"I have a surprise for you, Jessica," Uriah crooned, stepping into the kitchen where Jak was scrubbing the floor. She looked up at him and swiped her hair away from her face with the back of her hand. He was smiling. She still wanted to get away from him and back to the Avengers, but she couldn't stop herself from being pleased that he was pleased.
"What surprise?" She asked. In the month and a half that she'd been there, she had done her best to play the part of demure daughter so that he would let down his guard. For some reason, in the past fifteen days he'd kept her on a much shorter leash and she couldn't figure out what she'd done to lose his trust. Perhaps now she was finally getting it back.
"I have managed to get our friend, the Winter Soldier, back under my control," Uriah told her and beckoned her to follow him. She threw her scrub brush into the bucket and left her rubber gloves on the floor next to it. Scrambling after her father, she followed him to the basement door that he always kept her away from and then down the many stairs into the basement. It was cold even on the rickety stairs and when they arrived in the long, dark corridor Jak shivered. There were rows of barred cells. She wondered why her father had never threatened to lock her in one when she was being difficult. It was certainly something he would have used against her in the past to scare her.
"I think you will do well with a special project. The chores only keep you busy for so long," he said, as if he didn't have her washing and rewashing every corner of the house every waking moment, "So, you will now be the caretaker for Sergeant Barnes."
Upon hearing his name, Bucky stepped out of a shadow and stood before them, making Jak jump in surprise. He stared dead ahead, eyes focused on nothing as he loomed over her. He wasn't that much taller than she was, but she felt small standing next to him when his face was so expressionless. A memory of him breaking into the Avengers Compound stirred in her mind, but it hurt too much to think about so she didn't pursue it.
"What do you mean by caretaker?" She asked.
"You'll make sure he's fed, take him for walks around the garden, maybe even into the woods a little ways if you're brave enough. Keep his hair tidy, shave his face for him. Clean his cage," Uriah patted Bucky's head and smiled toothily at him, "He'll be a nice little pet for you."
"He's a human being," Jak protested weakly, "He deserves to have his own mind so he can take care of himself."
"He is human," her father pinched Bucky's nose, "Humans are disposable."
"You say that as if you are not human," she said suspiciously.
She'd suspected before that he might not be. Hadn't someone recently asked her if her father was human? Hadn't someone been curious about her pink hair and purple eyes and thought she might have blood from another world? It pinched her brain to think about, but she kept pressing the memory until she remembered striking green eyes staring at her curiously. Before she could remember the face to go with them, her father startled her with his next words.
"It is about time that you learned I am not," he laughed, "But we'll talk about that later. For now, take Sergeant Barnes on a walk around the property. Don't worry, he won't need a leash."
Uriah laughed and went back upstairs, leaving her alone with the emotionless man and too many questions.
Her father wasn't human. But what was he? Some kind of alien like Thor? Something else? This meant that she wasn't entirely human either, didn't it?
"Your father told us to go for a walk," Bucky said robotically.
"Right, yes," she shook her head and began climbing the stairs. Bucky followed her, his boots heavy on each wooden step. They went out through the kitchen door and past the new flower bed that she didn't remember putting in, but her father said she'd helped dig. Nothing they'd planted there had sprouted yet and she got a weird feeling about the plot of dirt. It made her sad for some reason.
"I'm guessing you won't let me go too far," she looked at Bucky, who in his black clothes with his shaggy hair, looked out of place in the bright summer sun in the garden.
"We have a two hundred meter radius to keep around the house," he replied.
"And what happens if I leave the radius?"
"I'll bring you back to the house and lock you in your room."
"Right," she doubted she could outrun him, but she didn't think she would try even if she were faster. As much as she wanted to leave her father's house, now that she knew he wasn't human, she felt the need to stay and learn more. She might never have the chance to learn more about what he was if she left. And what she was.
.
.
The next three days she spent more time with Bucky. She was glad of his closeness even if he was not himself. Her memories of him grew stronger as they spent more time together and one morning, while they were on their stroll of the property, she was hit suddenly with the memory of kissing him. She remembered this as she watched his face while they walked. She'd been staring at his mouth, studying him, when all of a sudden she remembered a cold cell in Siberia and reaching through bars holding his hand, touching his face, pressing their lips together.
"Oh," she felt almost dizzy at the memory and had to steady herself on a tree.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, oblivious as she remembered long nights sitting next to his cell, swapping stories of their childhoods, holding hands, comforting each other in the cold dark Hydra base.
"Do you remember anything before you became the Winter Soldier?" She asked.
"I'm not asking about your emotions. Are you physically well?" He insisted.
"I'm fine," she closed her eyes and grit her teeth when she remembered the morning after they'd kissed and how the scientists and her mother had taken him away and then taken his mind away. And then he'd been put in the cryo chamber and she hadn't seen the real Bucky again until her father had captured her. And she hadn't even remembered. Had he remembered? Was that why he was helping her? But it didn't matter. His mind had been taken away again and she was powerless to stop it.
