December 4th, 2025
"What life did you have before Hydra?" Raynor was already spurring into the bad questions, too personal for a late Thursday night. There wasn't much of a fight to come to this session since Kate had a week to cool off. Plus, it was done so in the confines of her own home.
She currently sat on the sofa, full view of Raynor through the screen as she riveted with a ball of cables, slowly trying to untangle them.
They had celebrated 'thanksgiving' the week previous, to Kate's surprise. It took several hours for her to even face Bucky before they had sat down and ate together.
She had to admit, Wakanda food was the best she'd ever tasted, in any context, and she enjoyed the dinner quite well. She noticed that questions weren't geared towards her, nor had she gone unnoticed. She sat at the table, fully involved with the interactions of it without participating in their jokes and stories.
Kate had to force herself from staring at Bucky as she saw the most of his personality she'd ever seen. What she'd known of him in Hydra wasn't really him, just a husk of who he used to be in the forties. Even then, who he was now didn't compare to what she thought she knew. Kate truly was looking at a stranger.
It still didn't change the memories that Kate still had of him. Their pain, suffering and intimacy they'd shared during confinement.
Every time Kate met his eyes, she was struck with a harsh memory of those same eyes, but only of the Winter Soldiers. Every time he laughed, she could hear the echo of his voice when he screamed and begged for mercy. Every time he smiled, Kate could remember the rare moment when he did smile, and it was only reserved for her.
Kate woke from these types of dreams, and every variant of her past that would come back to haunt her. Not having a full night sleep in over three months didn't faze Kate anymore.
Now, after the trust establishing the week previous, Kate could tell she was valued a bit more. Shuri showed her more theories, calculations and projects that intrigued both of them to lead towards near sleepless nights in the lab.
Sam was never one to turn down a joke and frequently called her 'super soldier' just to get under Bucky's skin. After all, Bucky was the only actual super soldier they made.
Kate always caught Bucky looking at her, trying to figure out if he recognized her, she figured. He was growing attached, and Kate could see the excitement in his eyes whenever they greeted. He played it off, being the ever stoic soldier he'd been trained to be, but not to Kate. She knew when he was hiding something, it was in her nature to be tied to him, and Kate didn't know how to feel about his secretive attachment towards her.
Kate didn't know if she wanted to be sick or angry at all them for giving her the benefit of the doubt. They were all so patient, waiting for her to come around. They didn't criticize her when she distanced or isolated herself, allowing her plenty of time and privacy when everything became too much.
It was such a shift in perspective that Kate had a hard time trusting them from their kindness. And it made her distrust Dr. Raynor because she was the one getting paid to help her.
"An engineer's dream." Kate answered idly, only slightly bothered with Raynor's forwardness.
"You really had a reputation for yourself." Raynor commented. Kate's vision blacked for a second as the words stabbed through her heart. Only taking a moment, Kate looked forward again. "Working with Howard Stark."
Kate hummed instead of responding, Raynor writing a few things on the notepad in front of her.
"What about your family?"
YOU ARE READING
Eclipse (Born at Dusk - Book 1)
Fanfiction"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not, but our lives were created together within HYDRA's walls. They can't unmake us." To her, he was a ghost; to him, she was a stranger. Bucky is the only super soldier left, he'd checked himself. However...
