Chapter 7 – The Mission (1970)
"Wake up Miss Stark." I opened my eyes and saw Williams, he was older, at least ten years older.
"Williams?"
"Miss Stark, it is now June 1970. Your mission is to keep the Winter Soldier on target. If you try to escape with him, then we will kill your newborn nephew" Williams threatened. I was in shock. Howard had a son? I'd missed so much. I'd spent fifteen years on ice this time and ten years before that. How old would Howard have been now? 53? I was meant to be 51.
"You can't keep the Winter Soldier on target yourself?" I asked.
"He gets violent with us if he's been out of cryo too long. With you, he'd be more inclined to listen to reason. Since you two were planning on getting married" Williams said, pulling something from his pocket. "I found this in his jacket when I went through his things a few years back. I was trying to find a reason that the two of you would stay and fight for each other, and I found this in the pocket of his uniform jacket." I watched as he twirled the ring between his fingers. Bucky was going to propose? I knew he was only weeks away from coming home when he was pronounced dead. Was he going to propose when he returned?
"Can I see it?" I asked, extending my hand out. Williams shook his head.
"With each mission you complete, I will give you something. Think of it as incentive to bring the Winter Soldier back here without his mind intact" Williams told me and I nodded. Was I really going to do this? Leave with Bucky and make sure we returned? I wanted that ring, I couldn't make out the inscription and I wanted to know.
"Where are we going?" I asked, accepting his offer.
"Good girl" he smiled.

I sat in the passenger seat of the car in silence as the Winter Soldier drove us north. I didn't know the entirety of the mission, but I knew the basics. I knew the target's name and that there were to be no witnesses. I wasn't sure if I could watch the Winter Soldier kill anyone, or that I could let him kill innocent people because they'd seen him. I knew for sure that I would never kill anyone…except maybe Williams. But in order to retrieve the ring, I'd made a deal, and I had to keep my end of it.
"Do you remember anything?" I asked. The Winter Soldier ignored me, or so I thought.
"No, just my mission" he replied.
"Not even your name?"
"They call me the Winter Soldier or the Asset."
"So you don't know your real name? The one your parents gave you when you were born?"
"No." I didn't want to push any further and risk him losing track of his mission. "Stark" he mumbled, making me look to him.
"What did you say?" I asked quietly.
"I remember the name Stark, and a car. You were there" he said.
"My brother's invention. You were my date" I smiled.
"They sent you with me as my handler didn't they?" I nodded and he shook his head.
"I don't know why" I said. "I can't control my ability enough to wipe your memory and force you to kill."
"I know my mission. I don't like it" he told me. I looked to him and he was watching me.
"Keep your eyes on the road. I'd very much like to stay alive" I said as I looked out the passenger side window. I couldn't let him activate any more memories, or it would be Bucky the murderer, instead of the Soldier, the Asset. I wasn't sure I could handle that.
"Lanie" he said, catching my attention again. "I called you Lanie."
"Yeah" I confirmed. "You can't remember anything else or I'll lose my brother, my nephew or you" I told him. "So please stop" I said. He was confused, I could feel it.
"Why would you lose people?"
"I've already said too much" I replied.
"You've told me your name is Stark, that you have a brother and a nephew and that we knew each other. How is that too much?"
"Because anything ca trigger a memory. I can't let you remember or I lose my chance to get-" I stopped myself.
"Get what?"
"Nothing, just keep driving and stop asking so many questions" I snapped and he flinched.

I heard a scream once the Winter Soldier killed his victim. I looked across to see a little girl and her mother hide behind a rock by the road. The Winter Soldier looked over but I stood in his path.
"No" I told him.
"But the mission-"
"They're innocent" I argued. "I can wipe them."
"Like you wiped me?" It was an accusation, not a statement.
"No, I couldn't. But I'll try with them, I can't watch anybody else die today" I told him before walking over to the two girls. They jumped in fear when they saw me.
"Please" the mother begged. I put up my hands in surrender.
"I won't hurt you" I promised. The mother still hid her daughter behind her but I pushed myself into her mind.
'You are safe. You and your daughter didn't see me or my friend here. You only just stepped onto the scene and found this man dead' I convinced her.
"I didn't see anything" the mother said mechanically. I looked to the frightened little girl, no older than four years old.
'You didn't see me or my friend here, you believe your mother when she says it too' I told the girl through my mind. She nodded and I took the Winter Soldier's hand and dragged him back to the car. Before I could get inside, the Winter Soldier turned and shot both the mother and child while I looked on, horrified.
"No" I breathed. "Why?" I asked the Winter Soldier.
"Because that's my mission" he said. I was repulsed, he'd told me he didn't like his mission, and I knew he had no control over his actions. The Winter Soldier looked like my Bucky though, and knowing that his hands had been the ones to pull the trigger to kill innocent people…I couldn't look at him the same.

When we got back to base, the Winter Soldier was taken away to give his report and be wiped again while I was taken to another room.
"You came back, that's god. Maybe we can trust you after all" Williams smiled.
"Where's the ring?" I asked. He pulled it from his pocket and handed it to me. "The Lanie to my Superman" I read aloud, a small smile formed on my lips and I held back the tears.
"Now that you've finished your mission, you can go back to sleep until the next one" Williams told me and I was walked back to the room where I was put back into cryostasis.