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Edie's POV: HYDRA Base several days have passed.
My body had become my enemy, a source of energy all its own that I was forced to battle. Enduring every new, more extreme measure they exercised to break me.
They'd rigged a device of wires and tight restraints that kept me in my place, taunting my defenses and quickly rerouting the shocks to my own system.
I was killing myself. Slowly.
Keeping their hands clean in the process.
I was sure my jaw would crack at any moment, as I swallowed the pain in shallow breaths. But this was nothing. Nothing compared to the last memory I held of Steve. Terror etched across his face so palpable that it left a hole in my stomach. A hole that someone had filled with cement. It was unbearable, disorienting. I felt lost in my own skin. I was missing a limb, a part of myself. Since I'd been brought to this world there'd never been more than a hallway between us.
"Teddybear."
The plea left my lips in a growl from the depths of my sanity, that I barely recognized. The heat returned to the column of my spine, stiffening my posture with each vertebrae.
I had no control.
Not like before, when it simply got away from me. No this was different, as if I was merely a ghost's conscious in a foreign body. It crept along, hot and pulsing through the cells in my body before I could take a full breath. Fighting seemed useless but I did, I tried.
-0-
"Any progress?" Pierce stepped into the small room, set behind the reflective glass of the command room.
"This machine simulates the intentions of the chip, once installed we should have control. But it needs to be tested to ensure she can't override it. In order for this to be successful, we need full control, Sir. And she's stronger than she looks." The operator informed, altering the levels of the various dials and levers that decorated the panel before them.
"She'll break. She just needs to be pushed." Pierce narrowed his eyes.
-0-
The metallic door opened from the corner, just enough for a slender man to slink through. Pierce's smirk unmistakable as he neared, circling me like a shark preying upon a wounded fish.
"You know I could help you, this could all be over. But of course for a price." He bared his pearly teeth, attempting to lure my guard down. Dripping with fake charm and expensive taste.
"What do you want?" The words snaked through clenched teeth, eyes like daggers as Pierce settled into full view. The restraints and interrogation tactics were awakening old demons. Blurring the lines of reality and scarred memories.
How had I allowed myself to land right where I was all those years ago? Bound and bleeding, at the mercy of HYDRA. Though his skin was not red and he did not wear a decorated uniform, Pierce was the reincarnation of the dreaded Johann Schmidt. Unearthing things I'd buried deep with each syllable he dared to speak.
"Your cooperation." Pierce purred, canines gleaming perfectly in the fluorescent lighting.
"Now, I'm going to tell you this because well, afterwards you aren't going to remember a thing. The perks of modern technology. You see, soon a chip will be implanted into your system. Giving us full control over your every movement, thought, memory. You name it. We will then plant evidence against you, once your Star Spangled Husband finds out that all along you've been nothing more than an agent contracted by HYDRA."
Nausea set in with a panicked sweat at the mention of Steve. Seeming to only grow the more Pierce continued to depict his menacing plan of attack. Smile never wavering as if describing a relaxing afternoon in the park rather than the reality of shattering the very foundation of my life.
"Once he finds that out. Well, now he'll be crushed. And with a sad, broken Captain America with no allies or friends he'll be vulnerable and that my dear is when we strike. End him once and for all."
I swallowed the rising bile as Pierce's hot breath caressed my cheek. My body failed me once more. Tears escaping the tight confines of my clamped eyelids.
"And you'll be the reason for his demise, his blood on your hands." He whispered the final nail in my coffin, watching with pleasure as the tears stained my cheeks.
But sorrow brought a friend.
Anger.
Pierce was not prepared for my abrupt retaliation. A rough head butt met the executive's nose with a sickening crack, pouring blood onto his crisp suit. I read the shock written across his weathered face with a satisfied grin as he stumbled back. Pierce sharply unleashed a powerful backhand, whipping my hair in a tangled wave across my face.
"You'll pay for that. Turn it up!" Pierce barked towards the metallic mirror, nursing his wounded pride.
"Farewell Mrs. Rogers."
Was the last thing I heard before I was overloaded with a current of energy that consumed my senses in a blackness.
-0-
And so it began, the slow corruption of Edie's mind. Though taking longer than anticipated, as they underestimated her strength and the will of a lover to return to her soulmate. Days melted into each other and soon it had been close to a week since Edie's abduction but it had finally taken hold.
"Well done, Agent Erskine."
Edie came to in a blurred sense of reality, movements seemed stilled and her vision was doubled but the pain never faltered. She willed herself to focus, pick an object and focus. The bleached fluorescent lighting causing her to squint.
"I mean, really out done yourself. Are you sure you weren't an actress before this?"
She chose to focus on the voice. Find its origin, where had she heard it before?
