Lithium’s heart rose, an extra kick of adrenaline pumping into her blood when she successfully blocked Steve’s blow. It was the first time she’d managed to do so since he’d started training her in hand-to-hand combat almost a week ago. The small victory gave her a surge of confidence, and she made for an offensive strike --  only to have it blocked with ease, and he took advantage of the opening, throwing her off balance.

For the hundredth time so far today, Lithium hit the mat, butt first. She winced, groaning at the impact. After taking a moment to piece together whatever shreds were left of her dignity, she stood back up, taking up her defensive stance. Steve smiled, and from the corner of her eye, she could see Sam roll his eyes. Her face burned at his reaction. She was giving her all to this, and she could see quite well that it wasn’t enough, but she wasn’t giving up, even when her muscles ached and her lungs felt raw.

Lithium started the next round, going for a quick jab to Steve’s chest, but he quickly blocked the blow, deflecting her arm so it flew to the side, throwing off her balance and leaving her open for attack. As expected, he took advantage. She closed her eyes in anticipation, feeling the push to her shoulder, the hook of his foot behind hers, and the ‘thud’ as she hit the mat yet again. It was horrid to stand here and take a beating, but she kept telling herself that if she didn’t take a beating now, she’d be taking one later, when her ability to fight REALLY mattered.

With a groan, Lithium shifted her weight and stood back up. “Not so pretty covered in sweat and gettin’ your ass handed to you, huh?” Sam prodded and she huffed a response, leaving the sparring ring to start her weight training. The captain was quick to do the same, keeping an eye on her as they went about their different regimens. Lithium was still feeling the effects of the morning run and the sparring session. It was, unfortunately, how they kept their heart rates up between rotations on the machines. Get in some lifts, do a bit of sparring, get in some lifts, do a bit of sparring. So on and so on until it was done with.

It took a bit of self control, but Lithium refused to let any noises escape her that would indicate how much lifting weights still hurt and how much effort it took. Her muscles still ached nearly every day, at least a little, and it was starting to unnerve her. It had been three weeks since she’d started this training, and while the runs got a little easier, a little faster, she was still struggling with the weight lifting.

Of course, she didn’t dare to say anything about it in front of Falcon. He was, well . . . Falcon. It was hard getting along with him when he still didn’t exactly trust her. To be honest, she was still gripping the fact that Hydra wasn’t what they’d always told her they were. She’d invested her time, her patience, her enthusiasm and her BODY into their research. She’d become their human guinea pig and they had fed her a plethora of lies.

“Think you’ll get some nice bruises out of that sesh, Lithium? I’m sure that backside of yours will be back and blue from how many times you hit the mat.”

Lithium groaned, frowning as she set the squat bar back in it’s place. “Look, Sam. I get you don’t like me. I understand why you don’t like me. At least I understood for the first few days. But I am trying here. I am trying and trying and trying. I didn’t know what a pack of lies Hydra was telling me! If a human is raised among wolves and they are taught that other humans are evil and deadly, that the pack is all they have, then doesn’t the human trust the wolves? I didn’t know . . . I didn’t know how much they were distorting the truth, Sam . . . I’m giving my all to this . . . What’s the problem?”

Sam paused in his work, placing the weights back down, walking over to a fuming Lithium. He stood taller than her, and after watching her intently for a moment, Steve keeping a close eye on the interaction should he need to intervene, Sam smiled.

“That’s what the problem was, ‘Lithium’. I was wondering where in the HELL your damn passion was. Now that I can tell you’re not some kind of zombie . . .”

