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Chapter Text

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Everything I Wanted

Billie Eilish
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UNKOWN HYDRA FACILITY 

DECEMBER 1991

“Желание. Ржавый. Семнадцать. Рассвет. Печь. Девять. Добросердечный. Возвращение на родину. Один. Грузовой вагон.”

Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight car.

The Winter Soldier screamed and struggled inside the restraints the metal chair underneath him had him held in. Each word was more painful than the last, each one cutting deep into his brain as they were uttered calmly from Vasily Karpov. He searched frantically with his eyes flitting from side to side for those familiar honey eyes to soothe his pain but found none, no flashes of the blue of her hair anywhere in sight. When he said the last word, he felt as if a thousand strings pulled on his body tighter than he could stand. Heaving breaths were the only sound in the room as he struggled to sit up, no longer fighting whatever had just happened. Karpov stood in front of him, holding a little red book in his hands. It was familiar, he’d seen it before. 

“Доброе утро, Солдат.” Good morning, soldat, he cooed, flipping the pages nonchalantly in the soldier’s face. The soldier saw the familiar handwriting of his birdie, swooping letters in blue ink. 

Eyes shifting upwards toward him with a grimace and gritted teeth, he responded. “Я готов отвечать.”

Ready to comply. 

Only he wasn’t ready. He never was ready. And seeing Karpov holding the notebook he knew for sure belonged to Lucia brought him closer to the edge of uncertainty. 

Karpov saw his hesitancy and chuckled, closing the book in his hand and crossing his arms in front of his chest to look down at the Winter Soldier. 

“У меня есть для тебя миссия. Санкционируй и Извлекай. Без свидетелей.” I have a mission for you, Karpov said after a moment. He looked over to the sound of an opening cryofreeze chamber and 01’s head turned slightly to see the small girl he’d been searching for being extracted from the chamber. Sanction and extract. No witnesses.

“Позаботься о моей маленькой птичке и проследи,” Take care of my little bird, Karpov said sardonically, tossing the red book onto the Asset’s lap carelessly, “чтобы она получила то, что нам нужно.” And make sure she gets what we need. 

02’s amber irises shot open in a panic as she was awoken from her deep sleep, immediately searching for the tall brunette soldier, just as he had done for her when he woke.

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THE FIRST SAFE HOUSE

CAPE CHARLES, VIRGINIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEBRUARY 2015

The tap, tap of her toes on the sand underneath her was both a comfort and an annoyance. It was easy to sneak up on someone in this terrain and if she thought about it too much she realized that there was not enough space between her and the nearest person to find this place, this area, and there were more than plenty of people who wanted to catch her with her guard down —

“Stop doing that, please.” 

Her absent tapping to the beat of the song on the small radio they’d brought out to the shore was interrupted by the husky voice beside her. Lucia looked down beside her, her fingers clutching on to the matted towel they’d thrown on the ground as a barrier to the sand, her teeth clenched. 

Laying lazily on the towel, stomach up and forearm over his eyes to cover them from the sun, was her partner Bucky. 

She marveled quietly at the small bit of skin showing under his long sleeve shirt as it rode up with the side covering his eyes, exposing his toned stomach. Gulping, the beat of the hip hop song quietly bopping in the background was suddenly a drum beat ringing in her ears. 

“Doing what?” Lucia choked out, trying to blink away her obvious staring. 

Bucky was oblivious, eyes closed under his arm and unaware she was flustered beside him. 

“The thought association game, birdie.” 

She sighed, looking down at the sand that had blown onto the towel they both were on. 

“Sorry. I am just —“ 

“I know.” 

Bucky lifted his arm slightly to peek over to the girl beside him, taking in a breath as he saw her lashes over the henna freckles he’d helped draw on her. Dusty blonde hair, dark in shade, was braided over her shoulder — braided by him — and her scars were peeking out from the long sleeve of the shirt that was once his and now mysteriously belonged to her. He smiled, lips tugging slyly up on the left side of his face, and with his left, glove covered hand, he reached over to envelop her small fingers in his. 

Feeling his hand on hers she shivered, and shyly met his eyes. She dared not hold onto it for dear life as she craved, wanting more than just a touch of his hand but forcing herself to stay put. With a small grin, she looked away from his intense blue eyes. 

“Why do you call it that…?” She asked quietly, her knees coming up to her chest and her cheek resting gently on it as she faced him. He gave her a cheeky grin now. 

“Because you spiral, birdie.” His eyes winced with the sun streaming down, laughing at her blush. His hand let go of hers and made a tornado gesture with his finger, blowing a raspberry. 

“I know I am crazy, but I do not spiral,” She grumbled as she tried to keep in her laughter, looking away from him. He sat up, laughing a little more as she grew more flustered. He neared her face playfully. 

“Down and down the rabbit hole…” He whispered in her ear, earning another shiver from her. She shut her eyes and winced. 

Bucky stopped laughing and pressed his forehead onto her shoulder, sighing. 

“Birdie? Look at me.” His forehead left her soft material shoulder and he waited for her eyes to meet his. 

Slowly but surely, Lucia peered over the arm she had hidden her face into, amber irises bright in the sunlight around her. Little blue baby hairs framed her face and her gentle smile melted him instantly. 

“да?” Yeah? 

Her little accent made his stomach flip. He blushed slightly, giving her a small grin as he neared her face once more. 

“We’re going to be okay, doll,” He whispered, “You and me? We’re a team.” 

“But they are looking for us, James,” She replied, a hint a fear flashing in her eyes. 

He sighed again, a little flutter in his chest. “We’re safe here—“ 

“For now,” She interrupted. He took a deep breath and scooted closer, his left arm resting behind her as he leaned into her. 

“We’ve done a good job of it so far, birdie.” 

And he was right. They both knew that the first rule of running was to walk, and they were sure to cover their tracks as they slowly evaded the people looking for them. She remembered sitting on the floor of the rest stop bathroom in the dead of night somewhere in Delaware, her back against Bucky’s knees as he applied another box of brown hair dye in silence to cover her pesky blue. Outside was a stolen motorcycle and a backpack of clothing they shared — minus the skirt and dress he’d grabbed out of a donation box in the parking lot of a grocery story they’d passed for Lucia — and a sleek laptop they’d found in a trash can somewhere along the way, easily fixed by his birdie. 

Lucia was incredible, and Bucky could never tell her how incredible he thought she was because even he didn’t understand how she did it, and he probably never would. Not only had she fixed that computer for their use and hot-wired the abandoned motorcycle in the junkyard they sought a vehicle in — she had also redirected the search of them completely west. They posed for security cameras and rerouted the footage to California security systems, Arizona, New Mexico, even Texas. She inputed missing cars and tied them to the locations they’d supposedly been in. She even made a phone call to Bucky on a payphone — a dupe call, rerouting the tower’s signal from the call being made in Maryland to a tower near a mall in Nevada. 

She was brilliant. 

Their safe houses, however, were all Bucky. Jumping around the immediate area, they stayed in places he’d find for small periods of time. Sometimes they’d just sleep at rest stops around the states themselves. They’d made it south of Delaware before finding Cape Charles, a small beach town with nothing but a factory and a few unfinished houses from a vacation rental company that were never completed. They were isolated, no one nearby, and the town had no police patrolling anywhere. There wasn’t even cellular service. 

So with two sleeping bags and the provisions they’d been smart to start hoarding, they found themselves hiding in an unfinished beach house. At first, Lucia was afraid and kept asking him to move quickly — they were getting complacent. However, months passed and the little beach house had become home and their first official safe house.

“So far,” She reiterated, looking at him again. “I do not know how long I can keep redirecting them until they notice I am sending them on a goose hunt.” 

There was a pause from both of them as they watched the water level getting closer to them, the tide rising quickly. A little rumble in Lucia’s stomach snapped them out of their silence. He gave her a lopsided grin as she blushed. “Then we start planning our exit plan, don’t ya think?” 

“We do not have plan, James,” She whispered yelled in frustration, gathering her things into the small canvas bag on her far right. Lucia’s accent grew heavier the longer she’d been out of cryofreeze, and the more upset she got.

He frowned as he watched her come to stand, reaching over for the little radio as another pop song filled the airwave. Slightly annoyed at her music choice, he shut it off as he beat her to the radio, then handed it up to her. 

“Birdie, the plan has been help me find out who I am,” He replied quietly as she took the radio, leaning over towards him. Bucky looked up at her as her eyes closed to avoid his gaze, reaching for her cheek. “And we’ve been doing it.” 

Lucia’s eyes opened and a shard in her chest ached at his words. But what about me? She wanted to ask, so badly she wanted to know. But she promised him this and even now as just Lucia and Bucky, she had sworn to protect him and help him. So, shutting down any feeling of disappointment and hurt in her eyes and face, she offered him a small smile and a pat at the flesh hand on her cheek as she straightened and walked backwards from him. 

Bucky’s face fell. Something was bothering his birdie, and she wasn’t letting on. He scrambled upwards to stand and grabbed her elbow before she walked back to the safe house. 

She paused, not looking back. 

“What if we go to Colombia?” 

A moment passed, the wind loud in their ears and the smell of salt filling their senses. Lucia looked back up at her soldier, eyes wide in fear, unsure what to respond. 

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MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

MIAMI, FLORIDA

APRIL 2015

“She had tripped security, but all we found was her belt to be the factor.” 

A young man, no older than twenty-three, sat in front of his superiors and two Avengers, shaking in his chair. His TSA uniform was wrinkled and sweat stains were starting to protrude from his armpits. 

The superior officer sighed and stepped away from the table he sat at, walking towards the two superheroes in plain clothing with a tablet in his hands. On it, a recording of the security camera the day the man spoke of, a small girl tipping off the metal detector and the same man in the chair motioning her over. He sighed as an electrical current from her hand flashed, and the camera shut off, ending the video. 

“She didn’t fit the description, Captain,” The older man, salt and pepper hair with wrinkles on his face, grumbled, “And we didn’t see them clearly. I’m sorry.” 

Handing off the tablet to Captain Rogers, his partner spoke for him as he replayed the video. 

“Any idea where they were heading? Were they together? Separate? Any other defining features?” 

Sam Wilson was the first to ask questions, leaning onto the table in front of the TSA agent. His voice was gentle, but firm — he was tired and frustrated. This little girl alone had not only busted up his equipment — using it was impressive, but his wings were gone beyond repair — but had been sending him and Cap all over the country on their tail. Something in Sam’s gut told him that she was sending them places they’d never even been, just to throw them off their scent. Hell, a piece of him even thought they might still be in D.C. somewhere, hiding in the shadows. 

But Captain Rogers was a man with a plan. They were going to go through every tip — even if Sam knew it was a bit naive of him. 

“Their ticket said Mexico City,” The superior TSA agent came around behind Sam, reading another tablet with specs on the passengers of that day Lucia and Bucky had made their way through the airport, “We didn’t see a connecting ticket. They were smart about that.” 

Rogers stared down at the other tablet in his hands. He looked at the replay over and over and watched as the small girl squeezed his best friend’s hand and gave him a reassuring look before stepping forwards through the TSA scanner. He watched his best friend watch her in a trance, dopey and lovestruck. He’d never seen Buck look at anyone like that. He was possessed. 

“You were right about the girl.” Steve said quietly after a beat of silence. They all looked up at Captain Rogers. Sam stepped towards Steve and sighed. 

“Where she is, he’ll be,” Sam repeated, crossing his arms over his chest. “What do you wanna do now, Cap?” 

There was another pause. Captain Rogers considered following their trail again, hopping on the Quinjet and getting his friend to safety. But now there was the girl, Bucky’s girl, he realized, that they had to account for. And she was dangerous. More dangerous than they could know at the moment. 

Right now, his team had endured his absence for a couple of weeks now. Stark was working on new tech and was expecting him back at the Avengers tower by tonight and he’d put it off long enough. 

“I think we should regroup.” He said quietly, replaying the video one last time, watching as his best friend let go of his girl, let her squeeze his hand, and watched her go through the checkpoint undetected. 

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AEROPUERTO INTERNACIONAL DE MATECAÑA 

PEREIRA, COLOMBIA

MARCH 2015 

“Bienvenidos a Colombia.” 

It was hot and humid, the color of the city golden toned and at a glance down at the smaller girl with short, dusty blonde hair and a tinge of blue peeking out of her roots, Bucky Barnes could see the tan in her skin glow under his black shades. She was holding on tight to her backpack, grinding her teeth, when a larger hand came and rested on the small of her back. 

Lucia Cortez looked up at Bucky with anxious eyes as he took off his sunglasses, meeting his blue irises. He pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead, his lips so close to her skin when he gave her a reassuring sigh. “We can go somewhere else if you don’t want to do this.”

She relaxed at his touch, remembering that afternoon at the beach where he’d stopped her by the arm. 

“What if we go to Colombia?” 

Her eyes widened in fear. They’d done all their research together, they’d read all his files, watched all his videos and movies and documentaries, they’d listened to all the interviews they’d given on who James Buchanan Barnes was. But Bucky was aware that even though they were going deep into his background, they couldn’t find much on Lucia and it hurt her. 

He thought about the empty searches, the dead ends — the light in Lucia’s honey eyes dimming quietly as she sighed and changed the subject. He felt as if it was time to go further for her. They’d done so much for his own search that he knew that they had to find something for her. 

Bucky wanted Lucia to be happy. 

This is what she wanted, right? 

“I would not know where to start, James,” She had whispered quietly, looking down at her toes in the sand. His gloved hand reached for her chin and lifted it up to face him quickly. 

She flinched a bit, startled by his closeness. A bright blush painted her sunburnt cheeks. 

“Then we figure it out together. Like at the Smithsonian.”

After their kiss at The Smithsonian, there was a slight disconnect in their interactions. Lucia felt guilty for the manipulation she had a hand in regarding the trust that Bucky had in her, so she retreated immediately. There was hesitance in all of her touches and words spoken to him, and Bucky was aware of the shift. As for him, he was learning about his past and how he fit in this larger story of Steve Rogers and Lucia Cortez. He knew that they’d been partners due to circumstance and did unspeakable things together, but the history he had was long and extensive and a lot to take in at once, making their dynamic change. She learned, fully now, the extent of Bucky’s damage and control, how he came to be, and what he was leaving behind. She ached at the thought of the life he was deprived of. He was saddened at the loss of her touch and affection, but was hesitant to say anything at the fear of scaring her off. They were skirting around each other. 

The kiss on her forehead made her chest ache but her body relax slightly. Her body screamed at the touch, missing his lips on her immediately and begging her to touch him in some way. She shook her head gently, readjusting her backpack, quickly shoving away the thought. 

“No, I think I can do this.” 

Bucky looked down at his birdie and offered his hand. Lucia hesitated, then softly placed it on his palm, letting his fingers intertwine with hers. 

Chapter Text

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El Muchacho De Los Ojos Tristes

Jeanette

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SIBERIA

1986

Lucia could only see red. She wanted to kill, to end, to destroy. In her veins, whatever they had kept injecting into her for the past few hours burned and pulsed so painfully that her breathing was labored and tears stung her eyes. At that moment, after Karpov had said the new words, she no longer cared about the soldier. Her brain screamed at her to be prepared to complete whatever mission she was to be tasked with, no holds barred. Should the asset present himself an obstacle, he was going down. 

The thought of the asset made her think he was already an obstacle. She clenched her fists tight and growled anomalistically. At this, Karpov smiled, his rabid little soldier ready to kill for whoever said her kill switch phrase. This was different. This was not just a complete control of her mind and body — it left no room for unyielding loyalty. Her trigger words had become flexible in Lucia’s brain. They left room for error, for thought, for fight. This special switch was the answer to her brilliance. They were a guarantee that she was nothing but a body with the power.

Before she attempted to wriggle out of her restraints, Karpov held her chin tightly with his thumb and pointer finger, angling it up to look at him with a rough yank. “А когда он упадет?”

And when they fall?  

There was a pause. Then another. After a few moments of silence, Lucia groaned, body relaxing. Her eyes seemed to refocus, the honey in her irises clearing after their foggy demeanor. There were a few rapid blinks and then her eyebrows furrowed towards him, shaking her head in his grip and little whimpers pleading from her lips. 

