Saving Bucky Barnes

Prologue

I was so bored. I sat with my bare feet propped on top of my desk. I sighed. Don't get me wrong! I love my job. What more could I want. I was part of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I was, however, very unimportant. I was a counselor.  You would think that SHIELD  would have no use for someone like me. In all honesty, the only people who actually came to see me were Steve and sometimes Natasha. Other then that I was free to sit in my small office and do whatever I wanted. I wasn't even really a counselor. I was just a listener. I would listen to what Steve had to say and he would walk away feeling much better. Natasha just came by to say hi. They were my only friends here.

I was surprised when I was asked to join. I had no previous military or spy history. When I was in high school I had taken a counseling course and I found that I had an uncanny sensitivity to people and their feelings. I could tell what a person was feeling even if their words and facial expressions betrayed nothing. It was the eyes. A slight movement or a small bat of an eyelash. I had always been sensitive to the emotions and feelings of others.

I don't know why I'm here. They don't even need me. But I work here regardless. I sighed again and went through some files that lay on my desk. I smiled to myself. All the agents and heroes were going on a major trip. It would just be me here; and some guards of course. It said as much in the brief instruction sheet that I had received. I was to come to work and help with some paperwork. Simple stuff. Not that I was happy to see them go, but I did like some peace and quiet.

I picked up the bottom file. I smiled again. "Bucky Barnes" the file label read. My favorite subject. After Steve came back from destroying Hydra and SHIELD, he had needed some major help. I listened attentively and asked a few questions. This Bucky, or as he was more commonly known as, The Winter Soldier, interested me. I had researched all about him. I got a mangled mess of truth and myth. But it wasn't just the stories of fear that intrigued me. It was his story. I cried with Steve when he told me. The idea of a man so good and pure being turned into something like a machine was heartbreaking to me. I was intrigued but I knew not to press my luck. I didn't want to hurt Steve. 

Steve told me he was going after Bucky but this big mission kept him from doing that. After we flushed out most of Hydra and SHIELD along with it, we had begun rebuilding. Piece by agonizing piece, SHIELD started breathing again. I was hired when they had first begun to rebuild.

My mind flitted back to the file. I wondered what the newest on him was. I opened the file. Just pictures. Blurred snapshots. I peered closely and just barely made out the red star on his metal arm. I sighed. I shouldn't torture myself like this. The more I find out, the more I want to know. I wished there was something I could do.