PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS STORY IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OLD.
[based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe]
This is the story of Forsaken, a skilled and trained assassin who works for Hydra until she is rescued by Shield. She tries to find her old memori...
Having embraced the life of an active Shield agent and Avenger for over a year, Alice celebrated the newfound pleasure of feeling almost like a normal person. Her schedule was not fixed, but among the chaos of her missions, she always made time for her friends. Steve frequently visited her, their movie nights a cherished tradition where they caught up on TV shows and movies they had missed while they were gone. Tony sent her monthly gifts, varying from food to cutting-edge technology. Maria Hill maintained a monthly check-in routine, ensuring Alice's well-being and offering any necessary assistance.
Girls' night with Nat were a highlight, alternating between Alice's cozy apartment and lively nights at clubs, drinking until they couldn't no more. Nat would often tease her about going out on dates with new people, but Alice denied her offers. Her heart was still set on Loki, unfortunately. The god, true to his unpredictable nature, had yet to contact her since the battle of New York, leaving Alice yearning for even a simple message through Thor.
"Come on Alice, you need to forget that stupid god," Nat advised, taking a sip from her vodka-filled glass. "He's probably locked up in Asgard and will be for a long time after what he did. What about that guy from Human Resources? Joe?"
Alice giggled, "He's too much of a goody two shoes for me, Nat. Don't you think?"
"Yeah, you would rock his world," Nat teased. "What about Steve? You two are always together, you can't tell me something didn't happen between you two!"
Gagging in disgust, Alice retorted, "Me and Steve? Ew, Nat. Nothing ever happened between the two of us. We're just close friends. He helped me a lot when I was back at the Shield compound, that's why we're so close. I could never see him like that."
"Okay, okay, no Stalice then..." Nat said with a smirk, leaving a puzzled look on Alice's face. "You know like, Steve plus Alice it's Stalice. Back in New York, me, Tony, Clint and Bruce had a bet going on. We wanted to know if you and Steve were fucking each other but I guess Clint and I lost..."
"That's disgusting, I'm not fucking Steve," Alice replied.
"Yeah, I know that. Hey, what about Rita from Archives? She always smiles at you when she sees you."
"Nat... I can't... He told me he would come back to me and asked me to wait for him and it's just... ugh, that fucking bastard can be so frustrating sometimes," Alice vented to her friend. "He's the second person who tells me they will come back to me, and yet I'm still alone..."
Natasha got up from the floor, joining Alice on the couch. "Okay, first of all, you're not alone. You have me, Steve, and the rest of the Avengers. Second of all, yes, Loki is an annoying bastard, you got that right." The girls shared a couple of laughs. "And third of all, who told you they would come back to you?"
"I-I..." Alice hesitated. She had never shared this with anyone, not even Steve. "When I was Forsaken, there was another soldier there with me. He..." Taking a deep breath, she continued, "He also remembered small details from his past life. But I don't remember his name, nothing about him. Only that he was there with me. I asked Maria to help me track him, but she hasn't got back to me yet."
"And you don't even remember what he looked like?" Natasha asked curiously.
"The only thing I remember is that he had blue eyes, nothing more. And... I think... I think he had a metal arm. When Steve came to rescue me, I was still on cryo and I remember someone trying to wake me up, but I couldn't open my eyes, no matter how hard I tried. I couldn't even move, and I tried so hard, Nat..." Alice wiped away a lonely tear that had fallen on her right cheek. "I remember someone shaking me so hard, and when I didn't wake up, that person whispered something on my ear... I will come back to you. I know it was him Nat, I just know. But he never came back... He even left a piece of paper on my pocket... We will always have each other."
"Oh Ali, I'm so sorry..." Natasha hugged her friend tightly. "Wait! He was a soldier like you, right?" Alice slowly nodded. "And he had blue eyes and a metal arm?" She nodded again. "I think I may know something about him, Ali..."
"Really? Please, tell me everything you know Nat... Please." She clung to her arm.
"I don't know much, so please, don't get your hopes high, okay? It's a ghost story basically." Alice gestured for Nat to proceed. "There is someone out there, no one knows his name, only that he is responsible for dozens of murders in the last 50 years. Some intelligent communities don't even believe he exists, and the ones that do call him the Winter Soldier."
Alice stared in shock at her friend as new unlocked memories flooded her brain. "Nat! That's it! That was his name! The Winter Soldier! I remember, I remember a man introducing us and calling him that! Oh my gosh, I finally found him!"
"Alice, please, don't get your hopes high," Natasha tried to calm her down. "This guy is a ghost. No one can find him. Four years ago, I had to escort a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Someone shot the tires of the car and made us fall down a cliff. I managed to pull both of us out, but he was there. I covered the engineer, but he shot him... Right through me." Natasha lifted her shirt slightly, revealing a scar on her left hip. "Alice, if this is really your friend, please promise me you won't go out look for him, okay? He's dangerous and if he's anything like you were before, he won't hesitate to kill you."
"He's my friend, Nat... I can't just do nothing... He needs help."
"You can't do anything Alice, he-" Natasha was interrupted by her phone ringing. She left the living room to take the call, returning a few seconds later. "New mission, kiddo, gotta go."
"Do they need me too?" Alice asked as she got up from the couch.
"Nope, just me this time. I'll see you later?"
"Yup. Nat, be careful!" Alice yelled as her friend opened the front door.
"I'm always careful!"
Alice grabbed the bottle of vodka from the table and sat back on the couch. How was she supposed to give up on him? How was she supposed to forget everything they had been through? She pictured him alone at the base, trying to escape without success. Did he even remember her? Did they wipe his memory again?
"I need to do this," she said after taking a sip from the vodka. "I'm going to find him."
She quickly got up, went to her bedroom to change clothes, gathered all her weapons, fake passports, some cash, a few granola bars, and water bottles, and put them inside a black backpack. As she was about to open her front door, a tunnel made of white light appeared out of nowhere and pulled her up. The next thing she knew, she was in a place that looked straight out of a fairy tale.
