My Soldier (Bucky Barnes)

A Flicker of Hope

It was pitch darkness with a flicker of orange yellow light that I danced on my finger tips. The coldness had been surging through my spine and the flame had been the only source of heat for both of us. The clanging of the chains with frequent whirring and sound of short breaths had filled the room as I sat next to him. The Winter Soldier. His head had hung low as he finally gave up on getting out of the chains. I felt guilty for him. I always did. I have been in HYDRA as long as I could remember. I was trained the whole time. The constant beatings had scraped the skin off my flesh and left many wounds over my body. Being the youngest had no perks but it wasn't as bad as what the Soldier faced. He would always been put in cryo and brought out only for me to fight him. Sometimes they would leave him with me to scare me if I do not obey the orders. His silent glares had become a habit to me. Never once had I felt afraid of him, rather I'd be afraid for him. The beatings and abuse he went through sent chills up my spine. Even now that I was familiar with them too, the feeling never changed. They always kept it hidden from me until I witnessed it myself when I accidentally killed my target on a mission. His screams never faded in my mind. Now, he sits next to me on the floor with chunky chains around him. I could have freed him but the consequences that we might face never gave me the courage to do it.

Over the years, I realised that agreeing with the authorities was the only way to escape their wrath. I did nothing to free him. Even after missions and trainings, I made him my first priority. It was only then that he started trusting me. I was his only friend. After everytime he was wiped, I was sent to lure him with their dirty propagandas and fake promises. I always felt sorry to be of no help but this time, I couldn't take it anymore. I could hear some footsteps approaching our cell so I quickly flickered off the flames that I had created on my fingers and nudged the Soldier to be ready for what was about to happen. Three men in all black gear and big guns stood in front of our cell. One of them came up to me and held me by my face. "Is he in control?" the man asked with his hoarse voice. "Da (yes)" I replied. I was taught to converse with the guards in Russian till asked to speak in English. The man came close to my ear staying there longer while taking in my scent from my neck and hair as I kept a stiff composure. "Good job dollface" he said. I heard the soldier give a short grunt. He knew of the abuse I went through being the only girl at the base. This made the man shift to him and push the Soldier on his left side to make him get up. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

Soon we were escorted from our cells with the Soldier held by chains while I was walking free with only one guard behind me. We reached the lab where we were usually made to suit up. I had to do it in the same room as the soldier and the guards were in. They always tried to put up a show with my body exposed for them to see. It was disgusting. Everytime it happened, the Soldier in front of me so as to protect me from their sickening gazes. Never once did he ever tried to look at my body like them and kept a soft expression on his face as he stared into my eyes. He always tried to shield me from the other men at the base. Once there had been a guard who groped at me during training, although I had him on the ropes, it was the Soldier who gave the final punch and suffered their wrath. I only wish if could be as selfless and brave as him to lessen his sufferings but I was just a plain coward. After we suited up, we headed to the briefing room where stood the leader of HYDRA none other than Alexander Pierce. He gave me a small soft nod.

It always seemed weird for him to be a little soft when it came to me. That man was the only reason why I am treated like this. He always asked me to accompany him to the important labs and conference rooms where most of the main shit would be discussed. He thought of me to become his next right hand in all of HYDRA's dirty business. Also the fact that Agent Rumlow always kept a close eye on me. That man disgusted me to death. Always looked my way with different thoughts in his hellish brain. I hated them both. Pierce stood forward as he spoke.

"We have a mission for my greatest undefeatable assassins. This mission is very important hence it must completed with no place of error at any cost." he took a pause as he looked at me as if he had some expectations from me. My last 53 missions were no failures and he was proud of me for that. "Our target is Nicholas J. Fury. As you see, this man has been a threat for us. He wants HYDRA to be gone. Your home to be gone." HOME. It did provide us a shelter to live in. Isn't that what home is meant to be? "This man needs to be killed. Rumlow would brief you two about the further plan. I trust you both to do the honor of killing him. Your names will remain in the golden books of HYDRA in the future. The Winter Soldier and the Spirit." With that being said he left the room and we were presented with the tactical plan of covering the mission. Maybe doing this mission will bring us out of the misery, it may stop the abuse. All I had to do was make sure that the man was killed. I had to do this for Soldat.

After the plan was discussed, we headed to the gear room. I tied my hair up in tight braids then tied them up in a high ponytail. It had been long since I saw my own self. My skin was light tan. The circles under my big doe eyes had grown due to the sleepless nights. My cheekbones had become more visible due to me cutting off on food for sometime. I never felt hungry, the fear of abuse and torture kept me from eating. My lips had some faded cuts and my cheeks had a few bruises. My long brown locks were falling at my back. I put up my thigh holsters and selected a few of my knives and put them on it. I hung a few guns on my utility belt and put on a belt fitted with different sort of bombs to carry. Lastly, I wore an all black vest that only protected my chest region. I rarely used any of the weapons as my pyrokinetic powers were enough. I got them from the mutated version of the serums that HYDRA had stolen from the scientists working under project AIM for Aldrich Killian. My body healed pretty quick due to the super soldier serum that they injected me with at a young age. There was a rhythmic knock on the door that broke my thought. I smiled slightly knowing it was Soldier. It was me who first knocked that way when we first became civil. It was like our thing.

I opened the door to find him looking at me. "You took long." he signed it to me in ASL. We talked mostly in ASL to keep our rare conversations private. "The holster was becoming loose" I signed back. He just nodded and with that, we headed to the helipad. Were in Germany and had to fly to Washington DC. I sat as I put on my headphones and the Soldier sat next to me. We sat in comfortable silence throughout the journey in each other's presence. For the first time in many years there was a glimmer of hope for both of us to be able to get treated properly at home which they called HYDRA.