I'm not even going to apologize for writing this in 30 minutes. Here we go again!

Awesomesaurs: Yay! I'm glad!

Tiphanie: Yeah, I had to throw some things in there to make it seem less rushed. And Bucky doesn't have his full memory back. I'll touch on it a little in this chapter.

musicluvr246: Yes! Because I can't stop writing! I have too many ideas!

Hannah: Yes, Anna is the same person in every part of every chapter. I'll clarify some dates, and it gets touched on a little in this chapter too, later on when some truths start coming to light. Yeah, that's some Stucky in there. I hated Stucky at first, but then I fell into that trash can and I can't help it! And this one takes place after TWS, but it ignores Age of Ultron and CW. It's gonna take a different turn.

Guest: She's got some pretty cool gadgets we haven't seen yet. Just you wait. Just you wait. (Yeah, I quoted Hamilton again.) And yay! I'm glad you're interested! Love you too!

Enjoy!

1986

Anna laid on her back on her small bed in the HYDRA facility. It was the middle of the night, the base quiet aside from the occasional shuffle from the guard keeping watch. There was a small amount of light coming through the door, enough that she could see the bruises on her wrists. Her collar hummed in her ear, annoying her enough that she wanted to rip it off. But she knew if she tried, it would be a world of pain for her. She'd been through enough pain.

Her arm started itching, not a burning itch, but more like a tickle. Like there was something crawling on her. She looked down at her arm, watching as small squiggles appeared on her skin. She sat up, gasping slightly at the pain that erupted in her ribs, but she paid it no mind as she moved closer to the door, trying to get better light. She held her arm up, watching more marks appear. Uneven, shaky lines of blue, green and red.

For the longest time she thought she didn't have a soulmate. When she was younger, she'd hoped she'd find her soulmate and live a long, happy life with him. He'd provide for her, they'd have a family, and live happily ever after. But it didn't matter how many times she tried to write or draw on her skin, she never got a response. Her mother tried to console her, tell her to not give up. But she gave up when she was 15, and still didn't get an answer. There was no way she could be 15 years older than her soulmate. Maybe she was broken. Maybe she didn't have one.

But she hadn't counted on being taken by HYDRA when she was 21. She hadn't planned on being frozen at 25, unable to age. She should be pushing her 50's. She should have been married, living a decent life with a man. She should have had children of her own, grandchildren even. But yet, here she was. Stuck in hell, with a soulmate 40- plus years younger than her.

She watched the lines disappear, picturing his mother washing the marker off his arms, scolding him, telling him not to write on his arms, because he's getting his soulmate in trouble too. She smirked, scoffing at herself. If only his mother knew.

2015

"Why did you really do this?"

"Like I said. I'm not completely heartless. And because..." She swallowed the emotions. Don't show them weakness. "Because at least one HYDRA prisoner deserves happiness. And out of all of us, I think Bucky deserves it the most. My great-grandfather used to talk about you, when I was a kid. How brave you were. How heroic. How everyone thought you were dead. But when I was...with HYDRA...I heard about you. And when I saw you for the first time, only in passing, I knew it was you. I knew you weren't dead. And when Cap came out of the ice...I thought...maybe things could go back to normal. You could be together again. I don't care if HYDRA finds me." She shrugged. "I've got nothing else to lose."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

Anna shook her head, staring down at the table. "Can I go now?"

"Do you know where you're going to go?" Bucky asked.

She shrugged. "I'll leave the city, bum my way down the coast. Maybe leave the country."

"We can't just let you go out on your own." Steve said. "You're a kid. You've got a lot to live for."

"No." She shook her head, a hard look on her face. "No I don't. I got nothin'. You two's got each otha." An accent started slipping through as she got mad, an accent Steve hadn't heard in a long time. "Me...I got myself. I don't need nothin' else. Much less a handout from Stark."

"It wouldn't be a handout." Tony said, standing behind Steve and Bucky. "I've seen you're good with mechanics. You scaled a glass building for christ sake, and managed to read and understand pages and pages of complex information about possibly the most advanced piece of technology I've ever seen. I could always use an assistant in the labs."

