Savage

by awalkerlifeforme

She was everything people feared. She wanted to defend the world but also wanted revenge on those who wrecked hers. The ones who forced her to leave Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Now she's back and while Steve attempts to get back the woman he's always considered his sister, Bucky hopes to thaw the ice that has formed around her heart. A heart that he had always believed was his.

24. Chapter 24

December 25th, 1942
Baltimore, Maryland

For the first time in a long time, I found myself nervous about Christmas Day. It had been a long time since I'd actually celebrated a Christmas. When I was a child, there were no presents. There were no calendars and all of my days were spent studying. To me, Christmas had just been another day. As I got a little bit older, and lived with the Rogers' and Barnes', Christmases became something to celebrate. But then I'd gone with Stryker. There were no holidays. I kept track of the days in my mind, but it meant nothing to me. It was just another day spent in misery. And last year I'd only just met Chester. We hadn't known each other that well, so we'd merely spent the day together and had a nicer dinner. There were no presents. Just a day for making a new friend.

Currently I was pacing back and forth through the halls. Steve's present was in my hands. I didn't know whether or not he would like it, but I hoped that he would. It had been such a long time since I had bought a present for either one of the boys. In all honesty, I wasn't really sure what they liked anymore. I knew that they both liked me. That was about it. But it wasn't really the present that I was nervous for. It was more because, with each passing day, I saw how much closer we were becoming. I supposed that I was still terrified of having to leave them again. Or maybe I was scared of having them ripped away from me.

As a matter of fact, I'd already had Bucky ripped away from me. But he would come back. He had promised me that he would come back to me. And I just had to trust him with that. This was the first Christmas that I had spent with one of the boys in a long time. It had been just after Christmas when I had met up with Bucky earlier this year. I sighed as I headed back towards Steve's room. Wherever Bucky was, I really hoped that he was having a nice day. I wanted him to be happy. That was what Christmas was for. And I knew that he was hoping that I was having a good day. I just wished that he had been here.

To my genuine pleasure, I had gotten a letter a few days ago from Bucky that had wished me a Merry Christmas. He had mentioned that he was writing it in the very beginning of December, just so that we could get the letters out before Christmas. We hadn't sent each other any presents. I'd promised him that we would save up the money to get each other real presents next year. I couldn't help but to wonder if he was thinking of a ring. He had mentioned that he was saving up for something special. I had written him a letter back and I hoped that it had arrived to him by now. I wanted to give him something to smile about today.

Just last week I had been on the phone with everyone overseas for a long time. It was in the event that we couldn't talk tonight. I was hoping that they would call, even if it was just for a few minutes. I'd chatted with Howard, Peggy, and Chester; just to ensure that we would wish each other a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the event that we didn't talk again. But I had gotten the chance to hear that Howard was creating a new bomber plane, Peggy was trying to map out the Hydra bases with all of the information that we had, and Chester was carefully deploying and moving the troops.

Finally gathering myself together, I knocked on the door to Steve's room. The door opened a moment later and I was faced with a smiling Steve. "Merry Christmas, Steve," I said softly.

"Merry Christmas, Vic," he said, smiling brightly.

The two of us caught each other in a tight embrace as he pulled me into his room and gently shut the door behind us. "It's been a long time since I've said that," I said as I took a seat on the ottoman at the foot of his bed.

Steve smiled at me again. I saw that there was a wrapped present in the corner of the room. I looked away from it as he began to speak. "We still included you during the holidays," he said. I raised a brow at him, wondering what he meant. "We'd go outside and stay together. Just for a few minutes. Just the two of us." I knew that he meant himself and Bucky. "We'd do it on your birthday, too. Just in case... somehow... somewhere you'd hear us. Just so that you knew, just so that we knew, that you still meant something to us."

"I know that you did," I admitted.

Steve looked shocked. "How?" he asked me.

Taking a deep breath, I relived a memory that I was not very fond of. "When I went into the hydro-chamber... it was a lot on the human body. My heart rate went over two hundred. My blood pressure skyrocketed. Everything was going into overdrive. I thought that I was going to die. But I heard you both out there. I heard you both thinking about me. And that was when I told myself that I wasn't going to die. So I stood up and did something about it," I admitted to him.

Sighing softly at me, Steve leaned over and grabbed my hand, pulling me gently into him. "You're never going to have to do that again. We're always going to be here for you. For as long as we possibly can be," Steve told me.

A small smile fell over my face. I knew that he would be here until he died. I could just hope that they would both be here until they died. And I wanted to push that off as long as possible. "I know that. And that was the last time that I'm ever going to leave you both. I made my mistake. I'll never make that mistake again. I promise you that," I said.

It was completely honest. There was no way in hell that I was ever leaving them. Not again. "I believe you," Steve said. We were quiet for a minute before Steve reached over and grabbed the small gift that sat in the corner. "Hey, I got you something. It's not much -"

"I don't care," I interrupted.

It could have been a piece of paper that had a little poem on it, and it could have been the worst poem in the world, but that didn't matter to me. The only thing that mattered was that he was here and we were together. I grabbed the present and gently pulled the paper off of it. It was flexible, whatever it was. I peeled the paper off of it and smiled when I realized that it was a military grade jacket. It was a thick leather that had been dyed a dark green. My name was emblazoned over the back. I turned it back over and smiled when I spotted it. Written across the chest, where the name would normally go, was Savage.

Almost immediately I slipped it over my shoulders, smiling at the warmth. "You're not just one thing or another. You're both. A Sergeant in the Army that anyone would be an idiot to mess with. And one of the most powerful mutants to ever exist. You don't have to pick. You're both. That's what makes you special," Steve told me.

"It's perfect," I said, tucking myself into it.

Steve smiled brightly. It was the first present that he had given me in a long time. And it was better than all of the ones that had come before it. "I'm glad that you like it," he said.

"I got you something, too."

Reaching behind me, I handed him the very small package. It wasn't much, but Chester had only left me with so much money before leaving, so I had to be a little thin with my present. He opened the small package and I saw a smile grace his face almost immediately. He always looked so much better when he started smiling. It was a pair of dog tags, similar to the ones that the men that went through basic training received. They had Captain America written on one side, with a circular shield that had a star in the center of the other side. On the spare dog tag, Steve Rogers was written.

He pulled them over his head and I smiled bashfully. "It's not a lot, but it's something that every Soldier needs. Their dog tags," I said. I reached into my shirt and pulled out the dog tags that I had made with Logan in mind. Bucky's Christmas present was intertwined with them. "Even I have a pair. Now you have a set of your own."

Steve seemed very happy with the present, despite the fact that it wasn't really that thrilling. "They're great, Vic. I don't need anything magnificent," he said, patting them down over his white shirt.

Moving slightly closer to him, I patted his arm and smiled brightly. "You're magnificent enough." We both laughed at my comment. He was kind of magnificent. "Hey... it's the same thing. You don't have to just be a performing monkey. You aren't. You might be Captain America, but he doesn't have to be a show boy. He can be a real Soldier. He can be the man that Steve Rogers always wanted to be," I said.

We both had things that we wanted to live up to. It was just a matter of making everything work. "I've still got faith in us, Vic," Steve said, patting me on the back.

"As long as there's a breath left in me, I'm always going to have faith in you," I told him.

And we knew what the meaning of that statement was. I would always have faith in Steve. "Come on," Steve chirped, pulling me off of the bed without effort. "There's a buffet downstairs and I don't want to miss that."

"Got a bigger appetite now, huh?" I teased.

Steve laughed at me and nodded. I'd known that it would be a side effect. He would be a lot hungrier. And I had noticed that, considering how much more he had been eating over the past few months. "You know, somehow I really don't mind being able to eat all of the food that I can," he told me.

He had never really been able to eat that much before. This must have been nice for him. "Well I'll fight you for the chocolate cake," I told him, not really joking at all.

It was Bucky that didn't like chocolate. Steve and I were there if chocolate was involved. "If it's chocolate cake that we're fighting over, you might just lose that one," Steve said.

We both laughed as we turned and headed back downstairs to the banquet hall. It was a good thing that there were more than just a few slices of the chocolate cake. There was food set up everywhere in the small ballroom. Steve and I shared a small grin as we took a seat in between Brandt and Martin. There was a small dent in the wall from where I had kicked Steve into it a few days ago. Everyone seemed to believe that it was from a few rowdy teenagers one night.

It was well past dinnertime when we finally finished everything downstairs. Between the twenty Star Spangled Dancers - that didn't eat much more than salads - the eight people that ran the tour - most of whom were too busy promoting themselves to actually eat anything on the table - and Steve and I, most of the food had been wasted. But that was alright. I didn't have to speak with anyone other than Steve. I did give Christina a little grin. I had made a point to wear Bucky's jacket down to dinner. It had been a long time since I'd been as pleased when I'd seen her eyes lock onto the Barnes that was written across my chest.

