It had been those eyes that sold the team on stepping in to help. One look at those helpless orbs had collectively rocked the Avengers into action.

"Im not sure me being the welcoming committee is a good idea." Bucky did want to help this woman but he still held doubts he could. "If she's been with Hydra for a good period of time then it's a safe bet we have met but thanks to them scrambling my brain I don't remember her."

He also didn't think she'd be exactly happy to see him either. He had been their Mad Dog used to dish out punishment and death. What's to say he didn't do the same to this woman?

Only Steve seemed to notice what Bucky was leaving unsaid, sympathy glazing his eyes for his best friend.

"Do we even know where her loyalties lay? What if she sees Bucky and has a bad reaction and then we can't get through to her?"

Fury mentally paused on that, still leading them towards the holding cell. He ushered them into a room with a large two way mirror where they all bunched together to get a look at this woman.

"Hm, Captain might be right. We want a reaction but not one that'll make her panic."

Natasha spoke up from studying the huddled shape in the corner beyond the glass.

"I can do it."

"No Romanoff, we need someone she'll recognize but maybe not be frightened of."

Steve had tuned out everyone as soon as he saw her. His heart squeezing in his chest painfully at the sight. She was so small and fragile looking. He felt eyes on him, making him glance around.

"...What..."

The heavy metal door on the left side of the room opened, signaling to her that someone was entering. She didn't move but her eyes followed this person until they stood before her new cage. She had yet to claw the barrier up yet like she wanted, but she was sure if she did she'd feel the spark sticks from the bad men again. Bad men. All bad men. All Bad. Especially the white coats. They only bring pain and suffering.

But this man wasn't a white coat. He wore bright colors all over, so bright it nearly made her eyes water. Ugly, she decided with a soft snort.

"Excuse me, Ma'am?"

Talking? To her? No, couldn't be to her. His tone was soft yet almost apologetic. No, she concluded, bright man wasn't speaking to her. She only got glares and snarling commands. Not to her was he speaking to.

"Im um...Im Captain Steve Rogers? What's your name?"

His questions, delivered like he was afraid she'd yell at him, struck her as odd. Name? What's a name? Again, he looked soft and almost terrified. That called to her, his fear. Why was he afraid? Did the bad men hurt him too? Did they yell at him too? Did they make him wear the ugly colors?

"M-Ma'am?"

Words. He wanted words from her. Did she know how to talk these words he wanted? Did she even know how to talk? Remembering hurt but she tried anyway. No, she concluded, no talk. No words. But that seemed to make bright man even more sad.

The whole interaction she hadn't moved, showed no sigh of anything on her blank face. Just as she was trained to do. No weakness, no words, no name. No humanity. She was a beast. An animal. That's all.

Steve was at a complete loss. He'd tried to talk to her but all she'd done was stare unblinking at him. Which if he was honest was very unsettling. The group had thought maybe Steve would get a reaction based off him being the poster boy against Hydra but apparently she didn't know him at all. His heart went out to her though. She was huddled into a ball, only her eyes peaking out from hair and over her arms on her knees could be seen of her face. He'd tried to start a conversation, learn her name but she'd only stared. He turned his back to her to face the two way mirror window behind him with his hands out a bit in a 'what now' kinda pose. It was said mirror window rattling and his comms ear piece cracking to life that made him whip around to face the woman again. She'd moved with a silent quickness that put him off. But that wasn't what clenched his heart at the sight.

She was on her feet an inch from the glass looking up at him with cat like eyes. Solid green with slitted pupil. Her head was canted lightly, lips parted and nostrils flared as she leaned closer causing him to unconsciously lean slightly back. She was...smelling him? He didn't know what to make of that.

Again his comms came to life but it wasn't Natasha warning him the woman had moved- it was Dr Banner.

"Steve, shes behaving almost like an animal. She was holding eye contact but when you turned your back she reacted like a lion or tiger would. The instinct to attack when your vulnerable points are open and you're not paying attention."

What the heck does he do what that information? The only thing that gave him was the mental image of her wearing a collar with the tag reading 'Mittens'. Which he was glad he didn't say aloud because he was sure would be taken the wrong way. Apparently not only in this day and age was sex lives openly spoken about like it was no big deal, you can also wear collars and tie people up or hit them and people enjoy it. What happened to modesty and normal sex? Not that he had experience with the latter.