“You suck,” Lithium spat, pushing him just enough to get him away from her personal space. She wrapped up her last few reps and stalked out of the room, grateful she’d been close to done by the time Sam had decided to say something so ridiculous. Saying he didn’t trust her because she didn’t show any passion? That was utterly ridiculous and fairly infuriating. Of course she had passion.

~~~

After dressing in the type of clothes Hydra would’ve asked her to wear, a skin-tight dress and heels, as usual, Lithium styled her hair and went off, taking to the streets of the town. She knew the general vicinity where she could find ‘Bucky’, but not a specific location.

That was what she was aiming to find out today. Lithium stalked through the streets, searching for some sign of the man who’d been dubbed The Winter Soldier. After reading Hydra’s report, she imagined it was due to the origins of his creation. Bucky had been lost during the war and taken by Hydra during a heavy snowfall. But then how did that nickname transfer hands from Hydra to the few that knew about him? Or perhaps because he was locked up in cryogenic stasis between assassinations?

Both were fair possibilities, but it still didn’t give her an answer as to why the people who’d encountered him would call him by that name. It was an odd thing, really, and it distracted Lithium’s mind as she walked through the halls of an apartment building. She’d taken up a habit of doing this every couple days lately, trying to see if she could get lucky and catch a glimpse of Bucky walking in or out of his apartment building. Of course, the odds were slim, but she couldn’t get lucky if she didn’t try. And try she did.

She’d been this building twice now. Maybe she was really on her third trip. Most of the buildings in the area looked the same. Of course, she’d also managed to keep tabs on Bucky through the diner. She’d taken a few more trips to the diner later at night, just to see if she could see him, and to make sure he was still in the area. The last thing she needed was to waste time looking for someone who’d moved onto another town.

Sure enough, she’d seen him an additional three times now. And sure enough, he had this habit of disappearing when she attempted to trail him at night. It was frustrating trying to find someone when they had the ability to vanish like a ghost. The silver lining she’d found in this was that when she visited the diner and she could spy Bucky on the other end, the waitress she’d scolded on her first day in town kept her head down, and more importantly, her phone off.

Truthfully, Lithium was still enveloped in her thoughts, of Bucky’s nickname as The Winter Soldier, the success of humbling that troublesome waitress and the frustration of her inability to successfully trail someone who stood out like a sore thumb with that arm of his -- up until a door opened inches behind her. She didn’t look back, to appear as she was going about her business. She was just an average woman, renting some apartment they wouldn’t see her not enter.

Well, that’s what she assumed. Up until a rough hand grabbed her wrist and jerked her back, another slapping over her mouth as she was pulled into the room against her will, the door slamming shut. Lithium would’ve screamed if she had the ability, if only a little before her conditioning kicked in. She’d faced this danger before. A man got a bit too grabby and thought he could have his way. Her normal solution? Flip the device she normally had on her on, then off, then on again. That was her signal that she needed the closest possible back-up for a small . . . misunderstanding.

But she didn’t have her switch. And she wasn’t staring into the eyes of a potential rapist.

At least, she really hoped not.

No. She was staring at James Buchanan Barnes. And he was staring back, intent on keeping her quiet and keeping her still for a good short while. Lithium didn’t fight him. She just stood quietly and slowed her breathing as they stood in silence, his metal hand gripping her hand. It was surprisingly warm. Well, perhaps it wasn’t all that surprising. It was the midst of summer, after all, and they were in the middle of just under ninety degree weather even though the sun was setting. Lithium could hear his ragged breaths, his face was so close to hers. It was like he was attempting to think of something to say or do, but his mind couldn’t decide on any one thing.

The light in the apartment had dimmed as the tense minutes ticked by. All light in the apartment was natural. He didn’t have so much as a nightlight in the place. It took a fair amount of time before he spoke to her, his breath warm against her skin. She guessed he didn’t trust her enough to give her the space to move, just as Sam didn’t trust her, though she doubted having a display of ‘passion’ would sedate James.

“Why are you here?” He hissed, pulling his hand from her mouth cautiously, only to move it to her shoulder when he was convinced she wouldn’t scream. “Why are you trailing me?” Lithium paused, her eyes going wide for a split moment, her mouth dropping open to ask if she’d been so obvious, but no words came out. He could apparently understand her confusion, however, and quickly answered her without the physical presence of a question. “Of course I noticed you!” It was a harsh tone, but he kept his voice low, no louder than a stage whisper. “You made enough of a spectacle with that dumb waitress. Your . . . appearance doesn’t help any with forgetting you, but I suppose you don’t usually see men more than once, do you?”

