A Shared Cell Wall (Bucky Barnes X OC)

Academia (Prologue)

Robin hums to herself as her navy heels hit the cobblestone sidewalk. Wobbling every so often as the points of the heels dip into the cracks of the stones. Her walk to University is relaxing, just like any other day. The weather in Germany is nice and cool, a perfect match for the autumn morning. Robin grips her books tighter to her chest when a breeze passes, making the fabric of her dress press against her legs.

In her arms rests two notebooks and a small box of lead pencils for her classes. The pages of her journals are filled with science equations and formulas, an uncommon subject for a female to be so invested in.

In 1966, it isn't exactly normal for a female to pursue science as a profession, yet here Robin is. Striving to follow her parents' work. Robin has always looked up to her mother and father. Peter and Mila Hitzig are amazing German scientists who work closely with an organization called Hydra. They want to impact the world in a positive way and the messages that were funneled to them by Hydra's leaders seemed like exactly what they wanted to be a part of. Sadly looks can be deceiving but they didn't know that yet.

Peter and Mila knew it wouldn't be long before their daughter, born in 1943, would develop an inevitable attraction to the sciences. Robin has yet to prove them wrong. She sits in her classroom, the desk old and worn and the blackboard scratched and clouded with white chalk. Her itchy dress urges her to scratch her hip yet she keeps her hands ready to write in the journals she has filled up with notes.

The professor at the front of the room lectures on an introduction to biochemistry. It's one of the first classes that entertained the subject, making Robin eager to be the first one to sign up. Clearly the rest of the students in Germany were not as eager considering she was only one of three girls in the class. At age 23, Robin was also the youngest in the room. Her mother and herself were quite similar in this way. They both wanted to gain as much knowledge as they could at once, not letting the boundaries of society limit their abilities or opportunities.

Her hand writes quickly as she follows the lecture, and before she knows it, the day is done.

"Dismissed." The professor's voice rings through the air signaling for the three girls to gather their things and exit the room. Robin watches her feet walk out, focusing on the beaten floorboards and how little the government funded schooling for those like herself.

Returning home was a pleasant affair. The sun is still high in the sky but the clouds lessening the hard rays on her skin. Her uniform dress is just screaming at her to be thrown on the floor, forgotten about until her next classes. Robin rolls her eyes as she feels a blister forming on her heel from the shoes her mother bought for her. Something about fancy clothes and preppy outfits always infuriated Robin. She did not deserve something so special that only the top class citizens could afford to own, how selfish.

Her house comes into view at the end of her street making her grin when she sees her father exit his Porsche gripping tightly onto a manila envelope.

"Dad!" Robin shouts from her distant position. Peter turns around from the shout and chuckles to himself when he sees his daughter bend down to pull off her heels and begin running toward him, the journals in her arms sliding up and down with her movements.

"Robin, my dear. How was your schooling today?" He asks when Robin wraps him in a hug, trying to keep a hold on all of her belongings.

"It was great! Introduction to biochemistry, isn't that fun!"

Peter shakes his head at his daughter's excitement with a smile and kisses the top of her head before guiding her to the front door of the house. "I'm glad those classes that I pay for are enjoyable."

Robin releases her father from her hold and rushes through the home to her room, shouting a quick hello to her mother in passing. In her bedroom she sets her journals on the desk before quickly stripping from her uniform dress.

Robin mumbles to herself as she throws the outfit to the side, watching it slump into a pile on her floor. "Stupid uniform." Robin has always despised uniforms. When she was schooled in the States, she always got to dress how she wanted. Well, how her mother wanted. But thanks to her parents' job, they had to be relocated to Germany. Her parents were lucky since they grew up here but not Robin. She had only known the United States all her life until just a few months ago.

Robin flung herself on the bed, her green bedspread ruffling with her movement. A knock on her door is what brings her back to reality. "Come in."

"Darling? I wanted to talk with you about tomorrow." Mila sits on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand out to hold Robins. "Your father and I have a meeting with some buyers for our project so when you return home from classes, we won't be home just yet. I didn't want you to be nervous."

Robin smiles at her mother and squeezes her hand to show she is grateful for the information. "Alright, I will eat out with some friends for supper then if that's okay."

"Of course! I will leave you be, I know how you like the evening to yourself after a long day of school. I will call you when dinner is ready. I love you my darling." Mila pats Robin on her arm with a gentle smile and Robin laughs in response, returning the affection and rolling over on her bed to grab her pillow. A nap is what she wanted right now. Just a short one will do.

Robin had made the mistake she was all too familiar with when she took her nap. The next time she had opened her eyes, the sun was already creeping up her window, starting a new day. She had missed dinner which was made clear when her stomach growled at her. And she had missed breakfast based on the missing car from the driveway, her parents had obviously already left for their little meeting. The rest of her day seemed to be a blur, her walk to class was slightly more chilly than she remembered for the season, classes were slower than normal, and when her professor dismissed the students for the day, she felt like disregarding her plans of going out with friends.

Her walk home is colder than normal, just like it was in the morning hours and Robin begins to regret leaving her sweater on the chair by her desk. The sky was even darker too, making her speed up her steps home. Part of her wishes that her parents' meeting ended early and she would see the car in the driveway, but she knows that won't happen. Robin turns down the final corner to get to her house when a pair of hands grab onto her.

A scream leaves her mouth as she drops her journals and pencils. Her legs begin to kick frantically when she is lifted up by whoever has a hold on her. Adrenaline pumps through her making her heart race and breathing get fast. A hood is thrown over her head making her vision completely black. Voices fill her head from around her and she knows she can hear more than one man trying to get her. The only thing left that Robin can think of to do is ram her elbow back into the person behind. For a split second their hold on her lessens and she can almost wiggle away when she feels a prick in her neck. Immediately her body gets heavy and eyelids begin to droop. Her last cohesive thought before she falls into complete darkness is that her attackers won.