had just happened. And then you gave in, you cupped his face and kissed him back so hard that your teeth clashed, like there was no tomorrow. God, you missed him.
Erik’s hands rested on your hips as he pulled you even closer. After a while, you lost your breath and had to break the kiss.
“Of course you can move in, just let me clean up a little,” he smiled with his face still only inches away from yours. You giggled at that.
“Yeah, you should,” you nodded. “Edie and I are taking the bedroom. You can sleep here,” you took a step back and fixed his hair gently, “for now,” you added. “I think we need some time. We can’t just… Suddenly pretend that the past few years haven't happened. We lost many years,” you explained and he nodded his head.
“But it’s nothing compared to all the years we still have ahead,” Erik raised your chin with his finger. “And this time, I promise, I’ll make it right.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t survive you going to jail again,” you laughed and pushed him playfully.
“Ekhem,” someone’s voice made you both turn around and you saw Monica with a huge smirk on her face leaning on the doorframe. “Your kid is becoming very impatient to show you the trick,” she announced and winked at you.
“How long have you been standing there?” Erik asked her.
“Depends on how long the kiss actually was. I’d say… somewhere the middle of it but perhaps it was the ending. Didn’t want to ekhem at you earlier, it felt off, you know?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake. There’s no privacy here, is it?” you sighed.
“Better get used to it,” Monica shrugged her arms, “and you, good luck at getting your old back used to sleeping on that shitty piece of couch,” she looked at Erik. “Come ‘ere, Edie,” she called your daughter from the outside.
“What took you so long?” Edie whined after walking inside with her metal balls floating behind her like dogs taken out on a walk.
“Your parents were…” Monica started and Erik gave her a deadly look. “...talking,” she finished.
“About your new room,” Erik added. “What would you like in your new room?”
“Mum, what does dad mean?” Edie’s eyes widened at you.
“We’re moving in,” you announced nervously. “I mean… Only if you want to.”
“Are you kidding me?” she gasped and all the metal balls fell to the floor dramatically. “That’s the best day ever!” she ran into her father’s arms happily. “Daddy, it’s my favourite day I think! Is it yours, too?”
“No,” Erik shook his head and rubbed his nose with hers, “my favourite day was the one when you were born.”
MASTERLIST
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