Thank you for the review and follows everyone! I'm really excited to start developing Bucky and Suki's relationship more over the next few chapters. Please leave me a review to let me know what you think so far!

Pierce

Rumlow

Himmelstein

Karpov

Lovelace

The list ran through Suki's head like a mantra. Bucky had managed to decode enough of the Black Widow files that they learned the names of their scientists and handlers. The only confirmed kill was Pierce, thanks to Nick Fury. Rumwell had gone deep underground and Lovelace had fled DC. They were checking known Hydra bases for Himmelstein and Karpov, bases Bucky had been to at one point or another.

Suki pulled the long black parka closer around her to stave off the cold of the North Sea. Next to her, Bucky surveyed the approaching coast and looked warily at their fellow travelers on the small vessel. The others were mostly immigrants fleeing Eastern Europe and a few aid workers. For the most part, they were miserable, war weary, and hungry; Suki and Bucky fit right in.

Only two weeks had passed since DC and Suki was already regaining most of her memories. It was strange, though. She remembered two different lives now. In one life she was an artist with an overprotective father and a deployed brother. In the other life, she was the freak result of a cruel experiment and years of captivity by the very scientist who performed the experiments. She remembered sunny days playing in the park and the feel of the blue serum burning through her veins in equal measure. She thirsted for the blood of those that had hurt her, especially the man she called father, but she also wanted to return to her sketch books and ink.

If Bucky was experiencing the same kind of cognitive dissonance he showed no signs of it. There were few words exchanged between them over the past couple of weeks, Bucky mostly wrote in his journal but continued to train Suki in hand to hand combat. Still, he was different than the Winter Soldier Suki had first been introduced to. Bucky was calm, breathed deeply every time he stepped outside, and spent most of his waking hours making sure Suki was safe. For that matter, he also protected her in the few hours they slept. They were still holed up in DC the first night it happened. Bucky was going through withdrawals and had been up vomiting most of the night. Suki tried to take care of him, force him to drink water and eat protein bars, but that night he pushed her away as the sickness became almost too much for him to bear. She was sitting against the wall, wishing there was something more for her to do for him when the sound of his retching threw her mind into a memory. She was a little girl again, sick after one of Lovelace's treatments and when she threw up Lovelace lost his temper that his experiment was apparently failing again and whipped her across her back with a metal rod. Without realizing it, Suki had started to hyperventilate as the memory pulled her in. Despite being sick, Bucky ran to her and held her until the memory passed and she slipped into a fitful sleep.

The next night, it was Bucky who had the waking nightmare. It was impossible to tell what set it off, maybe the sound of the boys playing on the sidewalk beneath them, maybe the scent of the oil Suki was using on the guns, but a memory gripped him and wouldn't let go. He reacted more violently that Suki did, screaming and thrashing on the floor as something or someone attacked him in his mind. Not knowing what to do and not wanting his cries to attract attention Suki rushed over to him and put her hands on his face, trying to wake him up without startling him. Bucky grabbed her wrists and snapped his eyes open. For a moment, The Winter Soldier was looking at her with murder in his eyes, but then his face softened in recognition and he pulled her down so she was cradled in his arms. Suki had heard him mutter, "Mine." before they both fell asleep tangled against each other. They had fallen asleep holding each other every night since, although neither of them ever spoke about it.

Bucky clipped his backpack across his chest and pulled his hood lower on his face. "When we get ashore stay close to me. The base is only a few kilometers from the town."

"Are we going in in broad daylight?" Suki asked him in a hushed voice in order to avoid curious ears. They spoke in Russian, but there was still the chance that someone could understand them.

"We'll do recon, then go in tonight."

The small coastal town of Vigrestad came into view and the other passengers started to push forward, eager to see that place that would hopefully give them sanctuary. Suki almost lost track of Bucky in the rush of embarkation but she felt his hand slip into hers and he lead them down the ramp to the street. There were immigration officers waiting on the docks to speak with the refugees, Bucky weaved his way around them until the couple emerged in a back alley.

They hotwired a rundown car and Bucky started to drive them out of the village. He stopped on a backroad at the entrance to a forested area. Bucky started to pull out weapons and tech from the bags they had stowed in the backseat. He handed Suki a rifle and a small earpiece. "We'll circle the perimeter and rendezvous back here. Only use this if you run into a problem." He showed her how to fit the com piece in her ear.

