dark witch , marvel

001.

one week later

Dakota walked through the Smithsonian Museum her eyes being drawn everywhere with the overload of information. She was wandering around the Captain America exhibit looking for her partner. She then caught his blank eyes, staring at a glass display. She silently moved to stand next to him. Her eyes glossed over the article on the glass. It was of him. Bucky Barnes. Captain America's best friend.

"1917 to 1945." He spoke lowly.

"So that's when they hire you. After you're dead." She added. He quietly hummed in response.

Dakota began to walk away when she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay." The man replied. He gave her a quick smile as he walked away which she returned with a smirk. She stepped back next to Bucky as she opened up the wallet she swiped.

"Looks like," She rifled the pouch for an ID. "Robert Kline, will be donating to our charity today." She could feel Bucky roll his eyes. She quickly counted the cash. "Holy shit, one seventy-three." She pocketed the money leaving everything else in the wallet. "Gonna drop this off and the we'll go? We can stay longer if you want though. No rush—"

"It's fine." She looked at him but his eyes stayed locked on the display. She walked over to the nearest employee.

"Hi, I just found this on the ground. Wanted to make sure it found its way back to its owner." She talked sweetly.

"Thanks sweetie. Very kind of you." The woman took the wallet. Dakota always returned the remains of the wallet after she took the cash, trying her best to balance out her pickpocketing. She turned around to see Bucky right in front of her.

"Ready?" He only nodded.

Dakota picked up on the metal fight occurring in his mind. She noticed the toll that seeing a glimpse of his past life took on him. The exited the building swiftly and quickly ducking into the crowds of Washington D.C.

Bucky Barnes and Dakota Everhart were on the run. And at this point they were entirely sure who it was from. By watching the news when they could they had seen that S.H.I.E.L.D. was in fact corrupt by Hydra. With this exposure it appeared that both organization were crumbling. In related news, the Avengers had been spotted in active duty. It was announced the superhero group was now dedicated to helping in the fight to take down Hydra for good.

Dakota was getting a pretty good idea of what Bucky's life was like. He had three sisters, he was born in raised in Brooklyn, and his best friend was Steve Rogers. But this was the before. Which Bucky had very little memory of. Dakota tried her best to comfort him in any areas she could. But it was difficult for both of them. Dakota herself was still trying to learn about her old life but unlike Bucky she didn't have a famous best friend.

Her name Dakota Everhart and that was pretty much the extent of what she knew about herself. She didn't even know exactly how old she was. Sometimes she received flashes of her old life while she slept but that was it. She didn't remember any parents or childhood just flashes of fighting. Fight after fight after fight.

 The metal necklace was long gone, between her and Bucky's joint effort, it was finally off. She still found herself touching her neck expecting to feel cool metal but was relived by the feeling of her own skin.

The two walked through the crowded streets of staying close by the each other.

"We should move." Bucky began.

"Move...?"

"Out of the state. The country."

"Oh...yeah."

"They're still looking for us." They stopped at a crosswalk and the man looked at the girl next to him. "We could find a place to live." The past week had been a lot of bench sleeping for the two. "We could be safe." She nodded her head.

"I don't think we'll ever be safe." Dakota's voice was solemn and Bucky didn't reply.

three weeks later

They were supposed to fly to Berlin tomorrow. Bucky had been collecting everything they needed to leave the country. He had gotten them both passports and with all the pickpocketing Dakota had done they had enough money for two one way tickets to Germany. 

The duo had moved out of city and into a motel on the side of highway close to the airport. Dakota began to feel safe, but Bucky was still constantly looking over his shoulder. Though the idea of Hydra had slightly inched away from her mind but the nightmares were terrible. Both of them had terrible night terrors, but Dakota had the terrible habit of screaming in her sleep. Sometimes they were about the brainwashing. The use of the Memory Suppressing Machine.  Or the endless hours of fighting and training. The taste of blood in her mouth and her pleading to stop. But mostly it was her conditioning. The scepter. The way it pushed it's power on her. Even while she dreamt she could feel it rip her apart. Tear her to shreds while she begged to just be killed. Close to every night she would wake up to Bucky shaking her, tears running down her face, and a cold sweat lining her skin. She would whisper sorry, her throat raw from yelling, only for the man to reply she had nothing to apologize for and help her back to sleep. Bucky easily took on his old role of taking care of a younger sister.

Dakota's memory had somewhat improved. She remembered training for a very young age. Training to kill. She wasn't sure if it was Hydra or something else but she was sure she's been some kind of kidnapped for a long time. Bucky said that he wasn't entirely sure how he found out her name but swore that he was sure of it. He disclosed that he wasn't sure where she came from but he knew it she couldn't have arrived that long ago. 

Dakota had taken a bus back into the city a few days prior. She purchased a prepaid debit card and then stopped by one of the local library's. She purchased and printed two tickets to Germany. When she showed Bucky after they had both retuned to motel room he incased her in a hug.

"Never gonna find us now!" Dakota smiled as she pulled her arms away from his neck.

"Never." Bucky assured her. He couldn't help but smile. 

authors note
sorry it's so short! future chapters will hopefully be longer :-)