FLASH RETALIATED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. He'd been pushed back by the force of the punch, only to be caught by his cronies behind him. His grin disappeared as soon as Bronwen turned around, fist flying right for his nose. Peter yelped, Ned shot from his seat. The surrounding students all turned to hear Flash curse as he brought his hand to his nose.
"Bitch!"

Flash lunged for her, but the numerous amount of compound-training kicked in, and she sidestepped his attempt. It was almost laughable, and she began to move as swift as the wind as she avoided all attempts Flash made to hurt her back.
Peter, on the other hand, was stunned by how much she could remember. How much the compound drilled fighting stances and creative ways to kill a person. How much that she still knew, how much that hid in the back of her mind. Peter's mouth dropped as he watched Bronwen toy with Flash, laughing, almost switching back to 024.
She was so much more damaged than he suspected, and Peter thought she'd repaired parts of herself. But instead, she shoved it down until someone began to taunt her.
That scared him. Scared him so much.
Stretching an arm out, Peter grasped onto her arm, "Annie, stop."

As soon as Peter spoke, her mind paused. Her darkened eyes lit up at the sight of Peter, and her muscles relaxed. She dropped into her hunched standing position, using her hair to hide the sides of her face, keeping her eyes trained on the ground.
Peter didn't know that what she was doing was what she did at all times at the compound. Don't make eye contact. Don't speak. Do as you're told.
Bronwen nodded, stepping aside, keeping her gaze averted from the eyes surrounding her. They'd swarmed like bees, watching on eagerly as a girl beat up one of the biggest bullies in the school.
Well, the bully beat up himself, if you watched the videos that were taken on multiple mobile phones.
"No one wins this easily, Freak." Flash spat at her shoes, wiping his nose as he stood. He'd tripped over his own feet as she skirted around the circle her fellow students made.

Bronwen shook her head, sucking in a deep breath before moving away from the circle, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Didn't you hear what I said? Hey, Freak, listen to me."

"Don't test me, Flash."

"Or what?"

"I said don't—"

Flash lunged for Bronwen, and it was so unexpected that Bronwen only had time to push Peter aside before getting hit square in the jaw. She stumbled on her feet, bringing a hand to cup the side. The area where she was hit throbbed painfully, with the underlaying permanent bruise acting up.
In a heartbeat, Bronwen was back on her feet, scrambling for Flash. Her insides were filled with so much rage that she couldn't handle it— no one hit her. No one.
Before she was able to cause any more harm, Peter brought his arms around her, lifting her from her feet. Bronwen didn't bother to squirm as teacher's began hurrying from their staff rooms, only just recognising the commotion in the courtyard. It was pathetic, really, that they would only notice when the tension was at its highest. They probably saw Flash hit her, and not the first part. They'd probably make him apologies, when in reality, most of it was her fault.
But she wouldn't apologise, 024 was too proud for that.
"That's right, Freak, get your bitch to take you away, you coward."

The word rang in her ears.
Coward.
Coward.
Ned and Michelle had picked up their things, piling Bronwen's and Peter's stuff on top of their own. They followed Peter around the building, to a hidden alcove.
Setting Bronwen down on her feet, she leant against the wall, head in her hands. She couldn't believe what had overcome her— she thought she was good again. That the other half had disappeared forever. But even after the massive amount of tests that girl in Wakanda ran, there was a small slice they could not find, could not delete from her mind.
"What was that."

Bronwen shook her head, not lifting the pressure of her palms on her closed eyes, "I don't know."

"That— That was crazy, Bronwen."

She flinched at the sound of her name on Peter's lips, Bronwen, not Annie. He never called her by her full name, never.
"I know."

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Peter—"

"Someone would've been filming, oh god you're going to get in so much trouble."

"Peter—"

"Who knows what's going to happen? For all we know you could be expelled, especially because of what happened last year."

"Peter!"

"No, Bronwen." There it was again, Bronwen. "I'm not going to listen. Let me panic."

