The Story Book

  Cont... AJ couldn't breathe. Everything was pressing down on him, and when he tried to breathe, he couldn't. He tried to move, but something was holding him down.  This is what it feels like to die. A voice echoed in his head. It sounded like Uncle Bucky.  AJ couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't move. I don't wanna die!!!! AJ screamed in his mind.  He woke up choking on his own breath.  Ever since Cass had found that video, his nightmare had ramped up. AJ's hands were shaking as he sat up. The blood, the pain, the drowning, it wouldn't leave his mind.  The worse part about the whole situation was that now that he knew why those people had wanted his Uncle, he felt SAFE. He knew they wouldn't come for him or his family again. He could go outside without looking over his shoulder, not freak out if someone dropped something loudly. He no longer expected something bad to happen. Because it already had.  It made AJ feel sick. His Uncle had bough...

  Cont... Cass always had liked computers when he was little. The logic in them, the reliability of them. Now they were his refuge, a world that he could shape into his own. That never forgot.  It was also how he chatted with his new Uncle T'Challa, who turned out to be a KING of freaking WAKANDA. Yeah, that had been awkward and embarrassing. But it has opened him to a new world of the internet.  It turned out that code and the internet's inner workings were right up Cass's alley. With T'Challa's (oblivious) help, he was able to start burrowing into other systems and computers. Nothing vicious, just picking around Mom and AJ's phones.  But today, he was going to try and break into Uncle Sam's personal computer. Not his work one. Cass knew better than that. And Uncle Sam had taken it with him when he went back to work. So Cass was left with his personal computer.  Plugging it into his own computer, he began working on the password. Once he was in, he was met ...

  Cont... Torres had signed up to join the Air Force for the duty and a chance to fly. Never in a million years did he think that would entail sitting in an abandoned warehouse filled with seized illegal science equipment that might belong to a thought-t- be-gone terrorist organization watching a national icon and a disgraced former national icon argue over how to do paperwork while waiting for a delegation from the most exclusive and prosperous country in the world that the first national icon had just called up. Yeah, this was not what he had envisioned when he'd signed up. Then again, it was stuff like this that made life interesting.  "Why'd you have to call the Wakandans? They're gonna kick my butt again." John Walker whined as he looked over the paperwork he had piled in front of him.  "No, you won't. If you don't mouth off and don't touch them, you'll be fine." Sam rolled his eyes, "Besides, they're the only ones who know ...

Cont...  Sam dreamed of falling and woke up screaming and wondered if that was what Bucky felt the first time he had died. The feeling of being dead weight. The way your gut sloshed nervously and then dropped out. The panic.  But that wasn't true, was it? He hadn't died falling; he'd died drowning in a trap Sam had let him walk into.  As much as he hated to say it, John was right. There was nothing he could have done. That answer didn't satisfy the guilt that ate at him like it had with Riley. Like he was there just to watch.  The thoughts and guilt followed. Why didn't I stop him? Why him? What if-? No matter how hard Sam worked. No matter what he did.  The government had tried putting a new partner with him, but he'd wiggled out of that. Torres was trying to keep up with him and ensure he was alright, but it wasn't the same. Sam hadn't realized how used to it he'd gotten, having a partner to watch his back. Having someone who would drag him to mea...

  Cont... The pain faded as the months began to pass. They settled into a new rhythm without even noticing. And the raw edges of loss and pain dulled. Sarah hated it. She cried herself to sleep the first day she hadn't thought about him. The first time she instinctively called Carlos or Sam or Torres or anyone, instead of him she'd broken down in an anxiety attack. It was like she was forgetting. Like the presence that had built itself intrinsically into her was gone, and she didn't even notice. Life went on, and plans turned into memories, and more and more, it felt like life was easier, and Sarah screamed into her pillow at night because she was forgetting. She now understood why he said it was so horrible.  She'd woken up to the sounds of someone retching one night that now felt so long ago and had found him sitting quaking on the cold tile floor of the bathroom downstairs. "Bucky?" She'd pointed her phone flashlight at him, and he'd winced at the g...