Thorax: Cavalry Drone

by Authora97

I Can't Believe You Fly

They raised him for war. Every day, since he hatched from an egg, it was war. A fight amongst his fellow changelings for the slightest drop of food. He often lost those fights. Fighting, hurting other people? It never sat right with Thorax. He let the fights go. At first. Then, as all do, he got hungry. Fighting came a lot easier when he was hungry.

The Hive taught him to fight. He wasn’t taught to defend or protect, they made him hunt. The prey did not give up so easily. He needed to find his prey, to trick them, to devour everything about them until his stuffed belly complained. He wouldn’t know his next meal- days, weeks, maybe even months. Overeating keeps you alive. Overfilling yourself- draining them so completely- kept the prey from fighting back.

Their food wasn’t apples or grass, or the pretty little flowers that grow between cracks of pavement. Their food came from inside the prey, in their hearts. Love. To eat, meant stealing that love from someone. If no changeling ever tried, no changeling ever ate. The prey needed to be defeated, drained at your feet for success to count.

It’s a lonely existence. Amongst his people, they held no love between them. It’s a weakness. He did have a sister, a chosen sister that meant so much to Thorax. To the Hive, siblings were people that helped in the hunt. To Thorax, it meant Cicada was always by his side and always wanted to be.

But he got hungry. Cicada did too. They still hunted people- innocent people, people that thought they were with loved ones or genuinely finding love. Thorax tricked them over and over for his entire life. He hated it. There wasn’t any other way. His sister needed to eat, and he needed to provide.

If the prey ever found out they’d been tricked, played, had, drained, the Hive gave only two options. Drain them so much they forget, or kill them. They made sure Thorax knew how to do it.

That’s not the problem. Well it’s a problem, but it’s not the problem.

The problem is that Thorax was shit at it.

==TCD==

He swept another soldier to the ground. The American groaned. “Sorry, you okay?”

Another came at him from behind. Thorax found his fist flying up, smacking the soldier in his nose.

“My bad-”

Two more from different angles. The first made an impact with his elbow, taking a direct hit to the sternum. Thorax grabbed him before he stumbled, sending him straight into the second. The two men collided, full speed, before falling to the ground.

“Whoa!” Thorax straightened up. “That’s on me. Did I hurt you?”

He knelt down to the guys, helping them up. One of them tried punching him again. His body moved again on instinct, dodging every attack. Thorax tackled the soldier, holding his arm behind his back and kneeling on his legs.

“I swear, I’m not trying to do that-”

A soldier grabbed his soldier. Thorax grabbed his arm, hurling the man over him.

Across the field, watching all of this, the other Howling Commandos exchanged looks.

“We sure he’s one of them?” DumDum asked.

Bucky snorted. Thorax apologized again to the soldiers sparring with him. “Yep.”

Gabe leaned forward, nodding at the display. “And he’s not messin’ with us?”

“Not on purpose.” Bucky added.

Thorax got punched. He punched back in the stomach. He apologized for the attack. His sparring partners all collapsed to the floor. He stood amongst his ‘carnage’, turning to the Commandos. He gave a helpless shrug.

“I found them like this.” He lied. Badly.

The others all laughed. Thorax winced. He checked the people around him again. He knelt down, helping the soldiers to their feet.

==TCD==

Thorax gave the command a list of HYDRA bases and outposts, and Steve gave them a similar list. His special super soldier eyes gave him a few extra. That led to some long hours of interrogation before they remembered their super soldier could see better than a random guy that wore shitty goggles all day.

They started off with a bang. Literally, one of their first missions was blowing up the closest outpost. Thorax joined in, somehow. He’s not sure how he came out alive and undamaged. His body acted before Thorax was aware of it. Soldiers kept falling. He’s only certain that they weren’t dead.

The Commandos held no such problems. They shot anybody they saw, always to kill. His stomach turned.

