"Lose the jacket," Wanda commands a Amnesia shows her her outfit selection for her date.
"I'm wearing the jacket. I love jackets," Amnesia replies.
"What if you go somewhere fancy?"
"He won't take me somewhere fancy because this is my first time going out somewhere that's not a store."
"Fine but you don't look very girly," Wanda says with a sigh.
"Have you seen my shirt?" She asks showing the very girly, floral blouse she has under her leather jacket. "I think I look good."
"You look fine, now go, Sam's waiting," Natasha says appearing in the doorway.
"Thank you!" Amnesia says giving Wanda an exasperated look. "I looked fine a half an hour ago too," Amnesia complains, walking out of the room and towards the garage where Sam told her to meet him earlier.
When Sam sees her he smiles. She honestly looks beautiful. Dressed in black combat boots, dark skinny jeans, a navy and purple floral blouse and a black biker leather jacket, she looks ready to kill. Wanda helped her with her eyeliner and lipstick but other than that she was all natural with her slightly wavy platinum/silver hair, purple eyes and pale complexion. She looks like a different person in Sam's eyes, after only seeing her in sweatpants and giant jumpers. Sam himself stuck to what he knew and wore his jacket, a long sleeve shirt, jeans and his lucky pair of sneakers. He wasn't much for superstition but he felt he might need it tonight.
"You look amazing," Sam compliments and Amnesia smiles and murmurs a thank you. "Are you ready?" He asks holding out a hand she smiles a small smile and takes it. He gives her a nod that's supposed to inspire confidence and then they both get in Sam's car and are soon on their way to a retro diner nearby. He knew they could go anywhere else but Sam had a feeling she'd prefer a nameless diner over a big name franchise. He watched her observe the diner with curiosity.
"This is just like Supernatural and that one book I read," she murmurs and Sam chuckles, a wide grin settling on his face.
"Well come on then, let's go see if they've got pie," Sam says, naturally taking her hand when she meets him at the front of the car and leading her into the diner accompanied by the same smile.
"So I talked to Steve," Sam begins. "He thinks you know about his friend. What they did to him."
"Sam Wilson. You are my friend. Friends protect each other isn't that right?" Amnesia begins and Sam nods, answering her question wondering where she's going with it. "James Buchanan Barnes was destroyed. He was turned into a weapon and will no doubt be sent on the same path as before if people know too much. If you're my friend, you'll trust me."
"That's the thing Amn, you haven't even told me what's so bad. I need you to trust me too okay?" Amnesia looks back down at her food, her jaw clenched. The waffle loaded with chocolate and marshmallows doesn't seem so appetizing anymore. She plays with her food for a moment, deciding what she's going to do now. Amnesia realized that Sam's loyalties are with Steve, and probably always will be, no matter what she says.
"Hydra has a machine, a machine very easily found but not easily used. To operate it you need a schematic, a schematic only I have. With the schematic you can wipe a person's brain clean. Who they are, what they stand for, all wiped away leaving a blank slate. Without the schematic you're left brain dead, with the schematic you can pick and choose what stays in their brain, ie, how to work a gun, how to follow orders, who's orders to follow. Zola made James into a super soldier, then wiped away any traces of who he once was. James Buchanan Barnes became Hydra's favorite weapon.
"He was in so much pain and it was my fault. I will not allow him to be dragged back into this mess. Wiped and fired again and again. When I found out what they were doing, how they were using me, I reached into every mind in the base and I wiped it just like they did to my James. He almost got away, but I wasn't fast enough. This time though, I'll be getting away," Amnesia says meeting Sam's confused eyes and stealing every trace of her from his mind. His forehead creases as he gains the worst headache of his life and then it's gone.
"Uhm sorry, I completely zoned out, what's happening right now?" Sam asks not understanding what has happened in the last hour or so of his life. Amnesia makes an indignant sound and takes her water and dumps it on him because that's what the girls in the movies do and she needs to make an exit.
"You jerk! I never want to see you again!" She yells before storming out of the restaurant. She grabs her bag from the back of the car and then realizes she's got nowhere to go. She calls three different taxis just to screw with Tony if he manages to somehow track her calls and then when the first shows up, she asks to be taken to the nearest airport. Her next move was actually very simple, find James.
