Chapter 5

'I may think of you softly from time to time. But I'll cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.' – Arthur Miller

He'd been quiet for some time. Just staring. Occasionally he would walk around the apartment and look out of the windows. Ally guessed he was checking to make sure that no one had found him. Every time he came back with that blank expression still on his face Ally couldn't help but feel disappointed, no one was coming to rescue her. She'd lost track of how long she had been in this chair, but she could hear the city spring into life below her and knew that it was well into the morning. She'd been here all night and couldn't really feel her back or her backside for that matter, but what she could definitely feel was the uncomfortable fullness of her bladder and the clenching of her stomach as it growled in hunger. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually eaten. She guessed round about eleven the day before when she'd had an apple during the kids playtime, or recess as it was called here. That was before everything had kicked off and massive plane things had started falling out of the sky.

Her confidence, or her stupidity she guessed, depending which way you looked at it from, had evaporated. She had thought that she had seen a tiny glimmer of hope, something in his eyes that said maybe he wouldn't kill her. Yet since her mother's phone call it was if someone had pulled the shutters down and all traces of humanity were gone. That was why she had sat in silence for the last few hours instead of doing what she wanted, telling him what she really thought of him for a start.

But eventually she couldn't wait any longer or she was going to have something a lot worse than blood to clean up from her kitchen.

'Excuse me,' Ally asked, hoping he could hear her from whichever other room in her small apartment he had gone to. She repeated what she's said, a little louder the second time when she had no response from the first. She had just started to think he was going to ignore her when she heard the soft tread of his feet as he entered the room, stopping in the doorway. He didn't speak, just looked at her waiting.

'Could you untie me so I can go to the bathroom? Please' she added, hoping to persuade him by killing him with kindness. Ally held his gaze, feeling that he was assessing her as he made his decision. She forced herself to look back at him and not squirm under his gaze no matter how uncomfortable it was making her. A slight narrowing of his eyes was the only indication that he had even heard her but she breathed a sigh of relief when he eventually moved behind her and started to untie the bonds that kept her tied to the chair. She didn't even have time to rejoice in the freedom of her being able to move limbs before he grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the chair, pushing her in front of him towards the bathroom. When they reached the door he finally stopped but turned her around to face him.

'I can move faster than you, so don't even think about trying to run. You can't over power me. This apartment is fifty feet off the ground so jumping is not an option. You have one minute before I will break down the door. Understood?'

Ally swallowed deeply and could only nod her head in reply to him. In truth she hadn't even been thinking of escaping, she had just really needed to pee, but any thoughts that she may have had of escaping were quickly dispelled. She had no doubt that he was faster and stronger than she was and she really had no desire to have that powerful hand wrapped around her throat again. Unsure if he had already started the minute that he was giving her and not wanting to have him burst into the room when she was sitting on the loo which she had no doubt he would do, she scurried into the room as quickly as she could.

When Ally opened the bathroom door in what she assumed had been under a minute, she found him exactly where she expected him to be, right outside the door, where he had probably been the entire time allowing him to hear everything. Blushing slightly at the realisation she avoided his eyes as she muttered her thanks to him.

He raised his hand, ready to steer her back to her chair in the kitchen when her doorbell suddenly rang, causing him to push her up against the wall with his hand across her mouth before she even had time to react. Again. Every part of her wished that she could scream out to the person on the other side of that door to tell them what was happening to her, but she knew that it would never happen. That was until she heard the voice of the person on the other side of the door. Mark.

'Hey, Ally it's me,' came his voice from through the door, 'let me in.'

The man with his hand across her mouth looked down at her with hard, accusing eyes as if it were somehow her fault that her ex- boyfriend was at her door.

'Ally, come on. I know you're in there. Don't make me use my key.'

Ally felt the slight stiffening of the HYDRA agent at Mark's words and in one quick movement he produced a knife as if by magic and had it pressing sharply into her side.

