BATTLE BORN ; Bucky Barnes

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High heels clicked on the expensive tile floor as she walked through. It was the only sound in the large, airy auditorium, loud and piercing and in a perfect rhythm. There was a quiet mumble as the owner of the high heels stalked past a group of interns, they parted like the Red Sea to let her past. She was dressed in a tight, long-sleeved, cream dress, and her heels were lined in white silk. She had a thick winter coat over her dress, and her dark hair was in perfect curls. She was the most well-put-together that anyone had seen. In her left hand she held a steaming coffee, and in her right was a briefcase. From the moment she walked in, to the second the elevator doors closed behind her, the room held its breath.

"Mr. Ashcroft, tell me, why are your personal guards in yellow?"
"I- uh- they- they're in yellow because, uh, it makes them stand out to anyone thinkingofhurtingme and... they won't attack?" He stumbled over his words and seemed to leave the statement as a question. The woman with the black hair almost laughed. He was pathetic, he hid behind others to undertake all his orders because he was incompetent. She wondered if he was even the one she was looking for.
"Mr Ashcroft, I'd like to speak to your higher-ups."
"I, I'm the CEO, you can't get much higher up than that."
"No, not for Omnitech. For AIM." She spoke slowly and deliberately, making every word clear as crystal so that he couldn't worm his way out of getting her the meeting. She'd picked the weakest spot in AIM's defences, began working her way in, the same way she had done a thousand times before. Mr. Ashcroft had begun sweating as she asked the question. His guards moved in, but the glint in her eye told him not to bother. He held up his hands and stopped them from coming any closer.
"I can set up a meeting for you." He said quietly. He had been defeated.