"I screwed up big time, didn't I?" Emma voiced her fear as Winter drove them away from the crash site. They were probably about ten miles out by the time Emma finally spoke. Winter had been silent the whole time although that wasn't unusual. She tore off her goggles and mask before throwing them in the back seat. Her blue eyes were brimmed with tears and she could actually feel a few tears fall down her cheeks.

"I thought I could do it but when I was actually there…my finger on the trigger…I don't know. I just couldn't, I guess." Emma paused as she thought about Agent Romanoff.

"She looked like my mother, Winter." Emma told him quietly. Winter glanced away from the road, his eyes locked onto the sad looking blonde next to him. "I saw her standing there and all I could see was my mother. She looked so disappointed in me."

"Your mother's dead." He told her bluntly and Emma glared at him, angrily wiping the tears off her face.

"You don't think I know that? I know she's dead and I know my dad's dead too but I just can't help wondering what she would've thought of all of this. My mother, I mean." Emma stared out the window, more tears streaming down her face. She usually tried not to cry in front of anyone. It was a habit that she had been forced into a while ago.

"What's Hydra going to do, Winter? I messed up big time. I was supposed to eliminate the target but I made you do it instead."

"You didn't make me do anything." He said. Emma didn't seem to be convinced by his statement.

"I made you do my mission." Emma bit her lip as she turned to look at him. "How do you do it, Winter? How do you kill people?"

"You know exactly how I kill people." He replied and Emma groaned in frustration.

"You misunderstand me. I mean, how do you kill people and not feel anything? How can you walk away and not feel sorry?" Winter looked at her out of corner of his eye.

"Hydra has made me an effective asset for their cause." He replied in a monotone voice and Emma rolled her eyes. It sounded so rehearsed and it didn't help her in the least bit…not in the current dilemma she was in.

"Yes, thank you for your advice." She said sarcastically before turning to look out the window again. There wasn't much to be seen except for miles upon miles of desert. Her expression became grim as her thoughts went back to Hydra and what their intentions were.

"The doctor is dead." Emma told him but Winter didn't show any emotion. "Agent Romanoff is still alive."

"She'll die out in the desert. She'll bleed out." He told her as if he were reassuring her but Emma shook her head.

"No, she won't. I pushed her panic button." That warranted a surprised look from Winter. "We're a lot alike in many ways. She understood me."

"Hydra's not going to kill me for this…I know that." Emma said quietly.

"They've spent too much time on me but they've hurt me before for a lot less so they're not going to overlook this, are they?" She continued to ask but Winter didn't say anything…not that she expected him to. The silence between them was nearly deafening as Emma contemplated her future and Winter drove. It was why it caused Emma to give him an incredulous look when he finally spoke.

"You'll be fine."


"Mission report." Colonel Karpov demanded as soon as they walked into his office. The Russian Colonel had a serious expression on his face. An expression that Emma actually learned was just his face. Rumlow and Strucker were missing from the office Emma observed but Secretary Pierce was there instead. Emma was actually a little glad that Rumlow was nowhere to be seen. It would make all of this a lot easier if he was out of the room. Emma swallowed nervously as she gained the courage to speak up. She kept a stoic expression on her face, refusing to show any bit of weakness as she looked at Karpov.

"The mission was successful, sir. Target was eliminated efficiently." Emma told him seriously and Karpov nodded, glancing between the Winter Soldier and the Viper Assassin. She hoped he didn't ask about any details regarding the mission. Colonel Karpov usually wasn't the type of man that cared how something was done as long as it was done in the end.

"That's good…I'm glad to hear that and I'm sure Secretary Pierce is also pleased with this information." Emma glanced back at the older man, noticing that his focus was primarily on her rather than Winter. Secretary Pierce then stepped forward. He had a kind smile on his face but his eyes were serious.

"That I am, Colonel, but I'm much more interested in hearing about Emma's progress." Pierce said, once again using Emma's birth name. She forced herself to calm down as she looked the older man in the eyes. Pierce smiled at her before the smile fell off his face completely when he turned to look at Winter.

