8-1-0-9

Chpt. 13

We had walked for good ten minutes in silence, save for the sounds of the city, even at this late hour. I had put my hoodie back on, leaving the front open and tying my hair back into place before pulling the hood overtop. The air had gotten slightly cooler, but it didn't affect any of us as we continued on. To where, I didn't know, but eventually Sam spoke up.

"So, what are you thinking?" He asked towards Bucky, walking almost shoulder-to-shoulder with him as I paced myself with them on the other side of Sam.

"Well, I know what we have to do," he muttered in reply, and I moved away slightly as Sam looked over his shoulder and moved to walk along the street. "When Isaiah said "our people"..." He trailed off with a vague gesture at himself and I.

Sam sighed with a small shake of his head. "Oh, don't take that to heart. That's not what he meant."

I stepped a little ahead and turned to face both of them, lifting my voice slightly. "No, he meant Hydra," I corrected, though there was probably some truth to the other meaning of 'people'. "Hydra used to be our people."

There was a beat of silence, and the man between Bucky and I let out a sharp scoff, sending the Soldier a look. "Not a chance," he huffed, seemingly coming to a conclusion.

"Walker doesn't have any leads," Bucky protested.

"I know where you're going with this, no," he insisted. I, however, hadn't a clue and simply watched helplessly as the two bickered.

"He knows all of Hydra's secrets," the Asset suddenly said, and when I faced him he was staring ahead and refusing to acknowledge my look. "Don't you remember Siberia?"

Sam glanced between him and I. His gaze lingered on me for a moment, something pitiful seeping into his brown eyes before he pushed a breath out his nose and faced Bucky again. "So you're just gonna go sit in a room with this guy?"

Bucky was silent for a moment or two, and I kept staring between them, trying to figure out who they were talking about. "-Yes," he sighed, hesitating slightly when he spoke and watched the ground move past his feet.

"I'm sorry, who knows all of Hydra's secrets?" I questioned, pulling on Wilson's sleeve to make him stop, and a few steps afterwards, Bucky did the same. I didn't recognize the sudden hope I was feeling until the words fully registered in my mind, and a tight sensation erupted in my chest.

James gave me a long look, his lips pressed together into a thin line. His blue eyes bore into mine, a silent conversation slipping between us until he brought it to voice. "I'm not sure if he knows much about you, Gale," he murmured, his tone softer than when he was just speaking to Sam. "You're past was heavily guarded. I never once heard a mention of anything before we met, nor did I ever see a file on you."

Sam looked at me again with that same pity, but my heart sank to my stomach as I turned away. Of course there wouldn't be much on my history. After all, the Winter Soldier program was shut down after trying to replicate the Soldier himself, and Karpov quickly learned that if he couldn't control five more soldiers like that, then more of me would be like asking for hell to come to dinner. So, no further research on me, no more blood samples.

Another sigh came from Sam. "Okay, then," he muttered. "We're gonna go see Zemo."

"Helmut Zemo," I hummed, leaning my head back on the headrest of the passenger seat in the back of a rental car. "What kind of a name is 'Helmut'?"

"It's Sokovian, probably," Sam huffed, staring out the passenger window at the front as Bucky drove us through Germany, yet again, towards a high-security prison in Berlin. We were just jumping all over the world, and it's barely been a week. "Or maybe his mother didn't like him."