He wanted them stopped. Dead? That’s not okay. Queen Chrysalis raised him to kill innocent ponies. Even if they were bullies, they were people. They could change, like Thorax did, someday. He knocked them down, and hoped they got up someday.

Weeks and weeks, he fought humans. They won every battle. Even if people escaped, the Howling Commandos still won by ruining the outpost itself. The Commandos celebrated every victory. Thorax toasted and cheered with them. Celebrations meant pictures. Pictures meant his face being preserved in history.

He wanted Morgan to research him in her time, for her to see that he was okay. They had a promise together. He needed to keep it. Morgan did a good job keeping her word.

Drinking with the Commandos? That’s easy. He might not remember much, but he bet great things happened.

==TCD==

Once, Steve got caught with his compass out. It’s not an innuendo, like ‘fondue’. His compass was open for all to see (especially a nearby camera). A picture of Peggy Carter smiled up at the captain.

DumDum spotted it. He told the rest of their team. The next night was full of them robbing Steve for his crush. Bucky smirked, looking at Thorax. (Thorax was currently so far beyond drunk that DumDum bought him two extra rounds).

Thorax only had the phone. That’s the only thing connecting him back to his wife. They didn’t have wedding rings- Thorax’s culture didn’t believe in them, and Morgan said they got in the way of her job. All they had to prove their marriage was a forged marriage certificate on her planet.

The idea of needing proof of love was a foreign concept to Thorax. Love was an intangible force. A power source used to fill his belly. Only after meeting Raspberry/Morgan did it finally become something more. Even then, the love came as more of a sense. The feeling of a feeling. An abstract concept that Thorax could always detect, and rely on. A star guiding him home.

That star wasn’t here. He heard her voice, but couldn’t feel her deep love. Love for her friends, family, their children, of Thorax. It’s gone.

He wished he had a compass. She’d be easier to find.

==TCD==

More soldiers died. All under his watch. Every time he ran to save them, they died. Most killed themselves instead of letting themselves be saved.

Humanity was truly the worst. No wonder Morgan spent all her time saving them.

==TCD==

DumDum always bought the team drinks after they won a fight. Or, he got them all drinks and charged them to the army. Thorax stopped accepting the drinks. Somehow, still, at the end of each night he ended up being guided by Bucky to his tent.

He’s not sure what he says every night to Bucky. But every morning, Bucky brings Thorax along with Steve for another spar. The three of them practice until his hangover is gone. His heartache never leaves. He doesn’t expect it to, nor does he even want it gone.

==TCD==

The Commandos walk through a destroyed village. One that personally got fucked by HYDRA. Thorax found a child’s toy on the floor, a doll burnt in half. Their hair was black and made of yarn.

He didn’t care if HYDRA soldiers survived that day. He definitely walked away from a lot of hurt HYDRA people that day.

The doll was found by Bucky the next morning. Thorax clutched it, and a bottle of beer.

==TCD==

The Howling Commandos celebrated Christmas. By attacking HYDRA again. It made the rest of the camp happy. His stomach fell further with each new body on the ground.

Thorax missed Hearth's Warming Eve. He tried to celebrate by himself, hidden away in his tent. He made tiny little dolls of his wife, and their kids. He worked for ages to gather the scraps of fabric from the war front. None of them were the right shade. Purple was a rarity out here- same for white and yellow. Blue and green were in abundance, and there’s never any trouble finding red. The dolls looked exactly like his family.

He even made Cicada one. All black with green, because that’s how he last saw her. She deserved to be with his family in some fashion. Hearth’s Warming Eve was the perfect opportunity.

Some of the other soldiers snitched on him. They claimed to see him gathering intel from fallen bodies. The higher ups ordered them collected and destroyed. The soldiers that came were the snitches, and took malicious glee in tearing about the dolls. The vessels of his family.

Thorax thought the holiday had been ruined by the battle that morning. He was wrong. It was seeing an American soldier tear his sister in half. That ruined it.

