Chapter 3: Adjustment

Modern day was so beyond her comprehension, as for Bucky, he remained unfazed by how grandiose everything was in this new world. Perhaps it was because he had gone on a previous mission already. Marina's eyes wandered everywhere, she wanted to talk to everyone. Ask why they had these things in their ears and were bobbing their heads, why they chose to wear colorful shoes. Some people even had phones in their hands! Marina had never seen such a thing in her life, she had been so used to calling someone from a phone connected to a wall. Bucky had to grab her wrist and yank her in the right direction several times as they walked through the airport.

She had seen a plane before, she had even seen the more updated versions of Hydra's most top aircrafts, but never had she been inside of an airport. Her pre-super serum life was so consumed by her father's grasp, she was hardly capable of meeting anyone or going anywhere. Her first thought was that it was big, a really big airport in a really big country. The view of Moscow from the airport was extraordinary as well, the sun was setting, highlighting the sky in amazing colors; purples, blues, oranges, and reds.

She had torn herself from Bucky at one point to rush towards the panoramic window and press her cheek against the glass. She had never experienced the sun as she had then. She had never experienced life as she had now. Bucky was nice enough to let her sit there for a few minutes, she assumed that he also was enjoying the remarkable view. Then he tugged her along and they continued to their gate.

There was a lot of work that needed to be done in order to get on the plane. They didn't need to go through security because they already had been cleared by undercover Hydra personnel. But they did have to confirm a lot of information with the flight attendant letting them onto the plane. That was when Marina figured it would be best to learn their roles and play the part better.

Bucky didn't turn from his super soldier strictness once, but after all that Marina had seen she was willing to start a conversation with him. They had found their seats on the plane, Marina holding the dossier tightly in between the pages of a magazine she had found to remain ambiguous. Once seated she began sifting through the extra information within the dossier, looking for anything that could be important to know. She noticed immediately that the seats were close together and crammed, with one large man beside her she was thankful that she was prototype enough to fit between the window and Bucky. She returned to the information, checking Bucky's file first.

"You are a weapons manufacturer." She pointed aloud as the plane made ready for takeoff. Bucky didn't look in her direction or make any sign that he had acknowledged her statement. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reaching her arm up to tap his shoulder it never made it to its destination. Instead stopped by the firm grip of a metal hand and the harsh glare of dark eyes.

"Don't touch me." He ground out in a low, but firm voice. Her nose wrinkled and his grip loosened, her hand sifted easily from his own and she pointed to the dossier rather shakily.

"Um... Uh... I was just thinking that it would be important to learn more about ourselves before we uh..." She swallowed loudly. "Continue." She finished, just as her sentence finished the plane jolted forward and took off in the air. This startled Marina as she wasn't expecting such a jostling lift from the ground. She made a squeak, dropping the dossier onto her lap, her hands grabbing onto anything nearby. It took her a minute or two to calm herself, finally realizing that she had wrapped her arms around Bucky's human arm, which was touching her shoulder. The dossier was resting soundly on her lap, her eyes met Bucky's and a red blush came over her cheeks. She looked away and frowned, pulling her arms off of him and making an attempt to compose herself. He did not remove his gaze from her, it was so hard, so full of hatred that she was about to completely forget the dossier. Until...

"A Weapons Manufacturer, you say?" Bucky began and her eyebrows raised in surprise, some part of her growing excited and more confident with his direct response.

"Y-Yes." She stuttered, scrambling through the pages of content in the dossier and finding what she had seen before. She pointed at his occupation in bold, holding it up for him to see.

"It doesn't say what weapons I sell."

"Why would that be important?" She pulled it closer to her to scan over its contents again, disregarding Bucky's question. He snatched it from her and she flinched away in horror, praying in that split second that he would given her another bruised eye. He scrutinized her for a moment before looking over the dossier himself.

"It says here that you are a translator."

"What?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that can't be true because she only knew English, German and Russian. Her Russian wasn't the best and her English was so out of tune. German was her strong suit, her natural tongue. How could they make her a translator? "I only know three languages, I am not even that good at English." Bucky didn't seem to care about this, he just dismissively went looking over the words again.

"I am thirty-two and you are twenty-nine. We met in the Bahamas... Hmm" He hummed to himself and she wasn't sure if it was because he was pondering something or had found something interesting.

"What?"

"Nothing." Marina crossed her arms and turned her attention towards the landscapes that passed by in the world below. It didn't seem like her world, so high up in the sky, it seemed so distant and untouchable. But her world wasn't untouchable, it was on the verge of destruction and she could see it so clearly. She could escape now, this was her and Bucky's chance, they could leave and never come back. But what about Bucky, he would never be the same Bucky. At least she could have conversations with him, but his expression towards everything was limited. That reminded her, how was she supposed to be his wife if he didn't express that she was his.

"Bucky..." She started, but quickly regretted it when his hand grabbed her knee and squeezed tightly. She grabbed his wrist, trying to let up on the amount of pressure he put on her kneecap. She winced, looking up at him with wide eyes, trying her best to keep quiet. "I mean Sebastian." She hissed out and his grip lightened, his eyes staring straight into her soul.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes, that is your name. In the file." She heaved out, letting out a sigh of relief as he looked back down to the file to approve what she had called him.

"Your name is Katrina." He nodded his head. "You look like a Katrina." Was Bucky teasing her? She wasn't so sure, she would have sworn she caught a smile, but it was to fragile, so impossible to see with the average eye. If Bucky did smile it wouldn't have come as a surprise to her. She felt that just like her, Bucky had also left something back at the Hydra compound. If she could convince Bucky that this was their chance to escape, would he do it? She had to pick a good time to talk to him about it.