The best part was that I didn't have to deal with any of the shows tonight. There had been some talk that we might have a show tonight, but Steve had shot that idea down. He wanted people to spend their holidays at home with their family, not cheering on a fake war figurehead. It was late when I finally headed back upstairs into my room, saying goodnight to Steve. I had just barely managed to get changed into my silk pajamas before the phone began to ring. Gently placing everything back into their drawers, I crossed the room once more and plopped down into the bed, picking the phone up.

"Hello?" I called excitedly, knowing who was calling me.

"Front desk, ma'am. You have a call. Would you like me to forward it?"

"Please," I said.

The line went silent for a few moments before connecting. Almost immediately, I could hear the cheers, laughter, and singing that was happening in the background. "Merry Christmas, darling," Howard's voice half-sang.

Smiling to myself, I shook my head. He had been drinking. I could hear it in his voice. "Merry Christmas, Howard," I chirped.

It was late over in England. I was surprised that they were even awake still. Of course, it was a holiday. I could assume that they hadn't been doing that much. "It's late and everyone is tired. But a few people wanted to say hello to you and wish you a Merry Christmas," he told me.

"I'd like that," I said happily.

Even though we couldn't all be together today, I was happy to get a chance to at least say hello. "What did you do today?" Howard asked me.

There really wasn't much that I had done. But it was the best day that I could remember having in a long time. "Steve and I spent the day together. There was no show so it was just a day for the two of us to spend together. It was nice. We exchanged our presents. Not much. But everything that we needed," I said.

"That sounds nice. Next year everyone will have a Christmas together, okay?" Howard offered. I smiled at the thought. It was something that seemed like it was only a dream. But I knew that it would happen at some point. It had to. "Peggy, Chester, Steve, Bucky, you, and me. All of us, together. You'll love that."

It would be particularly amusing trying to watch Bucky and Chester get along. "I'll hold you up to that," I said.

Howard chuckled softly and I heard him speak softly to someone else on his end of the line. "Peggy wants to say hello. I'll call you in a few weeks," Howard told me.

Smiling into the phone, I nodded. "Take it easy, Howard. Merry Christmas," I said softly.

"You, too."

There was some chatter on the other end of the line and I waited, leaving my feet tucked underneath the blankets, waiting patiently. Finally the chatter ended and the phone clicked. "Merry Christmas, Vicky!" Peggy chirped.

Almost immediately I straightened up. "Merry Christmas, Peggy!" I called back to her. I wished that we could be together today. I did miss her. "How are things?" I asked her after a beat.

Peggy gave a little sound that I imagined went with a shrug. "Not exactly the Christmas that I would have liked, but it's not that bad. Glad to at least have Howard around, as much as he might annoy me," she said, making me laugh. As much as I loved Howard, he had a knack for driving people insane. "How were things on your end?"

"Didn't really talk to anyone other than Steve. But that was all that I wanted," I said.

And it really was everything that I wanted. If I couldn't have Bucky, Peggy, Howard, or Chester, it meant that the only person that I wanted to be around on Christmas was Steve. "That actually sounds nice." I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. "Did you hear from Bucky recently?" she asked.

She was the one person that always asked me about Bucky. Other than Steve, of course. "Just a few weeks ago. Letters go so slowly that it takes a while for them to get back and forth. I sent him another one and I hope that it got to him before today," I said.

"Either way, he knows how you feel about him," Peggy pointed out.

She was right about that. At least, Bucky had damn well better know how I felt about him. "That's true. He knows that I'll kill him if he does anything stupid," I half-joked.

If he did something stupid out there, I really would kill him. And that was not a joke. Peggy laughed on the other end. "That he does. He's no fool, Victoria. He'll be back to you soon enough," she told me.

It really did hurt that he wasn't here, spending Christmas with Steve and me. "I'm hoping that this is the last Christmas that we'll have to spend apart," I muttered.

"I'll be hoping that he's back to you by Halloween," Peggy said.

It was something that I appreciated. He would be back to me in time. In the meantime we just had to hope. "Maybe wishful thinking will do something this time," I said, not really that hopeful.

Hoping would do nothing other than breed disappointment. As much as I really didn't want to be a downer, that was the truth. "Just know that wherever he is today, he's thinking about you," Peggy said softly.

"That makes two of us," I said softly. Knowing that this wasn't the happiest topic to be talking about on a holiday that was supposed to be about happiness, I tried to change the subject. "I hope that things are going good overseas. I know that I'm not the only one that's having a hard time with everything."

Peggy sighed. I imagined that things were as repetitive on her end as they were on mine. "Like I said, things could be worse. We're not making much progress, but these things take time. Everyone knew that it would take more than a year to end the war," she said.

I could feel the exasperation in her voice. It seemed to be a recurring theme these days. "Hopefully once Steve and I get over there, things will speed up," I told her.

"I believe that they will." The line was silent for a moment before Peggy sighed. "Okay, Chester keeps glaring at me. I think that means that it's his time to talk to you." I smiled and laughed softly. I'd been wondering how long Chester would let them talk to me before asking for the phone. "I'm heading to bed anyways. I'll talk to you soon, Vicky. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Pegs. We'll talk soon," I said.

The line was a little fuzzy for a few seconds. I could hear some scratching and conversations before the phone was obviously picked up again. "Merry Christmas, kid," Chester said, sounding happy for the first time in a while.

Smiling into the line, I said, "Merry Christmas, old man. How are things?"

Hopefully things were still okay over in England. "Things are good," Chester said. I know that he was lying to me, keeping the bad things that had happened away from me. "Sorry that I couldn't be there with you," he added.

We weren't exactly the loving kind of people. It was okay that he wasn't here, but I would have liked to see him. If nothing else, I could have jokingly bought him a cane for Christmas. "Take Steve and I'll be out there in time for the New Year," I tried.

"Have you been training him?" Chester asked, surprising me slightly.

"Yes."

"Can he beat you?"

Here we go again... I knew that Chester wanted to make it a point that since Steve couldn't beat me, it must have meant that he couldn't beat anyone. "Well - No. But to be fair, no one can beat me," I said quickly, before Chester could speak.

Chester scoffed at me. I knew that he was shaking his head. "Let me know when he can beat you," he said.

Once more I rolled my eyes. He was so wrong about the whole Steve situation. He would make a great soldier. Chester just needed to see that. "You know, we're going to be out there one day, and I'm going to prove to you that he's stronger than you think that he is. He deserves to be overseas, old man," I snapped at him.

"You'll get over here soon enough. And we'll see about the Star Spangled Man with a plan," he conceded.

He was slowly warming up to the idea of having Steve overseas. Mostly because I kept bothering him about everything. "He's going to prove you wrong," I told Chester.

"I'm sure." It sounded like he was definitely not sure. "You doing alright?" Chester asked after a few seconds.

"Wishing that everyone was back home. Wish that I knew where Bucky was," I muttered.

Chester didn't particularly love Bucky - actually he hated him - but he was reasonably good about listening to me complain about not having him around. "Milan," Chester said. I raised my brows, wondering what he meant by that. "That's the last place that I heard that the 107th was going."

Those were the moments that I knew that Chester would get over his hatred of Bucky. Strictly because he knew what Bucky meant to me. "Thanks. Is it safe there?" I asked.

Chester sighed. I knew that it wasn't a good question. "It's not safe anywhere over here, Victoria. But it's not the worst place that he could be in," he told me. I nodded, knowing that he could have been closer to Germany. "Don't worry about him. He's going to be fine. He'll be back to groveling at your feet in no time."

We both laughed at that comment. "You do have a certain way with words," I teased.

"So I've been told," Chester said, making me smile once more. "Alright kid, it's getting late, and you should head to bed soon. Goodnight, Victoria. Merry Christmas. We'll talk again soon."

"Sure thing. Goodnight, old man. Take it easy. And Merry Christmas," I added.

Taking my time, I gently placed the headset back down on the receiver and stood from the bed. It was late, but I wasn't really sure that I could bring myself to go to bed. Not when there were so many thoughts in my head. So I crossed the room to stand over at the open window. Bucky's jacket went back around my shoulders as fireworks began to burst in the distance. They were pretty. It made me smile at the sight of them. I remembered that one of Bucky's favorite things were fireworks. For a brief moment I wondered if he had seen any overseas. I hoped that he had. Or, at least, I hoped that we could bring him to see fireworks when he came back home.

Sitting at the desk, I kicked my feet back and smiled, closing my eyes as I tilted my head towards the ceiling. "Merry Christmas, Bucky," I whispered softly, wondering if he might have heard me.

Even though it wasn't the Christmas that I had wanted, it was the Christmas that I had gotten. Bucky was safe, wherever he was. He would be home soon enough. Steve was starting to come into his own, knowing that Captain America could be used as something more than an action figure. Chester, Howard, and Peggy were still my family - no matter what. They would always care about me and I would always care about them. It wasn't exactly what I had been expecting, but it was everything that I could have wanted. And by next Christmas, I intended for things to be quite a bit different. But, in the meantime, I'd enjoy everything that I had.

Bucky's P.O.V.