The black cuff on her wrist caught her eye.
"Powerless," she mused aloud.
"What?"
"Nothing," she smiled at him, "Let's keep walking. I want to check on that robin's nest we found yesterday."
She was currently powerless to do anything to help Bucky. But that didn't have to be the case forever. She just had to convince her father what an obedient daughter she was and maybe she could take back a little power for both her and Bucky.
.
.
"Father?" Jak stepped into the study where Uriah was typing away on his computer. She knew better than to try and get the device away from him, much as she wanted to wrench it away and let the Avengers know where she was.
"Jessica, come in," he closed the laptop and smiled at her.
"Thank you," she bowed her head and clasped her hands in front of her, "I am sorry to bother you while you're working."
It made her nauseous to act the way she had for so long before she'd thought he'd died. To bow down to him, to respect him though he didn't deserve it. But, she knew how to play his games and she'd never get anywhere by fighting him.
"No bother at all," he told her, which surprised her to some extent. He'd often thrown things at her in the past for daring to disturb him. "What can I do for my favorite daughter?"
From his teasing voice she knew he'd meant the word "favorite" as a joke, since, presumably, she was his only daughter still living, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was another son or daughter out in the world who he was not treating as well as he treated her.
If that were the case, she felt truly sorry for them. His love was bad enough, she was afraid to see what his hate looked like toward his offspring.
"I wanted to apologize," she said, risking a glance up at him to see how he would take the news. He seemed smug, so she continued. "When you brought me here, I was scared and I was shocked to learn that you are alive. But that is no excuse for my ungrateful behavior. I am sorry for how I acted and I hope that my behavior in the meantime has improved and that you will forgive me."
"I accept your apology," he nodded, "And I forgive you."
"Thank you-"
"But your behavior still needs work."
She furrowed her brow, but bit back a protest. She'd been nothing but meek and mild for the past month and a half. Well, maybe a little bit rebellious, but she'd thought she'd done a good job of getting herself under control quickly in order to get him to let his guard down.
"You have no memory of this because it would be cruel of me to let you live with such a memory, but you tried to escape not long ago."
Her eyes went wide and she stared at him.
She'd tried to escape. How far had she made it? How had she done it? What had stopped her? She had no idea. If she tried to escape again, she might try the same way she had before without even knowing how it had failed and he would be able to reset her again and she'd forget again. She mentally clawed at her memories but the pain was too great and she didn't want him to know she was trying to remember or he'd take something else.
"I don't remember," she said, not having to fake the distress in her voice, "I'm sorry father, I was stupid for doing it. I won't do it again."
"That is yet to be determined," he drummed his fingers on the desk, "But just know that the last attempt left you in anguish. You hurt yourself trying to escape and I healed you. I took the memory away so that you wouldn't have to lose sleep on nightmares of your foolish actions."
Had she really hurt herself in the attempt? Maybe she'd run through the woods and been attacked by an animal. Or, more likely, her father had hurt her for trying to run away and he didn't want her to know about it.
"Thank you for saving me," she whispered, wringing her hands in the fabric of her skirt. "I am sorry, Father, even if I can't remember."
"Good," he looked her in the eye, "Now, what request do you have for me?"
"I don't-" She did, but had changed her mind to wait another day. With the new knowledge that she had tried to escape, she had to be extra careful how she behaved now.
"You came in here to apologize so that you can get something from me. What is it that you want?"
She took a deep breath. If she told him she didn't want anything now, he would be irritated with her for lying to him. But the odds that he would say yes had dropped after he revealed that she'd tried to escape. Still, a no was better than irritating him. With a no she could try again.
"I want to learn more about our magic, father," she said, "You told me you weren't human. Does that mean I am not human either? What are we? How does that affect our magic?"
"Your mother asked me for centuries what I am and I never told her more than this," he held his palms upward on his desk and closed his eyes. His palms caught fire and when he opened his eyes again, the purple irises were burning along with his palms. The color flickered like the blue part of a flame. "I am an everlasting blaze."
Jak watched him as the fire began to lick up his arms and burn the fabric of his shirt.
"If you continue this good behavior, I will grant you use of your magic," he told her, "Under my supervision, of course. Your mother's teachings were all but useless. Of course, I can't blame her. She was a mere human with feeble abilities. You are so much more and you can do more than she ever could."
Jak nodded, thanked him, and then returned to her chores. Bucky was her ever-present shadow and her reminder that her mother might have been only human, but her abilities with magic were far from feeble.
After all, it was her mother who had used her magic with Hydra's technology to erase Bucky Barnes and create the Winter Soldier.
And as soon as Jak had access to her own power, she intended to use her mother's "useless" teachings to bring Bucky back.
A note from the author: Thank you for reading! I have exciting news. I have finished writing this story! Now all that's left to do is post the chapters! Hopefully this means I'll be able to post more frequently. I plan to post a second chapter today in a few hours so keep an eye out for that!
See you in the next chapter!