She knew what they’d done to her. They’d figured out a way to make her completely theirs. There was no thought in her in that state, none of it was her own. It was almost like she became a different person. The only way to explain it—

Lucia had disappeared, and the Red Sparrow had taken over.

Karpov smiled and shushed her as hot tears ran down her face. He stopped her shaking with the grip he had on her and ran his free hand’s finger up her cheek, marveling at the lovely girl in the seat before him. In his thickest accent, he chuckled out, “Good little bird. Good, obedient little bird.”

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CENTRO FOGARTY REGION II 

RISARALDA, COLOMBIA

APRIL 2015

The summery breeze made the button up Lucia wore rolled up to her elbows billow, exposing her clavicle as she slid her backpack off her shoulder and to her right. Bucky took it in his own hand absently, staring up at the large sign Lucia’s eyes had been fixated on since she thanked the taxi driver in Spanish and tipped a little more than she should have. He took a few cautious steps closer to her, watching the metal sign clink against the tall wired fence covering any entry to the buildings behind. 

Flipping frantically through the smart phone they’d gotten their hands on before leaving the airport, Lucia pulled up all her digital notes pertaining to the place in front of her — a place she had last seen nearly forty years ago. 

Centro Fogarty Region II 

Cerrado

Prohibido el Paso 

Bucky’s eyes squinted in the bright sun as he read the sign. Fogarty Center Region Two, closed in all its former glory with no trespassing in bold red letters. There were government letters aged and stapled all over the sign as well, condemning trespassers to the full extent of the law. 

Her scanned notes from a notebook she burned to keep her trace minimal were scrawled and manic, but she could read what she wrote. This was the place she was employed, according to a news article that reported her missing that ran in a Latin-American community-ran paper somewhere in Florida. Her photograph was missing from the clipping, but she knew from the description it was her. Her birth marks were listed exactly where she had them now. 

Aside from that, she realized that as soon as they got into the building, she could hack into the mainframe of their database and find more information on herself — beside the fact that she was 22 and missing. 

This building held the secrets to her past, and maybe even the moment she was taken was immortalized in digital form.

One could hope.

Lucia looked up from her notes and stepped forward, running her fingertips cautiously over the rusted fence in silence. 

“If my information is correct,” She began quietly, noticing the silence in the barren area of town, nearby houses empty and shops shuttered, “This is the last place I was seen alive.” 

Alive. The intention of her words made Bucky shiver. He remembered Lucia explaining to him what exactly that entailed. 

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A soft snore broke his staring contest with the economy seat in front of his own, stirring him into awareness that they’d been in the air for three hours now, with three more to go. Like a maniac, he’d stared at the seat in silence and didn’t notice Lucia falling into a small sleep until now, another little snore escaping her parted lips. He looked down at her and saw her eyebrows and forehead completely relaxed, the sound of her snores the most adorable thing he’d ever heard. 

There was a bit of turbulence, not enough to bother anyone but enough to have Lucia slide down onto Bucky’s left shoulder and land with a little whimper into his sweater. At the sound he bit his lip, the strange sensation in his stomach that made him want to jump her bones daily making a return. To Bucky’s great relief, Lucia woke from her cheek colliding with Bucky’s metal shoulder cap gently. Her eyes looked up groggily towards Bucky’s face to see him grinning down at her. 

“We arrive?” She slurred, her voice scratchy and accent heavy. Another stomach flip lurched in Bucky’s gut. 

“N-no,” He strained, adjusting his posture to prevent further embarrassment, “You fell asleep.” 

“Oh,” Lucia whispered, rubbing her eye lightly. A small yawn escaped her plump lips.

Bucky watching her do all this made him unsure if she was adorable or he was attracted to her or both and he realized it was both and all he wanted to do was grab her by that little chin and pull her in for another kiss because god, he missed the feeling of her lips on his and the way she tasted was so—

“James? Is something wrong?” 

He blinked suddenly and came to terms that he, again, had been staring. This time straight at her. 

“No! No, just —“ He felt his cheeks grow hot, “Thinking. Thinking!” 

“Thinking.” She replied with a sleepy smirk. She noticed his eyes nervously avoiding her, a slight little blush on his cheeks under his cap blooming. Lucia tilted her head towards him and asked, “About?” 

“You.” Bucky answered too quickly, and he knew it as soon as she leaned away from him with eyes wide. He cursed himself for scaring her again. “I mean, more specifically…” 

There was a pause as he stopped to think on a topic that she would indulge him in. They’d spent so much time talking about him, learning about the time they now found themselves stuck in, and how to be safe and draw little attention to themselves. But now, his throat dry and unable to formulate a sentence at her honey glazed stare, he couldn’t find a topic. Looking at her scarred hands, a thought entered his mind. 

“What do you know, birdie? About you?” 

Lucia looked at him with large eyes, suddenly realizing that with all the energy she’d put into finding Bucky’s past and present and future, she’d never really disclosed who she was. Ever.  He knew what she wanted him to know. He saw her at face value, and that’s how she’d intended. But now, looking up at his softened cerulean eyes she wanted to tell him everything. The only problem was keeping him safe, and keeping him hers. 

As selfish as she could be, she wanted him to stay. She didn’t know what to do without her soldier.

“I know a lot more now,” Lucia started slowly, almost sheepish as she played with the scars on her hands that he’d glanced at for a moment, “But I do not know too much as well.” 

“Well,” Bucky replied after a beat, adjusting himself to fully face her. He lowered his voice to keep prying ears away, but was grateful to see a near empty flight. Taking one of her hands away from the little scabs she was picking at, he continued, “I want to know. You know me, and I want to know you.” 

She blushed, feeling his thumb gently swipe at her scars. 

“Okay…” Lucia trailed off, looking away for a moment, “But I do not know where to start.” 

“Wherever you want, birdie.” He gave her an encouraging smile and a squeeze of her palm, prompting her. Waiting patiently, Bucky watched her gather her thoughts quietly, eyebrows furrowed. 

“My name was — I was Dr. Lucia Cortez-Anaya.” 

“Doctor?” He whistled, raising an eyebrow as he leaned forward towards her with full attention on her. Lucia laughed quietly, leaning back in her seat and looking down at their joined hands sheepishly. 

“Yes, doctor. I was a Neurological Researcher. I had a Medical Doctorate with a specialization in Neurology.”

Bucky nodded slowly, impressed. He knew she was smart, but even in the before time — she was brilliant. And knowing now that the super soldier serum that ran through their veins only enhanced what was already present, he could only guess just how intelligent a girl like her could be. 

Lucia went on after a small pause. “I was…22? 22 when I was taken from Colombia.” 

There was a pregnant silence as the statement settled in the air. She looked around to make sure no one was listening in, but they’d sat at the back of the plane and the nearest person was three rows up, headphones on at full blast and ignoring everyone. The flight attendants were handing out drinks near the front of the economy area, focused on their passengers. 

“There is one memory,” She quietly continued, “One that comes and goes after all this time.” Her eyes squinted at the seat in front of her, almost as if she was trying to force the memory forward. Bucky waited, squeezing her hand. “A song, in Spanish — slipping through my fingers all the time…” 

Her singing voice was strained under the guise of staying quiet. She laughed afterwards, her head falling downwards. “There was a device I was listening to it on. I remember it breaking. After I died, it was almost as if all I could hear was that song—“ 

“Wait.” Bucky physically grabbed her shoulder to stop her from brushing past whatever she had just said. “Repeat that?” 

She froze. Lucia had realized that this would out her if she wasn’t careful. She and Bucky had not discussed how her powers came to be, and what they could do. To make matters worse, Bucky was also freshly wiped. Completely blank after the fall of HYDRA. He didn’t know that she wiped his memories, she was the one controlling his range of memory, and she was the one who kept Steve and his past from him once she knew. At least, not anymore. 

“I—I died.” 

He stared at her like she’d grown a third head and this time she was uncomfortable. Lucia rubbed her elbow with the hand Bucky wasn’t holding. Shifting in her seat again, she nodded slowly. 

Bucky frowned, reaching for her. “Birdie—“ 

“There was an accident.” She said quickly, leaning back from him slightly, much to Bucky’s disappointment. “I didn’t follow orders and didn’t account for my consequences. Dr. Zola didn’t give me a chance to be spared.” 

That was essentially what happened. 

“That’s how you have the serum?” 

Another slow nod. “The serum I was injected with was a prototype that was not tested and was made for you. A version of yours. I am not stronger than you, and I am not faster than you —“ 

“But you are smarter than me,” He smiled, and Lucia gave a breathy chuckle. His smile dropped, looking down at her little hand, littered in scars, “And your hands,” He whispered solemnly. 

“That was a consequence of my accident. My theory is that the serum boosted my DNA into rewriting itself with the shock of the accident and finding a way to survive it.” 

She stopped. 

Bucky didn’t let on he’d noticed her pause. He instead, had drifted his eyes back towards the hand he was holding, stroking her scars absently as he took the information in. The thought of Lucia being dead made his stomach hurt, ache just like when he’d pulled her out of the water in D.C. She was different from him, he’d never died in his life as the Winter Soldier. But her? She had a period in the middle of her sentence. She was two different people in the same body, it would seem. He wondered if she was like this before, like how she is now, but even at that thought he realized that he didn’t know much about Lucia now. 

It seemed like she didn’t know either. They’d never disclosed interest, hobbies, likes and dislikes because they never had any. Now, they were starting over. And for Lucia, it seemed, it was a hard reset on a third life. 

He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, Luci.” 

She shook her head in return, giving him a sad smile. “It already happened, James. Besides, that just means I get to start over with you.” 

Lucia paled at the words she said, with Bucky — in contrast — feeling his heart stutter. She coughed, taking her hand out of his quickly. “I mean, we’re partners. Who knows me better than you?” 

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, nodding. He felt a pang of hurt when she pulled away, wondering why she was holding back. But he knew better than to push her and make her uncomfortable. For now, he would take what she could give. “Yeah, partners.” 

They settled into a silence as Lucia and Bucky leaned back in their seats, the hum of the plane filling the lack of words in between them. Lucia knew he had been hurt by her withdrawal— Bucky wore his emotions in his eyes and face. To amend his small pain, she changed the subject. Lucia looked up beside her with a small smile, her cheek finding his metal shoulder as she leaned towards him.

“Did you call me Luci?” 

Bucky looked down at her, surprised that she’d purposefully gotten close to him once again. Taking in her question, he chuckled and looked at his own hands momentarily. 

“Yeah, I guess I did.” 

“Does that mean I can call you Bucky?” 

His nickname leaving her lips with her velvety sweet voice gave him a pleasant chill up his spine and a tingle in his stomach. Her smile crinkled her eyes slightly, the little fake freckles he’d helped draw on her dotting her lovely tan skin like constellations. God, he could look at her forever. 

“You can call me whatever you want, doll.” 

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Stepping inside the front door — thanks to Bucky breaking it off its hinges by accident — Lucia carefully ducked under the cobwebs and the dust floating around her with a little cough. Bucky followed behind her closely,  eyes darting back and forth to make sure the coast was clear. 

“They shut this building down in 1995,” She said quietly, turning on the smart phone’s flashlight in her hands and scanning the small lobby. “But it does not seem like they left behind much.” 

All the furniture in the waiting area was dated and stacked against the far right wall, a large mural of the human brain fading behind them. Turning her light to the desk, she saw it was empty as well, no computers or phones left behind. Not even paperwork. She gave a small sigh at that, turning further to her left to a set of elevators in a small inlet in the lobby. 

“Maybe taking the elevators?” Bucky asked, coming to stand beside the Red Sparrow. She nodded silently and led the way. Stopping in front of the buttons to press, Lucia saw a directory. Bucky attempted to press the buttons to turn them on, with no such luck. 

“Huh. No electricity.” 

“Ahem.” 

Bucky turned and looked down towards Lucia who raised an amused eyebrow at him, a frown on her face. 

“What?” He asked, shrugging his shoulders up. Lucia rolled her eyes and charged up her left hand, fingers pressing against the cool metal of the up and down button’s frame. The elevator came to life as she breathed out a deep breath, her eyes flaring a fluorescent blue for a few moments. 

She smirked as the elevator dinged and opened for them. Bucky sighed. 

“That’s why you’re the brains,” He grumbled, scratching his neck as he stepped into the elevator. Lucia stepped in behind him and gave him a playful shove with her shoulder. 

“Which makes you the brawn, soldat,” she cooed sweetly, giving him a flirty smile and the smallest of nose scrunches. He chuckled, shaking his head and following her. Lucia turned her sights to the numbers and letters on the control panel and she scanned them with her flashlight. 

A tug in her stomach made her press the bottom most floor button. 

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Basement?” 

She didn’t look at him, almost as if she was in a trance. It was like muscle memory. It was like deja vu. Nodding silently, her lips parted and eyebrows furrowed as a sudden flash of a memory shot through her head. 

It was fuzzy. She heard a bump inside the elevator and cringed, holding on tight to a walkman in her white coat pocket. The lights flickered. 

Just as fast as it came it went, and the dinging of the elevator announcing they’d arrived at the basement startled her back to the present day. She subconsciously felt her free hand reach down to a phantom pocket and attempt to squeeze something. James watched with knitted eyebrows as Lucia began to act strangely. 

“Did you remember something, Luci?” He whispered, trying not to break her concentration. She didn’t answer, stepping out of the elevator and walking forward. 

Another flash hit her like a train. This same hallway they were in, only lit in fluorescent lighting with a blue tint, that song on the tip of her tongue ringing in her ears like if it was in a different room with an echo. She felt nervous in this memory. 

Back to the present. The floor was dirty but clear, all the name plates on any of the doors emptied and blank. Bucky tried some of the doors and found them locked, but realized Lucia seemed to be subconsciously retracing her steps. He followed her quietly, feeling an uneasy feeling in his stomach the closer they got to wherever she was taking them. 

Lucia found herself stopping near the end of the hallway, in front of a door with a pin pad and a plaque that read LABORATORIO C above it. She stared at the pin pad, eyes wide. 

Relajate, Lucia. 

“Relajate, Lucia.” She repeated, the whisper foreign but familiar on her tongue. Had she said this? Was this where she’d said it? Why was she telling herself to relax? 

Bucky grew more anxious by the second and he could not find a reason for it. Lucia was safe in front of him, there were no booby traps or even a security system — there was no reason for him to be so on edge. But his stomach hurt so much he almost hurled as Lucia’s little hand raised itself with currents dancing around her fingers, opening the door with her power. She stared at the dark room and for a moment, she did not dare go in. 

Something had happened here. 

She knew it. 

He knew it. 

Lucia blinked, frozen in spot. 

“This is my office, Bucky.” She breathed. After a moment of silence, she looked back at him, eyes large and suddenly saddened. “This was my office.” 

He gulped. A small nod of encouragement was all he could give before she turned, hand still up, the currents flaring. 

She took a step in. 

All the lights came on at the flick of her wrist. There were three rows of work stations, a few closed off rooms with large glass windows, and a large wooden desk right at the entryway. Looking down at it, Lucia picked up a bronze nameplate, blowing on it to rid it of its dust. Bucky stepped beside her. 

Dr. L. Cortez-Anaya, M.D.

A loud ringing in their ears sent them backwards and separated the Red Sparrow and the Winter Soldier, Bucky crashing into a nearby work station and Lucia’s back hitting the wall by her desk. 

In Lucia’s mind, the sound of her walkman falling to the ground and breaking into a million pieces. A scream muffled by something. Tears in her eyes. 

In Bucky’s mind, his metal hand pressing a small girl with Lucia’s honey eyes begging him with the tears, his other hand pressing a gun to her forehead. 

Lucia’s scream rang in his ears. He wanted to scream too, but his throat was dry. 

Coming back to reality, they stared at each other with fear in their eyes. 

Bucky was the one who took Lucia’s life from her. 

Lucia was taken in this room. In this spot.

“Bucky?” 

____________________________________________________________________

Chapter Text

_________________________________

Little Lies
Fleetwood Mac

_________________________________

CENTRO FOGARTY REGION II 

RISARALDA, COLOMBIA

MARCH 2015

“Bucky? James, are you okay?” 

Shaking his head as his vision blurred from holding the girl with dark black hair and honey eyes to the same eyes but blonde hair and not being held by him. Bucky rubbed his eyes and nodded. 

