Author's Note: This and the last chapter is the reason why I even decided on chapter names. Though most chapter names are my way of having spoiler free names that might be enough to let a person know if they read the chapter already.

.

I'm always trying to improve my ability to pull a person into a character's headspace or feel their emotions, and your feedback will help me know if what I'm trying for is working or not. Even an emoticon or button smashing tells me something useful and can influence what I write more or less of.

I respondto all comments and it's always fun to hear your thoughts ^^

.

.

. ** .

.

"Mi-m-mission report."

"It's done," I responded. My own mind screaming at me. For the disobedience. For the black and red wounds left on that face. "Captain America is dead."

Whoever he was, all I knew was that I'm supposed to protect him. I don't know what this is, I just know I'm supposed to do this right now. Whatever this is. I'm supposed to protect this for some reason.

And Hydra wanted him dead.

They're responsible.

They made me.... They made me.

A sigh of relief snapped me out of my head.

Break skull with fist. Target incapacitated.

Slam tray into the throat. Target incapacitated.

Break table leg. Impale through the eye. Target incapacitated.

"Mercy! Please! I have a daughter! P-please! Please! Ha-have m-m-m-mer-mercy. My daughter. Pl-hic-ease," a sniveling lab coat begged, scrambling away with weak little kicks. Curling up into a ball when his back hit the wall. His face a mess of tears, snot and splattered blood. His words turning incoherent in his desperation.

Slam foot into ribcage. Target incapacitated.

One kick. That's all it would take to finish this.

But I couldn't....

"Go," I snapped.

My cold numbed fingers squeezed the trigger. The recoil absorbed into my shoulder. A green clad soldier dropped from the ruins of a building. A base...?

Through the scope the fire breathing, horned demon raked his thumb across his throat. A threat.

'NO!' This wasn't right. 'He doesn't breathe fire. He doesn't have horns.'

Everything flickered.

It was a salute. The threat was a salute. The body near him no longer resembled an American soldier. The uniform much darker. Almost black. Hydra.

My arm... there was no metal. Flesh and bone.

At the sound of a twig snapping, I whirled around and found movement all around me. The figures flickering back and forth between green and black. There were too many of them to fight. The cliff behind me was too high to make an escape with a...? With?

A small person dropped down from the tree next to me. A kid. A young boy. His height changing with his blond hair. From light to dark. Caught between a little blond who scurried under a bed and the older one. More than likely someone I'd long forgotten.

"I don't want to go back..." he whispered. His words heavily accented. French.

"Get down the cliff and hide. I'll buy you time," I said, preparing for battle. I knew I didn't have enough bullets, but more than enough to stop them from taking me. They weren't taking me. Not again. I either make it back to Steve or die trying.

A little hand pulled at my trousers. "Bucky," the kid whimpered, his body practically vibrating.

"Get to St – "

The boy's eye glowed something silvery. Pops rang out all around us.

The forest rained blood with each body that exploded with a pop. Mere seconds passed before the rustle of red rain faded to a cold silence.

No survivors.

There wasn't even much of a body left for anybody to bury. Bits and pieces strewn in the trees.

"What the hell...?"

I glanced down at the boy next to me. His skin was covered in red patches. With a wet gurgle, he fell to the blood soaked dirt in a coughing fit. A pained whine escaped him when I placed a hand on his shoulder. He leaned away from the touch. Fear so clear in those bloodshot pale eyes.

He was bleeding out under his skin.

"What just happened?"

He shook his head desperately. "No one can know," he managed to get out, pausing to spit out more blood. "Maman.... They took Maman because – because she can.... They don't know that I can. They'll.... They overheard Papa talking and took us."

"Will she hurt any of us?"

The boy quickly shook his head. "We're not supposed to use.... No one can know."

"Alright. I won't tell anyone. I promise. I'll... forget this happened, alright kid?"

'No telling what Hydra would do with this kind of power.' I could only wonder what they were doing with his mother now. What awaits us in those ruins, where she was supposed to be.

"Thank you, Bucky."

I sent him a small smile, resisting the urge to pat him on the back. "Now let's go save your parents."

"Bucky?"

I couldn't escape the light. No matter which way I ran. No matter how fast I sprinted. The light followed.

The thrumming filled my ear. They were on my tail. Been there for hours. Been on this mountain for hours and I was tiring out. The muscles in my legs screaming at me. Going numb. Everything felt numb.

But I had to get away from them. Had to get away from there.

Somewhere I had to go.... Somewhere....

"Come on, Bucky. Rise and shine, beautiful."

Where...?

Where am I going...?

Someone. There's somebody I have to find. Someone....

Who...?

St – ?

"Bucky... seriously, you need to get up."

Why... why am I running?

I-I should... I should go back...?

I need to go back.

And then a net slammed into my side. Before I could even struggle, electricity seized my body.

"Damn it! Bucky! Wake the fuck up!!!"

I shot up from the floor and found my arms bound by the blanket wrapped tightly around me.

"Finally," two voices echoed.

"Valeriy?" I called out, trying to find my bearings only to have her walk right up to me. I scrambled away, not trusting myself not to lash out.

"Good, you're dressed. Get ready. Backdoor in four minutes." Her voice steady and clear. Her lips pulled a semi apologetic smile as she picked up my notebooks. "Apparently Hydra's about to find this place?"

