The Winter Soldier

As the trio were being escorted to Shield headquarters in a helicopter.

Steve was lost in his thoughts. He suddenly spoke up, and said, " It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"How's that even possible? I thought you said he was dead." Logan said.

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43, Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..." Steve said, as he came to the most logical conclusion.

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha said, trying to comfort him.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Steve said.

Natasha noticing Logan was bleeding, said "We need to get you to a doctor. We don't put pressure on that wound you're gonna bleed out."

" Don't worry about it. I heal fast." Logan said, showing her the bullet wounds on his arms closing up.

Natasha raised an eyebrow in surprise, and said, " Okay... not the weirdest thing I've seen. But, it's definitely up there. "

Logan smirked, and said," You should see my other party trick."

" I think I'll take a rain check on that." Natasha said.

She then turned, to Steve and, said " We should talk to Fury. If what you're saying is true, and Hydra is back. He's going to want to hear about it. "

..

Inside an abandoned bank vault, a few Hydra scientists were trying to fix Bucky's metal arm, a result of the damage left behind by Logan's adamantium claws.

As they were fixing it, Bucky was having flashbacks of his old life after he was recovered by Zola and the HYDRA agents.

*"Sergeant Barnes..." Dr. Arnim Zola. *

Another flash, and this time he was falling off the train at the edge of the mountain with Steve trying to save him.

*"Bucky, no! "Steve shouted in desperation. *

His mind then flashed to after he was picked up by Hydra agents.

*" The procedure has already started." Dr. Arnim Zola said. *

He then saw Zola and the Hydra agent amputating his left arm and replacing it with the metal arm.* "You are to be the new fist of HYDRA." Dr. Zola said. *

His last vision was of being frozen. Bucky came back to the present and with a jerk of his arm knocked over the HYDRA agent trying to fix his arm.

It was at that moment, when Alexander Pierce came walking in, with a few Hydra agents trailing behind him.

Noticing he was headed straight for Bucky, one of the scientist tried to warn him, "Sir, he's...he's unstable. Erratic." The scientist said, trying to dissuade him from getting any closer.

Pierce ignored the scientist, and went right up to Bucky.

" Mission report." Alexander Pierce ordered.

Bucky looking blank, didn't respond.

"Mission report, now." Pierce repeated.

Pierce moved closer to Bucky and suddenly struck him hard in the face.

"The man in the bar... Who was he?"Bucky said, as his eyes began to focus.

" You met him earlier this week on another assignment." Alexander Pierce said, as he sat down in front of Bucky.

" I knew him." Bucky whispered.

" Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Soon, we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves." Pierce said.

" But I knew him." Bucky repeated.

Since, Pierce didn't seem to be getting anywhere he turned to one of the scientists and, said" Prep him."

" He's been out of cryo-freeze too long." The Hydra scientist said.

" Then wipe him and start over. And, make sure to send that mutant to the facility. I want a working serum, as soon as possible. We revealed our hand too early, and we're going to need a trump card." Pierce said.

" But... Sir we still have to run some tests, the serum could have serious sid... " The Hydra scientist said.

" I don't care. Find some subjects and test it on them. There's a homeless shelter a few blocks from here. I'm sure you can figure something out. " Pierce said, before he got up to leave.

As soon as, Pierce was gone, the scientists began to strap Bucky in his chair.

They placed a teeth shield in his mouth as they begin the process of wiping his brain, all that could be heard was his screams of pain.

..

[ Shield Headquarters]

Steve was sitting in a conference room, idly turning a coffee cup around in his hands.

The three of them were waiting to be debriefed about what happened a the bar. But, it seemed Director Fury was running a bit late.

Natasha kept her face blank while Logan glanced at her.

Logan wondered why Natasha looked so familiar to him, but he decided it wasn't important right now.

His thoughts were interrupted, when the door suddenly opened.

Steve stood up when he saw Fury walk in, the grim expression on his face, spoke of how dire the situation really was.

"Director," Steve began slowly…uncertain. "What…what happened at the bar-"

"Yeah, I know. They told me about it," Fury said, meeting his gaze.

" The description of the man you fought is consistent, with reports of the Winter Soldier." Fury said.

Natasha with a startled gasp, said, " What!?"

Steve turned towards her, and said," What's wrong?"

Natasha met Steve's eyes, and said, "Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me. A Soviet slug, no rifling. " She said.

" There's no way Bucky would that, I know him. He..." Steve said.

"Well, you better believe it. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years." Fury said, as he took out a device.

As the device began playing, images of dead bodies, and assassinated officials all over the world were displayed one by one, finally stopping at a blurry image of the Winter Soldier.

"The Winter Soldier was responsible for numerous assassinations, killing various sorts of targets from scientific minds to political figures, including John F. Kennedy in 1963. " Fury explained.

Steve was looking on with disbelief written all over his face. His mind couldn't reconcile between the Bucky he knew, and this deadly assassin he was told about.

"I'm only gonna say this once, Cap, so pay attention. Your friend died seventy years ago. Even if this Winter Soldier is the same man, he's clearly been twisted by something or someone." Fury warned.

Rationally, he knew what Fury was saying was right…but the irrational was winning out right now…the part of his heart that so desperately wanted to believe his friend was alive…that he could somehow get him back…rescue him…as he hadn't been able to do before.

"Well, Sir, I was supposed to die seventy years ago, too, so…forgive me if I don't take your assessment at face value," He said.

Fury eyed him warily for several long moments before asking, "We gonna have a problem, Captain Rodgers?"

"We don't have to." Steve answered.

Fury's expression continued to grow icier as he surveyed him. "We do not know what we're up against right now. Until such a time as we have more information, I will continue to refer to this man as the Winter Soldier…and he is our enemy. Are we understood, Captain?"

"Yes…Sir…we're understood," Steve said slowly, never breaking eye contact with the director.

Fury was about to walk out, when he was stopped by Natasha's voice, " Sir, there's still something you need to hear. I think we have an idea about who might be behind this. And, I don't think you're going to like it."

( Chapter End)

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Sorry, for short chapter today. Will be releasing another tomorrow to make up for it.

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