Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Thirty Two - The Winter Soldier

I didn't even realize it but I dropped my cup in shock, the glass shattering and water flooding over the floor. My heart picked up speed quickly and I took a step back, slipping off the doorframe and stumbling backwards a couple of steps. HYDRA? He knew HYDRA? Was he from HYDRA? Would he try and hurt me? Kidnap me? Kill me? What if the rest of HYDRA was already here? Where they waiting outside the door as we spoke?

"Emily." Steve's voice cut through my rushing thoughts, stepping towards me and gently grabbing my shoulders. My eyes met his blue ones that were full of worry. "Emily, focus. Now take a deep breath, nice and steady." I took in a deep breath like he said, except it was a little shaky.

"Bad run in?" Asked Bucky once Steve had calmed me down and my eyes darted up to see him leaning up against a door frame with his arms crossed.

"That's actually what I want to talk to you about." Steve said quietly, turning around to look at Bucky. "She's like you." Bucky pushed off the door frame and stuffed his gloved hands into his pockets, gaze hardening slightly.

"Looks like she got it a little easier than me." He muttered, his eyes roaming over me.

"Not exactly like you." Steve back-tracked. "But...". He hesitated and looked back down at me. "Is it okay if I tell him?" I nodded and he looked back up at Bucky.

"She's another experiment." Steve continued, causing Bucky's shoulders to tense up. "Not the exact as you, but we believe she was built for the same purpose. I thought maybe if I brought her here you... I don't know, could maybe help her or something?"

"With what?" Bucky sighed heavily. "Nobody comes back from that place the same person as when they went in."

"Yeah, I know that." Steve replied. "But look at you, you are... mostly normal." His gaze flicked to the cupboard where the tinned spaghetti was for the briefest second before he looked back at Bucky, who's eyes darted to me and then back to Steve.

"Look, I can talk to her, but no guarantees, okay?" Bucky sighed. Steve nodded and smiled softly at him.

"Thanks Buck." He replied, giving him a pat on the back, which Bucky gave him a tense smile for. Steve turned back to me and flashed me a small smile, rubbing the top of my shoulder for a brief second. "I'll be outside." I nodded and he walked back out of the hall. I watched him leave and heard the door open and shut, looking down at the floor as everything fell into awkward silence.

"Sit down." Said Bucky, his voice tense, and I looked up at him to see that he was nodding to the couch nearby. I hesitated before walking over to it, sitting down and finding that it was surprising comfortable. Bucky sat across from me, his elbows on his knees as he looked at me, his long hair falling across his face slightly.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked, sweeping his hair out of his face.

"You're Bucky, aren't you?" I replied softly, slightly confused. "Bucky Barnes?"

"Yes I am." He nodded slowly. "But do you know my other identity?"

"Your other identity?" I echoed nervously, not sure where he was going with this.

"The Winter Soldier." He replied and my eyes widened in shock, causing him to smile painfully. "I take it they told you about me then?"

"You're the Winter Soldier?" I repeated, not exactly believing it was him. "They talked about you a lot. Some of my programming is based of yours even." Nearly all of what made me up was actually based off the Winter Soldier program, in fact, the only thing that probably wasn't was my fire.

"I'm not surprised." Bucky sighed, looking down at his gloved hands. "I was one of their greatest weapons. What did they exactly program you to do?"

"Apart from everything that you can already do?" I asked and he nodded, causing me to look down at the bracelets. "Compared to what I have heard you do, it's not really exciting. They made me be able to produce fire out of nothing."

"Do those bracelets control it?" He asked, nodding down to the bracelets that I was now fiddling with. I nodded and after a couple of seconds of hesitation, I slid off my bracelets and let my body burst into flame. I made sure to control the heat as best as I could though to make sure that I didn't burn his couch. Quite surprisingly, Bucky didn't react to as badly as I thought he would.

"Why?" His eyes darted over my flaming figure. "Why did they give you the ability to control fire?"

"I don't know." I said softly, looking down at my flaming hands. "Maybe because it can basically destroy anything I touch. It would be helpful for an assassin to be able to do that." I paused and sighed softly. "I don't really know that much about myself."

"Don't worry." Bucky replied. "Most of my life there I didn't even know my own name, my actual name. They brainwashed me when I found out too much of the stuff I shouldn't know about, which included my name."

"That's horrible." My eyes widened slightly, my flames leaping up a little from my spike in emotions.

"They didn't do that to you?" His eyebrows furrowed and I shook my head.

"I knew my name the whole time I was there." I replied. "It is one of the only things I knew about myself. I don't know where I came from, who my parents were, I don't even know how old I am."

"How old were they when they started experimenting on you?" Bucky asked and I looked away at the word 'experimenting', swallowing.

"I was about four." I said softly, and this time it was his turn to look away. Silence filled the air, my fire still crackling along my arms

"Look." Bucky said eventually. "We might have grown in the same place, had similar things done to us. But... I don't really know how I can help you. You can't really change what you are, what they have made you."

"I know." I sighed. "I just didn't want to tell Steve that. They all think it is something that can be changed, but I already knew I can't. This is me." I looked back down at my hands. We stayed silent for a couple of seconds before Bucky stood up. I looked up at him and slid on my bracelets, snuffling out the flames before I stood up too.

"Steve has a phone." He said. "If there is anything you need to talk about that the others won't understand, you can call me, okay?"

"Thank you" I gave him a small smile, nodding as he gave me a small smile back. He led me out of the house to where Steve was waiting beside the car. He stood up straighter upon seeing us return, giving me a quick questioning look. I gave him a small smile to let him know it was all okay. Steve nodded and stepped towards Bucky, who gave him a small smile. They shared one last hug and Bucky smiled at me before Steve and I hopped into the car.

"Don't forget what I said kid." Bucky told me and I nodded before Steve started the engine and we took off back down the gravel driveway.