Nina parked her car by Mac's dojo. Mac wasn't there this late. It was night fall, Gavin got her the address but she needed her gear. She took the keys and followed down to the basement, she hid some of the stuff she used when working with Gavin there. Her intention was to go in and out of the real state building before James could miss her in the house. When the hamburgers and fries she ordered came in She left him with Gavin, without much of a look to the food, just trying to make sure James would have something to eat when he got up.
Two days ago, when she was trying to put holes in Mac's punishing dummy with her hands, all she wanted was something to take space in her mind. Now, she remembered her mother's words telling her to be careful with what she wished for. The thought made har smile as she walked up the steers with her box 'Well mom, if I was always careful, I'd never be able to take care of myself; and I would've never crossed ways with James. If you could see him now, I know you would be hitting me with the dirtiest jokes about his abs, just like you used to.' Nina whispered to herself. When her mom was alive she had the dirtiest sense of humor, she didn't care how young Nina was either, they were best friends sense Nina's birth.
...
The address, for the real state building wasn't so far from the dojo, in the city's business center. She parked her car near the entrance and waited, looking around a little. There were a couple of men outside talking and laughing. It was three stores, glassed building, with a fire scape to the side in the ally. It was close enough to neighbor building for a jump. Security in places like this is usually weak, but a criminal organization would toughen it up. Nina decided to take another try at the hydra agents, she would never be able to do what James asked her without more information; beside breaking and entering was always what she did best.
It was easy enough to climb up to the near building roof, it's not like dry cleaner stores were famous for its detailed security. The building was one floor shorter than the real state one and Nina wanted to try getting in thru the roof; less chance of it been liked to some kind of alarm or anyone been there. She made her leap and landed holding the outside of steers protection bars; she jumped in and made her way up the last set of steers to the roof there was a door she had to picky the lock to get in.
The first floor was clear, there were only boxes and other files cabinets there. She wasn't there to look into any of that, for now, all she wanted was to find a way down. She found the steers leading to the second floor; no one in the hallways. There was a kind of a meeting room there, surrounded in glass. She put the bug inside a power plug in half a minute; like she had trained with Gavin. Near that room she found a kind of main administrative room; a place that looked fit for a company president. She tried the door but he wasn't there, the whole office was unusually empty. She put a bug there too and got out. She would just have to try to get out thru where she came. She was heading back to the fire steers two arms wrapped around her body, Nina felt herself been dragged into one of the rooms in the hallway, before she could make a noisy something cold touched her face, stopping her from scream or say anything.
"Don't talk, there are two more guys coming. You'll hear them." Sure enough, Nina heard two men walk by, talking lowly about something she couldn't understand. Their voices faded but the grip in her body didn't.
"James. Can you let me go now?" His flesh arm held her standing in her tip toes, when he loosened his grip she almost fell over someone laying there.
"Oh my god." She gasped and said, in a low voice. She tried to walk back a couple of steps but bumped in James' chest. "Did you kill him?"
"No, just knocked him out. You're so god damn obvious, we're lucky the police 'aim coming. If this place had one more guard, we both would be good as dead. He shouldn't be like this for long." he said going for the door's handle. "Came, the way is clear. Just stay close" Nina redden ashamed of having to be saved again.
"There is another one coming, be quiet." He said on their way up the steers, he picked a little paper ball of his pocket, lit its tip on fire and threw it in the vents.
Nina heard someone behind them when they got to the end of the steers but there was a pop from the vents, the guard must have it too because he went back to check it. "That was gun powder in a paper bag, works every time. If ever break in again, bring some with you." he said in the same tone she used to talk to the kids in her dojo; patronizing, but she knew she could use it. "let's go, we need to get the hell out of here."
They took the fire steers back to the ally. James helped Nina down the last set of steers to the floor, it was missed its steps. He tried his best to only hold her up with his flash hand not to accidentally hurt her body. He put her down, not letting go of her waist; his eyes on the street, then suddenly pushed her to the wall. Nina didn't fight him; her arm still wrapped in the bottom of his shirt, afraid he heard something she didn't. They stayed like this against the wall for a second. He heard her breathing became heavier and looked down at her eyes, she was peeping at his lips.
He held his breath; this was something he hadn't tried yet and he couldn't think of a single reason not to. He leaned down and placed his lips on hers. He knew what to do, he remembered it; he recalled been in a similar ally with far less light. It was night, she had her arms around his neck, both their breathings were heavies and their bodies moved like magnets in the dim light. Filling any inch of distance that treated to keep them from felling each other's warmth. It brought him a smooth, calm and comforting feeling that wrapped his body; the first really nice memory he got. He realized maybe there were others. Other memories, other moments hided back in his mind he wasn't new to the word like he'd been felling ever since the helicarrier. He'd had a life before that, a normal one.
He broke the light touch he'd placed in her lips, looking back to the street. Nina saw the man that was knocked out in the broom closet a minute ago pass by looking for someone in the side walk.
