The heals of my boots click along the pavement as I walk. I'm trying not to look suspicious, but I know that I do. My heart pounds as I walk through the night, he let me walk by myself. He knew I wouldn't try to run away, and that if I did he'd find me anyway. He needs the information my mother knows, but I thought that it would help if I went to her without him near. He might scare her, and my mother scares easily. He promised he'd be near watching while I worked on finding out the information vital to help the soldier. I walk up the winding walkway of my mother's home, I am silent until I end up having to knock on the door. It's less than a minute of waiting before she answers the door. I give her a smile, and try to act like I wasn't helping a highly trained assassin... I wasn't sure how I was doing on that, because I'm very sure I look suspicious.

"Hey."

I whisper as she looks at me. She knows something is off about me, she can tell just by how I look at her. Surely I looked like hell... tired from everything that has happened, my makeup running down my face from crying...

"I need to talk to you, and quick. It's important."

I say it in a hushed tone as she nods, stepping aside to let me in.

"Are you alright? Emilia you're shaking."

She states closing us into the house. After my parents divorced she'd gotten a decent amount of money from my father. She had a nice house, a nice car, that was the only thing my father was good at, paying off his family.

"No. I'm not alright. I need your help."

I state simply as I walk down the hallway from the front entrance way and don't stop until I reach the living room. I don't walk inside, I, instead rest my body up against the door frame. She, however, keeps walking until she sits in her favorite chair by the fireplace. When she sits, she looks up at me, no expression on her face.

"I need to ask you about Hydra. It's important."

The second I mention the word, her face contorts to discomfort. Her eyes suddenly avoid mine and she clasps her hands before resting them in her lap.

"Emilia, I have no idea what you're talking about."

She says it as though she's trying to believe her own words. As though she's trying to convince herself that she knows nothing. She keeps her eyes on her hands, I can tell she isn't going to say anything without more probing. I groan in frustration.

"Mom you know something. I know you do, and I need our help... There are people's lives at stake."

I say it all in hopes that this time she'll answer me and tell me something. My mom wasn't the kind of person who kept secrets, that was what made her different from my father. She looks up from her hands to me, her face looking less than amused.

"He found you didn't he?"

She asks with a raised eyebrow. It's my turn to pretend I don't know anything. I shrug my shoulders.

"Who found me?"
She glares not appreciating my pretending.

"I think we both know who I'm talking about..."

She pauses breathing a deep sigh.

"...The winter soldier... that spineless assassin found you. Brainwashed you with false information, and now you're trying to save him. Well I have news for you Emilia, a man like him can't be saved."

I look away from her, pressing my lips together in a thin line. I roll my eyes not understanding what is going on. My mother never acted like this before... so why now?

"James was a good man before Hydra ruined him. He deserves to find these people and stop them from hurting other innocent people."

My mother glares before standing from her chair, she doesn't move, only stands in front of the chair. Her eyes stay locked on mine, and I can see the rage burning behind her gaze.

"I told your father years ago that I wouldn't tell anyone about his plans. He made me swear to it, and I'm not going to break the promise."

I watch my mom closely, in her eyes there are is a trace of sadness. Despite everything my father had done, she still loved him all the same. When he died she was more broken up about it than his own children... Her body is shaking, but she tries to stop herself from trembling, her jaw clenching as she looks at the carpeted floor.

"Mom, I know you made a promise, but that promise died with him. I think it's time to take that information and do something good with it."

She shakes her head.
"There are some secrets that aren't meant to be told my dear girl. Fighting Hydra is a treacherous battle, one you both will lose. No amount of fancy metal arms could ever prepare him for what's out there. "

I breathe a deep sigh. I need to know what she knows, I need to help him. I promised him I was nothing like my father and I fully intended on proving to him that I'm not.

"Mom... Please. This man needs my help, I want to help. I just need your help, he needs your help."

Her brow furrows at the sound of desperation in my voice. I don't think I've ever begged for anything in my life, and she knew it was out of character for me to do so. She sighs before she using her right hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I can't help him, no one can. There are others like your father in this world, but these one's are a different bread of vicious."

I nod. I knew that there were all kinds of evil in this world, and I knew that there were more men like my father. Men who wouldn't protect me like my father had, but I wasn't afraid of dying... not anymore. I made a promise to help James, and I would do just that, even if I died trying. I was going to make my life amount to something.

"If you don't tell me, he'll make you tell, and I don't want that to happen."

I whimper as I glance around the room taking in my childhood home. Not one thing was out of place and in many ways it felt like no time had passed. Like maybe this wasn't happening, maybe this was all some sick, twist, subconsciously driven nightmare, but I knew that wasn't true. Even if the house hadn't changed, the people living inside had. We all were different...

"James won't stop until he's gotten his revenge, and I highly doubt you want to stand in the way of the winter soldier."

She glances from me to the window, her eyes fixated on something... She shakes her head before stating;

"He needs to go back to where it all began, where Hydra first started working on him. They will have answers..."