"I think the Asset could tell us exactly how well Emma did today in her mission. Isn't that right, Winter Soldier?" Emma narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked at Secretary Pierce. His tone sounded more insincere with a slight sarcastic bite to it as he addressed Winter. Emma got chills from the way Pierce said his name mockingly. Maybe Winter wasn't completely wrong about Secretary Pierce.

Winter just stared at him with a blank expression, not an ounce of emotion to be seen in his eyes. Emma felt her heart rate increase again and she knew that she would be punished. Winter was a loyal Hydra weapon. He would tell them everything that had occurred on the mission and Emma couldn't blame him for that. It's not like she expected him to lie to Hydra. That would be potentially deadly. She needed to take responsibility for her actions and accept the fate that Hydra would bestow upon her. Hopefully they were at least a little forgiving.

"So tell us…how did she do?" Pierce asked and Winter held his gaze steadily without the slightest falter. It seemed like they had stared at each other for minutes rather than seconds before Winter finally replied. Emma held her breath, fearing the worst.

"The Viper Assassin completed the mission successfully, eliminating the target without difficulty." He finally said and Emma forced herself not to look shocked. In her mind, she was completely bewildered about what Winter just said. What was he doing? He knew what had happened out in that desert. He was the one who had to finish the job Emma couldn't do and Emma had even told him everything else so he knew everything. So why was he lying? Secretary Pierce stared at him for a moment longer, holding his gaze before he looked away from the taller man. He smiled at Emma in that fatherly fashion she was used to with him.

"Well, that's good to hear." Pierce told him. Emma snuck a couple of glances in Winter's general direction as soon as Pierce and Karpov turned their backs. Winter just stared ahead, ignoring her gaze. Emma tried to get his attention but like always Winter could be very robotic at times, especially when he was ignoring her. Emma turned her head back to copy his stoic expression. This would have to be a matter she discussed with him later when they were both alone. Secretary Pierce continued in his little assessment of Emma's first mission but she could only nod in response. Her mind was otherwise occupied.


"You lied." Emma stated in the midst of all the silence. Emma and Winter had been dismissed from Karpov's office earlier and had immediately headed towards the weapon's room to change out of their outfits. After they had changed, Winter grabbed one of his guns and began to clean it. Emma leaned against a wall as she watched him with a look of disbelief. He sat there quietly, seemingly oblivious to Emma and her astonishment of him.

"Will you just answer me for once? You lied…you never lie." Emma told him, annoyed by the way he always ignored her. "I just can't understand why you would do such a thing…such a dangerous thing too."

"Can't you just thank me?" He said in a flat tone. Winter didn't even spare her a glance as he cleaned his gun which infuriated Emma even more.

"No, I can't just thank you. Not when you could get into a ton of trouble with Karpov over this." Emma said, a worried look crossing her face. "I mean…Winter, you lied right to Secretary Pierce's face. If what you said is true about him then he's not likely to be the type to forgive easily."

"Let me worry about Pierce." Winter told her firmly. He didn't seem that bothered by the prospect of Pierce finding out what he did but it didn't make Emma worry any less. The look on his face told her that he wanted to drop this conversation but there was so many things going through her mind. So many questions that she needed to have answered.

She thought she didn't understand Winter before but Emma feared that she understood him even less now. The silence grew into several minutes as Winter cleaned his gun and Emma contemplated the situation she found herself in. A question then popped into her mind as she watched Winter clean his gun. She frowned as the question began to bother her and there was no way she could just ignore it.

"Why did you help me?" She asked. The question must have taken Winter by surprise because he immediately stopped cleaning his gun. A confused expression formed on his face and Emma was taken back since she had never seen the Winter Soldier show that much emotion in the time she had known him. He glanced up at her, his own pale blue eyes locked onto her ocean blue ones. It seemed like he was trying to search for something in her eyes but furrowed his eyebrows when he couldn't find it.

"You remind me of someone." He admitted, causing Emma's eyes to widen in surprise. Not just at what Winter said but how he said it. She had never heard his voice sound so soft before.

"Who?" She questioned and just like that all the emotion vanished from his face and was replaced by his standard stoic expression. They fell into another round of silence and Emma thought he wasn't going to respond. It felt like it had been forever when he finally did respond to her previous question much to her surprise.

