Mosaic

by FlyingRedPanda

(Bucky/OC, Winter Soldier x OC) "The broken pieces… take the ones you do have, the ones you'll find, the ones you'll make and build something… build someone, who you could live with." A story about two people and their interactions with each other, the people they come across, and the world around them. All while being hunted by friend and foe alike. (Re-editing, still posting new)

18. Valeriy Ayers - Cookie Dough

Previously:

Bucky fell asleep in a bundle of fluffy fluffy blankets.

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Chapter 18: Valeriy Ayers - Cookie Dough

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"What's in the envelope?" Eve demanded out of the blue. Volume of the earbud turned down to the point I could barely hear her.

We had to wonder if Bucky could hear her if she went about it this way. But neither of us wanted to disturb the sleeping man.

"Thank fuck Sparks found it. Is she delivering it?" I whispered back.

Asleep, at least when he wasn't having a nightmare, Bucky looked even younger with that shaved face of his. His lips no longer tipped towards a frown. His brows no longer tried to touch each other. His shoulders longer sagged with an unseen weight or his attempt to become smaller.

Though his bottom lip was still slightly pouty from how much he chewed on it this morning… and last night… and probably all of yesterday.

'Shit, keep eyes on the road, dumb dumb.'

"That doesn't answer the question. It's in your 'secret don't let Eve know what we're saying' language."

'Hahaha. She's still miffed about Dahlia.'

"Is she delivering it?"

"…Yes, the embossing on the envelope guarantees that. As you know."

"There's a few things in there and yes, you're going to get your limitations readjusted, which should make some of your movements in regards to me easier? So long as Bucky's around."

"Loopholes are beautiful things."

"That they are."

"You need to wake him up. Now."

"Huh? 'Kay? Bucky?"

With a shoulder check, I pulled onto the side of the highway and rolled down his window for some fresh air. Anything to remind him that he wasn't waking up in Hydra's hands.

"Come on, beautiful. Wake up."

The peaceful face contorted, brow furrowing together. His arms started to struggle with the blankets wrapped around him.

"Bucky, wake up," I tried in a firm voice. I dare not shake his arm or poke at him.

Blue eyes snapped open, wide and panicked, searching the surroundings. He honed in on me in a blink, hand moving likely to the gun tucked under his thigh.

Another heartbeat passed and I was staring down a barrel.

'…Huh…. 'Kay….'

I showed him my empty palms, moving slowly. No sudden movements. That would be bad. Still, I couldn't help the smile tugging at my lips.

"I come in peace?"

Those pupils dilated for a breath and he quickly dropped the gun from my face. "Sorry. I – I'm so – "

"Hey, Bucky? No harm done. All's good."

"…."

He moved to unbundle himself, to which he shifted the blankets back in place semi shrinking into them. The lower half of his face even disappeared behind the layers of fabric.

A grumbling filled the car and Bucky sank further into the seat and blankets. The noise didn't stop, and as it went on, the pinker his face got.

I turned down the A.C. fan with one hand while trying to reach behind Bucky's seat. Plucking the paper bag off the ground, I placed it on his lap.

"Not sure how good the sandwiches are now…. Bought them a couple hours ago? There not as yummy as the food truck's but it's something."

The speed in which he opened the wrapper and tore through half the first sandwich had me thinking that he could probably win an eating contest or two. Was he even chewing?

"…You didn't eat yesterday either, did you…?"

He paused, struggling to pull the sandwich from his face and look at me.

"Eat, Bucky. Not saying you can't," I said, motioning for him to continue and carefully pulling back onto the road. "There's a box of doughnuts on the backseat too and here's some water before you… choke."

Bucky knocked on his chest coughing around the food in his mouth and scrambled for the bottle of water I held out to him, gulping the whole thing down.

"Maybe slow down a tad? Nobody's going to take the food from you. We can stop at the next food place to grab more. You shouldn't be skipping meals with that muscle mass. Skipping meals is generally a bad practice."

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

I shrugged her off. "I'm not made of pure muscles or that other thingy."

"Enhanced… the fucking word is enhanced."

"Yeah that thingy, so Bucky most definitely needs a lot more food than me…."

'…Wait, what? How is he on the doughnuts already?'

And now he was staring at me, a question playing on his face. This man's… probably part puppy….

Only one doughnut left in the box.

With a laugh, I nodded. "We can get more at the next Timmies."