December 25th, 1942
Milan, Italy

It was barely forty degrees, and that meant that everyone was gathered around the fireplace. It was a nice night, despite the fact that the air was icy. It was nice enough that snow had not started yet, and Bucky was happy for that. He wanted to save the snow for as long as possible. It was much colder in Italy than it was in New York, so he wanted to keep the weather warmer. He was wrapped in his own jacket as he sat in between Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones, laughing and chatting with the rest of the 107th infantry. It was late and they were only operating by the light of the fire, but it was the happiest that he had seen everyone in a long while.

He knew that everyone would have rather been back home today. Bucky would have much rather been back home with Steve and Vika. He wanted to be picking out a tree and opening presents. But things could have been worse. This was the first major holiday that they were all spending away from their families. And that was something that no one liked. It led for a sad air around the camp. But people were making the best out of it. They were gone from their homes, but they were safe for the time being. And that was the only thing that mattered. There were no missions today and it was the first time in weeks that the food didn't seem poisonous.

There were no presents that were exchanged between the men, but they had already been expecting that. No one really had any money anyways. And it just reminded them that they weren't getting anything from their loved ones. Bucky had already spent a good chunk of his money on Vika's birthday present. He intended to save his money for a ring at this point. The men had merely exchanged words with each other and had shared with the others what they normally would have been doing on the holiday.

Bucky had always done the same thing during Christmas. When he was a kid he would wake up early in the morning, shout at his parents and siblings to wake up, and then he would run out to the living room to open presents. He remembered the first year that Vika had been around. It was very obvious that she'd never had a Christmas before. In the morning his parents had been shocked to find that a little girl was in their home. But Bucky had explained that she was lost with nowhere to go. So his parents had agreed to keep her for a few weeks and look for someone else to take her. But then they had fallen in love with her, just like he had.

So they had gone through plenty of Christmases afterwards. The first one that she had really been around for had been a blast. She had been shocked to see all of the presents that were waiting for her. It was the first time that he'd seen her genuinely speechless. As they got older, they always exchanged sweet presents and words. And then the years had come that she'd been gone. He would always take some time just to be with Steve and reminisce about the years with her. It had shocked him when she'd waltzed right back into his life. He had been so excited to see her this year. But, once more, he was gone on her favorite holiday.

Next year, he promised himself. Just as Bucky leaned over for another helping, the breeze around the campsite whipped up slightly. Pulling himself into his coat as he grabbed his mug of coffee, he could have sworn that he heard a whisper in the wind.

Merry Christmas, Bucky.

Smiling into his mug of coffee, he laughed as the eggnog that they had picked up a few days ago began to go to the men's heads. This was the first day in a long time that things had felt hopeful. Bucky smiled to himself and turned away from the campsite, almost sure that he saw her whitish-blonde hair flashing through the trees.

"Merry Christmas, Vika," he whispered, allowing the wind to carry away the thought.

As the other men drew his attention back to them, he managed to push her to the back of his mind. As much as he loved her, he couldn't be spending all of his time thinking about a woman that didn't even know that he was thinking about her. He would never know that over four thousand miles away, that exact woman had heard him, and she was smiling broadly. It was the first time that either one of them had felt completely at peace in eight months.

January, 1943
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Christmas had come and gone, and so had the New Year. The weather was becoming colder and I found myself more frequently wrapping myself in someone's coat. Usually Steve's. The New Year had been the first one that I had actually celebrated in a long time. The entire Captain America USO Tour group had been up on the roof at midnight. I'd counted down with everyone else, actually chatting with the women from the Star Spangled Dancers for the first time in almost a year. They were okay, but not someone that I wanted to speak to regularly. It had been a good time, regardless. And, at midnight, Steve and I had shared kisses on the cheeks. It had been a good time to celebrate together.

It was a nice time, being able to celebrate the New Year. It kept making me think that everything was going to get better. I had faith that this would be my year. I'd spend the beginning with Steve, training him to be the perfect super-soldier. I'd eventually join the war efforts, and hopefully Bucky would be back with me by the end of the year. Those were my plans. I could just hope that they would all go according to plan. I had faith that things would work out for me this year. Maybe Bucky would even finally learn the truth about me this year.

By now the shows had become so popular that Captain America had extended well beyond just the one movie and a few stage shows a week. There was now even a Captain America comic book. I particularly enjoyed the front cover of Captain America punching Hitler in the face. It was much more impressive than the fake punch that they threw in the show. It was very loosely based off of what had happened in real life.

It was all about a skinny man named Steve Rogers becoming the super-soldier, Captain America. Towards the end of the comic, the doctor that had been based off of Abraham had been killed by Heinz Kruger, Captain America had captured Kruger, and the people spotted him. They were all wondering who he was at the end. Back at Camp Lehigh, a man - based off of Bucky - spotted Steve changing into his Captain America suit. After promising to keep the secret, the two agreed to go off fighting the Nazi's together. They were apparently making another comic at some time soon. Either way, it made me laugh hysterically at just how stupid it was. I had bought a copy with a promise that I would show Bucky the moment that he got back home.

Another good one was the radio show that they were broadcasting, both across the United States and into some part of Europe. It was called The Captain America Adventure Show. It had only just started, and was incredibly historically inaccurate. I imagined that someone was giving away the details of their private lives. The first show had been all about Captain America fighting Nazi's and Hitler, all while saving his damsel in distress girlfriend, Betty Carver. She was obviously loosely based off of Peggy. It was rather amusing when Peggy had called me one day asking about it and shouting for a long time about how she looked like a typical, useless, woman. The USO was obviously having a good time making both Steve and Peggy look like an idiot.

After our phone call I had promised her that I would try to stop them from continuing the radio shows. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but they hadn't had another show since. Although that first one played pretty frequently. By the way that Steve and I were fighting currently - down in the ballroom so we had enough room - it was pretty obvious that he was frustrated. He had been learning the acrobatic moves well. He flipped over himself and very nearly kicked me in the head. I ducked out of the way in time and made a move to catch him around the head with my elbow. But he held up an arm to stop me.

"Hang on," Steve said, and I nodded, waiting for him to gain his breath back. It only took a matter of seconds. "Show me the moves that you use."

My eyebrows rose. "The moves that I use?" I asked. Steve nodded at me. I was rather hesitant to show him. "They're not the same kind of moves that other people will use on you."

"I know. That's why I want to learn them. You teach me how to do these moves and I'll have something different to use on anyone that I'm fighting," Steve argued with me.

It wasn't a half-bad reason, but he had been doing so well with the straightforward attacks. "Well..." I trailed off.

"Come on, Vic. You told me that these aren't the normal kind of moves that people use. That means that people won't be expecting it. You've already taught me how to throw a punch and kick someone through a wall." I smiled at him. His kicks were seriously strong. "You mentioned that I move fluidly. You thought that I'd be good with acrobatics," he added.

He was right about that. He moved very much like a ballet dancer. He was strong but balanced. It was something that even I didn't do that well with. I was strong and fast. Flexible, too. Balanced was another question. "I still do. You have movements that indicate that you grew up learning from a dancer. Your mother," I said, a smile falling over my face.

Before she had passed away, Steve's mother had been a ballet dancer. "She was a dancer," Steve said fondly.

"I know. And you can see it in the way that you move."

"Teach me. Please," Steve begged.

There was no reason not to teach him. He'd been doing so well. "Okay. Bear in mind that if you ever use these, they don't particularly cause a lot of damage. They're more used to disorient an opponent, making a win easier. The only way to cause a lot of damage is by slamming the head down to the floor first. You're large enough that you might be able to cause some real damage with one of these," I pointed out.

"Okay."

"We're going to do these moves. Some of them are designed to put you in some kind of a choke-hold. We'll do it in a tap-out style. You want me to let up, tap me," I said.

"I can do that."

When I had been trained, I would get a knife to the throat if I'd been caught in a hold for too long. I wouldn't hurt him, just hold him as long as he could tolerate. "And remember, I had seven years of training. With much less favorable circumstances if I lost the fight," I added the last part softly.

Steve moved towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I know, Vic. I just want to make you proud," he said.

A small smile fell over my face. He would always make me proud. "You already have," I said, earning a small smile. "Come on."

The two of us moved into the middle of the ballroom. The last thing that I wanted was to accidentally smash his face into the wall. I had Steve turn from me and take a few steps forward. I ran after him and grabbed his shoulders and underneath his arm, using that leverage to pull myself up. My thighs went around Steve's neck as I swung towards the ground. As we turned, I released myself so that I was around his back. I shoved him down to the ground, pinned his legs backwards, and laid over him, keeping my hand pressed against his chest.

Steve was stuck in a very awkward position. His legs were pressed up against his chest with me sitting on top of him. "Use that during a knife fight. They are trapped under their own weight and you'll have a hand free to stab them," I told Steve, jumping up and allowing him a hand back to his feet. "Running at them also makes it easier."

"So bad for close-up fighting?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Depends on how close. You just need a few feet to gain some momentum. But, if you're strong enough, you can do it from standing close to them," I told him.

We moved back int of the center of the room so that I could show him the next tackle that I knew. I had Steve face me as I ran towards him. He looked very nervous. Using Steve's shoulders for balance - and feeling very grateful that I was light - and wrapped my thighs around his neck, sitting on his shoulders. Leaning backwards, placing my back against his chest, I moved off to the side and wrenched Steve off of his feet. He went flying forwards over himself as I landed on all fours.