“‘M fine,” He grumbled, stepping towards her shakily, “Did you remember something?” 

“I think,” She whispered, looking down at the ground as she pushed herself off the wall, legs wobbly. The sound of her scream, the click, the broken cassette — It all rang in her ears like a dull loop. “I cannot make sense of it now, but this is where I was taken. I’m sure of it.” 

Looking back up at James, she saw relief flood his face. She furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Are you sure you are alright?” 

No, he wanted to answer, It was me. I took you. I kidnapped you. It was me, birdie.

“Yeah, just a headache,” He replied, rubbing his forehead with his gloved hand. Lucia gave him a pitiful smile, knowing he’d been getting headaches often. She reached over to him and gave him a gentle pat on his bicep. 

“As soon as we finish, we will restock on supplies and get you some pain medication,” She cooed, large amber irises looking up at him with worry. Bucky felt like his throat was on fire, only managing a strangled hum and a nod. Lucia walked forward, trying to find a computer left behind. 

Bucky shook his head quickly to shake the awful feeling of lying to Lucia, but knew that in this moment, he could not tell her the truth. He wasn’t even sure if he’d made it up in his head, if HYDRA had made him believe that truth, or if it was a real memory. He followed behind her quietly, his teeth clenching. 

Lucia shone her phone’s flashlight to the dusty but empty desks and work stations to find that not one of them had a single computer. They’d cleared this building of all computers it seemed, or at least right here. 

“James?” She turned to a very uneasy Bucky looking at her, his thoughts mirroring her own. He nodded. 

“I’ll sweep the other rooms on this floor.” He replied, sliding her backpack over to her gently. She gave him a breathy chuckle, taking her pack and handing him her phone for light with a shy smile. 

“I’ll start the next floor, then.” 

______________________________

HYDRA EXTRACTION POINT

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

1979

The drive to the small airfield that would whisk them off to a warship base in the middle of the pacific to then take them to Siberia on another plane was shorter than the Winter Soldier expected, but the silence made it feel eternal. He was alone on this mission, for the first time in a long time, and everything had gone off without a hitch. Gripping the steering wheel tight, his eyes flitted over to the small girl slumped over in the back seat visible from his rearview mirror. 

She was a small thing, not very tall and slender for a woman of her age — it's almost as if she wasn’t eating well. Strewn over his back seat were long locks of dark black hair and her little lab coat. Her eyes were closed but those thick lashes on her skin were just as tantalizing as the amber glow of her irises when they stared at him in fear. 

He hit a pothole as he neared the gate, making him refocus on the drive. But the sound of her screams screeched in his ears painfully, his eyes wincing as the gate opened for him. 

Shaking his head, he furrowed his brows in concentration as he parked inside one of the decrepit hangars, a handler waving at him to park near him. Parking the vehicle, he jumped out of it and went to open the back seat to retrieve the girl. 

“Только девушка и больше никто,” Just the girl and no one else, Dr. Zola had instructed, “Ни царапины. Будь нежен.” Not a scratch. Be gentle. 

With a light grunt, he pulled her back into his arms and found himself cradling the small girl like a child, his large flesh hand splayed on the back of her head as it lay on his shoulder, her soft snores a contrast to the way she’d been put to sleep. He took a few steps back and looked down at her as her breath tickled his neck, giving him goosebumps. His eyes softened at the rosy cheeks she had. 

“В самолете достаточно топлива, чтобы вы могли прибыть на корабль,” The plane has enough fuel for you to arrive to the ship, the young handler with dark skin yelled over the sound of the plane’s starting engine, “ Координаты в самолете, а также капельница, к которой ее можно подключить, и мешок для тела, в котором она будет находиться, если она доставит вам неприятности.” Coordinates are in the plane, as well as an IV pack to hook her up to and a body bag to keep her in should she give you trouble.

The Winter Soldier gave him a brisk nod and he climbed up into the plane, holding on tight to the girl in his arms. Inside the small space was a cot with a medical stand containing packs of IV fluids hanging from its hooks, the needles and tubes needed to hook her up, as well as more sedatives in the medicine box. There was food for the Asset as well in a small duffel. He lay her down and started the process of hooking her up to the IV when he felt her stir. 

Without a word, he reached over for a needle with a clean syringe, preparing it to inject sedative into her. As he filled it with the medicine, her eyes blearily winced at him, startling the soldier. He put the vial down and held the needle near her exposed thigh. 

The small girl looked up at him with a woozy look on her face and whined, shutting her eyes in pain. This made the soldier pause, looking down at her face now with a confused look. He wondered why she was so distracting. 

Her large honey eyes looked up at him in pain and tears welled up in them after another whine quietly left her lips. She was scared. 

This made the Asset’s chest hurt. Something about this made him reach his flesh hand over to the girl’s forehead, brushing her baby hair that had stuck to the small sheen of sweat on her forehead back with a gentle shush. 

“I’ve got you. I promise,” He whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. But the girl blinked up at him, staring, and he thought that maybe, maybe she’d heard him. 

He pressed the needle into her skin and silently pushed the sedative in, watching as her eyes fluttered to a close. The last thing she did before relaxing onto the cot was relaxing her head onto his flesh palm, searching for that contact before going under. 

The Winter Soldier stared for a moment, then two. He pulled out the needle and took the breath he’d been holding, a strange burning sensation in his chest growing hotter and hotter the longer he was near the girl. Shaking his head, he finished setting her up to the IV and prepared for the long journey of delivering the little doctor to Dr. Zola, as he was commanded to do. 

_________________________________

The thing about abandoned buildings, Lucia came to realize, is that they’re never truly empty. 

There was a hum in the building, even with the lack of electricity in the entire place. The faint whispers of the past were loud in her ears. Voices of people she’d never see again, grumbles of calculations and numbers and figures all around her. Innovation had happened here. Her life had happened here. 

And for all intents and purposes, it had also ended here. Whatever happened after this was fuzzy, always had been. Even now as they tried to put the pieces together, all she knew is that she died on a table with Dr. Zola yelling angrily at her and the flashing blue lights that would envelop her into the end. 

She ran her fingers through the walls and quietly let the cacophony of sounds that rang in her mind run free. Taking a deep inhale, the smell a memory that she didn’t think she’d ever actuallly be able to unlock. 

Would she be okay with that? The prospect of never knowing what happened? 

Because if all of this was about finding out, what would happen after?

The finding out was the end game…wasn’t it?

“Nothing on the top floors, birdie,” He called out to her as she left the elevator in the lobby, bounding from the fire exit stairwell kept open by a large rock. Lucia sighed, holding her arms in her hands as little currents burned through her fingers and began to draw blood. Bucky stopped in front of her, immediately reaching for her palms and frowning. 

“Nothing on the other sub levels either,” She replied, eyes not meeting his face. He could see her lip tremble slightly as he wiped the blood off of the new little welts forming in her palms. Releasing one of her palms brought his hand to tap her chin up towards him. She hesitated for a moment, then lifted her glassy eyes towards him. 

“Let’s see if we can find a new lead, Luci,” He said softly, giving her palms a gentle squeeze, “And find some shelter and food. We can come back again. I promise.” 

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to try and quell the burning of tears in her eyes and opted for a quick nod of her head as an answer, unable to form words. 

They’d been in the building for a few hours and not one computer was left. No databanks. No paperwork. Nothing. It had been stripped clean and left with only furniture and a few very expired cleaning supplies. 

Lucia felt her muscles tighten in defeat and the sinking feeling in her chest began to flourish. Her body began to shake as she held on tight to Bucky’s hands. 

Bucky pulled her in tight and held her, his flesh hand holding her head to his chest and his metal arm holding her waist close to him. Lucia’s panic attacks were few and far in between, but the signs were bubbling to the surface and he knew he had to keep a hold on her to tether her to the present, to reality. 

“There’s not going to be anything, is there Bucky?” Her voice cracked into his jacket, her shaking becoming more apparent. Little springs of current began circling her arms and legs as the panic rose. Bucky shook his head and gave her a small squeeze as her thought association began spiraling, “There’s nothing left, and if there’s nothing left, I’ll be a target again and then HYDRA will find me and you’ll leave and I’ll be back in that chamber —“ 

“Don’t say that, darlin’,” He whispered, “We’re here and we’re gonna find out everything you want to know. I’ve got you. I promise.” 

A small choked sob was muffled into his chest as she buried her face further in, the comforting smell of vanilla and spice filling her senses as she hung on tight to him. He kept her grounded, his chin resting on the top of her head as he let her cry, swaying with her from side to side gently. 

The sounds of cicadas chirping loudly signaled to them that they should get a move on before the night fell, maybe find a place to stay, so Bucky slowly detached himself slightly from his birdie. His hands came to cradle Lucia’s face in them, wiping the tears that stained her face with his thumbs and tilting her head up towards him. 

“Let’s find shelter, birdie,” He whispered, “And get some rest. We’ve been awake for a few days, we need to sleep.” 

Lucia closed her eyes to calm the stinging the crying left behind and nodded in his hold, her hands coming up to hold in her own. Opening her eyes after a moment of silence, she looked up at him. “Can we steal some soda?” 

Bucky chuckled, his forehead coming to her own and nodding against it. 

“Steal? I thought we were turning over a new leaf, being upstanding citizens and normal people and whatnot?”

The blue haired girl’s lips curled into a mischievous smile, a breathy chuckle let out in between them. Her amber irises found his grey and held his gaze. Lucia was calm once more, cheeky even with that little laugh, and who was Bucky to say no to her? 

“Of course, honey.”

A new nickname. The sound of honey rolling off his tongue made her chest and stomach feel warm and a blush spread through her cheeks. The two pulled apart and their hands found each other in between their bodies, holding on tight to each other as they discreetly left the old building. 

_______________________________

Chapter Text

________________________

Just the Two of Us

Lucy Ellis

_______________________

PUERTO BURGUER

RISARALDA, COLOMBIA

MARCH 2015

The quiet chewing of the small girl in front of him was a sound that brought him comfort, strangely. Dirty blonde hair was tucked under a baseball hat she’d stolen from Bucky’s backpack, her large fake glasses giving her a cute little button nose as her cheeks puffed from the food in her mouth. Bucky gave her an endearing smile as he watched her eat the kids meal burger across from him, having chosen a burger spot in the city that was still open late. Besides them and the staff in the back were a handful of teenagers on their phones ignoring the pair, as well as an elderly couple sharing a milkshake near the entry and some guys ordering take out in business casual clothing. There was music playing on the speakers and a soap opera silently playing on a small TV near the register in the front. Leaning on the hand fisted under his cheek, he laughed as Lucia stole one of the fries off of his tray, earning him a sly grin as she took it in her mouth quickly. 

“You should have told me you were hungry earlier, doll,” He said softly, pushing the fries left on his tray towards her. Lucia gave him a sheepish smile. 

“We have to watch our cash,” She replied, lowering her voice as well. “And I did not know how today would pan out.” 

Bucky awarded her another wide smile and shook his head, leaning back in the booth. “Well let’s see. We can go back tomorrow, get a better scope of the area and maybe ask around the locals. We can stop tonight at a pharmacy—“ 

“There was a 24 hour one on our way here,” Lucia pointed at him, raising her eyebrow as she interrupted. He nodded and gave her a grin, taking the information in stride as he continued. 

“Stop at that pharmacy, find a place to stay nearby, then we regroup there.” He crossed his arms as Lucia nodded absently while she chewed on some fries she’d just picked at. “Sound good?” 

Lucia reached over for the large Coca Cola she shared with Bucky and nodded in agreement as she slurped the sugary goodness down her throat loudly, her eyes fluttering closed in pleasure. Another chuckle bubbled from him as he leaned back towards the table. “They had Coke in the 70s, why are you so obsessed with it now?” 

“I have not had Coke since the 70s,” She whispered, leaning towards his face, “And I am sure there was actual coke in it because it does not taste the same but the sugar content is larger and I am not complaining.”

“I won’t fight you there,” He answered with the same voice level, “The war depleted us of sugary sweets.” 

“I did not ping you for a sweet tooth, сержант.” She chided, taking another sip of her soda. Hearing her say sergeant gave him chills and he looked away momentarily, a blush forming. Lucia smiled, biting down on the straw gently, then leaned back. “We have to catch up on our sweets, then.” 

There was a comfortable pause in conversation, the buzzing of cicadas a welcome filler with the added ambience. The people around them all continued on, the lights weren’t too bright for the late hour, and Bucky’s presence left Lucia feeling warm and fuzzy. 

This was nice.

She could get used to this. 

Peering over her lashes she caught sight of Bucky now. Bucky reached over to some of Lucia’s chicken pieces —nuggets, they were called — and munched on them quietly, looking outside the window near his right. In the stillness of the moment, her eyes softened as she took him in, a quiet sigh escaping her lips at the sight. The slope of his nose, the hint of a beard starting to grow again, his steel blue eyes and the moles that dotted areas of his skin like constellations. James Barnes was handsome. 

He’d always been handsome, Lucia wasn’t blind. 

And now in this burger joint with him, the hum of the fluorescents, the faint Spanish pop from the radio, the brushes of their hands and their shared smiles, she wondered if this was what it could be like if they’d had the chance to be normal. 

Lucia slid the soda towards him and reached for another one of his fries when she paused, her eyebrows knitting under the brim of her cap and looked off to the side. Sensing her shift in movement, Bucky looked up at her, extending his arm towards the soda she’d slid. 

“Something wrong, birdie?” 

Lucia stayed staring off to her side, eyes narrowed and lips parted, her hand semi-extended and fingers shaking. Bucky stopped drinking the drink and leaned forward. 

“Birdie—?“ 

That seemed to snap her out of her dissociative state, her eyes blinking quickly and face turning to him with a blank smile. She tilted her head as if asking him to repeat himself. Bucky mirrored her head tilt, a response to her unspoken question to share her thoughts. Lucia’s face flushed and she cleared her throat, straightening her back. 

“I am just thinking about…”

”…about…?”

”Like this is….”

”….like this is?”

She shut her eyes, embarrassed the thought had crossed her mind. Steeling herself to just say it, she gritted her teeth and spoke evenly. 

“….a date.”

Stunned at Lucia’s change in demeanor, he leaned forward and began cleaning up the wrappers and napkins around them. She looked up at him, concerned. Bucky gave her a bashful smile as he stood to throw away the trash, then returned with his hand extended towards her. She cocked her head to the side in confusion, but he just waited with a soft grin. 

“Come on, pretty lady. If this is a date, I gotta make it a good one and I am very rusty.” Bucky reached in the space between his hand and Lucia’s shaky one, gripping onto it with a gentle squeeze as he helped her up. He slung his backpack over his shoulder with his free hand and helped Lucia put hers on. When she turned back towards him, she reached down to fix her clothes, only for Bucky’s hands to come to her cheeks, tilting her head up towards him. 

“Pretty lady??” She chided, giving him a breathy chuckle as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, the sound of his own rumbling laugh mixing with hers giving her stomach a flip and her aching chest a break. 

Stumbling out into the street, Lucia followed Bucky as he led them through the crosswalk, pulling her closer to him and switching his hand in hers to snaking his arm around her waist. Without protest, she leaned into him. 

“Pharmacy?” Lucia asked quietly, looking up at him under the warm streetlights. Bucky hummed, eyes on the sidewalk in front of them. 

“Well if this is a date,” He mused, “We skipped a few steps.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

They took a right turn. The buildings around them were dark, a few of their business signs buzzing the bright red CERRADO in their periphery. At the far end of the block was the pharmacy mentioned earlier. 

“Such as….” He trailed off, detaching from her and walking ahead of her. Confused by the action, she sped up, his long legs taking larger strides than hers. They reached the pharmacy and he held the door open for her to allow her in. 

“Such as opening the door for you,” He cooed in her ear as he guided her in with his gloved hand at the small of her back. She chuckled, stepping inside and greeting the elderly shop keep at the counter. 

“Okay, what else?” Lucia asked, her voice soft while she turned to find Bucky. He hadn’t been far off, holding something behind his back. Gesturing for her to follow him to an aisle away from the counter, she did so, trying to sneak a peak at whatever he was hiding. 

Once away from the not so invested prying eyes of the senior worker, Bucky pulled forward a small bouquet of pastel colored flowers he’d grabbed from the tubs of water and flower bouquets directly by the entrance. This made Lucia laugh, throwing her head back gently. That laugh made Bucky’s chest warm. 

