The Valentin Series, Book 1: The Valkyrie (Captain America fanfiction)

Chapter 4: Conscience

 Val and Natasha sat in the bar at the top of Stark tower slugging back tequila shots as Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner tried to repair both James Barnes’s mechanical and human body parts. It was 4 am, and last they looked, Steve Rogers was helping them strap him into a chair. Needless to say, James didn’t like being strapped into chairs very much; it reminded him of… other times. Valkyrie had to step in and tell him to behave. Literally.

“Barnes, I swear, if you keep struggling I will knock you out myself,” she had threatened, and James automatically focused on her, “I trust these people, and you can, too.” James just nodded and swallowed.

“Now,” she continued, “They are going to put you under, and when you wake up, you’ll have a fully operational metal arm, and you’ll be a lot fitter than you were 15 minutes ago, ok?” James responded with a curt nod. “Try not to strangle any of them when you wake up, yeah?” she smiled.

“No promises,” James muttered in response which made her smile wider.

“He’s good to go, fellas,” Val announced to the other men in the room as she walked out, “See you when you’re better, Soldier.” She threw over her shoulder as she exited.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, James, yeah?” Natasha began to slur after their 5th shot in a row, “Where did that come from?”

“From the same place where you started calling Barton ‘Clint’” Val answered as she slugged back her 6th shot.

“Explain,” Nat commanded as she poured herself another glass.

 “The first time HYDRA got me to track him down, he was on his own for two days,” Val started as she sucked on a lime slice, “He was still in the ‘Soldier Zone’, as I began to call it, there was no humanity in his eyes. I did my job the way I do best: quick, clean, minimal blood loss. Brought him back, took my cash, left.” She shrugged as she tipped back another shot.

 “The next time?” Natasha asked after she had downed her shot.

 “The next time they called me a little later,” Val answered, running a hand down her face, “He was on his own for 6 days. 6 days, Nat. He was human, he was confused and bleeding. He was asking me all these questions. I knew what his name was, what his mission was, but he asked me all these other questions I didn’t know the answer to,” she sighed and looked at Nat, “He was so lost, and it was killing him inside. I couldn’t bring him back, not right away.”

 “What did you do, then?” Nat asked, genuinely curious. This was the very first time she had ever heard of Valkyrie actually letting her feelings through on a job.

 “I patched him up as best as I could,” she answered as she leaned back, “then I told him everything I knew. I told him they wiped his mind clean after every mission, I told him what his mission was… then he asked me ‘who am I’ and he was so lost and torn up, I don’t…” Val sighed, “I know how that feels like, I know it, Nat, and I couldn’t NOT feel sorry for him. We stayed in that abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Czechoslovakia for three more days. It was all the time I could buy.”

 “That’s when it started?” Nat probed, toying with her now empty shot glass.

 “That’s when it started,” Val shrugged and gave a sad smile, “after that I’d take longer to bring him in. the longest was two and a half weeks because there was a snow storm. We’d just talk, and every time I’d get him back, I’d tell him new facts I found out about him. Then he’d remember me. It was like being in a very dark, sadistic, twisted, murderous version of that movie ‘50 First Dates’,” Valkyrie joked, “Then HYDRA started to catch on. It was harder for them to wipe him after every mission when I was the one who brought him in; and it was taking him longer to finish his missions, too. He would intentionally draw it out so I would be the one to take him in.”