"Playing my songs is the way I cope with life. Won't keep my voice down. Know the words I speak are the thoughts I think out loud." -A Day to Remember
Orders. New orders…. The man in the uniform comes to stand in front of her, and someone else. "Infiltrate the base." He turns to look directly at the man beside her. "You are to make sure you kill this man" He holds up a picture to the masked man beside her, before turning to look directly at her. "You are to make sure there are no witnesses." She nods. Orders. No witnesses. No loose ends. No strings. Ain't no strings on me…
She steps over the bodies littering the ground before her. A few men with guns. Mostly women and children. Witnesses. Witnesses. No strings. No survivors. She steps out into the next room, where the other man was dragging the target along the floor. Partner. Soldier. She happens to see a glint from a scope out of the window behind him. Before she thinks, she is silently darting across the expanse of room between them. She lunges at him, knocking him out of the way, just before she feels the sting of the bullet entering her own abdomen. She hits the ground, clutching her bleeding bullet wound. The masked man follows the line of the shot, and returns the favor to the sniper, before quickly putting a bullet into the forehead of the target. He kneels down beside her.
"You missed one." She says, ripping her vest and shirt open to see the wound. The man takes off his mask and looks down at her, she is stunned momentarily by the handsome face before her.
"Why did you do that?" He asks, rather gruffly.
"A thank you would suffice…Not my fault you can't properly clear a room." She tries to lift her head to see the wound, but it is too high on her body.
"Why did you do that?" He asks again, harsher this time.
"I don't fucking know. I just did it." She starts to heat up her arm, "Now, I need you to take the bullet out. I can't see the shot."
He looks at her in confusion before glancing down at her bleeding torso, "How?"
She begins to lose patience. "Stick your fingers in the hole. Grab the thing that feels like metal and yank it out!"
"But you will bleed out even more… this won't –" He questions.
"I got it covered, just do it!" She screams at him, and he looks at her with concern, and for a brief moment, she sees a different man in his eyes. The trapped man. He shoves his fingers into her body, and she screams. Her voice ringing through the empty halls, nobody to hear her but the wildlife. She uses the pain to fuel herself to heat up her arm further, she feels the metal start to burn the skin where metal meets flesh. A moment later, his hand emerges, covered in her blood, but a small chrome cylinder between his fingers. She reaches out and grabs his blood covered hand with her flesh hand. If she wasn't in agony, she would have laughed at the look of shock on his face. She grips his hand as she shoves her metal pointer finger into her gunshot wound, the rancid smell of burnt flesh floating between them and she screams. He grips her hand back until she pulls her metal hand back away from her body. She looks down at the burnt area of skin, just thankful she is no longer bleeding out. She takes her hand away from his, using it to refasten her shirt and vest. "Thank you." She says, returning to her feet.
"No…" He pauses, standing up, and wiping her blood on his pants, "Thank you." He looks into her eyes, and again, she catches a glimpse of the man behind the glass. The man trapped in his own mind, just as she was trapped in hers. For the first time in a long time, she didn't feel completely alone. She and this nameless man in a mask were in the same situation. In it together.
The jet door opens to a green field, dense woods of pine trees on either side of the field, and straight ahead is a large building. The base. Everyone files out of the jet, and begins walking towards the building, and Lenore follows. A large warm wind came whipping from the trees, blowing through her hair. She stops in her tracks, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, bringing to mind a thousand memories of running barefoot through grass just like this…sitting under trees and drawing while her sister reads… Her memories are interrupted by a voice beside her,
"Is everything alright?" a cool voice speaks into her ear, and she turns, having to look up to meet his eyes. Bucky. She smiles…
"Yeah. It just…it smells like home…" She turns into the wind, feeling the breeze through her hair. "Where are we?"
"I'm not sure exactly. Somewhere in Virginia, I think." He replies, watching the smile on her face grow.
"So close to home…I don't think I have been so close to home since…1960…" She opens her eyes, turning to look at him, and continuing to walk. "The wind still smells the same. The dogwood and pine."
