Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-11-02 21:43:00 |
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Clara might be unable to die, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel pain. She had died numerous times in her Dreams as she had dreamt of her Echoes. Yet even while she was unable to fully ‘die’, those who had her now weren’t hurting in ways to experiment on her. Because what else could she call this but experimentation and seeing how many ways she could seem to die, which did lead to times where she passed out and appeared dead as her body once again reverted to how it had been before she had died on Christmas over a year ago.
The funny thing about time? Once you were more or less immortal, and once you travelled through time, it tended to lose all meaning. So Clara didn’t know how long she’d been strapped to a table. Didn’t know how long it had been since these creeps had started cutting into her, running tests and whatever else it was they were looking for. She just knew that there was always someone there, more than one someone as she had yet to find an opening to get out.
Something was happening though. Through the haze of pain, Clara could hear that there was a commotion happening and she was left alone. Count. See if they were coming back. Straining, Clara struggled in her binds. If she could just get one wrist free, she could get out.
“Ha!” And she managed to get her one wrist free and now it was undoing the rest of her binds. Like hell was she going to stick around. That done, Clara scanned the room and spotted the door and ran to it. Only it was locked.
“No no no, come on!”
Bucky was in soldier mode. He had a mission, and wasn’t going to deviate from the goal, which was to rescue Clara. To say he was angry was an understatement. No one kidnapped his girlfriend and got away with it. Perhaps if he stopped and really thought about it, he’d realize he was being a bit over-zealous about going in and taking down these Hydra operatives. But as it was, he gave them no thought except to get them out of the way.
He’d armed himself to the teeth, being a gun owner himself, and he’d also come with one of the guns he’d picked up when those mercenaries had invaded. Bucky wasn’t going to leave Clara in there any longer than necessary, so upon arriving, he didn’t waste time in trying to find her. There were a few unlikely Hydra operatives that weren’t killed or knocked out right away. Instead, they were the ones he chose to interrogate.
Like the guy he currently had pinned against the wall, one forearm jammed against his throat, a finger of his other hand prodding a fresh bullet wound.
“Where is she?” Bucky asked again.
“Who?” Came the strangled response.
“Clara, a petite brunette you brought here. I’m not leaving without her.” Bucky jammed a finger into the bullet wound, causing the guy to cry out in pain. “I won’t ask you again.” The guy rattled off a location and Bucky put the guy out of his misery. He then continued on his way, shooting most who came across him. Luckily, he had plenty of ammo and a couple different guns on him. And he stuck to cover to keep himself from getting shot in the process. It took a little time to work his way through, but he was getting closer to where Clara was. It was more a matter of taking out the Hydra assholes in the process.
There were things that this whole thing was bringing back, things that Clara was doing her best not to think about. Specifically recalling her dreams of Oswin, of being torn apart, her emotions like love being turned into nothing but hate. Though get cut into and experimented on and that probably had something to do with it. But she wasn’t going to focus on those negative emotions. Right now she just needed to get out.
So far it seemed the soldiers were still distracted and so Clara ran back to the different instruments they had used on her. She was going to need something to defend herself with as it was. So grabbing a few things to arm herself with, Clara then found some accelerant to destroy that room with, the brunette managed to get the door open, threw the spark that would blow the room up and ran.
To a narrow pathway and a very long fall. Because of course there was one. Was she always going to need to deal with these things!? However looking back she knew she needed to get across even as she could see some sort of fight happening on the other side of the pathway. Okay, she could do this, she could do this…. She just needed to run.
Bucky had sniper training, but he was better with handguns and assault rifles. He kept in cover, tuning his senses to the bullets flying in his direction. He got the timing down where he could poke out of hiding and fire. He directed his fire in such a way that would get the guys out of cover enough to shoot them. It worked. He tagged one in the shoulder, then got him again as he came out of cover even more.
Only a couple more left, and Bucky decided to go for broke. He didn’t have endless ammunition and he’d still need to get out of there with Clara. So while the enemy was reloading, Bucky burst out of hiding, handgun in each hand. He charged forward, bullets flying until he came around face-to-face with one of them. He kicked the gun out of the guy’s hand, then put a bullet in his head. A couple bullets missed Bucky and he ducked, rolled and came up firing, tagging the guy in the leg. He finished him off with another headshot.
Then there was silence, as far as bullets were concerned. Standing up, Bucky realized Clara was standing on the other side of a sharp drop. “Clara!” He called, holstering his guns and moving up to the edge. He was definitely armed to the teeth, more than Clara had ever seen him before, but it was what had been needed to break in and get her out.
In the midst of the chaos, Clara hadn’t exactly realized that it was Bucky out there until she heard his voice calling out her name. Okay maybe she shouldn’t be that shocked. Natasha obviously knew him from the dreams given their conversation before she’d been taken, it made sense that he’d be called but she still was startled.
