Thank you so much for all of the support! I am amazed at all of the reviews and favorites. It means so much to me, I can't even explain it! Please leave me a review, even if it is a short one! I would love to hear anything you have to say! Please leave me something in the reviews that you would want to see happen between Marina and The Winter Soldier! I will feature them in my story! Please ask me any question you have or any suggestions! I am so passionate about this, mainly because of those of you who read and comment on my stories! Please keep the love coming. Thank you. There are still a few sections of the story that I'm stuck on. A majority of you said that you wanted Marina to lose her memories, so I think I may follow that point. Please respond to these questions in the reviews with what you think:
1) What kind of powers should I give Marina? I was thinking of giving her something that can be super powerful, but also very destructive. Like the Phoenix from X-men last stand.
2) Should he save her? Not let them fully scramble up her brain. Or Should I let Hydra convince him it's the best thing to do.
3) Do you want to read about them having sex?
Also! Would you guys be interested in seeing who I based Marina (looks wise) off of? I can share her Instagram with you, so you imagine the same thing as I do. Let me know!
They had kissed nearly all night. It seemed that after she reminded James what kissing was like, he didn't want to stop. She had thought back to earlier, when he said that kissing and touching was foolish. He obviously didn't think so now, as he grabbed at her like a starving man. Their lips brushing had awakened something primal in him, something that had refused to separate their mouths from one another.
Kissing was obviously muscle memory. He was very very good. Knowing when to bite and when to suck just enough to drive her mad.
Once his desperation had died down, their kissing had slowed and become more gentle. Her lips were bruised and swollen from the force of his mouth on hers, but she couldn't bring herself to care. It only made them more sensitive to how his lips still lazily brushed against hers. Whatever serum HYDRA gave him made his stamina nearly inexhaustible. She had grown tired, her hands weakly fisting his shirt. Whenever she tried to separate from him, he would yank her back to him and never ever releasing her captured lips.
He had let her go after a while, long enough for her to fall asleep tucked under his chin.
He had admitted, out loud, that he would never let her go. That he would kill as many people as it took, if that meant she would be here waiting for him every night. He had known that it would be incredibly selfish.
James knew that if Mina had gotten on her knees, crying, and begged for him to let her go he wouldn't do it. He would let her be miserable, so long as she was by his side.
James knew that eventually she would forgive him. For keeping her here. For killing her friends if he had to. He saw it in her eyes. He watched how she battled with herself over whether to end him or to drop the gun and kiss him. She hated herself for her desire for him. He had watched Mina give into him. She would learn to surrender herself to him. He had plenty of time and he was patient.
He wished that he was a better man.
He was incredibly selfish for condemning this angel to be locked in a cage in his own personalized hell. He had shown her his darkest side and she still wanted him. Still didn't shun him. She had kissed him, vigorously, all night.
James had felt a burning jealousy in the pit of his stomach when the blonde man on the bridge had said her name. Had looked at James like he was hurting her. He would never hurt Mina. What right did this man have to be concerned over her? The blonde had quickly dropped the subject when he had seen his face though.
What did he call him? It sounded incredibly stupid.
Bucky. That was it.
Remembering the nickname seemed to have shot James back in time. He saw the blonde man, although he was much smaller than he is now, getting punched by a man in a back ally. He watched, almost like he was like a separate entity himself, as a younger version of him marched up behind the assailant to help the skinny man. He had yanked him off easily, sending his away with a quick kick in the rear.
He was wearing an army uniform. He was cleanly shaven, looking completely carefree. James also had both his arms. Both made of real and solid flesh. This was before he was taken by HYDRA.
A sleepy sigh had snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked down at Marina. She had woken up and it looked like she wanted it to be brief, like she was trying to find a more comfortable position and then fall back asleep.
James head was pounded at the remainder of his memories. Mina. She was familiar and safe. She would help him focus. He tried to concentrate on her breathing, the feel of her weight pressing up against him. It wasn't working, he needed her to wake up. The only thing to ever make it better was her voice.
"Mina.." He whispered.
"Hmm?" She mumbled sleepily, snuggling closer into his chest.
"I knew him." He mumbled.
"Who?" She said, peaking up at him.
"The man on the bridge… The man who called be Bucky."
James remembered Steve. A part of him is trying to remember, a part of him that Marina thought was all but destroyed by The Winter Soldier. She had been peering up at him, seeing the hope in his eyes. Hope she couldn't crush by acting like she didn't know anything. She wanted so badly to help him heal.