"I'll drive," Bucky stated while sucking the sugar off his fingers.

"Huh?"

"I'm rested. Slept for… eleven hours…? You could have woken me up earlier."

"No. No, I couldn't."

He looked so damn peaceful that no. Just no. Waking him up was not an option.

"I was too busy trying not to buy more blankets to bundle you up in… which I failed… and pulled a spare from the back and… yeah…. I tried resisting."

"…."

I pulled over anyways. My brain and limbs were exhausted. I could use the break and maybe a nap.

He stepped out of the car and I, being lazy, decided climbing over with my unhappy bones was a smart idea. It wasn't. But curling up on the pile of blankets in the passenger seat heated by one sleeping Bucky was relaxing to say the least. Pretty sure the seat's hotter than if I had turned on the heated seat function. It'd be perfect in the winter. Not so much the summer.

As he adjusted the driver seat to fit a 6'1" frame, I fiddled with the car temperature since wrapping him in blankets while he was driving would be one of my dumber ideas.

'Oh! Hoodie!'

There was one in the back.

"Valeriy?" I heard Bucky calling out, his head popping up to look over the roof of the car while I scrambled about to the trunk.

"Pop the trunk. Just grabbing something," I half sung out and tugged out just what I was looking for. A warm hoodie, plain in colour and patterning. Solid grey.

As much as I couldn't understand it, there are people who wore the same damn hoodie all year around. No matter how cold or hot the weather was. So he shouldn't stick out like a sore thumb to stay warm in air conditioning and to hide that shiny cybernetic.

It was almost immediate, how fast he slipped into the hoodie. It barely had a chance to sail through the air when I tossed it his way. Snatched it right out of the air and flung it on… in what seemed like one motion….

"Thank you," he said, zipping it all the way up and pulling out onto the road as I resettled onto the seat with six blankets piled onto it.

"No problem," I responded with a bright grin. "Hey, Eve?"

"What?"

"Mind turning off all the mics? I'll text you when you can listen in again."

"…I don't like this."

"Me neither. But this isn't something you're supposed to hear."

"Fine…. There. I've blown out my own ears."

"…What is it?" Bucky asked carefully.

I took a deep breathe to calm my nerves. "You deserve answers if you're going to stick around…. I'll answer any questions you have. I don't know much though…."

It went against everything I know to trust somebody else with information. Useful information. I had half the mind to open the door and roll out of the moving car. Just to avoid this situation.

"Were you…" he started quietly, "…supposed to be kidnapped thirty nights ago?"

I could feel myself frowning. I guess he picked up whatever reaction I gave when Sparks asked that particular question.

"I can't confirm anything? I don't even know what Jekyll's involvement is. Just that a message about picking up some cookie dough passed through their servers. The guy who got the message is diabetic. As is his wife. No kids either. That and no actual cookie dough was picked up from any stores by anyone involved with that message…."

"…Diabetic…. She can find out if somebody's diabetic?" Bucky's hand waved about the air towards the car speakers.

'He still thinks she's a ghost… doesn't he…?'

"Yeah, anything can be of use… but I figured that on my own, minus the part where I used Eve's algorithms. I'd probably find out more if I terrorize my way up the chain but I don't feel like it much…. Do you know how creepy it is for people outside of the family, Security Department and Eve's Puppets to know my code name? It feels gross…. The fact that they know my codename is Cookie Dough, it should be a piece of info I should at least be able to trace. But nope. I don't know what this whole shit storm is about. I can't even find who is behind this….

"I even checked all my usual haunts. Most of them now have a new regular with a lovely concealed side arm… and have asked about me. Haven't been able to find a whisper of their orders. Jekyll isn't a company with the means to have someone with cleanup skills on par with Eve… at least not when I poked around their systems back in April…."

"Why can't she hear this? You should be working together…. She might know more than you."

"Eve probably does? She's been on this far longer than I have. And I might have a piece she hasn't figured out? But it's best that she doesn't confirm what I've found out. Plausible deniability or some shit… and they'd change up their movements based on what they think I know. It's damn near impossible, but her files can be accessed. Information means everything. People can't ask about the things they don't know they don't know. The less they know, the less they can ask."

"I… know more than I should… don't I?"

"Yeah…. That you do. Like how I'm not utterly daft…."

My nerves still coiled unpleasantly at that very thought. Someone not completely protected knowing more than they should about me. He'd be so much better with Gramps. Far, far away from any unsavoury folks.