Standing up, I turned back to see that Steve was getting back to his feet unsteadily, looking very dazed. "Good to use if someone is pulling a gun on you. Just watch the bullets," I advised.

"Got it," Steve said.

Despite wanting to move into the next fighting stance, I waited for Steve to gather his bearings again. I had Steve stand to face me and put his arm out to the side, as if he was going to move to punch me across the jaw. Grabbing his arm, I used it to flip myself over his body. I was sitting over his shoulder before moving across his body and pressing myself up against his chest, wrapping my legs around his hips. One arm was holding one of his pinned to his body so that he couldn't pull me off of him while the other was wrapped around the back of his neck. It was keeping him facing the ground and slowly running out of air.

He was trying to yank me off of him, but he couldn't. Finally he tapped my thigh and I dropped off of him. "Another good one during a knife fight. You can use the arm to choke them while you use your spare hand for either the gun or knife. Also good if you don't want to kill the opponent, only choke them," I said. I noticed that Steve was still trying to suck air into his lungs. "You good?"

Steve straightened up slightly to look at me and nod. I could see that he was a little red in the face. "Yeah. You're got a strong grip," he said.

"So I've heard."

The two of us stood together for a while before Steve nodded at me, letting me know that he was ready again. I hesitated for only a moment, not wanting to hurt him. But he seemed ready. I had Steve run towards me as I ran towards him. As expected, he had an arm out to punch me. I grabbed his arm, kept a hold on it as I circled behind him, and pulled myself up. I kept one leg hooked around his other arm as I hung upside down on his back. I could feel Steve panicking to keep upright as I yanked downwards, sending Steve onto his back, and rolling upwards so that I was pinning him to the ground.

He had smacked his head pretty hard on the carpeted floor. "Perfect to use if someone is coming at you. Disorienting and painful," I said as I stood back upright.

"I noticed that," Steve muttered.

Giving him a hand, I allowed him to pull himself upright. Once he had gathered his bearings again, he stepped back and allowed me to show him the next move. I came running at Steve from the side and grabbed at the back of his shoulders. I wrapped one leg around the back of his hip, and jumped forward, wrapping my spare leg around his other hip, so that my back was placed up against his front. Steve grunted as I leaned downwards and curled under myself, landing on my back. Steve was thrown forwards, landing underneath me as I rolled upwards. He was stuck under me as I sat on his chest.

"And here I could stab you in the chest, or just punch you," I told Steve as I hopped off of him and gave him a hand back up. "Be careful if you ever use this one. Use it on someone who is unarmed."

"Okay."

Before moving into the next take down, I remembered something. "And one other thing. Watch your neck. You'll break you own neck if you aren't careful," I said, meaning when I had to roll underneath him to take him down.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "I might pass on this one," he muttered.

"I would," I advised.

That was something that had taken me a few months to learn to properly do. And it wasn't really a favorite of mine anyways. It was rather uncomfortable. We moved into another fight that I had shown Steve before. I sent Steve running and I followed a moment later. I was easily able to grab his shoulders from behind and twist underneath his arms so that my legs were wrapped around his throat. I used my weight and Steve's to turn us in a circle twice before releasing, using the back of my foot to hook around his neck and throw him. Steve went toppling over himself, tumbling across the floor, as I landed in a tuck and roll.

Standing upright, I brushed off my hands and smiled. I had always loved that one. "And that is a personal favorite of mine," I said proudly, watching as Steve slowly rolled onto his back.

"Yeah. I know that," Steve said.

He was on the ground for a long time after that one. I knew that it wasn't the easiest move to recover from. We finally continued fighting. I had Steve stand slightly to the side as I ran over to him. I grabbed his shoulder and used my weight to throw myself over and underneath his arm. I laid with my waist on Steve's shoulder as the movement forced him into a spin. I grabbed his other arm and forced his body downward. He fell face-first as I fell onto my back, rolling backwards and standing upright. Steve looked very dazed.

Immediately I dropped down beside him to check and make sure that he was okay. He seemed fine. "Watch when you're doing this one. Put your hand behind their head to make sure that they smash their head into the ground. I didn't want to do it to you. And curl in on yourself slightly when you land, otherwise this will hurt you, too," I instructed.

Steve nodded as I helped him back to his feet. "Can you go into a roll? Like you did?" he asked me.

"With some practice, sure. I wouldn't start by doing that, though," I advised.

That was a good way to hurt himself. He would manage in time. I moved Steve towards the wall and smiled at him. He probably wouldn't enjoy this one. I grabbed him around the neck with my arms and dragged him with me. He was heavy, but he was essentially powerless to stop me. I ran straight towards the wall and took two large steps upwards. I flipped over myself and over Steve's shoulder. Keeping my grip on Steve's shoulders and his arms, I yanked him down with me as I landed on my feet. At the impact, Steve rolled backwards and landed on his back, splayed out and stunned.

Standing with my hands on my hips, I grinned down at Steve. "Obviously this move is perfect if you're trapped near a wall," I told him.

"Obviously," he groaned.

He rolled up before managing to jump back to his feet. I smiled at the sight. Every day he was getting stronger. "Make sure that you drag them with you and use their shoulders for support. You can't run up the wall without anything to support you," I added.

He nodded at me as we moved back into the center of the ballroom. I didn't need him smashing his face on the wall. Steve was facing away from me as I ran after him, shoving his shoulder downwards so that I could jump up onto his back. One leg stayed under his throat as the other wrapped around the back of his neck. I swung from the front of his chest to behind his back, keeping one leg wrapped around the back of his neck as I dropped the other so that it fell downwards and wrapped around the back of his knee, hooking it, keeping him bent over and unable to straighten up. I used my spare arm to wrench back his spare arm, nearly to the point of dislocating it.

It was obvious that he was unable to move in any form and he was slowly losing his ability to take in any air. "Tap out! Come on, tap out. I can feel your heart rate slowing down," I growled at Steve.

Finally I felt his hand smacking my thigh and I released him, jumping off of his body and allowing him to straighten out. He was stretching out his back. "How do you do that?" Steve asked, shocked.

"Hook your leg behind their knee. Keeps them bent over and unable to right themselves. This is a great move to have if you have a partner with you. You paralyze them while the partner finishes them off," I said.

Steve nodded, running a hand over his slightly sweaty face. "Okay. What else is there?" he asked.

I started shaking my head. I didn't want to hurt him. "That's enough for one night, Steve." He looked very put-out by the thought. "I don't want to hurt you. We'll continue this over the next few days. Trust me when I say that getting thrown around like this will make you sore," I told him, knowing that in the morning he would regret this.

"One more," Steve begged.

I sighed, resigned to showing him one more. "Fine," I growled.

So I intended to show him the one move that I knew would throw him off, and make him regret asking me for another move. With Steve facing me, I ran towards him. He moved out an arm to hit me, just as I'd instructed him, and I jumped upwards, grabbing it and holding it still. I jumped backwards, hooking my legs backwards around his hips, keeping his arm in my grip. I leaned forward, dragging Steve downwards with me, and used my arms to push both of us back upright. I grabbed the arm that he had been trying to hit me with before, dropped my legs from around his waist, hit the ground on my feet, and wrenched his arm over my tucked-in body. He went flying over himself - and me - and landed on the ground, spread-eagle.

I stood back upright to stare at Steve. He was laying on the ground and groaning at the pain that went wracking through him. I smiled at him. "Done now?" I asked, knowing that he was.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm done," Steve said, curling in on himself.

April, 1943
Chicago, Illinois

We had gotten chewed out for quite a few days after Steve and I's sparring night. He had obviously been having a hard time walking around with the stiffness from the fall. But it had only lasted a day before he was back to normal. Of course, Steve was now trying to learn to counteract the throws himself. He wasn't so good at that. But it was okay. We were spending three nights a week training him so that he was still able to do the countless number of shows that we'd been doing over the past three months.

We had crossed over into April and the weather was finally starting to turn again. I'd gotten a good amount of use out of both the jacket that I'd taken from Bucky and the one that Steve had bought me. I sighed as I looked at the calendar that was hanging up. Today marked one year since Bucky had deployed. It had been an entire year since I'd seen his smile, heard his laugh, and gotten to hug him. My stomach twisted painfully. As much as I hated the fact that he'd been gone a year, I knew that he hated it even more. He'd missed holidays and birthdays, with nothing more than a few letters to recognize the passed time.

But I didn't want to think about that. I was still holding out hope that he would be back home by my birthday this year. Whether or not that would actually happen was another question. In the meantime, the shows continued to grow larger and larger. The costumes were slowly getting more elaborate, the number of Star Spangled Singers had almost doubled, and there were now constantly fireworks and bright spotlights that flashed during the show. I was currently waiting backstage as one of the shows ended. I could hear the fireworks shooting off as the show concluded.

