Hi, readers! Thanks for giving this a try! Just a couple pointers—the words at the top in italics are Vira's activation code for the Winter Soldier; this fanfiction takes place in Captain America: Civil War outside of this chapter; and Vira is not my only OC. I'll go more in-depth on her in the next chapter, when she actually appears.

Hope you like!

Fighting… Abandon… Twenty-Two… Twilight… Thunderstorm… Nine… Silence… Indigo... One… Red…

Soldat?

Somewhere in Siberia, 1967

Bucky trained violently in the dark corner room where the Hydra agents and Russian guards for the soldiers had set him loose for a sort of private exercise opportunity. He hit the patched and tattered punching bag in front of him with unrestrained force, Vira hadn't come back yet. Three days. She promised, she would only be gone three days. She had been gone a week, and none of the wardens would even bother to tell him if she was dead or not. Why would they? None of them meant anything to the agents and scientists always watching them.

The door behind him opened with the loud squeal of unoiled hinges, and Bucky turned, ready to object as much as he could to his time being restricted, but there were no restrictions. Instead, the person he had been so worried about was standing in the front of the heavy door that started to slide closed.

"Vira," Bucky said in obvious relief.

She was silent, her darker than dark eyes almost wholly emotionless.

"No," he breathed in shock, his bluish eyes wide.

They wiped her again. He didn't know what to do; compared to him, she was rarely wiped, but she was gaining too much emotion, and that was dangerous. Emotions meant morals, and that meant that she wasn't the mindless assassin that they needed her to be. Bucky didn't know how to help her, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as using the same tricks that she used on him.

"Who… Who do you think I am?" He asked in hesitant and almost forced Russian. They hardly ever spoke the language barked at them daily, not to one another, and definitely not in private. But it was Vira's mother tongue, and he needed to try everything he could to try and break through to her.

She only narrowed her eyes at him, looking concerned and almost a little suspicious over his sudden interest in her. "You're the First." She said simply. "The original Winter Soldier."

"I'm James." He insisted, voice tight. "I'm your James."

She frowned deeper than her resting face already forced her too - when she was wiped, any trace of her smile, the smile that would light up a room had vanished from her face. "James… no, you are the Soldier. The first of us, the most obedient. The best."

Bucky shook his head. "You're the best. I am not obedient. Neither are you unless forced, as you are now. Wake up, Vira. Realize this isn't you."

It was her turn to shake her head, frowning resolutely at him. "I am a Winter Soldier." She said sharply. "We both are. Whoever you think Vira is, she's not me. And you are no longer this James."

Bucky scowled at the floor for a moment, letting his dark hair fall in front of his face so he could take a moment to conceal his emotions. When he looked back up, his expression was made of stone. He decided to take another route. "So be it, soldier. It is time for training. Let me prove what you believe, that I am the superior soldier. After all, you're just a woman."

Vira tensed all over, almost black eyes glaring daggers at him. "Just a woman?" She repeated slowly.

"You are a woman." He insisted. "And as such, you will always be weak."

"Let me show you just how weak this woman is." Vira snarled, and in one swift motion, she charged. She leapt at him, long legs locking around his shoulders to sling around her body weight, sending the soldier that was at least double her weight sliding across the floor.

Bucky almost smirked. Although it didn't look like it, he was making progress.

"That all you've got?" He taunted, pushing back to his feet and rolling the shoulder she had thrown him onto. "Think I haven't been thrown harder by small—" He never got a chance to finish, Vira growled at him and rushed forward again. Almost faster than he could keep track of in the shadow filled room, she leapt at him and slammed her entire body against him, her slender shoulder punching hard into his abdomen.

Bucky almost smiled again. He was breaking through, even if it didn't seem like it. Vira wouldn't fight that hard emotionlessly. He was getting her back, even if it was a slow, particularly painful process.

"Weak willed woman," Bucky spat again. "Why don't you fight the control placed on you? Prove your strength! Think for yourself."

Vira let out an almost guttural war cry and lunged at him again. "I am not weak!"

Bucky smirked, making his jaw twitch. "Show me. Be the woman beneath the machine that those madmen built. Fight their control!"

The next time she lunged at him, Bucky was ready. He grabbed her around the waist with both hands, and slammed her into the wall so hard he dented it.

Then he kissed her.

Vira froze, her fingers digging into his shoulders like she was going to push him off of her as Bucky pressed against her.

"Remember the last time I did that?" He asked in soft English, pulling back only enough to whisper the words, their lips still brushing at even the slightest movement.

Vira's hands relaxed slowly against his arms, but every other muscle in her body was still coiled tightly against his hold, against having him pinning her against the cool metal of the wall.

"No." She hissed, but she still wasn't struggling, her knees pressing almost painfully hard into his sides as he held her up.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" He asked almost tauntingly, smirking again, and raising his chin high enough for her to see the slight clenching of his jaw as his expression shifted.

Vira closed her eyes, exhaling sharply. "I don't… what's happening? I… I think I remember. At least some things. I remember our… James? Did they…?" Her last questions fell into whispers of English, which couldn't have made Bucky happier.

He smiled, almost laughing. "I'm here." He cupped her cheek in his flesh hand, resting his forehead against hers, letting her slide back to the floor. "You're back. I could've done without the beating, but at least it was effective."

"You asked for it." She reminded softly, one of her hands reaching up to twist in his hair and keep him close to her as she tried to piece together the flood of memories. "At least I didn't dislocate your jaw this time."

Bucky smiled faintly and rubbed the rough, scruffy side of his jaw against her cheek like an over-affectionate tiger.

She smiled and nuzzled her face into her the bend of his neck. "How long was I gone? I did promise you I'd be back, didn't I?"

"Doesn't matter," Bucky assured, holding her around the torso gently. "You're here now. As long as you always come back to me."