Bronwen cut out Peter's mumbling, he paced back and forth on the grass before her. She hadn't wanted to do what she did, and just like what happened with Spider-Man all those months ago at the ATM's, something had taken over her body. They barreled her toward Flash, eager to start a fight. To win against the bully.
The thoughts were ridiculous, sure, she had years of experience up her sleeve, but they didn't know that. No one knew how much she'd done while they spend their lives on computers and outside with friends.
The concept of friends was still new to her, fresh in her mind, even after her unexpected return to the compound on the night of homecoming.
"Peter, I— I'm sorry."

Peter ran a hand through his hair, and sighed.

∆ ∆ ∆

With a flick of her hand, she was transported to the centre of a forest. The trees hung well above her head, shadowing the thin underbrush, leaves crunched under her feet as she landed.
She ducked as something swung over her head, and it took a moment for her to realise she was in the middle of a fight. The person before her was unrecogniseable, their outline a shadow, their face masked. Whoever was allowing her to see what was happening before her did not want her to know who or what she was fighting.
Great. Just great.
She turned tail, skidding to a stop as she saw she was getting nowhere. Something was keeping her in place.
"You were going to be so powerful."

She bit on her tongue, wincing at the voice. It was familiar — she had heard it in the halls of the compound, though never had the chance to see the owner of the voice. Who were they?
"If only they weren't so stupid to send you to New York, otherwise you've been my greatest asset."

She was slowly turned around, her muscles taunt.
Once she blinked, the figure had been thrown across the forest, another form raced at it, pressing something to its chest.
She didn't see the larger form holding up its hand as she was thrust from the scene, and into darkness. Her hands reached out to grasp for something— to latch onto something solid. She was falling, tumbling into a continuous darkness.
"Bronwen?"

The sound of her name stilled her, and she floated in that darkness.
"Hello?" She called out, blindly reaching toward to the sound.

"God, Bronwen, I thought I'd never hear from you again."

Bucky?

"How come you contacted me?"

Bronwen shuddered, "I— I didn't."

"You didn't?"

"Yeah, it was a dream, right? This is a dream?"

"No. No it's not."

She swallowed, biting on her lip, "Then what is this?"

"You remember when you first met me, months ago?"

"Yeah— I dreamed you."

"It wasn't a dream."

"Oh."

Bucky's form began to show itself in front of her, his hair had grown considerably, and he wore different clothing. She sniffed the air, and the musty smell of indoors came to her. Was that real?
She smiled as he stood before her, and she opened her arms to give him a hug. It had been so long since she last saw him, and she had missed him. Missed him so much that a lot of the times she was tempted to contact Tony Stark and bring her back to Wakanda. Bucky had helped her so much through those first initial weeks, where she woke up screaming, and couldn't bare to be around people. She was halfway between 024 and herself then, well, you could say she was more 024 than anything else. There was so much she had told him then, so many secrets, and he understood. The pair were there until the very end, from when she was a young child to now. He had always been there for her.
"I...I have to tell you something." Bronwen said, pulling back from the hug, "I've been dreaming, about this event— people turning to ash."

Bucky frowned. He didn't know any more than she did. He had not heard of anything like this, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She smiled, the light not reaching her eyes, "That's all right. I just needed to tell someone."

He grinned back, and the image faded.

∆ ∆ ∆

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling the heavy weight of the water on her back. The massaging feeling it gave her was calming, the steam from the heat of the water misting on the window, obscuring her vision of the world.
Bronwen was content, and hoped to stay that way throughout her day. Thought she was nervous, the calming thoughts in the back of her mind soothed those feelings. School was a challenge, but that was the same for every teenager in the country— in the world. And, she had Peter.
Bronwen was sure he would chase the demons away when she couldn't.

Well this was an uneventful chapter.
Then again, I could say that, but maybe some of the information in this chapter could've shocked you. How would I know?
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO THE AMAZING hufflepuff_queen192 FOR BEING THERE SINCE THE START OF THIS SERIE! Thank you so much! You mean so much to me, and I'm so glad that you decided to click on this book— and now you and my other friend are both on my backs about murdering characters. God, with what I've got in store...
Spoilers!!
Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

And now onto relaxing before the next chapter!! I'm getting c l o s e r to the hardest part!!
- J