"I still can't believe they allowed you to do this," Cecy said softly as she walked arm in arm with Bucky through Central Park. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she was glad Bucky was with her. Coulson had taken her aside before she left and told her that Mandy probably wouldn't be the same person she used to know, and Bobbi and May had taught her same basic self defence moves in case things went south. Privately, Cecy knew she didn't stand a chance against either Ward or her sister, and was a lot more comfortable knowing that Bucky would be close by.
"And what kinda guy would I be if I let you wander around Central Park all on your own?" Bucky replied with a grin, trying to keep things light.
"Thank you, though," she said quietly.
Bucky unhooked his arm from hers and slipped his arm around her shoulders, and she put hers around his waist. "Don't mention it, sweetheart."
"Whoa, since when am I 'sweetheart'?"
"What, you don't like it? I have multiple others to choose from," Bucky said, grinning. "Doll, doll face, angel, angel face-"
Cecy cut him off and laughed. "I get the idea."
Bucky laughed with her, until she stopped dead in her tracks. He turned to look at her. She was rooted to the spot, staring straight ahead of her with wide eyes. He followed her line of sight and saw a tall, slim, fashionably dressed woman with shades sitting by the fountain on one of the benches, looking in the opposite direction.
Bucky turned back to Cecy. "Is that her?"
Cecy nodded and gulped, closing her open mouth.
"You'll be okay," he assured her, slipping his arm around her again, "and I'll be right here the whole time."
Cecy nodded again, not looking at him. "Let's go, angel face."
Bucky burst out laughing and out of the corner of his eye saw Amanda's head snap in their direction. Cecy grinned at his laughter and as they walked towards Amanda, she stood up.
Bucky took his arm away from Cecy as the two sisters faced each other. He couldn't see any similarities between them, until Amanda took off her sunglasses. Their eyes were the exact same. Amanda's were wide with shock. "Cecy?" she said disbelievingly.
"Hi Mandy," Cecy replied.
"Look at you! You've grown up so much!" Amanda exclaimed as she held Cecy by her shoulders, looking her up and down.
"I'm twenty five, Mandy," Cecy reminded her with a hint of exasperation.
"I know I just...I've really missed you," Amanda said tentatively as her grip on Cecy's shoulders tightened.
"Me too," Cecy whispered as the two hugged each other tightly. Bucky looked away, giving the sisters their moment and instead scanned the park for any signs of the man called Ward.
They broke apart after a while and Cecy asked, "Where have you been all this time, Mandy?"
"Well, I-" she cut herself off as she realised Bucky was still there. "Who's this, Cess?"
"Oh, this is Jack," Cecy introduced Bucky under the fake name they had agreed upon. "He's my... um..."
"Boyfriend," Bucky finished with a smile as he shook hands with Amanda. "And a pleasure it is to meet you, Ms Lewis. I've heard so much about you from Cess."
Amanda looked from Cecy to Bucky in surprise. "And where did you two meet?"
"The Brooklyn Café," Bucky supplied readily. "She was in Manhattan for work, and I had the pleasure of serving her, and it went from there." He swung his arm around Cecy and grinned at her.
Amanda nodded in understanding and smiled. "Well Jack, it's lovely to meet you, but I have some very important business to attend to with my sister."
"Oh sure," Bucky agreed. "I must ring my mom anyway. I'll be over there if you need me." He pointed to one of the benches and kissed Cecy on the cheek as he made his way over to it.
"He seems sweet," Amanda observed as they both watched Bucky sit on the bench and put the phone to his ear.
"He is," Cecy agreed, still bright red from when he'd kissed her. "He's great."
Amanda looked at her sideways. "You really fancy him, don't you?"
Cecy just grinned and blushed, fully aware that Bucky, as well as most of SHIELD and the Avengers could hear her. "I guess so," she admitted.
Amanda smiled and tapped her watch absentmindedly, and all of a sudden a high pitched shriek filled Cecy's ears and she clapped her hands over them in pain.
"I presume you don't want to see him suffer then," she continued in the same conversational tone, as Cecy realised her earpieces weren't working; all she could hear was static. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bucky realise the same thing, as he got up and started to walk towards them with the phone still at his ear.