"Why tell me? You know I'm a risk…."

His lip chewing started up again.

He was right. He's a risk. And so was anyone else who knew.

"It can't be… can't be just because I asked. Hydra… they can make me talk. They'll find out about you. I… I – "

"It'll be alright, Bucky," I assured with a smile. "Whatever comes of it, it'll be alright. Besides, the very first few of words, the thing about the windows? That was an honest slip…. The rest served their purpose. Having you temporarily in Hydra's hands is no longer an option to Eve. She wouldn't leave you there for Gramps, but she'll keep you out of their hands for me…. Well, more likely for our Security Department. That's most important."

Bucky did not like what he was hearing, the words coming out of my mouth. That massive frown he sported said as much. Whether it was due to Eve's ways or my manipulation, I couldn't be sure

"I'm raised by Eve. Bound to pick up a few things from her. I'm not as good at making people dance on strings as she is, but I'm not above using what I can…. She can't risk the info you know leaking…. Nor can I. Can't exactly play dumb about my awesome bomb-ness if people know. Or the fact that I actually know all the info people want when it comes to our security systems and stuff…. Definitely don't want to be stuck in one building for the rest of my life. That's no fun."

"It'd be a lot safer," Bucky pointed out with a sigh.

"Eh," I shrugged. "I'd probably spend all my time clawing at the walls trying to escape…. And at the moment, I do not want to be around anyone from Ayers Corp."

"…You don't trust – ? You suspect somebody on the inside."

"With a lot of access. It would explain the whole Cookie Dough thing…. Pretty sure I was supposed to be poisoned with the rest of my dumbass newbie guards…? Good thing I was looking forward to eating with you and got a horrid habit of skipping my meals. Would not be doing any escaping if I was keeled over with fake food poisoning…. I've taken that exact blend since Amber made it for me to get out of an exam so I can attend some gala. Symptoms last for a few hours. More than enough time…."

"They have someone on the inside. It can't be stolen by anyone else…. I've seen the security plans. Everything's covered and accounted for. It has to be a mole."

"We know of all the moles in Ayers. They have access to shit. Eve's the best at her job."

"They could have turned somebody…?" he offered.

I could feel my nose wrinkle in distaste. "Whoever it is, I don't even want to know. The more I dig into this, the less I like what I'm seeing. I'm going to just lay low until everybody's tired of wasting money on this…. I get I'm a pawn, but at least clue me into the bloody plan. But no. They don't. So I'm not fucking going along with it. Screw them," I huffed, crossing my arms and regretting the bump to my ribs.

I don't even know if there was someone with such access who didn't share my last name….

"…Would you have…?" Bucky questioned, words coming out slowly. "If they told you to…."

"Got no choice…? There is a purpose to a lot of their weird ass plans. None of which had involved my kidnapping before since that's bad press if it gets out. And I do not want to get disowned for disobedience again. Not fun. At all."

An irritated huff pulled from his lungs. "…The librarian, she mentioned that you were… disowned."

"Librarian? Oh, hahaha. Sparks? Yeah…. She and I met for the first time near the end of that whole fiasco…. I was sixteen when – "

And my jaw seemed to wire shut, leaving me unable to expand more. I couldn't even bring myself to look at anything that wasn't the pair of knees right in front of my face.

"…Valeriy?"

"I…I've never put most of what happened into words before…" I managed to mumble through the hand I covered my mouth with. "If this got out, I'd be – probably get my ass disowned again… and with Jekyll or whoever the fuck it is around…. Haha… ha…."

"I have no one to tell. If you need to let it out, you're welcome to…. There was this article I read…. Talked about how speaking to somebody helps."

Bucky spoke softly, his words comforting even. The distant tone it usually held gone.

'So that's what had his face glued to the laptop.'

Pulling at anything that could be of help every single day. Instead of running away and avoiding everything. I couldn't help but admire that spirit of his.

'Hopefully Eve kept him away from the sites that'd have him self diagnosing weird ass shit….'

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He was calm. Relaxed almost except for a little tick to his right hand. Much like the times he thought about reaching out but as usual he stopped himself.

"What I went through is child's play compared to you, Bucky. You don't need to hear me whining about it."

"I enjoyed listening to you explain what you were doing to the arm. It calmed me. Kept me in the moment instead of being… being stuck with them… stuck in the past…. Your voice is soothing as well."

"Aren't you quite the charmer?" I teased, jumping at a chance for anything that wasn't this.

