As her body slept in a pain-induced mini coma, the man from the cylinder had did as she requested. He was careful to pop her shoulder back into place, resulting in The Shadow Stranger to moan sorely. She had muttered while he operated on her; a few sentences of an unknown town of Mountain Pass, something about a book, and the constant apologizing. He quickly stitched up her stomach, as it was the easiest to get to. The girl's shoulder blade was tender and bruised, discolored from the dislocation. Every time he would touch the delicate skin, the girl would wince and twitch a little, other than that, she didn't move. Her blood was slowing as her heart would relax, making it easier to clean. Without remorse, he pinched the sore skin together to use a needle to pierce the bloody pieces closer. The girl underhand moaned again and uttered, "I deserve this."

Disregarding her statement, he finished her second bullet scrapping. As he finished her torso, he bent her right knee to a 90 degree angle. Cutting her wore jeans above the impaled knife and resorted to use his belt to slow the blood flow to her lower leg, he wiggled the dagger, to determine if the blade had reached her bone or any ligaments. Without batting an eye, the man adjusted his grip on it, and yanked it out. She tensed up again, grinding her teeth and digging her nails into her palms. Throwing the knife to the side, he hastily patched it up; cleaning it, sewing it shut, and wrapping gauze tightly around her knee, to hinder her movement and accidentally ripping it open. Once he stopped all of the obvious wounds, he silently wondered why she had passed out; the injuries couldn't have caused that.

Her bleeding had completely stopped, and her breathing was slowing to a normal pace. As gently as he could, attempting to avoid providing her more discomfort, he picked her up and carried her to the device opposite side of the room. Kicking the seat from an upright position to a more horizontal one, he laid her down. Unsure of his next order, he pulled the chair from the desk and computer. Glancing up at the monitor, he noticed that it was reading as the cryo stasis chamber was still locked. Raising an eyebrow, he knew better than to question a commanding officer. Rather than to continue to investigate, he brought the chair over to the unconscious girl, and patiently waited for her to wake up.

An unknown amount of time had elapsed while The Shadow Stranger had fallen into her current state. The first thing had began her short path to the waking life was the odor of cleaning alcohol; it was strong and coating her nostrils with the recognizable scent. Wrinkling her nose, her mind had started to reboot. What came next was her pain receptors, her knee was constricted and she could barely move it. As if a ton of bricks had hit her left shoulder, her entire arm pulsated and any type of muscle contraction ended in misery. She could vaguely feel the stitches in her stomach, but the majority of her attention was focused on her throbbing shoulder and aching knee. After a few short moments of bombarding torment, her large, green eyes started to flutter. A ceiling light was shining directly into her emerald orbs, leaving her vision to be spinning and foggy. Through unfocused eyes, The Shadow Stranger used her uninjured arm to shield her dilated pupils from the bright bulbs. Groaning under distress, from the unsuspected light and agony in her shoulder and knee, she ungraciously leaned forward. Her head was swimming and her body ached; the last thing she could clearly remember was plummeting down the elevator shaft. That wasn't a pleasant memory.

"Holy crap," she slid her legs to the floor, hoping to find some way to stabilize her spinning head by planting her feet firmly on solid ground. Holding her head as securely as she could with one functioning hand, she took deep breaths in hopes to cease the room from dancing in her eyes.

When the room remained still, she looked to the walls in order to find something that would jog her memory. She quickly found the circular entrance with the vertical bars. Creeping her head across the narrow horizon, she found the cylinder in the corner; her mind instantly remembered that a man was trapped inside. However, the chamber was open. From the corner of her eye, she realized that someone was intently watching her.

Snapping her head to her observer, The Shadow Stranger finally saw the man in the chamber face to face. With a stern face, strong jaw and fierce eyes, the man remained silent as he studied the girl. The absolute dead serious eyes locked on her made her immediately uncomfortable; although, he wasn't doing anything, just simply scrutinizing her actions. His brown hair was parted down the middle and his cloths were thickly made and formed to his impressive muscles. She barely had time to adequately marvel at his physique before discovering his left arm; it was completely robotic. Metal was coiled and shaped to mimic natural human biceps, triceps, and forearm. He seemed already at peace with his extended arm, but The Shadow Stranger couldn't pry her eyes away from it. A large red star was imprinted on the shoulder, while the rest of the mechanically arm was glistening miraculously.

