"So, who is Bucky?"

"You're just never gonna let that go, are you?" Case asked.

She had her elbow braced against a silver metal table, chin in her hand, in a room that Kayla had led her to. There was a large window that Case couldn't see through, she wasn't sure if there was anyone on the other side or not.

"Why do you get so defensive when he's mentioned?"

Case sat back in her chair, chewing on her lip. Of course I'm defensive…I was in love with him, you've been hiding him here for decades…and basically outlined how the entire thing could have been avoided if we'd gone looking for him…she gave a tired sigh and rubbed at her eyes, trying to hide the tears that suddenly sprang up at the thought. In a weary voice she said, "He was my friend…I miss him. Not that hard to figure out. What do you fuckin' want me to say?"

"Anything Cassidy…I want to know more about you."

"Really? Because it sounds like you want to know more about Bucky," Case rolled her eyes.

"He was a friend of yours…of course I have questions."

"But you've never once asked for any details about Steve, Gabe, Morita, Dum—"

"Okay fine, you win," Kayla cut her off.

"So, what do you possibly think you can accomplish with any information about Bucky?" Case asked.

"I don't…I just wondered why he's such a tender subject for you."

"I don't like losing people I care about…what is so hard to understand about that?" Case demanded. "If I remember right the shrinks call it 'abandonment issues'."

"Abandonment issues…"

"Yeah, see they think because my mother disappeared without a trace when I was a child it affected aspects of my personality," Case folded her arms across her chest and propped her feet up on the table, ignoring Kayla's glare. "I know it fueled a lifetime of insomnia, that's for damn sure."

"Insomnia?"

"I wake up afraid everyone I know is gone…left in the middle of the night, never to return. Some nights I can just chill and wait it out…others I have to make a few rounds around the Tower to make sure everyone's alright…although lately I've just been hangin' out with Tony in his lab."

"Really?"

"Yeah…see, he's got his own problems, and so our insomnia clocks kinda synchronized," Case explained. When she saw the look on her mother's face, she added, "Yeah, my last doctor gave me that look too…anyway, he told me to come down and help him in his lab rather than make my way through an IMDB page."

"IMDB?" Kayla repeated.

"Internet Movie Database…you know…where you can look up a specific actor…" She trailed off as her mother just stared at her. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Please, Cassidy, I don't live under a rock," Kayla frowned.

"My mistake…" Case admitted, shifting in her seat.

It grew quiet after that, until Kayla finally said, "I'm…I'm sorry Cassidy."

"About what? Running away to join Hydra over ninety years ago? For deciding that this band of yahoos was better than staying with your family?"

"Cassidy, I did what I thought was right—"

"Oh, I can see that," Case agreed. She decided at this point to get to her feet, keeping the metal table between her and her mother. "Fighting for the bad guys rather than raising your children…the same bad guys that Ryder and I fought to bring down during the war."

"Look, Hydra wants the same thing you and your own band of idiots want," Kayla frowned at her.

"Oh really? Do tell."

"We want peace, just like you."

"No…we want peace and freedom for everyone," Case corrected her. "You want to create a false peace by controlling the masses through fear…not the same thing by a long shot."

"Hydra is order through pain," Kayla admitted quietly. "No matter what you look at you have to go through a little bit of pain to get there."

"I'd like to respectfully disagree," Case said with a huff, "Because again you want control not freedom."

Kayla just gave a shrug, like she wasn't believing the grand plan of Hydra any more than Case did.

Case gave a sigh as she wrapped her arms around her chest, leaning back against the wall as she said, "Tell me about the Asset."

Kayla cocked her head, "Why?"

"Curiosity," Case told her. "You said you found him at the bottom of a ravine…with his left arm missing…what happened after that?"

Kayla thought for a few moments, "Zola…he was…fascinated by him. He…"

Case couldn't help but give a snort of disbelief that that. "And what was so special about him?"

"I don't know," Kayla told her. "At least…not at first. He was just like the others, brought into the infirmary with pneumonia. I assumed he'd die like rest, but that one…"

Case stared down at her boots, "Apparently he proved hard to kill."