"…I think I might have been… over seventy years ago…."

Maybe not this. The uncertainty in his words was heartbreaking.

"…I wouldn't doubt it…" I found myself whispering back. "You're welcome to talk to me was well, Bucky. I'm not half bad at keeping secrets."

"You'll have nightmares, Valeriy." He glanced my way, lips parting for a moment and dropped the barely formed words with a sigh. "I'll consider talking if it gets too much for me."

"Do let me know how I can be of help, 'kay? Or you may find yourself being bundled up by blankets. Lots of fluffy fluffy blankets…. You're not alone, Bucky. Not anymore."

"Neither are you."

A lightness found me at that fact.

So different from then….

And with a deep breath, I forced the memories into words. "I stepped out of line and… got disowned for it. Right after I was told that I got Amber killed. That her body found in multiple ditches…? Parents got the lawyers involved and bribed a judge to get me kicked to the curb with nothing but the clothing I wore and a name that got my ass kidnapped within the week…. They forbade Eve from helping…."

"What could you have done to earn that punishment?" he questioned in controlled calm. "You were only sixteen…"

I couldn't help the flinch at the crack that echoed through the car. The wheel in Bucky's hands… It now sported a new look. A fissure in the wood, the leather barely holding it together.

I shrugged, trying to shake off the sound of splintering wood. "Something about not listening to them and sticking my nose in something I shouldn't have…? I was in a habit of checking into who our corporation was getting in bed with back then. Gramps encouraged it, since I was in line for replacing my parents when they retire…? I sunk a big business deal of theirs, and we have seriously nasty tempers. It got a little out of hand?"

"A little?" Bucky repeated through clenched teeth. "How could a parent – " He bit into his lip with anger.

A forced laugh found its way out of me. "Disownment makes sense for an escalation. It's only ever temporary? They have to keep up an image, which I'm a part of. At least we never got spanked and stuff…? Just abandoned in restaurants and hotels whenever we misbehaved. The whole 'if you don't behave by the count of three, we're leaving you here' thing."

"They did what?!" he demanded rather slack jawed.

"Left us behind whenever we were still misbehaving by the count of three…?"

'The hell did I do wrong?' I wondered when Bucky leveled me a particularly icy glare. Felt myself almost shrinking into the seat. "I was as nosy ass kid, and got in a shit load of trouble…. Learned my lesson. Now I keep my head down and do as I'm told."

'For the most part.'

"That's not…." He cut himself off with a giant sigh. "Your grandfather… where was he in all this?"

"Utterly clueless and buried under work as per usual?"

"Your brother?"

"Just as clueless and was off at uni when that happened?"

"…The Librarian…?"

Laughing, I shook my head. "No, doubt Sparks knew who I was back then? Was just there to make sure I wasn't killed. Or end up in the news again…. If I got close to either, it's her job to keep the image pristine…. I did have some hope that somebody might… help? But that faded pretty quickly. At least the kidnappers were…. They were nice? Didn't cut something off every time my parents refused to give them the info they wanted…"

"…But you knew the information they wanted."

"…Yeah… was security info they wanted… which I'll know better than my parents ever will…. I guess I could have stopped the whole thing whenever I wanted…? At the cost of my parents' safety…. That and telling them doesn't mean they'll stop. If I knew that info, what else would I know? My freedom to walk around and explore places is dependent on how dumb the rest of world believes I am…."

Then silence…. Just the wind whipping by the car. The hum from the engine filling the air inside.

A shaky breath escaped me. I thought I'd grown out of this, but my ribs were no help. I could almost feel the constraint on my lungs, by something sharp instead of the cast and its needles. Broken ribs. I rubbed at my ears, trying to focus on the air zipping by the car and not the screams echoing in my head.

My fight or flight response flooded my system with adrenaline at the mere memory a lavender scent and the laundry bag of soap bars that came with it. My shoulders rolled, trying to feel the cushioned seat. Not the concrete floors I had been pinned against, kicking and screaming. Anything to get away from the boots and fists. When I could fight no more, the ball I curled into as an attempt to at least protect something.

"Valeriy." Deep and strong. His voice dragged me right out of it.

Two blinks later, I saw the ball I was curled up in, tight as it was before.

"You're safe. I'm with you."

My nervous laugh grated against my ears. I forced my hands to move away from my ears and leaned away from my pulled up legs.

