Family Bonding

- - - - -

Bucky opened his eyes after the blinding light died down. He dropped his hand that shielded his gaze from Megaton's eruption, and waited for his vision to return to him fully. After a few seconds, the spots in his view disappeared. Bucky noticed the bands that kept him rooted on the spot weren't there anymore. He then grabbed his rifle and ran. It didn't take long for him to end up at the blast site. The rain had put out the ring of fire that was left behind by Megaton's explosion. Jules Carter was one with the subatomic atoms now. Bucky clenched his jaw when he saw the two bodies. Marcus had been propelled a few metres away from his daughter and he was lying flat on his back, eyes closed and chest slowly rising.

The Sentinel was alive, as expected.

Ana on the other hand didn't look so good.

Bucky blinked the blur from his vision and knelt next to Ana. He carefully eased her onto her back. His bionic prosthetic reached down to brush the hair from her face so he had a clear view of her features. He pressed his fingers against the base of her neck, waiting for a pulse to make itself known. He hovered his intertwined hands above her chest and started to perform compressions.

Pump, pump, pump. Bucky leaned down to breathe his air into her lungs. He moved his ear to her chest, waiting for a beat. He released a sound of defeat and tried again. More compressions. More breathing. More listening. After a few more failed attempts, he knew he couldn't keep it up. His eyes glossed over by the tears spilling down his cheeks. He carried her upper half to hold against him as he let his head drop to the crook of her neck.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." He whispered, arms tightening around her torso.

Marcus rubbed at his bloodshot eyes, sitting up from the ground. He groaned, clutching his pounding head. He was positive it would burst any second. His senses were returning at lightning speed, overheating his brain. His ears perked up when he heard muffled crying and the creak of metal. His hands retracted from his head and his eyes enlarged when he saw his daughter in the arms of the Winter Soldier. He shuffled to his feet and in a blink, was standing above the two. He didn't say anything to James Barnes and inclined his head in Ana's direction, holding his breath until he saw it. Her fingers twitch. As the joint moved, an internal energy spark zipped up her arm before fading away.

Marcus furrowed his brows.

"Ease up on the metal arm there, pal. You're crushing my daughter." Marcus told Bucky, and patted his shoulders.

Bucky peered up at Marcus, frowning at the lively looking Sentinel. He found it strange how Marcus physically looked a few years older than his daughter. He then turned his focus to Ana when she started to cough. When her eyes opened, Bucky pulled away, shocked by what he saw inside them. A brilliant, cobalt blue burned within her irises — identical to the Sentinel's. Bucky was hypnotised by it. It took Marc having to remove him from Ana to bring him back to reality. Bucky went to protest, but he realised why Marcus did what he did. Ana started to groan, shutting her eyes and clutching at her stomach. She was brought to tears from the pain surging throughout her body. It felt like her insides were on fire. A familiar feeling. One she hadn't felt in years, when Loki shot at her with the sceptre that contained the Mind Stone — lots of times.

Bucky glanced at Marcus. "What's happening?" He gulped.

Marcus squinted. "When Megaton exploded, all that energy that was inside of him — my energy — was forced back into the atmosphere. I got back what was mine, but it seems like Katiana got some of it too. Her system is just trying to figure out whether she takes it or dies."

Bucky blinked. "Dies?" He echoed.

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't worry, she's my kid. She's strong." He assured, eyes colouring blue for a beat.

"Damn... right..." Ana huffed, pushing herself up. She looked down at her hands, thinking she saw a light around them. She moved her hands away from the drenched grass to try and find something in the ground that could explain the gleam. She shook her head in denial, assuming she was just seeing things. When she straightened up, she breathed in deeply, relaxing her shoulders. All she could feel now was the sore parts of her body that were struck in battle.

"Bucky." She called. Dazed, she dragged a hand down her tingling face. Then again, she was stupidly close to Megaton when he blew up.

Bucky enveloped her in his arms instantly. "God, Ana... I thought I lost you." He whispered. Ana wrapped her arms around him tightly, and hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"I'm okay..." Ana responded. "Thank you." Bucky pulled back and went to kiss her when he stopped, and glanced at Marcus over his shoulder. He then faced Ana, and shrugged, unsure. He didn't want to possibly piss off the god that was Ana's father.

