Chapter Text
“For years, I have been working secretly to develop a new age of protection. Today, the citizens of the United States needed that protection and thanks to my hard work— they got it. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the New Avengers.” The six figures standing behind La Contessa Valentina Allegra De Fontaine shared glances, confused at how they were just conned into becoming the New Avengers, as Valentina had stated.
Yelena Belova’s eyes transformed from a confused squint to wide-eyed expression at the words, the furrow in her brow softening as she realized her dream came true, but at what cost?
James Buchanan Barnes — better known as Bucky, formerly the Winter Soldier, stood still, the thought processing as he tilted his head.
Alexei Shostakov, the Russian hero known as the Red Guardian, began to smile—oh, how he missed being a public figure and superhero. A wave of nostalgia washed over him as reporters and onlookers began to applaud and cheer, cameras flashing every second or so.
Bob, standing on the far right, began to nod with a smile, clapping with such pride and enthusiasm, despite having no clue what happened earlier.
The applause went on for a while as John Walker — with his now bent in half shield — stared off into the distance, he remembered the feeling of the press, the kind of stress to be Captain America, to be something he wasn’t, but also that familiar confidence boost was something he adored.
Ava Starr awkwardly looked around, she wasn’t used to large crowds, after all she grew up in a laboratory for most of her life, having that sort of attention was new to her, almost scary.
Bucky looked towards Yelena, his mouth slightly agape as none of them had expected this to happen, he hadn’t completely trusted Mel, Valentina’s assistant of sorts, but he did not see him and his band of misfits becoming the New Avengers to be on their list. Mel was standing the farthest to the right, behind Valentina but in front of the New Avengers, her clipboard held flat against the front of her hips. Yelena took a moment to consider the situation then stepped forward, passing Mel, and towards Valentina. Valentina was smiling so smugly thinking she had won until:
“We own you know.” Yelena whispered into her ear. Valentina’s smile faded, her attempt at swallowing the frown her lips were making wasn’t all that great, but she recovered with a forced smile. Yelena turned to face the cameras, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the abrasions on her skin seeping into her bones and she began to feel so tired, but they had won.
…
Right?
─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───
Days had passed since darkness fell onto Manhattan, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. People had been thrown into past memories, shameful, scary, traumatizing.
The New Avengers had been the ones to stop it, but no one really understood how. It seemed that everyone was keeping what happened under wraps. In the days that had followed the need for therapists skyrocketed — maybe because those “shame rooms”, as they came to be known, made people relive things they had forgotten (or wanted to forget).
Up in the Watchtower (formerly the Avengers Tower – formerly Stark Tower…), people were walking on eggshells around Bob, and he felt it. No one explained where injuries came from, why no one would tell him what happened after he attacked Valentina as Sentry. It was all fuzzy, a blur, covered in darkness. Eventually the pieces clicked, when he had touched Yelena and Walker in the bunker, he was transported somewhere, he saw their memories, their shame rooms.
Had he been the cause of the darkness that overtook New York? Had he hurt his friends?
When Yelena went home the night after the attack, she looked in the mirror for the first time in a long time, checking to see if her makeup was smudged while she was on camera.
She unzipped the top half of her suit, letting it bundle around her hips, to see a long bruise circling around her neck, that certainly wasn’t before she entered the void. It seems as though whatever physical thing happened to people in the void, was real.
She carefully patched up the scrapes and applied ice to the bruises on her neck where she was previously strangled by a cloth and a plastic wire.
Yelena thought about taking a shower, but she was exhausted. The shortest of her hairs were plastered on her forehead by sweat. Yelena quickly splashed water on her face and wiped off her makeup with some wipes on the side of the sink.
Valentina was likely to contact her in the next few hours – or days, it really depended with her and her schedules – and talk about the “New Avengers”. Yelena dragged herself to her bed, she let her body fall on the mattress with an “oomf” breaking from her throat.
As her eyes grew heavy and her muscles slowly relaxed – as much as they could – she had a thought pop into her head. Would Bob be okay on his own? It was a valid question, they had promised to stick together, but he was quickly whisked away after the press and brought to the Watchtower for his “protection”. What Valentina really meant was protection for everyone else. Yelena had argued it, saying that Bob was his own person but Valentina responded with,
“Robert is very capable of choosing his own decisions, I agree with you, Ms. Belova. Robert, where would you like to go?” Bob looked between Yelena and Valentina, he trusted Yelena more, but Valentina was still manipulating him.