"Head in the Game, IceCap. Stop staring at her like a meal and get her to talk. Use your golden boy charm." God, Steve was constantly straddling the line between liking Tony as a person and hating him.

"How the heck do I get her to speak if she's acting like a feral cat?"

Steve's mind blanked out the woman behind the glass seemed to try to get closer. Her eyes widened before bleeding back to a more human nature. He watched in rapted attention as her head tilted, chin lifting as she finally blinked in acknowledgment.

"Um...Cat?" No reaction. "...Feral?" Her head tilted the other way, those eyes seeming to brighten further.

"Uh...I think I figured out what they called her."

That name seemed to slam home for Bucky. Nearly rocking him back on his heels if it wasn't for him grounding himself. The memory slapped him across the face hard. He had met this woman. Met her only once but it was enough to leave an impression on his brain that the Torture Chair simply half assed covered until now.

"Get in here Steve, we need to regroup."

Russia, Moscow 1962

Deep in the mountains below the hard packed earth in a Hydra base simply dubbed The Los sat a handful of scientific studies. One of many bases like it but this one was specifically for the one occupant held there. It was being tested and used for DNA. Trying to recreate and redesign it into a serum of its own kind. To make soldiers who could withstand bullets, bombs and even nuclear weapons. Much like the experiment itself.

The Winter Soldier was simply following the Commander, as he was told to do so. Where he went, The Soldier followed.

"Is there any progress with Experiment Feral?" The commander asked the man ahead of him as they walked down the hallways. A scientist, The Soldier concluded. Little to no threat.

The leading man lead them straight into a cold metal surgery room. Stepping right up to the glass in the middle of said room. The Soldier followed but didn't take notice of what was behind the glass at first. That was until a blur whipped towards the Commandor behind it that The Soldier shot forward as well. Putting himself between the blur and its target, posed to strike it down. But one look at the attacker gave the Winter Soldier pause.This was a giant black cat. Jaguar, his brain supplied. It stood with front paws pressed against the glass, claws scoring marks into it as it bared white wicked teeth in his face. Standing as it was it was eye level with him, fogging the glass lightly with panting enraged breaths before parting its jaws a little to let out a deep growl. It's eyes held a fury, an anger that promised a merciless death, in those fields of striking green.

"As you can see, she is combative and killed anyone within her reach. Sedatives have little to no effect unless we continually pump them into her body but that delutes her blood which means we can't get a decent sample."

The commander hmmed thoughtfully as The Soldier watched the cat drop to all fours and pace right up on the glass. Those eyes never leaving his, teeth still bared. He had missed most of the conversation as he watched her though he got the jist of it. But had he not been watching this animal as it happened he'd have never believed it did.

Right before his eyes this giant cat morphed into a strikingly beautiful woman.

"Wipe her memories until there's nothing left."

Bright man had left. Left and now it was quiet again. She didn't like the quiet. Then again she wasn't sure she liked the noise either. She wasn't really sure of anything. But at least she wasn't hungry anymore. She didn't remember much but what she did was full of pain. Sharp things poking, stabbing. Pulling out liquid and putting some in. White coats. Yelling. Screaming. Commanding. Pain. A cold chair, the pain chair that lit a fire in her brain and made her scream until she had no voice left. Pain, nothing but pain.

She staggered back from the glass clutching her hair at her temples. She could still feel it. Feel the chair ripping her brain apart. That bad chair with the bad men. Bad. All Bad. An animalistic growl rolled from her throat before she began pacing the length of the glass. Each stride more agitated than the last. More aggressive the more time passed, not that she had a grip on time. It meant nothing with the bad men and she lost the concept of it long ago.

Her sharp hearing could barely pick up on them speaking behind the glass, using words the bad men used. "Wild" "Unstable" "Kill". It made the fine hairs along her arms and the back of her neck stand on end. Driving her strides to quicken, her snarls to grow in volume. The more they spoke the more angry she became and the more anger she showed the more they spoke. A vicious cycle of both sides not understanding the other.

It hit a crescendo when she heard the bright man, who had been relatively silent so far since leaving, finally speak up.

"She needs help, just look at her!"

There was the sound of a flesh meeting flesh, a yelp(of surprise, but her mind didn't register it) from the bright man. That's when all hell broke loose.