“Bucky!? What are you doing here?! Get out!”
An anxious look was sent back towards the direction she had run from. It hadn’t blown yet but it was going to. And of course there was a gap between her and him that had halted her escape. Even if she wouldn’t die, Clara wasn’t looking to be burnt to a crisp either so she figured her best option now was to jump and pray. Which meant backing up to get momentum before she ran and jumped.
Not far enough. But at least she managed to grab onto the railing next to where Bucky was on the opposite side. Though oh that was a sharp drop and she lost the grip with one hand. Not good not good.
“Natasha and I came to get you out!” Bucky had long since lost track of where Natasha was. Probably the whole ‘cover more ground if we split up’ type of situation. But right now he was more focused on Clara and helping her get out of this place. He didn’t know how long they had before more soldiers found them, if there were any left, but he wasn’t going to take chances.
When Clara jumped, he was ready to help pull her over the railing if needed. Though his heart stopped a bit as he realized her jump was a little short. Oh this was very not good.
“Grab my hand!” He said as he bent over the railing and reached for Clara. This was where he kind of wished he had superhero powers of some sort. Like what Steve got in the dreams, maybe then he’d be able to more easily grab Clara here.
Made sense. Of course, it wasn’t like she had much time to process what she was being told given the fact she needed to run and jump and avoid a fireball. Still, of course it had been too short a jump and Clara managed to grasp Bucky’s fingers before she lost her grip and fell crying out in shock.
And then she hit the ground as the explosion hit and was knocked unconscious.
It was like watching slow motion as he tried to hold onto Clara’s hand only to feel her fingers slip through his. His eyes flew wide as he watched her fall. “Clara!!” He cried, but he didn’t have time to do much else because the explosion came. He was thrown back by the force of the explosion. He grunted as he landed on his back. His ears were ringing from the sound, unable to hear anything else for a minute as he picked himself up.
“Shit,” he cursed as he got up to a knee and shook his head a bit. Taking a quick survey of the area, he got back to his feet and moved back to the edge where Clara had fallen. He knew what he would find upon going down there, but he damn well wasn’t going to leave Clara here. Trying to keep his emotions in check, Bucky spotted a ladder and made his way down. Of course, he had no idea what, other than Clara’s body, he would encounter down there, but he had pushed himself quickly into soldier mode. Leave no one behind.
Reaching the bottom, he spotted Clara and rushed over to her, kneeling beside her. “I’m sorry, Clara.” Sorry for what? Not getting there sooner? Not gripping her hand tighter? He didn’t know, but he didn’t have time to dally there. He needed to pick her up and find a way out.
And most likely face his death at the hands of an irate and distraught Scotsman.
Everything hurt. But there was no blood that one would expect to see when someone fell from the height that Clara had just fallen. Of course, that didn’t mean much when she wasn’t breathing and was unconscious. It was when she felt her body moved some that she groaned and blinked back to consciousness. But back to consciousness meant confusion and fear as she tried to scramble away and flashes of what happened in that lab on top of when she’d dreamt of Oswin as well as when she’d jumped into the Doctor’s time stream and felt herself torn apart by the Time Winds.
“I am human I am human...oh god where am I? Where am I?!”
Sure it had been odd that there was no blood, but Bucky hadn’t really stopped to consider it. That fall should have killed anyone that was a normal human. He hadn’t expected Clara to stir, and even of the off chance that she’d been alive, he certainly wouldn’t have expected her to scramble away under her own power. As such, he did have a bit of a fright, able to only stare at Clara in disbelief for some moments before his brain caught up with him.
He forewent any ‘omg you’re alive’ reactions because clearly Clara wasn’t in her right mind. Probably a concussion at the very least.
“It’s okay, Clara. It’s me, Bucky. We’re getting you out of this facility.” He was trying to be careful with his wording. He’d seen his share of people like this get set off upon being reminded of whatever horror they’d just gone through. But he was also trying to answer her question. And hoping that he could give her some grounding to come back to herself. As it was, he didn’t move towards her, not wanting to frighten her anymore. Though if she bolted he would go after her.
Bucky’s voice was the first bit to break through the haze and as in her scrambling away she’d been clutching her head, she looked up through her hair as recognition seemed to flicker and she dropped her hands.
“Bucky….”
Even in her panicked state, some things were instinct for Clara. Like hugging onto someone. Just like after the Asylum of the Daleks dreams. Just like after Trap Street. It was something solid and real and she needed that, even in the midst of the chaos.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really glad you’re here.”
The comment was mumbled against his shoulder as her mind caught up with everything that had happened. Lunch with Natasha. Getting taken. The experiments. The commotion and breaking out. Jumping and falling as an explosion she set went off. Darkness.
