Victoria got back at just gone seven p.m. to her apartment after her conversation with Bucky. She had gone to work with a clear head. She had finished marking all of the papers she had to mark. She had even finished off her lecture plans for the final three weeks of teaching. She had almost felt a sense of optimism. The weather was growing warmer. The nights were pulling out. And then James Buchanan Barnes had walked back into her life. It had been several years since she had last seen him. The last time she had laid eyes on him had been in London when she had gone to warn him that her father knew exactly where he was and would be coming for him.

She had handed him the brown file that contained all of the information HYDRA had gathered on him. She didn't know what he ended up doing with it. It would have been for the best if he had just burnt it. She figured that was the only way he might be able to move on eventually.

Shaking her head back and forth, she paced the length of her kitchen, her heels kicked off to the side and her trousers too long for her without them. She had shrugged out of her suit jacket, laying it on the marble worktop in the large, modern kitchen. The place had cost her a fortune, but she figured that when her father died she could afford it. It turned out that she could afford it ten times over nearly. The floors were covered in hardwood, the entire living area open planned with a large kitchen overlooking a dining table with six chairs and a living room with a large TV on the wall, a leather sofa across from it.

But she had nothing in the apartment, not really. She had no personal items. She had nothing that made it look like it was a home. She figured that she would eventually decorate, buy some nice things to put in it. She had always wanted her own place. But it turned out that she didn't bother with any of that.

Pulling out a small glass, she filled it with the whiskey she kept at the back of her cupboards. Draining it in one, she let out a loud 'ah' after she had finished before looking at the phone on the island besides the stove. She had gone to grab it out of her bedroom as soon as she had returned home, finding it still hidden underneath her tights. She had taken it to the kitchen and set it down before beginning her pacing.

She knew what she had to do. It would only be the right thing for her to do. Reaching down, she felt the alcohol warming her stomach as it settled there. There was only one number in the phone. She finally clicked on the call button before placing the phone to her ear and beginning to pace again.

"What is it?" the voice asked after approximately six rings.

"You might have a problem," Victoria responded.

"And what problem would this be?"

"Bucky…" she said his name. It still sounded strange falling from her lips after all these years. "He's travelling to Madripoor. He knows that the super soldier serum has been recreated."

"And how would he know that?"

"He said that he had an encounter with the Flag Smashers," Victoria responded and finally came to the window of her living room, peering down onto the traffic below.

"I see," she responded down the phone. "So why would he be coming to Madripoor? How would he know that the super soldier serum is here?"

"I told him," Victoria said and there was silence then.

Victoria chewed down on the inside of her cheek, waiting for the woman to respond to her. She kept her eyes set straight beneath her, doing her best not to let her nerves build up as she waited for a response.

"Why would you do that?"

"I wasn't thinking," Victoria said, hand tugging through her hair and tossing it over her shoulders as she did her best not to let her emotions overcome her. "Bucky came to me thinking that HYDRA might be involved. I told him that it wouldn't be HYDRA but that the CIA had approached a doctor to recreate the serum…a doctor that had just gone to Madripoor."

"And was that all you told him?"

"Yeah," Victoria said. "I didn't tell him Nagel's name or anything else."

"I can deal with Bucky when he arrives," she replied down the phone.

"He's not going alone. He's working with Sam Wilson."

"Really?"

"So he said," Victoria shrugged, tilting her head to the side. "Listen, I told him that I didn't know anything else…and I don't…not really, anyway. But I figured that I should tell you that you'll be having company. I owed you that much."

"I'd say you owe me a lot more than that," she responded.

Victoria closed her eyes tightly. "I know," she said, "but I have nothing of use to give you…not now."

"Then be grateful I'm not looking in on cashing in on anymore favours," she responded. "I'll deal with the two of them when they arrive, but if he gets in touch again…wants anymore information…you have this phone and this number."

"I do," Victoria confirmed.

"Then I'll talk to you later, Victoria."

She hung up. Victoria let out a deep breath that she had been holding in. Moving back into her kitchen, she dropped the phone recklessly on the worktop and then reached for the whiskey bottle once more, refilling her glass and downing the liquid. Her mind went back to Bucky and she shook her head. She hadn't lied to him, not really, anyway. Besides, why should it matter if she had? She hadn't seen him in years. They weren't friends. They weren't anything to each other…well, not anymore.

September 19th, 2006

"What was that?"