Seeing Cicada destroyed- ripped apart- it fed into his imagination. The bastard that took his sister hasn’t given her up. He could’ve done this to Cicada. How had his sister been hurt? How many times has she died? As many as Thorax? More? Less?

The soldiers took the remains away.

“Give them back!” Thorax yelled.

A soldier laughed. “Them? What, want your little dollies back, you fucking Fritz?”

He knew he threw a punch because the soldier was suddenly on the ground. Thorax went for the remains of Cicada’s doll. The soldier punched his face. Thorax dodged. He kicked and punched wildly. His opponents hit the dirt. Soldiers pried him off.

“GIVE HER BACK!” Thorax shouted. “LET ME GO!”

“Hey- HEY! Easy!” It’s Bucky. He’s holding Thorax now.

DumDum grunted at his side. Thorax kicked his leg. “Calm down, Fritzy!”

Thorax kicked and kicked. He needed to get those dolls back. He couldn’t let anything take them away from him again. Bucky and DumDum held tighter. Falsworth and Jones tried talking to the other soldiers. The soldiers still had his dolls in their hands. Those bastards.

“Now, now, gentlemen.” Falsworth began. “There is no need for any of this!”

“Yeah, Price ain’t doing anything wrong here.” Jones said. “He hates HYDRA the same as you. No way would he talk to them.”

The other soldier just laughed. “Yeah we know.”

Falsworth smiled brightly. “Ah good! Then we can end this petty discourse and-”

“He plays with dolls.” The soldier held up his doll. The Cookie doll, the tiniest of the whole lot. “We figured we’d take care of them for him.” The soldier grabbed the dolls hooves and head, and ripped the head off the body. He tossed it at Thorax.

The doll’s head hit his nose. It fell to the dirt. Faint memories of Cookie laughing came to him, giggling as she learned to hover above the grass. The ways she learned to pounce on people from high places. If she were here, Cookie would be rolling in the dirt laughing about ‘surprising Papa’. The kids would all laugh, Morgan always hid her laugh and tried to comfort the ‘surprised Papa’.

Thorax slumped in their holds. Bucky and DumDum were surprised by the slump. They accidentally dropped Thorax to the ground. He could only stare at the doll head, reliving memories of the past.

The other soldiers all laughed. They tore apart the rest, throwing them at Thorax. Victorious, the soldiers ran off. Thorax picked up the doll’s head to hold it close.

He gathered the other pieces too- the remains of his Hearth’s Warming tradition. The faint sounds of their laughter echoed in his ears, memories of Morgan’s kisses light on his cheek, his back sore from aggressive hugs instead of endless battles. He wanted that.

Bucky patted his back, light and gentle. He knelt down.

“Am I the only one askin’ what the hell just happened?” DumDum asked. Dernier hit his head. “Ow! What? We’re all thinkin’ it! We just stopped a fight over some dolls.”

“We never believed you had communications with the enemy.” Falsworth confirmed. “But I am afraid our dimwitted friend has a point.”

Thorax squeezed the fabric. It crinkled. The little button he used for eyes pressed into his hand. “It’s a- my holiday tradition.”

Falsworth raised his eyebrows. Jones frowned, tilting his head. DumDum stared like he wanted to scratch his head. Bucky knelt down. He turned his head, sucking in his lips before talking.

“A tradition?” Bucky asked. “Like- like for Christmas?”

Thorax nodded. He reached up, brushing tears away with his coat. “Yeah.”

“You make dolls?” DumDum drawled. “For...what?”

“My family.” Thorax grabbed other doll remains. He held them to his chest. “They’re supposed to be my family. For their good luck, it- it’s-” He couldn’t get the rest of the words out. He wheezed out a wet sound, hiccuping into his coat sleeve.

Bucky squeezed his shoulders. He glanced at the other men. All of them nodded in agreement.

==TCD==

Thorax woke up the next morning. In his tiny little tent, by his boots, sat five little dolls. All clearly made from very military-like fabric. Later he heard the soldiers that attacked him woke up missing all their clothes, except their pajamas.

