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If you're curious how I imagined Ilona to look, check out my profile. Scroll down to "Story Images" until you get to Winter's Persuasion. Click on the link "Ilona Farkas."

More foreign languages in this chapter. Translations in the end note. Again, I only speak English and Hungarian fluently, so the Russian may or may not be totally correct. I apologize for that.

Summary: Ilona meets the Winter Soldier.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 2: Stairwell Scuffle

Budapest, Hungary

Whenever Ilona returned home, she was struck by the stark difference between Hungary and East Germany. Poverty was a standard of Sovietism, but, in the 1980s, it was much more pronounced in the GDR than in her country. Prior to the war, Berlin was a bustling and wealthy metropolis, full of culture and history. The Allied bombings had taken their toll, but as West Berlin slowly rebuilt and regained its splendor, East Berlin stagnated in communist mire. It earned the dubious honor of being the home of the Stasi, arguably the most terrifying of all the communist intelligence agencies.

Gratitude was not a common emotion in the Soviet satellite states, but Ilona felt it every time her plane touched down in Budapest.

"Sikerült?"

The question pulled Ilona from her thoughts, and she looked up as her superior sat down across from her. Mariana Almássy was a formidable woman, not only because she was head of the Hungarian Counter-Soviet Agency. She towered over many of her male colleagues and had been one of the deadliest spies in the HCSA. New recruits still whispered about her assassination of Mátyás Rákosi's right hand man.

"Sikerült," she replied, handing Mariana the folders from the Leipzig facility. While Ilona spoke, Mariana read through the files. "A fájlok szerint, Hydra már rég óta-egészen a második világ háború óta-gyárt szuperkatonákat." She pulled the vial of blue serum from her coat pocket and set it on the table. "Ezzel a szérummal hozzák létre őket."

"The prototype," said Mariana, "this Winter Soldier." She glanced up at Ilona, her expression inscrutable. "He's responsible for the assassinations of József Dudás and even John F. Kennedy."

"Yes. Both were vocal anti-communists, but Hydra is not, by definition, a communist organization," Ilona pointed out. "So why were Dudás and JFK deemed such high-level targets?"

"They were set to change the status quo in their respective countries," Mariana explained. "Had either one of them lived, he would've enacted changes that would have weakened communism and therefore Hydra."

"Right," said Ilona, understanding, "because after the defeat of Nazi Germany, Hydra got its support from the Soviet Union."

Mariana nodded, and her tone grew even more somber than usual.

"Now that we know about the existence of the super soldiers, we believe the Soviets are going to use them for another assassination."

Ilona met Mariana's stormy gaze. The older woman was nigh unflappable. If something had managed to unsettle her, it was a serious matter indeed.

"Who?"

"Imre Pozsgay."

"Jézusom," breathed Ilona. "If Pozsgay is killed, Hungary will be like East Germany."

"Which is what Hydra and the Soviet Union want," Mariana affirmed. "Even as Minister of Culture, Pozsgay has been slowly swaying public opinion against Sovietism, and now he's been earmarked as the next MP. We need to intercept the Hydra assassin." She pointed at Ilona. "You need to."

"Do we know when Hydra is planning to strike?"

"Our asset in Moscow believes it will happen within the week," Mariana said. "Tail Pozsgay, keep an eye on him, but don't be seen. Meanwhile, our scientists will examine the super soldier serum." Ilona nodded and stood. Mariana followed suit, stopping the younger woman from leaving with a hard look and a hand on her arm. "You cannot fail, Ilona."

The agent smiled grimly. "When have I ever?"

#

Ilona hated stake-outs. They were dull, tiresome, and mind-numbing, which was a dangerous combination when one had to prevent a super soldier from murdering an important member of the Hungarian Politburo.

That confounded Ilona. For thirty-eight years, the HCSA had been clandestinely working against the Soviets, both domestically and internationally, gradually chipping away at their influence. And now one of their best agents was sitting in a car on Rippl-Rónai Street, peering through binoculars at an apartment building across the street, to protect a communist. She scowled, not appreciating the irony.

The road was quiet, lined with trees and dominated by Neo-Renaissance mansions that had been repurposed as multi-family homes in the 1950s. The sleepy neighborhood was not an ideal place for a fight, but neither, for that matter, was a busy street.

While she waited for her target to exit the building, she thought. There was nothing else to do, and the circumstances certainly warranted consideration. A counter-soviet agency was about to save a communist. But this particular communist was nearly as anti-Soviet as the HCSA was, and he was in a position to change Hungary's lot for the better. The reforms he'd enacted as Minister of Culture alone had been enough to rankle the Kremlin into ordering his death. So Ilona would do her damndest to ensure Pozsgay lived to become MP. He was the first step to her country finally deposing its Soviet overlords.

"Communism makes for strange bedfellows," she muttered, unwrapping her téliszalámi sandwich and taking a large bite of it, "including communists themselves."

The next three days passed in much the same way. Ilona would alternate day and night shifts with another agent, discreetly following Imre Pozsgay wherever he went, from walking his children to school in the morning to his meetings with the Politburo. The HCSA had undercover agents in the Politburo who took over surveillance while Pozsgay was at work. That was when Ilona stretched her legs and restocked her supplies.