Victoria had been unrelenting all the way back to her father's lab. He dragged her back there, his grip tight on her arm as she almost stumbled over her own feet. She was glaring up at him as Alexander followed them a few paces behind. But Victoria was not going to give in. What she had seen terrified her. That man…whoever he was…she knew that there was something not quite right.

"Who was he?" she continued pushing from her father. "What the hell are we doing here?"

"Does she know about your work?" Alexander asked from Roger as they finally entered his lab. Alexander closed the door firmly, Roger pushing his daughter to sit down on a stool, almost sending her toppling to the floor with the force of his movements.

"She knows I am a scientist…whose work is often highly confidential," Roger said. "My aim was to keep the truth from her for as long as possible. I didn't think that she would go running off and find him."

"He was supposed to be under guard," Alexander grunted back, hands moving to his hips on top of his suit jacket. "But now we have a serious problem, Roger."

"I can deal with her," Roger said and Victoria's eyes widened as she looked between the two men.

"Deal with me?" she questioned. "What the hell does that mean?"

"What have I told you about cursing?" Roger snapped at his daughter, pointing down to her as she stuck her chin out, anger taking hold of her at the sight of him looking at her with that glare.

"I don't give a fuck!" Victoria snapped. "Just tell me what the hell is going on?"

It was then when Roger reacted. He moved his hand, the back of it hitting her cheek and turning her face to the other side. She grunted loudly at the noise, the slap echoing through the room. Victoria kept her eyes set down, her head remaining bowed as her father sniffed and straightened up, tugging a hand through his long, slicked back blonde hair. He turned his green pointed gaze back to Alexander who simply continued watching him.

"She cannot talk about him to anyone," Alexander warned Roger. "We both know that what we are fighting for is bigger than any of us…if she talks…"

The threat hung in the air and Victoria did her best to comprehend what he was saying. Turning her gaze back to the front slowly, she let her eyes settle on Alexander and he moved his stare over to her, looking at her as though he was eyeing her up, trying to weigh up what she was thinking. She didn't trust him. No part of her trusted him.

"She won't talk," Roger said confidently. "I've known that this day would come for a long time…I could only hide it for so long, especially considering I think that she would make a valuable asset to us."

"Unlike her mother," Alexander scoffed.

Victoria's brows knitted together when she heard that. "My mother?" she spoke. "What about my mother?"

"I'll leave that to you," Alexander said to Roger and turned on his heel to leave the room.

Victoria remained sat where she was, her cheek stinging and her eyes threatening to brim with tears at the pain. But she wasn't going to do that. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Instead, she remained still, doing her best not to be intimidated by the man who had raised her.

"You're sixteen now, Victoria," Roger said, his hands moving behind his back as he spoke. She wondered what that had to do with anything. "You are a young woman and it is about time you understood what it is I do and what it is I hope you will follow me into."

"A scientist?"

"We both know you don't have the brains to become a scientist, Victoria," Roger said and she felt a familiar pain in her chest at the remark. She should have gotten used to them by now, but each one still hurt. "No, I imagine there are other ways that you can help serve the organisation."

"What organisation? What are you talking about?" Victoria demanded.

"You've heard of HYDRA, yes?" he asked from her.

Victoria's brows knitted together and a look of confusion appeared on her face as her father rolled his eyes at her.

"Did that private education I paid for teach you nothing?" he demanded from her.

"HYDRA…as in World War II…as in the organisation that wanted to impose a totalitarian global state? The organisation that engaged in scientific research to create weapons? That HYDRA?"

"The very same one," Roger said. "Glad to see that you have learnt something."

Victoria ignored his jab. "But HYDRA was disbanded," she said to him. "In all of the history lessons, it said as much. HYDRA was defeated by Captain America and Schmidt disappeared."

Roger's lips arched and he continued moving around his lab. "HYDRA lives on, Victoria," he promised her. "HYDRA is being rebuilt inside of S.H.I.E.L.D…slowly, it grows with power and gains more members every day. Eventually, the time will come when they overthrow S.H.I.E.L.D. and take back control. In the meantime, they have been behind many crises that have taken place in previous decades…grown to plant individuals in a number of different organisations to spy on them…"

Victoria struggled to take in what she was hearing from her father. Shaking her head, she moved to her feet, her knees slightly uneasy as she did her best to gather her thoughts. Roger watched his daughter, wondering if she was able to piece two and two together. It turned out that she wasn't as inept as he had suspected.