"I don't know."


"Get up, princess! Get your ass up right now!" Emma was awoken from her sleep by an alarmingly loud sounding voice. The voice sounded familiar and for some reason Emma felt a unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach from the voice. It must have been someone unpleasant to be able to get that sort of reaction out of her. She opened her eyes slowly and her gaze met dark eyes that were only a little too familiar to her. Rumlow. She could almost throw up at the sight but something was different about him…his face was different. It occurred to Emma then, even in all of her sleepiness, that Rumlow looked angry.

"What?" She said tiredly but Rumlow didn't seem to have any patience for her. He roughly yanked her out of her small bed.

"Shut up and do as you're told!" He yelled at her and then proceeded to drag her out of her room. Emma started waking up more as he and a couple of other Hydra agents dragged her down the hallway, her bare feet freezing from the ice cold concrete floors. As she started to feel more awake, Emma glanced at the agents with a confused look on her face. What was going on? She tried to recall what she may have done that could've pissed them off enough to drag her out of bed in the early hours of the morning but she came up with nothing. As far as she knew she hadn't messed anything up in any of her training sessions and it's not like she went out of her way to piss off Rumlow. Emma tried to avoid him at all costs if she could. While she did hate him, Emma was also terrified of him at the same time. Then it hit Emma.

There was only one thing she could've done that would evoke this kind of reaction from Rumlow. It was the only thing yet it was probably by far the worst. It had been almost two weeks since her mission in the desert. Her failed mission that no one knew the truth about but Emma started to gather that they had finally found out. Why else would Rumlow seem so pissed? She suddenly felt sick to her stomach at the idea that everyone knew. What would this mean for Winter? What would it mean for her? She supposed that nothing could be hidden from Hydra but a girl could dream.

Emma knew that it would be quite easy, with her enhanced strength, to overpower the agents but she also knew that there were way too many agents at the base to hold all of them off. It would be a stupid and silly mistake to make. Even if Emma was able to escape the base there was the fact that the base was located in Siberia and she would never survive the cold weather outside even with all her enhanced abilities. She wouldn't last long in the below freezing temperatures and both Emma and everyone at the base knew that.

They finally stopped when they reached a new and different room that Emma didn't think she had seen before which was odd because she was pretty sure she had familiarized herself with the whole base. It looked to be some sort of make shift lab with all the medical and scientific equipment inside of it. The floors were concrete and the walls a bland white, like the majority of the rest of the base, but it seemed far more empty and barren than any other room in the base. It felt more barren than perhaps even "The Cold Room". All the people, that Emma had labeled as important, were there in the room. Colonel Karpov and Secretary Pierce stood in the middle of the room with grave expressions on their faces as Strucker and Dr. List were off to the side looking to be in a deep discussion. It seemed that Emma and Rumlow had been the last two to arrive except for Winter. Emma was just about to worry about Winter when she spotted him right in the center of the room.

There was a chair that reminded her of a dentist's chair. Just like the one she used to sit in when her mother would take her to the dentist. Winter looked to be strapped to the chair but didn't make any move to remove himself from it. Emma noticed a machine not that far from the chair and wondered if it was somehow connected to the chair or had something to do with it. Winter didn't have his usual stoic expression which took Emma by surprise as she looked at the angry look on his face. She was taken back by the look since Emma had never seen Winter angry before. She had seen him when he was annoyed, confused, and surprised but she had never seen him angry.

"What's going on?" Emma questioned and Rumlow immediately backhanded her across the face. Emma winced at the sudden movement and felt a slighting stinging sensation across her face but the pain soon faded as her healing factor kicked in.

"You don't get to speak unless spoken to." Rumlow spat at her, malice in his tone. She had seen Rumlow with sadistic looking smiles before but she had never seen him look deadly…not since she watched him murder her parents. He then grabbed her face roughly, her chin in his grasp as he forced her to look at him. "You don't so much as look at anyone unless we want you to."