“Flowers for you,” He said, smile all teeth as he presented them to her. She took them gently by the plastic, giving them a smell. 

“Thank you, James,” She whispered, “That’s very sweet of you.”

Unexpectedly, she entered his space by taking a step forward. The aisle was cramped, so they were already close. The extra step had her nearly chest to chest to him, placing her free hand on his shoulder. On her tip toes, she reached up and placed a small kiss on his scruffy cheek, the sensation leaving him buzzing. 

“What else?” Lucia asked, face still close to him and voice quiet. James blushed, his hands coming to her waist. 

“Well, we may have gone backwards,” He acquiesced, pressing his lips together with a tilt to his head, “Technically its flowers, door, dinner. I’d suggest dancing, but I don’t think we’d find that nearby at this hour on a weekday.”

Lucia responded with a hum of her own. “I do not know how to dance, so perhaps that is good thing.”

            “Well from what I’ve learned, I think I was a good enough dancer for the both of us,” he teased, his hands on her hips starting to guide her as they began to sway. Shaking her head she obliged, the faint music playing over the shop speakers guiding her feet to the rhythm. One hand holding the flowers, the other on his shoulder, she followed his lead, tilting her head. 

           “And this is the historically famous dancing of yours you speak of?” She chuckled, scrunching her nose.

Bucky shrugged playfully, pulling her close again. The swaying was coming to a stop slowly, her eyes watching his intently.  Her hand on his shoulder slid down to his bicep slowly. From under her lashes, her gaze softened at the sight of his eyes looking at her with an unreadable look, intense and calm all at once. She gulped. Her voice was shaky when she finally broke the silence. 

           “What does it mean when we stop dancing, then?”

“Then that means I’d take you home,” He responded, the grip on her hips tightening. Her breath hitched. 

“And then,” Her voice was breathy, the tension between them growing, “The date is over?”

”Well,” He quickly cut in, looking down at the flowers between them, “As a gentleman, yes. Technically. Or…”

”Or?” Lucia perked up, her eyes darting to his lips then back to his eyes. Bucky licked his lips at the sight. 

“Or I ask you for a kiss goodnight,” He replied, breathy like a whisper but strangled in something else entirely. A blush spread through his cheeks, up to his ears. 

“This is not home,” Lucia playfully chided, eyes not leaving his as she saw him leaning towards her slowly. 

“No,” Bucky didn’t say anything for a moment, so close to her lips. There was a moment where they stayed there, in their own bubble, He swallowed, feeling her breath on his skin, her pulse quickening the closer he got. ”Can I kiss you?”

With a half lidded smile, she nodded quickly. “Always.”

__________________________________

Trending on Twitter

17 - Pop Culture - Trending

 #blackwidowleaks 

17.2k Tweets

@wintersoldierapologist

okay but hear me out guys i’m pretty sure I just saw the metal arm dude in Colombia with a girl. #captainamerica #blackwidowleaks #avengersexposed

@tatertottaylor

Is he as hot as he was in DC? #thirstyashell

@captainamericaismydad

he’s a fugitive, this is serious. Are you for real op?

@wintersoldierapologist

i think so. looks like him and the girl they were looking for were making out in the video.

@AvengersDaily

Any tips regarding the fugitives James Buchanan Barnes and Lucia Cortez (pictured below) should DM @AvengersDaily, as well as @TheAvengers. 

__________________________________

Chapter Text

__________________________________

Vienna
Billy Joel

__________________________________

AVENGERS TOWER

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
MARCH 2016

“Are you guys seeing this shit?” 

Tony projected a screen in the center of the conference table, the usual suspects packing up their things and clearing the table after another anticlimactic meeting. Natasha gave a small scoff at the sight of her name trending on Twitter again. 

“Hashtag Black Widow leaks. I like that.” Sam quipped towards the redhead and she shot him a sly smile. Bruce also gave a quiet chuckle in his own seat as he zipped up his backpack. 

“No, no,” Tony cut them off as they began to stand, leaning back on his chair. “Read that tweet, Rocket Man.” 

Sam rolled his eyes and leaned forward and skimmed through the trending highlights of #blackwidowleaks. He felt his stomach drop. Sam turned quickly to Tony as the rest of the group made their way out of the room choosing to ignore the screen in front of them. The Falcon dragged his hand down his face with a ragged face.

“Take care of it.” Tony said curtly as he stood from his chair, “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan is off on his own thing and I don’t want this to be bigger than it's gotta be.” 

“Understood,” Sam huffed, grabbing his bag and slinging it on with more force than needed. “No press, no exposure.” 

“Better be quick, Rocket Man.” Tony pushed the door open with flare, seemingly scrolling through Twitter, “We’ve got that thing I promised you guys and I don’t want it to interfere.” 

____________________________

HOTEL LA POSADA
RISARALDA, COLOMBIA
MARCH 2016

The noisy honking of a taxi cab and the flutter of activity on the ground floor made Lucia’s eyes clench together, a quiet groan escaping her lips. Fluttering open, the darkness of the room around them made Lucia’s eyes need to refocus to remember where she was. 

Colombia. With Bucky. Not Siberia. Not New York. 

With Bucky.  

A gentle squeeze of her left hand dangling off of the side of the queen bed she’d slept on startled her a bit, a little whine escaping her as she rubbed her eye with her right hand. Looking over the edge of the bed, a breathless chuckle left her while she watched what was a less disheveled than usual winter soldier sleeping on his side, his face nuzzled into his shoulder with his metal hand holding on tight to Lucia’s small hand. Still not awake, his calm face made Lucia sigh in content, giving his metal hand a squeeze back and relaxing back into the mattress, her face turned towards Bucky. 

She ran her thumb gently across his now lazily open palm, her eyes closing to rest a little while longer. Bucky’s quiet breaths were a melody to her ears in her moments of rest on the bed that felt too soft. Turning her head towards Bucky down the floor, she watched as her soldat’s nose scrunched together, a groan escaping his lips while his eyes began to open.

With bleary eyes and a halo of bedheaded locks, Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier, looked up and met Lucia’s sleepy gaze. When he saw her looking at him, a dazed smile graced his tired features and gave Lucia butterflies in her stomach. She scooted over closer and let his hand go after a gentle squeeze. Bucky rolled over onto his stomach, arms under his chin and facing her. 

“Good morning, James,” Lucia whispered quietly, closing her eyes again as she settled over her forearm, peering over her skin drowsily at him. Bucky gave a noncommittal grunt, hiding his face into his pillow and making Lucia laugh at the sound. Rolling onto her back once more, she looked up at the ceiling and rubbed her eyes. The city was loud, and even though the room had no window she knew the day had begun. 

A little grumble pulled Bucky out of his tired stupor, where he toed the line between falling back asleep and coming back to wake. He sat up with little difficulty, his eyes squinting in the darkness as he saw Lucia’s small hand coming to cover her stomach. He chuckled. 

“I think someone is hungry,” He mused. Lucia offered a wry smile, propping herself up with her left elbow. 

“Just a tad,” She whispered. Bucky nodded quickly, coming to stand. The blanket that graced his legs slipping into a pool on the ground. Lucia’s gaze darted down to the now very interesting sheets under her, still shy around a very much under dressed James Buchanan Barnes, and allowed him some privacy as he padded his feet towards the light switch. He gave a quiet warning and she braced her eyes for the light, the brightness disorienting her for a moment. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pulled the sheets back, giving her back a small stretch as she faced away from her partner. 

Bucky fished for a clean shirt in his backpack, pulling out more dirty than not. He made a small note to do laundry soon, pulling on an inconspicuous grey long sleeve henley. Lucia had left the bed and walked towards the small table holding her backpack. 

“I can go downstairs,” Bucky began, “And go look for some breakfast.” 

Lucia looked over her shoulder, a decisive nod giving him the okay as she pulled out a light green tank top from her bag. Bucky adjusted his shirt and reached for his shoes. While she dressed out of the sleep shirt, the door opened and closed with a slight creak. Lucia found herself in silence, the noisy exterior and the shuffling of her skin on the clothes on her body muffling further and further away as her thoughts started to carry. Her eyes began to unfocus and slowly yet all at once, she found herself far, far away. 

______________________

HYDRA COMPOUND USA

DECEMBER 17, 1991

“...два. три.”

Counting to three seemed to be the most consistent way to bring down her signature. Her hands flexed as she watched 01 stop flailing in his memory wipe chair. The most painful part of rewriting the neuron signature in his brain was over, and she’d finally gotten a handle on making it quicker. 

Her hands balled into fists slowly as she extracted her signature completely. The comedown for the Winter Soldier was easier if he was not conscious, so she made the extra effort to pulse the electrical waves needed to make him fall asleep and she did so as intensely as she could. 

Behind her was Karpov, reading the notes on her little red notebook, his beady little eyes skimming quickly over the added notations his little bird had prepared for him. 

02’s eyes rolled to the back of her head in relief as she felt her signature return to her body like a sponge. There was a bit of bruising and some open wounds where the electrical current was too strong beginning to flourish all around her skin and she stumbled backwards before being caught by the medical team assigned to the Winter Soldiers running towards them in a flurry. Half went to the male and the other went to the female, treating different wounds and preparing them for cryo freeze. 

“Ты чувствуешь давление, 02?” Are you feeling the pressure, 02?

 With heaving breaths, the blue haired girl looked up through the fallen strands in front of her face, brows furrowed and chest rising and falling on beat. Karpov laughed haughtily at her silence to his mocking question, continuing to read the pages on the red book. A medic tugged too hard on the arm he’d injected her with cryo prep plasma and she flinched at the needle leaving her vein, looking away with a wince. Vasily Karpov lazily made his way towards the female Winter Soldier, flipping the pages of the book as he began to whistle a tune that seemed like the faintest memory. 

Karpov waved away the medics once she’d been fully bandaged, cleaned, and numbed, stopping his walk in front of her. She refused to raise her head to him, too tired to do so, only her eyes staring up at him. 

“You are a very open book, маленькая девочка.” He quietly said closing the notebook with a decisive slam. “Easier to read than you think.” 

02’s breath was the only sound in the silence. 01 had been wheeled away in a cot to be examined before cryo freeze. Her own medics flitted about cleaning up their equipment and making their notes. She had no response, unsure what Karpov was even talking about and her own grip on any kind of lucidity slipping under her drugs. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He shook his head. “You are correct to suspect your superiors’ motives. However, you will never be one step ahead.” 

She said nothing. Her breathing was beginning to quiet and her vision started to blur and struggle to focus. 

“I admit, it is smart to believe you must stay ahead.” He paused, inspecting the dark red cover of the notebook, the black star stark against it. “However, when will you realize that your control does not extend past the Winter Soldier?” 

Karpov squatted down to meet 02 at eye level, a sardonic grin playing at his lips. “Keep your hands to yourself and your plans on the drawing board, little bird. Your power is at the mercy of the people who gave it to you.” 

__________________

“Grab your bags. We’ve gotta get out of here.” 

The sound of the wooden door to the room of their Colombian hotel being slammed into the wall was enough to snap her out of a hazy memory. The demands Bucky was quietly yelling at her were just icing on the cake. She stood quickly and absently started throwing things into the open bags, zipping them as soon as they were full to the brim. 

“Что происходит?” What’s going on? She asked, strapping on her backpack as Bucky stuffed the food he’d taken from the breakfast bar into his own backpack. 

Before Bucky could answer, the burner phone they’d purchased at the pharmacy in town began to ring. It was eerie, loud in the silence. Bucky looked up at Lucia and stared at her, eyes wide. 

She hesitantly reached for the phone, knowing for a fact that no one had the number to this phone. Her fingers twitched a little spark before coming in contact with the phone and she paused. The ringing continued. 

“Don’t answer it, birdie.” 

But she didn’t listen. She’d already flipped it open. 

She said nothing, pressing the speaker to her ear. A voice she’d nearly forgotten greeted her. 

“Lucia Cortez, this is Sam Wilson. You might wanna come downstairs with your other half.” 

There was another beat. Then another. 

In her hand, she fried the phone to ashes with her electrical currents, letting it fall through her fingertips. 

“We run.” She whispered. 

___________________________

@losavengersmedebendinero  03/25/2015

El Winter Soldier en Colombia???? Foto de prueba: 

__________________________________

Chapter Text

_________________________________

Revolving Door

Tate McRae

_________________________________

RISARALDA, COLOMBIA
MARCH 2015

CRASH. 

The flurry of newspapers on fire and cars sliding away from the curb from extreme force was almost lost in the already flurry of the busy street. One thing that Lucia and James had yet to fully master in their newfound freedom was, of all things, being discreet. As soon as Bucky had run into the side of the building to get them onto the open street, Lucia did not immediately think of all the eyes on them. The sound of Sam Wilson’s timbre through the crackled speakers of the cheap burner phone she’d picked up at the pharmacy days ago was enough to make her forget just how visible they were. 

And eyes there were. As they ran through the street, backpacks flying in the wind and pushing and weaving past the busy market street, people wasted no time documenting what was happening before them.

“Find a car park, a garage, something!” Bucky yelled over the commotion. “I saw him in the lobby, he was showing a picture and I just- I panicked!” 

“We knew it would happen eventually,” She shouted back at him, avoiding the locals as they weaved through the marketplace. “We just need to get out of here!”

 Bucky nodded and his nerves soothed briefly, watching from the corner of his eye as she charged up her fingers. The electrical currents danced around her fingers, trying to find the feel of the landscape. It was difficult in this terrain – the streets weren’t all paved and electrical signatures easily got lost in the dirt. Despite this, a faint heavy signature was close. She could feel the warmth of the power lines working extra in a small patch of asphalt.

“The end of the marketplace, two miles east. There’s a parking lot and I can feel some easy to wire to cars.” She looked over at Bucky as he began to reach over to her and gestured him away, shaking her head. “Separate. Whoever gets to a car, we both know how to wire it. GO!” 

Bucky wasted no time running to the opposite side of the blue/brown haired girl. Lucia diverted away to the street side of the market, running to start maneuvering on top of the parked cars by the curb. A rev of an engine behind her running path made her more aware of who exactly they were running from. 

Sam had gone into that motel expecting little in terms of information. He spoke the language enough, but in the day and a half he’d been there, he realized just how good Lucia and Bucky had been at hiding their tracks. If anything, he was the one being recognized. He wasn’t one for the fan photos but he’d taken a few here and there from the airport to the surrounding hotels in town. He’d only hit up the hotel he’d ultimately stand back to back with James Barnes because a cab driver he’d encountered had brought him inside to introduce him to the hotel receptionist. 

It was between photos and dusting off his Spanish for the fifth time that morning that he noticed a large man grabbing breakfast at the mini breakfast bar the hotel supplied when the glint of silver under his long sleeved shirt. He assumed James Barnes was not one to not notice someone watching him because he’d taken what he had in his hands and left without a word or even a turn of his shoulder to confirm who he was. 

But the quickness in which the large man had left the hotel lobby was enough for it to pique his interest. He’d asked the lobby if there was a phone for the man that was just there and the receptionist, starstruck as ever and forgetting any kind of client privacy, immediately gave him the cell phone associate to his room. 

Lucia picking up the phone without a single word was enough confirmation for him. 

Picking up speed behind the lithe girl jumping over parked cars and running over them without so much a scratch, he chased her down with a motorcycle he couldn’t seem to speed up faster. 

“Red Sparrow!” He yelled over the roaring of his bike, startling her into remembering she needed to be aware of her surroundings. “Stop running! I just want to talk!”

With her charged hands she cut the power to his bike and pushed the electrical signature away against a wall, making the man on the bike fall and roll to safety. She changed her route as she could see the parking lot she’d felt, sliding off the hood of the car she’d jumped on. 

“AGH!” 

Her body felt a familiar yet unfamiliar electrical current run through her and she stumbled to the ground, incapacitated. The crowd around her gasped at the girl falling, then once more at the crash of the motorcycle. Her signature had been hit by a foreign current. She looked down at her leg to rip off the taser that had been thrown at her, gasping at the residual current still coursing through her. Lucia struggled to stand as the man after them appeared, lunging then tucking and rolling her to an alleyway, keeping her away from the crowd forming around the totalled bike against the wall of a building. He’d jumped off the bike as soon as her hand had come up towards him and evaded the eyes of the market watching his bike crash.

