"Come with me now." She heard his voice in the darkness. "Isabelle quickly."
She moved out of the bed she had been laying in, unsure what was happening, feeling him take hold of her hand as he pulled her out of the dark cell. Following him through the maze and tunnels of the base, she had no idea what was happening, they moved quickly and silently. His guard was up she could tell, he slowed her body moved behind his was they waited, then she could hear it too there were footsteps, suddenly he was holding her back against the wall. Her heart was galloping, she held her breath too scared to make a sound by just breathing, gripping hold of his hand she closed her eyes as they waited. She realised then that they were doing something that could have terrible consequences, his hand tightened around her smaller one. She felt a slight reassurance from this simple hold, knowing that he was with her made her feel safer than if she was alone. Once the footsteps disappeared into the distance, they moved again, he pulled her along, leading the way. obviously knowing where they were heading.
"Stop." A commanding voice said.
Both of them paused, he released her hand, Isabelle felt a tremor pass through her as the soldier slowly turned around looking back at the owner of the voice. He said nothing, almost going to that place which was purely their soldier, an assassin. Isabelle remained where she was not really sure what she should be exactly doing right now, instead waiting for any signal he gave.
"What are you doing Soldier?" The voice asked
"Training." The Soldier replied coldly.
"Under who orders." The voice continued to question.
Isabelle watched as the soldier glanced to her, she could see him calculating what to do next. Quickly he pulled a small hand gun out, pointing it to the owner of the voice and pulled the trigger without blinking. Isabelle turned horrified seeing the man stagger, his gun pointing at her as he fell back, the staining of blood seep into his uniform. She watched as he fell to the floor, her eyes wide open staring at the body. She felt the soldier grab her hand and pull her away, she knew then that if this didn't work they were going to be punished worse than ever before.
They now ran through the corridors moving with more urgency than before knowing it would not be long till they knew what was happening. The base seemed to go on forever, constant turns and corridors. Alarms then started, she felt them pick up speed, she guessed this was now there only chance to get out of this hell. She could feel the sudden rush of fresh air along the passage, the air smelled better, less stuffy, there was hope again. The soldier stopped suddenly grabbing hold of her shoulders looking at her seriously.
"Run, get out that door and run Isabelle." He said sternly pointing down the corridor, where a light shone above the door.
"What about you?" She frowned looking at him, unsure what was going on. "Your coming with me?"
"You need to go." He said firmly looking at her however she could see the pain in his eyes.
"No." Isabelle shook her head suddenly realising he was going to sacrifice his own freedom to ensure hers. "No. I can't do it without you."
"Isabelle, I need to make sure they don't follow you." He pulled her closer against him, holding her tightly in his arms. "I love you, I always will but you need to run sweetheart, run and don't look back."
"But I love you, we were going to be together." Isabelle felt the warm tears run freely down her cheeks.
He gently wiped them away before placing a kiss on her lips, she clung onto him, knowing that this was a good bye kiss, one which she needed to remember. What he was doing was suicide, she knew that. He pulled back placing a kiss on her forehead, gently pushing her back from him as he said.
"Now run." He ordered.
Letting out a sob, she did, she could feel her heart break every stride she took furthering herself from him. At the end of the corridor was the door, she opened it seeing it came out in a alley some where. Stepping out the door, she took a deep breath in, remembering how fresh the air was. She looked up seeing the dark night sky above and the stars. It had been so long since she saw stars. Remembering her promise she took a step away from the door, only wanting to glance back to see her soldier again, gun shots started firing but knew she didn't want to see the potential outcome of those shots.
Heading down the alley, she moved quickly before seeing guards appear, her heart sank, she froze, seeing the guns they held in their arms. She looked around knowing she needed another way out of this. Turning around she walked away hoping they hadn't spotted her and that the other way would be better. As she got to the end she saw a tall wall, she knew she could manage it with her enhancements. Jumping she grabbed hold of the edge of the wall, as she heard a single gunshot, pain seared in her abdomen as her grip slipped. Falling she hit the hard floor gasping for air, she knew then that she was done for as guards surrounded her just as she passed out.
When Isabelle woke, her brain felt like it was on overdrive putting that new information into order. She was unsure what had exactly happened, it wasn't something she had any links too. There was that emotion again, love, what she felt for him was intense and it only grew the more she learnt about them. A tears fell from her eye as she thought about the memory and the feeling she had felt when she thought she had lost him forever and the pain from that was indescribable.
"You okay doll?" His warm voice softly said.