"I can't take somethin' like that. There's hundreds of otha people out there far more qualified for that."

"You really want to turn down a job offer from Tony Stark?" Tony gave her a look.

"Well...no. But-"

"Great. You start Monday. You can have a guest room while we set up something more permanent. JARVIS will iron out the details, we'll get you on payroll, get some of the essentials while we wait. It'll be fun. You can show me how you scaled forty stories up a glass building."

She wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but Anna knew they didn't understand how much danger they were putting themselves in by having her there.

She sat there open mouthed as Tony left, tapping away vigorously at a tablet. "What just happened?" She asked, not quite processing what had just transpired.

Steve and Bucky shared a look, before turning back to the flabbergasted girl in front of them.

"I think you just became an employee of Stark Industries." Steve said. "But you know we still don't trust you."

"Right." She laughed. "You're keeping me here so you can watch me. Make sure I don' run back ta HYDRA and tell 'em where you are. Make sure I'm really tryin' ta help." She leaned back, smirking at them. "Ya don' have ta sugar coat things, Cap. I'm a big girl. I can handle the truth."

'Captain Rogers, Mr. Stark insists that Miss Hanover retire to her room, and suggests you do the same.' JARVIS interrupted them, both Bucky and Anna jumping slightly.

Steve eyed them both, swallowing the lump in his throat. It had taken him some time to get used to JARVIS, but he could only imagine what was going through both their heads. He knew what HYDRA was capable of doing. He only got small views from Bucky, who wasn't keen on letting anyone in, something Sam was trying to work on, along with his psychiatrist. Maybe they could offer Anna a chance to talk to at least Sam once she got settled in. He knew she was going to be hard headed like Bucky. She was a Brooklyn gal, she wasn't going to let up easy.

Anna to her room with JARVIS help. There were some clothes on the bed, courtesy of Miss Romanoff, JARVIS had told her, until they could get her some of her own items. She hadn't packed anything, not expecting to get caught, for one, or to be thrown into a job and be staying at Stark Tower. But she didn't blame them. She wouldn't trust herself either, if she were on the outside.

She sat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling for a while. She knew she wasn't going to sleep. She didn't need much to function. Not anymore. HYDRA had taken away a lot of necessary needs for her. Food, water, sleep, all needs diminished to practically nothing. She shrugged out of her jacket, getting off the bed to search for a pen. If she wasn't going to sleep, the least she could do was see if her soulmate was up, wherever he was in the world.

She didn't even know his name, and he didn't know hers. She'd been talking to him since he was little. She knew a lot about him, but he knew next to nothing about her, and she wanted to keep it that way.

What are you doing? She wrote on the inside of her left forearm. She laid on the bed for a while, waiting for a response. It was early morning, just past 5:00. The sky was starting to lighten, the world waking up. Well, the normal world waking up. This was New York. It was always moving. Always awake. Kind of like her.

'About to go to the gym.' Popped up under her writing. His writing was neat, for a man's. Legible, she should say. 'How did you sleep?' Showed up under that.

Same as usual. She replied, snapping the cap back on the pen.

'You know, sleep deprivation has some ugly side effects.' She bit her lip, sighing. They'd had this conversation many times.

I wish I didn't know it. But I do.

'Maybe one day I'll be able to help you with that.'

She laughed as a winky face appeared next to the words. But her smile fell, knowing it was nothing more than a dream. A small hope that was nothing more than a wish for her darkest times. She knew she could never be with him. It was selfish of her, but she knew she was dangerous, and she wasn't going to risk his life like that. She cared about him, she really did. There were times she wished she could be there to hold him, let him know it was going to be okay. That pain was only temporary. Something she understood very well.

But she knew she couldn't ever be with him. Not how he wanted. She hoped maybe he could find someone who could offer him a future. A life. Because she knew, no matter how hard she tried, she could never give him that. She couldn't offer him anything. She was useless to him.