"Rumlow…" Secretary Pierce called out, his voice sounded like a warning. Rumlow glanced back at the older man and held his gaze for a moment before reluctantly letting Emma go. She narrowed her blue eyes into an angry glare as Rumlow stepped away from her.

"Viper, how nice of you to join us." Pierce stated coolly as he addressed Emma. Emma felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Pierce always called her Emma…at least since she had met him. The look he gave her was even more chilling than Rumlow's angry look. Pierce looked oddly calm given what Emma thought he knew. He smiled when he looked at the bewildered look on Emma's face. His smile was different than it had been before. It seemed far more forced than any of the other times. "It's okay…don't be frightened."

"I'm not scared." The eight year old said confidently but even with all her practice there was a slight falter in her tone.

"You don't have to lie to me." He told her with an amused look on his face. Emma struggled to maintain her composure. "I don't know how much you know about me but I used to be a father."

"Used to be?" Emma asked as she raised an eyebrow in question. Pierce only smiled as he nodded at her.

"That's right. I had a little girl once upon a time so I know all about what goes through their minds." He said, a sad expression on his face.

"What happened to her?" Emma inquired, receiving another death glare from Rumlow but it went ignored by both Emma and Pierce.

"She died…unfortunately. She was a very troubled girl and I tried to help her but…it just wasn't enough." Emma felt a little bad for him since she also knew what it was like losing someone. She had lost her parents and the memory of their deaths still haunted her all the time no thanks to Rumlow. However, Emma didn't say anything because she didn't think Pierce said that so he could get her sympathy.

"You look like your father, you know." Pierce said suddenly as he changed the subject almost out of nowhere. Emma's eyes widened as he spoke about her father who she knew even less about than she did her mother. "You have his eyes and hair…his smile too but you have your mother's nose."

"You knew them? My parents, I mean?" Emma questioned and Pierce shrugged.

"I guess you could say that. Your parents were good people. You should know that." Emma narrowed her eyes as he spoke. Good people? If they were such good people then why did Rumlow murder them?

"Then why have them killed? Why murder them?" She thought that she might be backhanded again for being so forward but Pierce did no such thing.

"You have to understand. Your parents were poking their noses into other people's business. They were good people, yes, but they were also incredibly nosy. Too nosy for their own good." Emma scoffed.

"So you just had them killed? It doesn't make any sense. If they knew so much then why let me live? Why risk everything to keep me alive? Wouldn't it have been easier to let me die with them?" She ranted at him but Pierce kept a steady composure.

"Because you're special." Pierce replied as if it were that simple. Emma blinked, giving him a blank look.

"Special?" She repeated and Pierce smirked as he began to explain.

"Yes, special. Think about it, Emma, just think. You're enhanced, far more than any other eight year old your age." Emma shook her head.

"Because you made me that way. You injected me with something that made me like this." She insisted but Pierce immediately disagreed.

"Not just anyone can accept the serum. No, it takes a very particular kind of person." He looked at her with something akin to fascination. "You're the first person since the Asset that's been able to successfully accept the serum without any repercussions."

"What are you talking about? My body felt like it was on fire. I almost died." She said angrily.

"Of course there were side effects but all the other subjects went crazy. You're the first one to ever maintain their sanity." He told her and Emma bit the inside of her cheek out of anger.

"That's reassuring." She said sarcastically, sounding much older than her eight years. It didn't help that she had practically grown up inside a base occupied entirely by adults. Emma suspected that she probably learned the craft of sarcasm from Rumlow who frequently used that sort of humor.

"Emma, you don't understand…all the other ones before you were mere failures in comparison to you." He glanced back at Winter who was still strapped down to the chair, angrily glaring at Pierce and looking like wanted to kill the older man. "Even the Winter Soldier is nothing compared to you. And how could he be? You had a different serum inside you long before we injected you with the new one."

"What?" Emma asked, confusion taking over her angry expression. What was he talking about? How could she be better than Winter who had taught her everything she knew? Winter who was her idol. And what did Pierce mean by a different serum?

"Your grandfather was a famous war hero during the second world war." Pierce told her and Emma furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. This story just kept getting weirder and weirder. "He was a small man, not meant to be in battle, so he allowed a German scientist by the name of Abraham Erskine to experiment on him using a super soldier serum he had developed."