“I- uh- I mean I’d like to go back to the Watchtower, but I want to stay with Yelena.” He said with those dark blue puppy-dog eyes of his, fiddling with the hem of his dark blue sweater. Yelena frowned, Bob should do what he wants, but Yelena did not want to step foot in the Watchtower.
“I can’t go to the tower, Bob.” She said, shaking her head slightly. Bob lowered his head, he didn’t have anywhere else to go but the tower, but he felt safe with Yelena. She was someone who understood him. Yelena went up and hugged Bob, promising she’d be back. Bob let out a sigh and when the hug ended, he followed Valentina back to the Watchtower.
The next few days in the watchtower were lonely. The tower was large and it had so many empty rooms that he couldn’t help but feel lonely. Everybody else had their own homes, Yelena had her apartment, Bucky had his, Ava had her own apartment, even. Yelena called almost everyday to check up on Bob, promising she’d go to the tower some time. He had an inkling her hesitation didn’t have to do with Valentina or him.
Bob had started therapy, although Valentina had mandated it, he actually wanted to go. His therapist wasn’t that bad, actually, he was nervous about the whole experience given that his mother had documented mental illness and when she would go away for a few weeks she would come back less… her. He was always afraid of what they did to her, and afraid of what his dad would do to him while she was gone.
But he figured he needed help, and he wanted to get better. He had people worth getting better for. Heck, even Walker was worried about him. He remembered what he said on the streets of New York after the huge gap in his memory,
“You did great in there, Bob.” Not Bobby, not Robert, but Bob. Walker had given him a nod, which was probably the nicest thing Walker had done or said in the whole time he’d known him. “Thanks, Walker.” He smiled, the skin around his eyes creasing. “In— in where?”
Bob couldn’t help but melt at the praise then. But he had begun to piece together the gap in his memory by the end of the week. “In there”, the shame rooms he remembered walking into— Yelena’s and Walkers— everything in there was so… real.
Everyone called the terrorist who unleashed the darkness on New York “the Void”. But that was him, that was Robert Reynolds. He took almost all of New York City into a dark place all because of… Valentina. She did something to him, to stop him from hurting her.
She never did trust him in the first place, nobody should have. He’s a mentally unstable person with crazy new super powers, of course people didn’t trust him, they had no reason to.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Bob turned around from his place on the couch. He’d spent days sitting there, watching television way too much for it to be healthy. But there she was, Yelena.
“Miss me, Bob?” She said with a coy smile. Bob smiled haphazardly, he was having a bit of a depressive episode then. It was good to see a familiar face, after all it had been 5 days since darkness fell on New York.
Yelena leaned against the door frame of the common room. Bob’s hair was a little greasy and there were deep bags under his eyes.
“I want you to know why I didn’t want to come here at first.” Yelena sat down next to him, Bob shuffled slightly to the side making room for her.
“You don’t have to- I understand why, I mean I hurt y-“ Yelena cut him off. Her eyebrows furrowed. “No, don’t start. Let me explain, okay?” Bob sighed in defeat and Yelena adjusted her posture.
“I don’t think I told you this, I don’t think many people know- but my sister…” She took a moment to breathe. “Natasha Romanoff. My sister, she was an avenger.” Bob tilted his head slightly, his body relaxing a little, his shoulders lowering. “When we were announced as the new avengers, I was excited, but it reminded me of my sister. She used to live here, in this exact tower, with the other avengers.” She explained, her eyes looking down to the carpet and the feet of the coffee table in front of them.
“I didn’t know if I was ready, ever since she died there was a… void. And without anyone it just got darker.” She looked at Bob. “But then we found each other, we made a team. I promised we’d stay together. And I’m going to keep to my promise.”
“Yelena—“ Bob looked for the words. It was her who was better at consoling someone, not him. “I’m sorry, that you had to go through that.”
“And I’m sorry for what you had to go through, I shouldn’t have left you with Valentina.” The two smiled at each other, they understood each other. Two souls who suffered in silence until they found each other. They needed company, that was clear.
“It wasn’t too awful, she’s kind of been leaving me alone. Made me start therapy, but I think it’s good for me to go.”
Yelena chuckled, “Of course she did. I'm glad you’re getting help, Bob.”
“So, which room do you want?” Bob stood up, stretching, it was a good stretch, maybe because he felt safer now. “Nobody else has come yet so you get first pick.”
Yelena jumped off the couch in excitement. “Let’s go check them out!” She grabbed Bob’s hand and they went to the elevator.