No Longer His (Bucky x OC) (2/2)

Chapter 1

January 3, 2014, New York City, New York.

She awoke to a door slamming shut and immediately realized she was not in her cell; hell, she wasn't even in the training facility. All the windows were boarded up wherever she was, and barely any sunlight shone through. She was finally away from those people, but they would find her if she didn't start moving. 

Standing to her feet, she started toward the door and opened it. The sunlight nearly blinded her, and the traffic sounds flooded her ears. After her eyes adjusted, she descended the steps of what she now realized was an abandoned apartment building and turned left, hoping to find someone to help her. It wasn't long before she saw that she was on 42nd Street. At the end of the Street was the view of a skyscraper with the letter 'A.' Something told her that's where she needed to be.

She made her way there but stopped when she entered the building. She first saw a large picture of a man who looked so much like Howard that it made her double-take; under it was a plaque that read 'Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, Iron Man.'

"Can I help you?" A woman only a couple of inches taller than Anastasia, with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes, walked up to her.

"I-I don't know... Is that Howard's son?" she asked, referring to the picture.

"Yes. What is your business here?"

"May I speak with him? I think he can help me."

"Mr. Stark is very busy. May I ask what it is about?"

"I think they're looking for me; please, I need to speak to him; I can't go back there." The woman looked skeptical yet motioned for Ana to follow her. They took the elevator to the tenth floor and walked to the end of the hall with glass doors in front of them.

"Wait here." She went inside and began talking to the man sitting on a stool, messing with something on the table before him.

Tony turned away from his project and looked at her. Her head was down, and she was trying to avoid eye contact. She only looked up when she heard the door open. The woman held the door for her as she walked in. Tony gestured for her to sit on the stool across from him.

"You look just like him," Ana told him, her voice just above a whisper.

"I'm aware. How did you know my father?"

"The war. I doubt he ever mentioned me. I doubt anyone even remembers me. Do you have any pictures of his from the war?"

"Who are you?"

"You wouldn't believe me. Do you have the pictures? It would be easier to show you than tell you."

He nodded. "JARVIS, pull up Dad's pictures from World War II."

"Yes, sir." The voice had no source and scared Ana just a bit, but an extensive gallery of pictures appeared on the wall next to them. She went up to the wall and barely touched the first picture, making it the only one she saw.

"I've never looked through these. I didn't find them interesting enough." She looked at him, silently asking a question. "Swipe," he said, making a hand gesture. She swiped, and as each picture appeared, she studied it, remembering her time in the war.

"That camera barely left his hands. Said he would miss times like this once they were over and needed something to remind him." She smiled at the memory. "He also said that if he weren't a genius inventor, he'd be a photographer."

"That doesn't sound like him."

"War changes people, Tony." She stopped swiping when she came across the first picture with her in it, a picture she didn't know existed. She remembered this moment; it was one of her favorite memories; it reminded her of who she was daily. She laughed at Steve for tripping over his foot and almost falling on his face. He didn't think it was funny. In the picture, he had an annoyed look on his face.