Chapter 22

Steve inserted the last chip into the panel of the third Helecarrier, completing their mission with few major obstacles. But something was unsettling for Steve, it felt as though this was his big show down against HYDRA but nothing seemed to have perspired. He had feared and slightly hoped that Bucky would confront him again, used by HYDRA to prevent Steve from stopping Project Insight but he never appeared.

Steve radioed Sam or Falcon as he preferred to be referred to in the field to pick him up. Though the flight was awkward and Sam greatly lost his mobility with the suit the two men inelegantly made it to the ground and into the conference room that now situated Natasha, Peirce and the Shield board members.

Steve upon entering the glass walled room stride straight to Peirce and threw his fist into the man's cheek. He had grown to hate the man in the past few days. The man that had turned Bucky against them and caused him to kill his sister. The man that had taken everything he had. Steve felt like a punch wasn't enough but he knew going any further meant a path darker than he wanted to follow.

Peirce straightened himself as he dabbed at the blood that seeped from his lip. He pulled the finger back to examine the blood covered digit as he smiled. The smile unnerved and angered Steve as Peirce seemed pleased. "Where is Bucky?" Steve roared, his patience with the man wearing thin.

He gaze settled on Steve, his wicked smile still dominating his face as he spoke confidently, "Now Rogers why would you expect me to answer that after what you just did?"

"I expect you to answer because we've just taken down Project insight and are about to take down HYDRA and SHEILD," Steve answers angrily. Their gazes moving to Natasha for her progress on releasing all of HYDRA's secrets.

"I'm not sure that that's the best course of action," Peirce stated, still self-assured in having the upper hand. "If HYDRA's secrets are exposed to the public so are SHEILD's. Are you ready for the world to see you as you really are" he attempted to persuade Natasha.

"Natasha you know we need to do this," Steve reassured.

"It's sweet that you worry," Natasha responded in monotone and turned back to the screen, her fingers spraying expertly across the keyboard.

Peirce turned to Steve reasoning, "This is bad news for you too Captain. What is going to happen when the whole world knows that your sister is alive and vulnerable?"

Steve with a dark expression spat, "My sister is dead, shot by my best friend, you brain washed."

Peirce's sick grin remained on his wrinkled features as he amusedly continued, "I do you really want to take that chance?"

"I wouldn't listen to a word that man says, he has a habit of lying," a deep voice calls from the open doorway. Nick Fury treads into the centre of the room with his usual expression stating, "If you want to kill me you're going to have to try a little harder."

Steve moves the traitorous man to the sleek wall that acts as another computer surface to scan his eye for clearance to release the secrets of both SHEILD and HYDRA. The screen blinks green signalling success. Peirce turns to Fury and with a pleased tone points out, "We removed your scan from the system Nick."

Nick Fury stepped dangerously close to the shorter blonde man commenting lowly, "To get the advantage on me, you need to keep both eyes open." His hand slowly rose to his eye patch flicking the smooth material back to reveal the damaged eye. A cut had clearly destroyed the sight in the eye, the scar traveling from one lid to the other, a clouded grey iris in between.

He turned his head staring down the scan as thin blue light circulated around his eye. The device beeped an identical green to Peirce's. A Robotic female voice informing all in the room that SHEILD's information base had been leaked onto the internet.

Abruptly one of the board members crumpled to the ground, their shirt burning around their chest. The origin being the clearance tag.

"Now Rogers I am sorry to hear about your sister" Peirce once again pressed the small device in his hand and the remaining three board members painfully fell to the ground. "But I'm not going to be around for the funeral," he smirked. The small bubble hope that maybe Annie had survived was burst by Peirce. Of course they had left her to bleed out on a street, HYDRA didn't know any different.

He gestured to the identical tag pinning to Natasha's blazer with a smirk. "Now agent Romanoff could you please stop and come with me," Pierce ordered in a calm tone whilst picking up a discarded weapon from the earlier take over by Natasha. He directed the weapon at the red haired assassin who had ceased her typing. He tilted the weapon, gesturing for her to move.

As she did he closely followed behind, moving towards the helicopter just outside that Fury had arrived from. Steve saw Natasha pull out a small silver disc from her sleeve and instantly knew the electronic device's intention.

