· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎L A D Y   T I G R E S S   ▎
SEVEN   ━━   game.
࿔·ﾟ*ೃ࿐ ࿔*  is it really you?

          𝓐fter a meeting with the team and lots of planning that Kaileena wasn't even listening to, she could finally go home.

Yes, it would be a very bad idea to be in the comfort of her own home at this time but could you blame her? Her clothes and skin were covered in dried blood, she was starting to stink, she was hungry, and she was tired. She was a mess.

As expected, all of them disagreed and told her to stay there with them, where it was hidden and safe.

That was the thing, the word "safe" wasn't so safe to her. Everywhere can be some random person's safe place, but then again, nowhere was ever safe. No matter how much security you have or how well hidden you are, you are never safe.

So, she flipped them off and went home to her mansion in New Jersey.

All of her houses looked alike but never truly identical. Kaileena doesn't normally go to New Jersey a lot so she never actually uses the house, friends or relatives are usually the ones that stay there if they're in New Jersey or if they need somewhere to lay low, Kaileena's houses were the first option.

She stepped out of the car that they lent her to use since she didn't bring her car with her when she and the group went on that mission earlier. Kaileena walked up to the door and took out her keys, she unlocked the door and opened it before stepping inside.

She took a deep breath, taking in the scent of the house. She placed all of her things on the counter and took off her shoes, now walking around barefoot.

She felt something off which made her look around her incase someone was trying to sneak up on her and murder her. She wouldn't accept it, she atleast had to die in New York or Miami, not New Jersey.

She didn't smell anyone or anything so she shrugged it off, walking towards her bedroom.

Someone like Kaileena would usually be paranoid and always careful after what she experienced, she was. Over time, she became more chill and careless, but she was always ready for any unexpected attacks. She might've had major PTSD but she worked differently with it, it confused even her.

Kaileena opened the door to her bedroom when she reached it, stepping inside. She was about to turn on the lights but saw a figure sitting on the edge of her bed, it was dark but she could see the body from the light illuminating from the large windows.

As normal people would do- or people like her, she took out her claws to protect herself.

This feels oddly familiar, she thought. She tried to figure out why it was so familiar to her but all of her attention was directed towards the mystery person on her bed.

The figure looked up at her when it heard the door open and felt someone come inside the room, Kaileena gasped when she saw his face- Well, not the full face since it was dark and she could only see his eyes.

Eyes she used to stare at for the longest time once before.

"James . . ." She whispered, her face morphing into a look of disbelief. 'James' stood up slowly and went closer to her, Kaileena stepped back from him.

The darkness didn't help but she swore that she could see the hurt in his enchanting blue eyes which made her face soften. She looked to her right where the light switch was, she closed her eyes and flicked it which made the lights turn on.

She was afraid that if she opened her eyes then he wouldn't be there, that she was just hallucinating all this time. She didn't want to get heartbroken if it were that situation. 24 long years of not seeing eachother, that was too long.

Kaileena almost flinched when a hand was placed on her cheek, she lifted her hand and slowly placed it above the hand that was placed on her cheek.

She built up all of her strength and confidence and finally opened her eyes, when she did she was greeted with the eyes she always loved.

There he was. Infront of her in all of his glory.

James Buchanan Barnes, himself.

Her lips parted when she looked at him for the first time in over 20 years, she softly placed her right hand on his cheek just like he did with her. Kaileena's lips broke out into a large smile of happiness, a single tear dropping down her cheek.

James wiped it away with his thumb, still not saying anything. James' facial expression held a sad yet happy one. He was confused, how could this one woman bring him so much . . . happiness?

After a whole minute of neither of them saying a word and them just staring into eachother's eyes, Kaileena decided to break the silence. "Is it really you?" She asked softly.

James nodded, "It's me, Elena." His voice held so much care and . . . love.

Kaileena broke into a sob when she heard his voice, she missed his voice so much. She couldn't help herself but place her arms around his neck and embracing him in a tight hug, James didn't waste any time and hugged her back equally as tight.

Full-on tears were going down her face as they hugged, she even felt some drops of wetness on her shoulder which meant that she wasn't the only one who was crying.

It was their first time. Hugging. And it felt fucking good.

"I'm so sorry," Kaileena apologized quietly, her voice weak but filled with so much meaning.