When Clara hugged him, he wrapped his arms snugly and securely around her. He still had no idea how she wasn’t at the very least severely injured, but he wasn’t going to complain about that. He rubbed her back soothingly, closing his eyes for some moments to try and still his emotions. He’d thought he’d lost her just a minute before, and yet here she was. Alive and physically seeming to be relatively uninjured.
“It’ll take too long to explain, but we came to get you out of here. But are you injured at all?” He finally asked.
Bucky wouldn’t ask too many questions right at this moment mostly because they needed to find a way out of there. But he needed to know if she was physically okay to run. If not, he’d carry her out of there.
Hugs may hide your emotions, but sometimes hugs were really needed. Like this. It reminded Clara that she was Clara and not an echo. Not trapped. It was something to focus on and it was just comfort. There was way too much falling in her dreams. No, this was good. This was needed. And even in her haze, she could tell Bucky seemed to need the hug as well.
“Some, but nothing drastic.” The drastic had mended itself when she’d been unconscious. She still hurt like hell, but she wasn’t injured to the point where she couldn’t move. And she knew that they couldn’t exactly stay where they were.
“Which way?”
He definitely also needed the hug right then. It was grounding, and it also let him have a moment to drop his guard a little. Not completely, but in this moment he wasn’t a soldier on a mission to rescue his girlfriend. Right now, he was just a man holding his girlfriend and taking comfort in the fact that she was alive. He rubbed her back a bit.
“Okay, if it gets too much on our way out, let me know. You can hitch a ride on my back.” That would leave his hands to be able to use his guns on the way out if needed. At her question, he looked up the ladder he’d come down. “Up the ladder is the quickest way I know of to get out.” Going back the way he came. At least he knew most of the soldiers and such here that way were dead.
Clara nodded at the comment that he could carry her on his back if she needed it. But all the injuries that would have caused her to have issue with escaping had already managed to heal. What she wanted to do in that moment was just get out of there. It was too similar to the Dalek Asylum for her liking and even though she was fully aware that she was Clara Oswald, she’d rather not stay there any longer than necessary.
“Up it is. Following your lead.” Yes, Clara liked to be in charge most of (okay all of) the time, but she also knew when the let someone else lead. Such as if they had more information and that was clearly Bucky in this case. Following him would be the fastest way out.
Bucky nodded and climbed up the ladder. He preferred being in the lead currently. It gave him a better chance of taking out any enemy in front of them without Clara getting hurt in the process. “Stay alert. The way should be relatively clear, but it’s hard to tell where they’ve all gone.”
He didn’t precisely say it, but it could be easily inferred that the fact that the way was clear was because he had killed people coming in. Once they were both back up the ladder, he led the way out, one of the handguns in one hand so he could shoot when necessary. He was in protective mode, determined to not let Clara get hurt here anymore than she already had been. He would get them to safety, and then he could relax and focus more on her.
Yeah, staying alert was definitely not a problem. Mostly. Thankfully there was still plenty of adrenaline going that she wasn’t too worried about falling behind. Besides, if she didn’t focus on what getting out, she might get stuck in memories and she really would prefer not doing that. Far too much there between her Dreams and what everything here had brought up.
Though Clara did pick up on what Bucky had inferred. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it, but now wasn’t the time for thinking about how she felt. No. It was just getting out and dealing with the fallout once this was all said and done. Thankfully getting up the ladder had been easy enough. And she ignored the bodies they passed on the way out.
Of course as she was more focused on the getting out thing, she wasn’t think about pretending to breathe or anything like that. There was no time for that.
Bucky kept moving, and kept his eyes peeled. The place seemed to be clear of the enemy. Or at least this particular way was clear. He didn’t deviate from the path, and navigated to where he’d entered the place.
“Through here and we’re out in the open. My car is a little ways off yet, but there shouldn’t be any trouble getting to it.” Obviously he hadn’t driven right up to the place. That would’ve been a suicide mission. No, he’d gone for a surprise attack. Especially since he was on his own right here, he didn’t want to get overwhelmed.
Moving outside, he took a breath of fresh air, before he moved in the direction his car was in. Bucky was too busy focusing on their surroundings to notice Clara wasn’t breathing. But perhaps once he slowed down and relaxed, he’d ask about how the heck she’d survived that fall.
Clara wasn’t really going to question much in that moment. She had one focus and that was getting out of this place. She wanted to get away from the memories, the pain. It was doubtful she’d be completely free of this place on a mental and emotional level but that was something she would figure out later.
Once they were outside, Clara felt herself relax slightly. After days (she was pretty sure it had been days) stuck in a lab and experimented on, the feeling of fresh air was welcome. But for now she followed Bucky to the car. They could deal with the fallout once they were far away from this place.