He attempted to catch his breath as he brought himself up against the wall of the alleyway. “Red Sparrow, my name is Sam –”

She grunted out as she brought herself to stand against the wall opposite to him. “Sam Wilson.” Retching a bit of vomit from the electrocution she’d just experienced, she continued, “I know who you are.”

“Then you know why I’m here,” Sam responded. She shook her head between heaving breaths. He started to approach her but was stopped by a weak electrical field that formed around Lucia’s body.

“We’re fugitives,” Lucia struggled to answer, “And HYDRA is looking for us. Or SHIELD. Whoever the hell you work for–”

“I’m not with anyone.” 

“LIAR.” 

Lucia had charged up again, fighting the nausea and lunging forward with her fists. One, two, one, two, the Red Sparrow started throwing punches and Sam realized she was strong, her blows landing in his blocks with hard reverb. The electrical current she held in those hits added more damage, Sam grunting as she kept coming and coming. With a jump kick, Lucia got him in the ribs, turning in the spin and bringing her arm around with a swing of a back hand. The Falcon wised up, grabbing her by the wrist and attempting to push her into the wall by grabbing the back of her neck.

Her legs tangled before she found footing, inches from the wall, stomping on his foot and using the falter of his weight to grab him by the face and slam him into the wall with her. He groaned, she cried out, and they separated onto the ground, rolling onto their stomachs weakly. Their heads snapped up to find each other’s eyes.

The two looked at eachother, silent as the sound of sirens came onto the scene. Sam sighed, looking at the malnourished girl in front of them. Her hair was a muddy brown, peaks of blue emerging from the crown of her head. Her clothes were too big for her, and he was sure she shared clothes with Barnes. Besides that, he spied the cords dangling out of her backpack, giving him the confirmation that she’d been the brains of this big operation. She’d been careful, he’d give her that. Tracing them was difficult. But they’d gotten lax. They’d let themselves be seen. 

And Lucia knew that. She knew they’d gotten comfortable. They’d stopped caring if someone spotted them. They let their guard down and she’d seen the security cameras that had caught them, the phones that had snapped them on purpose or accident – and maybe she didn’t wipe every single one. She’d been complacent. 

“I do not know why you search for us,” Lucia said after a beat, breathing heavily, “But we have stayed out of your way. We abuse no power.” 

“Running as fugitives. Identity theft in ten domestic states. Falsification of identification. Illegal wire transfers. Stealing from bank accounts, thought no one would notice?” Sam listed off, starting to attempt to get back up, “Look at this market. It’s wrecked.” 

“I will do what I must to –”

“To what? Protect him? Or yourself?” 

Lucia froze, an unknown feeling dropping down to her stomach. She narrowed her eyes in anger. She pushed herself up weakly. “You know nothing, Sam Wilson.” 

“I know enough, Lucia Cortez. But does Barnes? How much does he know?” 

He had made his way up to standing, limping towards her as she struggled to get up. On her hands and knees, she let out a pitiful noise as an aftershock ran through her body. She looked up to see Sam’s hand outstretched to her. 

“Aren’t you tired of running? Don’t you want to know what it would be like to truly be safe? Truly have Barnes?” 

Her eyes watered. “I can’t risk it, Sam Wilson.”

He extended his hands further. 

“Steve is his best friend. He just wants his best friend back,” He pleaded, “You’d finally be free, have Bucky in a safe place, and find all your answers!”

The rev of an engine broke her thoughts as she watched Sam get ran into by a tiny Volkswagen bug. Her eyes widened, falling on her ass in shock. Bucky backed up and reversed, pushing open the passenger door. 

“Get in, birdie!”

“I know that you know more than you let on. I know you can’t keep running. I know you’re at a dead end!” Lucia turned to Sam on the ground, safe behind his armor under his clothes. Smart of him to dress for the occasion. 

She stayed still for a second, still in shock that he knew what she wanted, or what she thought she did. A mix of emotions waved over her. The anger at insinuating she was doing all this for herself, the fear that he might know more about her than she herself, but most present and defining – the revelation that she no longer knew what the end game was. And at the helm, the notion that Steve Rogers wanted Bucky back made her stomach ache in a way that felt like—

“Steve Rogers won’t stop until he knows his friend is safe, Lucia!” 

Steve Rogers. Her stomach lurched. All the other feelings were now muted at the uttering of his name.

“Birdie!” 

She shut her eyes at the high pitched ringing in her ears at the sound of the name Steve Rogers. 

__________________________________

They were going down. 

  All three of them were going down the Potomac. 

“You know me.” She heard Steve beg. 

“NO I DON’T!” Bucky cried out in an attempt to soothe himself more than Steve.

Lucia coughed, spitting out the blood in her mouth as she struggled to get up. The system was gone and crashed, and Maria Hill’s connection to her had been severed long before this moment. She grabbed onto the railing of the helicarier again and saw Steve Rogers and Bucky having a struggle. In horror, she watched Steve drop his shield and with the wind in her ears she heard him struggle out words. 

“I’m not going to fight you,” He sputtered in defeat as he wavered, “You’re my friend.”  

Her chest ached as she saw Bucky hesitate and he launched himself at Steve. Lucia fell at a shake of the hellicarrier, realizing they had little time until the thing fell apart.  

“You’re my mission!” Bucky cried out as he lost self control, punching him repeatedly underneath him as he repeated the same words. Lucia’s eyes began to water as she gathered any strength she had left and broke into a sprint, determined to get him off of Steve and out of harm’s way.

She wasn’t going to die without telling him the truth. And she would take whatever feelings she had for him to the grave. Because at that moment, she needed to save him. That was her only purpose. Keep the asset safe.

Keep her soldat safe. 

_________________________

She shook her head shakily, feeling the bile rise in her throat again at the memory. That was what this whole thing was about. Keeping Bucky safe. Steve Rogers did not ever save James Barnes from his hellish existence. Even now, and even then, when he knew about Bucky. When did Steve Rogers finally decide to protect Bucky? 

“And I will not stop until Bucky is safe.” She spat at Sam, scrambling into the car. Out the open window, she said her peace. “I would never hurt Bucky. Can your captain say the same?”

Bucky said nothing at the exchange, his hands working the car’s standard console and revving the engine. The words Lucia had said cut deep in his chest, the feeling unfamiliar and not welcome. In his head, he found himself asking the same thing. Could Steve say the same? Was their wild goose chase another attempt to imprison the two Super Soldiers, keep them locked away or even used by another entity of power? 

Or was it something entirely different? 

Could it be that Lucia was being…selfish?

The unwelcome feeling sat in his stomach as he clenched the steering wheel, maneuvering them out of the city and away from Sam, who’d done little to stop them. Sam watched the car speed off, unable to bring himself to try harder. Not when he was in the middle of a tug of war between two stubborn people who loved the prize.

Chapter Text

____________________________

Nunca Es Suficiente

Natalia Lafourcade

_____________________________

IBAGUE, TOLIMA

COLOMBIA

MARCH 2015

“It says to rinse after 30 minutes.”

The sputtering sound of the faucet was just enough white noise for Lucia to wander away from frustration in Bucky’s voice. He sat on the dirt floor of a truck stop bathroom, far enough from the toilet to not smell its heinous fumes but close enough to the sink to smell the bleach burning through Lucia’s hair. Bucky looked up to watch as Lucia flipped her hair over to rinse the chemical out of her hair, the yellow like straw against her sun kissed skin, tinted green in the light of the small bathroom’s singular bulb. It hummed as it tried to stay alight, mixing with the splatter of water falling into the large sink. 

Lucia said nothing as she rinsed, her fingers running through her hair. Her eyes caught sight of the chunks of hair she’d cut off both her and Bucky with a pair of rusty scissors. Making a note to pick up every bit she could, she shut off the sink once she saw the water run clear, her palms opening towards Bucky beside her. He handed her a towel without another word, staring at her tie the straw into a turban. Focused, her nose wrinkled as she tightened the twist. She noticed Bucky looking up at her and she tilted her head slightly. 

“What?” 

“Who was that?” 

She raised an eyebrow. Lucia was quite sure they’d encountered Sam. Multiple times, at this point now. 

“Sam Wilson.” She responded with apprehension. Lucia crossed her arms and leaned back on one of her legs. “The Falcon.” 

“Is that supposed to mean anything?” 

Lucia held in a scoff. “He was at the fight at the Potomac, James. The one we almost died in?” 

“Are you actually annoyed I don’t know who that man was?” He cut in at the slight edge in her voice. He narrowed his eyes at her as she rolled her own. “Lucia, I don’t know if you remember, but I can’t really remember anything clearly past that fight fully—” 

“Pardon me,” She grumbled as she undid her turban, choosing to air dry. Bucky stood swiftly at her avoidance. 

“Do you remember, then?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Why are you acting like this?” 

“Acting like what?” She quipped, looking back to find him standing behind her. 

“Acting like I’m a nuisance.” 

“You aren’t.” 

“And yet?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Excuse me for being on edge – James, we blew our cover in front of a whole town. We have an Avenger looking for us and finding us. We have little money, no transportation, and now I have to get us new identification to get us out of here.” 

“You answered the phone, Lucia!” 

Taken aback, she stared at him. Before she could form another thought, he kept going. 

“You answered the phone and you know, you know you shouldn’t have!” He stood up and continued on. “You know, this whole time we’ve been together, all we’ve done is follow your lead. You tell me where to go, you tell me where to sleep, what to eat, what to wear, what to say –” 

“James–”

“No! You do! This whole time you’ve taken charge and while that suits you, have you ever considered how difficult this is for me? You remember everything, you KNOW everything! And I can’t get a word in because you’re too busy handling me!”

Her breath hitched at the last statement he said to her, her back hitting the grimy wall of the small room as inches separated them. Bucky’s eyes were hard and he was frustrated, tired, and so, so confused. 

Handling him.

“I’m trying to protect you.” She whispered, trying desperately not to cry. The infliction in his voice was tough to listen to and the fact that he saw her as nothing more than a handler once more was more painful than the bullets she took for him. She took those bullets for him without a second thought and here they were in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Colombia and he was upset with her because he was struggling? She was struggling! They were struggling together.

“No. We aren’t.” 

Had she said that aloud? The shock had made her thoughts be voiced. Struggling to find her words, he backed away with a groan, shaking his head and shaking off any excuses she had. 

“You aren’t the one who had their memory repeatedly wiped to zero for decades, Lucia!” He spat. Another ache in Lucia’s chest made her cringe, her eyes shutting tight. She was the very reason that happened. 

But she did it for him. Did he not understand that?

“I was in that chair too!” She shouted, “They did it to me too! Do you want me to apologize that they didn’t wipe me enough!?”

Bucky groaned, his hands coming to rub his face at her argument. Lucia tried to level her emotions before she got even meaner, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.  “I am doing this for you, James. I want nothing but for you to be safe—” 

“So we’re hiding in a bathroom in the backwoods because you answered a phone call I told you not to answer?! This isn’t safe— you made us a target!” 

“And what do you want to do, James?” She stepped forward, looking up at him rolling his eyes at her. “What do you want me to do!?” 

He grabbed her shoulders quickly, giving her a gentle shake. “I want you to stop! Just stop!”

Under the green light flickering away, she stared up at him, tears welling in her eyes, a fire in the pit of her stomach. He stared back down at her, eyes narrowed and breath staggered from the outburst. Their breaths were the only sound filling the room as they watched each other, waiting for the other to say something, anything. 

__________________________________

CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH

MAY 30, 1981 

“Оставайтесь на месте.” 

Stay in position. Lucia kept her eyes locked on the Winter Soldier as he stared down the barrel of his sniper rifle, his body still as he crouched on the ground by the opening of the window of the servant’s quarters of the Chittagong Circuit House. From here, he could see President Rahman preparing for bed in his quarters. 

The male voice ordering them in their earpieces was further away, with the rest of the coup. All they were here to do was start it. 

This was the second time the Sparrow had spent any amount of time alone  with the Winter Soldier. They’d been training together, yes, but not a word was spoken between the two. Words were spoken for them, and the tension between the two hung in the small quarters they found themselves in. After the torture they endured for failing the Reagan assasination, this would be a true marker as to being useful. At least for her sake. 

She learned quickly that the Winter Soldier was not a creature of many words. His hard stare was enough to give her chills, but the sound of his screams haunted her every cryo-sleep she was induced to. Using her new powers was proving to be even more difficult than she ever thought. And now they’d trusted – no, were forced – to have the Red Sparrow accompany the Winter Soldier on a mission. 

In the silence, she watched him. 

His eyes were a silvery blue, both jarring yet chillingly inviting to look at. 

His hands were rough and calloused, holding the gun in his arms tight with no rest. 

His mouth was covered by the muzzle they forced them to wear around each other. 

Those cool blue eyes snapped to look over at the girl suddenly, her breath caught in surprise and eyes widening. He’d caught her off guard staring at him. 

The Winter Soldier watched as he startled the girl that was his handler today. Her honey eyes aghast with a hint of fear in them. The way her eyes expressed emotion was jarring, considering her mouth was muzzled with a black mask the same as him. He raised an eyebrow as he realized she had been looking at him the whole time. No other handlers watched him, most ignored him. 

But her gaze had been locked on him since they were released from their cryo chambers. Now she stood there, back against the wall and eyes glued to him without a single word. He almost laughed at her demeanor – he’d scared her. 

The thought, however, didn’t sit right in his stomach. He didn’t want to scare her. 

He tilted his head left, signaling her to come closer. She looked over to her right, unsure at the request. She’d been instructed to watch, not engage, and make sure the Winter Soldier followed through. That was it. 

Wasn’t it? 

With apprehension, she stepped forward, eyebrows knitted in unease. Sensing her anxiety, he extended his hand to her, the shadows casting against the dark walls of the room. She cringed back suddenly, not expecting his hand. A beat passed and she took it, his grip helping her kneel beside him and away from the outside view. He turned away from her, not truly wanting to do so but knowing he had to. She stared at him, almost waiting for something else. 

He sensed it. Reaching his left hand in front of him, he grabbed a pair of binoculars and handed them to her. Nervously, she took them, still watching him. He didn’t look back at her, but pointed the direction of his gun. The Red Sparrow then followed, raising the binoculars to her eyes and finding herself looking at the President of Bangladesh. 

“Дай мне сигнал.”

She froze. His voice was thick, gravelly and warm. She almost couldn’t believe she’d heard him under the silence. But he had asked her to give him the signal. 

So they waited. 

And she obliged. 

It was another half hour until the man started breathing deeply in bed, the rise and fall of his blankets the way she’d been keeping track. She just needed to see the group–

The doors to the President’s quarters burst open and in a split second, she whisper-yelled over to the Winter Soldier.

“Сейчас!” 

He pulled the trigger and retreated his gun and set up in seconds, placing his back against the wall and away from the open window. The sounds of the coup filled the silence of the dark servants quarters as he began to disassemble and put away the rifle, but the sound of his handler’s voice had given him a strange feeling in his chest.

Her Now! resounded like a songbird in the morning, her voice clear and calm but bright and musical. It had been one word and it had been enough to intrigue him. He looked over to his right to see her hiding in a mirror like fashion, eyes closed as the sounds of the coup got louder. There was discomfort in her face. 

Before more words could be exchanged, the male voice in their earpieces had given them the all clear to evacuate the area and make their way to their extraction point. 

The Winter Soldier stood unceremoniously, slinging his belongings over his shoulder and coming to stand in front of the small handler. Her eyes opened slowly, the honey irises looking up at him with worry. Once more, he offered her his hand to stand and she took it this time with less apprehension. He was surprised at the small spark of electricity that shot through his hand as they stayed in contact, only ending when they’d let go. When she’d stood finally, they stayed looking at each other, asking questions with their eyes that neither knew the answer to. 

Suddenly, he spoke again. 

“Спасибо.”

Thank you.

__________________________________

Lucia had to have the last word.

She nodded bitterly, pushing Bucky away from her with all the force she could muster, a slight tingle of electricity jolting his hands off of her. A sound of protest came from him as he watched her stuff her items into her backpack. With no words, she tore up every piece of evidence suggesting they were there and tossed it into the plastic bag the pharmacy gave their items in. Tying a knot, she kicked the door open with both her hands holding items. 

