A/N: Trying out a new FanFiction! :) Summary is same at up top. Rated M for violence and adult themes. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to offer comments and advice.
"Mom! No! Don't buy that plane ticket," argued Charlotte Wallace, pulling her phone closer to her mouth. She ignored the looks of the students walking down the campus ped-way next to her.
"Why the hell not? It's your graduation; we're coming out to see you. You haven't come home in two years and you even missed your sister's engagement party last December because you were studying for finals. You promised you'd make it up to her over winter break, and then you didn't come home because of some super important internship. Your sister is dead certain that if we don't see you next month, then you'll fall off the face of the Earth and we'll never see you again," reasoned her mother.
Charlotte just rolled her eyes and waited patiently for her mother to finish her rant. "I can't repeat college, mom. Okay, I can, but did you want to pay for that?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it. You're smart, Charlie. You could have kept your 4.0 and spent time with your family."
"They don't just hand out jobs with your diploma, mom. I had to work my ass off for it and it actually paid off. I've got a job. They want me to start right away too, and I've worked it all out. My professors will let me take my finals online or this week during office hours and I'm heading off to their home office in Atlanta. I can't just put these things on hold. You don't get opportunities like that."
"Yes you do. You're twenty-three years old. There are still plenty of opportunities out there and lots of time to find them."
"Are you seriously telling me to put this on hold for graduation? I've got a job! I've got a career! You want me to throw it away?"
"I want you to slow down and not forget about your family and your friends. I want you to enjoy these moments in life and not throw those away…" her mom paused and sucked in a breath. Charlotte sighed. "You can't just throw us away."
"Ok, now you're just fighting dirty. Tell you what. You can come out here and waste your money and come watch my graduation, but I won't be here. Once I get settled in Atlanta, I'll fly out to visit. I promise I'll be there for Katie's wedding."
"No you won't! I'm tired of your broken promises. You swore you'd never forget about family. You swore to yourself that you'd never turn out to be like him, yet here you are giving up your family at the expense of some deluded dream! You've focused yourself on one single aspect and you've forgotten why you wanted to be successful!"
"I haven't forgotten!" cried Charlotte, now off the ped-way and pacing through the woods. "You're right. I'm young. I have so much time ahead of me. I still have time to build a family after I establish myself financially. I haven't forgotten! How could you blame me for following this opportunity?!"
"Charlie, you're being completely selfish! What about your sister?"
"I will be there for her wedding! I promise!"
"She wanted you to be her maid of honor, you know. She was going to ask you at the party. Now she can't even trust that you're going to be there; she can't even ask you to be a bridesmaid."
Charlotte took a deep breath and sighed. She loved her mother, and she struggled very hard to not burn any bridges. Her mother wasn't pulling any punches though. She wasn't sure she could entirely blame her though. "Tell Katie I'm sorry. I know we always planned for this together, but plans change."
"Everyone's plans but your own apparently."
"Goodbye, mom. I'll call you once I get settled in."
"Excuse me for not holding my breath."
Charlotte blinked her heavy eyes open and tried to focus her vision in spite of the bright lights glaring down at her. No matter how many times she blinked, she could not seem to clear the haze from her eyes.
Garbled voices surrounded her. "… waking up." The voices came to her as if she was listening from under water. Slowly the voices became clearer in her mind.
"Should I prepare the sedative?"
"No. It's too late now. We're ready. Move on to the next phase."
"Yes, sir. Prepare the serum! Bring in the machine!" the voice called out and voices and footsteps echoed around her. She could see shapes moving in her periphery, and above her shadows passed over the light. "Should we set up a drip? Since she's awake?"
Charlotte had a pretty good idea of what kind of drip he was asking about. She wanted to know what was going on, why she couldn't remember how she got there. She tried to sit up, but found resistance. She tried to raise her arm, but felt pressure on her bicep and forearm. She started to panic.
"No, it won't matter once it's over. Begin the infusion."
More shadows passed over her head. Something was moving towards her. She felt more pressure on her body – all over her body. The pressure turned into piercing pain, then into a burning agony coursing through her body. She couldn't feel herself screaming, but she could hear it. She passed out to the sound of her screaming and the searing pain.
A loud beeping sounded in Steve Roger's ears and he reached for his motorcycle helmet, feeling around for the button. "Rogers," he responded as he pressed the button for the bluetooth in his helmet. He couldn't help but shake his head at this new piece of technology he had been equipped with when he set out to find Bucky and the remnants of Hydra.
"Steve this is Natasha. I found more on that lab in Atlanta. I'm sending the information to your phone."
"Good. I should be there soon."
"Steve. This lab is still active, and probably heavily defended. Should I send for backup?"
"I've got this handled, Natasha."
"Steve, this isn't some remote abandoned—" Natasha was cut off when Steve reached for the button on his helmet and hung up. He felt bad about it, but he didn't have the time. He was entering the city limits of Atlanta and he wasn't going to wait any longer.
He pulled over at a gas station and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through the information provided by Natasha, and he couldn't help but wonder how she'd managed to get this much information – down to the address and codes. He was certain she had managed to 'interrogate' a captured senator or lobbyist in D.C. His phone buzzed in his hand and part of the screen lit up with a notification of a message from the Black Widow. He pressed his thumb to the notification and the screen switched to his messages.
Don't be a fool and rush in. This isn't an empty bunker with buried information. This is a fully active lab.
Steve noticed an additional bubble under her message with three dots in it. It reminded him of old comics. He waited for Natasha to finish her message before responding. It took some time for her message to come through. When it finally did, he was surprised by its brevity.
They're experimenting with the serum.
Steve wasn't sure what Natasha's goal was with that information, but all it did was increase his urgency. Whether Bucky was there or even involved, he couldn't let Hydra experiment on anyone else. They mutilated Erskine's work and did more than create super soldiers. They stripped people of their identities, conditioned them psychologically to fit their profile, instead of searching for the proper candidate. Erskine believed that free will and honor create the perfect soldier. All of the enhancements just made them harder to beat.
What Zola did to Bucky went against human nature, stripping away everything that made him human. Everything became the mission. All logic was free from emotion or judgment. He couldn't let another super soldier or assassin wander loose on the world, but part of him hoped to prevent another person losing their humanity like Bucky did.
Charlotte rolled across the ground and coiled her legs. When her tumble hit a full rotation, she sprung back up and kept running while an automated turret shot more bullets into the wall behind her. She rounded the room and approached the turret at full speed. When she came within distance she jumped forward and grabbed the gun mounted to the ceiling and yanked it down. She dropped it to the ground and in her brief respite noted the lack of burning and fatigue in her once weak lungs. She didn't dwell on it long however. Ever since she woke up in this room, it had been a non-stop battle for survival and she knew that the next round was about to begin.