STARK TOWER - TONY'S OFFICE
Tony was sitting at a large desk in his office/lab/workshop in the Tower, glaring at Natasha. "You know he can't stay here, right? He's wanted for gee, no one knows how many murders besides Captain America himself?"
"Yes, but there's no evidence and no witnesses, only rumors. No matter how many he's accused of, they won't stand up in any court." Natasha says.
"Except for Steve. As soon as the trial for this helicarrier disaster begins, and the lawyers find out we're holding the freaking Winter Soldier, we'll be dragged into court, possibly for years." Tony spins his chair, frustrated.
Natasha just leans back in the chair, relaxed, legs crossed, and asks "For what? This is the only place that can hold him."
"He's secure down in the cell block, yeah, but we can't legally keep him any longer without having him arrested. So everyone will know. My lawyers are working on it. But Nat, I'm curious," Tony says, leaning back in his chair, "why did you let the Soldier live? He beat Steve to death. You've never had the slightest problem killing anyone, so, what's up?
Nat looks at him, expressionless, then gets up and slowly walks to the window, seeing the city spread out below. "I know how this sounds, but he knew the Soldier. Steve wouldn't have wanted me to kill him, he wanted to save his friend." Tony stares at her, disbelief on his face. She sighs.
"Steve told me after the fight downtown, that the Winter Soldier was his friend from before the war, Bucky Barnes. Steve said he recognized him during the fight on the highway when he pulled the Soldier's mask off. He was really torn up about it. He believed Bucky was dead after falling from a train during a mission with the Howling Commandos in '45, and there he was, alive."
Tony just sits back in his chair and looks at her. "Seriously? A Howling Commando? Barnes...the unit's sniper. My dad used to talk about them all the time."
"Steve said he looked right at him and didn't know him. Maybe the Winter Soldier just looks a lot like Barnes." Natasha says.
"Winter...that's not even..." Tony mutters under his breath as he moves to a workspace and gestures to bring up a monitor in the air. "JARVIS, show me everything we have on the Winter Soldier."
"This information is from SHEILD's files, from information gathered as far back as the early 1950's." Jarvis says. "Trained to be an assassin for Department X under the code name the Winter Soldier, he was said to be used only for covert wetwork missions. His kills became increasingly ruthless and efficient over time, but most of the reports of his actions are only rumor, no witness has ever come forward. The Winter Soldier has been credited with over 2 dozen assassinations over the last 50 years. Stories and reports spanning decades made him a legend and a ghost story in the intelligence community. There's only one photo of him, from a camera that was found in the street after the assassination of Jacques Dupuy, the French Defense Minister, in 1956. He can be identified by his left arm, a silver prosthetic, with a red star on the shoulder." The monitor shows a still photo of a man with a long rifle crouching beside the tank of a water tower, aiming at something below and to the left of the photographer, the metal left arm with the star clearly visible.
"Ok, a ghost. JARVIS, are there any records of who he really is? A name?" Tony asks, walking up to the photo Jarvis had put up in the air.
"No sir, but it is believed that he was a Russian soldier who volunteered for something called the Winter Soldier project."
"The Winter Soldier project?" Tony asks.
"I found only a single reference, in relation to HYDRA, sir."
Tony spins his chair around to face Natasha. "So, Nat, you would have been in the right circles, you know anything?"
Natasha sits down at the desk across from Tony and rolls a pen through her fingers, thinking. "In Russia, when I was young, in training, the Winter Soldier was a terrifying phantom, a name the teacher used to threaten us, the stories that she told us were impossible, frightening even to us, who saw and did frightening things every day. We found out the Soldier was real when he was actually brought in to train us. The best of us. But he was taken away...for other missions, and we never saw him again." She frowns and pauses, thinking if what she remembers is true. That they had been partners on missions, and secret lovers. "I didn't see or hear about him for years, only rumors, until he shot me and made me fail a mission, near Odessa. That was about 5 years ago." Natasha quirks a smile, remembering. "Then nothing. Until he shot Fury."
Tony looks at her thoughtfully. "Then he shot you again. Well, you're the lucky one, from what I understand you're his only survivor, and twice!" He makes a tight little smile at her. "He must like you." He misses her quick glance at him as he stands up and walks around the room, thinking. "So, how can this ghost be Cap's friend from World War Two? Everyone knows from history class that Barnes died. The Commandos were on a mission to capture an enemy scientist, on a train? And Barnes fell off it? JARVIS, give us a history lesson."