“Where are you going, Lucia?” He asked in an exasperated sigh. She didn’t answer, tossing the plastic bag into the dumpster behind the rest stop. 

The hot tears in her eyes had begun pouring, a reprieve from the sweat stuck to her cheeks. She said nothing as she walked to the bench by the lone street lamp, its decrepit bus stop sign standing beside it. She pulled out a tablet and went to work. 

Bucky watched from the doorway of the bathroom, watching her work on the small device. Understanding he may have hit a nerve, Bucky had no idea what to say or do to remedy the damage done. The feelings he was feeling were too complex for him to decipher in their state of affairs and the day had been so long he wished for nothing more than to sleep on a giant bed with Lucia’s warm body curled up next to him. He sighed, shuffling back inside to gather his own items and follow his companion to the next step. 

Chapter Text

_________________

Doomsday
Lizzy McAlpine

_________________

SILVANA, COLOMBIA
June 2015

“Si giras a la derecha en la bifurcación, llegarás a la carretera principal. Puedes encontrar un aventón allí".

A turn at the fork in the road to find the main highway was simple enough to follow. She gave the sweet older man a smile and gentle thank you, touching his shoulder and giving him an accidental shock. He waved her off, seeming to not have noticed the jolt, and pointed her to that fork mentioned prior. 

She adjusted the straps of her backpack and started walking, waving at the gaggle of gentlemen sitting on their porch near the driveway. They obliged and waved back, exchanging looks between them as a taller, more imposing figure than the small girl followed quietly behind her, not sparing them another glance. 

Lucia sighed as the men faded from view behind them, the sun unforgiving as it beat down on her exposed shoulders. The scars that peppered her skin were fading and lightening with the daily sun exposure they received, and her skin had returned to its original sunkissed shade from a past she couldn’t unlock. She’d looked at herself not too long ago and wondered if this was what she was supposed to look like, if this was a version that could have been. 

Bucky followed quietly behind, sweating profusely. He wore a jacket like a penance, unable to expose himself without blowing his cover. A small but scalding price to pay in their fugitive status. 

They’d hidden in the small towns dotting the road to the next closest city. They used the backpackers cover to the townsfolk they did encounter, and for the ones who kept their distance, Lucia kept them looking approachable. 

In truth, this was the quietest stretch of time the two super soldiers had shared since their muzzled past in cryo. The two had been in their own versions of the silent treatment that they’d given up speaking altogether, simply gesturing if need be to the other. 

Lucia had started digging digitally. They’d found the old research facility to be stripped of any and all documentation. There had to be another location – storage, new offices, new headquarters – and they had to be stored there. If she could find a lead of any kind, that could give her a new road to follow in the maze of her past. 

James had resigned to keeping to himself. The dynamic they had had shifted and he could not bring himself to communicate the concern. He was scared to fight, and he was scared to lose Lucia in the process. He needed her more than she needed him, it seemed, with the ease in which Lucia navigated them through the past two months. He could argue she had him on a leash, but the truth of the matter was that he would not be able to get himself to safety without a buffer like Lucia. 

Besides that, the feelings he felt toward her were very confusing and straight up leaving Lucia felt like the wrong action to take in every way. 

From the research that Lucia was able to do on the road, the research facility tied to her name was moved in the early nineties from Risaralda’s main city to Bogota, the capital city. It was a few days of walking, should they never stop, but she learned quickly after the encounter with Sam Wilson that perhaps pushing the limits of whatever power they have is not good for blending in. 

Aside from blending in, Lucia had to start a new identity for her and James in between cities. She’d been able to get a contact in one of the towns they’d briefly stopped in, a contact that was able to get them a passport and identification. Lucia had chosen Mexican paperwork, knowing her features would not raise suspicion. For James, she’d opted for Canada. His language skills were great, but his English was too crisp to blend in. Canadian English seemed close enough to his dialect, so when she handed the passport book and plastic ID to her mute companion, he only raised an eyebrow as a response. She decided not to dig too deep and turned away from him before another word could be spoken. 

She also kept an eye on the web. Social media was buzzing over something in Europe. Mass destruction of some sort, she was sure the Avengers had something to do with it. Whether or not that was the truth, it was enough to get Sam Wilson off their backs and eyes away from her and her unassuming “backpacking” partner. 

At some point during her musings mid walk, James had matched her step to walk beside her, offering her a half of a carambolo. James watched as a small smile spread across Lucia’s pink lips as he handed it off to her, trying extremely hard not to match the smile but feeling the blush spread through his cheeks. 

Biting off a piece, she could see the fork in the road. Lucia gestured towards the aging green highway sign. James came to a slow stop, sighing as he watched her notice he stopped walking. She had noticed his steps changing and she turned to him, seeing he’d stopped. 

“¿Pasa algo?” Something wrong?

He wiped the sweat off his brow with his long sleeve, looking up at the sky. There were dark clouds coming from the east. The ominous feeling creeping over him like a storm coming was felt in the pit of his stomach.

“No lo sé, la verdad.” I don’t know, to be honest.

There was a beat. Then another. Her heart rate began to race at the implications of his tone of voice. This might be the most they’ve talked to each other in weeks. And truth be told? 

Lucia missed him.

He’d never left her side, but his words had cut deep. And she was sure hers had drawn just as much blood on his end — yet somehow, he stayed. The silent treatment extended longer than either expected and hurt more than they ever imagined.

She followed his line of sight. “Tendremos que parar en algún lugar a la salida de la carretera. Ya lo estoy sintiendo en la piel.” We might have to stop somewhere off the highway. I feel it on my skin. 

Lucia chose to change the subject as her skin pebbled in goosebumps from the electric charge in the air. A storm was coming in the next few hours and they had to find a place to shelter or she could most likely make the area a lightning strike hotspot. 

He noticed the change in subject, but also the faint glow in some of her scars as she began to phase. He took off his pack to fish out a hoodie or long sleeve as she pulled out her little hologram tablet she’d built. Open before her was a hologram of the map, and she used her pointer finger to move the route along for her to calculate arrival to Bogota. 

“Hay una finquita pasando Los Puentes. Allí nos darán una habitación con algunas camas para que podamos dormir a gusto.”There's a little finca past Los Puentes. We'll get a room with some beds so we can sleep comfortably. 

Lucia shut down the device and began to put it away, not looking up from her bag.  “Está lo suficientemente lejos del centro y de la carretera como para no levantar sospechas.”  It's far enough from town and the highway to not cause suspicion. 

She looked up to see James holding out a grey hoodie towards her, his eyes unreadable. 

“Your arms,” Was all he said. Her eyes quickly fell to her shoulders, head swiveling as she looked back and forth between them and seeing the glowing scars. A crack of thunder made them brighten then fade at the sound. She gave him a curt nod, gently taking the jacket and dropping her bag to quickly to pull it on. The smell of him quickly filled her nostrils and she fought the urge to let her eyes roll to the back of her head in delight and relish in it. 

Instead, she zipped it up quickly and gave him the quickest thank you before walking forth.

__________________________________

HYDRA SIBERIAN FACILITY 

SIBERIA, USSR

1981

“It is like flying,” Dr. Zola mused, circling the two Winter Soldiers, “You feel the currents and fight against them.” 

Lucia stared at the blue eyed Winter Soldier as the team around them began to strap him against the chair. He was looking around the room in fear, the metal plate for him to bite down on muffling his noises of discomfort. 

“ Just as you make your way through a maze, you should do so with your power.” 

“I am not understanding,” She’d whispered fearfully, feeling the pain in her hands as the room began conducting her electric field. What she knew at this moment was very little. However, she could see the room had been made to conduct and constrict the electrical field that had taken over her body. She did not know how it worked, but she knew that they had made the room a conductor to have her electrical field at its highest level. Finally, she knew that they wanted her to remove the memories of the man in front of her – the man with the silver arm – but she did not know how she was supposed to complete the task. 

“Unfortunately, there is not a way for me to explain further, little bird,” The doctor sighed, walking away from the two soldiers with a remote in hand. “What I can explain, however, is the consequence of your ignorance.” 

Around them, armed men circled them with their guns pointed directly at Lucia. She sucked in a breath at the sound of the clicks of their prep, fingers ready to pull. 

“It’s simple, truly,” The doctor’s voice came on the loudspeaker, “Erase the memory of the Asset, or we shall erase you.” 

There was a pause as her golden eyes scanned the room around her, taking in the sight of the large artillery and the men poised to shoot them. After hesitating, she looked forward to meeting eyes with the WInter Soldier. 

She knew little of him. He was the Asset. She had sworn to be loyal to him, and to HYDRA. Did she know what that meant? Not really. But her body felt it, fully, and in her head she knew it to be true. But as the electrical field grew louder and stronger, peaks of electrical spurts dancing up and down her body and leaving gashes as a punishment, she watched his eyes wildly plead with her.

Those piercing blue eyes pleaded for mercy. 

At first, she had decided to raise her arms and let the power do whatever she was supposed to do, but she had only shocked him. At the sound of his cry, she yelped, stopping and stepping back. The armed men took a step forward, yelling. 

“Stop!” Zola yelled over the loudspeaker. “02, focus! THINK!”

Her breathing was labored as her wide eyes stayed anchored to the Asset’s eyes, watching tears fill them in pain. Her stomach ached at the sight. 

She had to think, and fast. How could this work? How could she manipulate the energy she created to wipe memories from the brain? 

You rearrange the neuron paths. You redirect them, like redirecting energy.

Unsure where this small voice had come from, she took a step forward. Trying to make sense of the request, she felt in her mind’s eye she had to touch him. Her hand, shaking, lifted upwards.

At the next step, the armed man furthest away began to yell. 

“DO NOT TAKE ONE MORE STEP, 02!” 

She did not listen, only her hands began to power up slowly. She moved with gentle leisure, watching the Asset struggle against his binds. He was shaking his head to urge her away, but she shook her head in response, putting her hands up. 

02 had reached the small distance between her and 01, placing her hands on either side of his head and hovering a little over his ears. As if asking for permission, she looked down at the Asset, a determined look in her eyes. It was silly to think, she needed permission. This was what she was made for. 

Accepting whatever she had proposed, 01 shut his eyes in anticipation, eyebrows knitting together and hot tears rolling down his face. 

Charging up her hands to her maximum, she dug her fingers into his skull and shut her glowing eyes to concentrate. 

The sound of screams were not enough to interrupt the little bird from learning how to fly.

_____________________________

FINCA VILLA LILIANA

Silvania, Colombia

“¿Una sola cama?”

Lucia stared incredulously at the very young teenager managing the front desk, her gum chewing irritating her almost as much as the offer they’d just given her. The teenager merely blew her a bubble to pop as a response, staring back with disinterest. 

One bed. Ten rooms and the one room they had open only had one bed. 

She broke her staring contest with a sigh, looking back at her companion. He’d preoccupied himself by watching the rain fall from the large bay window in the tiny lobby. His face looked serene, entranced by the sound, the smell, the view of the rain coming down the greenery of the rainforest around the finca. 

Lucia weighed her options. The rain was far too heavy for them to even walk to hitch a ride to the city. It was late in the day, and by the time they reached the highway again, night would have fallen. 

Then there was the size. James was a massive man. He towered over her and took up a lot of space even as they walked in step together.  

Besides that, they’d never actually shared a bed. 

Sure, he’d slept on the floor before. But only on an air mattress or cot – the hotels and hostels they’d stayed in were enough for two people to sleep comfortably. She took in the deepest of breaths, massaging her forehead as she turned back to the disinterested teenager waiting on her response. 

“¿Y no hay nada más?” And there’s nothing else, She asked once more, almost pleading. “¿Alguna vacante esta noche?” Any vacancies, even tonight?

The teenager shook her head slowly, blowing another bubble in her direction as if challenging her to say otherwise. With a haughty smirk she looked back down onto her computer to seemingly check again. “Perdimos una cama por las inundaciones de a principios de esta semana.” We lost the extra bed in the room to the flooding earlier this week. 

Looking back at Lucia, she slid a key towards her and grabbed the cash directly beside it on the counter. A sly smile bloomed on the young inn keeper’s face as she gestured towards James at the window. “La cama de la habitación libre es un poco más grande, tú y tu novio se sentirán cómodos.”

The bed in the room is a little bigger than a twin, you and your boyfriend will be comfortable.

James turned from the window so fast he collided with the pair of two chairs in the lobby, the chairs falling over at hearing what the teen had said. With a full blown mischievous grin, the girl looked away from the handsome man at the window, losing his composure back to his partner in front of her, watching the red spread through her cheeks as she blinked quickly. The teenager fought a laugh as she realized she may have insinuated incorrectly, misreading their mannerisms with each other. 

Lucia had no response to the boyfriend bit, left utterly speechless by the teen at the counter.  She did, however, tell her to keep the change and requested directions to the room to get away from her as fast as she could. 

Now in their room, Lucia and Bucky stood beside each other, staring down at the no larger than a full sized bed in the center of the room. The silence was heavy, only the sound of heavy rain filling the space. It was comical, really. The tiny bed and the two in front of it. 

With a sigh, she turned away from James and walked to the open area on the floor, dropping her bag on the ground. 

“I’ll sleep on the floor. It is not a big deal.” 

“Lucia–” 

“Do not talk me out of it,” She said quickly, arms up and turning to fight whatever James was going to say only to find him inches apart from her. Her breath caught in her throat before she could say anything else, her honey eyes meeting his hard stare. Her arms hovered for a moment. 

“Neither of us are sleeping on the floor,” Bucky firmly responded. He gulped. “We’ll share.”

Neither of them moved. They stayed watching each other, almost waiting for who would get in first. It wasn’t the first time they’d ever been this close, no. But that wasn’t for survival. 

This was different. It felt different. There was the tension from their fight, and the tension that had been there even before, crackling like a fire needing more fuel. 

Lucia swallowed, not missing Bucky’s eyes flicker between her lips and her gaze before taking a step back and breaking their eye contact. She shakily replied, “Okay. I’ll go on the right.” 

“I’ll be on your left.” He agreed, gently placing his hand on the small of her back. Her spine tingled at the touch, Lucia shutting her eyes away from him in response. She merely nodded fervently and let herself be led to her side of the bed before he let her go unceremoniously. 

No words were exchanged as they stripped their clothes, getting comfortable enough to sleep but covered enough to retain modesty between them. Once changed, they undid the sheets and blanket and slid under them, adjusting themselves with only the sound of rustling fabric. 

The fanfare of preparation ended and the two were silent once more, side by side in the bed, backs against the mattress and the sound of the rain making them both feel the tiredness wash over them. They’d been walking for days now, and this bed was almost too comfortable to truly think of the past month. 

“We’re friends, right?” 

Lucia dared not look over at James as he had mused aloud. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling to watch the shadows dance with the lightning show. She mulled over the question for a few moments, remembering the last time he’d asked this. It was fresh out of being pulled out of the Potomac. It was fresh after a memory wipe she’d been responsible for. 

And it was just before their first kiss. 

“I’m your partner.” She responded curtly, remembering their fight just weeks ago. The way the words cut into her like a knife made her more cautious of the kind of companionship they had been growing. Maybe, as Pierce had said to her so long ago, maybe it was all in her head. 

“But are we friends?” 

She shut her eyes in pain. She didn’t like this feeling. The feeling of her stomach falling out of her body, the sinking feeling in her chest. They weren’t friends, they couldn’t be. She was handling him still, she was making this all the reality she wanted it to be and she had promised to help him find himself when all she’d been doing was covering for herself –

“I care about you.” Lucia responded quickly to drown out the spiraling thought in her head. With this response she turned away from him, back facing him and closing herself off. 

It was quiet for a long time. Long enough of a time for the sound of rain to become a lulling melody to drift her off to sleep. Minutes, perhaps hours had passed before Lucia felt the weight of her tiredness hit her and she started fluttering her eyes to close. In the moments before succumbing to the sleep that wanted to take her so badly, she heard James speak once more. At this point, she highly debated if she even had heard him, or if she’d already begun dreaming. 

But the words were clear. They were final. 

“Я забочусь о тебе больше, чем о друге.” 

I care more than a friend.

