She was roused from her sleep by the mechanical sounds of the door being opened. Placing her hand on the rock solid mattress beneath her she pushed herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the pounding in her head, and allowed her eyes to flicker over the figure standing before her.

"Yes?" she asked, keeping to the preferred language of Russian, as she reached up to move her hair from her face.

"Get dressed," he barked, throwing a uniform her way "We have a mission for you."

Her eyes rolled as he turned away without another word, the door slamming shut behind him to leave her in her usual silence.

A groan involuntarily left her as she forced herself up onto her feet, having to pause for a couple of seconds to calm the dizzy feeling knocking her off balance, and headed over to the sink in the corner of her room.

Gripping her fingers around the white porcelain she raised her head to glance in the scuffed up mirror hanging from a nail in the wall and let out a sigh. There were bags beneath her eyes and a lump forming on her forehead from the previous day of training, her hair lay limp around her shoulders and her skin was a pasty white.

Definitely not a look for a beauty queen but Hydra weren't so bothered when this was how their assassins showed up for work.

As usual she took her time getting ready; cleaning her teeth, pulling her hair into a high bun and slipping into the seamless and comfortable black uniform laying on her bed. The boots he had left her were the lace up ones she had nicknamed the bane of her life and she found herself wincing as she pushed her foot into them, the blisters they had given her the previous week rearing their ugly heads.

"I'm ready!" she called banging her fist against the metal door and waiting a couple of seconds before folding her arms over her chest and taking a step back.

They wouldn't come in if she was standing too close, her previous rebellions teaching them she wasn't one to be messed with or to take their eye off, and as much as she didn't particularly want any of them in her little room she also didn't want to stay in there forever.

"Are you going to behave today?" he, she never bothered to learn their names, asked her as he stepped aside to let her pass.

"That all depends on where you're taking me," she answered as she walked, shoulder to shoulder with him, along the narrow corridors of the facility. Glancing to him from the corner of her eye she allowed herself to smirk, remembering that she was the one who had given him that scar down the side of his face during one of her many escape attempts.

"You didn't go through all this training for nothing," he was saying, a faux confident strut to his walk as his hand rested on the gun at his side.

She dropped back as he began to ramble about all of the training she had been through and how much it had cost, that she was going to have to start perking up and giving back.

Her steps were silent as she mirrored the way he was walking, her head tilted from one side to the other and her eyes narrowed as she calculated her next movements. His words were in the background, totally illegible, as she ran through different scenarios in her mind.

Then she struck, like a snake hunting its prey, with the knife she'd had hidden in her belt gripped in her right hand.

But, this time, he was prepared for her. His hand flew out and grasped onto her wrist, twisting her arm around her back and pressing her face against the wall "Not this time sweetheart," he whispered in her ear, tugging the knife out from where she still was gripping onto it and pushing her into a walk in front of him "You may be a pain in the ass but you're also one of the best, they're not letting you go easily so get it out of your head."

She folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes like a petulant teenager...which, at almost seventeen, was exactly what she should be doing. Not being led to fight, to spy or to steal but worrying about what dress she was going to wear to a party or whether or not she was going to be asked out on a date by the boy or girl she liked. She should be throwing hissy fits because her hair wasn't going as it should or her make up had run out without her realising not trying to escape from a maximum security facility training her to be the most successful assassin since…

"Leonie meet The Winter Soldier."

His glare was stony and his shoulders tense. A mask covered the bottom of his face, leaving just his eyes on show.

Though it was his eyes which gave him away slightly. An attention grabbing ice blue they darted around the room as he took everything in. Arching an eyebrow Leonie couldn't help but watch those eyes as they showed her he wasn't just there as an ornament, a statue, but he was waiting and watching for something to happen. He was ready.

"This is who we were telling you about," the guard beside the Soldier was saying in a soft tone "The Black Mamba. You'll be training with her."

A huff left her and she raised her eyes to the ceiling. She hated her code name, she didn't even like snakes!

It took a second before she realised what had been said and she straightened up on the spot. Her fists clenched at her sides as those ice blue eyes connected with hers, her heart beginning to race as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

Another smirk came to her face as she rested her hand on her hip and arched an eyebrow.

"Bring it on."

"Morning!" she called out to Marta, raising her hand in a wave, as she hurried her way through the market, pretty sure she was almost late for her morning shift "How are you feeling today?" she asked Toma, having not seen him at his stall the previous day, unable to help pausing for just a moment to listen to all of his complaints.

Bucharest was definitely proving to be good for them.