"Steve?" She said, giving away a small amount of information.
James forehead only creased more, her words causing more memories to fly through his head. More pieces of a puzzle that he couldn't hope to solve just yet. He saw more flashes of Steve. He was small and bloody, like he had seen him in the original flash. It looked like he got into fights quite a bit. James saw the larger version, assisting him through a series of hallways helping support his weight.
"Steve." He confirmed.
"How'd you know him?" She prompted gently.
How did James know Steve? He still wasn't sure. He saw flashed of who he was. But there was no big picture quite yet.
"I don't know…" He settled on the only answer he had.
"Don't tell them." She whispered, after a moment of silence. She stared into his eyes with fear.
"What?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing. Don't tell who?
"Don't tell them you remember who he is." She said, staring up at him intently. "They'll put you back in that chair and take it away from you. I can't watch it, James. Not again. You'll forget everything. All the things you've learned about yourself. I can't let them take it from you again."
"I wouldn't be able to forget." He whispered, trailing a finger down her jaw.
"This time would be no different." She whimpered, leaning in to the warmth. She couldn't lose him. She was sure she would go insane without him.
"You're wrong." He said, the ghost of a smile playing at his lips. "I could never forget the time we've spent together."
"Maybe not purposefully." She whispered. He didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. "You're strong. Inhumanly so. Stronger than I will ever be. But not even you can beat that machine. No amount of strong will would be able to outlast the shock. You know they would spend hours frying your brain to make sure any trace of me or Steve is gone from your memory."
He leaned his forehead against hers. She was probably right. As much as he hated to admit it. He was only human after all.
A shock in his arm, caused him to jump slightly.
"Are you alright?" She asked, eyes snapping open.
"My arm." He mumbled. "The red head threw something at me. It made me lose use of my arm for a few seconds. Must be the aftermath."
She smiled at him, jumping out of bed almost instantly. She was eager to look at his arm further. She quite enjoyed fixing him up. It was one small way that she would help him out.
"Come on, then! Get up. We'll go fix it." She said smiling, readjusting her clothes. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in part of the reflective wall and grimaced. Her lips were swollen and bruises decorated her chin from where he had gripped her. There would be no question about what they had spent their night doing. She then noticed how he had come to stand behind her.
He was looming over her, staring at her lips again. The same hunger from last night present in his eyes.
"Kiss me" He demanded, dragging his thumb over her bottom lip.
"No, no, no. We'll just get things started all over again." She said, jumping back and out of his reach. She didn't think she'd be able to stop kissing him if she started. Never mind get him to stop kissing her. "I need to fix up your arm before they get impatient."
"Well kiss me anyway, will you?" He said impatiently, trying to get closer.
"Promise not to hold me?" She said raising an eyebrow, with a cheeky smile on her face.
"I promise." He grumbled, folding his hands behind his back. "I'll keep my hands to my sides, see?"
"Now I'll kiss you." She said when she was satisfied by his position and folding her own hands behind her back. She stood about a foot away from him, so he had to bend over a considerable amount to be even close to touching her lips. She tilted her head up, gently locking her lips with his.
She knew what was intended to be a gentle peck, wouldn't stay as such. They're lips had begun moving against each other, a small moan escaping her mouth. She knew that he wouldn't keep his hands to himself for long, feeling his arm snake around her waist and pull her flush against him. Her arms easily wound around his shoulders, fisting in his hair.
He had quickly gotten tired of having to crane his head down to kiss her, so he wrapped his other arm around her and lifted her easily into the air. Holding her up didn't distract him at all, as he continued his assault on her mouth. Their kiss was deepening when-
"I see that murderers become you, Stark." A voice interrupted them. James had quickly dropped her to her feet, arms still protectively coiled around her when he turned in the direction that the voice came from. Marina's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Rumlow." She mumbled, embarrassed.
"Fix him. He's going to be needed for another assignment soon." He said. "And try to keep your hands off each other."
With that, he turned and left.
"Dickhead." She immediately spat out. James looked at her, raising his eyebrows amused. She smiled. "Come on."
They headed to the room with the awful machine inside, James taking his usual place on the chair. Marina gathering the tools she would need to fix up his arm, before taking a seat next to his arm.
"Take off your shirt." She mumbled, as she heated up the metal tool she would be using. When he didn't move, she looked up to see his eyes wide as saucers. She clarified. "So I can look at your arm.."