He walks beside her, the rest of the group pretty far ahead of them now. "I grew up in Brooklyn. When I started to get my memories back, I went there…" Lenore watches the sadness grow in his eyes. "Nothing was the same. Not the buildings…or the people…everything I knew was gone…except this one little pizza shop on a corner that Steve and I used to go to…" He smiles, and she feels her heart flutter. "When I walked by I smelled them baking their dough, and I swear, it was like a hundred memories of walking by that shop came with it." He laughs lightly, and she joins him.
"It is amazing what brings back a memory. Especially memories you didn't even remember having." He looks down at her, and she feels their fingers brush as they walk over the uneven ground. She pretends she doesn't notice. "I think smells can bring back the strongest memories, because you don't even notice them. You don't know that you know them until you smell them again somewhere else."
He smirks warmly at her. "What were we?" She is shocked by the suddenness of the question, and he seems shocked that he asked it. His eyes go back and forth across her face. "It's so easy to talk to you. Like I have known you for years. I hate that I don't remember…but I know that I know you."
Lenore swallows hard. He does remember me. She feels like her heart swells and she has to will herself to calm down. "I don't know what I was to you… you never told me…" She takes a breath. "But for me, you were the person who knew not to ask for my name. Because you knew I didn't have one. You didn't have one either. You were a sympathetic face when they were reciting words from a book, and taking away my free will…You were as trapped as I was. You knew what it was like. We were in it together." She laughs lightly, "Every time we met, I thought I was making a new friend." She smiles at the grass under her feet. "When I got all my memories back, and I could remember all of it. It felt like you were there the whole time. My friend in the hell." Lenore looks back up at him, his expression undecipherable, but before he can respond, they are at the doorway and Wanda is grabbing Lenore's hand, dragging her inside.
"C'mon you have to see the place and meet the others!" Wanda yells excitedly, as she drags Lenore deeper into the base. Lenore looks back over her shoulder, seeing Bucky still standing in the doorway, looking at her with that same unknown expression.
The short hallway opens into a large living room common area. A figure appears from the hallway on the right, a floating red…man? Her jaw drops slightly, before Wanda waves him over, "Lenore, this is Vision… and Vision, this is Lenore. Long story short, the Hydra program that made me what I am also made her, and she and her sister are the secret to fixing Bucky's mind." Wanda says that last part rather quick.
"Hello, Lenore. It is a pleasure to meet you." Vision smiles and extends his hand towards her. "I am an android, in case you were wondering." She extends her metal hand out and shakes his.
"It's nice to meet you too." She notices his hand feels strange, and before she can stop herself, she has flipped his hand over, and is touching his skin with her flesh hand. "Is your skin metal?" Lenore asks him, smiling.
Vision returns the smile warmly, seemingly un-phased by the intrusion "It's an organic vibranium alloy, so yes and no."
"That is cool as shit! And as a painter, I gotta tell you that this color palette you have going on here is great." She gestures to his body. She is about to continue, but she feels something off, and glances back to Wanda, who seems uncomfortable. Realizing her mistake she drops Vision's hand, "It was nice to meet you, Vision." She looks back to Wanda and smiles, "Didn't you want to show me around the place?" Wanda nods, and the two of them proceed deeper into the room. As soon as they are out of earshot of Vision, Lenore leans towards Wanda. "Sorry, didn't mean to make you jealous. He is all yours, toots." Wanda spins to look at Lenore, a surprised look on her face. Lenore smiles. "I told you I could feel strong feelings, and jealousy was wafting off of you like salt off the ocean." Lenore laughs as Wanda blushes, "Weren't you the one giving me the lecture about expressing my feelings? Doesn't that make you a giant hypocrite?" Wanda slaps Lenore lightly on the shoulder.
"I'll tell him…eventually" Wanda whispers.
"Your secret is safe with me, dear. It's only fair." Lenore replied as Natasha walks up to their corner of the common room.
"What are we doing over here? Talking about boys?" Natasha jokes.
Wanda quickly shakes her head but Lenore smirks and beats her to the answer, "Bingo."
"Which one? Vision or Bucky?" Nat asks, smiling at the reaction on both of their faces. "If you two think you can keep anything from me you are sorely mistaken."