She was smiling to herself as she thought back to the previous night, taking in a deep breath to smell all of the morning cooking coming from the kitchen and to calm the butterflies invading her insides as she wandered in through the cafe's doors.

She hadn't had the time to discuss what had happened before they had fallen asleep curled up against one another with Bucky that morning. It had been one of those odd occasions where he had still been asleep, his blanket haphazardly strewn over him and light, relaxed, snores leaving his nose.

Part of her had been glad, even thinking back to it now caused a smile to stretch at her lips and a blush to decorate her skin and she didn't want to appear out of control to him, didn't want her full emotions on show just yet.

"What's got you so happy on a Thursday?" Elena greeted her with a question as she glanced up from the table she was wiping down at the sound of the door opening.

Harper had been nervous to meet Elena that second day but she soon found out she had no reason to be. As Mitch's younger sister she was glad to see the back of Valentina, the girl who Harper had replaced, and had - as a self proclaimed hugger - literally welcomed her with open arms.

She'd shown her what she was to do with the till and the computers properly, she taught her all of the shortcuts around what to type in and gave her a few tips on how to keep on her brother's good side. She introduced Harper to a lot of the regulars - a few of them as happy as she was to see the back of 'That Lazy Girl' as most of them called her - and told her which ones were the best tippers.

"Knowing I was sharing a shift with you?" Harper said with a cheeky smile. Though she tried her best to speak as much Romanian as possible she also knew Elena was up for practising her English, wanting to be able to travel around America without much of a problem, so the two of them found themselves flitting between the two languages with ease.

"Flattery will get you everywhere my girl," Elena chuckled reaching across as she passed Harper to squeeze her face gently "Just don't tell Sorina," she continued, pulling a faux terrified face at the mention of her wife.

"Sorina loves me," Harper answered with a shrug of her shoulders as she reached for the apron hanging up behind the counter and tied it around her waist.

Elena's wife worked on the market and was one of the people Harper had befriended even before she knew she shared shifts with her other half. She ran the fruit stall closest to the apartment and would often sneak Harper an apple or banana when she was on the way to work to have as her breakfast.

To look at them and to know them they were complete opposites. Elena had a mass of dark curls framing a round face and only stood at, a curvy, five foot two inches whereas Sorina was blonde, tall and extremely thin. Elena was bouncy and always had a smile on her face while Sorina was the more serious of the two, still approachable and friendly but not one to open up about personal matters unlike her wife who managed to nearly every single shift.

"Is it really because of that gorgeous man of yours?"

Harper rolled her eyes and let out a laugh "And how do you know he's gorgeous when you've never even met him?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. Even though they had been in Romania for two weeks she still hadn't managed to persuade him to venture as far as her new workplace.

"I've heard rumours," Elena smirked, tapping the side of her nose and wriggling her eyebrows.

"Sorina is lying."

"Why assume it was Sorina? I know other people!"

Harper pulled a face "Do you though?" she asked, tilting her head to one side and laughing as Elena threw her cloth in her direction "Do you mind if I get some work done?" she asked once the two of them had calmed down, jabbing her thumb over the one of the computers.

"Ohhh and now she wants a favour!" Elena exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air in faux offence before smiling and nodding her head "Of course. I'm sure I can survive this rush," she continued as she glanced around the empty cafe with a wrinkled nose.

Blowing a kiss and sending the sweetest smile she could muster across to where Elena was sweeping Harper turned away and pulled up a chair at the computer in the corner, slightly hidden from the others in the room.

She had told Elena that she needed to use the computers for an online course she was doing to further her education. The look of pride and excitement which had spread across her face, along with the continued support which followed, had almost made Harper feel bad for lying.

Slipping a notebook of her own, Toma - the owner of the stall she'd got Bucky's from - had a few duds he was willing to get rid of, from the pocket of her apron she placed it down beside the keyboard and signed in with her staff log in.

She had tried it many times since starting work at the cafe and, despite never being able to find anything of substance, she went straight to google and typed in 'Margot Revoir'. As much as she doubted the computer course Ange had tried to encourage her to go on would have helped her in this situation she couldn't help but wish she had taken it.

Glancing down to her chicken scratch handwriting covering the open page she let out a sigh. It was full of question marks, notes and crossings out and she couldn't help but feel the usual surge of disappointment at still being stuck on square one. She, probably naively, had assumed she'd be much further on in her quest to figure out whether or not her dreams were actually linked to her past.

All she had learned was that the last name - Revoir - she'd heard the faceless man say meant 'meet again' in English, that Margot Revoir seemed to not exist and she wasn't overly keen on the flapjacks Elena insisted on feeding her while she was 'hard at work'.