"You see, Dr. Erskine was a genius of a man and there's never been anyone quite like him since. The serum was a major success but unfortunately the man was murdered not long after the experiment and no matter what efforts were made after his death, no one's been able to duplicate that serum." He explained. "Little did anyone know that they wouldn't have to duplicate it. Steve Rogers, your grandfather, impregnated a woman by the name of Margaret Carter, your grandmother, right before he vanished."

"As it would turn out, the serum would be passed down to your father." Pierce said with a pleased looking expression on his face. "Your grandmother kept him close to her, never letting anyone but Howard Stark or Colonel Phillips close to him. Hydra was never able to grab a hold of him and we thought the serum would be lost forever…that was until you were born. A true miracle." Realization dawned on Emma as she looked at Pierce with a shocked expression. Out of everything she expected to hear, it had not been that.

"You killed them to get to me?" She questioned and he gave her a grim look.

"They were nosy, yes, but they had you. We thought that if you already had the serum running through your veins then you would be much more accepting of a new serum…one that would make you stronger than your grandfather and the Asset put together." Pierce confessed without hesitance and Emma struggled to take it all in. It suddenly made sense to her why they kept her around all these years. Why they spent so much time training and teaching an eight year old girl rather than leaving her in the hands of an orphanage or just finishing her off. Her purpose seemed much more than she thought it had originally been. They just didn't pick a random little girl. No, they picked her because of her family. Her grandfather was some war hero that had been experimented on. Everything made so much more sense.

"You really don't understand the significance of your existence, Emma. But how could you? You're still only a child." Pierce said as he continued. "Which is why I find it very displeasing when one of my other weapons completely undermines my authority and messes with your progress."

Pierce glanced back at Winter, making it clear who he was talking about although Emma didn't have any trouble figuring that one out. It was pretty obvious or so she thought. The look Pierce gave Winter was disconcerting. It was a look entirely made up of contempt and hatred. Emma started to really wish that she hadn't gotten on Pierce's bad side because it looked like both her and Winter were going to regret it.

"You can understand my confusion over this entire situation especially since when I questioned the both of you after your mission two weeks ago, I was told the mission was successful and you did more than well." Pierce told Emma, his expression hardening. "Apparently that was all a lie."

"I'm not sure I know what you speak of, Secretary Pierce." Emma replied innocently. Big mistake. Pierce glared at her with so much anger that it nearly blinded her.

"Don't play games with me, Viper, we have connections with Shield and we know for a fact that Agent Romanoff survived." Pierce hissed. Long gone was his pleasant, kind expression and now the man seemed to be showing his true colors.

"Agent Romanoff was never a target, sir." Emma said, maintaining an even tone in her voice.

"Yes but you were ordered to kill her if she got in the way and from what I hear it sounds like she did." Pierce told her, it was evident that he was no longer playing games with Emma. "She was standing right in front of the target yet you never fired your weapon. Not once."

"I didn't have a clear visual of the target, sir. He was standing in back of Agent Romanoff so I couldn't be sure whether or not I would miss." Emma said, trying to make herself out to be as innocent in this as possible for both her and Winter's sake.

"Bullshit! You want to know how I know that?" Pierce inquired. "Agent Romanoff talked about a young blonde girl, no older than seven or eight, who not only didn't take the shot but also saved her life after a mysterious man shot through her to kill Dr. Bahrom."

Emma felt her heart beat start to increase, pounding against her chest as she struggled to keep calm. It seemed as if her lies were catching up with her. How could Pierce know such a thing? How could he know what Agent Romanoff said? Shield was supposed to be the enemy, weren't they? So how could he know what they were saying about the targeted killing of Dr. Bahrom? All of it was all so confusing to the small blonde girl as she fought to maintain her composure.

"You know what I think happened?" Pierce asked, his question obviously rhetoric. "I think that you didn't have a problem killing the target but when you came face to face with Agent Romanoff you chickened out. I think that she may have reminded you of your mother or whatever emotional bullshit you want to call it."