"Travelling around all of the time…to places under heavy guard…you…all this time…it wasn't the government you were working for, was it?" she asked. She wanted him to tell her that it was. She wanted him to tell her that it was all some big mistake. But the look on his face was enough to tell her that she should have known better.

"I understand this is a lot to take in, but over time you will see that our aims are noble," he promised her. "This planet, Victoria, needs HYDRA."

"Are you deluded?" she snapped, unable to stop herself. "Do you seriously think that the planet needs HYDRA? There's a reason why Captain America fought against it in 1945."

"You'll come round," Roger said, his tone almost nonchalant as he began to pick at some kind of wire board on his desk.

Victoria's eyes widened in disbelief at hearing that. "Are you crazy?" she demanded to know from her father. "Why on earth would you think that I would ever come around?"

"Because you'll soon see there is no other alternative," Roger said and he dropped the board, moving to fold his arms across his chest. "Because you are my daughter."

"Just because I'm your daughter doesn't mean that I agree with any of what you are doing," she said to him with a firm shake of her head. "I want to go home. I don't want to be anywhere near you. Do you understand me?"

"Always so dramatic," Roger rolled his eyes at her.

She clenched her hands into fists by her side, chin once again jutting out as she heard him speak to her like that. "What is so dramatic about being repulsed by my own father being part of a murderous organisation?" she demanded back.

"You need to learn some respect," Roger hissed.

She scoffed. "Seriously?" she demanded from him. "You think that I respect you? After everything?"

He moved again, hitting her one more time across the face. She pushed at him as he grabbed hold of her chin, his grip tight before he pushed her against the wall. She tried to move his arm from her, needing to get free from him as he bent lower, his face inches from hers.

"I am your father," he snarled at her. "I am the man who raised you…who pays for the clothes on your back…that private education…so yes, I deserve respect from you, you little chit."

He slammed her head back against the wall and she grunted in pain at the motion. He stepped back as Victoria moved a hand to clasp hold of the back of her head, feeling dizzy once he had completed the motion. She could feel her eyes pooling with tears, this time she was unable to hold them back.

"Who is he?" Victoria finally got up the courage to speak as her father's cheeks remained tinted red and he kept on moving around the lab, hands dropping to his hips.

"The asset."

"What does that mean?"

"He's an assassin," he finally relented. "HYDRA sends him out on missions when we need a target eliminated. When he returns…when he is not needed…he is frozen until he is needed again."

Victoria's face scrunched up. "You freeze him?" she asked her father. "How…what…"

"Spit your words out, girl," he demanded from her.

"Why do you freeze him?"

"To conserve him," Roger said. "And I need to work on the machine that we use to freeze him and wipe his memories."

"You wipe his memories?" she snapped back, her head running with all kinds of questions. She struggled to comprehend everything. "Why would you do that to him?"

"To keep him compliant. A man with no memories is a clean slate…a man who we can control to do everything."

"You've brainwashed him," Victoria said, feeling sick at the thought of them even doing that to someone. "How could you do that to someone? How could you even agree to keep doing that to him? It's barbaric…he's a man…he has a past…he…what if there are people looking for him?"

"Trust me, his family are long gone by now," Roger said to his daughter. "And the asset is none of your concern, Victoria. Now, I am going to finish off my work here and then we are going to return to the apartment that Alexander has kindly loaned us for our stay."

Victoria blinked. "Are you serious?" she asked from him. "Do you honestly think I am going back with you?"

Roger let out an exasperated sigh before he moved towards her once more. He saw her shrink back from him. As brave as she acted, she was still a frightened little girl. She should have known that her big mouth would get her into trouble. It had done numerous times in the past.

"I don't think I gave you any other choice," Roger said.

"I can call the police."

He laughed at that. It was a loud noise as he leant back slightly and moved his hand to push his hair back into place, his long thin face contorted with chuckles. But Victoria didn't laugh. Instead, she stayed where she was. She kept her gaze set on him, chin jutting out.

"You think that they could protect you?" he asked from her. "Victoria, let me put this simply," he advanced on her again, hands going either side of her head as he bent down to stare her in the eye. "If you tell anyone about anything that you've seen here then they will kill you."

And then he saw it. He saw the terror in her gaze. But still, she shook her head. "No…"

"I wouldn't be able to protect you, darling," he said to her, moving his hand out to stroke her cheek. "HYDRA's aims are bigger than any one person. So, yes, I do think that you are going to keep quiet, for your own good."

