Mosaic (Bucky Barnes X OC / Winter Soldier x OC)

Chapter 18: Valeriy Ayers - Cookie Dough (Part IV)

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With an almost wary air about him, he parked the car, after shuffling it to the side of the empty road. He would not stop scanning our surroundings, probably waiting for one of Eve's Puppets to pop up from thin air.

"...Are you sure Hydra hasn't infiltrated your corporation?" he asked.

My shoulder's shrugged. "I might have been able to answer that eight years ago, but I know very little now.... Eve will know best. Shall I bring her back?"

He nodded, and I sent her a quick text.

Ears.

"Hey Eve? Are you sure Hydra doesn't have people in Ayers Corp or found a way in?" I asked.

"How many times do you have to ask that?" She did not sound happy over the speakers of the car. Not one bit. "Of course they aren't! Are you seriously doubting my ability to do my actual job? After all these years?"

"They got pretty close with Cybertek. How did we almost let that slip through?"

"...I don't know how I want to respond to that."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"I... don't want to get into this...."

"Oh, we are fucking getting into this! The hell was going on with Cybertek!?!"

"...I'll confirm that Hydra has not infiltrated us. The only way they could is by a sleeper agent who's never come in contact with anyone I so much as suspect of being slightly affiliated with anyone who came in contact with anybody that I have an inkling might have anything to do with those bastards. Unless everything happens in some underground technology-less shithole.... If anyone who works for us up and goes missing for even a short amount of time, I'd know and look into it. You know how long corporate espionage idiots last with us, Val."

"...We keep them blind and feed them info for shits and giggles. But can you call Hydra corporate spies?"

"Either way, I sure hope I know what I'm doing after forty years."

'Please don't pick up on it. Please don't pick up on it.'

"F-forty years...?" Bucky repeated quietly while I wanted nothing more than to bash my head in with anything. "Did you know they were around for forty years?"

"Short answer, yes. Long answer, I can't confirm shit until they've been brought into Ayers Corp. They have come to us for me to do anything about them... due to my... let's call them chains...."

I wanted to stop this. Stop his questions. He was going to end up with answers he might never want to hear. But that wasn't my choice. It's his.

"Did you know of... me?" His voice so small and broken.

"I came across chatter of the Winter Soldier a few of times, if that's what you mean. I couldn't confirm that the Winter Soldier was an actual person and not some team or some old man pissing contest until Fury's attempted assassination. You've been pretty good at keeping out of my eyes before that. You might be a few unconfirmed blurs on video.... Nothing was confirmed until this April."

'She's talking in circles.... The hell is she hiding?'

I dared a glance towards Bucky and was torn between a bunch of different things. Pull him into a hug. Wrap him up in blankets. Send him off to Gramps far from me. Send him off to recover as far away as possible from my fucked up family.