Washington, D.C.
March, 2014
Present Day
"Cmon, Doll! We're gonna be late!"
"Steve, we're completely fine!" Freya calls back, laughing at his impatience. She quickly checks the time on her phone. "We're still ten minutes ahead of schedule! Chill out, Spangles!"
She walks around her room, cleaning up a few things before her and Steve head out for dinner and a movie. Italian food and the new release, Maze Runner. No, it's not a date. As much as both of them secretly want it to be one, they're going out to have some much needed "best friend time". Steve peeks his head into her room.
"Whatever, I'm starving," he grumbles. "What's taking you so long anyway?"
"You're such a man!" she snorts. "I'm almost done, I promise."
She squeezes past him and she walks into the bathroom to grab a pack a floss and her travel-sized bottle of lotion before heading back to her room. She walks through her door only to have Steve whine her name.
"Freeeyyaaaaa."
She rolls her eyes and turns back around to stick her head out the door and look down the hall. He's leaning on the wall as he looks down the hall at her.
"What, Captain Whiny Pants?" she smirks.
He gasps and puts on a face of mock hurt.
"I am not whiny!" he protests. She gives him a deadpanned look and he sighs. "Okay, okay, just hurry up. I'm starving and I've been wanting to see this movie for a while now."
She chuckles and shakes her head. Suddenly, she senses a presence behind her. Instantly going on edge and ready to fight. Pulling her head back into her room, she spins on the intruder. Her eyes and aura ignites as she raises her hands. Recognizing the person, her eyes go wide and she instantly drops her hands back to her sides. Her eyes go back to normal and her aura powers down. She quickly turns back to her door.
"Give me, like, three minutes! I need to change my shirt! I don't like this one!" she shouts.
"All right, hurry up!" Steve replies from the living room. She quickly shuts the door and locks it. Turning back around, she meets the intruder's blue eyes again. Walking forward, she speaks to him. Her voice barely even a whisper.
"Oh, my God. What the hell are you doing here? Where have you been all this time?" she asks. He just stares at her in silence. Not responding. Her blood goes cold, realizing that this is not the same man she had last seen three years ago. It's him, but she can instantly tell he's back under the control of whoever the hell had been using him before. "Whoever they are, they got to you again. Didn't they?" she asks him shakily. He still doesn't respond.
Taking a chance, she reaches out to touch his arm. He flinches in response. Retracting her hand, she slowly takes baby steps forward. Trying not to spook him.
The fist of his metal arm closes and clenches tightly. Making a whirring sound.
Freya watches him closely. Trying to anticipate if he's going to attack her or not. He normally isn't known to. Accounting for the many times they've ran into each other over the years since she had joined S.H.I.E.L.D. He had actually saved her life a couple of times. As she continues to inch her way forward, his blue eyes quickly dart over her. Analyzing her. The mask he always wears makes it difficult to read his expression. Even though he rarely seems to express any emotions at all.
Stopping less than a foot away, Freya slowly reaches up with her right hand, ignites her aura around it and places it on the side of his face. His metal arm quickly comes up and grabs her wrist. He grips it tightly, making her wince. But she doesn't try to pull away. After a few moments, he lets go and his metal arm falls back to his side. He closes his eyes and finally relaxes as he leans into her hand. She releases the breath she doesn't realize she had been holding. Her aura expands on its own and seems to cradle his head like its comforting him.
"Winter, what have they done to you?" she whispers. His eyes reopen and he furrows his eyebrows at her. Almost looking like he's in pain.
"Merc?" he asks with a hint of confusion. His voice is low and rough from the rare usage.
"Yeah, it's me," she nods with a sad smile. "What are you doing here, Winter?"
"Mission," is his simple reply.
"Mission? What mission?" she furrows her eyebrows in concern.
"Track target. Surveillance. Gather data," he struggles to get the words out. Clearly not supposed to say anything about why he's there.
"What target, Winter?" she asks. Silence. "Winter, is the target here?" she presses. He slowly nods. She stiffens at his confirmation. Her hand is still cradling the side of his face. "Is it me?" He slowly shakes his head as an answer. Her eyes go wide. "Is it Captain Rogers?" He doesn't respond this time. Automatically answering her question. She powers down her aura and removes her hand from his face. Causing his eyebrows furrow again at the loss of contact from her. "Winter, you know I won't idly stand by and let you hurt or kill someone that I care about," she warns him.
"I don't want to hurt you, Merc," he says after a few moments of silence.
"And you don't have to, okay? As long as you abandon the mission. Let me take you to S.H.I.E.L.D. We can help you," she offers.
"I can't. They can't help me. They're all the same," he replies cryptically.
"Then you will have to go through me in order to complete your mission. Do you understand?" she asks sternly.
"He's my mission," he says as he blankly stares at her. She sighs in frustration. Trying to be as patient as she possibly can with him.
"If so, then that makes me your mission too, Winter," she speaks to him slowly. Hoping he'll understand. He looks down and away from her. Like he's having some internal conflict.
"Doll, you ready?! We've really gotta go now!"
Freya quickly spins to look at the door when she hears Steve's voice as it gets closer to her room. Panic rising in her chest.
"I- uh, yeah!" she stammers. "Yeah, one sec!" She turns back around only to find empty air.
Winter's gone.
Her eyes go wide and she quickly walks to the open window and looks outside. She sighs when she sees nothing. A knock on her door makes her jump.
"Freya, you okay?" Steve asks.
Quickly shutting the window, she takes a deep breath. Letting her S.H.I.E.L.D. training take over, she instantly composes herself. She walks across the room and opens the door with a smile.
"Yeah, sorry. I couldn't find another shirt that I liked."
"Well, I think you look gorgeous like always, Doll," Steve smiles genuinely. She blushes and tucks a piece of blonde hair behind her ear as she clears her throat.
"Thank you," she says shyly. "You don't look so bad yourself, Spangles."
"Thanks," he grins down at her. "You ready to go?"
"Yep, I'm starving!" she nods with a large sigh. She reaches out and grabs her purse off her dresser.
"Finally!" Steve cheers. He makes his way toward the front door. Freya takes one last look at her empty room before trailing after him.
