Captain America Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Steve Rogers Fan Fic - The Constant

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Winter Soldier And The Awakening

The Winter Soldier And The Awakening

It is time for you to return to Cryo. The Winter Soldier is already sleeping and they are finalising your pod and connections. You are stood in your underwear, dressing gown, and a thick coat as the room is so cold. Two technicians talk quietly next to you. You are in front of your Soldier as he stands asleep, waiting for the next time they release him. Your eyes roam over him. Sometimes when he sleeps his eyes are half-shut, but this time they are fully closed. You prefer that. He looks more peaceful that way.

You hear the door open and turn, expecting to see another technician - but it is not. As the man walks closer you have a moments hesitation and then you recognise him. He is one of the STRIKE team, a man called Brock Rumlow. You met him some years ago with Caldwell and you have seen him at the base a few times in Pierce's company.

He nods to the technicians and then comes to stand next to you, also looking up at the Winter Soldier. He doesn't speak, which you find unusual, he just stands there looking up at the platform. The technicians will be closing the glass doors shortly. They leave them open until you are safely stored away because somehow they know you need to see him until the last possible moment.

You look at Rumlow's face. He looks as if he has grown up rough; he must now be in his mid-thirties and you know he is a rising star in Hydra. Not someone to watch in the power struggle that happens at the top of most large organisations, but more of a force to be reckoned with on the operations side. You can see him having control of his own STRIKE team one day and you guarantee that, unfortunately, he will be good at what he does.

You wonder why he has come. He turns and looks at you, crossing his arms, then turns back to the Winter Soldier. "Why do I always feel I know him?" he asks quietly, and you know the question is directed at you.

He looks back to you and you shake your head. "I don't know." It is not what you expected him to say and you do not really know what to reply with.

"I've...seen him before. I'm so sure I have. Every time I look at him, I get this..." And he looks back at the Soldier, forgetting to finish his sentence as if he has been caught off guard in a memory.

One of the technicians calls you over and you leave Rumlow to his thoughts.

A few moments later you realise he is still there, but it is time for you to start to prepare to sleep. You are given the last of the drink to swallow and then they open your pod. Rumlow has come over and is watching as you stand there bare-footed in your underwear and gown, your coat put to one side and you shiver.

"Sometime I think I nearly have it. I know that I know him." He lets air out as if he is frustrated.

"Have you been on mission with him in the past?" you suggest, and he shakes his head. You struggle to take off your dressing gown, and he helps you without thinking. "He was there that time when you were with Jackson. You know. The party...?" you say, but he is already shaking his head.

"Even then I thought he was familiar."

You shrug. "Well unless you were around in the 1940's I don't think you could have known him," you say, and he frowns.

Brock Rumlow does not know the story of the Winter Soldier. Very few people know the true story. But right from the very first time he saw Hydra's Soldier, there was a familiarity there and it drives him to distraction that he doesn't know why.

"Why do you say the forties? Is that when he volunteered?" he asks, stopping you in your tracks.

"When he..." You look at him. "Did you say when he volunteered?" you ask and he can see by the look on your face it wouldn't take a lot to make you very angry.