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"Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change."

Mary Shelley

Chapter Five

They had been successful in their endeavour, her tracking and Sam's tricking, resulting in them now hauling the captured Sitwell up the stairs of a building. Steve threw him through the door to the roof of the building, Natasha and Clara following behind him, Sitwell rolling onto the ground.

"What's Zola's algorithm?" Asked Steve

"Never heard of it" said Sitwell, backing up as the three of them neared him, putting his glasses back on

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"

"Throwing up, I get sea sick" said Sitwell, and Clara held in her scoff. She'd been on a boat with him. He didn't get sea sick. And she knew, he knew, that she knew that.

Sitwell's legs hit the ledge, and he started to lose balance, but Steve grabbed onto his jacket before he could fall.

"Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof?" Asked Sitwell, putting much care into not showing the slightest amount of fear, his cockiness irritating her, as she narrowed her eyes at him, "Cause, it's really not your style, Rogers"

"Your right. It's not" said Steve, letting go of Sitwell, and patting down his jacket, "But there's someone else who can't wait to throw you off this roof"

Steve stepped away from Sitwell, clearing her way. Before Clara made any movement, she made sure he could see just how angered she was by the betrayal, and when she could see the fear in his eyes, she flicked out her wrist, sending him up and over the ledge.

Clara listened to his screams as he plummeted through the air, which didn't stop even when Sam grabbed onto him. He did stop screaming, however, when Sam dropped him back onto the roof, Sam flying over to land behind them, turning around to face them, the wings of his pack folding back in. The three of them, walked over to where Sitwell lay on the ground, panting.

"Zola's algorithm is a program" said Sitwell, holding up his hand, clearly not wanting to go for another ride, not that she could blame him, falling to your death had to be her most feared scenario, followed by car crashes and heart attacks, "For choosing Insight's targets"

"What targets?" Asked Steve

"You, the DB anchor in Cairo, the other secretary of defense" said Sitwell, "High School valedictorian of Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Steven Strange. Anyone who's a threat to Hydra, now, or in the future"

"Future" said Steve, "How could it know?"

"How could it not?" Sitwell replied, accompanied by a sinister laugh, that made Clara question how she hadn't predicted his betrayal, as he clambered back up to his feet, "The 21st Century, is a digital book, Zola taught Hydra how to read it. Your bank records, credit card score, voting patterns, emails, your damn SAT scores, Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past, to predict their futures"

"And what then?" Asked Steve

"Oh my God" said Sitwell, finally realising the extent of what he'd just told them all, his eyes widening in fear, as he backed away from them," Pierce is gonna kill me"

"What then?" Repeated Steve, as Sam grabbed onto Sitwell, stopping him from moving

"Then the Insight Helicarrier scratches people off the list" said Sitwell, "A few million at a time"

Clara's chest tightened, as the gravity of his words hit her. She knew she was most definitely on the list, there wasn't a doubt about that. But she couldn't care less about herself. If she was on the list, then so were her children. Evidence linking them to her might be scarce, but she was not enough of a fool to believe that Hydra would not consider them to be a threat. She hadn't raised her children to be well intentioned extremists with god complexes.

They had to put a stop to Project Insight. If not, she couldn't bare to think of the consequences.

The five of them were travelling along in Sam's car, the squishiness of the backseat, with Natasha, Clara and Sitwell all piled in there, was made all the more awkward by the fact Clara was itching to beat the ever loving crap out of Sitwell. To say that she didn't take betrayals well, would be an understatement.

"Hydra doesn't like leaks" said Sitwell

"Then put a cork in it" Sam replied, effectively shutting him up for the moment

"Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little close" said Natasha

"I know" Steve, admitted "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarrier directly"

"What?" Asked Sitwell, "Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea"

Clara opened her mouth to reply to Sitwell, but was interrupted by the roof thumping, as something landed on it, causing a dent. The window of the car was smashed open, as a hand reached in and threw Sitwell from the vehicle.

The assailant, began to fire shots through the roof of the car. Natasha climbed over onto Steve's laps to dodge the bullets. Clara held her hands out to her side, creating a force that pushed the bullets away from her and into the seat.

Steve quickly pulled the gearstick into park, stopping the car and throwing the assailant off. She looked up through the windscreen, her heart stopping as she realised who the assailant was. The Winter Soldier.

