Chapter 3

"You did what?"

Unable to help himself, Sam smirked.

"You must be feeling your age, Cap," he replied to the Captain's shocked outburst. "You might want to get your hearing checked."

"Just hold on a minute, Sam," Captain America replied, closing his eyes for a moment and completely ignoring how Sam had just pointed out his age. "You're telling me that you saw Bucky? Here?"

"With my own two eyes, too," Falcon replied easily, crossing his arms. He had to wonder why the captain wasn't more excited. Surely he would be happy to hear that his friend was close? Of course, the Winter Soldier had punched Falcon without warning, so maybe it wasn't as happy a moment as Sam had first considered it. Sam continued talking, his voice going quiet as he realized that he was treading on sensitive ground. "I know it's hard, Cap, but he still isn't the guy you fought with. I don't know what they did to him-" Sam saw Steve stiffen and backed off slightly- "but please, dude, you gotta think about this. Maybe he doesn't want to be found by you."

"By me?" Steve repeated, giving Sam a hard look. "What do you mean by that?"

"Uh . . . " Sam cleared his throat. With all of his experience with soldiers, Sam still wasn't sure how to talk to Captain America. The guy was just too complicated, too hard to figure out when he wasn't fighting for something. "Well, you might be . . . how do I phrase this . . . painful for him."

"Painful." Steve's tone was nothing short of flat.

"You know how it is," Sam responded, keeping his voice hard. The captain had his five months of sulking; now the guy needed to suck it up. "Everyone's got a trigger, and you might be Bucky's. I doubt seeing you is doing good things in his head."

"But he did want to know my name," Steve argued back, a familiar light of stubbornness appearing in his eyes. Sam hid a smile at the sight, happy to see the captain getting his act together.

"That's true, I'll admit that much," Sam sighed, "but he still punched me."

"Maybe it was because of your personality," Steve muttered, saying it loud enough that it was obvious Sam was meant to hear it. Sam simply rolled his eyes, but he was considerably more happy than he had been that morning, even if his abdomen ached like nothing else.

"The things I'm willing to do for you, Cap," Sam groaned. "Seriously. I think this is worse than that lead in Egypt you followed the first time."

"You can't blame me for that one," Steve shot back. "It was a good lead!"

...

Nearby, the Winter Soldier listened in on what Sam and Steve were saying. Each word seemed to bounce around in his head until he could finally force them out, but he was determined to learn more about the men in the building. Vaguely, the Winter Soldier recalled the SHIELD helicarriers, how he had battled the one called Steve Rogers and the other one, Sam, and lost. After that . . . The Winter Soldier frowned, struggling to remember.

Had he saved Steve Rogers? He couldn't remember . . .

A flash of pain in his skull forced the Winter Soldier to his knees, clutching at his head. Why did his head hurt so much?

"Just stay still. This will only hurt a lot."

"Agh!" The Winter Soldier squeezed his hands so tightly a small amount of blood seeped out from between his fingers. "Get out of my head!" The memory didn't respond, it only faded back to wherever it had come from.

It took him a while to calm down, but eventually the Winter Soldier was back to normal. For a moment, he waited to see if the men in the building near him had heard anything, but there was no sign to indicate that they had. He let out a breath. It had been hard enough to avoid Steve Rogers before, but now that he was curious, it was only getting more difficult.

There was something about Steve Rogers that stirred the Winter Soldier's mind and brought back memories. He couldn't explain how or why, but he knew that this Steve Rogers was a link to his forgotten past, back before he was a weapon for Hydra.

"For a highly skilled assassin, you sure don't keep your guard up."

The Winter Soldier had no time to react as a small dart pierced the skin around his neck. Instantly, he ripped it out, but not before the sedative contained within the needle of the dart was injected into his body. Almost immediately, his world began to blur, but not before he saw a black-clothed, red-haired woman step out of the shadows, the gauntlets on her wrists glowing a faint blue that was already fading.

"You . . . shot me," the Winter Soldier said. How had he been so careless?

His anger soon faded as he went unconscious.

...

"Steve!" Natasha, better known as Black Widow, pounded on the door of the wooden cabin. "If you don't open this door, I swear-!" She was abruptly cut off as the door swung open, but instead of Steve it was his friend, Sam Wilson.

"Natasha?" He said, one of his eyebrows shooting up. "What brings a girl like you all the way out here?"

"Save it, Falcon," Natasha snapped. "I've got a bit of baggage that I really need to unload."

Sam's gaze wandered beyond Natasha and his eyes widened considerably when he saw what she was hauling. A familiar silver arm shone in the light of the sun.

"You . . . caught him," Falcon said numbly, so surprised he couldn't even act shocked. "And when did you get here?"

"When you suddenly turned off your comm unit, director Fury sent me in. You know, damage control." She gave him her signature smirk and then pushed past Falcon, dragging the unconscious form of the Winter Soldier behind her. "If you'll excuse me," she called back sarcastically.

"You better not scratch the floor!" Sam yelled back, slamming the door and following Natasha into the small sitting area. Steve was there, his expression nothing short of priceless when he saw the Black Widow dragging the Winter Soldier through his living room.

"I don't suppose you have something I can restrain him with," Natasha said, the sentence both a statement and a question. Her piercing eyes missed nothing as she examined the house, but her calculating gaze gave nothing of her thoughts away. Without a word, Steve pointed to a small closet. Nodding her acknowledgement, Natasha walked over to the closet, opened it, and pulled out a heavy metal chair. It took her more than a little effort to drag the chair over to the Winter Soldier, and even longer to maneuver the unconscious man into a sitting position. "I'm not going to ask you where you got this or why you have it," Natasha grunted, fastening the metal restraints, "because I have a feeling the answer is not one I want to hear."

"Just go with that," Falcon muttered. "Don't listen to me. Just drag the heavy metal chair over the nice wood flooring!"

"Will you shut up about the flooring!" Widow yelled, getting up in Falcon's face. The stubborn man held her gaze, a determined glint in his eyes that was mirrored by Natasha's.

"Guys," Steve sighed, rubbing his face. "I think you're forgetting about everyone else in the room."

The two quickly separated, taking seats on chairs opposite of one another. Sam had an annoyed expression on his face, while Natasha wore a mask of cool indifference. However, Steve saw right through it. She was just as annoyed as Falcon, and twice as disturbed by the unconscious man between them.

"Steve," Sam asked, "you okay? I mean, the lady did just drag the Winter Soldier into our house."

"I've been through worse, Sam," Steve replied, leveling the Winter Soldier with a gaze that was impossible to interpret. "I just . . . can't believe it. He's right in front of me, but I can't talk to him."

"Let's not forget that he probably doesn't remember you, Cap," Natasha put in dryly, though her tone was not hurtful. "No offense, but Hydra did a pretty good number on your friend. I'm not sure if he'll remember anything."

"He will," Steve insisted, staring at his old friend. "I know it."

The unconscious man groaned, beginning to come to.

Wow, I got two reviews! Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback, I really appreciate it!

As a side note to one of my reviewers, I will be cutting down on the language. I can understand how it would draw back on the story and characters as they were presented in the movie.

Please continue to review if you can!

-RoR