Cassidy groaned as she felt a wave of pain through her leg. She carefully rolled off the car in time to see the man jump off the bridge onto a car, crushing it. There were several men shooting at Nat and Sam up top and Cassidy reached for her gun, realizing Nat had never handed it back to her.
"Cassidy!" She heard Steve's voice ring out from behind her. She turned and saw him hiding behind a bus. She half ran, half walked, the pain in her leg becoming more apparent. Steve took her in his arms, kissing her forehead.
"Are you alright sweetheart?" He asked, looking down at her leg.
"I'm okay, I'll be okay. Steve what do we do?"
Bullets started flying at them and Steve used his shield to fling them back, taking the shooters out one by one. Sam covered them while they went to find Nat. They rounded a corner and Steve jumped over a car to attack. Cassidy went to the other side, kicking the soldier in the back of the leg. He turned on her and with one shove with the metal hand, she was on her ass.
How the hell was he so strong? Almost stronger than Steve. A knife skidded on the ground next to her and she looked up to see Nat hiding behind a car, holding her shoulder. She'd been shot. Cassidy growled and grabbed the knife, hosting herself up and running, sliding on the ground in between the soldier's legs, stabbing him in the thigh on the way. He groaned and Steve helped her back up, holding her to his chest.
The soldier yanked the knife out of his leg and threw it on the ground. He looked back up at Cassidy and tilted his head for a second, as if he knew her. He should, he'd damn near killed her once before.
"Get out of the way." He growled. She froze, unable to speak. It felt like she couldn't breathe. It wasn't possible was it?
Steve shoved her behind him, grabbing onto the soldier and flipping him over, taking his mask off. The soldier stood and turned to look at them. He was a spitting image, there was no way. It wasn't possible.
"Steve…" Cassidy whispered, unsure if she could say anything else.
Steve look just as shocked. "Bucky?"
The soldier straightened, giving them a confused look. "Who the hell is Bucky?" He said, coming for them again, until Sam came flying down, kicking him in the face.
Cassidy couldn't move. She felt like a bowling ball was sitting on her chest. That was Bucky, but how. It all made sense now. How he had been behind murders for over 50 years, how he was strong like Steve, and how he still looked as young as he did in 1945. He was a super soldier, and Hydra had found someway of freezing him. He got back up but Nat shot at him, blowing up the car he was standing by. When the smoke cleared, he was gone, and Cassidy could hear sirens. Shield would take them.
Rumlow was the first out of the truck, gun aimed at them, screaming at them to get on their knees. Cassidy did as she was told, never looking away from the ground. She didn't want to believe that this was real. That her other soulmate, the other half of her heart, had just tried to kill them. Again. She willed herself not to cry, not in front of Steve, and sure as hell not in front of Rumlow.
Steve, Nat and Sam were handcuffed and taken to a van, while Rumlow came over to Cassidy, holding a hand out to her. "Come with me, Pierce wants to see you."
"Why?" She asked, still looking down.
"I don't know specifics, he just asked me to bring you in, come on, would you rather go in cuffs? Because I have the authority to force you, but I'd rather not." Rumlow told her. She sighed and took his hand, standing and glancing into the back of the van Steve was in. He started to struggle, getting the butt of a gun in his chest. She shook her head, signaling she was okay, and followed Rumlow back to the truck. Both she and Nat had watches with trackers in them courtesy of Tony, so they'd be able to find her if something went wrong.
Maybe she could get some answers. She never used her pull from her parents, so maybe if she did, Pierce would tell her what she wanted to know. Did he know who Bucky was to her? She hoped not, because that would put an even bigger target on their backs. The trucks stopped in a tunnel and Brock went to get out, turning to the driver.
"Shoot her if she tries to get out." He said. Rumlow swung the door open and stepped out, walking back to the truck that had Steve in it. "Three holes, start digging." Cassidy spun around in her seat and screamed. "No! Steve! Nat!" she screamed as loud as she could, willing them to hear her warning so they could fight back. A large hand slammed down on her shoulder and the driver told her to shut up or he'd put a bullet in her brain.
When Rumlow came back to the truck he was pissed. They had escaped somehow. Cassidy had a smirk on her face and Rumlow scowled at her.
"Wipe that smirk off your face or I'll kill you, I don't care how important you are."
She was silent the rest of the ride and Rumlow was not as gentle as before when he yanked her out of the truck and led her down to the lower levels of a bank, somewhere she'd never been before.