Ana turned to look at Marcus. Something about the sight of him being healthy and cheery made her smile grow and her heart warm. Her missing piece was finally found. She felt whole. As did Marcus. Ana's eyes flickered over to Bucky, who motioned for her to join her father. He understood this moment was important for both of them. Ana pecked Bucky's cheek before she walked towards Marcus, albeit shyly. She didn't expect him to bundle her up in his arms and lift her up, mirroring the first encounter Ana had with her Earth-616 parents. A perfect father-daughter moment for the books. Ana locked her hands around his neck and let her head rest against his. The Michaels family cried together. A father cried for his daughter who he thought he had lost. A daughter cried because her father was real and alive and now apart of her family. She let the stained memories of her Hydra family fade so she had room to make new ones with Marcus.

The Sentinel couldn't come up with anything in his long life that compared to this moment. Not even working alongside the Living Tribunal.

"Thank you, Katiana. You saved me." Marcus breathed out, easing his daughter down. He placed his hands on her shoulders, taking in her features. He couldn't stop crying. It made him laugh. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this fulfilled. All he had known for the past thirty years was loneliness and heartache. He was used to being the only one of his kind. He was used to the hiding and the lies and the constant running. Fury wanted Marcus to believe he wasn't safe. Nick kept a lot of things from him. But not anymore.

"I dropped everything for you. When I first heard you were still alive..." Ana trailed off, knowing it wasn't the best time to get in a long discussion on the fact that Fury had lied to the both of them. Ana pulled the sleeves of her shirt over her palms and wiped as much blood and tears from her father's face as she could. "Call me Ana. And I couldn't have done it without my partner." She pivoted on her feet, and held out her hand for Bucky to take. "James Barnes."

Marcus composed himself and breathed in deeply as Bucky joined the pair. He offered his hand for Bucky to shake, and nodded at the metal armed man. "Marcus Michaels. Call me Marc." He introduced.

Bucky took Marc's hand with his Vibranium prosthetic, and eased a smile onto his face to try and mask the sheer nervousness he felt. He was shaking hands with a god. "You look a lot better than you did two minutes ago, Marc." He said bluntly.

Marcus chuckled. He appreciated the lightheartedness from him. "And you look exactly the same as you did seventy years ago, Sergeant." He countered, releasing Bucky's hand. When Ana and Bucky sent him looks of bewilderment, he elaborated. "One-o-seventh, right? I fought in the war too. I was a lieutenant." Marcus stated, finding it humorous that his rank in the World War was higher than his daughter's boyfriend's.

Bucky inhaled sharply and pointed at Marcus. "Yeah, well, my best friend is Captain America."

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. "Captain Rogers doesn't even compare to my best friend, Captain Marv—"

Ana raised her hands in the middle of the men, "Oh, my God. What is happening?" She exclaimed.

Marcus sighed and opened his hands out in an apologetic gesture. "Sorry, Ana, my bad. It's just that now that I remember most of my past, I got a little excited." He explained, lifting his shoulders up.

Ana began to smile. "Wait, what? You remember?" She asked, hopeful.

Taskmaster eventually woke up from the hit Ana gave him and looked over at the three conversing. He grumbled to himself and picked up his sword. He couldn't remember who he had a serious problem with, but the way he saw it, he had one in three chances to get it right. He flipped the blade so the tip of the weapon fell into his hands and he stood up, aiming at all of them. Once he was satisfied, he launched the sword and waited for one of them to fall.

Marcus was just about to hug his daughter again when he heard the air behind him change. He turned around and caught the blade just millimetres from his chest and narrowed his pulsing eyes at Taskmaster. Ana's eyes widened, not having seen Masters get up. There was a tense pause as Marcus stared at Taskmaster. Tony then started running when he realised he was in trouble.