It was during one of those breaks that she caught sight of the Winter Soldier. Parked in her usual spot outside Pozsgay's apartment building, Ilona was changing the radio station, when a sudden chill ran down her spine. On instinct, she glanced towards the building. The sun had set hours ago, so only the wan light of a street lamp illuminated the surrounding area. Through the binoculars, she saw a man, bedecked in black, enter Pozsgay's house.

Ilona grabbed her gun and sprinted across the street to follow the assassin inside. Pozsgay wasn't home yet, but his family was, which sent another chill down her spine. It was a favorite method of the Soviets to punish an entire family for one person's "crimes." Although the HCSA had deemed Pozsgay's wife and children as acceptable, albeit regrettable, collateral damage, Ilona had always been a bit soft-hearted. Mariana considered it a weakness, but Ilona stubbornly clung to it.

Just as she stubbornly clung to the door knob as the front door was ripped from its hinges. On the other side stood the Winter Soldier, in all his fearsome splendor. His face was half-concealed by a mask covering his nose and mouth, and his eyes were smudged with black camouflage war paint, but Ilona nevertheless recognized him from his file. She was granted an instant to observe him, before his arm shot out.

Ilona ducked and landed a kick to his abdomen that had no effect on him. She dodged his next attack, as well, aiming her gun at his head. He avoided the bullets with super-human reflex and was on her in the blink of an eye, his left fist connecting with her stomach. Reeling back, Ilona felt the air whoosh out of her lungs, and she bit back a groan of pain. Had she been able to think clearly, she would have realized that he'd punched her with his metal arm. But in her dazed state, the only things she was capable of doing were leaning against the wall and clutching her bruised midsection.

It was the Makarov pistol aimed at her head that finally brought clarity. Ignoring the throbbing in her gut, she pushed off from the wall, gaining enough momentum to wrap her legs around the super soldier's waist and use them to flip herself up and over his torso. With her thighs bracketing his head, she sat securely atop his shoulders and squeezed. His hands instantly locked on her hips, trying to dislodge her, but Ilona sent her knee into his face, breaking his nose and distracting him so that she could tighten her legs around his neck. The man may be physically enhanced, but even super soldiers needed oxygen. If she could hold on long enough, he would fall unconscious from hypoxia.

But the fight was over before it had really begun. No matter how strong her thighs were or how fiercely she attacked him, the Winter Soldier pulled her off him as if she were a rag doll. His bionic hand wrapped around her neck, lifting her off the ground. Dangerous, blue eyes, ringed in black, stared back at her, and he watched her green eyes for signs of her impending suffocation.

Then a hand was touching his cheek.

"Vy ne tolko Zimniy Soldat," Ilona wheezed. "Vvy James Buchanan Barnes. Amerikanskiy." The assassin's grip tightened just slightly, prompting her to switch to English. "Y-you don't want to hurt me."

His eyes widened, losing their cold glint, and he was suddenly very aware of the delicate flesh beneath his metal palm. Releasing Ilona, the assassin stumbled back, gasping for breath, as if he'd been the one nearly strangled to death. He was taking in his surroundings, his panicked gaze flicking between the stairwell and the woman slumped against the far wall, with a hand-shaped bruise on her neck.

Ripping off the half-mask, he touched the drying blood on his upper lip, tracing its origin to his broken nose. A gun with a silencer lay on the ground, and two spent bullet casings sat nearby. He stared at Ilona.

"James," he murmured, testing the name on his tongue. "Not James." A faraway look replaced the panic in his eyes, and his features softened. "My name is Bucky."

1. Sikerült? is Hungarian for "Were you successful?"

2. Mariana Almássy is Hungarian (obviously) and is pronounced MAH-ree-ah-na (with the r rolled) AHL-mahhh-shee (the á makes a sound roughly like the "ahhh" when a doctor tells you to open your mouth. Or, like the i in "like", but with less of a y sound)

3. Mátyás Rákosi was the leader of the Hungarian communist party in the 1940s-1950s. He was one of the most hardliner communists and even called himself "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple." An American journalist described him as "the most malevolent character" he'd ever met "in political life."

4. Sikerült. A fájlok szerint, Hydra már rég óta-egészen a második világ háború óta-gyárt szuperkatonákat. Ezzel a szérummal hozzák létre őket is Hungarian for "I was successful. According to the files, Hydra has been engineering super soldiers since the second World War, using this serum."

5. József Dudás was a prominent Hungarian revolutionary during the 1956 uprising against the Soviets. He was captured, imprisoned, and later killed by the Soviets. I obviously embellished his death a little.

6. Imre Pozsgay was a Hungarian communist, who really did speak out against Sovietism. He may not have been the Winter Soldier's target, but everything else is true.

7. Jézusom is Hungarian for "Jesus."

8. Téliszalámi is the most famous and popular type of Hungarian salami, translated literally as "winter salami" (no pun intended).

9. Vy ne tolko Zimniy Soldat. Vvy James Buchanan Barnes. Amerikanskiy is transliterated Russian for "You're not only the Winter Soldier. You're James Buchanan Barnes. American."