Steve came off of the stage and I smiled at him as we came to stand together. He had taken off his cap as we headed downstairs to the autograph area. Just as we walked, more and more kids were coming over to have Steve sign everything. He had gotten very good with signing the pictures as he walked. He handed the autograph back to a little boy as we headed to the downstairs area. A camera flashed brightly in the distance as a pretty blonde girl walked up to Steve, smiling brightly, asking for an autograph. I rolled my eyes and shoved Steve away from her, knowing that he had other things to do. I truly did enjoy how irritated she was with me.

The backstage area was one of the smaller ones that we had been in, mostly considering that the majority of the arena was taken up by the stage and seats in the front. It was very tough to squeeze through the crowd so that I could hang in the back of the small area. There was already a large line of people forming to take their pictures with Steve. I smiled and leaned back against the wall, hoping that they wouldn't take much more than an hour. I just wanted to go to bed. Steve had bothered me for hours last night to fight with him until he could manage a takedown properly. He had actually done rather well.

My eyes were flitting back and forth as I read the minds of the people that were walking past me. It was one of the ways that I managed to amuse myself while waiting for Steve. There was a man that was hoping to get his infant daughter photographed with Steve and I turned to him with a grin. Steve was incredibly uncomfortable with babies. Turning over to the man, I felt my heart rate and blood pressure spike for a moment. That can't be him... It's not... But it was. Jefferson Lester was standing only feet from me. There was a woman standing at his side, presumably his wife. A baby was cradled in her arms. I was shot back to my days in Stryker's lab.

The purple-skinned boy stood upright, now completely drenched. His previously blue eyes had turned nearly white. He was cold. It was almost like he was some type of amphibious mutant. "What d-do y-y-you w-want f-fr-from m-me?" he asked the guards slowly. His teeth were chattering and he was curled in on himself from the cold water that was soaking his bones.

Jefferson took a step backwards and smiled at the boy. "I want you to die." My heart sank into my stomach. I didn't need to be a telepath to know what was coming next. "Victoria. Show me what you've learned. Kill him. Drown him," Jefferson sneered. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. He was a kid. He was scared. He didn't deserve to die. Tears were brimming in his eyes. "What the hell did I just say? Do it! You think that James and Steven still live in that little apartment complex? Do you want me to find out?" he asked me with a sneer.

For the first time since I had gotten there, I felt my backbone straighten rather than cave in. He would not kill Steve or Bucky. Not on my watch. And damn what they did to me. I was not going to kill this kid. So I stepped in between him and my trainer. "Jefferson, he is a kid. I'm not going to kill him. Anything else. You can try to drown me again. I know that you like watching that. Just let him go. He hasn't done anything wrong. Kid, are you alright?" I asked him.

He never got the chance to answer. Jefferson stepped in front of us and raised his gun at me. More appropriately, my forehead. "Do. It. Now," he seethed. I stared at him, not moving from my spot in front of the kid.

Jefferson took the sign of rebellion about as well as I had expected he would. He pulled the trigger on the gun and my mind went blank. I fell backwards but never felt the cold water. Not until a few seconds later when the bullet had been kicked out of my head and sank to the bottom of the steel room and the wound had closed itself off. My head was throbbing softly in pain as I brought myself to stand up. Like the kid, I was now completely soaked. The water had become slightly green-tinged from the Chronicle that had escaped my head when the bullet had gone in. When I stood a quick spell of dizziness hit me before I straightened up.

The kid was looking at me like I had grown another head. Sort of true. Jefferson stormed up to me and grabbed me by the collar, shoving me back into the steel wall. A moment later he shoved me down to the water, holding me under. I could just barely hear him through the water. "You listen to me! Kill him," Jefferson ordered.

He let me up and I barely managed to stand with all of the water weighing me down. The one granola bar wasn't enough for me to have to be dealing with this. I shook my head at Jefferson, who in turn raised the gun and shot at my knee. The bones crunched together and broke apart and I dropped down onto my uninjured knee. I cried out in pain and whimpered as the bones began to seal together once more. Jefferson was still giving me a challenging glare. I stood upright and glared back at him. I will not kill him. This time Jefferson shot at my chest. My heart went into cardiac arrest and I dropped onto my hands and knees, groaning in pain and gasping for breath. It took me just under a minute to regenerate my heart and kick the bullet out of my chest.

Once more Jefferson gave me a challenging glare and once more I matched him. Chronicle was staining the beige jumpsuit that I was wearing and slowly filling the water. I prayed that one of them had an open wound. After a few moments I stood upright once more and waited. The kid was staring at me with a grateful smile.

"You'll regret that," Jefferson told me.

There was nothing that they could do to me that they hadn't done before. That was until I heard his thoughts. I'll do it. "No!" I shouted, but I was too late.

The bullet shot from the pistol and I watched as it flew into the kid's head. He dropped to the water and I waited an agonizing three and a half minutes for the kid to regenerate. But he never did. It wasn't one of his mutations. He merely floated in the water as a corpse. Jefferson motioned for his men to grab the body and I watched with a heavy heart as they brought his body into the corner of the room.

Jefferson waded through the water and walked over to me. He gave me a sharp grin as he walked by me. "Clean the blood from the water. You're free to go afterwards," he told me. I nodded numbly, moving towards the corpse of the innocent boy.

My heartbeat was pounding in my ears, making it almost impossible to hear anything else. The sounds around me all drowned out as I stared at him. He had been one of the men that had ruined my life. And here he stood with a woman and a daughter... After everything that he had done to me. Any control that I normally had over myself went flying out of the window. Sneering angrily, I marched up to Jefferson and grabbed his wife's arm, wrapping it in a constricting grip. I wrenched her backward so hard that the bone snapped. She began to scream in pain but I slipped into her mind, silencing her. The scream had gone unnoticed. The cracked bone was barely able to support the baby.

"You have a closed fracture of both the ulna and radius. Leave. Now. Get your arm fixed. Your husband was in the war and died during an attack. You're now raising your child in memory of him. Turn away, go home, and never come back," I warned her.

The woman looked like she was being hypnotized. That was essentially what happened when I ordered someone to do something. She nodded mutely at me and turned away, gently brushing through the crowd. The moment that she had vanished, I turned back to Jefferson, my eyes turning a brilliant red. He was shocked. He looked like he might have thrown a punch, but the moment that he realized who I was, the fury faded from his body and was replaced with a paralyzing fear.

"Hello, Jefferson," I sneered, my voice devoid of all emotion.

Jefferson took a few steps backwards. I merely followed him, not letting him get more than a few feet away from me. "V-Victoria," he muttered, tripping over himself.

I'd never seen him as terrified as he was right now. Because there was nothing to protect him out here. "Surprised to see me? I'm surprised to see you," I said.

My voice was dead. It was void of emotion. Just the way that I'd felt in Stryker's lab. "What are you doing here?" Jefferson asked, his voice shaking.

He continued to back away from me. In the darkness of the backstage area, no one noticed us. "I work on this tour, just so you know. Captain America is my best buddy," I hissed, letting the flames erupt over my hands. "But what are you doing here?"

Jefferson was shaking as he came to stand in front of me. He towered over me, but he didn't scare me. Not anymore. There was nothing that he could do to me. "Bring my wife back," he snapped at me.

"If you want me to bring her back, I will. And I'll rip out her spine," I hissed at him. And I would. Because that would kill him. "That a daughter that you have there?"

"It's none of your business. Bring them back!" Jefferson shouted.

My eyes flashed their brilliant yellow for a moment, in amusement. They quickly returned to a blazing red. "You have a daughter... That's sweet. I wonder how you would feel if I killed her?" I asked him.

Jefferson began to shake. He was terrified of what I would do to his family. Just the way that I had once been terrified of what he would do to my family. "You don't know what Stryker was like -"

"Don't make me laugh!" I shouted at him. I grabbed Jefferson around the collar and slammed him back into the wall. "I know exactly what he was like! I would have never done to someone what you did to me. That little girl out there? That was me, once upon a time. My family may not have loved me, but I found another one that did. And you people ripped me from them. You made me into something that I was not."

"You're a monster. You always were."

His eyes briefly flitted down to the flames erupting on my hand. He was trying to get out of my grasp, but it was like iron. He wasn't moving without me letting go. "Let me show you how much of a monster you've turned me into," I offered.

They had spent such a long time training me. They might wish that they hadn't. "You're not human. You deserved everything that I ever gave to you," Jefferson sneered, obviously hoping to tug on my heartstrings and make me weak.

But it wasn't going to work. Not after all of the years that it had. "I'm going to kill you. And I'll kill your wife, and I'll kill your daughter," I said. Jefferson began to tear up. He had someone that he loved now. And I was going to rip them from him. "Remember that mutant that you killed?"

"It was just one!" he cried.

Shrugging my shoulders, I tightened my hand on his jacket, feeling it begin to rip. "And they're just two. Makes no difference to anyone else in the world," I said.

"Please... Please let me go back to them," Jefferson begged.

Begging... That was something that I had never gotten the luxury of doing. "Do you know what begging would have gotten me?" I asked. Jefferson continued trying to wrench away from me. "A bullet in the back of the head. Beaten within an inch of my life. Anything like that. Why should I let you walk away? You never let me walk away," I sneered at him, pulling his face almost straight to mine.