Chapter Text

____________________

UPSTATE NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

AVENGERS COMPOUND

June 10, 2015

“I understand this is eating at you, but you don’t have to read the Accords more than once to understand them.”

Natasha gave a small smile in response as Steve settled beside her, his chair sliding quietly against the kitchen’s hardwood floor. The black widow handed the Captain an opened beer bottle, taking a long sip of her own as he accepted. 

“You know this stuff doesn’t do much,” He quipped, giving her a playful nudge. 

She shrugged, returning his nudge with a cheshire smile. “I figured you’d still like to be included.”

Steve didn’t expect the answer, but he gave a chuckle nonetheless. “I guess I do,” He sighed. They stared off, eyes settling onto various items in the brand new kitchen. It seemed far too large for him and Natasha, too cold and too uninviting. He wondered what would make him feel more at home. A silly thought, perhaps, as home hasn’t been something the Captain has thought of as a concrete place in a long time. Home was anywhere Bucky was, his family. Furrowing his brow, the thought of Bucky away from the comfort of a home was suddenly on his mind. 

“Still worried about Barnes, aren’t you?” 

This snapped Steve out of his thoughts, slightly surprising him. He turned to his friend, finding her eyes on him mischievously. She always seemed to know what he was thinking – but it could just be his fully transparent way of being. Natasha did always say he was an open book. He laughed, taking another sip as she reached for a bag of chips in the center of the table. 

“Always. He was my best friend.” 

“Still is,” She replied, a crunch in response, “He’s alive, as far as we know. Thanks to his little friend.” 

Natasha was leading the conversation, that was easy to tell. She wanted his thoughts, which made him want to laugh at his prior statement of being an open book. And truth be told, he hadn’t had too much time to think about the pair. Of course, he’d thought of Bucky, but he had not thought of the girl too much. 

That was also a lie. While much of his time had been consumed by the Sokovia incident and finding and training the new Avengers – when Sam had come back from Colombia with information, he was just as interested in the mysterious girl. 

Her name was Lucia. She had been a doctor in the 1970s. She went missing. That’s where the story of her past ends. The concrete findings of her involvement with the Super Soldier Program HYDRA were hard to find, their perfect little secret. With that data dump that Natasha had enacted nearly a year ago, it was still hard to discern the facts and the hearsay. 

“I guess so.” 

There was a beat, then another. Natasha stared at the bottle in her hands as if she was considering her next thought. Steve had learned to not rush her, that the Black Widow would come in due time with her next move, her next statement, but as the silence dragged, he felt maybe she needed a push. 

“You know something.” 

“Something would be an understatement.” Natasha sighed, rubbing her forehead. “She has some enemies. Not including me.” 

“Oh?” Steve raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at his coy response, readjusting herself in her seat. 

“Stories for another time. Let’s just say the Red Room was not the place for a little bird.” 

“Noted.”

“But there’s rumors here and there,” She continued on, “Someone is looking for a winter soldier. Don’t have a name, don’t have a location, but i do have a target.” 

“Her.” 

“Absolutely. Whoever is looking for these wants to get rid of her, and Barnes.” 

Steve sighed, swirling the beer in his bottle with caution. 

“Looks like we should try and find them soon before someone else does.”

_______________________________

Dawn Chorus

Thom Yorke

_________________________________

Lucia groaned as the sun streamed in through the gossamer curtains. Rubbing her eyes, she shifted to new comfort against the warmth under her body, her free hand resting on the cotton of the sheets. 

With groggy blinks, her vision settled on that free hand, her fingers clutching onto the cotton–

Not a sheet. 

Not a cotton sheet.

Cotton boxers.

She swallowed a scream and tensed up immediately, finally waking up and realizing her whole body pressed against James’s torso, her leg over his near his midsection as he lay on his back with her head on his chest. 

His bare chest.

Before she could jump out of bed, James blearily groaned, his huskiest morning voice slurring, “Come back, birdie.” 

Her eyes widened as he shifted his arm under her waist and pulled her nearly on top of him, that arm caging her while the other gripped onto her bare thigh over his own. She gulped, their cores nearly touching as he got comfortable on his side. Trying to steady her breathing, her eyes shut tight, she tried her best to relax in his grip while getting him to wake up. 

“James.” 

No response, just a small snore in return. 

“James.” 

Silence, but a tightened embrace. 

“Bucky.” 

He opened his eyes at this, the foreign nickname on her tongue. His clear blue eyes found her honey irises and softened, a lazy smile spreading on his cheeks. 

“Hey, honey.” 

This caused a strange sensation in her stomach, down to her legs. He was looking straight at her, not noticing her deer in headlights look as she stared at him, frozen. James furrowed his brow as she didn’t respond. He used the hand on her waist to give her a slight squeeze –

“Oh.”

Neither of them moved. He had realized he’d moved her close, too close to his body, so close that he could count the sun freckles on her cheeks. Their breathing synched, Lucia’s arms pebbling with goosebumps. 

They’d gone to sleep on opposite ends of the bed, miraculously able to leave a sliver of space in between. How had they come to be so close to each other in such a short amount of time? 

James knew the answer. He was a light sleeper when trying to fall asleep, and as soon as Lucia had begun to snore, she inched her way closer and closer until her hand found his waist and pulled him in. 

In her sleep, she wanted to be as close to him as possible. 

Awake, she couldn’t even look him in the eye.

Cautiously, he caressed her thigh with the hand holding it, testing the waters. Her breath hitched, caught in her throat as his rough fingers dragged down her tan skin. He relaxed his grip on her waist and found her leaning against him now, not flinching away. 

He started making his hand slide upwards now, reaching uncharted territory near the edges of her panty line. His eyes never left hers as he did so, watching as she closed her eyes with a flutter. The hand that had left her waist ghosted under her sleep shirt and sent a chill up her back. 

Lucia swallowed again. With a furrow of her brows, she tentatively put her free hand on his chest, her fingers cold against his warm skin. He shivered but stopped as he sensed her body stiffen at his hand underneath her shirt. She opened her eyes to meet his. 

Neither knew what to say. Gold met blue as their eyes searched for the right words to finally say something to each other, to finally bury the tension that had held thick for so long. 

“James-“

”Lucia-“ 

“LIMPIEZA!”

The abrupt knock at the door and startling female voice booming from the other side to announce housekeeping was enough to scare both of the super soldiers. So much so that Lucia had shocked Bucky away from him, sending her tumbling to the floor and him grunting in discomfort at his chest being electrocuted. Lucia quickly fought against the sheets that had tangled her in the ground and pulled herself up on the edge of the bed, her light brown hair sticking to her forehead and flailing around her like a halo. 

“Por favor, regrese un poco más tarde!” She answered breathlessly, asking the woman at the door to return later. The sound of retreating steps and a cart rolling away was enough to let the two know that she had heeded Lucia’s request. 

There was a beat of silence as the two looked finally met eyes once more, James in disbelief and Lucia frazzled. 

A grin stretched from Bucky’s lips as he watched Lucia’s hair stuck in her mouth, the sight of her eliciting a chuckle that grew into full blown laughter. He threw his head back as she narrowed her eyes at him. 

“Are you-“ She removed the hair from her face, “Are you laughing at me?” 

This made him laugh harder, laying back on the bad with his face towards the ceiling and his hands clutching his stomach. The sound of his laughter was contagious, and Lucia’s offense morphed into a giggle, gradually joining him in his belly laughs. She pushed the sheets away from her on the floor and lay her back on it, shutting her eyes as tears formed from the laughter.

The two realized they’d never laughed like this before. 

As it died down, with Lucia wiping her eyes and James rolling over to find her on the floor, they grinned at each other. 

“The rain stopped,” James mused, a piece of his bangs falling over his eyes. Lucia’s head turned to the open window to see the rustling jungle drenched in sun. She turned her head back up to him, nodding. 

“So it seems.”

They stayed quiet for a second, their eyes softening. 

James looked away for a moment, eyes on the ground. She sat up, putting her forearm beside him on the bed. 

“I’m sorry,” He sighed.

She sucked in a breath, her eyebrows furrowed.

Bucky followed her gaze. “I’m sorry I was so harsh. You’re my partner. We’re supposed to be in this together.” 

He reached for her face and cupped her cheek with his flesh hand, raising it to meet his eye level as she started shaking her head in protest. “I feel - I just feel like you’ve got this. And I have no clue what I’m doing.” 

Her hand reached for his on her face, giving it a light squeeze. “I do not know what I’m doing, James.” 

With a laugh escaping his lips, he pulled her close enough to rest his forehead against hers. Shutting his eyes, he responded, “Regardless. I’m sorry I said you were handling me. You aren’t. I just stopped doing my part and you had to pick up the slack.” 

Lucia’s eyes closed as she sighed. “I’m doing my best, but you didn’t abandon me, James.” Their eyes met again. She continued, “You have my back. You stayed, even in the unknown of this whole thing. You’re my partner.”

Feeling brave, she inched closer, rubbing noses accidentally. “I’m sorry I answered the phone and blew our cover. But I will never stop protecting you.” 

James smiled. “And I, you.” 

He filled the space between with a gentle kiss. The first in months, in weeks - and just as heavenly as the ones before. Grinning into her lips, he grabbed her face in his hands and pulled her back into bed, letting her get comfortable under the covers once more and deepening their kiss. A soft sigh escaped her as his hands found her waist, rubbing circles on the exposed skin. Her hands found themselves at the nape of his neck, pulling gently at his longer locks. Bucky groaned, breaking the kiss and resting his forehead on hers as he caught his breath. 

Lucia hooked her leg over his, her nails scratching his scalp as she enjoyed his body close to hers. She closed her eyes, his breath tickling her face, a small smile growing across her flushed cheeks as he slotted himself inside the space inside her neck. His lips pressed a barely there kiss to her skin, tickling Lucia for a moment with a breathy chuckle. 

The smell of rain lingered in the breeze of the open window. The sun shone brightly, and the cicadas sang in the silence of the comfort between two soldiers finding peace between themselves.

________________

CLEVELAND, OHIO
JUNE 19th, 2015

The sound of machinery is what pulls Vasily Karpov out of his hunger endured trance as he had just begun to savor his meal at the table. The smell of his home cooked meal was almost enough for him to ignore the sound of a crash, but Karpov had spent enough time in this country to know that information of any kind was good to have. That, or that being nosy was perfectly acceptable in America. 

He peered through the cracks of his blinds, looking out to his residential street to see a gentleman cursing at the sight of what Karpov only assumed was his car crumpled against the bumper of the car the man was cursing at outside. 

Agitated at the sight, he groaned and went to the door as a knock from the gentleman sounded through the empty house. He pulled it open a crack, still distrustful after all these years. 

The man was clean cut, with kind eyes and obvious concern. He sighed as the door opened. 

“Hello? Is this your car out front?” 

Karpov said nothing for a moment, his eyes taking a quick glance to his left where a gun sat ready near the door on a shelf. 

Sensing the unease, the man gestured to the crash. “I jumped the curb - I -“ He trailed off, running his hand through his hair in worry. “Maybe we could take care of it ourselves. If you wanna call the cops that-that’s okay too, I guess.” 

The gentleman was very frazzled, but at the thought of police, Karpov shook his head. “No. No cops.” 

With a sigh of relief, the gentleman watched as the older man in the crack of the door closed it tentatively, hearing him slide multiple locks off the door to open it properly. 

“Thank you so much,” he said as we waited. 

With one last lock unlocked, Vasily opened the door with his eyes on the ground to let the man in. 

All the easier it was for Helmut Zemo to punch Vasily Karpov in his own home to find the Red Sparrow’s Hydra Book.

Chapter Text

_________________ 

Where is My Mind?
The Pixies

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UNKOWN LOCATION, USSR

OCTOBER 11 1991

Buildings were on fire all around them. A simple extraction of the rest of the information Karpov had instructed them to get to their base before “it all went to shit” had turned into more than the two soldiers anticipated. A raid had been scheduled, unbeknownst to them, and the compound where the files they’d come to retrieve had been housed was immediately targeted. 

“Черт, черт, черт!” Shit, shit, shit! 02 cursed through gritted teeth, rubbing the soot from her goggles. On her heels was 01, gun close to his body and making sure her path was clear as they evaded the wreckage falling all around them. The blue haired soldier was quick, jumping over the remains of the buildings spilling out into the back alleyway in which they came from. She looked back at him, a twinge of anxiety in her glassy eyes. 

“Двигайся, я держу тебя!” Keep moving, I’ve got you! He yelled over the sound of the raid continuing. Another bomb went off behind them in the distance. The Red Sparrow yelped, turning to her right as she kept her speed. 

When they turned, they slid to a stop. Their path was blocked with a toppled wooden building burning brightly. The creaking noise of another building beside it about to fall had the blue haired girl whip her head at the noise. In a moment, the building began to collapse above them and she grabbed onto her large, burly partner, wrapping his arms around her midsection. He knew what she was doing and he crouched with her, holding on tight. 

Her hands came up and she shouted, exerting an electrical force field and shielding them from the debris that was coming for them. It slid away from the curve of her protective current like an umbrella over them, and her arms shook at the strength it was taking to hold it as it kept coming, more and more falling. 

“Найди альтернативный маршрут!” Find an alternate route! She shouted through her clenched teeth, struggling to stay upright. The Winter Soldier surveyed his surroundings and saw an opening in the route they’d came from. He waited a moment then tugged at her, pushing her forward and away from the debris that continued to fall. She saw it immediately and used the current once more to push it open wider. 

They slid through, onto the open street, looking for a getaway car —

BANG!

A bomb went off nearly inches beside them. The Winter Soldier cried out at the sight of the light before the sound next to his Red Sparrow and pulled her backpack towards him, tightening his arms around her already touched by the explosive body. 

The explosion was searing over her body, the burns she knew she’d sustained stinging every inch of her left side. Rolling once, twice with a burly body over her and the asphalt under her, her vision adjusted slowly, the smell of burning flesh and metal heavy in her nostrils. Her eyes darted around until they focused on a face, hovering above her. 

Holding himself up with one arm, the other cradling the back of her head, he gave her a shake. She blinked again, eyes focusing on the grey flecks of his eyes, then the stubble on his chin and his chocolate locks falling around them. He was saying something but she was unable to make it out for a few moments as the ringing decreased. He was speaking, then he was yelling—

“Птичка! Посмотри на меня, посмотри на меня, птичка. Вот здесь. Я здесь.” 

Birdie! Look at me, look at me birdie. Right here. I’m right here.

There was no answer for a moment, and he couldn’t stop his heavy breathing to listen for hers. The Red Sparrow had attempted to blink but hadn’t opened her eyes back again. His grip on her head tightened and he sat on his haunches, his metal hand coming to pull up her waist. 

After a moment, she squinted, a groan rolling from her chest. He breathed a sigh of relief, searching her barely open eyes.

“Бомба,” Bomb, She said lamely. He awarded her a choked laugh, pulling her against him gingerly in a makeshift embrace. 

The Red Sparrow sighed into his warmth, the pain of the burn just as intense as the burn in her chest at the affection.

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BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

JUNE 2015

A dirty blonde leaned against the railing outside of a Starbucks in the deep downtown area of Bogota, commuters dashing to make their way to their lunch destinations before their break time was up bustling around her. Sipping her drink, her wired headphones dangled as she bopped her head, her eyes darting underneath her polarized sunglasses. 

“Ves algo?”

Bucky’s voice was smooth in her headphones. Her covered eyes flitted to her right across the square they were in to see her partner sitting on a bench near the fountain in the center, watching as he “read” the newspaper in his hand and wireless headphones in his ears. He didn’t look in her direction, but knew he had a visual on her.  

She shook her head conspicuously, taking another sip of her drink. 

They’d located the new headquarters of the company Lucia worked for in the 70s and finally made their way to the capital city of Bogota. All they needed was to make it in to the building, but as stealthily as possible. 

Bucky had suggested she just use her powers to manipulate any system, but she knew it would just draw more attention to herself. In her research - surprisingly, an instagram “day in the life” video with way too much information- she had found that they use a key card to make it through security. Looking through the company portal, she did her best to find the person that looked the most like her, and began to tail them. 

Funnily enough, their social media was incredibly active. It was easy to figure out their routine, their daily schedule, what department they worked in - and here they were, on a usual day for Ana Gonzalez to pick up her daily triple americano with no cream and two sugars. 