It was like she was back in 1973, watching her lover being shot, having him bleed out in her arms. Fear had coursed through her then, when she'd been sure that it was all over for her; and the same feeling passed over her now. They were dead. She was sure of it.

"Oh my God" she said, as Natasha pulled out a gun

Before Natasha could fire a shot, the car was hit from the back, and the gun was knocked from her hand. Clara was thrown forwards, but the seatbelt she was still wearing prevent her from going flying. Unfortunately, it hurt like a bitch.

The car was pushed forwards, straight towards The Winter Soldier. Right before he was about to be hit, he flipped over the hood of the car and onto the back. Sam hit the brakes, trying to slow them down, to no avail. A metal hand broke through the windscreen, and tore the handle right out of the car, Sam yelling a very appropriate swear word.

Natasha grabbed the gun that she had dropped, firing a few shots into the roof. But The Winter Soldier had already jumped onto the truck behind them.

The car started to swerve, due to the lack of steering. Which was only made worse when the truck hit them a final time. The car hit the side, and started to flip.

"Hang on" Steve ordered Natasha, "Clara?"

"I've got it" she replied, as Steve grabbed onto Sam, before knocking out the car door and falling to the ground.

Clara pushed out her hand, causing the door to fly off, before half jumping, half falling, out of the car and onto the door. She used it as a surfboard of sorts, telekinetically pushing herself forwards, moving towards them.

Just as she reached them, something was fired at Steve. He pushed Natasha away from him, lifting up his shield to protect himself, but was knocked clear off the bridge. Clara turned her head, seeing that they were being shot at, jumped off of the door, flicking her hand to bring it up, acting as a shield.

She sent the door flying towards the shooters as she jumped onto the car Natasha was taking cover behind, joining her on the other side. She pulled out her gun and aimed for the shooters, but before she could fire, the Winter Soldier shot at the car, causing it to catch alight. Natasha jumped across onto the other lane, whilst Clara pulled over two of the empty cars, flicking her wrist to cause the car closest to the assailants to explode, giving her enough time to take cover behind the cars.

She hid behind the car, using The Winter Soldier's focus on Natasha, to give her time to move over to the edge of the bridge. She looked down, and couldn't see Steve, sighing, becauss she knew there was no other way down besides jumping. Or, as she referred to it, controlled falling.

"I hate heights" she muttered, before stepping off the bridge

Clara outstretched her arms, telekinetically slowing herself down to safely land on the ground, preventing further injury. She moved over behind a pillar, using it for cover. She readied her gun, waiting for the assailants to come down.

She heard a crash, and peered around the pillar to see The Winter Soldier strutting off the roof of a car. Watching as he walked away, her gun aimed at him, but she couldn't shoot. It was like she was frozen, unable to pull the trigger. Her eyes widened in fear, as she moved back behind the pillar, praying that he wouldn't see her. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she'd never been unable to fight, nothing had ever stopped her before. So why now?

The Winter Soldier followed after Natasha, and it was his thought that got Clara moving. She had to help Natasha. Even if she was suddenly struck with some unknown emotion preventing her from attacking. She took a deep breath, before taking off from behind the pillar. Noticing the shadows of the assailants, she splayed her fingers, causing the car closest to her to explode. The explosion allowing her to chase after Natasha and the Winter Soldier.

She gained on them, just long enough to see Natasha in mid-fight with the Winter Soldier, and she was losing. Just as Natasha was thrown to the ground, and the Winter Soldier picked up his gun to fire, Clara jumped onto the car behind him, pushing herself off to kick the gun from his hand.

"Run" she told Natasha

The Winter Soldier pulled out his knife, taking a swipe at her. She grabbed ahold of his arm, pushing it away from her, but he used his metal arm to grab onto her, pulling her against him, so that her back was pressed to his chest. He pressed the knife closer to her neck, her hands grasping around his wrist to hold it back. The blade inching closer to her skin, itching for her blood. His metal hand moved upward to grasp the handle of the knife, and she knew that if he did then she would end up with an open throat. At the same time that Clara bit down on the flesh of his hand, Natasha threw a taser disk on to his metal arm. The momentary incapacitatation of his arm allowed her free movement of hers. She dug her elbow into his chest, stepping free of his grip, throwing back her hand to send him flying back over the top of the car.