"One more step and he dies," Amanda warned in a low voice, so Cecy gave him a cheery smile and a wave, their prearranged signal that everything was going alright. Bucky tightly smiled back at her before going back to the bench, still keeping an eye on them.
"What the hell do you want?" Cecy pleaded.
"You should have come alone like I told you," Amanda chided. "It would've been easier on both you and Bucky."
"How do you-"
"Please, Cecelia, HYDRA is the reason he's still alive." Cecy could have kicked herself. Of course she recognised him. "But of course, SHIELD swoops in at the last moment, when we had spent months trying to find him. Just like always, taking credit for our brilliance."
"Brilliance?" Cecy said in disbelief. "Is that what you call murdering millions of innocent people?"
"Cecy, Cecy, you don't understand," Amanda said with a tone of a patient adult trying to explain something very difficult to a small child. "But don't worry, you will soon."
Cecy jumped up, and Amanda mirrored her. "Never!" she shouted and took off running towards Bucky. Bucky stood up and began to run towards her, holding out his hand. As Cecy ran she saw Ward standing a few feet behind Bucky, pointing a gun straight at him. She barely had time to scream, "Get down!" before an ear splitting bang from the gun sounded as Bucky dived to the ground. She ran faster and got to him a millisecond after Ward, who took aim again, but she tackled him to the ground and kicked the gun out of his hand. They struggled for another moment until Ward scooped her up like a child and carried her over to where Amanda hadn't moved from the bench. Cecy struggled so much that it was all Ward could do to keep a firm grip on her, so he couldn't turn around to finish Bucky off. Cecy prayed that, if he had any sense, he'd run and get back to warn the Avengers. He was her last thought as Amanda pressed a cloth over her mouth and nose, and she blacked out.
oOo
Cecy came around to the painful sensation of her eyelids being pinched. A second later she realised she couldn't blink, and her eyes began to sting. In front of her, consuming her entire line of vision was a big screen with pulsing neon lights and designs that slowly morphed into different colours. It was starting to give her a headache, and she wished she could close her eyes. She tried moving her hands and legs, but she was strapped down too tightly.
"Freedom, equality, fairness, what are all of these?" Ward's voice came from her right-hand side, though she couldn't see him. "Only meaningless labels tricking society into striving for a better life, when what they should be doing is going back to how it was before."
Cecy started taking deeper breaths as the flashing colours started to speed up. She could feel herself starting to sweat, and her head was pounding like Thor's hammer was knocking around in it.
"You want the pain to stop?" Amanda asked from the other side of her. "All you have to do is comply, Cecy."
"Don't you dare call me that!" Cecy shouted. "How could you do this, Amanda?"
"Compliance will be rewarded," Ward said simply, in the same eerily calm tone that Amanda had used in Central Park.
"What happened to Bucky?" Cecy asked through gritted teeth. The pain was unbelievable, and she prayed he wasn't suffering like this too.
"He's not your concern," Ward told her calmly.
Cecy bit down on her bottom lip hard to hold back a sob.
"Amanda, let's go again," said Ward. Cecy heard footsteps before the images began to pulse faster and faster, and let out a scream of frustration.
oOo
A few hours later Cecy was panting heavily and her eyes had glazed over. Amanda could see she was close to exhaustion, and was watching her carefully. Something deep inside her told her that this was wrong, but she paid it no attention. Ward had said that this was necessary to get Cecy on side, and Ward was always right.
"Do you want the pain to stop?" she asked her sister.
"Yes," Cecy whispered.
"All you have to do is comply. Comply and the pain goes away. Comply and you will be given new meaning and purpose."
Ward slipped into the room and shut the door behind him. He shared a look with Amanda and she nodded in confirmation. There was an almighty bang and they both felt the ground shake, but Cecy's gaze didn't waver from the screen. Ward strode straight over to her and looked into her eyes, their noses inches apart. Cecy kept her exhausted gaze on the screen behind him. There was another bang and the structure that Cecy was tied onto shook, and Ward put a hand on either side to steady it.
"Ready to comply, Agent Lewis?" Ward asked as she finally turned her tired gaze towards him, and nodded slowly.
"Ready to comply, sir."
It took me forever to work out how to write this chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed it! :D