'Get rid of him. And if you so much as breathe in a way I don't like, I will kill you both.'

From one look in his eyes and the firm press of the blade at her side Ally knew that he was telling the truth. She knew that he would have no hesitation in using that knife. He steered her towards the door and positioned himself so that he was behind the door and out of sight, but close enough to her that his knife still pressed into her side in warning. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself for the performance of her life, she reached up and unlatched the door, coming face to face with the one person that had the power to make her day worse. Psycho with a knife or her ex- boyfriend? She actually couldn't say which one of them worse.

'Finally,' Mark said when Ally opened the door, giving her one of his smiles that she had always loved. The smile that had made her feel special. Hell who was she kidding, it still did. 'Where have you been? You look like shit.'

And just like that she was back to reality and remembering all of the reasons why she did not want this man in her life. Despite the fact that Ally knew she looked like crap- she had been threatened, knocked out and tied to a chair all night- it was still a kick in the teeth to have it confirmed by the man that up until a few weeks ago she had loved. Of course he just happened to be standing in front of her looking annoyingly perfect as usual with his sharp, crisp grey suit, perfectly gelled sandy blonde hair with not one hair out of place and glowing tanned skinned. He looked like he had literally walked off of a magazine shoot. Ally had always felt that she wasn't good enough for the high- flying confident lawyer that everyone adored and she hadn't felt it quite so acutely until that moment. However when she winced at his word's it only pushed her more into the blade pressed against her and jolted her back into reality. She had more pressing issues to deal with than a blow to her pride.

Straightening her spine, raising herself against him, she spoke in a harsh tone that she had never once used with him. It sounded rather like what her family would call her teacher voice. 'In case you missed it, Mark, the city kind of fell apart yesterday and I had better things to do than to make sure that my hair looked perfect.' Unlike you. She let the unsaid words hang in the air for a moment as she looked pointedly at his own perfectly coiffed hair. 'What are you doing here Mark?' she asked eventually.

'Your mum phoned. She was worried about you. Asked me to check on you.'

'Well as much as I appreciate the effort, I'm fine. So job done.' Ally made a move to close the door, but was stopped when he reached a hand out to block her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the cold glare telling her to hurry up, that her time was running out.

'It wasn't any trouble,' Mark said, leaning in closer to the door frame, so that Ally had to side step to block his movement. 'I still care about you Ally. I worry about you.' In normal circumstances Ally would have probably been completely thrown by that comment, despite the fact that she was 95% of the way to being over Mark, that 5% would probably have gone running right back to him. Was that pathetic? Definitely, but she couldn't deny that she missed him, or really just missed being with someone. She didn't have many friends in the city and she had been undeniably lonely since he had left. However these were not normal circumstances and all she wanted to do was to get rid of him. Rolling her eyes at his comment, she breathed in her frustration.

'I told you, I'm fine. You don't have any need to worry.'

'I did tell your mum that. I mean you work with children, it's hardly that important. My department on the other hand is having to deal with the fallout from all of this. I mean this is corruption at the highest level. To think we've been infiltrated for all of this time and no one noticed a metal armed assassin running around. I'll be working overtime for months.

'What are you talking about?' Ally asked despite her better judgement. She knew far too much about the man with the metal arm. More importantly his location beside her. She knew she shouldn't ask when said soldier had a knife to her side, which he was now definitely pressing more firmly into her side. She knew it would draw blood soon, but she had to know more and knew it could be her only chance.

Ally could see the satisfaction in his eyes that he had finally got her interested and talking to him. 'Haven't you been watching the news? Some super soldier assassin that Captain America took an ass kicking from. He's in the hospital you know, Captain America that is.'

