The Winter Wraith (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 24 - Loyalty Lost

Your eyes immediately search the room for your kindly handler, but you can't see him. Thankfully, you also don't see any blood stains or signs of a struggle, so it's possible he wasn't in trouble. However, it was just as likely he had been tortured and killed. No, it was no use worrying about something you couldn't change. You had to focus on the now.

This was clearly not a normal meeting. Even though you weren't always warned about them, meetings never took place in your room and didn't normally demand so many soldiers. Well, sometimes they did. Depending on what kind of mood you were in. If the soldiers lining the walls weren't enough of a warning, the fear you could sense running through them was a clear sign they were here to control you. There was something off about their uniform, but you weren't permitted to raise your head until the officer in the chair allowed it. So, you take the opportunity to hide your eyes and use your powers. You rip through their minds with brutal efficiency, but none of the twelve soldiers know why they're here, or rather, what you've done this time. Of course, that doesn't stop them from aiming their guns at your head. Idiots. As if a few bullets could stop you.

Whoever sent the brainless Hydra brutes would have had to known you could kill them all with a single thought, which meant one of two things: it was some sick power show – proving Hydra would willingly sacrifice that many men – or a test. Your bets were placed on the latter. If you killed them, it would be a direct act against Hydra and confirm that your loyalties were no longer absolute. That had to be why this whole scene was happening, somehow they had found out about your plans with the Winter Soldier, or at least suspected you. But how? You had been so careful with cameras and microphones, searching every room you entered. You scour your mind for any giveaways, any situations that would have made your feelings about the Winter Soldier clear to Hydra, but can't place the moment that had given you away. Unless, of course, it wasn't a moment, but a person.

Your heart sinks to your stomach. Lenkov would never do such a thing, but he was the only person who knew about you and James. He had betrayed you.

"Wraith." The man in the centre of the room addresses you, finally allowing you to look at him. The red Hydra symbol on his shoulder flares against his black military uniform, the numerous badges adorning his chest the only other decoration. A gun holster rests on his waist, though he keeps his leather-gloved hands folded nonchalantly in his lap, yet another power display; pretending you weren't a threat. Your eyes creep further up, to where the midnight uniform gives way to pale flesh. An angry scar mars his otherwise handsome face, the raised flesh beginning at the corner of his right lip and stretching to hide behind his raven black hair. He is instantly recognisable: Captain Jürgen Hoffman, one the commanding officers of your Hydra compound. Naturally, you had been ordered to memorise his name and face, his features a brand burned into your mind. You couldn't recall ever meeting him yourself, which is why you had not been able to place his voice in the hallway earlier. But now, listening to his deep timbre, there was no mistaking it: this was the man you had overheard talking to Lenkov. For him to be here, in your room, meant you were in serious trouble.

You didn't know how much he knew, so this conversation would be a dangerous dance, one which you hadn't performed in a while and weren't quite sure if you remembered all the steps. "Sir."

He doesn't respond straight away, taking the time to breathe in slowly through his nose before releasing the air through his teeth with a slight whistle. You refuse to squirm in the silence, knowing the waiting game is meant to throw you off. His eyes slowly trace you up and down, his titanium gaze assessing every inch of you. You keep your face neutral and your hands still, aware of every tell that a person is lying or nervous. When his eyes finally meet your own, you see a strange spark lingering within them, amusement or anger or a mixture of both. "Who do you serve, Wraith?"