James pulled his head back and looked at her teary face, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"

Kaileena sniffled and placed her hands on the side of his neck, "For leaving you." James shook his head and looked down to the floor only for her to bring his head back up to look at her. "I shouldn't have left you. I swear, I went to look for you but I couldn't find you. I'm so so so sorry, James." She sobbed out.

James shook his head in denial, "No, no. That wasn't your fault, I was knocked out unconscious at the time- I think... Elena, none of it was your fault. Please don't apologize."

Kaileena pulled away from him and walked past him to sit down on the edge of her bed as he followed suit and sat beside her. She never felt so much guilt in her life than that time when she didn't escape with him.

She was stupid.

She was selfish.

She was unworthy.

She was nothing.

Those phrases kept repeating inside her head, over and over again. It was like those words extremely familiar, they weren't foreign- they never were.

She was a failure.

She jumped when a hand touched her shoulder, her breathing went hard but slowly went back to normal when she realized that it was just James.

James looked at her in concern, he wrapped his human arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling comfortable being with him.

"I remember."

Kaileena's head snapped up to him but before she could say anything, he continued.

"I remember everything. You, how HYDRA got ahold of me, Steve, my life before I fell off the train, all of it." He explained, looking down at her.

Kaileena removed her head from his shoulder and looked at him with her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. "That's . . . amazing, James! Do you want me to call Steve? He'll be extremely ha-" She said but got cut off.

"No!" He shouted way too loudly than he wanted it to be. He sighed and looked down, "I'm sorry. Don't call Steve, I don't want him to know . . . not yet."

Kaileena nodded slowly at him and fiddled with her fingers that were on her lap.

Neither of them talked again, it was a comfortable silence but there was tension. James cleared his throat and looked at her, "So, the reason I'm here is because I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"I need help in remembering."

Kaileena looked at him in confusion, "I thought you already remember?"

James shook his head, "No. Not everything, just some parts."

"And you came to me, why?" She asked him.

He looked at her, the two of them having a small stare-off.

"Because when I thought of you, I could feel myself disconnect from the mind control that HYDRA placed on me. Because you're the only thing keeping me sane, Elena."

"𝓣hank you, Nat. Be safe, love you!" Kaileena said as she ended the phone call she had with Nat. She informed the Stark of what happened; they exposed Pierce and he got shot by Fury, Nat gave out all of the HYDRA files to the world, and Steve and Sam are currently looking for Bucky.

Kaileena placed the phone down on the table and sighed, she wanted to tell Steve about James but she knew she couldn't.

"What was that about, doll?" Kaileena turned around to face James who was currently eating some cereal, it was the next day and Kaileena agreed to help him with his memory situation.

Kaileena blushed at the pet name, she cleared her throat and placed a straight face on. "Just Nat. Your buddy Steve is looking for you, by the way. And no, I haven't told him about our situation here." She informed him to which he nodded at.

"Alright, so we'll start getting your memories back somehow tomorrow because I'm extremely tired and my stomach really hurts." She said as she sat across from him on the table.

James frowned, "What's wrong with your stomach?"

"I have no idea . . . it usually happens when something bad is going to hap-"

Kaileena wasn't able to finish her sentence since the wall on her left blew up into pieces. Before she could even turn around to see who had just blown up her house, she was shot with a dart and then everything went black.

James groaned as he removed the large piece of stone off of his body and stood up, just like the Stark, he got shot with something then he passed out.

A man walked inside the house and looked at the two of them, "Oh, how amazing is this? It's time to go back to your real home."

The man looked at the rest of the guards that were with him, "You bring Barnes to Pierce's people, I'll take Stark."

"Ja, Herr Strucker." The men nodded and picked up the two ex-HYDRA experiments. [Translation: Yes, Mister Strucker.]

"Welcome back to the game, Miss Stark."

word count: 1820

kara speaking . . .
seventh chapter, done! act one, done! ACT ONE IS FINISHED! thank god, i didnt really want her to be part of the last scenes of catws bc i wanted her and bucky to have some time together. i was actually having a stomach ache (cramps) while writing the stomach ache part, still do and it hurts like a bitch.

anyways, i'll be posting act two soon and i have a lot of things i wanna do so get ready! hope u loved act one of LADY TIGRESS, i will be publishing a new book very soon so stay tuned!

love you, don't forget to vote !

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

© -𝙶𝙾𝙳𝙳𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙾𝙵𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