𝐼𝒻 𝐼 𝑅𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇... (𝒜 𝐵𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓎 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝓃𝑒𝓈 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎)

18. Waking up

I slowly open my eyes. I study my surroundings. I don't recognise anything. My mind slowly comes back to me. But not everything. I step out of the cylinder I'm in, my legs feel numb but I manage to walk. A door behind me opens, I turn around to see a tall, muscular blonde man, I know him.

"S-Steve?" I say my voice sounding weak.

"Nick!" He runs up and hugs me, I hug him back. Not sure of what's going on. "Tony! Get in here!"

A middle aged man with a weird bread walks in the door.

"Howard?" I say thinking he look familiar.

The man stops in his paths and looks at Steve before walking up to me again. "No, My name is Tony, Howard was my father." he says smiling at me.

"Father?" I say in confusion "the last I checked Howard didn't have any Kids who are older then him."

"Nick... You may want to sit down for this."

***

I sit there in shock. I couldn't believe what Steve had just said to me. Apparently, I am 94 years old living in 2014 and for the last 70 years I was working for Hydra being mind controlled by them. And for years at a time when they didn't need me I was frozen in ice.

"Nick you alright?" Steve asked with a concerning look on his face.

"I don't remember..." I say looking at the ground.

" Well Hydra did mind-"

"No as in I don't remember anything, all I can remember is project Rebirth, You and Howard, everything else is blank." I say cutting him off.

"Do- Do you remember Barnes?" Steve said his look getting more worried.

"Who?" I say. His face drops and he look at the ground.

"Do you want me to tell you?" He askes.

"No, I don't want to remember my past by someone else." I say with confidence.

I don't know what to expect from this world. Maybe nicer people, since the war is over. But in fact people have gotten meaner, they don't just leave you alone or ignore you in fact they yell and say mean stuff. I currently live in a crappy apartment, but sometimes I have to go to shield for more tests. Sometimes I call Tony, Howard for they look-a-like features. 

I can barely sleep anymore. But when I do sleep, I usual have nightmares about my past and killing people.

***

After a few weeks for some reason Starks throws a Coming back from the dead party for me. I believe it was to annoy me.

As the party begin I stay near Steve he is the only person I can remember and I know. 

"Steve." A woman with ginger hair just past her shoulders greets Steve.

"Natasha." Steve says as he greets her as well " This is Nick."

"You must be the 94 year old." She says as she shows her hand.

"you must be the person I've never met before." I say shaking her hand.

"Steve can I steal you for a moment." She says making a serious looking face at him. He nods and they walk outside. Leaving me alone. For the next 30 seconds i was alone before i followed them outside.

I heard mumbles about a Winter soldier.

"So you think this Winter soldier is a ghost story." I heard Steve say.

"Wouldn't it make sense? Natasha said "I mean, he isn't just killing random people, he is going after his victims in a very strategic manner."

"great so Hydra has a hitman." Steve sighed.

I began to feel an adrenaline rush in my veins. For some reason, I wanted to be apart of it. They started to walk away, so I followed them. After a while I heard a loud ban in the distantance. I looked up and a coud of smoke filled the air. Natasha and Steve both ran to the crash site. Me following them.

A man with a metal arm had just killed somebody. He was walking away when Natasha came up behind him and started to fight him. Steve came in too. This man was good at fight. He reminded me of someone but i couldn't remember After about 5 minutes the Winter soldier ran away.

"I told you very strategic." Natasha said as she hoped in her sports car with Steve and drove away.

I watched them disappear before going in the direction of the Soldier. I began searching every alley way and street i could find after about 2 hours of looking i gave up. I was started to walk away before i found him. or more like it he found me.

He picked me up with his metal arm and threw me across an alley, i slammed hard against a wall. My head was throbbing in pain, i groaned as i hit the wall. My vision was blurry when i focused on a black-masked face staring down at me. He towering over me. 

"Why are you following me?" He demanded. 

His voice was familiar bur i couldn't remember were it was from. Suddenly i was picked up again, his metal arm squeezing my neck. I tried to speak but only a few strained squeaks escaped my mouth. I'm dead for sure. I went to fire plasma balls at him but something stopped me, like a voice in the back of my head.

But to my surprised, he lessened the grip on my throat. I took a deep breath. My hands relaxed, just resting on his arm. My lungs blissfully filled with air again. I looked into his eyes, they were a deep icy blue, there was angry in them, rage. But deep down i saw fear and confusion, for some reason it made me feel safe to look at them.

"Who are you?" I tried to ask calmly. "The Winter Soldier?" 
There was no reply. Instead he stopped looking into my eyes and look my left hand. His eyebrows furrowed as he saw blood dripping from them. I watched in shock as he gently took the glass shard out of my hand, i let out a slight wince as he did so. His expressionless face not looking away from my hand. He pressed his thumb over the wound, so it wouldn't bleed anymore.

"You shouldn't get in my way." He threatened me, but it felt more like a warning. "I'm not meant to kill you, but get in my way again and I won't hesitate." He looked into my eyes.

For a few tense minutes, the Winter Soldier continued to put pressure on my hand, eyeing me curiously. When he released my hand the bleeding had stopped. Still staring at me. He growled "...Go home." Then he ran out of the alley.

I could barely believe that i was still alive. What had just happened. He let me live, why? Why was i spared? I glanced tot he ground where the glass shard that  was in my hand was now on the ground. I bent down to pick it up, still wet with my blood, but i didn't care. Holding it carefully i replayed what just happened in my mind. The winter Soldier had gone from ruthless to protective in a matter of seconds. All i knew was that he was more then just a mindless killing machine.