Unchained Melody

Chapter 18

I walked back to my room, locking the door behind me so no one could barge in. Walking over to the closet to change into ripped jeans and a baggy tank top, threw a leather jacket on over that, and grabbed my bike keys. I unlocked the door and opened it to see Bucky making his way towards it. I slipped out fast enough to avoid running into him, making my way through the compound to the hangar where we stored our vehicles.
When I got there I walked over to my bike, quickly peeling the cover off. I let out a soft sigh, a small smile forming on my face. "Hello, F. R. I. D. A. Y."
"Hello, Miss Rogers." The bike lit up as the AI responded through the speakers. "Where are we going today?"
"Do you have any suggestions for a scenic route? Maybe with a good place to stop for lunch?" I walked over to a small closet labeled 'Rogers' and pulled it open. It was a gun locker specifically set up for me.
"There's a great pizza place about an hour away. Mr. Stark would recommend stopping there."
"Alright, take me there then."  I grabbed out a smaller pistol and walked back to the bike, placing it in the storage bag before getting onto the bike, turning it on, and taking off.
The A.I. displayed a holographic map with instructions to the pizza place she mentioned before.
The one thing that I love about where the compound was located is that it's hidden. Surrounded by miles and miles of just woods. A great place to just escape. Tony owned a lot of the land as well. He had surveillance set up almost everywhere around the compound until the end of his property.

I went straight to the pizza place and then rode for a while until I found a dirt path, carefully riding my bike down it until I couldn't see the road anymore. I parked my bike and got off, walking a short distance until I found mountainsides. I perched myself right on the edge of what seemed to be a small cliff, sitting down and letting my feet dangle. I watched the sun as it peaked out from around an adjacent mountain, slowly disappearing behind it as it got dark. I laid back, looking up at the sky, admiring the bright twinkling stars.
After a short while, a buzzing noise caught my attention.
"I finally found you." I could hear Sam's voice coming from the same area as the buzzing.
A drone flew up beside me, hovering as if it was looking at me.
"Yes, Sam?" I looked at the drone.
It was Sam's drone, Redwing. He must have used it to locate me after I left the compound. Which was mildly comforting, it meant no one actually followed me.
"If you don't get that thing out of my face I will crush it."
The drone backed away slightly. "I see why Steve claims you and Buck are made for each other."
I rolled my eyes as I stood up, taking a couple of steps back toward where my bike was. "Why did you send Redwing after me, Sam?"
"Because I have two grown super soldiers here, freaking out over where you are."
"They are big boys. They don't need me to babysit them."
"They are worried about you, Melody. Please just come back. We are all worried."
"I have nowhere to go. I just need some space. Neither of them gets to freak out about where I've gone when all they did was poke and push at me. They can sit tight for like 2 hours. I will be back at some point."
A loud sigh came from the drone.
"My bike is back there. Put a tracker on it if you feel like you have to and let them watch it. I'll head back soon."
The drone flew off in the direction of my bike before it flew up over the trees and flew towards the compound.
I could hear owls cooing off in the woods. The quietness of my surroundings makes it feel peaceful, letting me finally clear my head.

