Chapter 28- Forced Missions and Escape
Yelizaveta felt herself wake up at a hand gently stroking her hair absently. She opened her eyes to see a woman with dark hair and brown eyes, looking at the door, leading into what looked like a bank vault. Yelizaveta sat up and the woman turned to look at her. "Elizabeth?" The woman asked, her fingers trailing Yelizaveta's face gently.
"My name is Yelizaveta," Yelizaveta said. The woman smiled sadly.
"Not to me and your father. You have always been Elizabeth to us," the woman said as she stroked Yelizaveta's braids gently. Yelizaveta had forgotten she had braided her hair and her mother's tender touches to her hair brought tears to her eyes. Before Yelizaveta could say anything, the door opened and the Winter Soldier and Rumlow came in. Yelizaveta's heart fell as she noticed her sword at Rumlow's waist.
"I hope you don't mind, Winter Soldier. I think I use this sword better than you ever did," Rumlow said.
"No, you don't. I have been using that since I was five years old. All you did was just steal something that will never belong to you. You HYDRA lapdogs are all alike," Yelizaveta said.
Rumlow then left and Yelizaveta looked at first her father and mother. "Well?" Yelizaveta asked her father.
"Pierce wishes me to punish you for lying to him and being insolent," Bucky said, resting his flesh hand on her cheek.
"I don't answer to him, Dad. I never did. I answered to Madame B in the Red Room. After I was free then Clint Barton and then Nick Fury and Phil Coulson," Yelizaveta said as he pulled her into a hug. She rested her head on his chest as he stroked her messy braids and pressed a kiss to her scalp.
"James, what's going to happen? I heard them wiping you," the woman asked, touching Bucky's face tenderly. He turned to look at her.
"Yes, they did, but you are my wife, Diana. Pierce wants me and Elizabeth to be there to stop anyone who tries to stop Project Insight," Bucky said, absently playing with strands of Yelizaveta's hair.
"I can't do that, Dad," Yelizaveta said, as she buried her face in his chest. The musty leather of his battle jacket was oddly soothing like his flesh hand tangling into her hair.
"I know, Elizabeth, but you don't have a choice," her father's voice rumbled softly.
"Yes, I do. I can refuse," Yelizaveta said.
"No, you can't, Elizabeth. You are coming with me and if you do anything to hinder my mission, then I will punish you. I never raised my hand to you, but I will if you try anything," Bucky said, tightening his fingers in her hair.
"Over my dead body. You'd have to kill me then," Yelizaveta ground out, pushing away from him. Bucky grabbed her by the back of her head faster than most people move. Yelizaveta cried out when his metal fingers dug into her neck.
"Don't make me do that, Elizabeth. You will obey me," her father said with steel in his voice.
"Please, let me go," Yelizaveta begged.
"Then do as I say, Elizabeth," Bucky said, crushing her to his chest and stroking her hair.
"I can't. I don't kill any more like that. Don't ask for something I can't do," Yelizaveta said as tears came to her eyes at each tender stroke to her head and a gentle kiss. Yelizaveta then started crying, gripping thick handfuls of her father's jacket. Her father gently picked her up and settled her on his lap, his metal arm wrapped around her shoulders, pinning her face to his chest and his flesh hand stroking her face and hair. Yelizaveta heard him whisper softly in Russian.
"Все в порядке, детка. Папа здесь (It's all right, Baby. Daddy's here)," Bucky said in her ear.
"James, is she going to be all right?" Diana asked, clumsily stroking Yelizaveta's hair.
"I think so. You'll help her get dressed for the mission, Diana," Bucky said, moving his flesh hand from Yelizaveta's hair to touch her mother's face gently.
"James, please. We can't make her do this. She's scared," Diana begged.
"I know, but if she doesn't Pierce will wipe her until she agrees to do it and us with her," Bucky said, his warm fingers tracing Yelizaveta's ear gently. The door to the cell squeaked open. And Pierce walked in.
