Remember Me

Chapter 20

Bucky's military sniper training surfaces as he walks over the roof of the hotel in Hamburg. His footsteps are not to be heard by any of the people inside. The hotel is secluded from the outside world and is surrounded by a beautiful forest. It's dark but the moon drapes a shadow of the trees and mountains over the building.

He lowers from the roof along the fire escape and jumps onto a balcony that leads into a personnel break room. His goggles fog up because of the humidity of the location. He rips the goggles from his head and crams them in his pocket as he swears softly. His long black hair falls in his face and he brushes it back aggressively.

He grabs the door handle with his shiny silver hand and pushes the door out of its frame. Once inside he is stared at by 2 employees of the hotel. He aims his gun with silencer between their eyes and squeezes the trigger. Two muffled shots echo through the small room as two bodies fall to the floor, bleeding and ruining the carpet.

He struts across the room and stows the gun back into his holster. From his back he takes his Skorpion submachine gun. As he has his gun clenched in the palm of his hand. The door to the hallway is ajar and he pushes it open with the barrel of his gun. Small mood lighting illuminates the corridor and he counts the doors until he is almost at the right one. When he looks around the corner, he sees that the hotel room is guarded by 2 guards. Both dressed in black suits, wearing earpieces and cheap sunglasses. He can clearly see the outlines of their guns holstered under their blazers.

Amateurs.

In the dim light, he sneaks up to the men and hits them so hard he can hear their skulls crack beneath his fist. They fall to the ground like rag dolls.

He grabs the doorknob for the hotel room and squeezes it into a mush in his metal hand. The door swings open with a slow squeak and his target stands in the room.

There is a man he only recognizes from a photo he saw just moments ago. He burned the small polaroid so he leaves no evidence. Bucky doesn't know wo he is, what he's done and why he's here. Just the order for him to kill this man echos through his head. He has no control over his actions and is forced to carry out his mission. Even though a muffled voice in his head begs for him to stop, he just continues with his mission. He's fine with it. This is his purpose.

His tactical boots sink into the soft carpet as he slowly moves towards his target. The man is kneeled down, whimpering, his hands are flailing and he's crying and begging Bucky not to hurt him. He ignores the man and raises his weapon. He squeezes the guns trigger and a series of bullets bore into the target's chest and head.

He hears a woman scream. A little further on, curled up in a corner, is a woman. She is scared and hugs a small child tightly and protects it with her whole body. She pushes the child's head down so that it cannot see anything. She begs and cries in some kind of foreign language.

Bucky doesn't even notice her begging and cries for help. He raises his gun and shoots the witnesses.

~

Bucky wakes from his nightmare and shoots straight up in bed. Natasha is startled awake by him and rubs his back.

"What's wrong, honey? A nightmare?" She kisses his shoulder.

Bucky is sweating. The covers on his side of the bed have been pulled out. Probably by himself. He runs his fingers through his hair and takes a deep breath. He wipes a few drops of sweat from his forehead with the palm of his hand. He throws off the covers and goes to the bathroom for some cold water.

"James?"

He doesn't answer.

He turns on the tap and lets the cold water run over his hands. He cups his hands, lets the water fill them and throws the water in his face. Since he's been with Natasha his past as the Winter Soldier stopped haunting him. He will never forget, but his mind had finally settled down. Now he fears that more memories will haunt him. That nightmare was intense. It felt so real.