"Let's go" she said, as they began to run away

They had almost made cover behind a car, when a shot rang out, and Natasha fell to her knees. Clara pulled her against the car, as Natasha grabbed onto her shoulder. She moved her hands apart, creating a barrier around them, to protect them from any further attacks

She heard a loud crash, spinning her head to see The Winter Soldier landed on the car next to them. He aimed his gun at them, but before either of them could do anything, he was distracted by Steve running up to him.

As soon as Steve had him well distracted in their fight, Clara returned her attention to her wounded teammate. She moved Natasha's jacket over to look at her wound.

"You'll be fine" Clara told her, "Just keep pressure on it, we can stitch it up when we get outta here"

"Where's Steve?" She asked

"He's fighting" said Clara, "Stay here, I'll go help him out"

Before Natasha could contest, Clara had already moved around the car and was rushing off to help Steve. She couldn't see Steve, but she could still hear the fighting. She ran around the cars, locking her eyes on Steve, just in time to watch him flip The Winter Soldier over his back, ripping off his mask.

She was only a few feet away from Steve, when The Winter Soldier turned around, revealing his identity. And she completely froze. It couldn't be. It wasn't. There was no way. It wasn't possible. He was dead. But he was there.

"Bucky" said Steve

"Who the hell is Bucky?" He said, aiming his gun at Steve, but before he could shoot, Sam flew down and kicked him over.

Clara screamed out, and as he got up, she could've sworn she saw confused recognition on his face. But he still aimed his gun straight at them, and again he was prevented from firing, when Natasha used his own gun to shoot at him from behind them, causing the car beside him to explode.

"No" she called out, rushing forward, her heart thumping in her chest as she looked through the smoke for him, but he had disappeared.

"Steve" she said, stumbling to him, "It was, oh my god" she mumbled, as Steve put his arm around her shoulder, "But, he's...he's dead. It...it can't be, it can't be him"

Clara was in too much shock to even notice the fact that there were people coming towards them, or the fact that said people were aiming guns at her. She was only pulled back to the real world when Steve spoke her name.

"Clara, put your hands up" ordered Steve, as the men with guns come closer

"On your knees" said Rumlow, forcing them both down onto their knees, "Not here, put the gun down" he ordered Rollins, who had his gun pointed straight at Steve's head, "Not here"

Clara just stared down at the ground, as her hands were handcuffed in shackles, definitely not something you would find on your average cop. Rollins hauled her up from the ground, like she was nothing but a rag doll, to shove her into the back of a van. They were clearly expecting more resistance from her, as he seemed genuinely surprised that she was impassive whilst he pulled a metal bar around her waist, and two around her ankles, trapping her in the seat, next to Steve who was contained by his own contraption.

It was Bucky. It was her Bucky. Her James. Her husband. Who had been dead for seventy years. But he wasn't. He was there, standing in front of her, having no idea who she was. He had tried to kill her.

But Bucky wouldn't have done that, he wasn't Bucky. Not him. Not the man she loved. Whoever it was, he had Bucky's face, but not his mind. No, it wasn't her Bucky. It wasn't the man she had known and loved. It couldn't be.

He may still be alive, but Hydra had taken his mind from him, his choice, his free will. He was a shell. And she didn't know how much of him was left.

"It was him" said Steve, "He looked right at me, and he didn't even know me"

"How is that even possible?" Asked Sam, "It was like, seventy years ago"

"Zola" replied Steve, still keeping his eyes on the ground, "Bucky's whole unit was captured in 43, Zola experimented on him, whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall, they must have found him and..."

"None of that's your fault Steve" said Natasha,

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky" mused Steve

Clara wanted to cry, but found she couldn't. She'd spent so many years pushing the tears away. Convincing others that she was okay. Convincing herself. She cried all her tears, she had none left. All that was left was anger. Hydra had done this. And she would make them pay.

"We need a doctor" said Sam, "If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out in the truck"

One of the guards brandished their stick, turning out the voltage, pointing it at Sam. Before flipping it around, and stabbing it into the other guard. They kicked the guard twice, knocking him unconscious.

"That thing was squeezing my brain" said Maria, as she pulled the helmet off of her head, "Who's this guy?"

So now she knows about Bucky. How do you think she'll react? What do you think she'll do? Don't forget to vote on the poll, you can find it on my profile.

Also, check out my story A Series of Occurences, it's a spinoff series of one-shots revolving around Clara. I'd love for you all to give it a read.