Yes, I've fallen into yet another fandom... Sorry, not sorry? Due to my hiatus from writing, updates may come more slowly in the beginning, until I get back into the swing of things (e.g., it took me five days to write the first chapter). But I'm super excited about this story and the OFCs, so it will get written and posted, no matter what.

This story is a slow-burn Bucky/OFC romance. It contains anti-Soviet content, because that was the sentiment in that time period. I have extensively researched Communist Europe during the 1980s and have done my best to make the story's plot and characters fit with the facts. Nevertheless, I took advantage of the ambiguities in the history of Communist Europe to make my story work.

Lots of languages make an appearance in this story, but the only ones I speak fluently are English and Hungarian. I am conversational in German and am learning Romanian, but I had to research how to write some of the phrases. I do not speak Russian or any of the other languages that may appear.

*See the author's note at the end of the story for a translation of the foreign-language sentences used in this chapter.

And, as always, enjoy! :)

Chapter 1: Undercover

January, 1983

Leipzig, East Germany

Snow crunched underfoot as Ilona Farkas glanced around the corner of one of the many factories lining the industrial street of Leipzig's Gohlis district. The area was largely abandoned, though a few unsavory characters milled about, indulging in smoke breaks during their night shift. Taking a final drag of her own cigarette, Ilona crushed it under her boot and set off towards a nondescript building.

The dilapidated, gray building looked nearly identical to the others on the street, but appearances were deceiving. It housed some of the most dangerous secrets in communist Europe. Secrets that Ilona Farkas was determined to learn.

As she neared the factory, she felt eyes on her, tracking her movements, though she didn't know where her observers were. A man in oil-stained overalls leaned against the door, with a misshapen cigarette between his fingers. He appraised her and cocked his head towards the entrance.

"Feuer?"

Ilona reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a lighter. While the man lit his cigarette, she discreetly showed him her identification papers, and then she was waved through the door. The building masqueraded as a Trabant manufacturing factory, but it was really one of Hydra's newly acquired facilities. The Hungarian Counter-Soviet Agency, or HCSA, had been monitoring the other Soviet satellite states since the Iron Curtain formed in 1945, so, when they learned that Hydra had traded its Nazi allies for communist ones, they sent agents into every Soviet-ruled country to investigate. East Germany's government was merely the latest to be infiltrated by Hydra.

And Ilona Farkas had been dispatched to learn the true purpose of the Leipzig facility. She was an effective undercover agent-fluent in German and Russian, trained in several combat styles, and able to bluff her way into the heart of Hydra. Although her Hydra identification papers were issued under a false name, they were as real as her HCSA ID, so they enabled her to move in and out of Hydra bases without arousing suspicion.

She walked through the massive, front room of the building, which did indeed look like an automobile manufacturing plant. All the necessary equipment was there, and half-completed cars lurched down an assembly line. But Ilona knew the good stuff was on the higher levels. Hydra agents nodded at her as she passed, and she took the steps two at a time to the second floor.

Rooms with filing cabinets greeted her, which she ignored for the moment. Instead, she climbed higher, until the archives gave way to labs on the fourth floor. Entering the first lab she came across-a small one with only one scientist working in it-, she surreptitiously surveyed the interior, making note of the surveillance cameras and their coverage. She took up position in one of blind spots.

During her decade-long service with HCSA, Ilona had seen the terrifying potential of Hydra's scientific inventions, but she had never been baffled by them. Now, however, staring at the plastic IV bags filled with blue fluid, she could not comprehend their significance.

"Du," she said suddenly, addressing the scientist. He looked up from his microscope, a scowl on his face at being interrupted. "Genossen Borodin möge ein Lagebericht über ihre Fortschritte."

The scientist scoffed and returned to his research. "Und wer vom Teufel bist du, kleines Mädchen?"

Before the scientist realized she was moving towards him, Ilona had smashed his face into the microscope. She grabbed him by his hair to force him to look at her.

"Sag mir," she hissed. "Jetzt."

The scientist cursed at her, one hand cupped to catch the blood dripping from his nose, but complied with her order to talk.