He had come to the point of desperation. "You're here. You have a life. Don't throw it away," he said.

"I'm not," I hissed, dropping him. He was so weak that he fell to his knees. "Get up. Get up!"

But Jefferson didn't move. He merely stayed on the ground. He swept out to punch me but I grabbed the ends of his short brown hair, throwing him back against the wall. He wasn't too tough without that gun. I grabbed his arm and crushed it in my grip, shoving him away from me, towards the back alley of the building. Jefferson burst through the door and stumbled into the alley. He made a move to run but I grabbed the back of his collar, throwing him through the air. He hit the ground and rolled backwards, whimpering in pain.

"Stand up. We're going to fight. And you're going to fight me without a gun, without anything," I sneered at him.

Jefferson weakly got to his feet, shaking from head to toe. "I'll kill you, Victoria," he said.

A bitter grin crept across my face. "No. You people stole that from me, too," I whispered.

We stared each other down for a moment. Jefferson made a move to hit me but I easily shifted out of the way. As he came to throw another punch at me, I reacted faster. I reared back and threw my first into his head as hard as I could. He went flying backwards, but kept himself on his foot. His nose and cheekbone broke under the force. I reared back and hit him again and again. Each time more of the bones in his face crunched. He finally fell to the ground, blood pouring over his face. I took my booted foot and slammed it down onto his head, smirking at his whimper. I was going to kill him. And I would enjoy every second of it.

Steve's P.O.V.

It had been a long time since Steve had been as embarrassed about something as he was about these stage shows. It wasn't even the singing and dancing, or everything that he had to say up on the stage. It was the spandex outfit that he had to wear. He wished that Brandt would have gotten something else. And he really wished that Vic wouldn't have just left that paper sitting out. Steve walked off of the little stage to meet the fans so that he could finally head back to the hotel. He felt very awkward as he pushed past some people and fans, signing a few pictures as he walked.

His eyes flitted back and forth as he tried to look for Victoria. She was always standing close enough so that she could make faces at him while he signed the pictures. And she was always waiting for him. He had seen her not that long ago. She had been standing in the back corner. But he had already checked there. She was gone. Perhaps she had gone to the bathroom? He waited for a few minutes but she still hadn't returned. So he went to walking around the rest of the venue. But she was nowhere to be found. Had she gone back to the hotel early? Wouldn't she have told him? He wasn't concerned about her. He knew that she could hold her own. But he wanted to know where she was.

So he made his way over to Brandt. The man glanced back at Steve and smiled. "Do you know where Victoria is?" Steve asked.

Brandt looked surprised that Steve had mentioned her. "Went off with some guy a few minutes ago. Looked pretty eager to get out of here. Who cares? She'll be back at the hotel later tonight. Let her ruin her own reputation," Brandt said carelessly.

Steve bunched his hands together and grabbed Brandt's arm, tightening it, the way that he had seen Vic do to people a thousand times before. Brandt's eyes widened in shock. "Watch your mouth. That's my best friend," he growled.

After a few seconds, Steve let go of Brandt's arms and walked away. He really didn't think that Brandt was that bad. He had his moments but there were a few situations where Steve found himself furious with the way that he spoke. Steve stormed off, knowing that Victoria had to be around here somewhere. Maybe she had found an old friend, or something like that. He knew that she would never do something like that, for multiple reasons. She had never been fond of being in intimate situations with people in the first place, and she had Bucky. She loved him. He knew that she would never do something like that to him.

Deciding that he should check outside, he moved towards the back door. Sometimes she liked getting a chance to get some fresh air. Maybe there was a chance that she had stepped outside for a while. He opened the door and found himself very grateful to spot her. But she wasn't alone. She was standing over a man about a decade older than herself. Blood was pouring down his face as his body went limp. He looked dead. Steve ran after her in a sudden panic. She had warned him that she was dangerous on multiple occasions. But he'd never believed her. Because she couldn't hurt an innocent man. Could she?

Victoria's P.O.V.

There were footsteps that were falling behind me. I'd heard the door open just seconds before. And I had been able to hear Steve's thoughts when he was inside, wondering where I was. But I didn't care. I wasn't letting go. My vice grip was tightening around Jefferson's throat as Steve ran up behind me. He hesitated just a few feet behind me.

"Go back inside, Steve," I warned.

"Who is that?" Steve asked, his voice shaking. I didn't answer him. "Vic, let him up."

"No. I'm going to kill him."

"Who is this?" Steve repeated.

Dropping my hand from Jefferson's shirt, I allowed him to collapse back to the ground. I turned back around to Steve, who looked very surprised to see the red eyes. Jefferson was whining, trying to move away from me. "This is one of the trainers from Stryker's laboratory. This is the one that used to threaten you and Bucky so that I acted in line," I growled, turning back to Jefferson. "Come on, Jefferson! Get up! You never let me lay down."

He continued to try and get away from me. I merely ran after him and kicked across the bottom of his jaw. It unhinged as his head slammed into the stone. "Vic, stop," Steve said softly.

"Get up!" I shouted.

But Jefferson was unable to stand. So I walked over to Jefferson and stomped down on his leg. I felt it snap underneath the pressure. He screamed in pain. "Vic, stop!" Steve shouted.

It was like I was deaf to Steve's pleading. Grabbing Jefferson around the throat, I pulled him to his feet and slammed him back into the wall. Stone broke off from the impact and crumbled around us. I dropped him again, letting him slump to the floor. I reached into Jefferson's body and brought up a force field, constricting it around his throat. He gasped and doubled over. The Hydrokinesis went beyond water. I could do it with any liquid. So I reached into his body and brought the blood to a boil.

His mouth dropped open into a scream, but he was unable to make a sound. He was obviously in a terrible amount of pain as he hit the ground. He was clawing at his own throat, desperate to get air into his system. I pulled the blood up through his windpipe, watching as it began to pour of his mouth. It didn't take long for the blood to begin pouring from his eyes and nose as well. My own eyes were black as I watched the life drain out of him. I had waited so long for this. To feel his pain and his terror. To watch the life leave his eyes.

But Steve's hand pressed onto my shoulder. I could feel the fear in his body as he watched me. "He's not worth it, Vic. Killing him will do nothing. He's not worth it. He's not," he whispered to me.

"He deserves it," I growled.

"I'm sure that he does. Please let him go, Vic. This is what they wanted. They wanted you to be the monster. You are not. You're my best friend. You're the woman that Bucky is in love with. This isn't you," Steve begged.

He was on his knees next to me. "This is me," I muttered.

His arm wrapped itself over my shoulder. "I love you, Vic. And I have faith in you. You are not a monster. You're not what they made you. Let him go. He has nothing to live for. Let him live for that," Steve said softly.

My eyes were beginning to water as I felt myself breaking. I had to kill him. For everything that he had done. I had to kill him. He had to die. He was worthless. No one would have missed him. Another force field came up around Jefferson's body that began to vacuum the oxygen out of the air. As I became angrier, the air began to tighten around him. His bones began to bend at the pressure. I was close to tears, torn in between wanting to kill him and listening to Steve.

Steve's hand fell onto my shoulder and I jumped. His hand dropped from my shoulder to pull me into his side in a hug. "You're better than him. Let him go," he said into my ear.

Giving a soft sob, I dropped the force field that had been around Jefferson. I brought his blood back down from a boil and allowed him to fall back to the ground. He immediately began to scream in pain. My eyes faded from their pure black as I stood from my spot on the ground. He was on his hands and knees, some of his bones bent at strange angles. His entire body was racking loudly as he tried to suck the air back into his lungs. Steve's arms were shaking, probably from fear and relief. I stood from my spot on the ground, ignoring Steve's call, and crossed over to Jefferson. I lifted him from the ground and slammed his head into the stone wall.

"You stay away from me. If I see you again, I'll kill you," I hissed at him.

One of my hands was underneath his chin, holding him up. Blood was pouring over my hands. He would have to go to the hospital, or he would die from the blood loss. My spare hand crawled across his cheek. I'd let him live, bit he was never going to recover from this. He would never forget me. Flames erupted over my hand and I pressed it into his cheek, burning the skin. It would never heal. Not completely. He'd live with the mark forever. I allowed Jefferson to drop back to the ground, howling in pain, trying to put out the flames.

He eventually managed it, but he would never be able to undo the damage. "You used to say that no one would love me because of the way that I looked. Will your wife love you when she sees the way that you look?" I asked him, staring down at his broken body.

"Stop," Steve said, pulling me with him. "Get away from him. Come on. Come on."

His hands were around me as he pulled me back into the building. I tucked my hands into my pockets, keeping the blood out of sight of anyone else in the area. Steve and I headed straight towards the car and threw ourselves inside, speaking to no one. Brandt and Martin were chatting away and had looked to pull us into the conversation. But the moment that they saw the very furious looks on our faces, they turned away from us and continued speaking with each other.