"Zola started his experiments early on…asked him questions, as he did the others, but he didn't crack…all he said was the same thing over and over again…sorta became his mantra."

Case gave a nod, and quietly murmured, "Sergeant…Three-two-five-five-seven…Barnes."

Kayla looked up at her, "Yeah, that's right."

Case felt her teeth grinding together, and she moved her jaw to loosen it, "Couldn't have been that fascinated by him considering he grabbed everything and ran off to save his own ass, leaving the Sergeant behind."

"How did you know that?"

Case blinked at her, "Know what?"

"That…what you just said. The 'Sergeant…Three-two-five-five-seven…Barnes.' How did you know that?"

Because I woke up to that way too many times to count during the war, Case took a breath, "I heard it because I was there. I was part of Steve's rescue mission at Azzano."

"You're joking."

Case's eyebrows went up, "You didn't know? Hell, Steve and I watched Zola race out of the laboratory just before we found Sergeant Barnes…watched Red Skull put a fist sized dent in Steve's stage shield."

Kayla blinked, "I…I'd heard rumors…but…Jesus Cassidy that was seventy years ago—"

"But you can remember the mantra just fine," Case rolled her eyes.

"So, can you!"

"What was seventy for you was only about two for me," Case snapped.

"Cassidy—"

"What did Zola do to Sergeant Barnes?" Case finally demanded, beyond tired of getting derailed.

Kayla seemed confused, "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb now…we both know that's who your Asset really is…so why don't you just answer my question. What the hell did that little troll do to him?"

Kayla's shoulders slumped, "He was working on the same enhancements that Schmidt had used…among other things they were looking for their own super soldier serum. Sergeant Barnes survived whatever procedures Zola inflicted on him…which, as you can see, helped him survive until Hydra found him."

"We've already established that…what did he do to him?"

"I just told you—"

"You just told me how he survived the fall," Case said testily. "But you didn't tell me what he did to him."

Kayla gave a sigh, "He…he was pretty…broken when we found him. Zola outfitted him with the metal arm, didn't even bother with an anesthetic, just started cutting and wiring and…" She flinched, "Sometimes I can still hear the screaming."

Case grabbed at the backs of her hands, feeling the blades shifting. She rubbed her thumbs over the space below her knuckles, trying to keep them sheathed.

"From there…the Asset fought back," Kayla went on. "He…he didn't submit easily. He never really stopped fighting, but the news of you and Ryder and the Captain going into the ice hurt him. That I remember…"

"He knew?" Case asked.

"I…" Kayla hesitated, then looked at the floor, "Look, Cassidy…it was a different time, and—"

"What did you do?"

"That Asset is a weapon, Cassidy, you need to understand—"

"What did you do?" Case asked again, her voice a little shrill.

Kayla swallowed roughly, "I…I went in with the newspapers. At the time, he didn't understand Russian, and he told me as such...copped an attitude when he did."

"Sounds about right."

"So, I told him to just give up. No one was coming for him…his brothers in arms had abandoned him, his precious Captain had crashed a plane and was dead. He didn't believe me…so I handed him one that was written in English." Kayla scrubbed a hand over her face, "His face went…liquid paper white. His hands shook…he started yelling that it was a trick, that there was no way any of you could have died."

He really believed that? Case was a little shocked. Bucky had always argued that they had no proof the twins were indestructible, that of course there had to be something out there that could take them out…just because they hadn't found it yet didn't make it untrue.

"He just crumbled," Kayla continued, looking lost in the memory. "I remember…because it's what I wanted to do when I found out. I remember…I punched him."

Case's eyes shot to her, "You what?"

"Not one of my prouder moments," Kayla admitted. "But he just kept ranting about how I was a lying bitch and that it was impossible for all three of you to be gone, so I punched him…and then I asked him how he could be so stupid. The Captain and the Howletts were dead…they weren't coming back, and nobody was coming for him. He was useless…he was nobody, nothing. Nobody came for him because nobody cared—"

She cut off with a grunt of pain as Case's fist contacted her cheekbone.

With a yell Case then grabbed her by her shirt and slammed her against the wall, "Don't you ever say that about him again!"

"Cassidy—"

"He was my friend," Case snarled up at her mother. "He was family…he meant a hell of a lot more to me than you ever will!"