Realization seemed to dawn on him them, quickly pulling the black wife beater over his head. His body was incredible, and that was putting it mildly. His torso and arms was covered in hard muscle that looked like he was constantly flexing. He could snap her in half if he wanted.
When her eyes had stopped wandering over his chiseled muscles, her attention was drawn to the rigid scarring on his left shoulder. It was were his metal arm had been connected to his flesh. It looked like it had been done with no regard for whether or not it had hurt him. The scars were angry and red, some reaching far into his chest.
"This must have hurt you so badly." She whispered, running her fingers over the connection. He simply hummed to himself and she touched him. She shook her head, turning her attention back to the arm. After she had taken the panel off, it was clear to see whatever Nat had done to his arm screwed it up. It looked like it was painful, sending electrical shocks up and down his arm.
"Hmmm." She said to herself. "Well, whatever Natasha did to your arm really fried the circuits. It's shorting pretty badly, sending electronic pulses through the entire thing. How did you not notice this earlier? It must be painful since whoever gave you the arm connected it to your sensory nerves.."
"Distracted." He said simply, looking at her intently.
"Mmm." She responded, blushing. Looking back down at her work. She heard the door open and close, trying her best to ignore it. To stay concentrated on him and his arm.
"Can you fix it Stark?" So much for that goal. She sighed. She didn't recognize this agent, but she knew better than to just ignore him. James was getting stiffer by the second, especially with an armed man circling them
"It'll take some time, but I'm sure it'll be no problem-"
"Move girl." He interrupted.
"What?" She exclaimed. "No!"
"We'll let one of HYDRA's more experienced engineers handle it. We need him to be ready." He said, pushing her out of the chair and away from James. That was this man's first mistake. His mistake was putting himself in between her and her soldier. She had seen James, begin to move out of the corner of her eye.
"James!" His eyes snapped to her. "Don't. It'll only make it worse." She mouthed to him. She was going to try to reason with them, but she saw the engineers already advancing on him. She saw the look in James eyes become more and more far away, as he became stiff with anger. She could tell he was barely controlling his temper. She needed to try and make this better.
"Don't you remember what happens when you agitate him?" She tried to reason. "He'll kill someone! Personally, I wouldn't mind if he ripped off a few of your heads but I'm sure you'd prefer to skip that. Just let me take the extra time to do it, it's simpler that way."
She turned to look at James, but she could see that he had retreated into his own mind. His eyes were empty, cold. Like they were when she had first met him. These mechanics were making a mistake. One that would cost them.
James mind was going at a mile a minute. He could see flashes of memories before his eyes, familiar men. It was making his head burn. They had taken Mina too far away, he couldn't hear her voice. There was nothing to save him from the pain that his memories brought back.
"Sergeant Barnes." A memory flashed before his eyes. An ugly man with a German accent who wore round glasses. He was laying on a medical table looking up at him. But just as he nearly grasps the memory, it is ripped away, replaced by something new.
It's the man from the bridge. He's reaching out for him. They're on a train in the blistering cold. The blonde is reaching out for him, but James knew he couldn't hold on much longer.
"Bucky! No!" Was all he heard before tumbling down into the cold ravine. He could see the bloody stump that was what remained of his arm.
"The procedure has already started." He heard the German voice say again, before pain in his arm. They were sawing off what was left of his arm.
"You are to be the new face of Hydra." The voice in his head said again. He remembered his horror. Waking up and seeing that he had an arm made completely of metal attached to his shoulder. He remembered chocking someone, before being sedated.
"Put him on ice." He heard the voice faded away. Then the cold.
The prick of something working on his arm is what drew him from his memories. Unfamiliar hands were touching him. He had quickly grabbed them, tossing them across the room. He didn't want them. His arms were flexed, ready for a fight. All the guns in the room were trained on him.
"James!" He heard a familiar voice yell.
He had turned his head to see Mina approaching him, with no fear in her eyes. An agent had tried to grab her, prevent her from coming to him, but she had made quick work of that. She had swung at his nose, breaking his hold on her before running to James.
She had climbed into his lap before anyone could stop her, throwing her small arms around his neck. She massaged his scalp and he tried to regulate his breathing. Neither of them cared how off their position must look. He needed her.
"Sir. He's unstable. Erratic." Marina heard someone say.