"Well?" Pierce asked.
"She'll do it," Bucky said.
"No, she won't. I'm not sorry that I lied to you and you'll have to kill me before I would betray my friends. Fury told me before he died not to trust anyone and I don't trust you," Yelizaveta said, standing to her feet and swiping angrily at the tears on her cheeks.
"Proud to the end, aren't you? You do realize we can break you and make you do it," Pierce said.
"Break me? Like you did to my father and mother? No. I will never be like that," Yelizaveta raising her dark eyebrows.
"Then I hope you weren't too fond of your friend Clint Barton and his family. His wife, Laura and their kids, Cooper and Lila," Pierce said with a sinister smirk on his face.
"No, don't you you dare!" Yelizaveta nearly screamed. Her father's hands on her shoulders was all that was holding her back from tearing Pierce apart.
"Then you are helping us. If you don't then you can watch your friend Hawkeye and his family die," Pierce said as he left the cell.
Yelizaveta stood in numb shock until she felt Bucky and Diana's hands in her hair. "We are so Sorry, Elizabeth," Bucky said gently as he stroked her hair gently.
"Pierce is gonna kill my friends for something I can't even do," Yelizaveta said as she turned and looked up at him.
"I know, but the alternative is that he'll wipe you and make you do it and then kill your friends because you were unwilling," Diana said.
"Mom, I just...I can't do it. Not even for Clint, Laura, Lila, and Cooper. He would never ask me to sacrifice my morals so he could live. Clint and Laura loved me and took care of me when I came here from Russia sick and underfed. I always wanted a family of my own and the Bartons became my family," Yelizaveta said as Bucky pulled her to his chest and hugged her tightly, rocking her gently in his arms.
"James, please, there has to be another way. We can't force her to do this to people that she loves," Diana begged.
"I know. Elizabeth, would it make you feel better if I talked to Pierce and you stayed here with your mother?" Bucky asked softly in her ear.
"Really, Dad?" Yelizaveta asked, pulling away from his chest so she could look into his eyes.
"Really. I hate seeing you cry," Bucky said softly, tangling his fingers into her hair, his palm resting on her face. Yelizaveta leaned into his hand.
"If you can, Dad, do it," Yelizaveta said softly. Bucky pulled her back into his arms and kissed her forehead. Yelizaveta looked up at him, feeling safer than she had in a long time and she moved her hands up to her father's face, the scruff soft against the palms of her hands as she started to stroke his face. The look of happy surprise crossed his eyes.
"You remember?" Her father asked as he sat down and pulled her onto his lap.
"What am I supposed to remember?" Yelizaveta asked, cocking her head quizzically.
"You used to touch my face when I came back from missions. You used to say I was soft," Bucky said.
"Oh. I don't really remember, but if you say so," Yelizaveta said, resting her head on his chest. Yelizaveta started when she felt one of her braids coming unraveled and she looked at her father's hands as he gently unbraided her hair. "Dad?" Yelizaveta asked as he made her stand and she felt a comb go through her dark hair.
"Your hair is tangled and you need it washed and combed out. Stand still," Bucky ordered as he gripped her hair in his flesh hand and combed through it, his metal hand holding the comb.
"Whose fault is that? You kept me asleep where I couldn't wash or comb it," Yelizaveta said in exasperation.
Her father fixed his eyes on her. His eyes were full of rebuke at her tone, but Yelizaveta wasn't about to apologize. She then felt her other braid being unraveled and her father combing through it. "Turn around," her father ordered. Yelizaveta turned and her father grabbed huge handfuls of her dark hair. He braided her hair into a single braid. He finished as Rumlow opened the door again. At that moment Yelizaveta wasn't sure if what she was thinking was a stupid idea, but she wasn't sure if her father could talk Pierce out of his idea. She broke away from Bucky and rushed Rumlow, she swept her leg and knocked him off his feet and ran out the door.
"Elizabeth!" She heard her mother's voice behind her as she ran for it.