Thunder Wolf [B.Barnes]

Chapter 9

"Thor, stop!" Bucky shouted, holding himself back from following Thor out into the storm. "Fern, are you okay?" He turned to her as Sam helped her from the floor.

"I'm going to kill him," She growled, marching out into the storm after Thor. "Get your stupid God of Thunder ass back into that house. I do speak for the Thunderbird, and it is not a monster!"

"You know nothing! You are only a child!" Thor shouted at her.

"I know a hell of a lot more than you think! I am on a very spiritual level with that animal, and if you harm it, you won't like what happens to you. So I suggest you make it known that you are no threat or leave this place now. Because at this pace, you'll destroy my home, and I will not have some stupid god ruining something that I have built myself." Ferm pushed Thor shoving him into the forest.

"That bird is a monster and will destroy this place on its own," Thor pushed Fern to the ground raising his hammer into the air.

"Stop!" Fern screamed, watching the lightning come down at them. "You can't hurt it! The Thunderbird protects this place. You must stand down!" Fern felt tears burn in her eyes, feeling pain shoot throughout her body. She let out a scream as Thor shot another bolt of lightning into the sky, the Thunderbird letting out a cry from the sky.

"Fern!" Bucky's voice was faint in her ears, but the pain slowly died down, and she couldn't remember anything after feeling someone pick her up.

Ω

"Is she going to be okay?" Bucky watched as Bruce poked at Fern with needles and ran tests on her.

"Most likely, you hit Thor hard enough for everyone to be able to take him down the rest of the way. Sam said he saw a flash of light hit the side of the mountain not long after. Whatever is going on here, it continues to become more than we thought." Steve stood with Bucky resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know how you are, but why do you seem to care for her so much?"

"She has another power, one she doesn't know about." Bucky sighed, "It comes from the Thunderbird, she can show people their futures, but it's something she doesn't know she's doing. There has to be a bond. It's like being shocked; then you see all of these pictures flash in your head." Bucky felt something brush against his leg, looking down to find Ryker.

"How do you know this? She was only a child when Hydra was here." Steve watched Bruce run around the lab, Tony not far behind him.

"She showed me as a child. Winter was to train her and care for her; he did just that. But as she was only a child and I faded in and out, I felt a connection to her, and we bonded. We spent all of our time together when Hydra wasn't testing her or the Thunderbird. I forgot she could do this until this morning when she did it again." Bucky paused, placing his hand on the glass window as Tony and Bruce shared a worried look. "She's shown me who I'm meant to be, and it isn't some miserable human who can't forget his past."

"She showed the two of you together. So you made the decision to leave, they didn't make you. Winter knew that she would only end up getting hurt if he stayed," Steve sighed, watching fear flash across Bucky's face. "Last night when you woke up, you knew the house, so you went to find her. But you couldn't remember her."

"I only know her as a small child and what I've learned in the last few hours. But I know that I have to do whatever I have to do to ensure that she's safe. And believe me, you do not want to know some of the things she showed me." Bucky held his breath as Tony and Bruce walked out of the infirmary.

"She'll be okay, but our concern is with the Thunderbird," Bruce sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing his temple. "They're connected; they can feel everything that the other feels, to an extent. I think the Thunderbird has control over it, so it could pick and choose what they feel. When Hydra was testing on them, did anything like this ever happen?"

"Briefly, when the testing first started. Hydra questioned if they could feel each other because they would do something simultaneously, like flinch away from someone even if the other wasn't around anyone. I believe the Thunderbird caught on and tried its best to keep that from happening. Fern was always scared around Hydra; she clung to me the instant she saw me." Bucky watched as Fern lay in a bed; he bounced on his heels. "Can I go see her?"

Tony nodded, and Bucky left with Ryker following closely behind him. Bucky grabbed the first chair he could find, pulling it over to the side of Fern's bed; he grabbed her hand sitting beside her. "Hey doll, Bruce says you're going to be okay," He smiled, watching Ryker struggle to climb onto her bed. Bucky used his metal arm to help the wolf onto the bed. "You gotta wake up; the Thunderbirds hurt, and I think it needs you. I know it scares you, but you're all it's got."

"That bird will be just fine," Fern coughed, keeping her eyes closed. "Thor, on the other hand."

"He's out like a light right now. You don't need to worry about him." Bucky chuckled, "Do you know all of your powers? Has the Thunderbird ever tried to tell you anything about them?"

"No, it doesn't like to talk to me. It seems to like hurting me, though, but it probably believes that I brought you all here. That I brought that stupid god here." Fern sighed, opening her eyes to look at Bucky. "It's nice having everyone here, but you all need to leave." She felt the tears fall down her cheeks. Fern hated the thought of having these people who she had just met and started to grow attached to leave because she was scared to be alone again.

"Doll, you don't mean that. You can't," Bucky wiped her tears away, feeling his own begin to fall. He'd seen it, their future; he wasn't going to let go of her.

"It's the only way to keep the valley safe; the Thunderbird is going to wash everything away. I can't let that happen, Bucky. This is my home, those animals out there; they're my family. I can't go somewhere else because I can't leave them behind." Fern cried, hugging Ryker as he climbed up between her and Bucky. He was protecting her like he had done for a while now; she saved him, now it's his turn.

"Come live with us at the Avengers Compound, you wouldn't have to worry about anything there, and you could bring whatever you wanted," Bucky bit the inside of his cheek.

"No, Bucky, I can't. Then I would be taking them from their home," Fern hid her face in Ryker's fur, "The Thunderbird wouldn't let me leave. It needs me here. I help regrow the forest whenever something happens. If anything happens to the Thunderbird, it's my job to take care of this valley."

"So, you can't be happy because of a stupid bird," Bucky scuffed, standing to his feet. He paced around the room a few steps, picking his following works delicately.

"Just because I can talk to animals doesn't mean my life is a Disney movie. I can't live without that stupid bird Bucky," Fern snapped. "It dies; I do too. You weren't there when Hydra almost killed us. So that stupid bird is everything to me, no matter how much it doesn't want me around."

"What?" Bucky felt his heart drop.