"She probably tried to help you…trying to convince you to come with her and you just couldn't find it in yourself to kill her." Pierce said before he continued. "I think that when you refused to end her right then and there, the Winter Soldier stepped in and did the dirty work for you."

"What astounds me the most, however…" Pierce spoke as he walked back near Winter who was still strapped to the chair in the middle of the room. "Is the fact that the Winter Soldier not only did what you couldn't do, when he was ordered to just be a silent observer on your mission, but also lied for you. Lied!"

"He did no such thing, Secretary Pierce, I think you're mistaken." Emma told him and that was the worst move she could make. Pierce snapped, grabbing Emma by her blonde hair and yanking her towards him roughly.

"Do I look stupid to you, Viper?! Huh?!" He yelled angrily. Winter began to struggle in his chair as he watched Pierce roughly grab Emma. Pierce smirked as he watched the Winter Soldier's reaction before letting go of the small blonde. "Just what I thought…"

"You're a very interesting girl, I have to say. You've managed to get one of Hydra's most lethal weapons wrapped around your little finger." Pierce told her as he gently patted her shoulder and Emma glared at him. The Winter Soldier was completely right about him. The man wasn't her friend and he definitely wasn't to be trusted. "I'm very impressed."

"You're insane." Emma told him but Pierce didn't seem to be fazed at all by her statement. It reminded of him of a time from so long ago. When his own daughter had uttered the same words as she looked at him with a look that could only be described as disgust.

"As impressed as I am by this newfound attachment you two have got going on here, I'm afraid I can't allow it to go on." Pierce said, completely ignoring Emma's statement. "Prepare yourself, Emma, we're about to show you what really happens to your friend whenever he mysteriously vanishes."

"Wipe him and prepare him for the Cryo-Chamber!" Karpov ordered to the scientists in the room as Pierce made his statement. Before Emma could even contemplate Pierce's words all the scientists started rushing around the room. They typed in assortments of different numbers into the machine positioned off to the side of Winter. They carted a metal tray filled with various needles and other medical equipment. Emma had an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she watched the way Winter began to anxiously struggle under his restraints. She glanced over to Karpov who stood at the opposite side of the room, right next to Strucker and Dr. List. Rumlow was standing a few feet to her left with a couple of other Hydra agents. He wasn't paying much attention to her; his focus was much more the Winter Soldier than it was on her. Pierce was still standing right in front of her. He couldn't have been more than three feet away from her.

The Winter Soldier was strapped into the chair off to her left, trying to fight but looking even more helpless in the process. Emma really felt for him because he wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for her and the fact that she really messed up that mission. This was all her fault, she told herself as tears began to flood her eyes. He shouldn't have done what he did but Emma knew that he would've done it all over again. There was some kind of unspoken thing between the two of them. It was a connection that Emma wasn't sure existed because of the super soldier serum or not. He cared for her even though she knew he would never admit to it and Emma knew that she cared for him…she was even sure that she loved him. She didn't love him in an unnatural way. No, Emma loved the Winter Soldier like a daughter loved her father. The love was unconditional and something that Emma hadn't felt in the years since her parent's murder. She knew that she couldn't let anything happen to him. Emma would have to do something and she would have to do something fast.

Without even thinking about it, Emma immediately threw both of her hands out in front of her which strongly impacted Pierce as she committed the action. As soon as her hands reached his chest, she pushed with all the force she could which then threw the older man back. He flew backwards through the air as Emma pushed him, crashing into Karpov as he landed harshly on the ground. Rumlow and the other agents immediately pointed their guns in her direction but Emma reached them before they could pull the triggers. She grabbed all three of the guns and tossed them to the side before she grabbed two of the agents and threw them backwards much like she had done to Pierce. When she got to Rumlow, Emma punched him in the face which immediately knocked him unconscious. They weren't the only ones with weapons though and this was something Emma immediately realized when she stood in front of Winter's bed in a protective stance. Strucker and Karpov pointed their guns in her direction but Emma looked at them defiantly, daring them to even try and shoot her. Pierce only watched her in fascination, not even caring that she had thrown him backwards but more interested in what was going through her mind.