Neither Steve nor I said a single word to each other through the ride. I was staring out of the window blankly as Steve stared at his lap. We finally arrived back at the hotel and the two of us flung ourselves out of the car. We nearly ran into the hotel, leaving a very confused Brandt and Martin in the background. Steve and I marched up the stairs towards our rooms together, still not speaking. I made my way straight into my room, allowing Steve to follow me in. I walked to the window in the back and collapsed, sliding down the wall.

Steve merely stood in front of me. For a while, no one spoke. We just stared at each other. "You should have let me kill him," I finally said, my voice now sounding very weak.

"It wouldn't have made things any better," Steve argued.

"It would've made me feel better," I said.

Steve shook his head at me. "No. It wouldn't."

"Why did you stop me?" I asked.

That was the one thing that I had wanted. To show them just a piece of the pain that I had felt during all of those years with Stryker. "Because I know that you're not that person. You're better than that. You're not that person," Steve said.

A humorless laugh escaped my throat. He didn't know me. Not really. "You don't know what kind of person I am," I growled.

Steve did not seem very happy with that comment. "I do. I know that you're my best friend," he argued. But that didn't make me a good person. "I know that you're one of the strongest people that I've ever met. I know that you've been through things that no one else could go through," he said softly.

"Because I'm not human," I muttered.

"Yes you are -"

"I'm not, Steve!" I shouted so loudly that the lights began to flicker at my anger. "I'm not what you think that I am! I am a monster. You're an idiot for staying anywhere near me. I could kill you without even thinking about it."

If I had thought that he was irritated with me before, I was wrong. "But you won't. Stop thinking that you're a damn monster!" he shouted, his voice rattling the walls. I jumped slightly, not used to hearing him speak like that. "You are not a freak! I don't care what other people say about you. You're not that person. I know who you are. I know that you are Sergeant Victoria Phillips. I know that you're my best friend. I know that you're the smartest person that I've ever met."

Maybe I was all of those things. But I was the monster that Stryker had made me to be. I had just become very good at keeping it hidden. "You were scared of me. Out in the alley," I said lowly.

Steve didn't bother to hide it from me. "Yes. I was. Because I've never seen you do something like that. Yes, Vic, you scare the hell out of me. I'm terrified of you," he said. I glanced over at him and narrowed my eyes. I hated having him afraid of me. "But guess what? I've always been terrified of you."

Despite myself, and despite everything that had happened, I laughed. We both laughed. "As you should be," I said softly.

Without saying anything, Steve dropped down next to me and leaned in front of me. "But I would never walk away from you. When the time comes that he knows, Bucky won't walk away from you either," Steve told me, his hand gently resting on my knee.

"You should."

Steve shrugged his shoulders at me and shook his head. "Maybe, but I won't. And you need to realize that. We're not going to walk away from you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care. We've all done things that we're not so proud of," Steve said.

An irrational rage shot through me and I yanked away from him. "Have you ever done something like that?" I hissed.

Steve shook his head at me. I knew that he didn't understand what I had done. But I also knew that he wasn't going to let me just walk away from him. "No. But I've never had something like that happen to me. I don't know how I would react," he said softly.

"I pray that nothing like that ever happens to you," I whispered.

The anger had drained from me and now I was simply exhausted. "Come here," Steve said.

We moved closer to each other and caught each other in a tight hug. We were sitting facing each other with our torsos locked together. We didn't speak and didn't move. We just stayed locked together in the hug. Steve's arms were around my upper back as my arms were wrapped around his thin waist. It was a long time that passed that we didn't even bother to move. My head was in the crook of his neck and I couldn't help but to sob softly into his shoulder.

The minutes and hours ticked by and we didn't really say anything. There were no words for anything that had happened tonight. I didn't want to talk about what had happened and I knew that he didn't want to push with anything that had happened. We ended up finally falling asleep together, both of us in my room. It was highly inappropriate but I didn't care. After all, we were more like siblings that we were like anything else. I had fallen asleep on Steve's shoulder for a while, but I eventually woken up in the middle of the night. He was snoring softly, his head on mine. I smiled gently and pulled away from him.

Carefully slipping out of the bed, I watched as Steve shifted and rolled over onto his side. He was so large that he took up most of the bed. I merely smiled and shook my head at him. Even after everything, he's still here. I walked over to the desk on the far side of the room and flicked on the light. There was already a pen and piece of paper sitting out. Sighing softly, I crossed my legs and fell into the chair. It seemed to be the right time to write a letter to Bucky. So I picked up the pen and scribbled out my muddled thoughts.

Bucky,

I'm not really sure why I'm writing you this letter. Particularly since I haven't gotten one from you to respond to. I guess I just wanted to write down my thoughts. I'm in Chicago right now. Traveling around with our experiment from the Scientific Strategic Reserve. It's important that someone watches over the project. Steve has been traveling around with us. He got a job with the USO. Raising funds for the war effort. Makes him feel like he's doing something. I guess I wanted to write to you so badly because I had a strange night.

We were out and doing a show, demonstrating what the project could do. I was waiting for the project to come back behind the stage when I saw someone that isn't exactly a welcome memory in my life. When I was gone from you and Steve for all of those years, I met some people that weren't exactly welcome into my life. They were terrible people that treated me like dirt. When I left, I was so glad to be gone of them. I thought that I would never see them again.

But it turned out that I was wrong. Because they were here. Tonight.

It wasn't something that I'm proud of. I saw them and all of the terrible memories came flooding back to me. So I hit him. And I just kept hitting him. And I didn't stop for a long time. A good friend of mine managed to pull me off and convince me that I was better than him. And I appreciated that. But I didn't want to stop. I just wanted to keep going. It was just terrible. But he did manage to pull me off and calm me down.

I suppose that it's just been one of those days that I wish that you were here. I don't want you to feel guilty. You're doing something extremely important over there. And I'm so proud of you. You have no idea how proud I am of you. I just can't wait to see you again. It's been a year since you deployed. Things have changed quite a bit in the year since I saw you. But I'm still here. Still waiting for you. You haven't found any cute English girls, have you?

I'll kill you if you've found an English girl that you like better than me. Just so you know.

I really do miss you. You're my best friend. And you always will be. Here's hoping that I'll see you soon. Take care of yourself out there. And don't worry about me too much. I'm fine. Just a bad day.

Love always,
Victoria.

It wasn't the best letter that I had ever written, and maybe it was something that I shouldn't have written, but I really wanted to write something like that to him. I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Slipping a robe over my shoulders, I headed downstairs and sent the letter off. The manager of the hotel sent me a small smile as I headed back upstairs and into the room, gently closing the door. I slipped off the robe and dropped back into the bed, falling asleep with Steve at my side. It was definitely inappropriate to have him in here with me, but Steve's presence had always calmed me down, and if I couldn't have Bucky, I would always be grateful to have Steve.

July 4th, 1943
Passaic, New Jersey

The next two months had passed without incident. The shows had continued to pass and I found myself now waiting a little closer to where Steve signed the autographs. It was once more Steve's birthday, and, of course, Independence Day. That meant that it was the biggest show of the year. America's birthday was the one day of the year that everyone wanted to see Captain America knock out Adolf Hitler. But that wasn't what I cared about. I was excited to spend another birthday with Steve.

Things had calmed down since everything that had happened with Jefferson a few months back. I had checked through the local hospital reports and had found the one that Jefferson had gone to. He was evidently still alive, but would never be back to prime physical condition. Something that made me extremely happy. Maybe Steve was right. I didn't want to kill him. I wanted him to live with the pain and live with everything that he had done to me. I also wanted him to live without the two women that meant the most to him. In the meantime, Steve and I had returned to our normal friendship. But he knew not to harass me too much.

We had only had a brief conversation about it. He had been very clear to let me know that he was unnerved by everything that I could do that. And I knew that. I knew that he was afraid of me. But I didn't mind. He had every right to be afraid of me. But we had had a long talk about it and I'd told him everything that had happened with Jefferson. He had agreed that while Jefferson might have deserved what had happened to him in the back alley, he did agree that I had been very strong to let him walk away.

Since the letter that I had sent to Bucky those two months ago, we had exchanged a few more letters. He had been very good about keeping in contact with me every few weeks. Probably because he knew just how tough that meeting had been on me. It was something that made me very happy. He would try to get letters to me as frequently as he could. I smiled and picked up the first of the letters that Bucky had written back to me. I read it whenever I was feeling a little down.

Vika,

It took me a long time to figure out what to write back to you. Not that I didn't know what to write. I know that I could tell you a thousand times how sorry I am for you and everything like that. I'm glad that you're traveling around, on one hand. And I'm really glad that Steve is with you. The two of you need to be with each other. It really helps to have you both around each other. Trust me. Friends are what you really need when you're having a bad day. That's how I feel being out here.

Trust me, I wish that I had been there to see everything that happened. I wish that I knew who all of these people were. I hate that anyone ever did something to you. I don't know what they did, but it doesn't matter. I'm so sorry that you had to meet one of those people that reminded you of that time in your life. But just remember that those days are gone. You've got a good job, friends that adore you, and a man that thinks everything and more of you. Don't bother with those people.