Her finger pressed against the button causing it to send an electric shock through her body. Natasha jerked before collapsing. Peirce was startled by the sudden turn of events and looked to his phone like device attempting to reactivate the tag. Before his device had recalibrated Steve was ready to throw a fist into the man's temple but before he had made contact the explosion of a bullet being propelled from a gun burst through the air.

Steve froze, his fist still raised, directed at Peirce who now stared at the growing red the seeped into his shirt. Fury had sent a bullet into the man's chest before Steve could even touch him. Both Peirce and Steve stared at the dark man for answers but he only responded to Steve, "With a man like this, throwing him in jail won't end your troubles."

Conflict arose in Steve at the killing of a man, even one who had taken as much from him as Peirce had. But doubt was erased from his thoughts as the man fell to the ground and with his final moment's whispered "Hail HYDRA". Steve knew that Peirce wouldn't stop until chaos convinced the world to allow HYDRA to rule them.

Warm, yellow light invaded the space as Bucky opened his eyes. He hadn't intended on falling asleep but the days without rest had caught up to him and dragged him into slumber. He wasn't in the dingy old flat with stained dark walls and empty space. He found himself in a blurred cream bedroom with warm blankets and more pillows than a person really needed. He wasn't on the bed but lay on a thin mattress that attempted to mimic the bed. Simplistic toys scattered the space, inexpensive and worn from play.

Bucky's attention was drawn away from the strange room that was foreign but annoyingly familiar and to the light singing that wafted from another room in the house. He sat up and cautiously treading to the open doorway and down a short hall.

As he got closer the singing got louder and gained clarity. The light, sweet female voice sewed notes of an old song. One made many years before he was born. He stilled to focus on the songs message, it was of the person singing apologising for going away and wishing those they left behind joy. The words did not give any inclination but the tone suggested that the singer was promising to come back. He liked this song but it held the same properties as the strange room, as though he should know what it was but as he searched he only found frustration.

He progressed through the arched opening that signalled where the room began and the hall ended. He was met with a cosy kitchen that had the same faded cream walls as the rest of the home he had seen; yellow and white tiles paved the clean floor. The large window at the far end of the space allowed the warm light that settled through the whole house to flood through the room, erasing all shadows.

The singing came from a woman in the middle or the room that faced away from him. Her golden hair gently swayed as her hips did to the tune she produced. Her white dress glowed from the window above it. He could just see that she was holding a bowl, mixing a thick batter within.

"Hello?" he spoke to the woman but she didn't show any signs of hearing him. She just continued mixing the ingredients together as she sung 'but since it fell into my lot that I should rise and you should not.'

"Hello! Can you hear me?" Bucky tried once more, louder. She don't turn or answer continuing her ancient song 'I gently rise and softly call.'

Bucky began to grow desperate sensing the song was nearing its close. He couldn't understand way this stressed him but he simply knew that he needed to see her before her and the song were gone. "Please, turn around!" Bucky yelled sure she should hear it.

'Goodnight and joy be to you all," the voice sung, unchanging.

He tried to move closer but his legs grew too heavy to move. So he continued to shout, "I'm here! Turn around!"

The woman gently placed the mixing bowl onto the bench as her head lowered. Bucky knew this was the last line, as if he had memorised the song. Her voice came soft and weak as the last line was breathed, 'Good night and joy be to you all.'

With the last word the structure around them began to crack and collapse. Around the falling wood Bucky desperately tried to reach the woman save her from the crumpling roof above them but his legs stubbornly refused the request. He screamed to the woman begging her to move, to run. But she stood. Frozen. Looking out the window, as if for someone to come home.

In the desperation that ravaged his mind he screamed, "Annie!" an unknown name that he should have understood.

At the name the woman stiffened and slowly turned to see him. Her clear eyes widened at the sight of him before the image of her fell from his view. The floor broke away beneath him, leaving him to fall down an icy mountain range. He could see a rip in reality where he had come through.

He opened his mouth expelling a silent scream as he plummeted to the icy lake below. It grew closer and closer, his nerves tensing for the impact.

He jumped his eyes snapping open. His startled gaze darting around the dark room as his rapid breathing settled to a natural pace. He was in the unrelenting chair he remembered falling asleep on in a room he knew. A weight rested on his form, providing warmth. Bucky sat up, his brows furrowing at the warm material of a blanket the covered him. He had not fallen asleep with it. His gaze flicked to the bed which was supposed to hold Annie but he found it vacant, with only twisted blankets on the soft surface.

