Bucky Barnes' Daughter

Chapter Forty-Four

Bucky's POV:

It seems another lead has gone cold. I reach to grab my phone as I consider calling Serenity and asking how she is holding up. Her match is tomorrow and we'll be missing her first one. Sure, enough a message from my daughter is waiting for me in my voicemail. Another one from Ryan is also waiting. I decide to listen to his first.

"Please don't kill me, but your daughter is missing. She convinced me to take her to find Petrov. Well, let's just say she slipped away while I was distracted. I think I have a lead but I don't know enough to find her. I'm sorry and I'm still working on finding her. If it's any consultation, she seemed to know the guy. I'll call you once I have leads."

His voice mail ends and I consider killing him. He was in charge of protecting my daughter and he brings her to the one place Hydra will be expecting her.

"What's going on?" Nat asks as she comes over holding our drinks. She looked just as exhausted as I did.

I hand her the cell phone and wait for her response.

"She's our daughter. She'll be okay, Bucky." She assures me as she puts Serenity's voicemail on speaker. We sit close together as we listen.

"Dad, if you're listening to this, then you'll know I'm not back home any more. I had to get answers. Please don't blame Ryan I would have found a way without him. Anyways, I found Petrov and he's going to give me back my memories."

"If something goes wrong and I don't make it, take care of Dima for me. I'm not sure how he would live without me but just take care of him. Tell mom I love her and not to blame anyone. This was my decision. I love you daddy and I forgive you."

I grab the phone and listen to the message again. My little girl was growing up without me.

"Call Ryan. We need to find her before she does anything stupid." Nat tells me. She seemed to know my daughter almost as much as I did.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Serenity's POV:

"Can we start again?" I ask as i stand in the doorway stuyding father and son. Luca smiles my way as his father quickly finishes his coffee.

"No adverse reactions?" He asks as I shake my head no. "We'll see how much more you can take right now. I don't want to end up killing you."

"It doesn't matter. It's not like I die anyways."

"Yet, your father would still end up killing me. Come on." He leads me back to the room, where I follow the same routine that was going to bring back my memories. I relax as he puts on the restraints. They would disappear sometime before I woke up agian.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Natasha flipped me onto the ground for the hundredth time today. My body was going to be bruised at this rate. She offers me a hand up but I wave it away. I needed a few more minutes before we repeated this process.

"Get up." The words were harsh as I scramble to my feet. My head spins as black dots dance across my vision. "Can't handle your training Vera?"

I realized it was the Winter Soldier standing in front of me. I straighten my posture, fighting the urge to vomit at the same time.

"I just needed a second, sir." I reply and realize a little too late that I was going to be thrown to the ground again. I didn't have time to prepare myself so my head bounces against the mat.

I couldn't get up this time. The metallic taste of blood makes my stomach churn as a throbbing pain from the back of my head, causes me to black out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"He hates me." I tell Nat as she tends to the cut on the back of my head.

"I know. Hold still." She pours the alcohol on the wound causing me to pull away. "I said hold still." Her hand grips my shoulder tightly, telling me she meant business.

Nat works quickly to stitch up the wound as I silently cry. I don't understand why he hates me so much.

"There's no reason to cry." She pulls me close as I let the tears fall down my cheeks. I buried my head in her shoulder as I let my pain show. "Crying is weakness, Vera." She reminds me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I put the gun to the man's head as Winter watches me from the edge of the courtyard. He was waiting for me to take my first life. This would change everything if I managed to do as I was told.

I take a deep breath as I pull the trigger.

Blood covers my uniform as the body falls. I felt nothing as the blood tainted the pure white color of the snow. It reminded me of my innocence.

This would only be my first kill and it would only get worse as they continued my training.

I glance back at Winter, hoping I won his approval. But he was already gone, leaving me to dispose of the body.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My clothes were soaked with blood by the time I made my way back to my room. Winter was waiting in the hallway as I pass him. He grabs my arm and quickly checks me over for wounds.

"You know, it's not my blood." I pull away as I turn to go into my room.

"Well done, Vera." I wasn't sure I heard him right but he was gone by the time the shock wore off.

I can't believe he told me well done. He's usually the one to find fault in my every action. But this time, he was seeing the good in what I had done.

Surprisingly, this made me want to cry even more and not because I killed someone but because he saw that I was falling in line.