"Ubiraysya ottuda, glupaya devushka." (Step away from there, you stupid girl.) Karpov demanded in Russian as he still held his gun up but Emma just sneered at him.

"Ne pokrovitel'stvuy mne, starik." (Don't patronize me, old man.) Emma replied.

"Vy delayete ochen' glupuyu oshibku." (You're making a very stupid mistake.) Karpov said, trying to get her to step away from the Winter Soldier.

"Vy nichego ne znayete." (You know nothing.) She said with a bitter tone before she said something that would forever shock the head operatives of Hydra. "A teper' ostav' moyego papa, ili ya uverena, chto ty pozhaleyesh' ob etom." (Now leave my father be or I'll make sure you regret it.)

Pierce, Karpov, Strucker, and even Dr. List stared at the fierce looking eight year old in astonishment as she continued to defend the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier was still struggling in his restraints but he hadn't looked the least bit surprised by Emma's statement. It could've been because he was distracted or maybe it was because he already secretly knew. Pierce replayed her words in his head, trying to figure out whether or not he had misheard her since he wasn't very proficient in Russian. However, from everyone else's expressions he could see that he hadn't been mistaken after all. She had just called the Winter Soldier her father. It was an unexpected development, something that Pierce hadn't considered when he told Karpov to have the Winter Soldier train the girl. He knew that they had become close but he didn't know how close. It seemed that he was going to have to rethink his method.

The group of Hydra operatives then began to move closer to one and other after hearing the latest development. This was something that just couldn't be taken lightly because the Viper Assassin and the Winter Soldier had formed a closer attachment than any of them had originally thought. It was shocking especially since the Winter Soldier had been wiped so many times that he was practically an emotionless robot. It was obvious he cared for the girl but Pierce had never known the extent. Now things were slightly more obvious.

"Did she just say what I thought she said?" Strucker asked quietly in a thick German accent. It became evident that they were having a private conversation with each other as they decided how to approach Emma. Emma was still watching them while in her defensive stance.

"I think she did, Strucker." Dr. List replied.

"Things are a lot worse than we feared." Karpov commented as he looked between each of the operatives.

"I agree." Strucker stated as he looked at Karpov. "We're going to have to wipe him and maybe her just to ensure that their attachment isn't too tightly formed."

"Is that necessary?" Pierce questioned and everyone stared at him in surprise as he worded the question. Strucker was the first one to answer, however.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid we must. The Winter Soldier and the Viper assassin have become too close. They're both compromised."

"Are they?" Pierce repeated with a doubtful look. Everyone seemed a little disturbed by Pierce's odd statements but they didn't say anything as he continued. "I'm just saying that maybe we should look at this from a different perspective."

"And what perspective would that be, Secretary?" Karpov inquired as he gave the secretary a bored expression.

"The one where we let the Viper Assassin and the Winter Soldier continue their attachment."

"That's insane!" Strucker exclaimed. "They'll ruin everything we've worked for if they're emotionally compromised."

"No, I don't think so, Strucker." Pierce replied. "No…I think this could work in our favor."

"And how's that?" Dr. List asked curiously as he listened to what Pierce had to say. Pierce smirked as he took a deep breath before he started to tell them what was on his mind.

"Think about it, gentlemen, we can use them against each other. If one leaves we can use the other to bring them back. They'll never be one without the other. They'll rely on each other during missions and get the job done quicker. It'll be a partnership of sorts…two of our most deadly weapons completely reliant on each other. It's just what we need." Pierce explained and all of the men deeply considered what he was telling them. If they were being honest then they would have to admit that it all made a lot of sense.

"So you're saying that we use one as leverage against the other?" Strucker said, trying to understand what Pierce was getting at. Pierce nodded.

"Yes." He answered.

"Are you sure that would work?" Karpov asked. Pierce glanced back at the small girl who still stood in her protective stance, making sure that no one dared to so much as look at the Winter Soldier let alone touch him. He smirked as he saw the protectiveness written all over Emma's face as she guarded the Winter Soldier with her life.

"Something tells me that the Viper Assassin won't even have to have her memory wiped. She'll do anything for her beloved father."