Hail HYDRA

Chapter Seven

The trio had been on the road for about a week now. They had made their way to Nebraska and were now in the twentieth motel that they had stayed in. "I was thinking maybe we could head up to Canada." Aileen said as she propped her feet up on the table in front her.

Bucky didn't answer. They had just gone through a "treatment". Which entailed Aileen going over any information she had on him and trying to get him to remember memories. He was scribbling stuff down in his notebook. He hadn't remembered any good memories. It had always been him killing people. Steve was laying on the bed next to. Bucky was running his hand through his now combed brown hair. He found the small dog very therapeutic.

"Buck." Aileen said trying to get an answer out of him. "Bucky." She said louder. "James!" She yelled, knowing it would get his attention. He looked up at her slightly irritated that she had called him that.

"What, Clarke?" He spat. She cringed a bit at the name that every HYDRA agent had called her.

"Touché." She muttered under her breath.

"What is it?" Bucky now asked in a more calm tone as he set the book down on his lap.

"Canada?" Aileen questioned. "Do you have a passport?" Bucky gave her a look that said, 'does it look like I have a passport?' Aileen let out a huff. "Well, I can't just Jedi mind trick border crossing."

"Jedi what?" Bucky said confused.

"Pop culture reference." She said simply. She had made a lot of those throughout the trip. After she had to explain her third Queen reference, second Alien reference, and fifth Disney reference she decided it was just easier to not explain it at all. She thought about it for a moment. "I might know someone. She lives in California."

"Can we trust her?" Bucky asked apprehensively.

"You mean is she HYDRA?" Aileen asked. "No. I know her from my high school days." She was lying though. Her friend had been a part of HYDRA with her, but she trusted her. And HYDRA was gone so it wasn't a complete lie. "I gotta make a call." She told Bucky as she exited the motel room.

She leaned against the side of the building and pulled her phone from her pocket. She looked through her contacts. Jessica Drew. They had been friends in high school and all through middle school before either of them knew what HYDRA was. She slowly clicked the call button and held the phone up to her ear.

"Aileen!" A voice suddenly connected after a couple of rings. "God, I thought you were dead. I saw what happened on the news."

"Hey, Jess." Aileen smiles at her old friend's voice. "I'm good. I'm good. How's life in San Fran?" She asked, truly wanting to catch up with her for a moment.

"Ah, you know. It's been a bit of a struggle, but I get by. I started a PI business. How have you been A?" The girl on the other end asked.

"That's the thing. I kind of need your help." Aileen said as she looked around for a moment. They were in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and the only thing that was illuminating outside was the full moon.

"Of course, Aileen. Anything for a friend." Jess said, knocking Aileen out of her search for any unwanted visitors.

"Well, I'm headed to Canada with a friend and he doesn't have a passport." Aileen said trying to figure out the best way to tell her that her friend was the former shell of the Winter Soldier.

"Aileen, I don't understand. That seems like a pretty easy fix. Why do you need my help?" The girl asked, confused.

"You saw the news." Aileen said remembering what she had said. "The documents that Widow released. Well you know the Winter Soldier right?"

"Yeah..." Jess seemed to put everything together in that moment. The Winter Soldier, one of the deadliest assassins on the planet was Aileen's friend that needed a passport. "Are you crazy?!" The girl suddenly yelled wishing she could reach through the phone and knock some sense into her.

"Probably." Aileen muttered as the girl continued.

"You are with a mass murder! Is he making you do this? Holding you hostage? Is he listening right now?" Her voice got quieter with the last question.

"Woah, woah, no. No, no, he doesn't do that any more. You read the files, he was someone before he was the Winter Soldier. He's making progress, but we are just trying to get as far away from HYDRA as we can. Lay low, keep moving." There was a long silence between the two as Jess thought.

"Alright, A. I'll help, but only because you're my friend. I'm not doing it for him."

"Thanks, Jess." Aileen said as she breathed out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"If you show up with a psycho assassin that kills me, I will haunt your ass." Jessica threatened with a tiny laugh.

"You got it. No psycho assassin. Thanks again for your help. We'll be there in a few days. I'll let you know when we are closer." Aileen said, then ended the phone call. She ran her hands through her hair, thankful that something was going right for them for once. But it didn't stay like that for very long. Aileen quickly slipped back into the motel.

"Good news!" She said as she looked over to where Bucky had been on the bed. He wasn't there. He had his back turned to her. She knew he was quiet, but he normally indulged her in conversations. "Bucky?" She said seeing he hadn't moved an inch at her previous words. As soon as she said his name though, he quickly turned around. His eyes, emotionless and cold. "Shit." She muttered and he started to advance towards her. What had happened while she was outside? Why had he digressed? She looked around for a moment for Steve, panicking because she had actually grown quite close to the dog and so had Bucky. She quickly dove out of the way as he aimed a punch at her. His metal arm got stuck in the wall.

"Calm down, calm down." She said as she quickly jumped over the two twin beds so she was on the other side of the room. He seemed unaffected by her words. Of course he was. He was in Winter Soldier mode. She wasn't sure if she should speak english to knock him back to his normal self or russian to keep herself from getting killed. She thought of any other options. What had Captain America done to knock sense into him? "Come on, you remember me." She said in little more than a whisper as her hands shook. He was right on top of her. He slammed her against the wall, his metal arm against her throat. He gave her a harsh punch to the face, making hersee stars. She quickly grappled with him for a moment. It wasn't the first time she had gotten into a fight with a man bigger than her. She reared back kneeing him in the privates. It gave her a moment to run towards the bathroom. She had stashed a gun under the sink. It was actually a higher powered rifle. Maybe if she could knock him out without she could regain her composure and figure out what to do while he was unconscious. She quickly made it into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and scrambling under the sink for the rifle. Aileen could feel blood running down over her lips, from where he had punched her.

She quickly positioned herself behind the door. The door was flung off the hinges and into the bathtub. Aileen slammed the but of the rifle as hard as she could onto the man's skull. Thankfully she seemed to have hit him hard enough as he fell to the floor. She let out a sigh of relief. She wanted to collapse right next to him, but she had to figure out a way to contain him for when he woke up. She had no way of holding him down, with that damn metal arm. She took in a deep breath and stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. She had blood dripping from her nose, that she was almost sure was broken and her right eye was starting to develop a yellow tint around it. "Great." She whispered