Steve glared lightly at Tony, rubbing the nape of his neck from the pop the billionaire delivered with some snide comment. The Captain was about to retort when Natasha swore in Russian. Fury leaped forward towards the control panel as glass rattling could be heard in the room beyond. Steve turned quickly and stared in shock at what he saw.

That little woman was hurling herself shoulder first into the glass practically foaming at the mouth with snarls that exposed sharp teeth and blazing cat eyes. Long black curved claws extended out of her fingertips as she slashed at the glass.

"BRIGHT MAN! NO TOUCH!"

Everyone in the room froze in place.

"Did she just speak?"

Then the room exploded into movement again, everyone speaking over the other while Steve was stunned in place. It was when she- Feral, I guess he should call her because she seemed to answer to it- hit the glass again her head made contact as well. Splitting the left eyebrow enough for blood to flick onto the scarred barrier and run down her cheek. He hadn't even realized he'd moved until he was jogging into the room with her again. Hands raised with a pleading look in his eyes. Someone behind him called out, he could hear their footsteps behind him.

When Feral locked eyes on him she quieted almost instantly, those unsettling orbs scanning him over quickly. Steve was almost sure she was calmed at the sight of him but suddenly she was snarling again. A hand placed on his shoulder making her whole body quake in place as she bared animalistic pointed teeth.

"Steve-" He held up a hand to Natasha as he studied Feral.

"Move your hand."

"Wha-"

"Just do it."

The red head did so with a slight brow rised in confusion but Steve watched the woman behind the glass. Feral was still shaking but instead of looking at Steve she was glaring pure rage at Natasha, who caught on very quickly.

"Steve...She's being territorial of you..."

He simply blinked in astonishment. Not sure what to say to that but unluckily someone else did.

"Nice Cap, you finally found a girl with interest in you. Too bad she's a head case."

Steve turned his head to deliver Tony with a glare as the other man approached. The playboy simply clapped him hard on the back as he stepped forward- only to stagger back as Feral launched at the glass with a roar. Her body morphing into sleek black fur in an instant, the tan jumpsuit ripping apart and falling in tatters to the ground. Swatting and snarling toward Tony.

"Maybe territorial wasn't the word we should've used. Protective or possessive, maybe."

"Crazy girlfriend status and you two just met. Wow."

Steve ignored them as he approached the glass, crouching down near it as she paced with eyes clicking between Tony and Nat.

"Can you guys leave? You're upsetting her."

"If she's gonna be your girl, Cap, she's gonna have to get used to us." It took every fiber of Steve's controll not to wheel around on the billionaire with the big mouth.

The room cleared, leaving behind the Captain and the large cat. Feral was still agitated, it showed in the quick pacing and tail whipping harshly as she eyed the door the two left from.

"Hey, shhhh it's okay." His tone was soft and coaxing, reaching up hesitantly to press his large palm to the glass. She barely registered it but he was a patient man. It took a few minutes of soft words and gentle noises of reassurance but eventually the large cat slowed and quieted. She stood a good foot or two from the glass. Her left side facing him, tail tip flicking as she eyed him. Again, it was unsettling for Steve, having a stand off with such a large predator. He could face down the Red Skull with ease but being face to face with something as unpredictable as an animal? That spooked him, though he didn't show it.

"Its alright, Feral.-" Rounded ears swiveled forward from where they laid flat to her skull. Tail lifting higher and curling upwards slightly. "Everything's okay. Be a good girl, okay?"

Steve pointedly ignored the snort of amusement from his comms at the term as he observed Feral. She slowly approached the glass, he made note of how graceful she moved. In this form she was taller than him in his crouched state, seeming to enjoy looking down on him as her ears pricked up and tail curled high in the air. He grinned with a soft chuckle.

"Okay okay, don't go getting a big head. You're only taller for now, if I stood up you'd probably reach my belly button."

The large feline continued to slowly relax the more he spoke, taking a seat before him and wrapping a tail around her paws.

Beyond the two in the cell room Fury was watching with interest, silent as the others conversed amongst themselves. The dark skinned man had been hoping for a better outcome but he could work with this. It would seem The Good Captain had made a good impression and now Fury was going to play into that to get what he needed from this. But what Fury didn't notice was he wasn't the only one observing in that room. Bucky watched the emotions play out on Fury's face with a scowl. Something wasn't right here, The Soldier could feel it.