Falsworth explained that the soldiers were put on the worst shifts. Colonel Phillips took great offense to the soldiers ‘losing’ their gear. If he suspected anything from the Commandos, the Colonel turned the other way.

Years and years later, the Smithsonian found those dolls. The remaining Commandos insisted they be displayed amongst their things. A tiny little plaque- read by Becky Stark- read off the explanation of the tradition, and ways families can replicate it at home.

==TCD==

The call came after New Years. The buzzing phone woke him up.

“Starry?!” Thorax brushed back his hair, trying to fix his bedhead. “Uh- um- hi. Hello?”

“Hi, yeah. Uh. Hi.” She cleared her throat. He heard a sniffle too. “Did I make Christmas?”

Thorax found himself looking over at the makeshift dolls. “Y-Yeah. Totally. You definitely did.”

She laughed. Maybe she knew he lied, maybe she wanted to believe it. Morgan built her life with lies. Thorax thought she’d hate hearing more. He personally believed she liked picking the truth out. Or, maybe she couldn’t help it. It’s just instinct.

To Thorax, all that mattered was hearing her laugh.

“How is Christmas?” Morgan asked.

“Good!” Thorax stood up. He needed to move. As he spoke, he paced around the tiny space he’d been allowed. “Good. I- uhh. I had- having! I’m having extra rations, ish. For a Christmas dish. Uh. I’m doing this badly.”

“No! No. It’s great. You’re telling me what you’re up to. That’s what I asked for, remember?” Morgan asked.

Thorax blushed. “Yeah? Yeah! That’s what I’m doing, isn’t it?” He laughed. She did too. “I’ll give you the full report! Yes ma’am, right away!”

She praised him, and he blushed harder. He went into a report mode. After ten years with this amazing, magnificent woman he knew how to give a proper report. Or, the things she wanted reported on.

He explained the various places he’d visited. The little ways in all of the places that he stopped to enjoy the things around him. He did admit, hesitant and with stuttered words, that he’d tried saving HYDRA men. She praised his efforts, and asked if he wanted updates on those people years after the fact. Thorax declined- embarrassment and warm praise conflicting in his chest.

He reported the meals he’d eaten. The way he uniformly ate what was on his plate, in a way that had some soldiers question if HYDRA ever fed him.

Morgan prompted him on his friendships.

“DumDum likes getting me drunk. I hate being drunk- I don’t know how he keeps doing it!” Thorax admitted. “It’s really hard to keep this form when I’m drunk. You know that. I nearly shifted that time Barney Stinson got me drunk!”

“Oh yeah, when Barney tried making Ted jealous by making you his new wingman.” Morgan recalled. She spoke fondly, cooing almost. “Cause I told them we were dating and he got so confused. He thought- I remember him telling me later- that if you could get me, imagine what you can do for Barney. But you never got him girls, you just-”

“Michelle needed somebody to believe in her new start up!” Thorax excused. “And Jenny- she wanted someone to cheer her up after that jerk dumped her! Barney wasn’t what she needed, and I told him that! I nearly turned into a bear!”

Morgan laughed again. “So DumDum gets you drunk?”

“Every time we fight!” Thorax complained. “Well, he says whenever we win, which is every time, and I hate it. The others think I’m funny when I’m drunk but I don’t get it.”

“As the person who’s seen you drunk more than they have-” Morgan began. “-you’re adorable. Do I need to worry about DumDum sweeping you off your feet?”

“No, Bucky does that at the end.” Thorax replied. “Him and Steve, they carry me back. I think I changed back on the way, cause they asked if I was human again the next morning.”

He wasn’t. Bucky probably laughed at the image of a green moose in the small cot.

“They’re still the only ones who know you’re you?” Morgan questioned.

Thorax shifted his shoulders. “Yeah.”

“Do you change a lot for them? Or just when drunk?”