His breathing returned to its frantic pace as his brain fumbled through the possibilities, she could have run or HYDRA could have captured her. He couldn't explain why this panicked him to this extent. He shot up from his chair, the blanket slipping to the floor. Bucky rushed out of the room but froze as he heard singing. The same voice singing the same song as if they had escaped his dream to become reality.

He hesitantly stepped into the dusty kitchen to see Annie facing away from him. Her hair and hips swayed in the same motion suggesting that what he previously witnessed in the dream may have been spurred by a memory. He had known this woman before.

This time he didn't need to shout or even speak as Annie spun around to notice him standing in the door way.

She smiled warmly greeting, "Morning Bucky."

He opted for frowning at her stating, "You should be in bed."

At his repeated nagging Annie's smile faded and a hand moved to her hip, "I have been in that bed for almost a week. Bucky I'm fine as well as in need of some food and from what I remember about you and see here is that you can't cook." It was true as the kitchen was cluttered with stained dishes that Bucky had found and attempted to cook with. He eventually gave up, ignoring his hunger. Though the food had really been for Annie but he decided it was best not to wake her anyway.

"Are you hungry? I hope you still like scrambled eggs," Annie voiced as she gestured to the small table with two plates filled with fluffy egg.

Bucky frowned, he had used up majority of the food he had collected. "Where did you get his?" he questioned.

He then realized that Annie wasn't wearing the blood stain white shirt she had been. She still wore the same boots but now wore darker jeans, a dark shirt and hooded jacket.

Annie noticed Bucky had recognised the sudden presence of food and her change in attire and smiled innocently answering, "Well we need to eat and I was covered in blood so I walked down the street to get some supplies."

Bucky was angry, of course he was angry. Annie had been roaming the streets while he was sleeping, she could have given their location away to HYDRA.

As if she could understand his thoughts as the circulated his head she reassured, "I didn't catch any unwanted attention, don't worry. I made sure only to use cash and keep my head low. I'm assuming HYDRA didn't permit you running away and helping the enemy."

His anger slowly ebbed away as he heard the care she had taken. " Just don't do it again", Bucky muttered.

"Will do," she responded as she moved to sit down at the table and began shovelling eggs into her mouth, clearly starving.

Bucky reluctantly sat down across from her and brought a forkful of the yellow fluff to his mouth. He happily chewed on the breakfast finding it more enjoyable than the egg served at HYDRA.

He looked up to Annie observing him. He offered her a confused expression. Voicing her thoughts Annie blabbered, "Unless you're still working for HYDRA and this is some undercover simulation thing to gain my trust and lure me to them for bait. No that makes no sense, if you were still with them you could easily over power me."

Bucky still eating looks at her, "I'm not working with HYDRA anymore, you're safe."

Annie smiled with warmth that surprised him, this woman was unlike anyone he had meet at HYDRA. Making him glad he left. They had treated him coldly as if he were a machine and not a man. Annie only showed him kindness and friendliness. He was afraid this was a mistake; he wasn't whoever she thought he was. He was dangerous and he didn't want to hurt her.

"Wait, bait?" Bucky asked recalling her aloud thought processing.

"Oh sorry," Annie apologised for her vagueness, characteristically running a hand through her hair.

Bucky would have focused on the fact he had had never apologised or being apologised to before if all of his attention was not more draw to how her combing of her hair made it appear as liquid gold.

He was able to refocus as she began to explain, "Well my brother Steve is basically one of HYDRA's major enemies. He is… physically enhanced and I am…not," Annie had to look for the words to explain a complicated situation. "This makes it easy for people to use me to get to Steve. Those people being HYDRA."

Bucky knew that was something that HYDRA would do and he would have been the person they ordered to do it. He inwardly cringed at the thought hurting Annie. He had hurt and murdered many people but for Annie to seemed different. To hurt someone so good, it felt like stepping deeper into the darkness.

A silence settled between the two as the hungrily ate their significant plates of eggs. Annie interrupted the quiet by informing, "I bought you come cloths too, I hope you're still the same size. In 75 years you might have gone up a few dress sizes."

She smirked at the joke but it quickly dropped as she noticed Bucky did not return the amusement.