Marcus sent his beloved daughter and heartfelt smile, "I'll be right back, Ana." He pressed a kiss to the side of her head that wasn't covered in blood and ran for Tony as the Taskmaster shouted at his goons to load up and start shooting. Ana chuckled as she watched her father run with incredible speed up to Masters. He then rounded up all the Hydra goons and their weapons to keep them from shooting at Ana and Bucky.

"You alright?"

Ana took a breath. She faced Bucky as he came around to stand on her left. She didn't say anything at first. She just looked at him. His hair had been smoothed down by the rain that continued to shower around them. A few cuts and red spots on his face. Otherwise, he seemed okay. She was a lot more worried about him than she was of herself. Her gaze travelled down to his Vibranium arm that still had the markings of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak on it. She took his hand and with her other, wiped off the red dust from his forearm.

"I'm fine." Ana muttered, answering his question. "And I'm not sorry for anchoring you to the ground with the Bands." She added, raising a brow at him.

Bucky suppressed an eye roll. "You should be. I didn't appreciate being rooted on the spot while you ran headfirst towards a bomb. I understand it was for Marc, but..."

Ana released her hold on him. "But what? If you were too close to the blast you could've gotten seriously hurt. You could've died, Buck. I made a decision and that was to keep you outta harms way." She explained, crossing her arms over her chest.

Bucky shook his head, planting a hand on his hip. "From here on out, we make decisions together, as a team. I don't care if it's one of those end of the world type things, it still stands." He took her hands in his, and swallowed thickly. He wasn't looking her in eye when he said this next part. "Because if it weren't for you, I would've put a bullet in my head in Washington."

Ana's heart dropped. Washington? That was years ago, back when Hydra reigned supreme in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shadow. She understood he may have been confused and hurt and angry at the time, but this? This shattered her soul. Made her realise just how lost he was, and alone. Ana framed Bucky's face with her hands, getting him to look up at her. He seemed as if he regretted saying it out loud. That wasn't what Ana wanted. She wanted their relationship to be open and true. She just wished she had known about it sooner. "Buck, I didn't know..." She began softly, eyes swelling with tears.

Bucky lifted his shoulders slightly in response, blue eyes darting around uncomfortably. "It's not exactly something you'd bring up in a conversation."

"You and me till the world ends, huh?" Ana gave him a smile.

"And then some." Bucky returned the smile, pressing a kiss to her lips.

Marcus approached the two, dusting his hands off from the gunpowder residue left on his palms. "Alright, bad guys taken care of. If this was any other country, I'd call the authorities. But it's Bagalia, and the only authority Bagalia has is tied to a naked lady statue on the front lawn now half asleep from the knockout punch I gave him." He shared, grinning. He was glad he still had it.

Ana laughed quietly, taking Bucky's hand. She gave them a nod.

"Let's go home."

- - -

"Why did you come here? Did you think this place was safe for you?"

Ana had her arms folded over her chest as she eyed Marcus. They were at the edge of the city where it was the most deserted. It had taken them a while to reach the Talon Flyer Bucky flew over from Wakanda. Marc wanted to stop and collect a few of his things he had taken with him when he left Fury's watch. Nothing but a backpack with some clothes, a notebook and a couple of false passports along with a stack of cash and one single photo. Marcus hadn't shown the folded picture to Ana yet and she decided she wasn't going to ask about it. She assumed it was one of him and Fury since he shoved the photograph at the very bottom of his backpack.

Bucky was recalibrating the flight controls inside the Talon Flyer, giving Ana and Marcus some time to talk about the latter's journey in the rogue city. Marcus was staring at his hands, trying to get them to flare up. He'd shake them, getting a momentary flash of blue before he would groan in exasperation. He massaged his throbbing forehead and sighed. His eyes lifted up to meet his daughter's and he shrugged.

"This is where I first met your mother believe it or not." He began, sitting down on the severed trunk of a tree. "When the memories started coming back, I felt as if I had to find her. I searched the city, the suburbs, even Hell Town. Nothing. Then the memory of Strucker shooting her made its way into my brain and I-I lost it." Marcus revealed. Ana frowned deeply and sat next to her father, placing a hand on his shoulder as a sign of comfort. He smiled at her, rubbing her hand that was settled on his shoulder blade. "The pain of losing her was too great then, so when it came back to me now, I couldn't handle it. My powers... they had a mind of their own. I was underneath one of Taskmaster's property which just so happened to be his hiding place for the Chitauri tech when it happened. Took the whole block down."