Ouch. But Falcon had made the same sort of insinuation about her being a high-end prostitute. ‘Escort’ was the nice word for it. Lithium took a deep breath, deciding to keep her voice hushed in case the walls were as thin as she suspected them to be. “I am not what you think I am. Or at least, what you’re accusing me of being.” She looked away to keep herself from glaring at him. Things were different since the first day. Things had changed.

But he didn’t know about any of that, now did he? “Then what are you here for? Why do I keep seeing you? Why are you in this building?”

“I’m a . . .” She was going to lie and say she was a new tenant. That she was here for good reason, but she could already see that lie unraveling as he asked what she paid for rent, what floor and room she rented. With a sigh, Lithium shook her head and decided the truth would probably be the best course of action. “I was . . . originally sent by Hydra . . .” She could feel his grip on her tighten at those words.

“But I don’t work with them anymore,” she continued. “I left them behind. They don’t know it yet . . . But . . . maybe we could work together . . .” Immediately, she groaned as she said the words. “Sorry. I sound like a stupid sap. I just meant that we’ve both turned our backs on Hydra and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to team up if the time came. THAT’S what I meant. Please don’t think I’m some weird little girl who can’t take care of herself. Because I can. I swear. I’m working on it, too. I’m going to get better. A lot better.” She looked down at the floor, feeling like an idiot both for what she’d said and because now she couldn’t seem to shut up. It was a frustrating thing, to say the least.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the two for a short while. Lithium could still hear him breathe. She wondered what he thought of her, whether he was pegging her friend or foe, and if she would pay for it if he dubbed her a threat. Slowly, cautiously, he released her, shoving back his hair with his ‘normal’ hand, a few knots showing up in it’s lengths.

“If you betray me, I won’t hesitate to kill you,” he growled, watching her with narrowed eyes. Lithium tried to control her breathing and gave a brief nod. It took her a moment of watching him, feeling the tension in the air, before she got closer to him again, and he took a step back. She looked him in the eye, shaking her head just slightly as she attempted, and succeeded, in closing the gap again.

Lithium wrapped her arms around James Buchanan Barnes, The Winter Soldier, her heart pounding in her chest. It wasn’t because she had ‘feelings’ for him, though she wouldn’t deny he was attractive, but because if it was the wrong move, Bucky might snap her neck. Her breaths were a bit staggered as she stood there, holding him tightly, trying to convey that she wasn’t a threat to him or his personal health, that she was safe.

Loosely, his arms rested around her as well. Lithium loosed a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding from the moment she could feel his weight shift, and she relaxed a bit. She’d been terrified he was about to hurt her, but she was safe.

She was safe. Self-consciously, Lithium let go of him and backed away. The light in the apartment was nearly gone now. His arm still glinted the little bit of dying light off the perfectly refined metal. “I . . . I um . . .” Lithium struggled with the words, yet again feeling like an absolute fool. “I have to go,” she said simply. “But I’ll come back and visit, okay? Is that okay? If you don’t want me around except for emergencies, I understand. I can stay away.”

“Do whatever you want,” he said quietly, turning away from her, walking into the shadows of the apartment. Lithium took a deep breath and gave a nod.

“I um . . . Maybe I’ll see you at the diner?” He didn’t give any acknowledgement of hearing her, though his eyes turned to her briefly. She sighed, and rubbed her arm nervously. “Okay . . . I’ll . . . Be seeing you, I guess . . .” She slipped out of the apartment, her heart racing from the encounter. That was the man she may have wound up killing if the captain and Sam hadn’t caught her first. She couldn’t imagine killing him or having him killed. He was . . . well . . . strange. And quiet. And all sorts of different, but it was completely understandable. He had been through a lot. Who knew what memories he’d regained and what was still lost?

~~~

Bucky had watched the strange girl go. The way she’d slid out of the room so quietly even though she was in heels. The way her skin had held an unearthly glow in the light of the setting sun. She’d looked to have winter snow on a sunny day embedded beneath her skin. It was a subtle sort of glow that she possessed, but all too noticeable to him.

She was beyond different. Her skin was a giveaway. That girl wasn’t a human.

The way she appeared to Bucky?

She was an angel, sent to earn her wings. And she’d come for him.

She had a hell of a task ahead of her, didn’t she?