The Winter Wraith (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 21 - Discovering Death

The punch sails towards your face. The hand? Invisible. The wind, rustling clothes and panting breath? A dead giveaway. You do not even need to see the subject to know where they stand and use your powers to shove them onto the ground. Hard. Their head cracks against the training room floor, the sparring mats a feeble barrier against the hard surface beneath. The subject flickers back into view, their invisibility fading away to reveal the mangled body beneath. They do not move again.

You roll your eyes at the pathetic kill; you would have been able to twist into a proper landing position. The Winter Soldier could have. Even some of your most hopeless students would have been able to avoid serious injury. Either way, your latest kill summons a wave of ecstasy to wash over you, cleansing you of any guilt you might have harboured against murdering another one of Hydra's subjects. A part of you still recognised the kick you got out of killing was unnatural and wrong, but that didn't mean you couldn't enjoy it.

Surveying the body one last time – pleased at your technique – you turn narrowed eyes to the one-way mirror lining the top half of the room. Though you can't see who stands behind, your powers are able to reach out. The fact that you can read their minds like a child with a picture book tells you they're just some random Hydra soldiers charged with watching you. Lenkov isn't there; he doesn't normally watch you train. You wonder if you still would have killed the subject had your kindly trainer been observing. Probably. But maybe not.

You don't know what that says about you.

You lock your eyes on the position of the soldier in charge, unable to see him but knowing he cowers under your stare. "Whoops," you deadpan. "Got anyone else for me to train with?"

Silence. Then, "Go back to your room, Wraith."

You throw a mocking salute to your audience, pivoting on your heel. It was dangerous, killing one of Hydra's powered subjects. There wasn't a whole lot of them, so Hydra was quite precious about them. You'd probably face consequences later. Swallowing your sigh, you begin the trudge back to your room.

Down sterile hallways and dark corridors, it's only after you've almost made it back to your room that you notice something strange: no one is following you. No escort at your front or back, not even one stalking the halls behind you. In fact, there seems to be no one around you at all. It was if the whole Hydra compound had simply up and left, yet no one had told you. You know that couldn't have happened, you surely would have overheard someone's thoughts. But your stomach still drops at the thought of Hydra blatantly abandoning you, even after all your successful missions.

Then, voices. Just two. Down the hallway to your left and one turn right. Hushed, but you can hear them, though your powers can't read the minds the voices belong to. They must be high ranking, so what are they doing out in the halls? Surely, they have places to be. Senses on high alert, you slink towards them, body low and steps silent.

"It's acting impulsively, not following orders." You don't recognise the deep and gravelly voice.

"She completed the mission, flawlessly, I might add." Your breath catches in your throat at the familiar cadence of Lenkov.

"Clearly not, or the safe house would not have been compromised."

"Someone knew she was going to be there; they had planned to interrogate her and yet they failed. The Winter Wraith did not." Any doubt that they were talking about you vanished like a shadow in the midday sun.

"Our sources say the Wraith is regaining memories, becoming," he pauses, searching for the right words, "confused about its loyalties." A flare of warning ignites in your chest; the only person who knew about your memories was the Winter Soldier. At least, so you had thought. But more alarming, he said 'regaining' like he knew when, and how, you had lost your memories in the first place.