"Steve, there's never a clear picture of his face," Sam Wilson told his friend, "And last we heard, our guy was in Europe somewhere."
"It looks like him though," Steve insisted, pointing at the security camera footage, "I recognize the way he walks. The hair, the clothes, there's a glint of metal on his left hand."
"Okay, let's say it is him-it's not, but let's say it is-why would he be standing outside of the janitor's bedroom for twenty minutes?" Sam challenged. "Did Bucky Barnes have any connection with her back in the forties?"
"They never met," Steve shook his head and breathed a tired sigh, "Hell, I barely met her back then. It was her mom that wanted to kill me. Ru-Jaklyn was… her parents were using her. She was just a pawn to them."
Sam leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. He raised a brow. "She made her own choices too."
"And in the end she made the right choice," Steve countered, not willing to discuss the not-so-young woman who had previously tried to kill him. They weren't talking about her as they sat in the security booth, reviewing the unclear footage of the trespasser. He recognized the shape of the man who'd snuck onto the property. He knew immediately who it was that had stood outside Jaklyn's window, but he had no explanation for why Bucky would be on the grounds just to watch the janitor.
"Her father was connected with Hydra," he suggested, trying to think of any explanation, wanting to go out and search if his friend was really so close by. "Hydra had Bucky brainwashed for seventy years. Maybe Jaklyn's mother had something to do with that?"
"Maybe," Sam agreed, scratching the back of his head, "She was no Wanda, but she had that hypnotism thing down."
Jaklyn's mother had magically manipulated Sam into turning on Steve briefly, but luckily, Barton and Romanoff knew how to undo mind-control pretty well. Sam had not been pleased to be exposed to "cognitive recalibration" as they called it when they hit him really hard, but he'd shaken off the hypnosis.
"We can't let Jaklyn know," Steve decided, "She and I are getting along alright now, but if she convinces Woo to take off that cuff, I don't think I'd be able to stop her from hurting Bucky."
"If it is Bucky."
"Let's just hope it's not the Winter Soldier."
The last thing they needed was for one of Hydra's most dangerous assassins to be back in action with no memory of who he used to be.
A note from the author: Just a short one today, but I will hopefully have a longer chapter up soon!
Thanks again to kimmieg1018, I'm so glad you've decided to give the story a shot even though it isn't completed. I will do my very best to see it through to the end so it doesn't get left on hiatus! I already have several more chapters written, so we're doing good so far!
Until the next chapter! :)