𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗

Chapter 19: Jagged Puzzle Pieces

(Third Person P.O.V.)

Bucky, Nat, and Steve were all in the computer room doing what they could to dig up more information about Angela. Yesterday when Bucky and Claire went to see her she'd given them slim amounts of information, but for Nat, anything was everything. Steve and Bucky were sitting in office chairs, both of them dressed in casual jeans and a tee-shirt, while Nat did her magic on the computer and Steve looked over the file in his hands. Nat was in her usual leggings and a hoodie.

"You said she went to college?" The redhead asks.

"Yeah," Bucky answers. "Claire mentioned something about biophysics or some shit." A few clicks later she responds.

"Got it." The two men look at her, waiting for her to continue. "She was a straight-A student at Stanford University, California and received the Breakthrough Prize for discovering a new way to envision double ion channels in membranes."

"So she was smart," Steve comments.

"It seems that way." Bucky and Steve watch as Nat squints her eyes at the screen. "She dropped out of college in the middle of her third year, though. Her degree was never completed." Bucky's brows furrow.

"What do you mean? She got an international prize for Christ's sake, why would she drop out?" The woman shrugs her shoulders.

"You know just as much as I do, Barnes." She pauses before reading off some more information. "Castens lived in a country house in Nevada with her family and went to school in a little town called Golconda. The population there was only two-hundred-and-ten at the time."

"Jesus," Steve mutters. Suddenly a thought crosses Bucky's mind as he remembers something that Angela said last night.

"Wait, what year was it that she dropped out of college?" She glances back at the screen.

"Two-thousand-and-fifteen." Bucky glances to Steve next to him now.

"Angela- I mean, Castens mentioned last night that her sister passed away." Nat eyes Bucky warily at his quick correction. Steve might not have thought much of it, but Nat was going to keep that little detail locked in the safe of things to bring up later. "I don't think it's just her sister she was concerned about, though." Steve flips through the many papers, scanning each paragraph and glancing at some of the pictures before stopping on a certain page. Bucky notices his whole face drops as he's reading.

"Yeah, you're right." Nat watches as Bucky leans over to look at the page Steve had found the records on. He takes the file into his own hands.

"Well, Castens wasn't wrong when she said her sister was murdered by bad people." The brunette soldier looks up to meet Nat's green eyes. "It wasn't just her, though. It was her entire family." Nat cocks her head at him, her expression silently asking for more of an explanation. Bucky sighs. "Her family was murdered by HYDRA. It's even in the database of HYDRA's own records." The three agents exchange glances, then Nat speaks again.

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Castens works for HYDRA, she's an assassin for them. Why would she call them bad people?" Steve leans forward, his elbows now resting on his knees.

"She could have been taken by force after her family was murdered."

"But then why would she willingly be working for them?" Bucky asks. "She would have fought back, resulting in being brainwashed." Nat leans back in her chair.

"What if she had a reason to want to?" Bucky gives her a sour look. "Just, hear me out. What if something happened that really hurt her and she's using it as momentum?"

"But why would she take it out on us then?" Steve asks. "We're the ones trying to help." Bucky looks at him.

"HYDRA lies to get what they want. I know because I've experienced it first hand. They kept telling me that because of what I was doing I was finally bringing peace and freedom to our country. They probably did something similar to her, too." Nat nods her head as she thinks, a thoughtful expression plastered onto her face.

"Well, how about this," She suggests to her partners. "I'll keep trying to dig up some info and if I find anything, I'll let you know. Deal?" Both men nod and Bucky hands the file to Nat so she can use it, then they make their way to the door and head to the kitchen. After a few minutes of silence, Bucky finally breaks it.

"Something isn't right about this, Steve." Steve sighs and nods his head in agreement.

"Nat will figure it out, though. She always does." Suddenly he feels Bucky grasp his arm to stop him. His heart pangs when he turns to face his best friend. His expression is broken, almost like he's pleading.

"Steve, I can't let them get her. Whatever they've done to her is far worse than what I've gone through." Steve watches as his friend pauses and looks away for a second. Was he choking up? "Last night when Claire and I went to go talk to her, she looked up at me and I saw a scar on her neck. I could tell it was from a whip because I have scars like that too." He shakes his head. "I could barely handle things like that when I was under the trance. She's doing all of this completely sober. If she keeps up with it she's going to break herself so much she won't even remember who she is." Steve clasps his hand on his brother's shoulder comfortingly.

"She's going to be okay, Buck. You know we'll do what we can to help her." Bucky nods in understanding at his best friend's words. He just couldn't help the thought that maybe if he'd considered the Perfect Assassin Project was still happening that maybe he'd have been able to help her sooner; that if he'd known better none of this would've happened. Angela wouldn't be in a disguised jail cell, Tony's tower wouldn't be smashed to pieces, and none of his teammates would have gotten hurt. And maybe... just maybe... these butterflies that would come around whenever Angela looked at him would go away.

Song that inspired this chapter: Help Me Now - Kevin McHale