It was a mistake coming here, I knew that the second I pushed passed the rapidly shutting door to her home. But there was something not right about the arm. It had taken a beating on that carrier and it felt different. There was nowhere else I knew I could go. She screamed when she saw me. That was anticipated. The fighting back although not totally unexpected was more prolonged than I thought. She was always so meek. I put the metal hand over her mouth and encircled her, trying to keep her contained. She surprised me by throwing her head back, pointless really as she was too small for it to connect with anything but my chest. She kicked though, catching my legs but I never felt any pain from it. Threshold too high for kicks from a 115lb woman. I was sorry to have to knock her out but I had to.
I found some cable ties in her kitchen drawers and bound her arms to the chair and tore up a cloth to keep her quiet when she came to. I sat opposite her waiting for her to wake up. It felt like a role reversal. Her strapped to a chair. Miss King.
The first few times I saw her are blurry. I was still coming out of cryo. Pierce & the doctors were still the same but the team he'd assembled were different. And I noticed her because she was the only woman in a room full of testosterone. She was quiet and worked diligently. I doubt she even realised the metal arm came attached to a man. But she was afraid of me. I remember her fear after assignments. I remember how she changed. She spoke about me like a I was person instead of a weapon. She spoke to me. She asked me...not an order or an instruction; she asked me.
Miss King.
The doctor let that one slip. A new name for me to know. I didn't even know my own name so learning something new about someone else was important. King, King. I kept it all to myself. Something they didn't know about me. I wanted to know more.
I learned her first name later on.
Her ID card slipped off her lab coat. No one saw it fall, I put my foot over it and pulled it towards me. With their backs turned I reached and picked it up. I waited to look at it. There was her picture. She was smiling in it. I was stunned. Her chestnut hair that she normally wound up on top of her head was loose and wavy. Her big brown eyes were bright, her apple cheeks flushed with excitement and her smile was warm. She'd been happy when this was taken. It jarred against who she was and what she did here. There was no name, just a bar code and a series of numbers. I slipped the card under me on the chair before they resumed their testing. Then the doctor left the room, leaving her to tidy the equipment up at the desk.
There was only one of Pierces men in the room, he was shifting about looking uncomfortable. I don't know why they were needed. They couldn't stop me if I really wanted to do something of my own volition. King was sat on a chair, spinning slowly from side to side. I caught her looking at me and she looked at the floor immediately. I enjoyed that.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked the guard who was dancing about on his feet.
"I gotta take a piss" he replied. She chewed her lip, unsure.
"So... go", she offered.
"It's not protocol" the guard replied.
"Neither is peeing all over the lab floor", she announced. I had to bite the inside of my cheek. I felt the unfamiliar urge to smile.
The guard regarded me, wondering I suppose if I would present a problem if I were left alone with her. I kept my face as blank as ever. I couldn't miss this opportunity.
"There'll be no problem" I said.
"Alright" he said at length. "You got a panic button right?" She reached in to the pocket of her lab coat and nodded at him.
I waited until I was sure he was gone. She kept her hand in her pocket, watching me carefully.
"You wont need that" I assured her. She didn't reply. She was still sat on the far side of the room. I needed her closer.
"I have something of yours" I told her, slowly reaching for the ID card. I held it out for her. She patted her other pocket where it was usually pinned. Slowly she stepped forward.
"I didn't realise I dropped it. Thank you" she reached the for badge and as she did so I caught her wrist. She gasped and jumped backwards.
"Don't push the button. I'm not going to hurt you" I told her, relaxing my grip slightly. "What's your name?"
"I can't...I can't tell you that", she stammered, looking towards the door.
"You can. What's your name?"
"Why do you want to know?" She asked.
"So I can know you" I replied.
"Lucy", she answered. I nodded and let go. She stepped back immediately and hovered by the door as she fixed her ID badge to the coat, flustered.
I saw the lab coat hanging on the back of the door here in her kitchen. I knew she'd help me.