Ally felt an icy chill come over and her knuckles were turning white from the force that she was using to grip onto the door and keep herself standing. She had known the man in her apartment was freakishly strong and had worked for HYDRA, but he had put Captain America- a flipping superhero with super strength, speed and healing, in the hospital. Whoever the hell he was, he was more than just dangerous. A point that was made when the knife at her side broke the skin and slipped into her flesh. Ally couldn't help the cry of pain that escaped her lips as the blade entered her side. She looked to her side to see that the assassin, as she now knew, was not looking at her like she thought he would be, but had a pained look in his eyes and a look of confusion on his face.

'Ally, what is it? Are you okay?' Mark asked, looking at her with concern.

'I'm fine,' she answered immediately, drawing her attention back to him whilst trying not to wince at the pain at her side and the blood that she could feel trickling down her side. 'I just caught my finger on something,' she lied.

'Anyway I'll be part of the team trying to root out what remains of these HYDRA traitors so I imagine I'll be pretty busy over the next few months.

'That's wonderful Mark, I'm happy for you,' she said without any real enthusiasm. 'Now if you don't mind, I'm really tired and I have things to do. Besides you've done what my mother asked. I'm fine. I'll tell her not to call you again and I'd appreciate it if you didn't come round here again. In fact, I'd like my key back.'

'I don't see why we can't be reasonable about this Ally,' Mark said with frustration written all over his face.

'The fact that you broke my heart is exactly why we can't be reasonable. You didn't want to be with me anymore, you made that decision, now I'm making mine. I don't want to be friends, I don't want you checking on me and I don't want you in my life anymore. Good bye Mark.'

Ally swung the door closed and locked it for good measure, really hoping that he would get the message and not come back. Although as the bolt swung into place and she breathed a sigh of relief that he had finally gone, it suddenly occurred to her that not only had she just locked Mark out, but she had just locked herself in, with an assassin.

She braced herself for him to launch himself at her and pin her against the wall or tie her to the chair again, but instead he stayed exactly where he was. Ally couldn't say what it was but something was happening to him. It was almost as if he had completely shut down. His brow was furrowed as if he was recalling something unpleasant and then he would close his eyes and give his head a small shake as if he could get rid of the image through sheer force of will. Ally would almost say he looked vulnerable, but then her gaze drifted to the blood tipped knife still gripped in his hand and she was instantly brought back to reality.

Ally was almost scared to move and draw his attention to her for fear of what he would do, so she slowly started to edge away from him. Just an inch or so at first, but when he didn't react to that she got bolder and started to take small steps until she eventually fled to the kitchen. Pulling up her shirt she examined the wound at her side. Luckily it was just a scratch and had already seemed to stop bleeding. She gave it a quick rinse with a damp cloth and covered it with a small bandage that he had left on her kitchen table from cleaning his own wounds.

She was just finishing up and pulling her shirt back down when she sensed it. That feeling that you're not alone. That feeling you get when you're being watched. She whipped around to find him standing at the door that was in the centre of the room separating her kitchen and living room. She knew he's been watching her, but he didn't offer any apology for what he's done. She didn't expect him to. She suspected he'd done a lot worse and her small wound wouldn't even register on the scale of the bad things that he'd done. Mark said that he was an assassin. She didn't even want to think of all the things he'd done. Although the words that he did eventually utter surprised her nearly as much as an apology would have.

'Who is Captain America?'

A/N- Thanks again to my lovely readers and the people who have favourited or followed the story. Also thanks to my reviewers. I'm really glad that you're enjoying the story. Yes Bucky Barnes does have a lovely face, lol, but I'm sure if anyone met him as The Winter Soldier that really wouldn't be your first thought. I hadn't really thought much about the character until Civil War and I just felt so sorry for him and wanted to give him a great big hug. It got me thinking about his character and what had happened to him between the two films and I looked at some Bucky/ OC fanfics and I just wanted to write a slightly different take on it. I'm trying to stay true to the film and really think about the mess that his head is in at the moment, so I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's quite hard to write such a messed up character and still have him seem likable or even relatable. Anyway thanks again for reading and if you are enjoying it then please leave a review or follow this story.