“I- it- yeah.” Thorax swallowed. “Just when drunk. I’m- I’m not really okay with changing out here.”

He drifted to the cloth dolls again. The memory of the other soldiers made his stomach roll. If anybody else discovered his powers, they wouldn’t hesitate to sell him out to Colonel Phillips. The Colonel would use his powers in the fights. Thorax didn’t wanna use his powers to hurt people. His mother wanted that.

“That’s okay. You don’t have to.” Morgan assured him. “I’m glad you got people.”

“Yeah, but- but you said to get friends.” Thorax reminded her. “More friends.”

“Friends you trust with my spouse.” Morgan corrected. “Including their ability to shapeshift. I’m vaguely worried about what DumDum Dugan can do if he finds out you can turn into Colonel Phillips.”

Thorax shuddered.

“Yeah. But they’re good friends. Bucky is a good pick.”

“Steve too.” Thorax mused. The other end of the line was quiet. “Do you not like Steve?”

“I’m not gonna tell you who to be friends with.”

“You just told me not to get close to DumDum.”

“No, I agreed with you about it.”

“You don’t like Steve. I remember your rants about him.”

“You do! He’s the human version of Captain Equestria! Your favorite one!”

“Yeah, but he’s not Captain Equestria!”

“He’s close!”

“You can’t compare Silver Charger to Steve Rogers! The differences are jarring! It gives me headaches.”

“You like Equestrian Bucky too! Why doesn’t that cause a difference?”

“Bucky Barns is cool but in a different way to Bucky Barnes! You don’t get it, cause you’re related to this place’s version of Steel Stud!”

“Okay yeah but like-”

“And! And! You like both versions of Loki! Even if Equestria comics made their Loki just- just renamed Discord. You said ‘if you met, things would go down!’”

“You said the same for Black Widow!”

“Cause she was like you!” Thorax argued, finishing off his argument with what felt like a perfect bow. “Exactly like you, and I was trying to flirt with you about it!”

“Well that- well that was very sweet. Actually. Thank you.”

He was panting, Thorax realized. Panting and heaving from his arguing. The quiet from her made him realize how loud he’d been. He cleared his throat before sitting back on his cot. She thanked him for old compliments, after he’d been yelling at her. She was always the most polite to meanest humans.

“Sorry, for snapping at you.”

“No, no. You had a point. Silver Charger is different.” Morgan conceded. “I’m glad you like Steve Rogers though. He’s not my personal favorite, but I can’t deny he’s a good friend. I’m just...ugh.”

“Just what?”

“Worried.”

“About Steve?”

“No, about you. You can get close to the Commandos without revealing you’re a changeling, you know. That’s okay.”

He picked up a doll. Jones added blue buttons for eyes. At Thorax’s request. Lilac needed those eyes, and so did the Morgan doll. “Yeah. I think I am.”

She cooed.

Thorax copied her. Literally- changed his vocal chords to match hers. She barked out a laugh, then a groan.

“Stop! You sound like my sister. I can’t flirt with you when you sound like my sister. You know that.”

Thorax giggled. He swapped the voice back. “Better?”

“Yes.” Morgan sighed, happily. “But we-”

“How are you?” Thorax asked. Morgan paused. “You said you’d take care of you. It’s been- I have no idea how long it’s been for you. Are you okay?”

“What year is it? For you?” Morgan asked.

“It’s ‘44, yeah? That’s what it was last time.” Thorax recalled. “I told you that.” She was silent, and that made something spin inside him. “Remember? It’s after Steve Rogers saved the 107 from HYDRA. You know that date. It’s after that.”

“Okay. Okay, yes. That means it’s almost ‘45.”

“...Yes?”

Silence again.

The feeling in his stomach got worse. “What happens in ‘45?”

“The war ends.”

This should be a good thing. Usually, ending wars was always a good thing. Wars in Equestria never lasted long. A couple days of fighting, yes, but then Princess Celestia stepped in to end the fighting. Or the Elements of Harmony did. The Avengers were years away from being thought of, let alone formed.