"You're not there anymore. You got out."

"…There were moments where I thought I might not…? But I had to try…. I couldn't trust anyone else to keep upgrading the security before anything happened to Gramps and my brother…. And I wanted to pay my respects to Amber… after I thought I got her killed…. They were the reason I got my shit together enough to literally drag my ass out of that bloody house."

"How the hell did you even escape?" he asked, sounding quite baffled at the notion.

I shrugged. "Bit into one of their wrists when I got the chance? Bought enough time climb out the basement window by stacking furniture…. Sparks… she found me dragging myself across the street before the kidnappers found out I escaped…. She brought me back to my parents."

'A full bloody circle….'

I could never escape being Valeriy Ayers….

"…Wh- what happened…?" He sounded so hesitant to speak the words.

"…Made a deal. Sign stuff in their stead. Do whatever they wanted of me. Be their ideal daughter… to return to the family…. I need their protection…."

And when nothing else was asked, I looked up from the frayed thread on my shirt to stare at the trees zipping by. My forehead rested against the cool glass. It helped with the pounding headache.

Don't know how I felt about sharing this. The fear and relief overwhelming each other. The fear of the consequences. The relief in talking about it. But he asked and so I answered as I said I would.

Bucky sent me a sideways glance before focusing on the road ahead.

With an irritated huff, I shifted up the seat enough to pull out a blanket or two. Wrapping myself tightly in their still warm embrace, I tried to find comfort in softness. Something to distract me from the annoyance bubbling from within my chest. Annoyance that I always felt whenever these memories drifted to mind.

How they got their claws into Amber by faking her death.

How everything changed since then.

"You know what the stupidest part of all this was? That fucking company, Cybertek or some shit. They were shady as fuck!" I snapped, catching my tone when Bucky gave the wheel another crack. "They had some shady ass fucker running things as some shadow head…. Everything had started normal… like any other company we were buying…. But then things didn't quite add up in their books…. It got fun. Felt like some detective mystery game… and I dragged Amber in. Needed help with all the medical mumbo jumbo….

"All was fine until… I went over my parents' heads when I spotted this little weird octopus pin on the guy's jacket. It was similar to something I saw in Gramps old notebooks, so I asked him about it when I hit a dead end in research. He took one look and vetoed the whole deal. Told me to never look into this again. Then everything went to shi – Hey, what's wrong, Bucky?"

"The pin," Bucky barely got through his clenched teeth. He suddenly veered off onto the shoulder and stopped the car with a jerk.

"…Yeah? What about it?"

He breathed onto the window next to him. A shaking hand guided a finger across the glass, drawing a circle. After a moment, he leaned away. Completely stiff.

"Did it…? Did it look… like this?"

It was rough, but the general shape of a fucked up six tentacled skull octopus was there.

"Yup – "

'Shit. This has to be bad.'

Bucky shook like a leaf in the wind. Fists held so tight that pops sounded in the car. One due to knuckles and the other due to sparks of electricity.

"H-hydra…."

"Hydra's a multi-headed drag – …Shit."

Pushing through the whirlwind of thoughts, I reached across Bucky and wiped the symbol off the glass. Best not have that seen by anyone who glances towards a stopped car on the highway.

"They're in your corporation," he stated.

"Pretty sure they're not…?"

"You don't underst – They have to be. If they want to get in, they already are."

"Yeah, I don't understand. But Eve and Gramps does. Or at least Gramps knows them. He's never let us get in bed with them."

"Neither did SHIELD," he snapped. "Ste… his girl…."

"Auntie Peggy?"

His head dipped in a nod. "SHIELD, they were overrun with Hydra. She'd never let it happen. But it did…. They infiltrated SHIELD."

"She retired…? And anyone in a contract with us ends up basically handing over their personal lives to Eve all on their own anyways? They don't have much at all in terms of privacy from her. If Hydra's the group I now think they are… so long as they come to us, Eve has free reign on them…. That group and anyone who tries to run off with dangerous stuff ends up dead… eventually."

"She… she's killed people?"

"Yeah…. Not a lot of people know about that but… yeah…. It's just safer to kill a person trying to run off with some highly aggressive pathogen before they even leave the room, than risk anything getting out? We lost an entire section of people before we implemented this…. Everything gets swept under the rug, and just trades things until nobody says anything about it…. Usually money?"

"…."

"You don't have to worry about it…? So long as you don't try to take one of the deadly pathogens or other dangerous shit we have?"

