The Raven

New Beginnings - Two

Midgard,
Washington DC

Adrenaline surges through Natasha's veins as she pushes through the pain emanating from her gunshot wound. Attempting choke the man who's shoulders she is currently on top of.

Steve might not know that the masked man is his former best friend, but she does. And more importantly, she knows The Winter Soldier to be the love of her sisters life.

And so musters all the force she can, striking her elbow down against his skull, only to be flung from his body. She's airborne for a mere moment, scrambling to her feet as Steve barrels past her.

Her heart leaps into her throat as she takes cover behind a parked SUV from the incoming bullets, the handful of hydra agents join them on the city street as Steve unknowingly engages Bucky Barnes in hand to hand combat.

She couldn't tell them.

These last few days on the run, trying to avenge the death of Nick Fury, She couldn't risk Steve's judgement becoming further compromised by telling him about her sisters previous engagement. She needed his head to be clear.

At least, that's what she has been telling herself at every given opportunity. Every time the truth bubbled to her lips.

The closest she has come, was yesterday.

She told him, "The truth is a matter of circumstance. It is not all things, to all people, all the time. And neither am I."

His reply, is what nearly broke her. "That's a tough way to live." He reminded her so much of Sofia.

Lying has always been one of the hardest part about their lives for her sister. And in that moment, she wished more than anything that her sister were in the truck with them. That she could tell them both the truth about the man hunting them, Nick Fury's killer. She knows Sofia won't shed a tear over the director of shields death, but she would know how to best track The Winter Soldier. And she might be able to get through whatever mind control madness they've instilled in his brain.

Natasha peers over the hood of the SUV she has been using as cover, just in time to watch The Winter Soldiers mask fall free from his face during a barrel roll maneuver. And her blood runs still as she hears Steve speak his name.

~

His mind screams to stay focused, to complete his mission. To fight the agonizing ache that never seems to leave his bones, but as that man who is his mission, speaks a name, he freezes.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" Is all he manages to breathe, his mind filling with the face of the woman who has haunted his dreams for as long as he can remember.

And suddenly he can heart the name being giggled in his mind, his eyes closing in chase of the source.

Blonde hair, soft skin against his hands as his name is squealed.

He's lifting the the girl into the air, the sun is beating down and warming his face as she squishes his cheeks together in a way that causes his chest to swell.

And for a moment, he feels... peace.

But as something slams into his back, he's robbed from the memory— The hallucination.

There is no peace.

There is only my mission. But as he repeats the words he is so often forced to recite on command, the woman's voice fills his mind once more.

"One last mission, Bucky." She says, and suddenly his world fades to black as his unconscious body collides to the ground.

~

When he wakes, he's back in this...room? This cell? He doesn't know where exactly he is, or what he should call it.

His mind is scrambled, every inch of his shirtless body throbbing. Flashes of the man with circular glasses fill his mind, a familiar name being spoken.

"Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes" the man says, before the hallucination shifts.

And suddenly it's that girl again, and they're outside. Fighting beneath a dim street lamp as his mask is pulled off and she echoes the same name to him.

Should I know James Buchanan Barnes?

Am I...

A blow to his face brings him back to this room, this chair, and the man who most recently assaulted him. His eyes struggle to focus on the white haired man in the black suit as he speaks, it's hard to not look at the other four men who stand in this room with smgs in hand.

Each one pointed directly at him.

Can I really pose this much of a threat? He wonders, shoving the thought to the side as the man strikes his face once more.

"The man on the bridge," His voice shakes as he peers back the man in the suit, "Who was he?"

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment."

"I knew him..." Bucky's voice trails off, as his glazed eyes wander to the nearest man angling a weapon in his direction.

Flashes of a train swirl in his mind, an overwhelming sense of grief... of fear.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it, one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos." The man continues, but Bucky's eyes wander next to the man standing behind the leaders shoulder.

His eyes always feel as though they're cutting through his skin. No one in this cell ever offers him so much as a smile. But the man in black, the man with the stubble lined goatee, he seems to get a particular look of satisfaction whenever he the one strapping Bucky to the chair. And his punching blows seem to linger longer than the other mens.

"Tomorrow morning we're going to give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And then hydra can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"But..." Bucky gasps, the only words he can manage seeping out. "I knew him..."

Exasperated, the leader rises to his feet. Uttering his least favorite sentence. "Wipe him and start over."

Bucky fights the urge to resist, he knows the only thing that has ever accomplished is further pain.

He opens his mouth as the man in white places a guard between his teeth. He struggles to breathe, struggles to do anything aside from scream.

Searching his mind, he closes his eyes and wishes for the woman to comfort him. To hear her voice, to see her face. He searches for the hallucination one final time before he fears he will lose his glimpse of her forever.

And just as he reaches out, finding the vision he experienced during his mission today, white hot pain strikes through his skull. The excruciating surge of electricity igniting every nerve in his body, a guttural scream escapes his lungs.

~

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