"Yes, sir." JARVIS answers. "The following is the original after-action report by Captain Rogers, dated 12 March 1945. Austrian Alps. Howling Commandos Captain Steve Rogers, Sergeant James Barnes and Private Gabe Jones. Mission: Board the HYDRA train Schnellzug EB912 carrying HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola, capture him, destroy the train and return to base. A zip wire was used to board the moving train by landing on the roof as it traveled. Jones moved forward on top of the train, Sergeant Barnes and I entered and began searching the cars. Moments after our arrival we were ambushed and split up by a team of armored HYDRA soldiers. I was fighting a heavily armed HYDRA soldier in one car, Barnes was pinned down by three soldiers in the following car. Barnes was able to kill two but ran out of ammunition. I killed the soldier in my car, opened the door between us and tossed Barnes my own .45, which he used to kill the last soldier. Minutes later another armored HYDRA soldier appeared and fired at us with a Tesseract-powered weapon. I deflected the electric blue beam with my shield, but it blew a hole in the side of the train and knocked me off my feet. Barnes picked up my shield and fired multiple rounds at the soldier, to no effect, and when the HYDRA soldier fired again, the power of the blast on the shield threw Barnes through the hole in the side of the train car. He hung on outside the train to a damaged railing. I killed the HYDRA soldier, then climbed out and tried to grab Barnes' hand, but before we could reach each other the railing gave way, and Barnes fell. It was hundreds of feet down the mountainside, to the iced-over river below, I don't believe he could have survived. Private Jones captured Zola and the train crew, and we stopped the train at the prearranged location. The train was destroyed by the SAS team sent to meet us. Zola was returned to England for interrogation. Sergeant Barnes' body has not been recovered." JARVIS ends the report, quietly.
STARK TOWER - SECURE AREA
He wakes up, instantly aware. There's no slow gathering of thoughts, just awake. Where am I? He's lying on a bed under a dark gray blanket. His leg still hurts, but instead of the sharp, direct pain, it's calmed down to a constant dull ache. I've been treated. He moves his arms and legs slightly, to see how he is secured, and is pleased to find that he is free. His shoulder has been reset, and doesn't hurt anymore.
He lifts the blanket to see that he's in soft shorts, and has a tight wrap around the leg injury, no splint or cast. Except for a slight headache, all of his other injuries seem to have mostly healed. He turns his head to look around, but it he still doesn't want to move, still feeling tired and dizzy.
The room is large, with concrete floor and walls, no windows except a large one in the metal door, no other furniture, just a bright steel sink and a toilet behind a short wall in the corner. It's dark but there's a dim light above the sink. It's like the other place, but no chains on the wall. And a bed. The bed is just a rectangular concrete platform raised off the floor about knee-high, no mattress. He runs his right hand over the side of the platform and quietly accepts that fact. New place, new rules.
There're no cameras that he can see, which is ok, he knows they're there, watching. Always. Room is cold but it's comfortable to lie here unshackled with no pain and have a blanket. He quietly considers what happened, and thinks about where he is. Time passes and he sleeps.
Awake again. No sounds. Room unchanged. This time he swings his legs over and sits on the edge. How much time have I missed. He frowns. The leg feels much better, so he stands gingerly and walks across the room, about six careful steps. Hurts, but it's healing. He goes to the toilet to relieve himself, then walks back and forth and does a few stretches, then lies down on the bed again. Nothing to do but wait.
He goes over what he remembers of the last mission in his head, pleased that he can report the mission accomplished. His handler had told him that this target was the most important mission he'd ever had, and he must not fail. He thinks about the target, how he fought. A picture flashes in his head of fighting that man, but he wasn't the target then, he was just in the way. Different clothes but it was him. Frowning, he shakes his head, I need maintenance.
Nervous, he gets up again, and goes to the door. Stops about an arm's reach away from it and tries to see out the thick glass window, but it's dark outside the door so all he sees is his reflection. He notices how the door is hung, no hinges on the inside, no bolts or screws. I need to be debriefed, he thinks, why are they waiting?
He listens for a minute, it's quiet except for the rustle of cold air blowing in through a vent in the ceiling. Taking advantage of being alone, even if he is being watched, he lies back down on the platform, closes his eyes and risks punishment by trying to remember. His mission before had been...the woman with red hair. That man, the last target, had attacked him just as he was about to pull the trigger on her. And later she had fired a grenade at him, forcing him to abandon the mission. Wincing, he remembers pain. I failed, and I was punished.
He shifts on the bed, suddenly uncomfortable. He tries to remember if there were survivors from other missions. A quick glimpse of red hair and a quick, vicious smile flashes through his mind. His failed mission. She had followed him through the trees and shot him with something electric, it had hurt (a Widow's Bite) he thinks. Because she is a Black Widow. He holds his breath for a moment to think. How did I know that? Breathing again, he remembers falling to the ground, and then nothing. She captured me. A slight shiver of fear goes through him. Who has me? Will I be punished? Despite the cold room, he starts to sweat.
STARK TOWER - TONY'S OFFICE
Natasha shakes her head, her red hair brushing her shoulders. "Cap saw him fall. Down a mountain into a frozen river, an area so rough people still haven't gotten down there to search."
Tony throws up his hands and spins his chair. "I'm not seeing how these two can be the same person. Are we missing something? If we somehow pretend that Barnes survived the fall and the ice, how's that explain how this man is maybe 30 years old?"
"Isn't Cap almost 30? He did it by freezing himself in the Arctic ice for 70 years. Maybe..." Just then Jarvis cuts in, saying "Pardon me, Mr. Stark asked me to alert him when the Soldier wakes."
