The Assassin Shadow - Bucky Barnes

Chapter 11

I wake up in a big, dark place. The room I am in is open to the other room. I hear some voices not far from me. I look around a bit. All I see is scrap and dirt. When my eyes finally land on what's next to me, I see papa sitting in a chair, still knocked out, his left arm stuck in some kind of machine that prevents him from moving and probably hurting anyone if he's still in his Winter Soldier form. But I can't let him like this. I need to save him. What if we're back in Hydra? Or what if the bad guys from the United States got us?

"Papa? Papa, come on, wake up please." I whisper.

He doesn't move so I start shaking him by the shoulders.

"Papa! Please wake up!" I say a little bit louder this time.

I hear the voices getting closer now. I am able to listen to their conversations.

"Sam, did you hear this?" I listen to the familiar voice.

"Yeah, I did. Looks like our little powergirl is awake."

"Don't call her that. Her name's Lydia."

"Right, sorry."

They're talking about me? I know those voices but who are they? The footsteps are louder and louder as they come closer. At some point, a man finally comes into the room. It's Uncle Steve and his bird friend!

"Uncle Stevie!" I said before running to him.

"Hi Lyly! I see that you're finally awake." He says hugging me.

"So, are you two just going to ignore me?" The other man says.

I stare at the black guy before looking back at Steve.

"Right, Sam, this is Lydia. Lydia, this is Sam." Captain America says.

I continue to stare at mister Sam and stay close to Steve.

"Don't worry, he's with us. He won't hurt you, I promise."

I look back at Steve and see that he is really serious. I turn to mister Sam and glance at him.

"Well, how old are you?" He asks me.

"7, you?" I answer.

"All you need to know is that I'm older than you."

"Technically, she's the older one but anyway, I'll let you two know each other better." Steve says before walking out of the room.

We both look at Steve walking away before turning to one another.

"So, hum, in what grade are you?"

"Grade?" I ask, confused.

"Yeah, I mean in school?" He continue.

"I've never been to school."

"Never? Like never, ever?"

I nod my head to show him that I have not.

"Do you know how to read?"

"Yes! Papa teached me how and he also teached me additions, subtraction and multiplications. We didn't have time for divisions and we're on the run so I don't think I'm gonna learn it soon." I say.

He looks kind of upset.

"But I know how to speak five languages! I know English, Russian, German, Romanian and French. I learned Russian,German and English in the 1940s and then French not long ago with Hydra and my father taught me Romanian."

"That's nice! I don't even know that many languages. You're really smart." He tells me with a smile.

"Thanks, mister Sam."

"Oh! Don't make me feel so old. Just call me Sam."

"Okay, Sam. Is that right?" I ask.

"Perfect."

We continued talking for quite a moment. We discuss what we like to do in our free time, our favorite meal and I learned that his favorite movie was Cinderella! At some points we hear someone groan so we look in the room next to ours and see papa awake.

"Stay here but don't get too close to him right now ok?"

"Okay." I say.

Sam goes to bring Steve here. When they both arrived, we all stared at my dad.

"Steve." My father says.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Uncle asks.

"Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He answers before chuckling a little.

"Can't read that in a museum."

"Just like that was supposed to be cool?"

"Advice from a friend, do not try to understand these two" I whisper to Sam.

"What did I do?" Papa asks in a serious voice.

"Enough." Uncle Stevie says.

"Oh God, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve asks.

"I don't know"

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know'."

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where we were kept." He says looking at me then back at Steve. "He wanted to know exactly where." My dad answers.

"Why would he need to know that?"

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

While papa explains everything to Uncle Stevie and Sam, I wonder why they needed new winter soldiers when I was at their mercy with powerful powers.

"Who were they?" Steve asks.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in Hydra history and that was before the serum."

"They all turned out like you?" Sam says.

"Worse."

"The doctor, did he control them?" Uncle Steve says.

"Enough."

"Said he wanted to see an empire fall."

"With these guys, he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming." My dad says.

I go to my father's side and hug him but I can still hear Uncle Stevie and Sam's conversation.

"This would have been all easier a week ago."

"If we call Tony..."

"No, he won't believe us." Sam interrupts.

"Even if he did..."

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help." He interrupted again.

"We're on our own."

"Maybe not. I know a guy." Sam says.

I look at papa and I can see that he's scared but he doesn't want to show it.

"Are we going to be okay?"

"Of course we are, doll, we're gonna have our perfect life again soon. Don't worry, Lydia."

I want to believe him but it's hard to. I just have this feeling that everything is going to get worse.