"You went above and beyond. A true HYDRA supporter. Even the wedding photos seem believable."
His face came into view in pieces of silvery golden hair and a cold, charming smile.
Alexander Pierce.
"Wh-" Edie's voice hitched with a raw scratch, feeling as though her throat was filled with sand she struggled to speak. It was then that she noticed the thick restraints binding her to the metal chair, looping around her body several times. Though the movement was minut to the man across the table, to Edie it took everything. A small jerk of her wrist against the strap caught Pierce's attention.
"Ah ah, It is just a precaution, to ensure you rest. There is much to accomplish yet and we need our best Agent."
He did it again, complimented and referenced her in a great feat that she knew nothing about. The Healer's confusion was obvious, groggy state making even the simplest of tasks an uphill battle.
"Oh, don't be modest. Is it recognition you want? Alright, let's take a walk down memory lane."
Pierce's movements flashed past Edie's fading consciousness as he took a seat in front of her, panning open the several folders fattened with aged papers and glossy photographs.
"You must remember this one, look at you. Top in your class. Such an overachiever."
Edie blinked into focus a black and white photograph of children, gathered and smiling. Though the still was a bit grainy from age, the uniforms could be seen. Crisp and decorated with an unmistakable symbol.
The tentacled skull of HYDRA.
Pierce's nimble finger pointed out a dark haired adolescent, front and center. Edie felt her stomach lurch and heart race with recognition. The little girl stood at attention, proud even as her slender arm extended in the salute of pure evil.
"No." Edie denied through swallowed razor blades.
"Don't deny your success, Agent. They actually gave you a name all those years ago. 1924, I believe that was when they implemented your division. They called you the Chameleons. Chosen were a handful of children. Uprooted, tought, trained and soon after dispersed among society to be the eyes and ears."
Edie took a shallow breath, unable to tear her gaze from the photographs depicting a life she didn't remember as she sat in a reality she didn't recognize. Memories were just out of reach, Edie struggled to think past the very moment in front of her. Though she could already infer the answer, a part of Edie wanted to hear it.
"Eyes..and ears..for who?"
Edie could sense that pearly smile span wide with his response but she dared not look up.
"For HYDRA of course."
Nausea plagued the Healer in a cool sweat, panic creeping its way into her mind.
None of this was true, it couldn't be. She fought to keep people safe, to keep freedom in everyone's reach. She was no HYDRA Agent. Then why couldn't she recall anything but what was depicted before her? Why were these photographs breathing life to memories in her consciousness, filtering through in slow, terrifying waves. Could all this be true? Pierce held countless files that served as proof. And what did she have?
"From the documentation, I concur that you were quite the star pupil even after the accident."
Edie's ears perked up, curiosity pulling her attention away from the various pictures that found their way out of the files with the executive's help.
"Accident?"
Pierce bit back his smile, Edie was puddy in his hands. Ready to be molded and shaped in anyway that best suited his agenda. The fabricated information supporting the cause and crippling Edie's confidence and lowering her defenses. Pierce began to read from an incident report dated October 16th, 1925. Dr. Abraham Erskine had actually known of Edie's existence all along and she was used as a form of blackmail to pressure the scientist into joining Johann Schmidt's plans.
The Doctor had been contracted to concocked an agent that would advance the Reich's followers immune systems. To strengthen their defenses so that Hitler could vaccinate those he saw as loyal members of a pure and invincible Germany, they would then weed out the "unworthy" by releasing a deadly disease to kill them off in mass quantities. The Doctor unwillingly participated, the threat on Edie's life imminent if he dared to defy Johann Schmidt or the Fuhrer.
So he created the unstable serum, hoping that it would have adverse reactions on whatever proud, strapping Nazi they volunteered to use as the guinea pig.
But the doctor was not prepared for the subject they chose.
Edie.
The further Pierce read, words filtering through Edie's subconscious it awakened a repressed memory and Edie sharply clamped her eyes shut as it ripped through her wounded mind.
"Bring in the girl." Schmidt snapped his fingers, attention fixated on the confusion unraveling across Dr. Erskine's expression. Thin smirk widening when confusion faded to horror in the chocolate eyes of the scientist as Edie was trotted in, smiling brightly despite the harsh hold of the guard.
"You don't mean to-"
Dr. Erskine's words halted as Edie erupted a giddy shriek of happiness at the sight of her father. Oblivious to the tears welling in the older man's gaze.
"Daddy!" Her skirted uniform flapped as she started off in a sprint towards him but was quickly snapped back to the Nazi's side.
"Edie!-please don't do is a child, barely even five years old. You can't-" Abraham begged for the safety of his only daughter to the stone-cold eyes of Johann Schmidt.