Ice ran through my veins.

"Still got some room in my pack." She waved my notebooks over her shoulder as she hobbled out of sight.

I could not get out of the comforter tangled around me faster. Amongst the rain of feathers, my body carried out her orders. Pulling out a bag I had just retrieved 55 hours ago from under a freeway. The arsenal I had raided from the bank.

"Mr. Barnes, please wear the earbud. I will be your guide. I'll need your cooperation to get out of this one tonight."

Nodding, I slipped the little device into my ear before it could slip my mind. "I'll get her somewhere safe and lead them away."

It unnerved me how a tension released once I hid all the various weaponry on my person.

"As things are, I can get you both out. Please stick together and avoid drawing attention to yourselves with the loud guns."

'Knives it is.'

Got eight of them.

Before could I exit the room, I slung the modified OM 50 Nemesis over my shoulder and plucked a cap I had stolen months ago that Valeriy returned to me.

"You don't know what they're capable of."

"If I hear you offer to be fucking bait again, I'm drugging you and dragging you out of this mess myself," Valeriy snapped from the dining room. "Not entirely sure how I'm going to drag you... but I will... somehow... probably...."

Highly doubt she'd be capable of any of that. My metabolism would do away with anything in my system. It'd be a miracle if she could manage ten steps even without Hydra outside.

"This isn't some game," I stated, turning the corner.

"And you're not bait, Bucky," she fired right back, tucking her long locks under a knitted hat. "Eve's got this. We've transported people through shady situations before."

From head to toe, she was completely covered. Her special glasses hid her eyes. A scarf hid the rest of her face. Loose clothing of different hues of gray made it difficult to tell that she's a woman.

"Want to cover your face?" Valeriy asked, scarf in hand.

I shook my head. I needed to stay away from what they made me. Reminded me too much of the muzzle. I could almost feel it scratching at my skin at the mere thought of it.

I didn't want to chance turning on this young woman if I lose control. The chance already higher than I'd like with how hidden her appearance was. She wouldn't have a face to stop me like last time.

They're here for me. No point hiding my identity, and there was a chance that they didn't know about her. It's all I could hope for.

"You can't run," I realized. Not with how her ankle had only gotten worse and worse.

The timing of this was horrid.

The arm was still in need of repairs. She only had two days to work on the new damage. At least it no longer shocked me when I used it. Still a tad too twitchy.

"Should be okay?" Valeriy shrugged, tapping the toe of her left shoe on the floor. "Don't feel a thing. On Amber's nerve blockers."

She reached into her pack strapped to her back and around her waist and tossed an odd revolver at me. The shape and weight were off.

"Special dart gun. Pretty silent? Iffy on distance since it's an air compressor thing? Yours is loaded with tranqs."

That explained the firearm strapped to the small of her back under the gray hoodie. Again, the taser sat in her right pocket.

"Should take down most guys in about a second?"

A lot could happen in a second.

"Thought you might give it a try for minimal damage? Then again, these fucks are Hydra, so up to you what you want to do with them if they get in the way. And here's a bunch of tranq darts."

A quick glance into the case told me there were thirty darts.

"...We should get going," I said, reaching for the backdoor only to have Valeriy slide right between the knob and me.

Slam skull into the doorknob. Target incapacitated.

"Not until Eve gives the green light. We do our best to follow her moves, and we just might get out of this?" she said, glancing over her shoulder and out the window.

With that, Valeriy stumbled at the door colliding into her back. Her body bounced off mine and back into the door.

A loud whop whop filled the house. A helicopter. Lower frequency. Moving away.

Fear snaked its way up the back of my neck. I didn't get away. I couldn't escape the bright beam of light.

"Hey, hey, Bucky. I need you to stay with me." Gray eyes peered over the darkened lenses. Warm fingers tangled into my hair at the base of my skull and a thumb brushed against my cheek. "We need to move. Just stay with me, Bucky. We've got this."

"Now," the voice echoed in my ear.

Valeriy's hand slid down the metal arm, roughly grabbing onto the gloved hand, and at a turn of her heel, she raced out the door. A sudden jerk on the arm had me kicking off a step to follow her leap to the bottom of the steps.

We'd have to move at her pace, which wasn't as slow as I thought. But slow nonetheless. She couldn't be expected to keep up with me.

The surrounding was clear. No one I could see. No one I could hear. Not over the sound of blades slicing through the air.

I took a risk and glanced up at the sky. A black helicopter could barely be seen against the night skies. There was no beam of light. There was no way for me to tell if we've been spotted.

My eyes snapped back to the ground when Valeriy squeezed down on the hand, glancing over her shoulder at me.

The way her head tilted, I could practically see the smile under that scarf, and with that, she let go of the hand to shove hers back into its glove. Grabbing the top of the wooden fence, she partly jumped and partly hauled herself over. A roll eased the landing better than her leap off the stairs and the moment she was upright, she sprinted for the next fence.

I had a much simpler time with the process. Didn't have to even touch the fence. Didn't need to add more sound or movement to our escape. And a sideways swing of the body kept my profile low. Less of me to be spotted.

The helicopter turned. Not quite headed for us, but it wasn't going away. They had narrowed it down to this area. They know I'm here.

Another fence. Then another. Sticking to the shadows created by the houses.

"Hide."

.

.

.

Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^