Chapter Two

Allies

Violet

Violet stared at her room; she had been given a room to share with Barnes when HYDRA moved bases. Her new roommate-slash-partner was nowhere to be found, as usual. He was often gone, leaving her to deal with the room in any way she wanted.

Its walls were an icy blue decorated with white and dark blue winter-themed designs while its ceiling was a midnight blue with glow-in-the-dark stickers arranged in constellation patterns. The beds, one with a dark violet duvet and one with a gray one, were at different sides of the room and there was only one shower. All of it was her idea and the money had been supplied by outside acquaintances.

Realizing she had to speak with her partner, she got up from her bed. With a sigh, she went out of the room, dressed in her usual get-up, and proceeded to head to the training room. HYDRA was rich, to say the least, and she had complete access to its facilities.

Finding him was easy. After living with him for two months and being on five assignments with him, she started to understand him. Slowly, of course, since he barely spoke, but it was better than nothing. This time, she found him beating the heck out of a punching bag. His eyes were focused entirely on the bag but she caught them taking a glance at her.

"I think that thing has been beaten to death quite enough," she commented, standing right next to the said thing, not even flinching as his metal arm missed her face by a mere centimeter.

He stopped, glancing shortly at his knuckles before fixing his gaze on her. As usual, his eyes were cold and wary, just like the ones she saw in the mirror every single day.

"Pierce has a mission for you," she informed him. "Miss May went to our room but you weren't there so she asked if I could pass the message."

"Who is it?"

Violet rolled her eyes, a bad habit she seemed to do only around him. "Geez, lighten up. You sound like me from five years ago."

He stayed silent but his eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly and she caught the movement in the corner of her eye. Instead of saying anything, she decided to move to the next nearest punching bag and started to attack it.

"What's the mission?" he finally asked her.

"Nicholas Fury," she replied easily as she kept punching. "There's a folder on your bed that says practically everything we know about him."

He nodded once, his eyes flicking to her face before leaving.

Violet shook her head. She was seeing things.

James Buchannan Barnes

The Winter Soldier

The Winter Soldier opened the door to his room, no, their room. He was sharing it with that odd girl, Violet Winters. He looked around. Everything was the same. The walls had winter designs, no doubt his partner's idea. She was weird, for a HYDRA agent. The way her eyes followed his every movement, not missing a single detail and not paying attention at the same time; the way her hair was tied up in a ponytail despite the usual low cut; the way she moved so defiantly but followed every order…

He shook his head. Thinking about her would do him no good. She was his partner and while that meant they had to trust each other, he wasn't a hundred percent sure that she was telling him everything about herself. She had this way of making you think you had her figured out, as if you solved her puzzle, and then she opens up a new piece of herself, scrambling up the puzzle pieces all over again.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked himself. He was getting distracted lately.

Lucky for him, however, he had a mission. And that meant that he had something new to do, something that didn't involve his weird partner. She was usually his back-up but Pierce seemed more eager to test her loyalty than her skill, resulting in her having to terminate all the past targets. He wasn't complaining and neither was she, but he picked up that she was much more uncomfortable with taking a life than she let on.

If I keep thinking like this, I'll be wiped all over again, he thought to himself as he pushed those dangerous thoughts to the back of his mind.

He was the Winter Soldier.

A master assassin.

A trained agent.

A cold-blooded killer.

And nobody was changing that. That was all he was, all he is, and all he would ever be.

"Hey, Snowflake." His partner popped her head in the room. "It's time to eat dinner. What do you want?"

He just stared at her, silently wondering why she would care. She could have demanded a higher position; anybody who beat him in a fight could. And yet, she was content in being his partner, content with being a sidekick.

"I'm getting some pork and rice. I'll be right back," she told him after a while.

The Winter Soldier just nodded. He wasn't in the mood to eat but if he didn't, she would go on a rant and he was too busy to listen. It often seemed as if she was there to take care of him instead of being his partner. She was too nice, too soft, when dealing with those matters. In a fight, she was just like him, cold and quiet, letting results do the talking. But when it came to everyday life… she was annoying as heck. What was up with that?

"Yo, Snowflake," came the cheery greeting as her voice pulled him back to reality. She passed him a plate as she set the food down on his bed. There was silence before she spoke again. "A conversation is when two people exchange ideas, you know. I'm not aiming for a monologue."

He pulled his mask down and took a bite of food. She nodded approvingly at that before studying his face. It made him slightly self-conscious. "What?"

"Nothing, Snowflake. Just thinking of how welcoming you are."

He almost rolled his eyes at the remark. "Sure thing, Half-Pint."

She froze and he was beginning to be afraid he had said something wrong before her face broke into a grin. "There! Now I have a nickname from you. That's a step."

He held back a chuckle. This girl was weird.

"So," she began, "Little Miss Secretary to Mr. Crocodile has a big crush on you. Do you like her?"

"No."

She huffed. "Geez, stop being so stoic. Why not?"

"Too irritating."

"Like me?"

"You're irritating," he allowed. "But tolerable."

"Gee, thanks, Barnes. That totally the way to a girl's heart, calling her tolerable," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He flinched at his old name. "Don't call me that."

"What? Barnes? It's your name, isn't it?"

"Not anymore."