Remembering she was pressed against his warm body, she felt his hands brushing through her hair, slowly she opened her eyes, looking up see him watching her. She felt herself blush, being caught out about crying over a memory. She moved away sitting up leaning against the wall sitting beside him wiping her eyes. She pulled her knees against her chest as she looked over to him seeing that he wasn't looking at her. Staring at him, she could feel that love she had felt for him return, just from looking at him.
"Sorry another memory." She apologised feeling like she had to let him know what she was going through. "It just feels so strange still." She said as she thought about explaining what she was thinking, at least then he might understand why she was the way she was. "Its just taking time for me to get around how I feel about you now. Its so confusing to have these feelings from my memories and feeling them now, like its always been like this but also that everything is still so new and fresh."
"I understand, you don't need to explain yourself, trust me." He nodded smiling warmly. "You were patient with me when our roles were reversed. When I was stripped of my memories. I tried getting you out once, I knew and planned the way, I worked out exactly how we would do it." He started to explain a seriousness coming to his face. "They wiped my memories, so I couldn't remember you or anything about the escape."
Isabelle mouth opened but she didn't have the words to say anything, she understood then the memory she had. She just nodded looking at him, she wondered if he realised what she had remembered or not.
"Its what I dreamt about last night."
"I know." He nodded smiling. "You still talk in your sleep."
"Oh," Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Steve had been telling the truth that time. "You lost your memories like me?" Isabelle said changing the subject looking at him realising why he had been so patient and good to her, he had once been in her position too.
"Yes, more than once." He nodded sounding a little distant as he spoke about it. "I still can't remember my life before here. Not even my name but some things keep coming back to me, like you."
"So how did you remember me?" She frowned a little confused how he could remember her but nothing else.
"My memory has been taken from me a few times before you came into my life. Once they sent me into you after they had taken my memories from me, I didn't know who you were and well what was going on." He glanced nervously at her, her heart paused as she waited for his reply. "You seemed to recognise that I was different, you kept calm and explained everything to me, keeping your distance at first as I didn't trust you at the time."
"Right." Isabelle sighed trying to recall that memory but unable to do so. "So what made your memories return?"
"I must have been ordered to attack you, I remember doing it." He answered her sheepishly. "without cause."
"Why did you attack me?" Isabelle continued to question him, hoping he would give her some more of the answers to the questions which had been floating around her mind. "Why didn't you stop, if you knew me?"
"Some times they order me to do things and I don't have control." He said bluntly, she could see a cold look pass over his face, she slowly reached out, her small hand taking hold of his silver metal one. She watched as he looked down surprised by this little gesture of reassurance which she could offer. "They commanded me in a way which meant I didn't have control, when I realised what I was doing, it was too late, you were on the floor, barely conscious, bleeding. I felt sick at what I had done." He turned to look at her, she could see the worry and remorse on his face. "I made sure you were looked after, they told me that if I didn't do what they ordered there would be worse consequences. After all of that you still managed to forgive me. After everything."
"Your trapped because of me." Isabelle looked away biting her lip, she realised how stuck the pair of them were. "Its not your fault."
"If I don't do what they want they will hurt you and I can't let that happen." He muttered staring at her, he let out a long sigh, she could see the conflict in his eyes.
"I am sorry." Isabelle shook her head looking at him, glancing down at their entwined fingers, even thought it was an artificial hand, it felt good still to have his hand holding hers.
He just chuckled, which made her frown, she could see him look away as he smiled to himself. She wasn't sure what was exactly so funny but it was nice to see a smile on his face. Finally he looked back to her, the obvious questioning look on her face said it all.
"You were always quick to blame yourself before and forgive. Probably the reason why I fell in love with you." He commented his eyes looking straight into hers. "Why I still love you."
She could feel the blush return, no one had made her feel this way before from what she could remember. She felt his metal hands grip tighten around her hand, giving her a reassuring squeeze before letting go. He slowly moved out of the small bed, picking up the tray that had obviously been left for them at some point while she slept. He climbed back into bed resting the tray between them.
"Eat you need to build up your strength." He said firmly.
She just smiled at the way he tried to look after her, all he had tried to do was care for her since she could remember. Watching him she picked up one of the slices of bread, pulling small parts off trying to make it last longer as her stomach growled in protest. She leant back trying to process what he had told her, he had once tried to save her but failed. This now meant that her chances of getting him to help her escape were near to none. If he had tried before and failed he would be less likely to help her again to do it. She didn't blame him for that, god only knew how long he had been trapped here for and what they had managed to do to him in that time. Neither of them spoke for a while, comfortable being in each others company without the need to talk, Isabelle appreciated the silence, it wasn't awkward at all, it just gave her time to think about what she had been told. There was really only one other big question she had in her head.