Whatever happened tonight, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I don't blame you for hitting them. I wouldn't have blamed you if you couldn't stop. Trust me, I wouldn't have. But I'm so proud that you did stop. You're so much better than them. Hitting them... Maybe it would have made you feel better for a few minutes. But you were so strong to walk away and leave them. Because they weren't worth an ounce of your energy. They didn't deserve you. Not even for a second.

When I hear things like this, it makes me wish that I was there. It makes me wish that you hadn't had to go out there. I wish that I could have done it for you. All of this around me... It's good. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right in my life. But there's one thing that I know that I've been doing right. Everything with you. And I'm not anywhere near done with that. You might be proud of me, but, Vika, I'm proud of you. Always. No matter what's happened between us, I've always been proud of you.

Trust me, Vika. I've been counting the days since I left. You're right. It's been over a year. It's been over a year since the last time that I saw your face. The last time that I hugged you or kissed you... The last time that I heard your laugh. But I'll get to have all of those things again. Maybe not next week, but soon. I'll be home soon, I swear that to you. Things have changed with me, too. But there's one thing that will never change. All of the things that I think about you.

There are no English girls that could ever compare to you. There's no one that could ever compare to you. Plus, you scare me. I think that I give you enough reasons to kill me. I don't need to give you any more.

I miss you, too. I've missed you every day since I've left. And I'll miss you every day until I come back home. It means that you're going to have a damn tough time to get me away from you. You're my best friend. You always have been. You and Steve. It's the three of us against the world, right? I'll always worry about you. Not that I need to. You're a tough cookie.

You deserve everything good in life, Vika. God, I can't even describe everything that you deserve. You deserve the entire world and so much more. I hope that I can give you even half of what I want to be able to give you. I can't wait to see you again. Write me whenever you're having a tough time. I want to know everything that's happening with you.

And if it makes you feel any better, you can hit me really, really, hard when I get home. I'm sure that you miss hitting me. You'll owe me lots when we see each other again.

Keep smiling. It lights up my world, and everyone else's.

I love you,
Bucky.

Smiling at the letter, I gently placed it back on the desk. It had become one of my more prized possessions. As much as I loved everything that I had gotten from Bucky during my lifetime, it was things like the letter - that cost nothing - that meant the most to me. Slipping on my boots, I turned from my room and gently knocked on Steve's door to his adjoining room. Without waiting for an answer, I walked into his room, his gift in my hands. He was sitting at his desk and drawing something.

"What's that?" I asked, coming up behind him.

"Me," Steve answered, sounding glum.

He showed me the picture and I smiled. He was quite the artist. I had known that he was always good with a pencil. But this was obviously something that he had been doing for a long time. On the bottom of the page were what I assumed he thought that the audience was supposed to be. They were dressed as laughing clowns, pointing upwards on the page. In the center was a monkey on a unicycle. The monkey was dressed in the Captain America uniform and carrying the shield in one hand and an umbrella in the other. I seated myself on the table and handed him back the pencil drawing.

"That's actually a really good drawing," I said.

And it really was. I vaguely remembered Bucky telling me that he and Steve had heard that the United States had entered the war during an Art class. I wondered if Steve had dragged them into doing it. "Thanks," Steve said.

"And it bears a striking resemblance to you," I teased.

Steve glanced up at me and shoved me off to the side. I smiled and pulled my knees up to my chest. "I appreciate that," Steve deadpanned, making us both smile.

"I knew that you would." We sat together for a few moments before I turned to stare at Steve again. He seemed way too sad for his birthday. "You alright, Steve?" I asked softly.

Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Just feeling more and more like a dancing monkey these days," he told me. I nodded, knowing that we were eventually going to get to this point. "Everything that you said was right. But I had to feel like I was doing something."

Laying my hand gently on his shoulder, I moved a little closer to him. "And you are doing something special out here. You're raising a lot of money. And that's what's really important," I said softly.

"I just want to be on the front lines," Steve muttered.

Hopping up from the desk, I gave Steve my hand and yanked him up from his chair. It was the wrong day to be sad about things. "You know what I think? I think that you're going to be out on the front lines really soon. Steve, you've been doing so well during our training sessions. You can hold your own in a fight against me," I told him happily.

That meant that there wasn't that much farther upwards that he could go. "Will Phillips care?" Steve asked me.

There was probably no chance that he was going to care, but I was sick of this. Within the next few months, we were going to be out there. "He's going to. We've been here for over a year, Steve. You've done what you've needed to do. Replicating the super-soldier serum is something that will take years. The war can't wait that long. We need to get the one successful experiment that we had and bring him out there. Prove that we actually did something right," I told him softly.

A small smile fell over Steve's face. I knew that he was happy about the thought of being out on the war front. "So you think that we're making our way out there soon?" he asked me.

"I have faith. We can make Captain America the leader of an elite squad," I said, nudging his shoulder.

Steve gave me a small smile. "You know, even if Captain America is the leader of the squad, I have a feeling that he won't really be the leader," Steve said. I raised my eyebrows at him, wondering what he meant by that. "We all know that it's Savage that's going to be leading the charge," he told me, nudging me right back.

"I'll let you pretend to be in charge," I teased.

Steve laughed at me. "Thanks," he said.

We sat together for a moment before I remembered the real reason that I had come over here. I jumped in surprise and reached behind me, giving him the gift. "Oh. Happy birthday, by the way," I chirped.

Steve smiled and grabbed the poorly-wrapped present. "Thanks, Vic. You didn't need to get me anything," he said.

Shrugging my shoulders at him, I crossed my legs. "That's what we do. We get each other things that we don't need and get involved in things that we probably shouldn't. It's what siblings are for," I teased.

We might have been born to two very different families, but we were brother and sister. Just the way that he and Bucky were brothers. He slowly opened the present and I watched as the smile began to turn up on the corner of his lips. I had always known that Steve liked to write and draw. That was why I had bought him a leather bound journal. I just hoped that he liked it. I had cut a pattern into the front of the journal, hoping that it would at least make him smile. There was an emblem of a circular shield with a single star on the front. It was the same one that was on his dog tags. Steve opened the front of the journal and saw the note that I had left.

Savage and Captain America. We make quite the team, huh? I'm proud of you, Steve. I always will be.

Love always,
Victoria.

Steve smiled at me and closed the journal, placing it down on the table. "It's perfect, Vic," he said.

"Glad that you like it," I said.

The look on Steve's face merely made me smile again. He looked so happy, and it was one of the sweetest things that I had ever seen. He had a nice smile. And he was one of the few people that were always able to smile. "I've always loved everything that you've gotten me," he told me.

"Even those black eyes and bruises?" I asked teasingly.

Steve nudged me gently. I laughed softly. Thankfully with the super-soldier serum, he didn't have to live with any black eyes or bruises for that long. "Come on, Vic. I'd be proud to say that I got beaten up by you," he said.

"Really?" I asked, raising my brows at him.

Steve nodded at me. "To say that I went toe-to-toe with a mutant and walked out of it with only a few bruises and a black eye? Yeah. I'd be proud to say that I got beaten up by you," he said.

"Then I won't use any of the nastier mutations on you," I added, knowing that he wouldn't walk out with just a few bruises if I went all-out on him.

"Save those for Bucky," Steve teased.

We both laughed loudly as we stood from our places. I would certainly get a kick out of shocking Bucky the way that I did to Howard from time to time. We walked out of the room, settling on going out to dinner for the night. It would have be early so that we could be back on time, but I didn't mind. I just wanted to do something with just the two of us for a while. Brandt caught us on our way out, shouting at us to get ready for the show, but we merely ignored him. We'd do it later. After all, this part of our lives was coming to a close soon. I believed that.

A/N: Just so you guys know, the next chapter will probably actually feature more of Bucky's P.O.V. than it will Victoria's. There's a good reason for that, I promise! Good for Steve, stepping in to keep Victoria from proving those men right that she is a monster. She's obviously having a hard time with things, but there is only one more chapter with the USO Tour before they travel overseas. Like I said, next chapter will probably focus heavily on Bucky. Thanks so much for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A

rebelforcauses: I'm going to take that as a good thing! Hope that you're liking the story!

Katie00980: Thank you! I'm glad that all of the emotions come across with the story. Well I hope that you're still enjoying the story, and thank you for reading straightaway. I'm invested in Vika's life, too. The glass and letter really were from Bucky, it was just reading into things. I meant for it to be that in the dream, despite the fact that he had sent her the present, at that given moment he had nothing to give to her. Does that make sense? Either way, hope that you like this one!

422: I'm glad that it made you happy! Steve is definitely going to be a good fighter considering that he has Victoria training him. Bucky and Vika are the cutest! I can't wait to write them back together. It was something that I found on the Internet when I was scrolling around for presents from Italy. I thought that it was really pretty. Thank you! I hope that you keep enjoying!

Tumblr-0-Trash: Thank you! I can't wait for Bucky and Victoria to get to see each other again, either. It'll be coming up reasonably soon. Yes, unfortunately the train scene will not be a happy one.