Bucky heaved a sigh at the words. "…Have you seen the pin anywhere else?"

Searching my memory, I carefully nodded. "A… few… times…?"

"Involved with Ayers?"

"Usually see them at the gatherings for important people? Balls, galas, summits and such…. Court house twice…? And once at the London H.Q…."

"They're inside…."

"I guess part of the London guy might still be there? He kind of… blew up in a 'gas leak?' I have no clue what a Politician was doing in a lab scheduled to be cleaned for a new project. A little difficult to accidentally end up in a restricted area from a tour. But now I'm thinking Eve might have had something to do – ?"

Suddenly, Bucky's spine went rigid, going completely straight. His eyes widened like he saw a ghost.

I couldn't see anything. There was nothing in our surroundings. No people walking. No ghosts floating. Just cars passing by with nosy eyes.

"Your grandfather knew Hydra's still alive…" he whispered. "He knew for eight years and told no one!?"

Instinctively, I leaned against the door, facing him with my hand on the handle. The angry shouting made me want to claw out of my own skin. Took far more out of me to hold my ground under that heated gaze than to find something to say in response that didn't involve throwing more fuel into the fire.

"Who could he have told, Bucky? They're everywhere."

My mind was piecing together bits and pieces weaving a picture I didn't want to see. One where Gramps knew of Hydra's survival decades before. They had to be the ones behind the death of his thirteen year old daughter, my father's twin…. Gramps kept looking at her photo when he saw the pin. I didn't understand it back then….

Forty years….

She died forty years ago….

That had to be why he avoided them and neutered Eve into merely cleaning house of Hydra. They killed his parents. They killed his daughter to which his son blames him for it.

He didn't want to lose anymore by provoking them.

Bucky released a shaky breath. His body curling in on itself. "Eight years…. He knew for eight years."

The words he spoke were different from what his voice desperately wanted to scream out.

If Gramps told somebody and something was done, there was a chance that Bucky could have been found and freed years earlier….

And it wasn't only on Gramp's shoulders.

I could have started something. If I only I kept digging. If only I wasn't a coward. If only I told somebody else. But then, I didn't know of him eight years ago. At least not personally. He was the man who saved Gramp's life. The hero in our childhood stories.

"I'm sorry, Bucky," I managed to mumble through all the guilt that was drowning me.

He merely grunted, throwing the car into drive and pulling off of the shoulder.

'…I should not let him drive angry….'

I dropped my curled up legs to sit on the seat properly. Last thing I need was spinal problems from having my legs crushed to my chest if the air bags went off.

Anger blinded people. Didn't matter if they were enhanced. Bound to miss something in the rage.

'We are so going way too fast….'

I pulled at the seatbelt, even if it was useless. It wasn't the thing making it difficult to breathe. The simmering emotions pouring out of Bucky were suffocating. All of it so controlled.

Threw me off how suddenly hard it was to read him. He had been rather horrid at schooling his thoughts from showing on his face. His body language gave away just as much. He wasn't even chewing a hole through his lip anymore.

But this wasn't the blankness of whenever I forced an order on him, either. I don't know which I would've preferred. The boiling emotions behind the control or an enraged enhanced.

"I don't know what happened, but you're moving too fast. There's no one of worry around you. I suggest sticking around the speed limit. Most go above by ten. We want to blend in, not get a speeding ticket."

Bucky eased into a lower speed and stopped weaving between cars.

I pulled up a map of the town ahead of us, Marathon, on my phone, searching for a secluded spot by where Eve wanted us to stop for the night. Somewhere that didn't have prying eyes and enough cover from satellite imaging for Bucky to run about. And there's one on the way. That we were fast approaching.

I tapped the spot a few times hoping that Eve got what I was trying to communicate before it showed up on the car's GPS. A glance at the screen, and the navigation route turned off to a small road.

I'll let you know of approaching cars. Eve texted.

"…There's nothing here," Bucky stated, having reached the end of the navigation line and taking a moment to search the surrounding trees. "Do I keep going down this road?"

"Nope. Just stop here."

"…Are you sure Hydra hasn't infiltrated your corporation?"

"I might have been able to answer that eight years ago, but I know very little now…. Eve will know best. Shall I bring her back?"

He nodded and I sent her a quick text.

"Hey Eve? Are you sure Hydra hasn't found their way into Ayers Corp?" I asked.