"Woah," she gasped in awe, "Is that a robot arm?"

The man didn't answer her, just continued to stare at her.

The Shadow Stranger readjusted herself to sit incorrectly on her bench to face the man, wincing in discomfort when she moved her shoulder or knee. "That's impressive," she referred to his left arm, "Did you make it?"

Still, no answer.

"Can you feel when someone touches it?"

Silence was his native tongue.

Aching from the variety of pain, The Shadow Stranger was grumpy and wanted to better understand this man and her situation; obviously, he was in the chamber for a reason, something caused him to replace his arm, and she deeply wondered if she was still under Director Fury's jurisdiction or not. Was she even in SHIELD Headquarters anymore? The technology around the room suggested that she wasn't, but she could recall jumping straight through her portal and falling in the shaft. Who was this man?

"Can you talk?" she inquired, a bit more harsh than she wanted.

He cocked his head slightly, "Yes."

"Okay, good," she nodded at him, trying her best to not sound sour. She attempted to roll her left shoulder, but that only resulted in a stinging reminder of her plunge. "Please, feel free to answer me."

He didn't say anything, so The Shadow Stranger was left to hope that he would respond to her future questions.

Pushing wavy locks of hair behind her ear, she inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying her best to cope with such constant pain. "Alright, where am I?"

A small hesitation before answering, but he did explain, "My cryostasis control room."

"And you are?"

"The Winter Soldier."

"Okay," she could vaguely remember reading an online article about a conspiracy with those words, but it was years ago and she could barely relive what had brought her to this room. "Are you with SHIELD?"

"HYDRA," he corrected.

The Shadow Stranger had never heard of them. She wasn't too concerned about an organization that she's never heard of as she was thrilled about successfully evading SHIELD.

Exhaling sharply, as if a heavy weight has been lifted off her chest, The Shadow Stranger relaxed her tense muscles and lowered her guard.

"Fantastic," she muttered under her breath. "Honestly, that's probably the best news I've had in a while. So, what's your name?"

He hesitated again, this time, she was able to detect a slight emotional ping in his eye. "I'm The Winter Soldier."

"You've said that," she averted her gaze from the man to the gauze wrapped around her knee, carefully tapping to pinpoint the wound, "That's a title, codename, euphemism," she clarified. When he didn't reply, she tried to explain in a different matter, "I have one like that; The Shadow Stranger. But, I still have a name. Erin Memmott," she brought her eyes back to him. Rather than his demanding glare to be hounding on her, she saw him looking away a little, as if being entranced by a deep thought. "What's your's?"

"I don't know," he muttered.

Erin bit her lip as she realized that he was being genuine. She must have hit a nerve. Although he had such an intimidating demeanor, there was something hidden inside.

"Uh," she cleared her throat to regain his attention, "Don't worry about it, I can just call you The Winter Soldier, no problem." Erin gave a weak smile while his facial features resulted back to default; strong, coerce, and still. In a desperate attempt to move forward from the previous topic, she lifted her ragged shirt to fully examine her stomach. "Great patch work on my injuries. Very clean and tight; military precision?" The Winter Soldier didn't answer, so she continued, "I've seen this technique before; my grandfather was in World War II as a medic. He tried to teach this to me, but I usually got too queasy at pinching the skin together before I could ever get the needle through." From the memory of her grandfather, she recalled the harsh way as how he died; so she changed the subject again. She looked back to The Winter Soldier and realized that he never informed her about his arm. "May I see your arm?"

Without speaking, he pushed his chair closer to her and held his left arm to her. She used her left hand to steady his wrist and allowed her more capable arm to run her fingers up and down the metal. Small grooves lay in between each coil of metal, perfectly sculpted muscle forms acted and reacted normally, contracting and relaxing when he adjusted his arm. Slightly twisting his wrist, he followed her lead and allowed her to see the other side. Utilizing just the tips of her fingers, she gently caress his robot arm. "Can you feel that?"