"You're lying."

"Do you want to find out, Vicky?" he questioned her. "Because I wouldn't take that risk."

"You'd let them kill me? Your own daughter?"

"I am trying to protect you," Roger said, thumb still stroking her cheekbone. "I am the one who is here and trying to protect you…but I can only do that so long as you do as you're told. Do you think you can do that? Do you think you can be a good girl?"

She said nothing. Instead, her stare remained wide and panicked. Moving to grab hold of her chin, he squeezed it tightly in his fingertips. "I think the answer you're looking for is yes," he warned her and then roughly pushed her face away. "Now, sit quietly and take time to process what I just told you. We'll leave in an hour or so."

He walked away from her and she slumped against the wall. She gulped before speaking, looking at the back of her father's head. "What did he mean?" she whispered. "What happened to my mother?"

She felt for the locket around her neck that she always wore. Her mother had given it to her on her ninth birthday, telling her to treasure it just like she treasured her. The photo of the two of them inside of it was from Victoria's fifth birthday when they had lived in New York. Her mother had taken her to see a show on Broadway. Victoria hardly remembered it, but she remembered her mother's singing all the way on the walk home.

"Your mother intended to turn against us," Roger informed his daughter. "She had her car crash on the night she left me…left us," he said, emphasising that her mother had also chosen to leave her. "It was an accident. She had been driving too fast…in too much of a rush to get away."

Victoria pushed her father. He kept his back to her and Victoria knew that something wasn't right. He was keeping something from her.

"She died on the same night she happened to be leaving you?" Victoria checked.

"Don't let your mind become over-excited, Vicky," he warned her, reaching for his safety goggles.

"You just told me that if I told anyone what happened I would be killed. It's hard not to think that you had something similar done to my mother."

"Believe what you will," Roger said to her, "but your mother died in a car crash."

"You're lying."

"We are not discussing this anymore."

"What did you do to her?" Victoria demanded from him, anger pooling in her stomach as she stepped forwards. She had lost all sense of reason as she pushed her father in the shoulder and he dropped the screwdriver he had been holding. He grunted in annoyance as she continued pushing at him, hitting at his back. "What did you do to mum? What did you do to her?"

He reached out for her then, turning to take hold of her by the wrists to stop her from hitting at him. "I've warned you," he said.

"What did you do to my mum?" she continued yelling at him, trying to fight from him as he dragged her from the lab. She punched at his arm that held onto her wrist. She had no idea where she was going. She didn't even care. All she wanted was answers. "What did you do? Just tell me!"

"Open that door."

Roger snapped at a guard and Victoria vaguely recognised that she was back near the corridor she had wandered down earlier. The guard opened the steel door and Roger pushed his daughter into the dark room. It was only four feet by four feet, nothing inside of it except for a dim light hanging in the centre of the room.

"Now, I am going to finish my work in peace," Roger said to her and he straightened out his tie and suit jacket after Victoria had clawed at it. "Just stay here and take some time to calm down. I will be back for you when I am done."

"What?" Victoria shrieked. "You can't lock me in here-"

"-I can, and I will," Roger warned her. "And until you regain some semblance of decorum and manners, I will continue to do exactly like that."

"No!" Victoria yelled as he slammed the door on her and the guard turned the key.

Victoria moved to it and banged on the steel, demanding to be let out, telling her father that she wasn't going to stop until she knew the truth.

In the room next door, the asset had been trying to rest. He was due to go back into the chamber the following day until he was required again. The chamber had broken during his absence, a scientist being flown out to fix it for him. But he was struggling to get any sleep with the screaming girl next door to him. He listened to her yell, her voice clearly distressed. She was demanding to know what had happened to her mother. She was demanding to be let out. She would soon see that HYDRA didn't answer to demands. He remained sat up against the wall, knowing that the girl was the one he had just seen. She was just a girl too. But she had come to him.

"I'm Victoria."

He remembered her name. Eventually, she stopped her shouting and she went silent. She must have exhausted herself. But then he placed his ear to the wall. He could only hear her faintly, but the noise was clear. She was crying.

…

Bucky knew that Sam had been apprehensive about his plan, but there had been no other alternative. He had met him back in D.C. after his short trip to New York to find Victoria. The idea of talking to Zemo didn't exactly fill Bucky with joy either, but he knew that he was their only shot of getting to the bottom of this.