Rumlow directed her into a room and she froze when she saw him. Bucky was sitting in a chair and someone was doing work on his metal arm, Steve had damaged it with his shield.
"I knew him" Bucky told Pierce. Her heart broke at the look on his face. He had recognized Steve. He seemed like a completely different person than he did thirty minutes ago.
"What is this?" Cassidy asked. Bucky was sitting in a giant chair with different pieces of equipment coming off it. She'd never seen something like it before. Pierce turned around and smiled when he saw her.
"Oh Miss Forbes, so happy you could join us." Pierce said, coming over to her.
"What is all this?" She asked, trying not to make eye contact with Bucky. She could feel him staring at her.
"This is the Winter Soldier Project Miss Forbes. Something very important to us. Do you know who this man is?" He asked.
Cassidy shook her head. She had to lie. "He does look familiar though, like I've seen him in a book or something."
"You'd be right. This is Sergeant James Barnes from the 107th infantry. Or he used to be." Pierce told her with a chuckle. "He fell from a train in 1945, but Dr. Zola saved him."
"How has he been alive for almost 70 years?" She asked, even though she was sure she already knew.
"A cryo chamber. Kept him on ice until we needed him."
"That sounds…horrible." She said, cringing a little.
"It may seem harsh, but it was the only way to keep him from aging. I'm happy you're so interested in this project. It was one of your father's most prized works." Pierce told her.
"What are you talking about?" She asked slowly.
"Your father was the lead on this project, This asset specifically." She felt nauseous. It wasn't true.
"My father would never do something like this." She told him.
"Maybe you didn't know your father as well as you thought you did." Pierce said, walking over too the table and picking up a file.
"This is ridiculous, I'm out of here.' She turned to leave, but Rumlow grabbed the back of her neck, shoving her onto the ground in front of Bucky. He moved to get up to help her, but Pierce backhanded him and a pain shot through her jaw. She hid it as best she could and jumped slightly and Pierce threw the folder down on the floor in front of her.
She opened the folder and saw photos of her father working on Bucky's arm. There were schematics for the arm and photos of the surgeries Bucky had been given. She covered her mouth with her hand and looked away, blinking tears away that were trying to fight their way out.
Her father had been a part of doing horrible things to Bucky. Her father, who loved his little girl more than anything in the world, had been torturing her soulmate her whole life. Pierce had gone back to the table and Rumlow had his back turned from her. She looked up at Bucky and he was studying her closely, trying to figure out why she was feeling this way.
"You deserve better. I'm so sorry." She whispered, knowing only he could hear her, her words matching the ones delicately written across his chest. His eyes widened as he looked down at his mark then back to her. Checking to make sure nobody was looking; she moved her shirt aside to reveal the words he had said to her earlier. Tears started to form in his eyes and she shook her head softly, silently telling him not to let anyone know what he had just discovered. She gave him a small smile and turned her head away when Pierce and Rumlow came back over.
"Your father was my best agent. Always willing to go above and beyond for our efforts, even when it hurt his family." She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"We tried to get your mother to join us, but she refused. She had to be taken care of, and luckily enough your father stepped up to do the job when he was asked." He said, sliding another picture down in front of her. She let out a whimper. Her father had killed her mother. "No, no, no, no." She cried softly.
"And my father?"
"He lasted many more years, before he decided that he didn't like his lifestyle anymore. Poetic really, that one of his best creations was the one that did him in. The Asset took care of him for us."
Cassidy looked up at Bucky and he looked so guilty, a single tear falling down his face,
"I would love it if you would join us Cassidy. You're a top agent and you'd be a perfect fit."
She looked up at Pierce and glared. "I would never join you. You are a disgusting human being. I hope one day I get to be the one who puts a bullet in your brain."
Pierce smacked her across the face and she spit blood out. Bucky jumped up and punched Pierce, knocking him down, then throwing Rumlow into the wall. The scientists in the room backed out of the way and three other guards tried to take Bucky down.
"Get out of here, run." He told her. She shook her head. She didn't want to leave him here.
"Run!" He yelled as the agents strapped him to the chair. She grabbed a gun from the floor and took off, shooting two agents that got in her way. Once she was out of the building and around the corner, she started looking for a car to hotwire. She pulled her wrist up to find Nat, when a searing pain erupted in her head, forcing her down to her knees.
She knew she had to keep moving, but the pain was too much. She pulled herself up against the wall and used it to guide her to finding a car.
This was not how she thought her day was going to go.