"The Asset was left alone in the cold—"

"Stop calling him that!"

"He would've died if we hadn't found him."

"You say that like I should be grateful," Case spat. "Grateful you tortured him for years…made him forget who the hell he was and what he stood for."

"You abandoned him."

"Do you really think that if we had known he was still alive we would've just left him there?"

"It's not like you made the effort to retrieve his body."

Case stepped back, chest heaving in anger. With a yell she whirled around and sent her claws through the metal table, screaming as she kicked half of it across the room. It flew into the wall and bounced off, giving a loud clang as it landed. She whirled around to Kayla, "Get me outta here."

"We're not finished—"

"No, we're done," Case snarled. "There is nothing left to discuss."

"There's plenty—"

"If I stay in this room any moment longer, I'm going to rip your goddamn head off!" Case shouted.


James's boots made little noise as he made his way toward Kayla Silverfox's office. As he passed by the corridor to Case's cell, he heard the familiar voice screaming incoherently followed by metallic clanging sounds.

He paused to turn down that way instead, but locked eyes with the guard at the desk positioned at the end of the hallway and thought better of it. He'd go check on her later when he knew the post would be empty.

The screaming and clanging faded into the distance as he continued deeper into the facility, knocking on the door and entering when she called.

Kayla Silverfox was perched over her desk, various papers and photos covering the surface. She was holding a black and white photo of Case standing next to a familiar dark-haired man.

Silverfox turned the snapshot toward him, "Do you recognize him?"

James cocked his head at the photo, "I know him."

"What's his name?"

"I don't know."

Silverfox sighed, "Okay…"

"By the way…do you know the Siren is screaming?"

"Yes, she's throwing a temper tantrum."

"Why?"

"I told her some unpleasant truths…she didn't appreciate it," Silverfox shrugged. "You said you knew them…do you remember how?"

James shook his head, "No, I don't…I just know them."

"You don't recall meeting them on a previous mission?"

James just shook his head.

She shuffled through the papers on her desk and held up another photo, this one of a man with thick dark hair and sideburns that disappeared into his beard with a cigar held in his mouth.

Something about the image made James stand a little straighter, the face brought with it a combination of respect and intimidation.

"He has claws like the Siren," James remembered.

"Yes, he does," Silverfox nodded. "Do you remember his name?"

James shook his head.

"But you recognize the faces?"

This time James nodded, "I know them…"

Silverfox nodded, "I see…" She put the photo down on the table and laced her fingers together, "I want you to continue sparring with the Siren. She seems friendlier to you…maybe we can get some information out of her."

"You want me to interrogate her?"

"Nothing like that," Silverfox shook her head. "Just…talk to her. See if you can get her to open up about things with you."

"Why?" James asked in confusion.

"The Siren is a fighter," Silverfox explained. "We can't…she's not going to conform to Hydra easily."

James blinked at her, "You want to break the Siren."

"That's not…quite what I meant, but basically, yes," Silverfox admitted. "I can't hold off Pierce forever…and as much as I don't want to do it, I really don't have a choice. I don't believe the traditional methods of control will work with her."

James wanted to protest – Case was perfect the way she was, she didn't need to be broken and pieced back together by Hydra…he couldn't tell Silverfox that though. While he didn't remember much, he remembered the less he spoke about the longer it would be before they wiped him.

"What do I need to do?" James asked.

"Nothing…just…" Silverfox frowned, seeming to choose her words carefully. "Just be her friend."

"Be her friend but report everything to you?"

"Basically," Silverfox nodded.

James mulled that over, it didn't sit well with him.

"Dismissed, Soldat," Silverfox said, already having gone back to her documents and photos.

James gave a quick nod then left the office, not sure how to proceed. He wasn't supposed to know much outside of how to kill and what weapons to use…how to be a friend was not something he was familiar with or trained in.

But Silverfox had a point, Case was more receptive to him. Maybe she could help him figure out how to be a friend…the Silverfox part he could figure out later.


And thus, Chapter Eight ends. I hope you all enjoyed this update, constructive criticism is always appreciated, and I shall see you in Chapter Nine.