"So…who did you got to see in New York?"

Sam tried his luck as they sat on the plane on the way to Berlin. They knew that Walker and Hoskins would be on their trail soon enough. The new Captain America had really gotten on Bucky's nerves. He didn't like him. He liked nothing about him. And the fact that Sam had given the shield up was a sticking point for Bucky.

"Someone from my past," Bucky muttered.

Her name was in his list. He would stare at that list every day, his gaze always roaming over to her name. He should have gone back for her. He should never have left her there. He knew who her father was. He knew what he did to her. As soon as he got his memories back then he should have tried to go back for her. He could still remember her so clearly as soon as his mind was his own.

"You have a name," she told him, cleaning the cuts on his chest. "And I know what your name is…James Buchanan Barnes."

"And is that all of the information I'm getting?" Sam wondered.

Bucky shifted uncomfortably in the seat he was in, the sound of the engine of the plane loud in his ears.

"She's…her father was a scientist for HYDRA," Bucky said to Sam. "He was one of their highest-ranking members in the end before Steve took them on in D.C. He worked at the facility where they kept me."

"And she was a member too?"

"Not entirely," Bucky said, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Then…what?" Sam wondered.

Bucky sighed. "She had no other option," he said. "They forced her to do their bidding. Her father kept her under his thumb."

"And you're telling me she had no way out?"

"You don't understand," Bucky said with a shake of his head. "Her father wouldn't give her a chance, Sam. She's only free from him because he was killed. She was nothing like him…despite what he did…she never became anything like him."

"And now?"

"Now?" Bucky wondered.

"What does she do now?"

"She's a lecturer," Bucky said. "She's got her own life in New York."

"And how did you know her if she didn't want to work for HYDRA?"

Bucky looked around then, his eyes flickering around. "She would patch me up when I came back from missions," Bucky responded. "She…she wasn't a professional, but she was the only one who insisted on making sure my injuries were tended to. Most of the time I was fine, but I think they just humoured her. She would always talk to me..."

Sam said nothing then and Bucky moved to his feet, struggling to comprehend what it was he was feeling. He walked down the length of the plane, gathering his thoughts and remembering the second time he had set eyes on her.

October 1st, 2006

He had been back from his mission for almost two hours. Everything had gone to plan. No one had seen him. He had left no survivors. He had returned back and surrendered himself in the chair as Roger Wallace questioned the handler if he needed his memories wiped. But he didn't. He didn't even remember anything. The girl had been there in the lab, sat at the back of the room with a textbook open in her lap. She had been curled up in a ball in an armchair. That was new. He didn't remember seeing that the last time he had been in the room.

She had tucked her long, honey blonde hair behind her ears and her gaze was set down on the page in front of her. He noticed the purple stain on her cheek. She had a black shirt on her body, a short checked skirt on her legs with thick tights. She looked up after a few moments when he entered the room and she hesitantly looked over to him, his gaze meeting hers for a moment. He saw her eyes widen and he knew that she was taking in his metal arm. She was drinking it in and he suspected it scared her as much as it scared everyone else who saw it.

"What do you think?" Roger wondered from the guard who Victoria had discovered was called Ivan and was there practically every single day. Then again, so was she. Ever since her outburst, her father had insisted on her being under his constant watch. She had fought against him for a week or so, but it had left her with bruises and another two days locked up in that room.

"Soldat," Ivan said.

His gaze moved up to the man who had just demanded his attention.

"Mission complete," was all that he said.

"He seems good to be frozen…no need to clean his memory…" Ivan said.

"Then prepare the chamber."

"But he's hurt."

Her voice was low and meek. It was almost as though she didn't want to speak. She uncurled herself from the ball she was in and stood on her feet, the skirt coming just above her knee as she tugged it down.

"He'll heal."

"He's bleeding," Victoria pointed out. "How do you know that he doesn't need stitches?"

"Since when were you a doctor?"

"I took a first aid class in school," she said to her father. "I didn't learn much, but I learnt enough. Besides, mum was a nurse, remember?"

"Doesn't mean you know anything."

Victoria bit down on the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to tell her father that she would read her mother's old textbooks. A part of her had wondered if she wanted to follow in her footsteps. She wondered if she wanted to be like her mother. She was just starting her A Levels and had considered if she could go to university and study nursing. But she still had time. Her father had contemplated pulling her out of school, claiming that it might be for the best if they were to spend a long time in D.C. She didn't particularly like that idea, but she had no say. She had no say in anything now, it seemed.

