The Forgotten ❤️

Chapter 2

"So why are you afraid of Barnes?" Tony sat with his sister. That was so weird to think about; his sister. He hadn't seen for her for almost thirty years and yet she barely aged ten. 

"You mean The Winter Soldier? They brought him in to train me, to break me. What is he even doing here?" Victoria looks from Tony to Steve, hoping someone had a logical explanation. 

"He isn't The Winter Soldier anymore." Steve sits next to her on the table as Bruce runs his tests.

She places her hand on his, "can I?" Steve just nods his head as she starts to pull his memories of his closest friend. He had known him long before his own experimentation. She watched his memories almost as if they were a film. She saw Steve fighting his friend and fighting for his friend. Steve loved his friend, there was a bond. That was twice now that Steve had help her to feel something she hadn't felt in so long. She saw he was different, and she knew that he could be. But she couldn't bring herself to see him as anything other than The Winter Soldier. It was easier that way. She looks up at Steve, "I don't want him around me. Please."

Before Tony can start to say anything, Bruce interjects, "can you explain your powers to us?"

Victoria sighs and looks from Steve back to Bruce. "Well, I can read people's memories, and get a sense of who they are. I can't really read minds though. I can read past, not present. I can read intentions, not actions." She looks at Steve again, realizing she was still holding his hand, "that's how I knew I could trust you." She let go of his hand, suddenly uncomfortable with the contact as she looked back to Bruce. "And I can affect people's emotions. Including pain, if I want. It has to be something they've felt though. I can multiply what they've felt. That's how I was able to hurt The Winter Soldier just now." She felt Steve grab her hand and she looked back into his pleading eyes, "Bucky, I'm sorry. Normally I have to touch them though. But I was angry enough, I could hurt him from across the room. I'm still learning to control it." She knew that it wasn't just because she was angry, but because of their previous bond. But that was something she didn't want to talk about, or admit to anyone, including herself.

"Well Tony appears to be correct, you can't be more than 25 even though you should only be a few years younger than him. Your blood seems to contain the same strain of the super soldier serum as Rogers and Barnes. You won't age as quickly as everyone else around you." 

She hears Bruce talking, but she can't really hear him, "I'm sorry. I'm really tired. Is there someplace for me to lay down?" 

Steve stands up off the table and moves as Tony helps her off the table. She looks from him to Steve and back again. "I'm sorry. Can Steve take me? We can talk tomorrow." She sees the disappointment on Tony's face but he steps back as Victoria follows Steve out of the lab.

He leads her to a long hallway that seemed to all be filled with rooms. He opens a door on the left, motioning for her to enter, "you can have this room." He points to the room across the hall, "that room is mine if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll see you in the morning."

She steps into the room, looking around. It's a pretty big room, with everything she could need; a bed, a big oversized chair, even a giant tv and a desk.

He points to a room in the corner, "everyone has their own bathrooms. Natasha will bring you some clothes."

"Thank you Steve." She watches as he leaves the room. As she is about to close the door she is met by Natasha with clothes.

"We'll get you some more, but you can have these for now if you want to take a shower."

She watches as Natasha sets the clothes on the bed and leaves the room, closing the door. Victoria lets out a long sigh before deciding to take a shower. She undressed quickly, finding a laundry shoot in her bathroom. She stood under the water, waiting for it to warm up. She let the water wash over her. She focused on how every droplet felt as they landed on her skin. It was better than focusing on what her head wanted to focus on, which was The Winter Soldier. He looked straight through her, as if he had never seen her before. How could he not remember her? Taking her. Training her. Everything that happened between them. How could he not remember leaving her there? It had been easy for her to connect to him, to hurt him. There was a time he had let her in willingly. But that time had long since passed. He got out, and he had left her there. She didn't know if she could move on from the betrayal she felt. The betrayal of leaving her, of forgetting her. Had he forgotten everything? She let the water wash away her tears as she stood under the water. How could she ever explain when he didn't even remember her?

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In the morning Steve meets Victoria outside her room in her new clothes which consisted of black leggings and a SHIELD t-shirt. He walked around the compound with her, showing her the pool and the kitchen, the game room and meeting room. He stopped in front of what was the training room. She stood in the doorway as she watched The Winter Soldier spar with Natasha and with who she had been told was Sam. Steve tries to stop her as she entered the room, her focus on only The Winter Soldier. Natasha and Sam backed off as they watched her approach him. 

"You don't remember me?" She tried to control her emotions. There was anger and fear, and something else she couldn't identify standing in front of him. She stared into his steel blue eyes and knew he in fact didn't remember her. She wasn't sure which that made her feel more, anger or sadness. 

"I'm sorry, I don't. And I remember everyone. Even from my time as The Winter Soldier. But that isn't who I am anymore." He reaches his hand towards her but she moved out of the way, sending her foot to his chest making him fall back to the ground.

Natasha starts to pull her back, but Steve stops her. "Let them go for a minute." 

Steve, Sam and Natasha watch as Bucky and Victoria spar, her countering every one of his attacks. 

"You trained me, you can't expect me to not be able to take you down." Her words throw him off and she lands him on his back once more, with her straddling him on the floor. 

"I trained you? How can I not remember you?"

Victoria looked at him, not believing what he was saying. She placed her hands gently on his face, looking into his head. She saw him being captured and experimented on during the war. The fall from the train. Him being frozen. Him reconciling with Steve and Tony. But she didn't see herself. She had been erased. Why? She let go of him and stood up. "I'm not there. Why aren't I there?" Victoria ran from the training room back to her own. She couldn't let them watch the tears that were dying to break through. 

By the time Victoria has calmed down, she hears a knock on the door as her brother enters. She didn't know what to tell him. She was always his younger sister, now she was more age appropriate to be his daughter. "I don't know what to say Tony. It's all a lot."

"I know." He sits on the bed next to her. "How do you know Barnes? Is it something more than just that he took you?"

"He took me. He trained me. That's it. Nothing else. I don't want to talk about it." The truth was she didn't know what to say about it. He didn't remember her, maybe he never would. But she would never forget him. She had once seen past The Winter Soldier. He had let her in. He had his moments of being soft with her. Gentle. But whoever that was was now gone and replaced by someone who didn't even remember her, let alone remember everything they had shared.

"Okay. You don't have to. And you can stay as long as you like. And I'll get you some new clothes." Tony stands up as if he is about to leave but turns back to her, "I'm sorry. I never stopped looking."

"I know. I saw it when I read your memories. It's okay. I'm here now. Whoever I even am, I don't know."

"Well, you have time to figure out who that is. And you have a whole compound full of people who will help you. If you let them."