There was silence for a moment before she stood up and grabbed his hand, making him flinch at the physical contact. Her deep eyes stared right into his as she spoke. "Do you want to see something amazing?"

Not thinking twice, he nodded.

Smiling, she ran out the door, still holding his hand. He kept up with her while trying to dodge all the people busy running back and forth. They reached the outer gate with nothing on them but their usual bags.

"What are we doing?" he asked her.

She hushed him before lying sweetly to the guard about why they were going outside. And by sweetly, he noticed that death threats were just the cherry on top of the cake.

"You managed to get them to let us out," he noted once they were safely driving away in a car.

"I have my specialties," she told him with a sweet smile. "Anyway, what car do you want to use? Ooh, how about that one?"

"We're in the middle of the city now," Violet told him as they drove past a particularly tall skyscraper. "Where do you think we should go?"

The Winter Soldier remained silent, continuing to aimlessly drive around. He couldn't believe that someone who managed to sneak out of HYDRA's base without getting caught could have absolutely no plan on where to go.

"How about the park? Or maybe the museum?" she said aloud, mostly muttering to herself. "There's a pastry store right down this lane, so that might be a good stop. Yeah, let's go the pastry store. It's called Pam's Pastries, I think."

He nodded before driving a while to look for the shop she was talking about. Once he found it, he parked right in front of it as she went out to look inside.

Inside the store, the aroma of freshly baked goods practically assaulted their senses. While he stayed on high alert, she looked around excitedly like a little kid in a gift store. He saw her take a deep breath before looking around and encouraging him to do the same.

"Pick some and we'll buy them," she told him, grabbing one with a lot of sugar on top of it. "Pick a drink too, if you want."

He looked around the shop; everything they sold was familiar and new at the same time. Instead of looking at the food, he focused on her. She was flitting around, gazing at everything with awe. The sight almost made him smile.

"I'm Clarice," said a voice behind him.

He turned quickly to see a woman behind the counter. Relaxing a bit, he inhaled, getting attacked by a new wave of scents. "Jim."

"She's a keeper, you're girl," the cashier woman told him.

"Oh, uh, we're not… um, you know," he stuttered.

"Together?" He nodded. "Well, that's a shame. It's been a while since anyone's been into my store for fun. People usually get too caught up in what they're told to do, or what they feel they have to do, that they forget to take a deep breath and treasure the moment."

The Winter Soldier was silent at that, staring at his partner. She was still smiling, carrying around some treats as she gazed at the menu.

"But what do I know?" she said. "I'm just an old lady. Are you done, dears?"

They ended up buying an assorted box of everything being sold, with additional ones as a complimentary treat from the owner, a cup of coffee for him and a hot chocolate drink for her. Taking everything to the car, they drove out to the nearest park and sat there for a while.

Taking a sip of hot choco, she stared at him again. "You don't have to be too guarded around me, you know. At least tell me what you're thinking about from time to time."

He stared back at her. "Why are we doing this?"

"I thought a change of scenery might help."

"With what?"

"Everything HYDRA's doing, or making us do. Other than that, I just really wanted a breath of fresh air."

There was silence again as he took a bite of one particular donut and, thinking that she would like it, he offered the rest to her.

She stared at his outstretched hand for a while and he was about to withdraw it when she took a bite. Closing her eyes, she sighed. "That was delicious, thank you. I am going to buy more of that next time. Try the one with the white frosting, by the way. It's not too sweet, but not too bland either."

The rest of the day went by like that, a bit of talking, a bit of food and a bit of sightseeing. Finally, they headed back to the base where, miraculously, nobody noticed that they were gone.

"We should do that again sometime," Violet told him.

"Maybe," the Winter Soldier replied.

Yawning, she pulled out her laptop and began typing. He assumed that it was another poem; she was particularly fond of those. Soon, she struggled to keep her eyes open as her fingers periodically slowed down before she would jolt awake again. Then, she finally fell asleep, still sitting up with the laptop in front of her.

Sighing, he stood up and went to her side of the room. He took her laptop and set it on the table before making her lie down and placing a blanket over her. Going over to his bed, he chided himself for being so stupid.

You're nothing but a machine, he reminded himself.

No hope for anything else.

Nothing but what they molded him into.

The Winter Soldier tried to read the file on Nick Fury, knowing that they would have to kill him within two days. But, he couldn't concentrate; his thoughts kept reviewing the day they just spent.

What they did reminded him of someone. For a split second, there was a memory. A face. Then, just as quickly, it disappeared.

In frustration, he headed up again to the training room and began punching the bag. It didn't help.

Her eyes kept flashing back to him, her smile, her words, her face.

The Winter Soldier froze. Something was wrong with him. He wasn't in love, but he wasn't indifferent, either. His partner had taken up most of his time.

His partner, he reminded himself. Nothing else.

He had to distance himself from her, or else nothing good would come from anything. She was dangerous to him, but, most of all, to HYDRA. If Pierce ever knew that he was like this, she would… she would… she would be killed.

Giving the punching bag another hit, he made up his mind.

Violet Winters was nothing to him.

Author's Note:

End of Chapter Two. Thank you for reading. I check the spelling and grammar myself, so please feel free to point out any mistakes nicely. Thanks and have a great day!