Halfway through the plane ride the Flight attendants were handing out free food and drinks. Bucky turned down any offerings, but when Marina realized she couldn't have seconds she urged Bucky to ask for some of the pretzel baggies. Just for her. She hadn't had such tasty treats in a long time and her body definitely needed it for energy. He didn't, however, ask for anything instead claiming that the mission was active and that they needed to focus.

Marina didn't say anything after that, ignoring her rather loud stomach in favor of the beautiful view of the ocean outside her window. No words were exchanged when they landed, they went straight to the hotel. Marina didn't stay silent because Bucky wasn't listening, but because New York City was so big, it was so restless and busy. She loved it in terms of the nice and well-structured buildings, but it was just far too loud and obnoxious for her taste. Bucky acted as though he had been there a million times, he was the whole reason they had made it to the hotel. He called a taxi and had spoken way more English than she had ever heard him say... Well English at all since she had seen him in super soldier mode. It was always Russian, so she was surprised to hear Bucky's native tongue with his actual accent.

In the hotel, Marina realized something was off. It must had been the time, which in the Hydra compound she could never keep track of. But being able to look at a clock and see when you were at where you were, it felt amazing. She realized that when they left Moscow it was night, but now it was early night. America was still going through a day that Moscow had already finished, it made Marina feel like they had gone back in time. That was ironic to her more than anything, considering how futuristic this world was to the one that she knew. She was enjoying this new freedom, almost completely forgetting the mission until she tuned back into the conversation at hand.

"We need two rooms." He said to the woman at the front desk, she gave him a tight knitted smile.

"I am sorry, sir. But Smith is only assigned for one, the suite. If you want to add it will cost-"

"One will be fine." Marina chimed in as best as she could with her German accent, grabbing her bag from Bucky and lopping it over her shoulder, she smiled at him. She was completely oblivious to Bucky's irritation. The woman put the keys to the room in front of Bucky and crossed her fingers into a crown.

"I hope you both have a great day." Bucky was staring at the keys as though they were alien. He bit his bottom lip and steadily picked them up from the desk, moving onwards to the elevator.

In the hotel suite, Marina was admiring everything; the king size bed, the Royal shower and bathtub, the double sinks, the modern tv, the mini kitchen, and the gourmet food cart in the corner. Surprisingly Hydra made their parts very convincing by buying them expensive things alone. She wasn't expecting Hydra to buy the suite, it was probably much better than the measly hotel rooms that occupied the lower floors. She had never stayed in a hotel before and for her first time, she was already extremely comfortable.

The ceilings were high, steps leading up to the gold adorning kind size bed, and the floor was carpeted by a plush white fabric. The walls were painted beige and there was a set of lazy boy chairs in the corner near the mini kitchen, which was open up in the direction of the bed. Tall white double doors led into a bathroom beside the bed; the bathroom was roomy, a shower to right as one entered and a bathtub directly across from the door, to the left were a set of sinks. The walls were imprinted with a repeated pattern of gold seashells and the light emanated from a hanging lamp at the center of the ceiling.

Marina plopped onto the bed with a sigh, her bag dropped to sit beside the bed. Bucky stood at the door, his head was tilted down and his eyes were stone as he glared around the room. She smiled, closing her eyes and propping her hands up behind her head.

"I will take first shift for watch tonight." Bucky said into the sweet silence of the room Marina's smile slowly fell, her eyes cracked open and she sat up on her elbows, looking over at him. He was readying the handgun that was in his bag, loading it and cocking it. He placed it in the back of his pants.

"What do you mean?"

"We are on a mission. We have to be prepared for anything in the night."

"Bu- Barnes..." She corrected herself, sitting up straight on the edge of the bed. "If we are going to be a married couple we have to act the part. If we are always on high alert, others will get suspicious."

"Are you suggesting we let our guard down, Schmidt?" She shivered as he spoke her last name.

"No, Barnes."

"Get ready for bed. I am turning the lights out in thirty minutes." He turned to close the door, Marina stood up and approached him, when he turned she was directly behind him.

"Barnes... This is our chance. We can be free, we can leave right after tonight and go anywhere in America that we want. They will never hurt us again." Bucky's eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at Marina, the corner of his lip twitched slightly.

"Abandon the mission?"

"Yes." Marina whispered out, nervously replacing her attention to the floor.

"Leaving would jeopardize the mission and anything or anyone that puts the mission at stake will be eliminated." He said in a monotone voice, Marina felt her heart skip a beat when he stepped much closer. So close that she could feel his breath upon her forehead as he looked down upon her. "Are we clear, Schmidt?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Get ready for bed." Marina complied and she prepared for bed, brushing her teeth, dressing in the pajamas provided for her, and heading to bed as was expected of her. The pajamas were a bit less modest than she had expected them to be, they had an odd smell to them; a pink tank top with black shorts that ended at her thighs. Bucky had made a place on the floor, he did not change into the pajamas provided for him. It was some time late in the night that she had woken up to go to the bathroom, a leisure she was never allowed with Hydra. Bucky was still awake, keeping watch, staring out between the blinds of the window. The moonlight gliding through the slits and lighting up a portion of his face. She felt the need to take his place, if he was so insistent on keeping watch then she would watch also and probably take the shift so he could sleep, but she saw the look in his eyes. He wasn't sleeping not because he wanted to keep watch, but because he couldn't relax. He had too many nightmares. Too many burdens. She went back to sleep that night, but it was a hard task to achieve.