"Oh doctor, if you did your job there should be nothing to fret about, yes? What better way to ensure the integrity of your work." And with another swift snap, the guards were strapping Edie down to the exam table.
"Daddy! Stop it!" Edie squirmed violently, thrashing futility in the strong grip of the men.
"Me, use me. I volunteer. Please, Herr Schmidt." Again the Doctor's pleas fell on deaf ears, halted by a gloved hand.
"But, Doctor. Who would administer the injections?"
Schmidt's canines gleamed in the bleached light of the exam room, illuminating the madness in those blackened eyes.
"So it would appear your father did his job, the serum had outstanding effects. Doing exactly what it was intended to do, but at what cost? You were never the same afterwards, prone to rage and ill temper. Ever wonder why you were sent to America?"
Edie sat silently, unable to process the endless thread of information that was being blinded around her throat.
"Because of the accident, oh not the serum. But the fact that you, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, killed your mother."
Horror crept along Edie's ivory features, bile rising in her throat. Instinctively her gaze fell to her hands, envisioning the blood spilled across the cracks in her palms.
"After that your father wanted nothing to do with you, disgusted and grief stricken that his very daughter had killed the love of his life. A monster, a menace bore from his own hands. He signed off on your departure. Far, far away. But never out of the watchful eyes of HYDRA."
"Please-Stop! What..what do you want?" Edie sobbed, jaw tight with bitterness.
"You have a new assignment."
-0-
Bucky's POV:
I hadn't been able to sleep since my last mission. Moving restlessly in the sheets with the overwhelming headache of fatigue. Each time I dared to close my eyes, chasing that small chance of rest I was plagued with faces and voices. When sleep would finally grace me with its present, the dreams were enough to pull me back to reality in a puddle of sweat. And though the uncertainty was torture and confusion a thorn in my side, I couldn't get enough.
I wanted more.
More splintered fragments that depicted me as a human being, a person with a laugh and quick wit. Steve was often the lead in these memories that fell into place like forgotten puzzle pieces, he was different than his file though. Smaller, scrawny but the sincerity in those gray blue irises never faltered. The dreams that contained Steve were often of us as young children or trouble seeking teens. Edie usually made her appearance in war torn towns or in mud caked trenches, the smell of death clinging to us like a second skin.
She found me tonight, greeting me in the early hours of morning with a spanning smile and I gladly followed her lead into the nightmare.
I made out her silhouette nestled against a tree, book in hand, letting the stout words of Ernest Hemingway ease her. At my back was the makings of a camp, uniform clad men and women scattering about with their own tasks in hand.
"Really? Did you finish the other one already?" The words left my lips naturally, taunting her playfully.
"Yes James. Some of us know how to read." Edie mirrored my teasing taunt, eyes fixated on the current page. I couldn't tear my attention away from her face, memorizing the smooth curve of her jaw and plump sweep of her mouth that twitched with a smirk.
"Ouch. Did you eat today? You know you get cranky when you don't eat." I neared closer, gliding over the soft earth between us.
"Yesss." A hiss escaped Edie with impatience.
I decided to make myself comfortable, kneeling down to sprawl across the cool grass, hands locked behind my head. I could sense Edie's sly glances at my relaxed expression. I gave a dramatic sigh in hopes of pestering her.
"What?" Green eyes rolling, my presence making it increasingly difficult to focus.
"Did you do that thing?" I asked, eyes remaining closed.
"What thing?"
"You knowww." My singing tone annoying Edie even more.
"Oh you mean, ask your little girlfriend if she likes you?" Her tone a taunting coo.
"What she say?"
"She's engaged, Buck." The reminder hummed through strawberry lips
"Yeah but what did she say?" I raised up to my elbows, internally admirning Edie's beauty in the dieing horizon.
"You need a bath, you smell."
Edie avoided answering me once more. A delicate hand pulled away from her page to brush back the stringy locks that had fallen against my brow. I found myself relishing in the touch, the simplest of actions and yet it froze me. Comforting human contact that I had been starved of.
"Nightingale. You're not answering me." I found my voice again, prying a little harder.
"Well I'm kind of in the middle of something here."
Immaturity got the best of me and in a flash the heavy novel was in my hand and Edie was left to stare at the empty air of her lap.
"You're not getting it back until you answer me." Dirty hands clamped around the cover.
"Give it back." She demanded, legs pulling her from the earth she began a furious march in my direction.
"Does she like me?" I asked again.
"How old are you, Barnes? Really? Now hand it over." I could read the smirk on Edie's lips.
"Nope."
I could tell she was close to smacking that very smug grin off my face.
