12/31/1958

Dear Diary,

Wow, the Winter Soldier reminds me of Jaiden. He has dark hair, and blue eyes, kind of like Jaiden. I don't really know why I was so opposed to learning from him. I asked him how old he was, but he didn't know.

He didn't really know anything about himself except that he was supposed to train me. I thought that was a little strange. We are in a Hydra base, and he told me to meet him in the gym in five minutes.

"You're late," He said, after I walked into the gym.

"So?" I asked, trying to see his emotional range.

"I distinctly told you not to be late."

"So?"

"Just don't be late again," He ordered, sounding like a sergeant.

"Whatever," I said, "What do you want?"

"What I want doesn't matter," He said, "I'm doing what I was ordered to do. My orders were to train you."

"Okay," I said, trying his patience.

He punched at me, and I easily dodged. I dodged right into another punch.

"Pathetic," He spat.

"You're piteous, self-righteous, and miserable," I spat back.

"You're a doltish, ignorant, naive, and impudent child," he spat back.

I, having the English language written into my DNA, knew what those words meant. To any of you who don't feel like getting a dictionary, the first three mean stupid. Impudent means, snobby, mean, and rude.

"My orders were to train you in fighting," He started again, "You are dense. I am not ordered to insult you. You attack."

I held up my hands, trying to be as obvious as I could that I was going to punch him. Then, I kicked him, well, tried to anyway. He grabbed my leg, and twisted is, causing me to lose my balance and fall over.

"Predictable," He said.

I did it again, only this time, I actually punched. He wasn't expecting this, and I made contact with his arm. He quickly punched back., I dodged differently, not wanting to fall into his trap. As I leaned backwards, I kicked him in a not very ladylike spot.

Was his arm the only thing made of metal? He didn't even flinch, he just punched me. I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was getting up off the gym floor, and rubbing my sore head. I realized I had moved a few yards. The Winter soldier and I sparred in the center circle, whereas I was at the three point line. Umm, help. How did I get over here?

Right. The guy with the metal arm punched my face, and I flew back a few back a few yards. Yay…

He walked over to me. He said something, but I couldn't hear him, my ears were ringing.

"What?" I asked, when I could hear again.

"Are you okay?" He asked, seemingly sincere.

"I," I started, "I really don't know. I think I am, but I'm so befuddled that I couldn't say for sure."

"Sorry," He said, "We shouldn't have actually sparred yet. You were just getting on my nerves. I shouldn't have punched you so hard."

"Does it look bad?" I asked, "I mean the wound. Does it look bad? I don't really care if I look bad, but does the wound look bad?"

"Umm," He said, reassuringly, "Yeah, it looks pretty bad. Would you rather do languages right now?"

"Um what?" I was taken by surprise, "Languages?"

"Yeah," He responded, "Didn't you know that I was supposed to teach you Russian?"

"I actually didn't know I was coming here until yesterday," I responded, "Why Russian? Didn't Hydra originate from Germany?"

"Yes," He replied, "But Hydra is everywhere. Russian is just the main language I know. I know German too, but Doctor Zola told me that German was also written into your brain, we just have to activate it."

"How?"

"Hallo Frau Zola," He said, but I understood it to mean Hello Ms. Zola.

"Hallo," I responded, "Du bist der Wintersoldat?- You are the Winter Soldier?"

"Da," He replied, "Ich bin der Wintersoldat.-I am the Winter Soldier."

"Woah," I said, speaking English now, "I had no idea I knew German."

"Yeah," He said casually, "But you don't know Russian. I will be teaching you Russian. Do you want to start now?"

"Umm," I said, "Shouldn't we clean this up first?" I asked looking at my fingers and realizing there was blood.

"Yeah," He agreed, "Probably. I'm just not used to having to take care of anyone. Sorry if I seem heartless. I have been brainwashed so many times that I don't have much sentiment."

"Woah!" I exclaimed, "Brainwashed? I thought that operation fell through."

"They told everyone that," He explained, "Only Zola and a few others knew."

"What?" I asked, "My dad knew?"

"Your dad?"

"Yes," I replied, "Didn't they tell you my name? Emilie Agatha Zola."

"Doctor Zola is your dad?" He asked, "Weird."

"Yeah," I agreed, "You'd be surprised by the amount I'm told that."

"Probably," He said, and grabbed a first aid kit. He dabbed at my face with an antiseptic, I kept flinching, "Hold still."

"Sorry," I said, "It hurts."

"Deal with it," He demanded, "You've got guts under there somewhere kid. If you're going to convince anyone else of that, you can't flinch from antiseptic."

"I know."

He dabbed at it a little more, and I kept as still as possible. I could tell it was bad, as blood kept seeping into my line of vision. I was surprised, if I were in the Wintersoldat's place, I would be cringing so hard. I tried not to whimper as he pushed harder. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was still sensitive.

He bandaged it up, and it wasn't bothering me anymore. We went to a desk in an empty room with no windows. I was feeling super claustrophobic, but we did our language lessons there.

Love from,

~EAZ~