Winter's Lost Gem - A BuckyBarnesxOC Story

Chapter 4

Bucky stared at her incredulously. He wasn't even sure what to say. If only I could remember her face.

Haleigh cleared her throat. "If you'd come with me, Agent, we'll find another room to use down the hall. Steve, Bucky, will you both join us as soon as things are clear?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, of course, babe." He rested a hand on Bucky's shoulder as the two left.

The moment the door was shut behind them Bucky somehow found his voice. "Who was she?"

"That's the person Haleigh extracted this morning." Steve sighed, picking up the table and putting it back on its feet. "You alright, Buck?"

"What's her name?"

"I don't know."

"Where'd she come from?"

"No clue."

"How'd she know what Gem use to call me?" He frowned.

"I don't know, Buck. You sure you're alright?" He glanced at Bucky, picking up chairs and setting them upright. It wasn't hard t tell that Bucky was getting agitated again.

"How did she know Peggy? And what about that accent? Russian and southern? That's a weird combination, right?"

"Bucky." Steve attempted to interject.

"But those eyes. They're so familiar. And that song. How'd she know that it'd work?"

"Bucky!" He clapped his hand on Bucky's shoulder.

Startled, Bucky looked to Steve. "What?" He snapped.

"Are you alright?"

It took Bucky a moment to realize he had been starting to feel anxious again. He took a second, clearing his mind as calmly as he could. "Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

Steve shook his head. "No, Haleigh and the other agent are fine. I'm fine. Take a breather real quick and then we'll join the ladies and see what's going on, okay? We'll get your answers but we can't risk another episode."

"Right, yeah, of course." Bucky nodded, running his fingers through his hair as he attempted to get situated once more.

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After taking the time to pick up their mess, they tracked down the replacement room Haleigh and her guest were in. Steve glanced at Bucky. "You sure you'll be fine?"

Bucky nodded. "Yeah, I will. I need to know what's going on."

Apprehensively, Steve knocked on the door.

Haleigh looked up at it before her gaze fell on the brunette next to her. "Ready for all this?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have come back." She nodded.

"Come in, guys." Haleigh called slightly. She watched the door open as Steve awkwardly shuffled Bucky inside. "Go on, sit. This is going to be a long talk."

"Is everything okay?" Steve asked, taking a seat next to Haleigh.

"Uh, yeah, for the most part. She's just got quite a bit of a history, that's all. FRIDAY, please put the room in private mode."

The windows frosted over as the AI responded, "Request complete, Mrs. Rogers."

"Thank you. Shall we start at the beginning?" She smiled at Bucky who shifted in his seat.

Bucky nodded. "Sounds like a good place." He was trying his hardest to keep his questions contained. No use scaring the woman off before he had answers.

"Alright, why don't you tell them about yourself." Haleigh smiled at her.

"Sure. My name is Emma Lexington. I was an SSR agent before the name was changed to SHIELD."

Steve cocked a brow. "The SSR? That name was used in World War II."

"Correct. We've met before."

"We have?" He frowned.

She nodded, laughing a bit. "Yes, but you were far too wrapped up in your own depression to notice much about me. Despite touring  the states with me and the other girls."

He eyed her warily. "You were one of the dancers?"

"I was, although I was one of three that were trained for combat, just in case anything happened to you. Protection detail, as if you needed it." She scoffed.

"Did Peggy put you up to that?" He cringed. He didn't even have to look at his wife to know that she was glaring at him.

Emma nodded. "She did. Wanted you to have back up in case you did anything stupid. I would have went with you to save the missing soldiers from the 107th but you didn't stick around long enough so Peggy tried her best to get you there. After that though you stopped shows, started working with the Howling Commandos, and I was reassigned back home."

"So wait, if you're from our time, how old are you?" Bucky interrupted, brows furrowed.

"Buck, you can't just ask someone that." Haleigh rolled her eyes.

"It's alright, I don't mind. I was born in 1927 in Manhattan, New York." Emma mused. "I turn ninety-one this year."

"Ninety-One? So you are around our age!"

"How is that even possible? You barely look thirty, let alone in your nineties." Steve asked curiously.

"Here." Haleigh slid a classified file to the two men.

"I volunteered for Project SS in 1952. After you had been lost to the ice in the crash, Captain, SSR scientists tried their hardest to replicate the serum they used on you. But as always, they needed someone to give it to. The only problem was the serum was failing on men, instead sending their systems into hyperdrive and causing comas. Unfortunately, most women agents weren't trained for the kind of combat they were looking to send the receiving person out for. Except me. So I volunteered before I was forced."

"Project SS? What's that even mean?" Bucky glanced at Steve and the file.

"Project Super-Soldier." Steve responded, reading through the file. "So you're a super-soldier, too?"

Emma nodded. "The one and only female one for the U.S., yes. I guess technically now since the female Winter Soldier was disposed of, I'm the only one period." She shrugged. "They needed someone to help. Just because World War II was over, doesn't mean other nations didn't enter into new wars and other potential threats against the states had stopped."

"Makes sense." Steve nodded. "I'm surprised they were able to replicate it at all. How'd they manage that?"

"A lot of experimentation. They got it as close as they could. Only difference is I can't heal as quickly as you can, Captain. Couldn't quite get that part fully right."

"A good thing to remember, in case something happens. I don't want to sound rude but how is it you haven't aged a day? Were you frozen like us?"

Emma shook her head. "Not at all. Part of the serum includes an extraction from another mutant's blood. This particular mutant has been alive since 1888. This gene allows his cells to heal faster than they age, keeping him a certain age in adulthood constantly. He ages much slower than normal and that result has shown up in me since the serum."

"Yet you have problems healing?"

"It's not necessarily a problem, per say. I still heal, just not as quickly. While it's still faster than an average human's, it isn't the same as yours."

Haleigh watched Bucky churn over the information. "Buck?" She asked softly.

Bucky looked up at Emma, "The only female super-soldier... You seem so familiar. Do I know you? I mean, before today."

Emma smiled sadly, nodding as she fidgeted with her fingers. "We've met before today, yes."