"We should be continuing the tour," Wanda chimes back in, clearly wanting to end the boy talk, "This is the common room, and that is the kitchen. You are welcome to use anything at any time." Lenore follows Wanda and Nat out of the room, a large grand piano in the corner catching her eye as they head down the hall to the right of the entrance to the building.
Nat takes over speaking, "Here are everyone's rooms. Each has its own bathroom." She points to the first door on the left, "That one is mine." Two doors down on the right, "That is Wanda's." One door down and on the left, "Bucky's" Nat smiles, and points to the next one down, "And that is yours."
Lenore looks at her in disbelief. Nat chuckles, "I swear, it is a complete coincidence." She leans forward, unlocking the door, and opening it wide. There is a twin bed with fresh sheets, a small desk, a chest of drawers, a bookshelf, a closet and the door to the bathroom. Bigger than a dorm room, but very similar. "We will get your sizes on everything and send the staff out to get you some clothes you will like. Down the other hall is a gym, a library, and miscellaneous laboratories. Wanda can show you all that later."
Lenore looks around the room again, and then back to Nat and Wanda. "Thank you all so much for this. You really don't have to do any of it. I am more than willing to help Bucky even without all of this."
Nat smiles, "I know. But maybe after Bucky's mind is fixed you and your sister will want to stay and help the cause. You could be a great asset. You could help save a lot of people."
Lenore stares between the two women, not fully comprehending what is being asked, but Wanda's warm smile confirms it. "You…want me to be a part of your team?"
"Yeah, but only if you want to. You can think it over as long as you like, and even if you say no, you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you like…Now I will let you two get back to your boytalk. I need to go look through those files and try to find your sister."
"Thank you, Natasha."
"Call me Nat." She exits the room and moves silently down the hall. Lenore sits on the bed, and Wanda comes to sit beside her.
"I know you must be missing your sister." Wanda says, looking at the carpet.
"Yeah. So much. She is my other half. I feel lost without her here."
"I know how you feel. I was a twin too." Wanda replies sadly. "I miss Pietro every second of every day."
Lenore pulls Wanda into a tight hug. "Wanda, I am so sorry. I can't even fathom how much that would hurt. I don't know if I could survive without Lee. You are so strong to keep going"
"I keep going for him. He never stopped fighting." She smiles solemnly, "And neither will I."
"To be honest, most of the time, the only thing keeping me from putting a gun in my mouth is knowing what it would do to her….she keeps me strong even when I don't want to be." She pulls away from the hug, smiling at Wanda. "If you ever want to talk about Pietro, or Vision, or anything at all. I am here. You know where to find me." She can feel tears swell up in her eyes, and she wipes them away.
"Thank you. So much" Wanda whispers, wiping her own eyes too, before covering it up with a smile. "I saw you looking at the piano in the main room. Tony keeps one in each of his buildings. I think it is to feel closer to his mother. Nobody plays it, but I have always wanted to hear it be played."
A large grin spreads across Lenore's face. "You want to go do that?"
"I would love to." Wanda giggles, and the two of them exit the room, closing the door behind them. The two head out into the main room, advancing towards the piano. Lenore sees Bucky sitting on the couch, looking up from a book at the sound of giggling. She smiles at him, and he smiles back. The two girls sit down at the piano bench, and Lenore drags her fingers across the keys. She looks to Wanda beside her.
"What do you want me to play?"
"Whatever you want." Wanda smiles, looking giddy.
"Well, I am going to assume the most played song on your iPod is your favorite song." Her fingers begin dancing across the keys, playing a pleasant tune that Wanda recognizes instantly.
"How did you already know this? It is from a local band in Sokovia!" Wanda exclaims, looking at Lenore excitedly.
"I didn't. Learned it on the plane." Lenore smiles, looking at Wanda briefly but not pausing the song.
"You play it beautifully…perfectly. How did you learn it so quickly?"
"I have always been able to play music by ear…that talent was exacerbated by the experiments. Not the intended result, but the only result I really enjoy" She explains as the song draws to a close.
"Can you teach me a song?" Wanda asks, rather innocently.
Lenore gives Wanda a huge grin. "I would love to."