Winter's Soulmate | Winter Soldier ✔

Chapter Twelve

~Amelies POV~

I was tied to a bed.

A metal rod was across my stomach, screwed into place along the surface I was lying on. My wrists and ankles were bound by similar planks of metal.

My head stung, my body ached, and I felt like I was about to vomit any minute.

I closed my eyes and dropped my head back down, the effort of lifting it up strained my neck too much to keep attempting it. I may share the visual marks on my body with Winter, but I wasn't an almost hundred year old man injected with superhuman serums to fight the actual wounds off.

I couldn't remember what had happened before. Me and Winter were in the house... he turned into him, the soldier, and he told me to hide.

I'd managed to get into another room but then someone found me. They had a cloth... and now I was here.

I figured if someone was watching me, or at least monitoring my heartbeat in some way, then they would know I was already awake. The thought made my heart pound even more when I realised I was on borrowed time.

I needed to figure out a way to escape. Maybe after all the running, I should reach out to Tony Stark and ask him for help. If I was able to convince him that Winter wasn't as bad a person as he initially appears to be... maybe I could convince him to bring some Avengers and come and get us.

But I wouldn't be able to give him a location. I was confused by the layout of the room and I was simply lying in it. I could have been unconscious for days - we could have travelled out of Italy, even been on a plane, in that time.

Was Winter even still with me?

The dank and dark room began to squash closer to me. I could almost feel the walls closing in, the marks of mould on the ceiling rushing to kill me at the thought that I was utterly alone.

I felt my pulse quicken in my neck, fingertips, chest-

I tried to breathe the panic away, but the reality of my situation was just too difficult to avoid.

I was alone, in HYDRAs clutches, with no means of escape.

Shit.

***

~Winters POV~

Darkness.

Silence.

Amelie?

She wasn't here. I would know it if she was.

Our bond was still bright, still tightly knotted together.

My love was still alive.

I was sitting, strapped back to a chair.

People were hurrying around me, carrying guns and clipboards, wearing secure armour and suits - a mixture of laboratory assistants, ranked leaders and the guards of the facility.

I recognised every face, every expression etched into them.

I was ready for the fight, for the battle.

I would win and I would take her to safety.

"Ah, the Winter Soldier."

Footsteps echoed around the room, even and measured. It was him.

He walked around me, his nail scratching over the join of my shoulder to the arm.

The weapon. The weapon they inflicted upon me.

But I was ready to use it against them.

"You've been having a lot of fun without us haven't you? Going behind our backs like that... Please tell me, be honest, was it worth it?"