HAIRLINE FRACTURE [BUCKY BARNES]

[z e r o]

**PROLOGUE**

        It was a late Thursday evening in Washington D.C when the unspeakable happened. The night sky was beginning to fall over the bustling city as the blankets began to drape over the reluctantly sleepy bodies of children tucked into their beds. Cars sped along the wet roads at 80 miles per hour in a race to return home before the worst of the rainfall was to come. The city patiently waited for Friday to come by as the night drew nearer. HYDRA agents were busy at work all through the night.

        Special Agent Brock Rumlow walked with authority in his step as his black leather boots created a heavy thud along the linoleum tiled floors. His hands were clenched into a fist as always, a small smirk quirking his lips up at the edges. He was only on another scheduled visit that he'd embarked on hundreds of times before to the top secret HYDRA base located in the heart of Washington D.C. He felt a surge of pride and importance well in his chest-- with maybe a hint of arrogance. Rumlow admitted that he wasn't expecting anything to happen past meeting with his boss in both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., Alexander Pierce, but he couldn't help but feel of higher importance than every other guard he passed in the corridors. He was trusted enough to keep a cover on the S.T.R.I.K.E team alongside the likes of Captain America and the Black Widow-- he was damn sure that he was incredible.

         And maybe a little invincible.

        He knew he was getting closer to the office of his boss as the hallway began to fill up with more guards than by the Prisoners' Bay, where the hostages were locked up in nearly inescapable cells. The grimy flooring that was previously coated in substances unknown to him began to clean up the closer he got to the second office of Alexander Pierce-- the air also smelt a hell of a lot better.

       And then he heard a shriek.

       It was normal for him to hear screaming on his visits-- it was only in response to the various experiments(and torture sessions alike) that went on behind these walls to the prisoners. But this time, it didn't seem to come from somewhere behind him, where the Lab was located off to the left.

        It came from straight ahead.

        His steps faltered upon hearing the elongated cry of utter pain, and it must have thrown some of the other guards off too because he could see them reaching for their weapons instinctively. His hand quickly maneuvered to his waist, fumbling with the holster strapping his pistol to his hip as he advanced. The shouts got louder the closer that he and two other armed guards got to the stairwell located off to the right, just missing his boss's office. He paused by the doors without the slightest bit of nerves coursing through him, gripping his pistol tightly in his hands as he peered through the small glass pane. The two guards stationed themselves by the doors and glanced over at him, inhaling sharply before they slammed their arms back into the door and shoved it open.

        Rumlow followed in after them, not exactly sure of what to expect. The guards closed in behind him, waving their guns around in search of the source of screaming.

        Then they saw the body on the floor.

        "Shit," Brock mumbled under his breath as he reluctantly crouched down to the ground with ease, his gaze sweeping over the obviously dead girl sprawled across the stairwell's floor.

        Her skin was fair, yet he couldn't help but notice that the porcelain skin seemed to pale rather unnaturally. Her eyes were glued wide open, revealing her blue eyes that were dilated considerably with fear and shock. Her purple lips hung open to reveal a mouth full of a rich, red coloured substance that was unmistakably blood. Her hair, a soft brown colour, was sprawled almost as precariously as the rest of her limbs, but Brock noticed the same liquid that was protruding from her mouth seeping from the back of her head. The puddle only seemed to grow, the blood drenching her hair and clothes alike. His gaze fleeted up to where the staircase went up and around in a rectangular spiral. A girl stood at the very top, leaning over the railings with a shocked expression warping her facial features.

        "It's her." Rumlow growled, and without any hesitation, he stood to his feet and headed for the stairs. Upon vaguely hearing the accusatory declaration coming from the agent, the girl pushed herself away from the railings and began to run for the door that lead to the fifth floor, Rumlow and one of the other guards chasing up the staircase. By the time Rumlow reached the door, he could see the faint outline of the killer sprinting down the hallway.

        Brock Rumlow's pursuit proved to be in vain, for when he finally started to gain on her, she stopped dead in her tracks and spun around, flailing her arms out at him and the other guard that was running after him. He barely had the chance to recognize the orange glow in her eyes and retrieve the canister from his pocket (reserved 'strictly' for times like these)before he could hear her voice in his head and feel his mind attempt to fend off her command.

        "Don't move."

        Brock Rumlow could only watch helplessly in a paralytic state as the girl turned on her heels and began to run straight towards the wall ahead-- toward the half open window.

        She plunged out and into the dark night, joining the world of innocents as a killer and murderer wanted by HYDRA.

**this will take place before and around the Winter Soldier timeline