acceptance ♜ b. barnes [O.H.]

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

Novo Selo, Macedonia, 2015

James Buchanan Barnes resented bugs. They didn't freak him out or anything. He just got annoyed by their constant bugging. Pun intended.

He waved a bug out of his face as he drove through the countryside in a Jeep. The doors and roof were off, and his bag was in the passenger seat, buckled up. The speed he was going at was most certainly not remotely close to the limit, but he was free and in the country. No one was there to stop him.

When he pulled into a nearby town for gas, he was quick, and he was twenty minutes from the border. Soon he would cross into Bulgaria. From Bulgaria, James would make his way to Romania. He had found a small apartment and was going to set up base there while he began researching clues for Lenna.

Another hour and a half passed, and James decided to take a lunch break. He stopped in Sofia, Bulgaria, and dined at a small restaurant. He hadn't gone far when an idea popped in his head. He drove to a nearby public library (his door's roof and doors back on) and went inside. He took books about World War II, HYDRA, and a few language books; anything about recent HYDRA events James printed off the computers. James found a lot from the massive amount of content Black Widow had released to the public. He spent hours trying to translate the books he needed to Bulgarian, transfer data onto the hard drive Lenna had given him and ended up spending the entire night at the library.

The next morning, he gathered what he had learned and rushed to his Jeep. They were headed towards the right way for now, but they would need to begin traveling longer distances as they progressed. From what he had gathered, Russia was a decent place to begin investigating, but they would need to go to Germany and even back to the Americas.

Maybe Lenna could do some digging while she was there. Find out more about her DNA.

James grabbed the computer and began speaking to it. "Wensdai, tell Len that she should take a DNA test and begin searching in the Americas. Oh! And give her this data." He plugged in the hard drive.

"I'm sorry, but Lenna turned me off on her laptop. I can alert the other A.I. and maybe he could tell her."

"Whatever, you need to do," James snapped at the Scottish A.I.

He closed the laptop and leaned back rubbing the temple between his eyes. He was getting too loud, he needed to disappear again. Bucky grabbed the bag he had and got out of the car. He walked into the northernmost woods and didn't stop until he fell asleep.

James relishes his time alone without relying on the use of any vehicle or electronic. There was something about being so detached from the world that he loved. Now, he may have had Wensdai in his bag, but that was just so he could communicate with Lenna. He woke up with a crick in his neck and the feeling that he had just slept on the cold hard forest floor.

It was refreshing to the ex-soldier. He got up and stretched, anticipating a day of pure physical exertion. He spent most of the morning walking and the other half trying to find ways to feed himself. It wasn't until he was lucky enough to stumble on an RV that he began to get into his old groove.

The owners appeared to be out on a hike so James hastily made his way into the vehicle. The fridge was fully stocked and he grabbed as much as he could. He left quickly and was grateful he did. Soon after he left, the noise of a dog's bark filled the air. He broke out into a quick jog and didn't stop until he couldn't anymore. The backpack had begun to slow him down and he regretted not bringing fewer things. He wasn't anticipating going dark, but he needed to clear his mind. He would go about trying to find a new mode of transport later on.

That second night was a different scene for him. He had set up a fire and was rereading what he had discovered from his short trip to the library.

To his limited knowledge, and pitiful research, this is what he had uncovered: Number one, HYDRA had a human experimentation subdivision under the code name Erleuchtet (or Enlightened). It was supposedly shut down along with HYDRA, but the recent events had uncovered that is had been up and running since the sixties.

The head of the reformed division was named T. T. Zieff, a German scientist known for going beyond the moral boundaries of science. Now, as James opened Wensdai and began using her help to look deeper, he quickly learned that he had a research facility in Sokovia. He also had three others, one in Germany, one in Russia, and one in Pennsylvania, USA.

Each one was headed by a German scientist.

James frowned when Wensdai stopped responding.

"Dumb technology," he grumbled as he poked the screen.

"Mr. Barnes, excuse me while I gather information from an acquaintance," she said.

James frowned but waited patiently.

"I have some new information," she began. "Baron von Strucker headed the base in Sokovia, but it was recently raided by the Avengers. The other German base had also been raided and was headed by Waldon Panzer. The Russian one, however, is not in our database, sir."

"And the one in America?"

"Unconfirmed."

James sighed and closed the laptop. That was enough for today. He took a deep breath and fell asleep by the fire.

When he awoke, the fire had burnt out and he was once again feeling achy. It was time to begin his quest northward. Maybe he would remember something that could lead him in the right direction.