Instead of speaking, he used his free hand to grab her's, effectively stopping her from tracing along his arm. He silently told her that he could.

"Fascinating," she muttered. Erin released his wrist and he let her hand go. "Where are my manners? Here I've been asking you all these questions, and you probably have some for me."

The Winter Soldier didn't answer her.

"Really? You're not curious at all?"

No reply.

She sighed a little, getting the impression that she had already overstayed her welcome. "Okay, no biggie," Erin used her right arm and left leg to push herself to stand up, "It was a pleasure meeting you," she offered her hand to him. He stood up and gave her extended arm a quizzical look. Eventually, he used his human hand to grab her's; she smiled and lightly shook. "I greatly appreciate your help. If you ever need anything, just ask." When he remained quiet, Erin concluded the handshake and allowed her hand to drop freely. "So, I'll be seeing you?"

The Shadow Stranger stepped away from The Winter Soldier and rested a palm on the wall. She felt his gaze on her as she focused her manipulation to create a long distant portal; it was a bit trickier to make than simply walking through a wall. Erin concentrated on one of her safe houses scattered across the country. The one in Boston was compromised, that's where SHIELD had located her. Dallas was the most metropolitan area, hopefully she could disappear there for a while. The shadows in the nearby area were dragged to under her palm, whirling together and stretching large enough for a portal to be made. Normally, the portals were simply black when she wanted to step through a wall; but, travelling across the nation seemed to open a window from where she was to where she wanted to go. Her apartment within the busy city was revealed to her and The Winter Soldier. Once the connection was made, she glanced over her shoulder back to her savior.

Pressing her index finger to her thin lips, she made a shushing sound and winked at him. Again, he didn't say anything. Ignoring his silence, Erin Memmott easily stepped through her portal and immediately into her lightly furnished apartment. Once her body was completely through, the portal faded behind her, closing her connection from Dallas to The Winter Soldier's cryostasis control room. That was the last she ever expected to see him.

Four and a half weeks passed and Erin was determine to lose SHIELD from tailing her. She had immediately chopped off her long hair and styled it wild. Easily obtaining a resident ID and driver license, Erin was hiding under the name of Riley Combs. She knew that using her abilities to break into bank vaults was one way SHIELD could narrow down her location, so that was out of the question. Acquiring a steady job was a foreign concept to her; even when she was a teenager she never had a job. The closest thing was doing chores around the house for a few dollars. Nine to five workforce wasn't her style.

Erin also suspected that Director Fury and Agent Romanoff described in detail about her shadow talents; using that in public would also help them track her down. Up until her arrest, she had relied on the shadows for quite a lot, sneaking into banks, quick escapes, even unlocking her front doors. It was painfully difficult, but she forced herself to stop using her powers altogether. The only time she felt truly safe to practice was in her apartment; she would perform regular sweeps and checks to ensure it wasn't bugged, then she would sit alone in the dark to subcome to the shadows around her.

Restarting a secret life with the injuries she sustained from the SHIELD agents took a while to get used to. She walked with a limp and avoided putting any type of pressure on her shoulder. The stitches were removed two weeks after, just as the scabs were beginning to form on the tiny holes. While biting her bottom lip, and with a stiff drink within reach, she would yank the stitches out as fast as she could. As her lip became tender and sore, tiny trails of blood dotted her shirt. Another swig of Jack for the second bullet grazing.