Soon we were locked in a standoff, inadvertently her advances inched me closer to the riverside. She underestimated my height as my arm was stretched to the sky, her limbs struggling to scale my form to retrieve the book. I was engulfed in the sweet scent of her, my laughter filling her ears as we stood tangled into each other. That was until I felt my feet coast back into a slick patch of mud, hurtling our bodies backward.
We watched in panicking awe as the book was catapulted upward, the victim of immaturity, it landed with a splash in the running current. Scrambling forward, boots slipping all the way we made it just in time to watch the strong murky water swallow the maroon spine.
"Edie I-" My breath hit the back of her neck.
"Don't!" She seethed, tone like a dagger.
"I think I can-"
"I think you've done enough." Nimble hands scrapped over her mud covered uniform, pushing passed me when I caught her arm. Revealing green eyes wide with rage but it was her buckling chin that gave her away. My heart sank at the sight of sadness clouding her eyes. A sadness I had created.
"Get away from me! You ruined everything! I was happy before you came along, you stole everything from me!" Edie cursed my existence and it was in the reflection of the rippling water that I caught my reflection.
Gone was my neat haircut and olive green uniform, the boyish innocence of my face had been replaced with a stern locked jaw and dark shadowed eyes. The clouded sun caught the gleam of my metallic arm and I finally pinpointed my restlessness.
Guilt.
-0-
I was relieved when I was roused for training later that morning. I had hopes that the physical activity would serve as a distraction. But relief was replaced with disorienting confusion after the doors closed behind me and Rumlow stepped aside, revealing the very face that burned my soul.
"Edie."
Though my voice raised barely above a whisper she never looked up. Donning a gaunt expression towards the gritty concrete as Rumlow unclasped her cuffs. This woman was still a stranger to me. A stranger that stirred something every time those emerald eyes found me. I was still plagued with hazy fragments of memories that seemed just out of reach. But the more I was around her, the clearer the memories became. It was as Rumlow made his way to the door, pulling me into full view that Edie finally looked at me. A sickening nausea bloomed in the pit of my stomach when Edie's eyes shifted to meet me, because I recognized it in an instant. It was as if I was looking into a mirror.
Hollow and lost.
What did they do to you? They had drained the very life from her.
Gone was the sparkle and warmth, replaced with a cold and heart crippling detachment.
"Have fun you two, try not kill each other." The click of the lock echoed into the silent air as we squared in a standoff.
I noticed the trembling in Edie's hands, the calculated roll of her neck as if something was taking over. As if she was being consumed.
Before I could register her movements the gap between us was eliminated and my back met the wall with a breathtaking thud. I struggled to keep up with Edie's advances, deflecting her fists and refusing to retaliate.
Our bodies were never more than a few inches apart and I gauged the difference in her. She was fast and relentless. Cold and calculated. There was a distant swirl of white at the edges of those haunting jade pools and I recognized it from that day on the bridge. It had happened just as the agent placed the gun against Steve's neck, threatening his life. Steve was her trigger and yet he wasn't here.
"Edie, where's Steve?" My voice slipped upward as she straddled my waist. Past her ridged fist, cocked back to deliver another blow to my battered cheek.
For only a second something shifted in Edie's face at the mention of his name. A softened bit of humanity surfaced. Blackened waves tilted with a narrowed expression and I could practically see the gears churning. Though I had been trained, manufactured to be nothing more than a weapon, I was slowly starting to realize that was not my whole story. This woman, with her slowly dimming green eyes and familiar face, knew my story.
She knew me. Steve knew me.
So as I endured every punch, every quick kick and crippling electrical shock I concluded to embarked on my own mission. But I was quickly brought back to reality as Edie unleashed a piercing screech and I was left to watch in horror as her whole body spasmed in pain. Her eyes erupted into a fury of white and an electrical current twitched from those delicate hands. Her rigid posture soon relaxed and her gaze shifted back to meet me.
Hollow and lost.
It was then that something hit me, cool and nauseating. She wasn't being consumed. Edie was being controlled.
A crimson river trickled from her nose just before she collapsed against me and I swore I heard my name on her lips.
"Buck."
The jarring of the door echoed and heavy heels of boots abruptly made themselves known. I didn't have much time. I held her close, breathing in the familiar scent as I found her ear.
"Fight it, Edie. Fight it. We're going to get you out of here."
And before I could protest she was ripped from my grasp. Leaving me once more. But gone was that daunting emptiness, replaced instead with a new found purpose.
To return Edie to Steve.
Ooooo things are getting interesting! How will Buck execute this new mission of his? And at what cost? Is Edie's mind control reversable? How is Steve holding up after a full week without his Edie? Stay tuned! And please let me know how I'm doing.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!