Strings - A Winter Story

-24-

"Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge"

The noise seems to vanish when Bucky goes looking for it. He follows the halls and searches every corner until he finds a lone room with a faint light peering through its murky windows. He tightens his grip on the assault rifle and reaches for the door handle. He takes a deep breath as he pushes the door open and piles into the room, his eyes searching every inch. In the room lies a single chair and table, and a human figure. His eyes snaps to the person and he aims his gun at them but doesn't shoot.

"I wouldn't shoot me, soldat" the female voice echoes in the room as she keeps her back turned to Bucky. He internally tenses up at the word soldat, he is not the soldier anymore.

"Who are you?" He demands to know and earns a sinister chuckle from the mysterious figure.

"You should know after all you and your little posey did come here for me" she informs as she turns around to face him. Bucky nearly lowers his gun in shock as he examines the some what familiar face. The piercing blue eyes, the brown hair. They are so similar he immediately imagines. He knows exactly who this is.

"You're Autumn's mother" Bucky announces confidently, completely stunned by how similar the mother and daughter look.

"You did know I would be here so why are you so surprised soldat?"she teases as she calls him the hated name once again and earns a reaction from him this time.

"My name is Bucky, not...that" Bucky spits out sourly, trying to keep his cool in the process.

"No, I don't think so, he's still there isn't he. He is dying to get out. Why do you want to keep what's inside you locked up when its so devastatingly beautiful?" Sarah evilly taunts, referring to the Winter Soldier. Bucky remains silent with his finger now resting on the trigger.

"When you and Autumn first met after she killed Jasper Sitwell, I must say you did well to control yourself. We watched you fight her off, she tried and she failed but you, you were perfect. However we didn't see the full Winter Soldier, we didn't see the real you" Sarah Courtney reveals secret information in a calm but threatening voice.

"I am not the Winter Soldier anymore" Bucky sternly comments, his words trying to convince Sarah and himself. Sarah smirks and releases small giggle.

"You sure?" she replies very confidently. A look of confusion dons Bucky's face before Sarah continues again.

"желание (longing)" she starts and Bucky reacts immediately.

"No...don't" he pleads as he takes a step back from the woman, the effect of the words already beginning to take effect.

"проржавевший(rusted)"

"Arggg, no stop it" Bucky yells as he drops the weapon from his grasp, he knows what came next.

"семнадцать(seventeen)"

Bucky clamps his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the trigger words.

"рассвет(daybreak)"

He falls to the ground, landing hard on his knees. Pain soars through him as it all comes back

"печь(furnace)"

The training.

"девять(nine)"

The missions.

"неопасный(benign)"

The coldness.

"возвращение домой(homecoming)"

The words.

"один(one)"

The pain.

"грузовой автомобиль(freight car)"

The Winter Soldier.

Silence.

Sarah finishes as she slowly approaches the man kneeling on the floor.

"Soldat?" She questions in Russian as she awaits to see the effect of her words. A vivid smile etches its way onto her face as she is rewarded. The large frame of the man silently rises and stands tall. The blue of his eyes gone, replaced by a darker hue. Sweat drips from his forehead. His eyes lay directly in front of him on the wall.

"готовы соблюдать(ready to comply)" The Winter Soldier replies in fluent Russian. His face is one of no emotion. The face of a killing machine.

"Soldier, your mission is to kill Autumn Courtney and anyone who gets in your way" Sarah orders as the soldier soaks up the information like a sponge. He keeps his eyes dead ahead, listening intently to the orders but showing no emotion to the kill order on a friend. Satisfied that he understands his orders, Sarah walks past him and leaves the room. She has a huge smirk sprawled across her face now that her work is done here. This would be Autumn's final test. If she survives this then she would be the one. The perfect soldier.

However, will Autumn have it in her to eliminate the soldier if needs be?

After all, his mission is to eliminate her.

                                                                                     -----------------------------

"I don't live in darkness, darkness lives in me"