AN: wow, very enthusiastic response to the first chapter. Special shout-out to buckysbutt. Thank you for your amazing review. Assassin and I appreciate it greatly. Speaking of which, let the story continue.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bucky, Steve, or anything Captain America. Only Assassin is mine.

Bucky lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't relax enough to fall asleep; his thoughts wouldn't let him. Bucky kept hearing her voice in his head, over and over again. Her words were like bees, buzzing around his brain. 'Another time, then.' What really struck him was her voice. When he had been under Hydra's control, he had been a machine, devoid of all emotion. Even his own voice had been mechanical. Her voice had been almost...teasing. Like she was looking forward to fighting him again.

Unable to rest, Bucky rolled out of bed. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He didn't really need to sleep, it had just become a habit. Being frozen on and off again had gotten rid of his need to sleep regularly. That got Bucky thinking. Was Hydra freezing the girl too? Was she going through the same memory wiping? "Who are you?" Bucky asked aloud, thinking of her.

-Hydra Headquarters-

At the exact moment that Bucky asked this question to no one, the Assassin was being asked that same question. Her supervisor was less than pleased at her first failure.

"Who are you, Assassin?" he spat in her face.

Knowing what he wanted to hear, Assassin said "A weapon, created for the sole purpose of serving Hydra. My work is a gift to humanity, and I do not fail." This time when Assassin spoke, she did not let any hint of emotion in her voice. She was meant to be emotionless.

"Then how could you let him escape? And with a knife branded with Hydra's insignia. Hydra was supposed to have disappeared. Now our enemy could be alerted to our existence. How could you have been so careless?!" The words bounced off Assassin, so the man continued. "You are project Failsafe, created if the Winter Soldier ever turned. And he did turn. You must not fail us." He turned away, still muttering to himself "You must not."

Now Assassin spoke. "Sir, I have never failed a mission before. I do not intend to start now. You yourself said I am Failsafe. I will not fail you. I was simply not prepared. The Target will not surprise me again." Clicking her boots together, arms raised, she cried "Heil Hydra!"

The supervisor seemed calmed by her words. "Dismissed. " he said, indicating for her to leave. Assassin did not wait for him to change his mind. Though she would not let anyone see it, the fight with her target had injured her. Not enough to cause any serious damage, but enough to shake her up. Exiting her supervisor's office, she headed back to her room. When she had first woken up, she had to be kept in a cell. But she had proven that she could be trusted with a room of her own. The door slid open, and Assassin flopped down onto her bed, wincing in pain. Pulling off her shirt and throwing it somewhere in the room, she inspected herself. Her arms were covered in fist sized bruises, but those would disappear by morning. The pain was coming from her chest. Feeling down her sides, the Assassin winced as she prodded a broken rib. Also not too serious, but she would need at least two days to fully heal. Cursing her target, Assassin took off her clothes and jumped into her shower. The hot water steamed up the room and burned her skin, but it felt good. The water helped her think. Examining her body for any other injuries, Assassin noted that she was still too skinny. Her bones jutted out, and the only thing keeping her from resembling a skeleton was her layers of muscle. Various scars covered her body, some from previous missions, some from Before. Assassin traced a particularly nasty scar that ran across her stomach. Even after years, the tissue was still raised and puckered, never fully healed. Assassin could remember the day she got it, the day from Before. But she didn't want to remember.

Smacking herself upside the head, Assassin turned off the water and toweled herself dry. She slipped on a pair of black shorts and a black halter top. Not bothering to try brushing it, Assassin slipped her hair into a black cap, obtained from a past mission. It had become habit to, if she saw something she liked, take clothes while on a mission. Sometimes it was from passerby, sometimes it was from her targets. It didn't matter who had it, she took what she wanted. Walking into the hallway, Assassin tried to focus on today's mission, rather than her memories. The man had startled her. He was clearly a conditioned fighter, and he knew about Hydra. That made him either S.H.I.E.L.D or Hydra agent. Normally, Assassin wouldn't have bothered wondering, but this target was different. He held up in a fight against her; that had never happened before. Something poked its way to the front of Assassin's brain, something her supervisor had said earlier. Something about the Winter Soldier. How she was his replacement should he go rogue, and he did. Then it hit her. The man she had fought earlier was the Winter Soldier. That's why he was able to hold up against her, he had the same advancements she did. It made sense, they had both been created by Dr Zola. There was bound to be a similarity in their abilities. Only he had a metal arm and had been in action longer. Assassin's body was whole apart from the scars, and she had only been in action for two years. She had done a lot in that time, but nowhere near as much as the Winter Soldier. When she had started, he had been her idol. She had wanted to be as great as he had been, until he went rogue.

Hydra had always told Assassin that she did not need to look into her missions. She was only there to kill, not research. But this was different. This was the Winter Soldier. Searching her memory, Assassin said to herself "Looks like I'll be paying Bucky a social call."

AN: soooo, what did you think? Excited? Curious? Shrinking away in disgust? Tell me what you think.