"How many times do you have ask that?" She did not sound happy over the speakers of the car. Not one bit. "Of course they aren't! Are you seriously doubting my ability to do my actual job? After all these years?"

"They got pretty close with Cybertek. How did we almost let that slip through?"

"…I don't know how I want to respond to that."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"…I don't want to get into this…. I'll just confirm that Hydra has not infiltrated us. Only way they could is a sleeper agent who'd never came in contact with anyone I so much as suspect of being slightly affiliated with anyone who came in contact with anybody that I have an inkling might have anything to do with those bastards. Unless it all happens in some underground technology-less shithole…. If anyone who works for us and goes missing for even a short amount of time, I'd know and look into it. You know how long corporate espionage idiots last with us, Val."

"…We keep them blind and feed them info for shits and giggles. But can you call Hydra corporate spies?"

"…Either way, I sure hope I know what I'm doing after forty years."

'Please don't pick up on it. Please don't pick up on it.'

"F-forty years…?" Bucky repeated quietly, while I wanted nothing more than to bash my head in with anything. "Did you know they were around for forty years?"

"Short answer, yes. Long answer, I can't confirm shit until they're brought into Ayers Corp. They have come to us… due to my… let's call them chains…."

I wanted to stop this. Stop his questions. He was going to end up with answers he might never want to hear. But that wasn't my choice. It's his now.

"Did you know of… me?" His voice so small and broken.

"I came across chatter of the Winter Soldier a few of times, if that's what you mean. I couldn't confirm that the Winter Soldier was an actual person and not some team or some old man pissing contest until Fury's attempted assassination. You've been pretty good at keeping out of my eyes before that. You might be a few unconfirmed blurs on video…. Nothing was confirmed until this April."

'…She's talking in circles…. The hell is she hiding…?'

I dared a glance towards Bucky and was torn between a bunch of different things. Pull him into a hug. Wrap him up in blankets. Send him off to Gramps. Send him off to recover as far away from my fucked up family as possible.

Reaching up, I let my fingers find their way through that soft hair of his. He jumped at the touch, blue eyes staring at me with far too many words and emotions to begin to sift through them. When he didn't slap my arm away, I gently dug my fingertips against his scalp.

As his eyes fell shut, a tuneless hum escaped from me. Almost like what someone had done for me some years ago, though he wasn't nearly as tone deaf. I ended up drifting to the soft skin on his face, but it was marred up by the beginnings of stubble. Not enough to see, but I could feel each bump.

"I'm so sorry, Bucky… for everything…. Are you… Are you sure you don't want to go with Sparks? I can still call her back. Have your mind healed and you can be done with us faster."

At this very moment, I'd feel like a better human being kicking a puppy than having him stay on this stupid road trip with me.

Minutes passed by with no response. He merely leaned into my hand, just the slightest of pressure. Unless I was imagining it.

The air around him didn't seem as angry. Just a defeated sadness about him.

"After what you told me… no," Bucky finally stated with a soft sigh. As his eyes finally opened, he leaned away.

A smile found itself on my lips as my hand dropped back onto my lap. "And I'm the one with the ridiculous forgiving tendencies? We all left you with… with Hydra when we could have at least started something. Eight years could have made some difference, if I dug a little further and went to Auntie Peggy. Maybe… may – "

"No. There was nothing you could have done…. You wouldn't have lived if you tried."

A shiver raced down my spine. The edge in his voice made it clear just what he was talking about.

"With who you are and what you know, Valeriy…. What you can do… they… they wouldn't let you go. Wouldn't kill you either…."

Oh how I knew that was true. Didn't matter how dumb I played.

The cat always escaped the bag.

This wasn't something I wanted to think about. I could feel the panic starting to set in. With a quick glance at our surroundings, I asked, "Do you want to get some fresh air?"

Bucky nodded. "I'll move the luggage."

"I can do that. There's not much. I have a few things to do in town before settling in? I'll be fine on my own."

The doubt in which he stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes, I swear he expected me to do the first dumb thing that crosses my mind the moment he turns away.

"Whatever the plan is, Bucky, if anything happens, Eve will get us back together. Somehow…. If you want…. You should probably arm up some, but mostly you just keep hidden, 'kay?"

I searched the car for something I could wear that wasn't that bright peach dress. Something that was recognisable. My search had lead me to fold down the back seat and root through the trunk, while passing him a bag of Puppet loved weaponry. Give him some non-lethal option to his set of reflexes.