She pauses looking the window to me.
"... Many people believe that it was burned down, and that all the files were lost... but they're wrong. Your father and the men before him decided they wanted to make sure the building not only continued standing, but that everything was refurnished. Everything looks as it did before, and if he goes back, he'll surely find the answers he desires."

She looks ashamed when she tells me it all, but she also looks a bit relieved, like a weight has been lifted off of her. I nod in response to her words, tucking some of my long brown hair behind my ear.

"Thank you."

I whisper as I unfold my arms from my chest. She motions for me to walk into the room, but I don't. I stay where I am. I felt like I didn't know my mom, and I wasn't in the mood to deal with her. She wanted to protect my father's work, his awful work, after everything that he's done...

"You're going to help him aren't you?"

She asks me this with concern on her face as she sits back down in her chair, sitting on the edge. I don't make a sound, or make a move, I just watch her. I want to tell her that I'm going to help him no matter what the outcome is, but I know I can't. She'll flip, and I don't want to give her that anxiety. She goes to speak again, but doesn't, something stops her... a bullet. The sound of a gun going off forces me to jump. Whoever shot her, shoots her in the chest... she looks up at me wide eyed and shocked. Her body slowly falls back in her seat. I cover my mouth to hold in a scream, tears instantly move to my eyes. I go to rush forward, but she shakes her head, and weakly lifts her hand up, putting her pointer finger over her lips.

"Don't make a sound, don't move."

She states in a barely audible whisper. I bite down on the bottom of my lip and force myself not to scream as more bullets enter the room. They hit her, and I know that there's nothing I can do... I should run to her, or run away, but I can't... I am frozen in fear. Who shot my mom? Was it the soldier? I lean on the door frame, gripping it tightly. Any life in her eyes fades within seconds... I look at her blankly. She was alive less than a minute ago, and now she was gone... I don't know how much time passes, and in this moment I don't care.

"Emilia."

His voice is in my head as I stand there with my head spinning and my ears ringing.

"Emilia. Come on."

His voice firmer this time. He puts his hands on me, forcing me to look at him.

"Emilia we've got to move."

I shake my head in protest as tears start, and the realization of what just happened hits me... my mom was shot, and she was shot right in front of me. I didn't even try to help her... God I was awful. I look up at him.

"Did you shoot her?"

I ask wanting to make sure that it wasn't him... I hoped it was anyone but him. He looks around me and glares at the body.

"If it was me, I would've killed her in one bullet, not fifty."

I gulp at his words, he was right an assassins usually did things in a more swift manner. I close my eyes as more tears come.

"Come on."

He states once more, but I don't move. He breathes a deep sigh. He guides his hands to my face, forcing me to look at him.

"Emilia, I know you've experienced something terrible, but the longer we wait here the more we risk getting caught. Someone killed your mom, and that means someone is after you and your family."

I hold his gaze before I bite down on the bottom of my lip.

"Okay."

I whimper.

"Okay now lets go."

He doesn't wait for me to move, he instead guides me with him as he walks. I don't know what just happened, all I know is that I only had one person I could count on... The winter soldier.

He drives through the night, his car moving fast as he weaves his way through downtown D.C. I lay my head back on the head rest as I watch the passing lights. He doesn't talk and I know he doesn't want to. He was a man of few words, and he wouldn't waste any on me if he didn't need to. I close my eyes finding the silence to be tiring. I feel my mind drifting... everything that happened plays on a loop, every bullet echoing inside my head, shot by shot. I can only see her eyes... her lifeless eyes. And I just stood there, not even bothering to help my mother. Maybe I was like my father... cold, heartless... I feel someone put their hand on me shaking me from the haunting images replaying in my head. I open my eyes sitting up in the passenger seat, my breathing is uneven, a faint outline of sweat on my brow. It takes me a few moments before I realize where I am and who I'm with. I look at him, his right hand is still on my shoulder. We look at each other in a silent mutual understanding as he simply nods. I run my hands through my hair, and sigh.

"My mom told me what you need to do..."

He grips the wheel tightly before darting to look over at me for only a moment. After a few seconds he looks back at the road.

"...You need to go back to where it all started. When you were made into this soldier."

He watches the road once more, before whispering.

"There's only one problem with that... I don't remember much. I barely remember where it all started."

I look away from him thinking of how he could remember... I'd read his file, they'd "whipped" his memory multiple times, but the human brain isn't like a computer file... those memories are there, even if he doesn't remember them right now. I give him a small smile.

"You know...I went to college to be a counselor..."

I state as he glances over at me once more.

"... Maybe I could help you. I mean it might not work, but why not? I read a lot about the human mind."

He licks his lips.

"Maybe you can help..."

He pauses giving me a barely there smile, the first one I've ever seen him give. It's like a ghost, haunting his handsome face.

"...Maybe you have more tricks up your sleeve than I'd originally anticipated."