"Are you sure this is a good idea, doctor?".
The young agent looked at me as if he was considering my choice. Early in the morning I had heard that James Barnes had been moved from his room to a cell. I had been told I could only talk to him under supervision, but I was strictly against that. I did not want to be permanently under observation. Or at least as little as possible. Paranoia overcame me frequently, I asked myself why I wasn't already looking for cameras in my room.
"I think I can take care of myself," I replied, trying to smile.
He shrugged his shoulders and opened the heavy door for me. It was dented in several places from the inside and immediately I was overcome with images of James banging and kicking on the door with all his might.
"Why is he tied up?", I asked.
"He wanted to escape, these super soldiers are almost unstoppable".
I sighed and told him that he could close the door. Barnes sat waiting on a chair, his hand fastened to the armrest with a metal splint and a wide leather strap wrapped around his waist.
"Good morning, Sergeant Barnes".
I opened both of his chains without much thought and sat down across from him on an old plastic chair. I was not afraid of him despite our little argument at our first meeting. He didn't radiate any aggression at that moment either, so I didn't really feel threatened.
"Good morning, Doc".
A smile crept onto my lips. I was glad that he wanted to talk to me today.
"You attempted to escape?".
"Can you blame me?", he closed his eyes for a moment, even in the dim light I could see the signs of a hematoma on the right side of his face.
His lower lip and nose were covered in dried blood. Trying to escape his prison, he had probably got in a fight with some agents.
"No," I opened my bag and took out disinfectant and compresses, "I would do it too if it were possible.
I bent over and carefully cleaned his wounds, he didn't even flinch and remained sitting rigidly. Quietly, he watched me. The brief silence between us was not strange at all, it was somehow reassuring. A quick glance at his right hand told me that he was quite relaxed, he had placed it on his knee after I had freed him. Because of the serum, he would have been able to escape from the restraints on his own.
"I'm sorry about your brother," he finally said, "I thought you were one of Zola's puppets, too".
The memory of my brother hurt and I had to take a deep breath to keep my composure. I slid back again and let myself fall against the back of the chair. To clear my mind again, I reached for James' file in my bag and opened it.
"How is your arm?", I asked, trying to change the subject.
"Was he very young?".
"Is," I corrected him, "If he were dead, I wouldn't be here. After all, they need leverage."
I knew it was a stupid idea to talk to him about something like that. But my gut told me I could trust him. There was a plea for apology in his gaze, I could tell, even though I wasn't even looking directly at him.
"Did you get well through the surgery?", I tried again.
The brunette man swallowed hard, but still did not take his eyes off me.
According to the circumstances".
Slowly, not wanting to scare him like yesterday, I stood up and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. The stitches looked good, the skin was barely red and I was sure that the serum would heal it without any problems. James drew in air through clenched teeth at the sight of the stump.
"Are you in pain?".
"No".
I carefully stroked the stitched skin with my thumb and felt him tense up. The ex-soldier groaned and noticeably tried to stop himself from pushing me away from him.
"You know, I'm probably your only friend here. Don't lie to me."
My words sounded a little harsher than I had intended, because the man in front of me gasped a little and now averted his eyes from me as well. It was nonsense to pretend we weren't on the same side. And if we were going to get through this together, we would have to trust each other blindly.
"I'm sorry, I'm really trying to help you. I can hardly imagine what you must be going through. But I promise you, if you let me, I will make your time here as bearable as possible."
Apart from my duty as his medical caregiver, I felt responsible for him and somehow it was also very refreshing to know that I was not the only person here without insane worldviews and agenda. As if I had no choice but to help him.
"I imagined the pain would be worse," he finally admitted, "touching hurts".
I sat back down and scribbled in his file while being absorbed in my mind. If I could spare Sergeant Barnes as much suffering as possible, my staying here would actually make sense. Maybe then I wouldn't be tormented by even more guilt.
"What's your name?".
"Klara Erskine."
His dark eyebrows drew together thoughtfully before his gray-blue eyes regarded me in disbelief.
"Erskine? You are Abraham Erskine's daughter?".
"You knew him?", I asked and returned his puzzled look.
"Well. Steve knew him, talked about him all the time. He developed this drug, right? The one they also gave me," as he said the name 'Steve', the corners of his mouth twitched up briefly, then his expression darkened again.
"Zola re-created it, the original serum was destroyed with my father's death".
Again he looked at me with much pity, yet James deserved much more pity than I did. His hand slowly moved to mine and I briefly considered pulling it away. Instead, I allowed him to take it in his and stroke the back of my hand with his thumb. This was the first time I had received any kind of comfort since my father's death and Isaac's kidnapping. I savored the moment and caught myself squeezing his hand a bit, he smiled.
"Do you need a painkiller?", I asked and pulled my hand out of his grip, it was tingling.
"I don't think so".
I dug back into his file and I knew he was watching closely what I was writing down. However, I decided not to include us holding hands in the report. It would raise too many questions and Karpov would probably not be happy about it either.
"What are they going to do with me?" his voice trembled.
"I think it would be better if you don't know what's coming, I'm sorry".
He nodded hesitantly - I was also afraid of this future that awaited us both. With a deep, panting breath, I brushed the blond curls from my face.
"Dr. Erskine?", the heavy door opened with a creak and an agent entered, "There is someone who wants to talk to you".
With a grumpy feeling I stood up and gathered my things.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Sergeant Barnes. Don't do anything stupid".
"I can't promise", he answered quietly and smiled slightly, the agent had not heard this, because he disappeared from the door again and waited until I stepped out. I tried to ignore the persistent gentle burning in my hand, but noticed it entering my cheeks instead. Growling, I bit the inside of my cheek; my behavior wasn't that professional.
The door closed behind me and I followed another Hydra agent into a meeting room. A small, somewhat roundish man with glasses was waiting for me. I stopped as if rooted to the spot and swallowed.
"Dr. Zola? I thought you were a prisoner of the SSR?" it inevitably shot out of me.
He laughed and looked at me through his glasses. Something in this man made him even more sinister than Vasily Karpov. I didn't know if it was his unassuming appearance or his scrutinizing gaze. He walked around the huge table and stopped right in front of me. I was a little taller than him, but I still felt insanely small in his presence.
"Hydra is everywhere, my dear. Did you think I didn't take any precautions?".
"Does that mean I can leave now?".
Full of hope, I squinted my eyes and held my breath. When they had brought me in to provide medical care for James Barnes, I thought I was the replacement for Dr. Arnim Zola. After the incident in the Alps, the Strategic Scientific Reserve had captured him. But it was probably really as he said. HYDRA had its people spread out in all corners of the world.
"No, my dear. No one in the world but you knows so much about your father's super-soldier serum," he grinned and put a hand on my shoulder, "Besides, I have a special job for you. Barnes will in for surgery tomorrow, our technical department will brief you about it".