And, as she scrolled endlessly and clicked on a bunch of dead end links, it seemed as though that was all she was going to be learning.

"You can head off now if you want sweetie," Elena said as she began the evening routine of wiping down the tables. Clouds had descended as the day had worn on, darkening the room as the clock ticked over to closing time "I can close up on my own."

"Are you sure?" Harper asked, hope lining her words, as she leaned the broom she'd been holding onto up against the counter. A mid afternoon rush had pulled her away from her research and that, along with staring at a screen in frustration for most of the morning, seemed to be causing a headache to stir at the back of her skull.

"Yes, yes," Elena replied waving her hand to hurry her out of the door "I'll get that lazy brother of mine to come and help me for a change," she continued, her voice raising slightly at the mention of Mitch, her head turning toward the door leading into the kitchen.

"Good luck with that," Harper said with a laugh, it was rare for Mitch to emerge from the kitchen especially when it was closing time and they needed to get on with the end of the day clean up.

"If you pass Sorina on your way home tell her there's some sarmale here waiting for her," Elena said as she tried to get Harper out of the door, ignoring her saying how bad she felt leaving everything to her "Do you have your leftovers?" she asked before turning on her heel and hurrying into the kitchen to grab the bag Mitch made up for her each night "Now go! Have a lovely evening with that handsome man of yours!" she exclaimed, grinning at the glare Harper sent her before leaving out of the door.

Hooking the bag Elena had shoved in her direction in the crook of her elbow Harper dodged her way through the still crowded marketplace, raising her hand every now and then at the call of a greeting toward her. She stopped off at the fruit stall, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Sorina in welcome, for a couple of seconds, ending up with a punnet of raspberries and a couple of apples, before turning to head in the direction of their apartment building.

A yawn crossed her mouth as she made the trek up the stairs, her stomach rumbling as she thought of the food sitting in the bag she was lugging up with her.

"I'm home!" she called as she opened up the door, tucking her keys back into the pocket of her jeans "Bucky?"

The apartment was empty.

"Huh," she said to herself as she crossed the room and placed the bag onto the counter. She wasn't sure where Bucky had gone, he'd usually be back by the time she got home if he managed to make it out, and there wasn't much else for her to do if he wasn't there to talk to. There was no point in getting the food reheated and served up if it was going to be cold by the time he arrived back.

Filling up a glass of water for herself she grabbed one of the candy bars from the top of the fridge to tide her grumbling stomach over until he came back.

As she turned back to head toward the couch her eyes were drawn to the pile of stuff spilling out of Bucky's bag as it tumbled from where he had left it on the mattress "Typical," she said beneath her breath, leaving her drink on the table and bending down to clean up.

She furrowed her brow in confusion at the sight of an all too familiar looking file. A file she hadn't been able to find when she was packing up herself, one she thought she had ended up leaving behind.

One with a small spider in the corner.

Perching herself on the sofa she placed the file in her lap and flipped open the front cover. It was something she knew she should have done when it had first made its way to her but she'd been too scared.

The two pictures of Bucky in the first page hit her right in the chest. The larger of the two was one of him in his frozen state, the torture showing on his face even though he was deeply under.

The second made tears spring to her eyes immediately. Clearly a copy of the original it was only small but it was the one that hit her the hardest. A black and white, grinning version of Bucky stared up to her from where she was holding the picture in her fingers. His hair was short, hidden beneath a hat, and his eyes sparkling even through the lack of colouring and the age of the photograph. He looked so free, so weightless…

Her heart skipped at how handsome he was in his uniform and she found herself wondering how her life would be if this was the version of him she'd met.

Unable to read too many details about what happened to him while he was under the care of Hydra, not knowing how he would feel to know she was digging into something he clearly wanted to keep to himself at the moment, she flicked through the other pages. Her eyes skimmed over the words but they still made her wince, the different mission reports turning her stomach and the details of how they wiped his memory only making her headache worse.

Her eyes narrowed as she turned the page. Leaning closer to the next section of the file she felt her heart skip and her throat constrict.

Codename: Black Mamba

Her hand was shaking as she pressed it against her mouth. Bile rose up to burn in her throat and her head began to spin when she realised she was looking down to a picture of herself.

It was a picture she had never seen before, her brow furrowing further as she stared down to the almost unrecognisable version of herself with the blank stare she was giving the camera. Clearly a lot younger than she was now her hair was up in a high, tightly pulled, bun and dark circles decorated the bags beneath her eyes.