"You two look like you've been busy." Rumlow mumbled, eying how closely they were pressed together. Alexander Pierce had stood not far behind him, staring at James intently.
"Stop pointing the guns at him! It makes it worse!" Marina said, allowing herself to hop off his lap.
"Mission report." Pierce said, ignoring Marina completely. James stared at Marina off to his side blankly. Marina could tell that he had no intention of responding. "Mission report now."
Pierce was an impatient man.
When James didn't respond, Pierce slapped him across the face.
"Now." Pierce repeated. When he still got nothing, Marina watched as he turned his attention to her. She swallowed. "Mmm fine. I sense we need to change direction. Something else that might motivate you. I can hit your little whore if you don't give me a mission report."
That seemed to snap James out of it.
"The man on the bridge…. Who was he?" James asked confused. He was trying to distract him. From hurting her. But revealing this information was only going to cause him more pain. She had recognized what he was doing immediately.
"You met him earlier this week on an earlier assignment." Pierce said nonchalantly.
"I knew him." James insisted.
"James, don't-"
"Your work has been a gift to mankind." Pierce interrupted, pulling up a chair as he shot her a dirty look "You shaped a century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're going to give it a push. But if you don't do your part, than I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."
"But I knew him." He said, grimacing slightly.
"Prep him." Pierce said indifferently, standing to exit the room.
"He's been out of cryo for too long." One of the doctors said.
"Then wipe him and start over." Pierce said, waving his hand like it was obvious.
"No!" She said jumping in front of him. "Please you can't. It's a medical miracle that he's made it so long without any significant brain damage. I don't know how many more times his brain can take it."
"How much his brain can take?" Pierce nearly laughed. "No, Stark. I think you're worried about how much your heart can handle. You don't want to watch him hurt."
He wasn't wrong. She couldn't bear to see him in pain. The first time she had hardly knew him and she couldn't stomach it. She had spent so much time with him. Getting to know him. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve this pain. She didn't want to see him hurt. But she didn't want them to know. To know her weakness.
"I-"
"Make her watch." He said cruelly, before turning indifferently to exit the room. Two agents had grabbed her by the arms and forced her to her knees. They were putting a piece of plastic in his mouth, no doubt to protect his tongue. She had been fighting against them, losing control of her temper quickly. She needed to save him. His eyes had never left hers. The blue orbs had silently begged her to stop struggling. The agents would only hurt her worse if she struggled. They were holding her back by her shoulders, when she had managed to get one arm free.
"Stop!" She yelled, she couldn't watch it again. She could feel her desperation flow from her heart and out her fingertips in her need to reach him. What she didn't expect was all the metal in the room to creak and bend towards her, effectively shaking the entire room.
All eyes in the room turned to her, including James. She had looked down at her hands in horror, completely unaware that she could do something like that.
"I knew you were hiding something." Pierces voice said from behind her. He didn't sound surprised. The thought disturbed her. He had known something about her that she didn't even know about herself.
"I'm not hiding-"
"Enough girl." He interrupted. "We've all just seen what you can do. How powerful are you? Tell me everything, it'll be much less painful this way."
"I don't know-"
"Don't lie!" He snapped at her.
"I'm not lying." She whispered pitifully.
She really had no idea. She knew she could control somethings with her mind. Summon an object here and there. But that only happened if she was able to concentrate firmly on it, with no interruptions. She had never been so desperate for something, she nearly destroyed an entire room to get it. She truly wasn't lying.
"Well, I suppose there is one way to find out. Move Soldier." James had stood immediately, moving to try and help her up.
"Wipe her." Pierce said simply.
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I am so happy with how many people are responding to this story. Please leave me some reviews with what you want to see in the next chapter. So many people responded!
Shout outs:
Baby-Vamp1997: I really appreciate that you think she is so well thought out! I am trying to make her not so typical. I don't think anyone would be able to just blindly fall in love with someone who is still an assassin. As of right now, I think that I am probably going to follow with plot one. Please continue to read and review! Thank you so much.
Sparky94: Don't be sorry! I am so excited that you decided to take so much time your day to write such a kind review! I am so excited that you wrote so much and had so many things to say! I think that he will definitely have a dark side. He has been an assassin for so long, it wouldn't make sense for him not to. Especially discovering that he still has the ability to have more romantic feelings. I'm not entirely sure were I'm going, but I am so happy to have a reader like you along for the ride! Please continue to read and review.