“Gonzalez on your 2.” 

Lucia pointed their target out to Bucky, who quickly put up his paper and folded it under his arm as he came to stand. Sure enough, a dirty blonde in a similar lab outfit to Lucia’s was walking down the square, eyes on her phone as she frantically texted. Her keycard was clipped to her lapel, swinging with her step. Bucky gave Lucia a curt nod in her direction as quickly turned back around to the bench he’d just left to grab the bag he’d strategically left. 

Seeing the signal, Lucia pushed off the railing and started walking towards the scene about to happen. 

With Bucky’s quick turn, he bent over to grab his bag - just perfectly in the way of Ana Gonzalez as she was still texting and not paying attention. As perfect as possible, she completely ran into Bucky’s back side, knocking her phone, wallet, and clip-on key card towards the ground. Bucky then stuck his foot out to completely trip her and send her downwards. 

Taking a shallow breath, Lucia was close enough to them. 

“Oye, pero que coño!” What the fuck, dude! Lucia yelled at Bucky, swiftly coming to the girl’s aid on the ground. Offended, she looked up at Bucky. ”Mira por donde vas, estúpido!” Watch where you’re going, stupid!

Bucky feigned offense at well, but with confusion. “I’m sorry-I’m so sorry. I don’t speak -“ 

Lucia helped Ana Gonzalez up and handed her her cell phone. “Y para variar, es foreano. Coño.” And of course he’s a foreigner, she gestured to Bucky to sympathize with Ana and make her feel comfortable, fucking hell.

Ana laughed as she brushed herself off, giving Lucia a grateful look for coming to her help. Lucia also offered her her wallet and she took it, side eyeing Bucky as he walked off, embarrassed. “Muchas gracias, hermana,” Ana thanked Lucia, “Puros idiotas los foreanos.” 

Lucia laughed and nodded, waving her hand up to signal her leave, “Por lo menos gastan su plata aquí.” At least they spend their money here.

Starting to walk off in the opposite direction, Ana gave her another chuckle and started her way back to Starbucks, “Eso si. Muchas gracias!” At least. Thanks again!

Lucia gave her another wave as she made her way across the square, finally turning away from her as she made her turn towards the laboratory building. Ana walked away none the wiser, one key card less in her possession. Bucky had only walked a few feet away, behind the fountain and way from their line of sight. Peering over her sunglasses, Lucia adjusted her bag on her shoulder, clutching the key card against her palm and flashing it towards him. 

Bucky gave her a smug grin and he made his way to the car they’d hotwired to drive here, parked in the parking garage across the way from the lab. 

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CLEVELAND, OHIO
JUNE 2015

A sledgehammer sat on the table where Karpov’s food had gone cold. Said Karpov was now hanging upside down from the pipes of the basement of his suburban home, watching as Zemo helped himself to the files, documents, and books in the hole in the wall he’d hidden for years. 

“You have kept your looks, Colonel,” Zemo mused, looking at a photo of Karpov in his military uniform and beret inside a file. “Congratulations.” 

Karpov’s head was in a sink, the water slowly filling it. Zemo took a calculated step towards the sink, “Mission report: December 16, 1991.” 

“Who are you?” Karpov sputtered. 

Not bothering to look at him, Zemo kept reading. “My name is Zemo. I will repeat my question. Mission report: December 16, 1991.” 

“How did you find me?” 

Zemo rolled his eyes, annoyed at the man before him resisting. “When SHIELD fell, Black Widow released HYDRA files to the public.” He glanced at the pages scattered all around him. “Millions of pages, much of it encrypted and not easy to decipher.” 

He took a step away as he divulged into his thoughts. “But I have experience. And patience.” Zemo took another glance at the man in the sink. 

”A man can do anything if he has those.” 

There was a beat. Karpov would not budge. “What do you want?” 

“Mission report: December 16, 1991.” 

The water was rising. “Go. To. Hell.” 

Zemo leaned on the sink, sighing. He shuts the water off, taking a look at the pitiful man’s face as it was close to too far gone. 

“HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me.” He leaned down towards him, mocking him, “But I’d have to use this book and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don’t look forward to that.” 

He pushes away from the sink. “You’d only be dying for your pride.” 

Nothing happens for a few moments. Karpov stays silent. He refuses to assist Zemo with his plan, whatever it may be. If anything, he may not be able to. It had been years, decades. 

So he was going to do what he’d been trained to do. 

Zemo sighed, then nodded in resignation. Vasily Karpov had chosen. He turned the faucet on and began to gather the work he needed. 

Finding the object of his search in a file buried deep, he stared at the photo of a blue haired girl with large honey eyes. 

Karpov’s final words bubbled with water as he dangled and struggled, strained. 

“Hail HYDRA.” 

_______________

With a small beep, the turnstile allowed her to pass, security none the wiser. She’d grabbed a lab coat from someone’s tote bag near the sliding doors to the building and quickly slid it on, clipping the keycard to her lapel. 

She made her way quickly through the hallways, keeping to her phone as the others around her did as well. 

“Bueno?” 

She feigned a phone call to verify Bucky was still on the line. 

Lucia had left Bucky with a tablet in the car. Via phone, he would guide her through to the lab Ana works for, avoiding any obstacles or any chance of suspicion. 

“We’re in the clear so far.” Bucky said, watching the split screen before him. While he wasn’t technologically savvy, Lucia had given him a crash course of the plan and how to use the tablet. She’d also set it up for him. Little troubleshooting on his part. “Keep walking this hallway and then take a left. The elevators are there, go to the basement.” 

“Si, aquí nomas en el trabajo.” With her yes, she started walking towards the elevators, still feigning a phone call. “Pero ya mero se acaba mi día.” 

Bucky kept his eyes on the cameras. Nothing out of the ordinary. He waited patiently as Lucia made her way to the least used elevators on the floor - their tendency to break down was notorious and rendered them useless to the staff. 

As the crowd thinned, Lucia rounded the corner towards the elevators. “Y luego? Que paso después?” 

And then? What happened after? Bucky deciphered the words she said as her signal. He watched as Lucia pressed the button to the elevator and flicked her wrist towards the fire alarm nearby. 

“Alright, I’m running the alarm now.” 

Bucky pressed the button she’d set up that would set every fire alarm in the building as she stepped into the open elevator. This would start the building evacuation, allowing Lucia at least 30 minutes of time to get into the main frame and extract the information she needed, with no one in the building. 

Lucia stepped into the elevator just as it shut down, the fire alarm blaring in her ears. She winced. 

“Anyone left in the building, Bucky?” She whispered, powering up her hands and starting the elevator back up again with a grunt. 

“Just a few stragglers coming down the stairs but its just you now, birdie.” 

She nodded, a flush in her cheeks at the name. She watched as the elevator went down a few floors, finally reaching the main basement floor. It opened with a quiet ding, the blaring fire alarm a muffled beep in the distance. Lucia stepped out to see filing cabinets far as the eye could see, the main computer servers buzzing louder at her electrical signature. 

“This is a lot, James.” Lucia breathed, overwhelmed. 

“You have at least 20 minutes, Lucia.” 

She nodded to no one in particular, and started her search.

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Chapter Text

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Hearing Damage
Thom Yorke

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SOVIET UNION

DECEMBER 1991

“There was no need to program her this way.” 

The Colonel and 02’s handler watched as Lucia struggled against the binds that strapped her down to the cryogenic chamber as it prepped her for her freeze. Colonel Karpov shook his head. 

“That serum Stark created was a failure,” He said, his accent heavy, “And we were holding all our cards on the table for it to work.” 

02’s handler looked away as she thrashed, the med team unable to get the syringes to put her to sleep in her arms. “I guess I just don’t understand what Stark’s serum and 02 have in common. We were going to get rid of her at some point.” 

A small chuckle escaped the Colonel’s lips as he kept his eyes ahead. “The connection between serum Stark creates and our Red Sparrow is that her power came from reaction to the serum as a machine electrocuted her. A one in a million event.” 

He took a step back, grabbing the notebook 02 had scribbled her musings, findings, and thoughts - tossing it at her handler. “She was then molded into the weapon she was tasked in creating. The end outweighs the means.” 

The handler opened the book tentatively, with a glance at Karpov as he went on his tangent. Karpov continued. 

“The two winter soldiers - because that is what she is - grew a bond that would prove fruitful if one chose to use it. Unfortunately, those who have come before you and I have not seen the potential.” 

“I still do not understand, Colonel,” The handler interrupted, shutting the book and looking up at him. Karpov sighed. 

“The two winter soldiers are two halves of the one whole - what one lacks, the other provides.” 

The Handler tilted his head. Karpov looked over at 02 once more. “The Winter Soldier does not have the capacity to understand the environment around him without the Red Sparrow. She guides him, makes him use his mind to expand it.” 

“And 02?” 

Karpov smiled as the thrashing girl’s body stilled, head falling back as the sleeping serum had finally been administered. “The Red Sparrow was made to supplement the Winter Soldier. However, she lacks the strength and mental flexibility to rival the Winter Soldier.”

”So this book…?” 

“The book is an illusion of freedom, but a supplement to HYDRA. She believes the stakes are different for her. She knows her futile existence but cannot act. She only knows her place in her role.”

It takes a few moments before The Handler says anything else, taking in the information. 

“And Stark’s serum?” 

“The serum, my friend,” Karpov waves his finger towards The Handler, “The serum was a way to expand what we know with our two control subjects. In a way, 02 is keeping track of our experiment. And 01 is putting our subjects in practice.” 

“And you needed this to work-“ 

“To expand. To create. Ultimately, to destroy.” 

The Handler said nothing once more, almost as if ending the conversation there. They turned to watch the cryo-freeze begin. 

“Why not just use their DNA to make our own serum?” 

He turned to the Colonel, who smiled warmly at him. “You ask why I program her with a kill switch for the Winter Soldier, then ask why not use her DNA.” The Colonel steps towards the Handler, arms behind his back. 

“You do not make more until they are perfect. And they will be. In time.” 

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UPSTATE NEW YORK
AVENGERS’ CAMPUS

“Cap, I really do think she has this handled.” 

Steve and Sam sat in the common area of the Avengers’ Compound, the lights dim in the night. Sam hadn’t been able to talk to Steve face to face for the past few weeks, what with the Ultron events coming to pass and the rush to assemble a new team overtaking their goose hunt for the two winter soldiers. Now, in the lucky strike of calm for a moment, Steve sighed, leaning back and rubbing his face with his hand.

”Handled or not,” the captain groaned, “They are not safe out there. Look at what happened with Ultron, with Wanda and Pietro.” 

Sam leaned forward, eyebrow raised. “Be specific.”

”You said so yourself in your report,” He answered, reaching for the file Sam had prepared for him weeks ago. He read off the first page, “Unclear if able to control powers, motivated by James Barnes’s influence.” 

“What does that have to do with Wanda and Pietro?” 

Steve looked around, trying to make sure no one was around. He loved Wanda like a sister, and did not want to hurt her further than she already was. He leaned forward, elbows on his thighs and looking keenly at Sam. ”Wanda lost full control of her powers when her emotions were at an all time high. What happens if something happens to Buck? Can she be trusted to be out there, wherever they are, around civilians?” 

Sam didn’t like his tone. “Have you considered your best friend may also hold the same intensity for this girl as she does him?”

Narrowing his eyes, Steve rebutted. “He doesn’t have an electrical current running through his body.” 

“But he’s destroyed an entire fleet of SHIELD transport.” Sam countered, crossing his arms. “And you’ve seen the way he looks at her. Like he’d die for her. Like he’d kill for her.” 

Steve was shaking his head at his words. Something dawned on Sam as he watched his friend completely ignore his valid points, watching as his jaw tightened and his fists clenched. 

“Hey bud,” Sam said after a moment, “What is actually the problem here?” 

The blonde super soldier said nothing for another stretch, and Sam slowly broke into a small smile, widening as he knew he was putting pieces together of something even Steve wouldn’t say aloud. 

“Cap…are you jealous?”

”Captain Rogers and Mr. Wilson, Miss Romanoff has returned from her mission with Miss Maximoff.” 

FRIDAY had cut Sam off before confirming his suspicions were true. But the look Steve gave him as he stood from the couch and didn’t offer him a hand up was enough to let Sam know he was onto something. 

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BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
JUNE 2015

Lucia started looking through the cabinets quickly, yanking the old metallic from their silver handles and rifling through the alphabetized files. She’d searched for some sort of computer, where files had been digitized, but none was in this vicinity, and she was almost sure that it would not be something easily found. So finding the L’s, the A’s, and the C’s, the three letters that could have anything to do with her, she flitted her eyes at an inhuman speed from drawer to drawer. 

The sound of open, shuffle, and close was becoming repetitive. “Bucky talk to me, anything?” 

On the other end, Bucky kept an eye on the cameras. The alarms were still blaring, the staff waiting outside the building. “Still evacuated, no sign of the fire department.’’

She sighed, crouching down to the last L cabinet and ran her scarred fingers over the tops of the files, looking at each individual label. There had to be something. Anything. 

There was an odd sense of familiarity. She’d been in this situation before - on the run, in a basement, looking for information. The difference may just be the pressure was being found out by the building itself, and not by HYDRA. With a shiver at the memory of Rumlow grabbing her by the hair and dangling her above rubble, her hands hurriedly pulled through files. 

The M’s began and she cursed, kicking the drawer closed. She took a few steps back and started looking for any sign of age on the cabinets themselves. These had to be too recent - most of the labels were clear and clean, no sign of aging or decay. 

Starting with a light jog, she began scanning the room for anything old. It would be highly unlikely information on anything from her time before would be well preserved. Her golden eyes went from left to right, quickly cataloging her surroundings before squinting at the machinery of the network servers. A few shelves near the far right wall caught her eyes, hidden behind the towers of internet cables. Her jog became a sprint and she nearly crashed into the broken desk hidden behind the tower. There were hundreds of papers scattered, stacked to the brims of the shelves on the wall, file boxes brown from age and tearing of deterioration littering the spaces in between. A small bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as she began reaching from the top, stretching her arms over her head and on her tip toes. 

1978. 1977. 

“Oh my god,” She breathed, reading the labels. The speed at which she pulled the boxes down increased quickly.

“What is it?” Bucky asked, hearing her for the first time in minutes. The sound of rustling became apparent through the line.

“I’m close.” She replied hastily, reaching for more file storage boxes and slamming them down on the broken desk. She felt around the middle shelf after bringing them all down - 1983, 1989, 1957 - and pushed as far back was the lightest box she’d grabbed. Her heart skipped a beat as she pulled it too forcefully, the single file folder sliding out of it as the box came tumbling down. With haste, she grabbed the box and flipped it to its label, removing the crusted dust on the faded permanent marker label. 

1979 - Proyjecto Incompleto Dra. C-Anaya

”Ничего себе….” Holy shit.

“What? What is it?!”

With a flip of her hair, she looked over her shoulder to see the file she’d accidentally knocked out of the box, kneeling down frantically on all fours to grab it with shaking hands. 

“Lucia? Lucia the signal is jamming.” 

Bucky’s voice grew concerned. He was having trouble seeing the cameras as the alarms kept running, but even now he could not see her in the basement. “Can you hear me?” 

“I hear you, I’m almost out of here I promise,” She breathed, scared to open the front of the file folder. Hyperfixated on the task at hand, she couldn’t hear the line between her and Bucky become strained. Lucia squinted her eyes to make out the writing. The label, though faded, had her name on it. 

Proyecto Inagural de Reversión del Daño Cerebral Inducido Por La Demencia

Dirigido : Dra. L. Cortez-Anaya

There was a pause where she had trouble catching her breath, her chest heaving as the gravity of the moment settled in. Her fingers ghosted over the top of the file. 

”J—James—I found it.” 

Suddenly, as if coming back down to earth, there was static on the other end. Lucia brought the microphone of your wired headphones up to her lips with a raised brow. “James? Bucky? Can you hear me?” 

“I can hear you.” 

Lucia looked up at the voice she did not hear come from the headphones in her ears, followed by a click. Met with the barrel of a gun, Lucia fell back on the concrete floor, staring up at what she could only guess was a man, covered in a rich purple ski mask and holding a little red notebook, a star branding the front. 

“Now, you get to hear me.”