Saving | Bucky Barnes [2]

chapter v

chapter v.

2009

"White, this is your new partner," Nick's words jolting Winnie out of her daze. She watched as a woman roughly about her height stepped into the room.

She had red hair that reached past her shoulders, making her stand out and had bright green eyes. The woman couldn't have been any older than twenty-five, making her look like Winnie. Of course, the two of them were nowhere near the same age but they did look it.

"Agent Natalia Romanova, this is Winnie White, our oldest agent in the field and a good friend of mine." The White girl noticed that her new partner - or Natalia as she was called flinch when her name was said. Winnie narrowed her eyes at the girl, overthinking why she would've done that.

The agent put her hand out for Winnie to shake, which she did, the two of them looking at each other apprehensively. "Nice to meet you, White."

"Please, call me Winnie. We are partners after all," the White girl smirked as she let go of her hand.

Fury clapped his hands together, "Right, well I'll see you two later for the briefing. I'll let you get acquainted with one another." With that, the director left, leaving them alone for the first time.

Winnie wasn't sure what she was supposed to ask her; sure she had had many, many partners over the years but that didn't help whatsoever. Every time she met a new one, it was always awkward.

"So.. Why did you join SHIELD?" the brunette tried. As much as she hated small talk it was the best thing she could come up with.

Natalia narrowed her eyes at Winnie before licking her lips, "Fury offered me a job, one that could redeem myself, so I took it."

The White girl nodded her head, understanding. It was somewhat different compared to why Winnie joined. A question itched inside Winnie's brain, one that she didn't know if she should ask it or not, but she opted with.

"When Nick said your name, you flinched," she stated, "Why?"

It was clear that Natalia was in fact taken back by the statement and question. She had a rough idea how good this 90-year-old was going to be but she never anticipated this good. The assassin let out a sigh before looking down towards the ground and looking back up, straight into Winnie's eyes.

"I never liked the name Natalia, not after the.. the Red Room that is," Natalia explained, stumbling a little bit when she said where she was trained.

Winnie could tell that her new partner did not like being trained there and had many horrible memories of it. Even though she had only met the girl just over five minutes ago, it made her feel horrible that Natalia felt that way about a name so she wanted to help her.

An idea popped inside of Winnie's head, "Why don't we change it to something else?"

"Wouldn't Fury and other's question about it?" Natalia questioned, looking at Winnie as if she had three heads.

"Probably, but we could just say it's to.." Winnie thought about a valid reason as to why someone would do so for a few seconds before an idea came into mind, "That it's to hide your identity from enemies?"

The small brunette watched Natalia as she considered doing what Winnie said. It was true, she definitely didn't want to be called what she was anyone, especially after everything that she had gone through and she couldn't help but feel touched that Winnie had actually cared enough to suggest something that she could do about it.