"Yes, is he functional?" Tony asks. "Yes sir, this time he walked around and has used the toilet."
"Put the video in here, this screen," waving his hand at a workstation. Video appears in mid-air, showing the Soldier lying on the bed on his back, wrapped up in the blanket. "Well that's pretty terrifying," Tony snorts.
Nat glances at him for a second longer than necessary, narrowing her eyes. "I want to talk to him."
Tony leans back in his chair and looks at her over his glass. "You should know that the docs reported that he was really messed up inside. Evidently the metal arm moves so well because HYDRA linked it to his brain. With wires. And because the metal arm is so heavy, some of his shoulder bones and ribs have metal reinforcements. The x-rays look like the Terminator. Jarvis, put up the Soldier's images. He also has a body chemistry similar to Cap's with the super-soldier serum, but not the same. He heals really fast and is crazy strong, but his body didn't change like Roger's did. Someone must have used a second-rate serum on him."
Natasha tilts her chin to the side, thinking. "So how did HYDRA get a Super Soldier serum? Wasn't your father one of the inventors?"
"Yes, but the formula was destroyed, you know that, when they used it on Cap and then HYDRA killed the head scientist. They must have tried to create their own. I'll look into that. Jarvis?"
JARVIS puts up the x-ray of the Winter Soldier's head and upper chest, next to the monitor of the cell interior. The bones in the image are shades of gray, but the metal implants are bright white. His chest, ribs and right shoulder appear normal, with a few signs of breaks long since healed. But on his left side, parts of his spine and ribs have bright white shapes attached. The side view of the Soldier's head and neck show his cervical spine, in shades of grey, with bright white lines running up it from his shoulder to different points in his brain. "боже мой" Natasha breathes.
The left shoulder and arm are just a bright white shape, nothing could be seen through the metal. Tony spins the image to show another angle. "There are signs of a severe injury to the skull, enough to cause brain damage. The doctor said it was old and had healed a long time ago. But he also said the Soldier has recent burns on his scalp, spots all around his head, and he couldn't guess what made them."
Tony takes a sip of his drink, and continues. "And, if that isn't messed up enough, the doctor reported that they found traces of the drugs scopolamine, bromantane and LSD in his blood. Among other things. Evidently, HYDRA wanted to make sure he did what they told him and to not worry about it. He'll be coming down from all that pretty soon, so be careful."
STARK TOWER - SECURE AREA
Natasha takes the elevator to the ground floor, then changes to a another elevator, this one has its own room, complete with a security guard. She nods to the guard, walks to the keypad and enters a password, and pushes the only button. The elevator descends for almost a minute. When it stops the door opens onto a room with one door, that she opens after entering a code into another keypad. That door opens into a hallway with six alternating steel doors.
She pauses for a second, then goes to door 116 and looks in the window. The Soldier is still lying on the platform, wrapped in the blanket, with his right hand behind his head. Natasha watches him for a second, then says "Lights," and the ceiling brightens. The Soldier throws off the blanket and stands up, looking at the door.
Natasha pushes the button to enable the two-way speakers, and says "солдат, отчет." (Soldier, report.) The Soldier's expression doesn't change, he stands still and responds in Russian, giving a very direct, concise report on his last mission. Nat watches him as he speaks, he looks forward, at the wall in front of him, and makes fists with both hands. He has a slight accent, but it isn't English.
She tells him "стенд перед окном." (Stand in front of the window.) He walks over and stands about three feet away and looks at her through the glass. Nat watches him for any sign of recognition, but his eyes show no emotion, he just stands there. His body looks completely healed, except for the bandage on his leg.
"Do you know me?" she asks, in English.
"Yes." In English, one word, no more.
"Do you know who I work for?"
"SHIELD."
"Do you know why you're here?"
He frowns, "Prisoner."
"What is your name." Silence. He just looks at her. If anything his eyes change, now they're even more guarded and expressionless. Natasha asks again, more insistently "What is your name, Soldier." He just looks at her, then down at the floor.
Natasha flips her hair, and tries a different tack. "About 5 years ago, I was escorting an engineer near Odessa. You shot out one of my tires and we went off the road. I tried to protect the engineer, but you shot him, through me. Do you remember?"
He was still frowning, but his eyes were moving, looking down and around. He says "No" quietly. She shrugs, "I knew it was you, it was dark but I could see light glinting off your arm." His fists tighten, but he still just stands there.
Natasha says in Russian "I remember you before that. Do you remember the Red Room?" She stops, seeing the Soldier as he was then, huge and terrifying, teaching the group of young women efficient ways to kill quickly. And many ways to kill slowly and painfully.
She has a flash of memory... the Winter Soldier smiling at her, a quick grin, his hand on her cheek... with a quick shake of her head, she comes back to herself, focusing on the here and now. Natasha looks at the man standing in the cell and asks quietly, "Do you remember?" He is watching her, but his eyes have no light, no spark of memory. "No."