Chapter 2: As He Saw It
It was all luck, really.
Bucky moved to Bucharest because it was one place he'd actually never been. At least, he couldn't remember ever being there before. He wasn't a stranger to Romania - he remembered the coast line, and the Ukrainian border, and a town on the southwest side that was so small it didn't register on maps. But he'd been able to avoid Bucharest, until now.
He had every intention to be a ghost in this town. He got a job working nights in the warehouse district, with a boss that didn't ask questions and paid in cash. His lease was under an assumed name, and required minimal documentation for approval. From what he could tell, a lot of foreigners lived in this building. It was small and clean, and gave him ample escape routes in the case of his identity being compromised. He chose the top floor on purpose.
Bucky had never considered himself much of a lucky person, he remembered that much. He remembered his parents dying, he remembered having no choice but to turn to the military. And he also remembered Steve.
Steve confused him. Steve was part of his memory that Johann tried to eradicate completely. But it turned out that the human brain was an incredible machine that really did not like being attacked, and did anything it could to heal and protect itself. His past life was coming back to him in bits and pieces; they were flashes of a person that he didn't quite recognize anymore. He knew Steve was good, he knew he used to be good. But any memory he had of his life with Steve was drowned out by blood and death and other things he wanted to forget.
So he moved to Bucharest, so that he and everything about him could slowly fade and disappear.
He'd had no intentions of making contact with anyone around him. His boss didn't care what he did as long as he showed up on time, and his coworkers were the same type as him - the type to keep to themselves. The shopkeepers around town never gave him a second glance. The land lord only wanted his money on the first of the month.
The only one who stood out was his neighbor. Of course he kept a close eye on her, considering she lived right across the hall from him. She must have worked odd hours too, considering how often he ran into her in the hallway. She seemed nice enough, but he'd known a lot of people who'd "seemed nice enough" on the surface. Although to be fair, he hadn't met any assassins who left cake at the front door as a calling card.
No, the neighbor girl was the only one who noticed him. And so he noticed her. He had no intentions of talking to her, but found himself making (very) short pleasantries in the hallway. He reckoned it was a remnant of the man he used to be.
But back to the point. It was lucky that he came home when he did, as he was supposed to be off from work an hour earlier. And it was lucky that he decided to save his grocery shopping for the morning, instead of going in the middle of the night as planned.
He'd heard the scuffle before he saw it, and figured it was just another late night bar brawl after too many drinks. But when he rounded the corner and saw them on the stoop, it became very apparent that something much worse was occurring. The words damsel in distress flitted across his mind, a phrase from long ago. It didn't sit well with him; it didn't seem to match the situation.
The assailant was taken care of easily enough. He was one of the least skilled opponents Bucky had come across. What he wasn't prepared for was the unconscious neighbor girl on the steps. He checked her pulse and her breathing, and found both to be normal. He'd heard her head crack against the cement, and figured that was the reason for her current state. He left the other man sprawled on the ground, also unconscious. The word jackass crossed his mind, and that one felt right. Without a second thought, he pulled the neighbor girl over his shoulder, scanning his key fob to open the front door to their building. She was heavier than he anticipated, with more muscle density than he originally thought. But it was not difficult to carry her up the stairs.
What was difficult was figuring out what to do with her when they got there.