This is not pass Bucky's notice motivating him to inquire, "You knew me, didn't you?"

Annie was a little stunned that he had asked, she had assumed he didn't like the topic. His comfort was one of the reasons she had held off asking how he was still live. If he remembered. She had no idea to what extent his memory had been damaged.

"Yes I did, very well," her voice softened.

He nodded processing the new information. "What were we," he asked again.

Annie paused at this question unsure how to answer it. For the most part they and been friends it was only on the last day before… the event that they had become more. Annie decided it was best to go with friends. She didn't want to scare or confuse him. "We were good friends. We had known each other for a long time. We actually met through Steve."

"Your brother?" he recalled.

"Yes and your best friend. You two were inseparable. You spent every day together and most of the time stayed at our house so you could laugh all night long. It was sweet, annoying but sweet," Annie answered, getting caught up in the memory of the two boys often getting in trouble from their mother.

Bucky studied the distant look that had overtaken Annie's light blue eyes. It appeared that his missing past was closely linked with hers. He wanted to know how their paths separated, asking, "What happened?"

Annie adverted her gaze staring at her now empty plate. She peeked up at Bucky to see his attentive eyes still on her. "During the war you and Steve were on a special team called the Howling Commandos. On one mission you had to zip line onto an enemy supply train. It was a trap and you ended up falling from the train, down the mountain side. No one thought you could have survived."

"Can I ask you something?" Annie asked, not wanting to push him away with her curiosity.

Bucky paused for a moment as Annie held her breath before he nodded hesitantly. "It's okay if you can't remember" Annie reassured first. "But can you recall anything of how you survived?" Annie asked in a cautious tone.

Bucky had never been called to question the cause of his circumstances but he could recall a memory, "I remember ice and snow and being dragged away with one arm bleeding." He looked to the metal limb knowing that he had once had an arm of flesh not of steel.

"That must have been HYDRA who found you. They must have given you the arm and taken your memories," Annie thought aloud. Bucky noticed she tended to do this a lot. He liked knowing what she was thinking. It removed some of the confusion. He thought that as hard as this was for him, missing all his memories, it must be hard for Annie.

He could see the hidden sadness in her expression telling him she missed whoever he used to be. For the first time he felt inclined to apologise like she had. But he didn't. He didn't know how to. Instead he asked, "What were you when we knew each other?"

Annie thought for a second before standing up and walking to the cabinets and filtering through them. Bucky watched her in confusion, was her occupation looking in cabinets?

"Aha!" she yelled triumphantly as she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

She returned back to her seat and placed both items in front of them on the table. He looked to Annie for her reason. "I can show you what my job was," she explained as she began drawing lines with the pen. 4 parallel lines, 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lined the single sheet in a hashtag shape.

When she was done she returned her excited gaze to Bucky and asked, "Do you remember how to play noughts and crosses?"

She took his silence as a no and started to describe the game, "One of us uses the symbol of a nought and the other uses a cross. The lines form 9 squares. You take turns putting your symbols in a box with the aim to get 3 in a row. This can be diagonally, vertically or horizontally. You also have to try and stop your opponent from getting 3 as well. Do you understand?"

Bucky nods slowly going through the rules explained in his head. He thinking that playing his game didn't seem like her job.

Annie initiated the game by inscribing a cross in the right corner. Bucky took to offered pen and drew a nought in the bottom right corner box, thinking she might try to win with a vertical 3.

Annie attempted to hide her smile as she took the pen and placed another cross in the top left corner causing Bucky to stop her with a nought in-between the two. Now that he assumed he had just prevented her win she went for the real one.

Bucky was mildly pleased that he had noticed her two crosses and stopped her. So with a healthy dose of confidence he watched Annie's next move as she drew a cross in the bottom left corner. He could see that she was attempting to get 3 by the left side and picked up the pen but then stopped short.

He realised that she could also win diagonally through the centre. Any move that he made would still end in defeat. He shot his gaze up to Annie to see her confident smile. She knew she was going to win.

Bucky resigned himself to his fate and marked the paper with a nought on the left and Annie collected the pen to win with a centred cross.

Bucky huffed, not happy about losing so helplessly and asked, "What was the point of that?"

Annie's smile remained as she informed, "That was my job."

"Winning noughts and crosses," Bucky questioned disbelievingly.