"You should at least look at it," Victoria said.

"If you're that concerned, Victoria, go ahead, but we're not wasting time getting a doctor down here."

Victoria remained stood where she was.

"Unless you're too scared?" her father questioned from her.

And then that defiant look was back. She stormed over to the man, dropping her book down on her father's desk as she passed him by. Roger watched on as the asset remained perched in the chair and his daughter stood over him, looking at the gash on his shoulder. She could only see it poking through the black top he wore.

"I need a first aid kit," she demanded.

"Ivan," Roger said and the guard moved out of the room.

He returned a minute or so later, holding a green bag in his hands. Dropping it down onto the floor, Roger looked to his daughter. "Go on then," he said. "We'll be next door sorting out the chamber. You should be safe with him…he's still under control."

"Funnily enough, it's not him who scares me," she retorted, sending her father a dark glare.

He chuckled and left the room with Ivan in tow. Victoria let out a deep breath that she had been holding in. Crouching down, she opened up the lid to the bag and reached in, finding some antiseptic wipes. She should clean the wound first before assessing the damage.

"I don't know if this will sting," she admitted to him, but he said nothing back to her. She moved closer to him and leant in. She hesitated for a moment. "Do…do you mind?" she questioned from him. He looked at her blankly, but shook his head once. She moved the wipe over the blood, clearing it and seeing the depth of the wound. He winced only for a moment, but straightened himself out. "Sorry," she said to him. He only nodded.

Once she had finished cleaning the cut, she looked at it and pulled a face. "I do think you need stitches though," she said and went back to the box. "Do I even want to know where you've been to end up with this wound?" Silence again. "Guess not," she responded and continued busying herself with the needle and thread. "And I don't want to worry you, but this is the first time I've dealt with stitches…although I did help reset a dislocated shoulder when I was fourteen. A boy at school had popped it out place. Everyone else ran away but the nurse saw me there, asked me to hold him down."

She looked over him again. "You probably didn't need to know that, either," she commented to him. "Sorry, I talk when I get nervous…not that you should worry…I've read about how to do this so many times. My mum was a nurse and she used to patch everyone up…I read all of her old books, figured I might be like her one day."

He still said nothing and Victoria leant closer to him, moving her hand to his shoulder and peering at it before she began stitching him up.

"They told me what they do to you," she said in a whisper, knowing that there was no one in the room but still apprehensive about speaking freely. "I…I wanted to go and tell someone. This is wrong. All of this is wrong," she said, her voice exasperated and his gaze moved over to her then, his eyes showing something that she swore looked like sadness. Glancing to him as she stilled her movements, she watched him for a few moments. "You're someone…and deep down…despite everything they did to you…you need to remember that."

Still, he said nothing.

"I keep trying to think of a way out of here," she admitted in a murmur, going back to stitching him up. "I just started my A Levels…I don't know how I'll do, mind you, but I can only try and get through them because then I can go to university. I might be free then."

She finished stitching the wound together, noting that it looked okay. She finished off what she was doing, continuing to talk to him.

"If I can get free then I'll try and help you."

"Why?"

He finally spoke and Victoria dropped the needle and thread back into the bag. Looking to him as she stood before him and he remained seated, his eyes flickered over her face and she shrugged.

"Because I don't think you want to be here…because what they're doing to you is wrong…they might try and turn me into one of them, but I'll never be one of them. I don't think you want to be either, or else they wouldn't bother wiping your memories."

He didn't say anything back to her and so she busied with tidying up. Putting the bag in the corner, she began to move by him, knowing that her father would be back soon. As she passed him by, he remained in the chair, armed guards waiting outside in case he dared to make a move. Victoria did her best to think coherently, knowing that there had to be a way out. As she walked by him, he spoke softly.

"Victoria," he said and she looked to him as she stood by his side. "Your name is Victoria."

"It is," she confirmed for him. "And they won't tell me your name."

And he didn't either. He remained sat where he was, something inside of him screaming. But he couldn't scream. He could only remain where he was. He watched the young girl head back to the armchair and curl back into a ball, legs underneath her and textbook back on her lap. She kept her eyes focused on the book and he observed her, wondering just why someone like her was in a place like this.

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think!