"Did you really wanted to kiss me, or were you just trying to play it for the guards?" she asked with no ceremony, smirking at him when she knew the guard went away.
"I pushed you because of the guards; I kissed you because you wanted to kiss me. Your skin heated, your breathing was heavier, your heart was betting faster..." She opened her mouth to protest but closed it; she knew her checks had turned pink and was no pint in arguing, she just smiled turning even more red.
"let's get out of here before anyone else see us." He said holding a chuckle at her embarrassment, and pulling her to the car by the arm.
…
Gavin was still waiting for them back in the house. He was the best person to connect the bugs safely and make sure no one would accidentally detect their signal. Nina set in the arm chair near the couch as usual; James just stood in the entrance of the kichen, shutting dark glares at Gavin, still distrustful of the boy.
"That's it we're in. I disguised our signal, anyone that connect to it will just think the dry cleaner next door has a really great Wi-Fi." he said, doing last adjustments before the sound came on. They could hear a conversation between two men, they spoke in different language nether Nina nor Gavin understood. "This is the first one, you said it was a meeting room. Is this Russian?"
"It's German. They are talking about Russell and what happened last night." James answered. The two men said Russell had what he deserved after losing the chair on their new commander's orders. They kept on 'The new führer is coming, this will be over in days.' one of them said in German. 'Russell was a bastard but he was right as long as we have the girl, they can never kill the serpent, three more heads will grow. When we get the Soldier for her, we can go back home.' James body went cold, he could taste bile in the back of his throat. He wrapped his metal arm around his chest and put his flash hand in his chin taking a deep breath. "They killed Russell, there's a new commander."
He wasn't telling them everything, Nina picked up on that. She shot a look to Gav and he knew it was time to leave; it was getting late anyway. He picked his stuff and hugged Nina goodbye. James sank into the couch where Gavin was a minute ago, steering hard ahead, into nothing in particular. Nina leaned her back in the counter
"You speak German, Russian and a bunch of other languages. I suppose." he gave her no answer; she assumed a yes. "What else did you hear? Thay said something else there; I can see it scared you. What was it?" She said trying to sound comprehensive but he snapped.
"I'm scared? I'm only here because you were scared, you kept me in this town. You wanted answers, so you questioned me. you brought yourself into this! And now you're telling me, I'm the scared one?"
"Men, that's so typical." She threw back in a dry laugh. "Hydra is on my ass! I would be an idiot not to be scared. Why would I say I'm not? For pried? To look tough? I 'm telling you; I. don't. Want. To. die! at least I can admit it, what about you James?"
"What does that mean?" His voice went back to the emotionless calm he always had.
"Are you not scared? Really? Because I saw the way you looked at that machine last night, the way griped my arm when he motioned orders. So, I'm asking you; What did you hear there? what could they do to you? What could they do to James Buchanan Barnes in Russia, he came back someone else?"
"They wiped my memories, all of them." It hit him when she mentioned Russia, he never told her he was kept there; he wasn't telling her everything, nether were she. She had a hacker for a best friend; she knew about the dumbed files and, even with the cryptography, she and her friend read a good portion of then. Between the two of them, Nina probably knew the more about his past, so he told her something she didn't know. "They keep me frozen in some kind of cryogenic machine in Russia; when they needed me, they would wake me up, I'd seat in that chair and it would wipe all my memories. I don't remember anything; I read my birth date in a museum; I only knew I had a name because Steve told me... Every time I have a memory from my past I just shove away, I don'-" His voice broke but he swallowed it. "It was all just bad anyway. I know Steve was my best friend and I know could've killed him and felt nothing. After that, I wanna forget. I know it makes me a monster but I can't live with it."
Nina felt tears trying to escape her eyes; the first day she met him she could tell he wasn't just some guy, good or bad, he wasn't your regular person. When she knew he was the 'metal armed villain' they talked about on TV, it made her even more confused. The man standing in front of her was no villain. If he had no memories and was forced to do what he did, the monsters were those responsible for it, not him. He was dangerous, obvious, but when Nina looked at him. She would never call him a villain.
"In the audio they mention the serpent, they are a group of enhanced people, they are close to Anton. they can find me. They have ways to make me go back; Nina, I don't want to die a monster." His voice broke again, this time he didn't hide it, face was raw and his eyes were red. He was about to fall apart. "I don't want to go back" He did fall apart. For once though, he wasn't angry just scared and crushed. He was, also, as far away from the calm rage that was the soldier as he'd ever felt, he could take a little pain for that.
Nina walked to the couch to sit by his side but he just wiped his tears in the hoody he was wearing got up and moved away to the hallway despairing into the spare room. Nina sighed and she still needed to leave tomorrow to LA; there were bills that needed paying and she still had a job there. Though James assure her the guard he knocked out would be in much more trouble than them if he ever said anything about the breaking in, she still wouldn't let James leave just yet. While she was out of town, she would ask Gavin to look out for James for her. James still didn't trust him much; but maybe, in time, there were something she could do about that, when she returned.