Okay maybe not that simple. After another month of traveling and always looking over her shoulder, she had only a few flimsy leads and that was with the use of her super hacking skills at various times and paces and sources. The lead she was currently following though was definitely the most promising and in Romania, what Tony concluded to be her homeland. Amnesia had no doubt it was empty and there'd be no homey feel to it, but she wanted to go there at least once almost as much as she wanted to find James.
They were searching for her, and Sam was confused. He didn't remember her and she was certain of that. Perhaps making him forget her wasn't one of her finer ideas as it would put the avengers on defense, but she knew she had to leave and she didn't want him to miss her. At least that's what she told herself.
Amnesia ended up in a small airport in Bucharest. All she had was a duffel bag, and hopefully a lot of money, she wasn't exactly sure if what she got from the ATM was a lot but there were plenty of bills. She didn't really understand currency that well but she was on her way there.
"Have you seen a guy that looks just like this?" Amnesia asks a merchant outside the airport.
"Uhm I think so. He came by two/three days ago. Bought some plums. Nice guy, kept to himself. Is he in trouble?" The kind man replies and Amnesia's eyes light up with hope.
"Not from me. He's an old friend and people are looking for him. I'm worried," Amnesia says sincerely. He observes her then nods.
"The building is two blocks down, the old one next to the garage," he says. "Tell him he is lucky to have such a beautiful woman looking after him."
"Thank you," Amnesia replies, before heading off in the direction he pointed in, holding tightly to the picture she printed off of James.
She sees a guy in a baseball cap sitting on a bench near the building the merchant described. He's wearing long sleeves and his hair is shaggy. She can't see his face but she knows it's him. She hesitates but finally gathers up the nerve and sits down next to him. He immediately stiffens.
"Calm down sweetheart, I'm in the same boat as you." Amnesia murmurs. "My name's Amnesia. I already know you. You were James Buchanan Barnes until Zola got his hands on you. He remade you, and somewhere along the line, they wiped you. I can help you if you let me."
"Who are you?" He asks.
"I used to be Hydra's hard drive. I was experimented on by Zola when I was very little. I was their lab rat for all my life. I know practically all of Hydra's secrets. Trust me James. I've been looking out for you a long time," Amnesia says.
"What do you mean? That you've been helping me?"
"When they would wipe you, they took your memories and thought they destroyed them. I saved them, and I can give them back to you, but I won't unless you're ready and you want me to."
"Why should I trust you?" James asks and Amnesia pauses truly wondering why.
"I don't know," she finally says. "But, there's no reason not to trust me either."
"You leave in the morning," he says stiffly getting up from the bench. Amnesia nods realizing this is all she's going to get.
"What were you reading?" She asks following him back to his apartment.
"None of your business."
"Then you weren't reading," she concludes and James gives her a glare.
"Why do you know so much about me?"
"They kept all your information right here," Amnesia replies pointing to her head. "Apparently Hydra collapsed and most of their information was released online. It's why no one's been looking for you except the avengers."
"What do you know about them?" He cuts her off, remembering that Steve is one of them.
"I know that they want to find you and I think they want to use you. They were very adamant about getting the information in my head. The information on you."
"Did you meet Steve?"
"Yeah."
"Was-was he okay?"
"He's the United States's golden boy. He was fine," Amnesia replies then raises her hand. "Do you trust me?" She asks and he gives a slight nod so she connects her hand to his cheek and gives him as many childhood memories of his that she has before she starts feeling faint. She pulls her hand away after reliving a young James fighting a few bullies off a very small and weak Steve Rogers. Her eyelids flutter and she mentally berates herself for overdoing herself before she promptly faints. James blinks, bewildered by the exchange then notices Amnesia is swaying unhealthily. He catches her just as she's about to fall, then sweeps her into his arms and carries her inside.
He remembers her from his time in Hydra. A long time ago he was positioned in a base with a girl hooked up to multiple machines. The last day he was at the base, everyone there fell to the ground in immense pain. When they finally got up, they had no recollection of where they were or why they were there. He had been able to walk right out but she stopped him. He wanted to save her, and now here she is, trying to save him. He sets Amnesia down on the hard mattress he calls his bed and recalls the memory she gave him of one of the multiple times he pulled someone off of Steve.
"Stop being a hero Buck, I had him this time," Steve said and James laughed, remembering the black eye he had gotten the next day. Steve was always getting himself into fights and Bucky was always there to help him out. Perhaps that's what she's trying to do, save him when he's too far over his head.