Winter's Sunshine

11. The Backup

Bucky had nothing useful to do. He was just sitting in his room for an hour which felt like a whole eternity to him, doing absolutely nothing.

He decided to find a way to free himself from those goddamn words. There has to be a way, he thought. So he picked up his laptop from his lowest drawer and gained access to the shield's server. He looked up for all the available information about him.

As hours passed by, old memories flooded in. Vivid flashbacks stormed as he read each and every file under his name. He remembered no one, not a single person that he had harmed in his past, only the flashes, some in  blur haunted him. He felt guilty while reading the detailed drafts which described each incidents. Some had videos too, few of him killing the innocents and few of the times when he was underground, the times when he was trying to recall and rearrange his bits and pieces.

He finished reading almost everything about him and gained enough details of his past doings but he couldn't find one thing. Sputnik.

No one knew about it. Hell even I forgot about it. So how did Jen knew? he wondered.

There is no trace of it here, he tried searching again but found nothing.

Bucky knew that it had to be on the server. If Jen had found it, it had to be somewhere. He searched for it and remember one place. The private files.

Bucky tried accessing files with the highest priority but they were locked. He needed admin rights to view them.
Easy.

He skillfully entered snippets of codes and gained access by overwriting admin rights.

Yes! Finally in.

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"So you are selected to became a shield agent?"

"Shh. Lower your voice Alex! It's a secret."

"That's so cool."

"I know right. The next level will test my physical strength."

"Do you have any?", Alex asked chuckling.

Jen glared at Alex but realized that she was right. She needed to practice.

"When was the last time you exercise Jen?"

Jen lost herself trying to remember the last time she did any sort of physical activity.

"That time when I-... or you know- "

"So?"

"Not in recent years, no."

"Don't worry, you have 2 weeks right?"

"Two days less in that"

"Why don't you start going to the gym, build up, maybe join karate"

"Karate?", Jen rolled her eyes at Alex. You just can't learn Karate in two weeks

"What if they ask you to fight someone?"

"I have to fight someone?"

"-or yoga, no not yoga. yoga is for flexibility, actually, start with yoga"

Jen had zoned out and had ignored Alex completely. Where should I start from?, she thought

"Maybe I should just hit the gym, and hope for the best.", Jen declared. And maybe some boxing too.

"Sure. Hey! I know what you can do! Why don't you ask Sam or Bucky about the test? They must know what's the test is going to be, so you can practice accordingly.", Alex suggested excitedly.

"That's a good idea, Alex. Will do that after work." Jen looked at Alex smirking. "Also, it's the first Saturday of this month.",she notified her.

"NO! Please, no!", Alex exclaimed.

"Yes. You have to wait a little longer today."

"A little longer? It takes a good two hours for backing up the whole server.", Alex said shaking her head. "Jen please can you handle it on your own?"

"You had promised me Alex that you would be there the next time. So Today it is."

"But we have to wait till everyone leaves and then start the backup process!"

"It will be done in no time, I promise. And also I will get bored if I am all alone."

"Oh come on, you can handle it. You don't have to do anything. It happens automatically anyway."

"Yes, but we have to monitor it manually. If something goes wrong, Jeff would catch me." Jen noticed annoyance on Alex's face.

"Please Alex, I need you.", Jen said trying her best to convince Alex.

"Fine, I will stay."

Jen nodded smiling and looked at the big clock in her office.

Only fifteen minutes to go.