They started into the woods and separated after thirty yards or so. Suki shouldered her rifle and walked as carefully as possible to avoid making any noise. Ahead, she saw the base. It was smaller than the one in DC, but still a seemingly impenetrable stone fortress. She counted twelve guards from her hidden vantage point. Making her way slowly around the fortress she found two possible entrances that were less heavily guarded.

An explosion of heavy artillery to the east made her lose focus. "Bucky." She breathed out, knowing something was wrong. "What's going on?" She spoke into her com.

"Get out of here!" She heard Bucky's voice shout in her earpiece.

She started running in the direction of the gunfire, they were obviously found so the need for secrecy was completely gone. When she came out of the tree line she saw Bucky fighting off at least fifteen guards in the valley below here. No one noticed her yet, they were all focused on Bucky. Suki dropped down to her stomach and pulled out the tripod on her rifle. The moving targets were more difficult to zero in on than the targets at the range, but she was able to rapidly take out three of them before someone shouted a warning about a sniper and four men started running in her direction. Suki rolled up and managed to shoot one of the men in the chest, but the other three were still coming. She pulled out her German blade and readied herself for the attack. The men had guns, but weren't using them, choosing instead to try and bring her down by hand. They've been ordered not to kill us. Suki realized.

She may have been no match for the Winter Soldier when he was training her, but Suki still had the super soldier serum in her blood and so was able to easily take out the three men. She ran to Bucky who was standing among a littered pile of bodies.

"I told you to get out of here." He glared at her.

"I wasn't going to leave without you." She holstered her gun and wiped her blade off on her pants. "They know we're here, why aren't more guards coming?" Suki looked to the horizon, trying to see if any more enemies were approaching.

"They want us to come to them." Bucky glared at the fortress. "They think we're still under control." He raised his rifle and started walking towards the building, pausing for a second to look back at Suki. "Aren't you coming?"

The building was nearly abandoned on the inside, or at least whoever was in charge wanted them to think that. Bucky lead Suki down concrete hallways that were all to reminiscent of the compound in DC. The air around them was damp and cold, a few bulbs hung loosely from the ceiling and they could hear some voices in the distance. They came to a heavy metal door with a small window, Bucky raised his fist for Suki to stop moving and slowly opened the door.

"Soldiers, we were wondering when you find us." A heavily accented voice filled the room. Around them, men in white coats stoped their work and stared. One of them, an older man with white hair, glasses, and a portly stomach approached the 'soldiers'.

"Himmelstein." Bucky lowered his weapon and regarded the doctor. His eyes were hard and trained on the man in front of him, the muscles in his jaw tense. He may not have had the muzzle on, but he was wearing the mask of the Winter Soldier. "What's my mission?"

Himmelstein raised on his toes to get a better look at Bucky's face. Seemingly satisfied with what he found he then walked in front of Suki. She tried to mirror Bucky's expression, but he had been a winter soldier for much longer than she.

"101 needs wiped again." Himmelstein said calmly to one of the assistants.

Bucky reached out with his left arm and grabbed the doctor by his throat. "That's not going to happen." He raised the man above his head and slammed him back down to the floor.

Chaos erupted across the room as doctors tried to escape. Suki felt separated from her body as she raised her rifle and shot every one of them with Bucky at her side. It was all over in a matter of seconds, blood splattered the computer monitors and equipment as well as their clothing. Himmelstein moaned from his place on the floor and Bucky dragged him to a chair, keeping him in place with a hand on his throat.

"Rumlow, Karpov, Lovelace." He said menacingly, tightening his hold on the throat. "Where are they?"

"You're going to kill me anyway." Himmelstein looked at Bucky with wide eyes.

"Yes." Suki stepped in front of him with her hands on her hips. "But it will be a lot less painful if you tell us what we want to know, that's more mercy than you've ever shown."

Himmelstein started to grind his teeth but Bucky stopped him with a gloved hand, holding his jaw open. "You're not getting out of this by poisoning yourself like a coward."

The fear in Himmelstein's eyes grew more apparent. "I won't tell you anything." He spat out.