Annie laughed at this, a cheery noise that evaporated his sour loss. "In a way. No, I was a strategy consultant. My job back during the war was to use strategy to make the first move and surprise the enemy so by the time they realise they're going to lose, they can't do anything to change it," She explained.

"Well I should probably do the dishes, I was the one who made the mess right?" she joked rhetorically as she collected the used plates and forks and travelled to the sink.

Bucky frowned at her logic, she was the one who pull in the work to make them breakfast and he was the one who had ruined half of the dishes. She shouldn't have to do them, not by herself.

He stood up suddenly and moved over to the sink which Annie was filling with warm water. He had a feeling she would resist his help so he picked up a clean cloth that laid on the bench and waited as she scrubbed the first plate.

Annie must have been focused on washing as when he noticed Bucky right next to her she jump and dropped the plate. Bucky's hand thrust out and caught the wet plate before it smashed on the ground. He handed Annie the plate which she took with a sheepish expression murmuring a "Thank you. Sorry, I'm pretty clumsy."

Bucky froze as he saw Annie but smaller with her long hair weaved into a braid. The moving image had the warm, slightly blurred quality he had come to relate with memories. He was in the same yellow kitchen as the dream but he was standing in from of the bench, beside the sink. He was shorter as well, his lanky body hinting to a broad frame waiting to be filled in. He looked odd and unfinished and he supposed he was. Next to him though Annie did not look as odd. She looked youthful and content. Her curves had not come in and freckles littered her nose noticeably. Her smile was wide and carefree as she chattered away to him with her hands scrubbing in the foamy water.

He felt the odd need to be closer, one he didn't understand, his thoughts were interrupted as Annie yelped and a plate fell from her foam covered hand. Bucky quickly reached out to catch it, the ceramic disc juggling in his grip. His reflexes were not as developed. He eventually caught a firm grip on the plate and began wiping it was a tea towel. A confident smile present on his face as he said, "You're welcome."

Annie smirked, "I may be pretty clumsy but at least I don't have foam on my face."

His face scrunched in confusion, "wha-"

His was cut off as Annie skimmed bubbles from the top of the water and threw them into his face. As he cleared his eyes childish laughter filled his ears, he didn't stop to admire the pleasant sound but smirked as he retaliated. He stretched his hand past her and scooped up bubbles of his own to dump onto of her head. She squealed before rushing for more bubble. He remembered happiness and fun as the foamy fight merged together into a blur of running, bubbles and laughter. But the image became crystal clear as he charged at Annie with hands full of foam and slipped on the now wet floor. He crashed into Annie and the two fell, unable to maintain their balance on the slippery surface.

He instinctually braced himself by landing on his elbows with his eyes squeezed shut. As he opened them and saw that he had fallen on a soaking wet Annie. The two young teens stared at each other wide eyed unsure of what to do. Bucky felt his heart beat increasing rapidly. So fast that it sent his head into a frenzy. He was closer than he had ever been to Annie which was causing a strange heat and a desire to get even closer. Annie seemed to be having the same reaction.

Bucky shook his head murmuring a "Sorry" as he clumsily picked himself up and then helped up Annie.

The two looked away from each other as Annie blurted, "I can finish this." Bucky nodded and hurried out of the room.

"Bucky?" the worried voice of an older Annie rang through his senses. His blinked and the flat returned to his vision. Annie watched him with creased features, worry evident in them as she asked, "Bucky are you alright?"

"We were both clumsy," Bucky muttered.

"What?" Annie asked

"I remembered you and I were doing the dishes and you almost dropped it," Bucky elaborated in a surprised tone.

"You remember?" Annie asked cautiously, afraid to get hopeful.

"Only a bit. You threw foam in my face and then I put some on your head. We were laughing and then we fell," Bucky said distantly as he recalled the memory he had just witnessed.

"Yes, you remember!" Annie grinned widely as she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck.

Bucky jumped at the abrupt contact. Annie noticed and quickly pulled away and stepped back to the sink. "Sorry, I just got excited," Annie excused awkwardly as pink tinted her cheeks. She didn't want to push Bucky and shunned herself for the sudden action.

Bucky picked up another plate and started drying it as Annie returned to washing. Bucky trying to distract himself from the frustrating lightness in his chest.

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