Author's Note: So, with the release "Ant-Man and the Wasp", MCU movies have been getting shown on TV like crazy. I re-watched "Civil War" a few days ago, and some things stood out for me. Most notably a quick like between Natasha and Bucky. I had a theory, and decided to run with it. I know that I'm not the first one to notice this, or to probably explore it, but this is my take. I also know that I'm mixing the movie universe with the comics to pull it off, but I think it works and I hope you all like it. I've got one more oneshot to do based off "Civil War", but I wanted to get this out as soon as possible.
Please enjoy…
Natasha felt the hard grip of his titanium arm crushing down on her throat. She squeezed her legs harder around his neck, hoping to choke him enough to loosen it, but it was to no avail. She grabbed at his metal wrist, pushing back with all her strength. She looked him in eyes and saw a cold, almost soulless glare looking back at her. This was not Bucky Barnes. This was aktiv – the asset.
Zimniy soldat.
The Winter Soldier.
"You could at least recognize me," she groaned as she felt him squeeze down harder.
16 years earlier...
The small class was assembled in the main training room. There were fifteen girls in all. Some a year or two older, but the average age was fifteen. Mostly brunettes of shades of black and brown. A few blondes.
And one redhead.
They were facing the door to the training room, standing at full attention. Eyes were forward. There was no movement. No sound coming from any of them. You would be able to hear a pin drop. The girls were certainly able to hear the key being inserted into the other side of the door. The clicking of the deadbolt turning practically exploded through the room. Madame B. walked in followed by two men, one was dressed in a Russian military uniform, and the other…the other looked like something out the young girls' worst nightmares. He was taller than all Madame B. and all the girls, but a few inches shorter than the military officer. The girls' training had given them the ability to read body language, to see and decipher the smallest, almost imperceptible ticks and movements, and know what the person in front of them was thinking…even feeling. It was obvious from the officer's body language that he was terrified of the man next to him. Even Madame B. seemed unnerved, something the girls never thought was possible.
"Ladies, we have a guest who will have a hand – so to speak – in your training for the next six months. You will follow his commands. Listen to every words he speaks. And if you fail, he will show you the same mercy you have been trained to show," Madame B. told them coldly.
As the girls glanced at their new trainer, and saw his soulless blue eyes glaring at them, saw the way the light was practically absorbed into his metal arm instead of reflecting off of it, for many of them, this was the first time in a long time they had felt something that they thought had, for all intents and purposes, been beaten out of them – fear.
Even young Natalia, or Natasha as Madame B. renamed her, felt a shiver of dread pass through her at the thought of what that metal arm could do.
Natasha felt the rush of oxygen race into her lungs before registering the fact that the Bucky's grip had been forced off of her by T'Challa's kick to his shoulder. As she gasped for air, she felt a fleeting moment of fear, brought on by a memory of a terrifying expectation, and even more horrifying experience from over fifteen years earlier.