Something caught Suki's eye and she smiled to herself. She grabbed the item and filled it with air. "I'm terrified of needles." She brought the syringe to Himmelstein's arm and tapped the bend of his elbow so his veins popped up. "You're a doctor. Tell me, what happens when a syringe of this size full of air is injected into a vein?"

Suki felt Bucky's eyes on her and hazarded a glance towards him but couldn't make out the expression on his face. Himmelstein was trying to jerk out of Bucky's grasp. Bucky readjusted his grip and held the arm down for Suki, acknowledging her with a small nod.

"Where's Lovelace?" It was the name on the list Suki cared about the most. Himmelstein didn't speak so she pressed the needle into his skin. "Where's Lovelace?!" She repeated, more insistent this time.

Himmelstein closed his eyes and Suki poked the needle through his vein. "One last chance." She said with her thumb over the syringe. Before she had a chance to insert the embolism causing air into his vein Bucky shot the doctor in the head.

"Why would you do that?!" Suki screamed at the soldier.

"We don't have time, guards are coming." Bucky directed her attention to one of the monitors where they could see a small troop of heavily armed guards coming down the hallway.

"You could've dealt with them." Suki gritted out, shouldering her gun and heading for the door.

Bucky stopped her and put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you we will find Lovelace, but you have to survive long enough to get to him. You won't do that if you let your emotions get in the way."

Suki was about to respond but they heard the thundering of boots running through the hallway.

"Time to go." Bucky pushed Suki behind him and started down the hallway. One his way out he placed a small bomb just outside the room. They ran ahead of the sound of boots, the whole way Bucky stuck the small explosives on random walls until they were back outside. Once clear, Bucky pressed a small button and they heard the sound of explosions rattling the building. The building started to implode stone by stone as they ran back through the woods to the stolen car.

Bucky drove as fast as the dilapidated vehicle would allow. "The next time we're in the field and I give you an order, you have to obey it."

Suki rolled her eyes. "Or what, you'll send me to bed with no supper?"

Bucky slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a grinding halt. He got out and slammed the door behind him. Suki watched as he walked to a grove of trees and punched one of them with his metal arm, causing the whole trunk to splinter. She exited the car and marched towards him. He was breathing heavy and looking at the damage he just caused. Suki reached out a hand to put it on his arm but he stopped her.

"Don't." He growled out.

"I wasn't going to leave you alone back there." Suki said softly, now regretting her snarky comment in the car.

"I could have handled it." Bucky started pacing and ran his hands through his hair. "I can do all of this on my own."

"You're not going to." Suki put her hands on her hips and tried to sound authoritative.

"You're remembering, aren't you?" Bucky came to a stop in front of her. "You remember your life, your friends, your job. You could still go back to all of that."

Suki felt the breath go out of her. This was the most he had spoken in nearly two weeks. "What I remember is being controlled all my life, being watched and studied like an experiment. I had a good life, ya, but now I see it with both eyes open and I can't - won't go back to it until Lovelace has paid."

"You could have died back there!" Bucky yelled at her. "Go home, Suki. You don't belong here."

Suki pursed her lips and looked down, struggling to find the right words to say to him. "Do you know why they called me One Oh One?" She asked and Bucky shook his head. "It's because before me, one hundred other children were taken from their families and experimented on. Every single one of them died, were thrown into a mass grave or something by Hydra - by the man who raised me. One hundred innocent children were killed and I somehow lived, so don't you dare think that I have any less of a reason to be here than you."

Bucky was glaring off in the distance, his face fixed in a thousand yard stare. "Why would you want to stay with me? After what I did to you-"

Bucky dropped his head and Suki saw the energy drain from his body. He was finally calm enough to allow her to put a hand on his back. "Bucky didn't torture me. Hydra did."

Bucky pulled away and was about to argue but Suki silence him. "I'm not leaving. I'm a survivor, just like you, and we are not backing down from this fight. You've been taking care of me since I was little girl, now I'm strong enough for us to take of each other."

"What happens if I'm not there to protect you?" Bucky whispered with his face to the ground.

"Then I'll protect myself until you can get to me." Suki stepped closer to Bucky and put her palm on his cheek. "Don't try to send me away again, we're in this together."

The tiniest of smiles ghosted over Bucky's face and he finally looked up at her. "'Til the end of the line." He said quietly, then grabbed her arms and pulled her into a strong embrace.