"So who are they, the people who have us trapped here?"
He looked to her not really saying anything at first. She knew he must be thinking about what to say, he was after all one of their soldiers, even perhaps if it was against his will some of the time, he was still theirs. She waited patiently not wanting to rush him but only hoped he was going to answer her this time.
"HYDRA." He finally spoke up.
"What do they want?" She continued sitting up a little more and leaning forward so she could watch him more closely as he told her.
He shook his head, not answering her, she just slumped back watching him. She knew that he was probably stuck in what he could and couldn't talk about to her, their orders and all. She continued to eat her bread, still thinking about what had been said. It was more than what she had to begin with at least but it was still a lot of unknown and unanswered questions, she wondered how much they actually knew between them. He obviously was holding back on what he could tell her, which only seemed to confirm how much he was under their control. She had no idea what she was going to do now though. She knew she couldn't stay here, like this for how ever long they were planning to keep her. She didn't want to die here.
The door clicked open ending there getting to know you time, she watched as two heavily armed guards walked in. They threw the cuffs at the bed, she just looked at the guards then to the soldier who picked up the cuffs before looking at her. She then knew the cuffs were for her, she held out her wrists watching him as he placed them on firmly locking them into place. Slowly she got up following the soldiers lead. They walked out of the cell together, she noticed how the soldier stuck by her side constantly, he was vigilant in his surroundings never really relaxing.
They were put into another room alone, the door locked behind them, he removed the cuffs that were placed on her setting them down on a bench. The room itself was dimly lit, curiosity got the better of her as Isabelle looked around the room moving through a corridor finding communal showers. She then realised what was intended, she did feel grubby, it had been days from what she could guess since she arrived. She walked back through the corridor seeing that he was already removing his uniform. She felt slightly awkward, not feeling that comfortable to strip in front of him yet even though she guessed she had done it before, she knew though she had little chance of privacy here. He didn't take long to get completely undress and move to the shower room, Isabelle looked away not really sure what she should actually do, whether she should wait for him or not. She heard the water turn on before he said.
"You did this before and they ended up forcibly stripping you when I wasn't around and pushed you into the showers."
She could believe in what he said from her own memories however part of her knew he could just be saying that. She slowly stripped out of her clothing, she felt unsure in what she was going to do, she could feel the frustration build within her that she was being forced into this situation. However she had little choice, she would rather do it on her own terms than be forced to do it. Once completely undressed she moved hesitantly into the shower room, thankful that there was at least steam within the room.
She started to wash feeling completely tense knowing that he was also naked in the room with her, part of her didn't trust him or herself at this moment in time. The water however was a pleasant distraction, her skin suddenly felt clean and the dirt from the past few days washed away. She tried to be as quick as possible but at the same time enjoy this simple pleasure of washing. She ran her hands through her hair pulling slightly at the tangles before tossing her hair over her shoulder. She caught a glimpse at his body in the process, there were a lot of muscles all in the right places. The water ran smoothly down his body as she watch each of his muscles move as he shifted under the spray of the water, it was mesmerising. His body was just muscle, however there were also noticeable scars there too, she wondered what he had been through to get them. She looked away feeling a tightening in her own stomach, she hadn't really had time to think about him in that way but she was definitely attracted to him. She hadn't heard him move out of the room as when she next looked he had gone. She continued washing herself, he had been a complete gentleman, obviously sensing her discomfort in this situation.
Turning off the water she realised she had no towel and now needed to walk complete bare into another room he was in and probably waiting for her. Cursing inwardly she closed her eyes knowing she needed to just go in there and find a towel quickly. She had just built up enough courage to move when she saw his silver arm appear around the door holding out a medium size towel.
"Thought you may need this." Came his voice.
She couldn't help but smile at this sweet gesture. She took the towel out of his hand wrapping it around herself, it barely covered everything but it was better than nothing. Stepping from around the corner, moving into the other room, she could see him standing there his back to her, giving her some privacy at least. He seemed to be a gentleman in some aspects, she quickly dressed not bothering to see if he was still not looking, she trusted after how he had just behaved he wasn't. Once dressed she turned around still seeing he back was turned, she just tapped him on his good shoulder saying.
"I'm decent." Once he had turned around she quickly stood on tip toe and kissed him on his stubbly cheek before saying. "Thank you."
She felt better from showering and that she could trust the soldier in compromising situations, he seemed to be turning into some one she could rely the more time they spent together.