She took in a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself as her shaking fingers turned the page. There were sheets of paper almost identical to the ones containing the information of Bucky's missions she'd just flicked through, the words were swimming in front of her eyes and she wanted to throw the folder away from her before she could see any more.

"Harper?"

Her eyes were filled with tears as she glanced up to where Bucky was standing in the doorway "Did you read this?" she asked in a whisper, holding the file up and watching as he dropped the bags he was holding to the floor "Did you read this?" she repeated in a louder tone as he made his way over to her.

"Har-"

"James."

"Yes," he said bowing his head as he crouched down in front of her, gently taking the file from her grasp and closing it "I read all of it."

Her head continued to spin as she leaned with her elbows on her thighs and her hands holding onto it. She didn't know what to think, all of her thoughts rushing around her mind too quickly for her to grab a hold of one "I…my dreams," she said, shaking her head "All of this. It was real."

"I'm sorry," he said, reaching out to place his hands on her shoulders but she pulled away.

Getting to her feet she dodged around him as realisation slowly began to sink in and anger surged through her "You knew! You let me walk around oblivious to all of this when you had read everything? You knew this entire time Bucky!"

"Not the entire time - Harper, I'm sorry," he said stepping aside so he was standing in front of her, his arms twitching at his sides as though he wanted to reach out to her "How was I supposed to bring it up to you?"

"I don't - I don't know," she replied screwing up her eyes and clenching her fingers into fists. Pressing them against her temples she crouched down until she was able to drop onto the mattress in the middle of the living room. Tucking her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them she leaned her head down as she tried to sort through what was happening.

Was this where the flicker of recognition she felt whenever she saw him came from? Had he known this whole time and it was why he came to her in the first place? Why had he been keeping it from her?

All of the questions spun around her brain, not sticking for long enough for her to grasp hold of one and say it out loud until one pushed its way to the forefront and she felt as though ice cold water had been splashed down onto her.

"Have I…killed people?" she asked raising her head to see he was sitting beside her, an odd kind of wail emerging from her throat when she saw the look on his face "Oh my god I-I'm a terrible person."

"No," he said softly, going to reach out to her but she flinched away from him.

"How do I cope with this," she said talking to herself more than him as she pressed her fingers against her mouth "How…what do I do with this information? I-I don't remember any of it? Not properly anyway but I…I should be locked up."

"Harper don't-"

She shook her head as she got to her feet "Don't what? Don't realise what's right in front of me? Don't tell the truth?" she asked holding her hand up to stop him from speaking. Picking the file up from where it was sitting on the couch she paused for a second when a sticky note fell out of the bottom.

Picking it up the air was punched from her lungs as her eyes focussed on the words written clearly on it.

Training Terminated. To end up in the care of Angela and Jack Rollins.

Ignoring whatever Bucky was saying to her she turned her back on him. He sounded as though he was far away, a buzzing in her ears stealing her attention away as her trembling fingers searched through the papers in her section of the file.

"No," she whispered as she came to the page she had been hoping she wouldn't come across. Ange and Jack's Hydra profile, the new last name - Watson - they would be giving them and the house they were moving them into.

"Harper please just-"

"Stop calling me that!" she shouted, the words burning her throat as they left it. Her hair flew around her face and more tears leaked from her eyes as she spun back around to face him, pointing a warning finger "That isn't my name apparently," she continued kicking a foot out toward the file now scattered across the floor "I ca...I can't do this."

"Har-just wait!"

But she pushed passed him, not even glancing up to him as she plucked her bag from the bottom of the mattress. Slinging it onto her shoulder she slammed the door behind her as she made her way out of the apartment.

She swore loudly as she made it out onto the street, almost immediately drenched by the falling rain and unsure of where she was going now.

Her bag felt heavy as she wandered through the streets, her mind blank despite all of the things she knew she should be figuring out and her eyes stinging.

She wasn't sure how but she soon found herself outside of a vaguely familiar looking red door, she'd only been there once before but was sure she had got the right place.

It only took a few seconds before the door was swinging open, the warmth from inside enveloping her and the confused smile on Elena's face bringing her back down to earth with a bump.

"Hey sweetie!" she exclaimed, a question laying in the back of her tone before she stepped aside and ushered her in "Are you okay?"

Though Harper nodded she wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. Her bottom lip wobbled as Elena wrapped an arm around her shoulders "Can I stay here please?"

So...she knows! And now you kinda know, but you already kinda knew...idk what I'm saying

as usual I've been scared to post this but here goes! Thanks for reading :)