“I’m doing great, overall. I ate proper food yesterday, like a good meal that I made. Tony was surprised I cooked it.”

The war ends.

The movie ends. Steve crashes into the frozen ocean in a plane. Thorax remembered that. He watched them build the plane. He kept Bucky from dying as they built that plane.

Oh no.

“I reminded him he burnt the last thing he made for me so he can’t judge. Even Pepper was surprised I did it. What’s so complicated about me cooking and eating? It’s insulting. I made you food. Is it surprising that I can cook?”

“Bucky falls from the train.” Thorax realized. Morgan swore. “He- he falls from the train. You and Killjoy kept making jokes about it.” She swore again. “Okay. Okay, right. Okay. How do we fix that?”

Silence.

A damning, long silence.

“Morgan. We’re fixing it, yeah? That’s what we do. How do we fix it?” Thorax asked again. “Babe.”

“Can we not talk about this? Please?”

“He’s my friend. I’m not just gonna let him fall!” Thorax argued.

“We don’t have a choice!” Morgan snapped.

“There is ALWAYS a choice!” Thorax yelled. “What is going on?! You’re usually the first one trying to save him! Now that I want to, suddenly we’re changing gears?”

“It’s not like that-”

“Bullshit! Why can’t I save him? Tell me!” Thorax ordered.

“Because the universe always demands a counter, and it might take YOU!” Morgan revealed. “I don’t want another guy I like to fall. I’d fucking die if it took you instead.”

Thorax got that. Really he did but...no. No he couldn’t let Bucky fall. It wasn’t right. Thorax would just have to risk himself. It’s what Morgan would do. “That’s just something you’ll have to cope with. Because I am saving Bucky Barnes. Whatever it takes.”

“Bee please-”

He hung up. He looked at her doll. The yellow buttons stared blankly at him.

“Please forgive me for this.”

==TCD==

The mountains were cold. Sharp wind whipped at his face. Thorax bundled his coat tighter around himself.

Dernier chuckled. He asked something in French.

Thorax would blink, if he wasn’t scared his eyes weren’t frozen shut. But Dernier was probably asking if Thorax was cold. “Yes.”

Dernier laughed again.

They gave him the mission briefing two days ago. Thorax volunteered. They refused. All of their reasons being it’s a three person mission, they had good men picked already. Rogers, Barnes, and Jones. They insisted on not needing Thorax.

So. Already, not great.

He tried. He kept trying. Bucky’s not falling today.

“Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?” Bucky asked Steve.

Steve pulled his gloves on. “Yeah, I and I threw up?”

Bucky nodded his head out. The long wire led straight to another mountain. Below? Miles and miles of open space. Trees on the ground were pinpricks covered in snow, hardly able to be separated from the rest of the snow. “This isn’t payback, is it?”

“Now why would I do that?” Steve asked innocently.

Bucky gave an unbelieving look.

Jones sat up from the radio they brought with them. He lowered the headphones over his ears. “We were right. Dr. Zola’s on the train. HYDRA dispatcher gave him permission to open up the throttle. Wherever he’s going, they must need him bad.”

“Let’s get going, because they’re moving like the devil.” Falsworth advised.

“We only got about a 10-second window. You miss that window, we’re bugs on a windshield.” Steve attached a cable to the wire, testing it to carry his weight.

“Mind the gap.” Falsworth grumbled.

Thorax tightened his coat around him. He didn’t wanna be a bug on a windshield. He wanted to be a put together bug. He also didn’t want to be cold.

“Better get moving, bugs!” DumDum patted Steve on the shoulder.

“Maintenant!” Dernier shouted over the whirring wind.

Steve went down.

Bucky went down.

Jones went down.

Thorax bundled up once more. He wanted to remember what warmth felt like, just for a second longer.

He threw off the jacket. He flung it up over the wire.

“Whoa, whoa, hey!” DumDum pushed Thorax on the chest.

