Till the End of the Line Vol. 5

Chapter 2 - The Nightmare/ New Life

Hotel employees open the door as guests enter inside. They were laughing and enjoying each other's company. One of the men, a young Asian man named Nakajima, smiles, and drifts from the group. Saying, "I mean...thank you."

His business partner, a beautiful blonde woman, smiles and says, "Yeah." She looks at her watch, then looks at her colleagues. "Half hour before last call?"

"I can't, guys. I have to prep for tomorrow's session."

"Really? You..."

Nakajima chuckles as he almost runs into the bellboy with a cart. "Ooh!" They split apart and go their separate ways.

Meanwhile, upstairs a group of gentlemen is walking down the hallway. Some pass their security as the guards get into their positions. Suddenly, an arm pops out of the wall and grabs a guy by the throat. The guy grunts and then screams as he is being pulled through the wall. Another guard moves over to see what happened and grunts as the assassin, The Winter Soldier emerges and approaches them. In the end, a guard attempts to attack him, but it is too late as the Winter Soldier throws a dagger at him and stabs one from the ground.

At the staircase, a group of men sees who it is and then starts running down the stairs. They are speaking in Russian as they run away. Two men point their guns at the Winter Soldier, but he beats them to it as he fires the gun and falls dead to the ground. The Winter Soldier rolls off the rail and grabs a man by the neck. The man groans as the assassin snaps his neck. The Winter Soldier then turns to the other man and shoots the man behind him—the guy grunts as he falls dead to the floor.

The Winter Soldier turns a 360 and throws a dagger at a security man, and kills him. The Winter Soldier slowly walks towards a man, grabs him by the throat, and pushes him through the door while choking him. Locking eyes with the man, he says, "Hail HYDRA." With a Faint rattling sound, the guy dies, and he drops him.

Freaking out as the Winter Soldier doesn't look at him yet, Nakajima trembles, "Shit." He quickly turns to his door, trembling as he tries to open his door. However, as he is doing this, the Winter Soldier hears Nakajima and approaches him. Seeing that the guy noticed him, Nakajima stops, pleads, and stutters, "Please. I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything."

The Winter Soldier pauses, raises, and points his gun at Nakajima. Then....BANG!

MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY

A Gunshot echoes in Bucky's ears as he wakes up and breathes heavily. He sits up and looks at the floor. At that moment, Sofia quickly rushes in, kneels to him, and says, "Bucky! Are you okay? I heard screaming."

Bucky quickly replies, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. It was just another nightmare, that's all."

Sofia sighs as she shuts her eyes and lies her head on his shoulder. When she raises her head, Bucky looks at her, feeling guilty. "Are you sure you don't want to come to bed?" He shakes his head. "Bucky, you hardly sleep in our bed for months. I know it hasn't been easy -"

"I'm fine, really. Please. Sleep." Bucky looks at her with pleading eyes.

Sofia leans in and kisses him on the forehead. "Okay. Goodnight." She leaves him alone. Bucky looks away, wishing that he wouldn't have to be this way around her.

"So, Mr. Barnes, are you still having nightmares?" asks a voice.

The following day, Bucky is in his mandatory therapy appointment with Dr. Christina Raynor. Instead of answering the question, Bucky looks away from her. Dr. Raynor notices something on his mind and asks again, "James, I asked you a question. Are you still having nightmares?"