Acquiring a decent means of income quickly became a burden. Her reserve money was running low and she's been neglecting to eat. Erin was paranoid of how much access SHIELD had and was willing to do to find her; who knows, they could have a squad of agents monitoring every city. Getting a job was too risky because online applications and employee records left tabs on her, and simply walking into a bank vault was how they found her in the first place. An idea finally came to her when she was skimming through the channels; cyber hacking. She was always quick on the pickup of new things, and if she kept the money she would forward into her account very modest, perhaps SHIELD wouldn't notice. They were concerned with her physical appearance; hopefully she could figure out how to hack into others' bank accounts and send money her way without red flagging anything. She would wander the various aisles of her food market, electronic shops, and retail outlets, profiling people who could easily look over a missing hundred dollars. The largest amount she ever took was six hundred and that was because she needed to restock her food supply. It was a confusing journey at first, then Erin became a computer whizz and was able to simply scan the internet for modest paychecks. She kept track of everyone who had ever graciously loaned her money; when SHIELD was off her back, she would return the money. Despite what they had assumed of her, Erin wasn't a bad guy, she always repaid her debts.

Once she had a nice cushion of money, she radically altered her wardrobe. SHIELD was searching for a woman with long, wavy black hair and green eyes; now she had wild hair with reading glasses. No longer wearing men clothing, she dressed in form fitting jeans and tanktops with a hat or headband; she prayed that was her appearance would keep them away. However, no matter what, she would have to infiltrate their HQ; she had to get her book. It wasn't safe in anyone's possession other than her own; this was told to her. Even though she was the only one who could read it, other's would come for it. SHIELD couldn't protect it. She knew she would have to plan retrieving the tome back precisely, but she couldn't do that before her wounds had fully healed.

In case she would need alibas for something, Erin planned to volunteer at a homeless shelter every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. It was a Wednesday night when she was walking back to her apartment. It was unseasonably cold outside, so she kept her hands buried in her thin jacket pockets. Along with forty other people, they entered the same train on 5th street and rode north. Erin was lucky enough to snake a seat from an elder man once he got off the transit. While she watched the riders walk off and get on, she noticed a man looking at her. He wore a jacket and kept his baseball cap leaned forward, to conceal his face. She observed his upright posture and statue-like form. Her heart dropped, immediately realizing that SHIELD had found her.

Instead of getting off at the correct stop, Erin squeezed herself out of the train. While pretending to adjust her hair, she saw the man walk off too. Well damn, she thought, They found me. Rolling her eyes and acting as calm as she could, The Shadow Stranger braced herself and began to walk down the most confusing path as possible. Taking sharp turns and essentially going in a giant circle, she planned to hide down an alley corner and get the jump on him. It was odd that Director Fury had sent only one agent, maybe it was Tony Stark in disguise? Would he really resort to sending one of The Avengers after her? She wasn't a cold blooded criminal.

Erin rolled into a dark alley in between two tall buildings and compressed herself as small as she could behind a parked car. She kept her shadow hidden as the man turned down the same alley. Got ya now. He stepped just beyond the tail end of the car and she jumped at him. Faster than she could realize, he twisted around, low swept her footing, and pinned her to the wall. She wasn't prepared for such swift reflections. With a thick arm pressed against her throat she held up her hands in surrender; hoping to convince the agent that he was tailing an innocent girl.

"Oh God, please don't hurt me!" she begged. "I didn't do anything!"

"Quiet!" he hissed at her.

Through facade green eyes, Erin silently plead to him, still hoping to resolve this conflict without her shadows.

"Stop that," he muttered, tilting his head away.

The light from the side door of the restaurant shone onto his cheek, she could see some stumble. He wasn't with SHIELD, their agents had to be clean shaven everyday; unless he was undercover.

"Erin, stop," he said again.

Her pleading eyes immediately snapped to one of pure horror, "How the hell did you know-"

"You told me," he picked up his head and revealed his face; under the stumble and extra shadow cast from the cap, she realized it was The Winter Soldier.

"Son of a bitch," she uttered under her breath. "How did you find me?! Does anyone else know?"

"It's what I do, and no. Just me."

"That's reassuring; oh, and I read up on your HYDRA. I want nothing to do with them."

"Now you know how I feel."

He pulled his arm away from her throat and took a step back. Erin dusted her jacket, keeping her hands close to the wall, in case she needed to get away fast.

"What do you mean?"

The Winter Soldier glanced up and down the alley way while placing his hands back in his pockets. "It isn't safe out here, let's head to your place." He turned from her and began to lead the way to her apartment. She hesitated before chasing after him.