I don't know what I want to do with all of the information I gained from Tony's experiment. There's a lot of stuff I honestly wish I couldn't remember again, like HYDRA's missions. But, there were also so many good memories that I didn't even know I had missed.
I remember my mom. I miss her with every fiber of my being. I remember that she would make pancakes every Sunday morning before dragging Steve and me to church. And the smell of her shampoo was lavender. I think it is still my favorite smell.
I remember how when I would have bad dreams she would curl up in my twin-sized bed with me and hold me until I went back to sleep. And if Steve woke up while she was in there, he would crawl into my bed too. I remember the three of us not fitting in that bed, the older I got she would just lay on the floor with me. She would build me forts in my room, and just sit with me in them, playing board games and doing puzzles. She was such a great mother. I know everything was hard for her, but she never acted like anything bad was happening, even when my father was around.
Of course, she had Steve to help her. He was always being the best big brother that he could be to me, even when it was hard on him.
When Mom got sick Steve took care of her until she had to go to the hospital. He had just graduated when she got to the worst stages of her illness. They didn't let me see her much. James was always trying to pull me out to do stuff away from home, from the sadness. Steve wanted me to focus on school, he kept telling me she'd be fine, and I believed them... until I couldn't anymore.
I never even got to say goodbye. She passed away while I was in class. James waited for me to get out of school that day. He walked me home most days, but that day was different, he didn't say anything.
Steve was out waiting for us on the porch.
"Melody..."
"I think I'm going to see if I can visit Mom today." I walked past Steve, up the steps to the front door. "Be careful around Bucky. He's acting weird today."
Steve let out a soft whimper, holding back tears. "You can't go visit her..."
I paused as I went to grab for the door handle, my worst fears set in. I didn't even want to ask him if she was gone. "Why not?"
The crying he was choking back finally hit. "She passed away this morning."
"You're lying." I didn't want it to be true. She had been doing okay the last time I saw her.
"I'm sorry, Mel." Bucky's voice got closer to me, his footsteps echoing on the wooden steps leading to our front door.
All you could hear was Steve's sobbing. There were no children playing, no car horns honking. It was like the whole world was standing still.
"No." All of a sudden anger hit me like a train. I spun around to be face to face with Bucky.  "You don't get to say sorry. I don't get to say goodbye because of you. I could have been there, visiting her. You knew and you didn't pull me out of school?"
"I asked him not to." Steve couldn't even look at me.
My gaze shifted to the back of Steve's head. "That is not your decision to make, Steven. You spent time with her. You got to say goodbye. They probably already carted her off and I don't get to do shit. I don't get to see her, hug her, or say goodbye. You took all of that away from me and you can't even look at me."
"She was his mother too, Mel. He's just as sad as you." Bucky stepped closer trying to get into my face. He was obviously trying to hold back frustration.
"He doesn't get to act like she wasn't mine either. He was there. I, on the other hand, was not." I placed my index finger against his chest. "I was being dragged around by you so that you could play out some sick and twisted fantasy you have about your buddy's little sister. Fuck you, James. You don't get to tell me how I'm allowed to feel."
A growl escaped from him as he looked down at me. The frustration and anger clearly formed on his face.
I turned back towards the door and swung it open. Throwing my bag down by the door and made a b-line straight for my mother's bedroom, closing the door and locking it behind me. I crawled onto her bed and grabbed her pillow, it still smelt like her even though she had been in the hospital for months. I curled up on my side, my face burrowed into the pillow as I couldn't help but cry. She was gone. And I couldn't do anything about it.

The stars twinkled in the night sky above the mountains. The only sounds for miles were the sounds of nature around me.
I got to my feet and headed for my bike. 
There was a little blinking light on the side of the gas tank. He didn't even try to hide the tracker to make it fun. Had to just put it out in plain sight for everyone to see.
Once I got the bike on I let out a soft sigh. "Please take me home, F. R. I. D. A. Y."
"Right away, Miss Rogers." A small hologram popped up on the bike, showing me the directions back to the compound. It should take only 25 minutes to get back.
I gently patted my pockets for my phone, but I found nothing. I must have left it back at the compound, no wonder it was so quiet.
I followed the dirt path back to the road, driving for about 15 to 20 minutes back to the compound. The roads were pitch black, with no other vehicles in sight.
I came upon a road, I stayed going straight as the GPS told me, there was a crossroad that had stop signs. I didn't see any headlights from either direction. I continued at my speed before a sudden impact struck my left side, throwing my body down the road. I gasped out, crying in pain as I rolled over from my back to my stomach. I couldn't feel my left side, everything felt broken.
Headlights from, what appeared to be, an armored truck finally flipped on. Lighting up the street and everything around me, slightly blinding me as well.
Small pieces that had broken off my bike were scattered across the road. Glass was everywhere. Small shards pressed into my palms as I attempted to drag myself back to my bike. "F. R. I. D. A. Y."
"Yes, Miss Rogers." Thank god. The AI answered me.
"Please..." I struggled to form words. I stopped pulling myself and just laid there on the road, trying to catch my breath. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to do anything.
The truck doors opened and people hopped out on either side. The light from the truck only allowed me to see their silhouette as they made their way toward me.
"There seems to have been an accident, Miss Rogers. Shall I let Mr. Stark know?" The AI asked calmly.
I picked my head up slightly. "Y-Yes..."
The people got close enough to me for me to realize they were men. I felt a small prick in my arm, leaving me limp, unable to move. One lifted me up off the ground and began to drag me towards the truck. All the feeling in my arms and legs was gone.
"BUCKY!" I could still speak. I screamed at the top of my lungs, calling out for help. "STEVE! TONY!"
The men set me in the back of the truck on the metal floor. Got out of the truck, then slammed the back door shut.
My cries turned to sobs. "Steve... Wanda..."
"Shut up back there. No one's coming to help you." One of the men said. It was a familiar voice, a painfully familiar voice.
My vision began to go blurry before cutting out completely. Everything was black.