"We've improved upon the serum so that the soldiers are no longer unpredictable. As Comrade Borodin knows," he said, shooting Ilona a glare, "the prototype requires a series of trigger words to become active, and he is uncontrollable by anyone except the ones who speak the trigger words. We've fixed that defect. The new serum makes the super soldiers much more stable."

Ilona nodded, though she still did not have the full picture.

"And how many super soldiers can this new and improved serum produce?"

"As many as Comrade Borodin requires."

The scientist flashed her another glare, and she released her grip on his hair. She nodded again, then turned on her heel, her thoughts in chaotic disarray. Super soldiers. Her superiors had assumed that the Leipzig facility was manufacturing weapons, but they'd had no idea those weapons were humans. Or, superhumans, rather.

There was a prototype, obviously the first super soldier Hydra had created. Ilona had to find him, but she doubted he was in Leipzig or even in East Germany. The USSR, then. To be certain, though, she would have to pay a visit to the archives on the lower levels.

Before she left the lab, she tucked a vial of the blue serum into the inner breast pocket of her coat.

"Für die Genossen," she explained, fixing the scientist with a steely gaze. But she needn't have, because his nose still smarted, and he wisely did not question her.

Ilona descended one floor to the archives, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when she glimpsed only a single Hydra agent inside. It seemed that the night shift had a lighter staff than the day shift. Once again, she assessed the room, the cameras in the corners, and their unobstructed view of the filing cabinets. That could be a problem.

"Ich brauche Akten für Genosse Borodin auf dem verbeßerten Supersoldaten Programm."

The agent glanced up at her from the manila folder she was flipping through.

"Comrade Borodin already has them," the agent replied, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Who are you again?"

Ilona showed the agent her ID. "He has the old files," she said, "but I just spoke to our scientists, and they've made more progress on the new super soldier serum. Comrade Borodin wants those files."

The agent watched Ilona, alert for any tic or expression that would betray a lie, but Ilona remained cool and composed under the scrutiny. Finally, the agent sighed.

"Over there," she said, pointing to a filing cabinet on the other side of the room, in full view of one of the cameras.

"Show me," Ilona commanded.

The Hydra agent rolled her eyes but joined Ilona at the cabinet. Ilona positioned herself so that the agent was blocking her from the camera's view. Sorting through the drawer, the agent pulled out a stack of folders labeled in both Russian and German.

"These are all the folders, but, like I said, the Comrade already knows the information in most of them."

Meeting the agent's gaze, Ilona whispered, "You will find the files about the prototype, too."

As if on autopilot, the agent handed Ilona a manila folder, the title of which sent a chill up her spine.

зимний солдат.

Zimniy Soldat.

Winter Soldier.

Swallowing her dread, Ilona glanced at the agent again and tucked the folders inside her coat.

"I did not take the folders on the super soldiers," she told the agent. "I looked through them here, requested a copy of the files, and gave them back to you. Do you understand?"

The agent nodded, and, Ilona, satisfied, strode from the archives. She wasted no more time looking around the facility. She had a plane to Budapest to catch.

1. Ilona Farkas (EE-low-nah FAHR-kush). Ilona is the Hungarian equivalent of Helen, and Farkas is Hungarian for "wolf."

2. Feuer is German for "fire" or, in this case, "light" (for a cigarette).

3. Trabant was an East German (so, communist/Soviet) car that was shipped to many other countries in the Soviet Bloc (including Hungary).

4. Du. Genossen Borodin möge ein Lagebericht über ihre Fortschritte is German for "You. Comrade Borodin wants an update on your (plural) progress."

5. Und wer vom Teufel bist du, kleines Mädchen? is German for "And who the devil/hell are you, little girl?"

6. Sag mir. Jetzt is German for "Tell me. Now."

7. Für die Genossen is German for "For the Comrade."

8. Ich brauche Akten für Genosse Borodin auf dem verbeßerten Supersoldaten Programm is German for "I need files for Comrade Borodin about the improved super soldier program."

9. зимний солдат. Zimniy Soldat are Cyrillic and transliterated Russian, respectively, for "Winter Soldier."