Falsworth stepped in too. He helped shove Thorax on the mountain behind them.

Thorax charged again.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Falsworth scolded.

Thorax grunted.

“Stop!” Falsworth stepped in too. He helped shove Thorax on the mountain behind them.

Thorax charged again.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Falsworth scolded.

Thorax grunted. He swung out his leg, kicking Falsworth. Falsworth stumbled back.

“Oui!”

Thorax turned, then rapidly ducked. He narrowly avoided a punch to the face from Dernier.

DumDum grabbed his shoulder. “Calm the hell down, Fritz.”

Thorax ran at the cliff.

“FRITZ-!”

He jumped over the side. As he plummeted to the ground, green flames rushed over him.

An eagle soared up into the sky. That eagle coasted until they reached the train. It made contact, shifting into a green and orange moose.

Thorax held the roof, swinging himself up and back. His hind hooves smashed the window open.

A dozen HYDRA soldiers waited inside.

They stared at Thorax.

Thorax, keyed up, blasted them first. A dozen shots fired from his antlers before the agents could pull out their guns. He ran to the door between train carts.

He followed the sounds of gunfire. He reached them, only for a soldier to be guarding the door.

“What the FUC-”

The soldier flew back into the door. His armored body thudded against it, before falling to the floor with a heavy thunk. Thorax flew past him. The door was simply the next thing in the way.

It got thrown off its hinges. Gunfire came from the next room, aimed at the very empty doorway. Thorax shifted into a fly to avoid the bullets.

A HYDRA soldier turned his head. Searching for Thorax one direction, and at an enemy soldier the next.

Bucky.

Thorax shifted back into Theo Price. On top of the HYDRA soldier, of course. The sudden weight sent them both sprawling on the ground. The soldier hit his head hard on the ground. He went still under Thorax.

Bucky came over. “Price?!”

Thorax snapped his head up, smiling at Bucky. “Hi!”

Bucky stared at Thorax, the soldier, and the empty doorway. “The hell are you doing here?”

“Disobeying orders.” Thorax replied immediately. “You fellas needed the help.”

“I had him on the ropes.” Bucky countered.

Thorax looked around the train car. “There- there aren’t any ropes?”

Bucky groaned, face palming.

Thorax frowned. He got off the HYDRA soldier, dusting the remains of snow and cold off his pants. “Oh. That’s a hu- an American thing. I totally got that. It’s a funny joke. Good joke, Sergeant.”

Bucky went back to staring at Thorax.

Thorax didn’t mind. Let the soldier think he was insane. Thorax was used to that sort of treatment from fellow soldiers. None of that mattered. The HYDRA agents were all down. They couldn’t hurt Bucky, or the train. Look at what a good job Thorax did! Morgan’s gonna be so proud of him.

Steve ran in the room. He marched down towards them. “Price? How did you get here?”

“I flew from that way.” His thumb pointed to his own back. Steve looked. He definitely saw the doorway without a door, and two HYDRA soldiers down. He exchanged a confused and exasperated look with Bucky. Bucky grinned then, vindictive, and patted Steve on the back. “Speaking of, we need to- GET DOWN!”

The soldier hadn’t been knocked out like Thorax hoped. He was just waiting for everyone to stop noticing him. He aimed his weapon at Steve.

Steve kicked it. The blast fired at the train wall.

The wall exploded.

The force of the explosion threw Thorax back. He hit the unbroken train wall. His head erupted in the worst kind of pain. He reached for his head, feeling something wet on his fingers.

Shit.

He tried to focus, to move, to get up, nothing. He heard Steve screaming. He heard Bucky screaming too.

Shit no- wait-

He failed. Bucky fell, and all Thorax did was give himself more pain.

Shit.

Comments

[rendomstranger]

Just so you know, you posted the chapter a second time after ending it. Probably a mistake when selecting all at some point.

[KiTarn]

Hmm was thinking it was a Groundhog Day type of thing...