"Were you hurt?" Ana asked.

Marcus looked up, shaking his head. "No. Just... confused. Why are they coming back now? Why not years ago?" He questioned.

Ana let out a long sigh, and faced at the front. "Amora's doing." She answered, causing him to pull a face out of surprise. "She's responsible for the spell that's giving us your memories back."

Marcus scoffed, standing up. He placed a hand on the side of his face, dragging it down. "Amora doesn't just do something out of the kindness of her black heart. She wants something in return. She always does." He replied, trying to make sense why the Enchantress did what she did. He didn't remember much, but he knew enough to know Amora couldn't be trusted.

Ana peered down at her fiddling hands. She had to tell Marcus about Ragnarök. About Asgard and Hela and Thor and Loki. The Realm Eternal was Marc's home once. He had family there. He had a life there. He would want to know what happened. While she mustered up the courage to explain it all, Marcus suddenly exhaled heavily, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know what? I don't want to talk about Amora anymore. Just thinking about her is giving me a migraine. Let's slow down."

Ana released a breath she didn't notice she was holding. It was going to be difficult to bring it up later. "That's okay." She forced a smile, "We have all time in the world."

Marcus seemed to like that. He eased a smile onto his face. "Fury told me as much as he could about you before I left him and Maria. You really are your father's daughter." His lips turned upside down, and his eyes darkened significantly. "And there's the matter of your past that resembles your mother's. If Hydra had a face, I'd rip it apart. They took my two girls from me. Nobody gets away with that."

Ana stood up. She empathised with this. Bucky was on his way towards the pair, signalling Ana that the Talon Flyer was up and running. As Ana and Marc made their way to the jet, she decided to add into the topic. "They took his identity away from him, you know? Made him their personal puppet." Marc looked over at Bucky as he loaded their bags inside, "Tore his mind apart. Kept him on ice until they needed him to commit an atrocity. I'd love to go back and personally get rid of all the people who hurt him for all those years. So, yeah, I know how you feel." Ana nodded at Marc, who stayed silent.

Bucky offered them both a smile once they were inside.

"Ready to go?"

"I thought you put it on the market."

Staring at a house Ana used to call home when she was still in high school was supposed to give her a sense of nostalgia. It should allow her to reminisce all the good times she had inside the double storey structure. As she stared at the greying exterior and withering shrubs, she remembered why she was intent on leaving and never coming back. The house was just a house. It was what she went through for all those years with her foster family that made her believe it wasn't her real home. And after finding out the truth about her adoptive Hydra parents, she wanted to get rid of it.

It was almost seven in the evening and the sky was already saying goodbye to the sun. The large street was quiet. It gave Bucky a chance to stand next to Ana without worrying about being spotted out in the open. The Talon Flyer was parked on the road with the retroreflective panels keeping it from being seen. Marcus had requested to be dropped off in Hell's Kitchen to collect more of his personal belongings and he offered to buy them all dinner. Ana had told him the address of the house and made him promise to be careful, knowing Fury might have his eye set on Marc's safe house. Ana's arms were loosely folded over her chest as she stayed immobile on the sidewalk. She turned her head to face Bucky and reply to his statement.

"I did. Nobody wants it." She shrugged lightly. "When Natasha leaked the Hydra flies on the internet, this house showed up and everyone assumed it was haunted or something. The owners demanded their money back which was difficult since I planned on giving it to this kid that's practically my little brother for his college tuition. My neighbours even moved to a different street. Real estate agent quit. I'm kinda stuck with it whether I like it or not." Ana explained.

Bucky observed the house, walking forward to take in the place Ana spent part of her life in. "It's huge. You can fit an entire baseball team in there." He commented, shooting Ana a smile.

"As long as it's the Mets." Ana chimed in, chuckling.

Bucky shook his head. "Dodgers."

Ana squinted at him. "Mets." She repeated.

Bucky mirrored her facial expression. "Dodgers."