"I have tools and equipment in that black case over there" She gestured to the boxy case I had seen her pick up when she walked out of the vault for the last time. I bought it over to her my wary eyes not leaving her the entire time. I placed it on her lap. Lucy's hands were still bound to the chair.
"Are we enemies?" I asked unexpectedly.
"No. yes. I don't know" She admitted, her wide brown eyes were full of sadness and regret. "But I will help you, if you promise that you won't hurt me".
"I already said you'd be dead if I wanted that".
"Dead is not hurting" she said quietly. I decided that I wouldn't hurt her some time ago. She wasn't a threat. But she didn't need to know that. That would be a weakness and I couldn't afford to have those.
"I won't hurt you" I agreed. I saw her sigh with some relief.
"You have to untie me and you'll need to sit down" She told me.
I hesitated a little before snapping off the cable ties. She rolled her free wrists, they were marked and sore where the plastic had rubbed on her skin and I regretted pulling them so tight. Lucy moved off the chair to allow me to take her place. I picked up the gun from the counter top and she eyed it suspiciously.
"A precaution" I shrugged when I saw her flinch.
"Against what?"
"You doing something stupid, like messing up in there instead of fixing up" I accused.
"Why would I do that? You know you could quite easily kill me with your other arm alone. You don't need the gun James" she accused.
"Don't call me that" I snapped angrily and she backed away. There was that name again, the same name the mission had called me. A burst of images invaded my head, the mission – I knew him from before, a train, falling, cold snowy ground.
"I'm sorry" she was instantly contrite, her hands in the air in terrified surrender. I hadn't even realised I was standing over her aiming the gun at her face. I backed away and slumped in the chair pointing the gun downwards.
"Just fix the arm" I ordered.
She knelt beside me as she did whatever the hell it was she did in there. She muttered a few things about circuits and not having the software, I smelt the solder iron and heard the sparks of electricity until things started to feel more 'normal' in there. And I listened to her breathe as she worked, I closed my eyes for a moment and ignored everything but that gentle sound that I found so...comforting between assignments. The calm.
She was always so out of place in the vault. She didn't fit in with the cold harsh focus of the programme. She was the lamb in a den of lions.
"What happened to Captain Rogers?" Lucy asked quietly, snapping me out of that calm.
"You want a mission report?" I asked harshly. "Do you have the kit to wipe me after?"
"I'm sorry" she said again. Her eyes swam with tears and I felt pangs of something uncomfortable in my chest.
"Mission failure" I answered and she wiped a tear away with the back of her hand, relieved and positioned the soldering iron back at my arm. Fifteen minutes later she was finished.
"I've done the best I can given the circumstances. I couldn't see any severe damage",she scrunched up her nose and shook her head. "It's difficult without the software, I can't run proper tests".
I stood up and flexed the arm, it felt good, not perfect but good.
"Thank you" I told her. She half smiled and nodded. I took one last long look at her, unsure if I'd see her kind face again. "I need to leave".
"How did you know where I lived?"
"I visited your former employers headquarters. I had your name, they trained me to find people as well as eliminate them".
"I'm not your enemy" Lucy offered in a little voice as I reached the door. "Do they know about me?"
"No. I lied for you". Her body relaxed for the first time since I forced my way in to her apartment. She exhaled deeply and rested her head back against the wall.
"Thank you" she said breathlessly. I nodded briefly and opened the door.
"Wait! Will I see you again? Your arm..." she called out, placing her hand on the metal arm and I paused once more unnerved by her touch. My eyes met hers.
"I don't know. I have to know...I have to know who I am. He gave me a name. The name you called me. And I remember him. I need to know" I answered her with an honesty that shocked me.
"He'll help you. He's a good man". I shook my head. "You were friends once" Lucy's eyes pleaded with mine.
"You seem so sure. You know him that well?"
"Everybody knows him. If you want a place to start you should head for the Smithsonian. You might be surprised who you meet there, James".