With a grin, I plucked his cap out of his bag and slipped it on my head. "This is an order, so listen carefully."

Bucky's spine straightened up and he turned to face me, pausing his movements in hiding weapons like a good chunk my high school friends with cheat sheets. Some stuffed up their sleeves, tucked into socks, stuck to the underside of their skirt and wherever else that had room. I couldn't care less about my marks to consider the habit and couldn't give any fucks to do a thing about their ways.

"At least once within an hour of each other until you decide you've had enough fresh air and join me again, you must lay eyes on this hat with this hair. I don't care if it's a reflection or through a window or you're up a tree and looking through binoculars or something as long as you see your hat at the same time as my hair. Pictures don't count. I suggest asking Eve in locating me if you don't see me. I'll probably be moving around a bit in the area and can easily drive to somewhere more convenient. Got it?"

Bucky gave a stiff nod.

In hindsight of ordering him, I don't believe he'd be doing whatever he needed but rather going through the motions of whatever I said. But this was my attempt at stopping him from running back to Hydra, and I had no idea if the orders would stick if I….

I reached out anyways, wrapping my hand behind his neck and massaging out some knots in his neck might help rid that blank look in his eyes. Just in case, I passed him an earbud.

"Eve will keep you safe, and if you wander too far, she'll connect us. I'll be using the octopus skin mask thing to deal with my face. You should take one too. Here."

"Contact me if you suspect anything?"

"You too. Take as long as you want."

With a nod, Bucky left the car and disappeared from sight in seconds.

A shaky breath managed to fill my lungs while I tried to fight back the tears.

"What the hell was all that?"

"You sort of told him that maybe he could have gotten away from Hydra about forty years ago? Or at least sooner than a few months ago."

"…Would have helped if I had an idea what the two of you were talking about."

"Also found out that you switched Hydra's symbol from an octopus to a multi-headed dragon on me…."

"Father figured he couldn't stop the curiosity and risk provoking them. So we changed some things. A symbol for example."

"And yet you invite them to our house," I stated, waiting for her to deny it, though I doubt she would.

"…I never meant for you to get hurt…. You were never meant to come across them. You suck at forensic accounting. You shouldn't have found anything fishy. But Mochi… she's better with that than I estimated. Then the two of you just happened upon Garett meeting with a Hydra head. Only reason he was even wearing that damn pin. You were never supposed to find out any of that. I've stopped going out of my way to lure them in since."

"Oh cut the shit, Eve. You brought them to the D.C. house. I terrified that kid into never speaking of Bucky."

"Jekyll flooded D.C. with men. They were closing in."

"Not worth returning Bucky to the hell everyone left him to for seventy fucking years."

"With Hydra, I can at least do something."

A sigh escaped me.

She's in a dangerous mindset. Too confident. Too desperate. Too blinded by some personal vendetta she seemed to have.

"I didn't kill the ones from the other night, if it eases anything. But I'm not letting them go either. Consider them dead to the rest of the world."

'Not going to stop poking at them, huh…? Fine then.'

"Get all the info out of them, and get me all the info you have on Hydra to me."

"No."

"Out of all the times to use me, you say no? I don't have your limitations, Eve."

"Father wants you as far away from them as possible and I don't want to remotely risk their ideas polluting you. Ideas spread far faster than any epidemic can and far harder to eliminate."

"I'd at least like to know the people I'd come in conflict with. Info's kind of super useful."

"...Let me think about it…. For now you have a decision to make. I could at least predict that the two of you might be utter idiots, and prepare for it. I don't need the two of you to go do stupid things on your own…."

"Wow, such faith," I droned out sarcastically, while I climbed into the driver seat and fiddled with all the settings again.

"You can cross the country in two fashions. Average for your safety or fancy for Cinnamon Bun's."

"Hmmm…. You managed more than I thought."

"I wouldn't waste my freedom so frivolously."

"Gramps… he… did he build you with revenge in mind?"

"No…. I'm a lot of things he never meant for me to be…. And most definitely not some brainless twit of a V.I. to be ordered around by your father."

With a sigh, I put the car into drive. "…Just a heads up, the steering wheel's kind of…."

"…It's broken, isn't it?! Val! I should just ship the pair of you in a steel crate!"

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.**.

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AN:

Finally closing out the D.C. arc. Running out of the house ended up taking far longer than I expected.

But I needed to pay off some of the things I've been hinting to.

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