Prologue

2024, East London

Bucky stood over him, his gaze cold and unforgiving, the shadows cast by the strobe lights dancing across his face. His jaw twitched, his body trembling with barely contained wrath.

Alistair smirked, his eyes darting in fear yet still trying to maintain a semblance of control. "You'll never get anything out of me, Winter Soldier," he sneered.

Bucky's vibranium arm connected with the man's skull, sending him crashing against the wall. He towered over the crouched man. "She is all I have left. You think I won't rip the truth out of you? Where is she?" Bucky demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

Alistair let out a choked sob, his words muffled by the pain. "I... I don't know... She escaped from the island years ago right after the Blip-" His voice trailed off.

Without warning, Bucky slammed his fist into Alistair's face, feeling the satisfying crunch of bone beneath his knuckles. Blood sprayed across the room, a macabre painting of his rage. Alistair howled in pain.

"You hurt her," Bucky growled between clenched teeth. The pain and torment Gretchen endured at the hands of Alistair and his cult are etched into Bucky's memory, every detail seared into his mind. Every agonizing moment, every brutal act of cruelty fuels his rage and drives him further into the abyss of vengeance. Tears stream down Bucky's face, mingling with the sweat and blood that coat his skin. His fists, once trained to kill with precision, now pounded Alistair's once handsome and youthful face with reckless abandon. Alistair's nose shattered, blood gushing forth like a crimson waterfall. His eyes rolled back in his head, lips swollen and bruised beyond recognition.

Alistair's laughter unexpectedly rang out, a hollow mockery that only served to fuel Bucky's fury further. "You'll never find her…" He sputtered, coughing up blood and spit, his broken teeth falling away like a grotesque rain of decay.

Bucky reached for his Glock, its cold steel gleaming ominously in the flickering lights. With a steady hand, he aimed the weapon at Alistair's ruined face.

"You don't deserve to live," Bucky hissed, his voice raw with emotion. The music pounded in time with his racing heart as he raised the weapon to Alistair's forehead.

"Please, no!" He begged, clutching his shattered rib cage.

Bucky's finger hovered over the trigger, the weight of his past and present bearing down on him like a heavy burden. He was no longer the unfeeling machine he once was, the Winter Soldier who had been programmed to kill without question or hesitation. But the memory of Gretchen's suffering, the years of pain and loss that haunted them both, threatened to unleash the beast within.

"She's in America," Alistair wheezed, his words tinged with a mixture of fear and desperation. "I swear to God, that's all I know." Alistair's breath hitched, his chest rising and falling in short, ragged gasps.

With all his effort, Bucky forced his finger away from the trigger, the hammer clicking back into place. The gun fell from his grasp, clattering to the floor as if symbolizing the choice he'd just made.

For all his malice, he had nowhere else to run. Bucky might not have believed him under different circumstances, but right now, he needed any lead he could get.

Bucky's eyes never left his captive. "If I ever find out you've lied to me..." Bucky left the threat unfinished, letting it hang between them like a dark cloud.

"I'm telling the truth. But.. you need to know…" Alistair stammered, desperation lacing his words. "Don't you see? She's better off without you, without any of it."

Bucky's jaw tightened, the muscles in his neck flexing with the effort of control. His gaze flicked to the bloody wreckage of Alistair's face, then back to his eyes. "And why's that?"

"She...she loves you," he choked out, his eyes wide with fear. "That's why you can't find her."

The man's words hung in the air, reverberating in his mind. Gretchen loved me? Why would she hide from me if she cared for me? What secret was she protecting?

"You stay the hell away from her, Alistair," Bucky looked down at the wreckage that was once a man's face. "If I ever find out you've gone near Gretchen, I'll tear you apart limb from limb. I don't care how powerful you are, how much money you have, or how many resources you can marshal. I'll come back and finish what I started."

Alistair swallowed hard, nodding quickly in agreement, his remaining eye darting nervously.

"You have my word," he murmured, his voice barely audible above the thumping beats of the rave music. "I won't go near her. Just let me live, and you'll never see me again."

With a final, seething glare, Bucky turned his back on Alistair, leaving him to wallow in his misery. As Bucky stepped out of the room, the pulsating lights and music seemed to fade away over the deafening silence of his thoughts. Gretchen loved me. It was a thought that both comforted and confused him.

Driving through the night, Bucky's thoughts race faster than the wheels beneath. How could I possibly find Gretchen among millions of people? The fact that even Alistair couldn't track her down...

Then, a wave of realization washed over Bucky. He had broken the very rules that were granted to him as part of his pardon. Truth is, the man he once was - the Winter Soldier - is not entirely gone. The sins of his past still linger, embedded in the fiber of his being.

Bucky knew deep down that his actions were necessary - a means to an end, to protect the woman he loves. Gretchen's safety is all that matters. I would do it all again, break every rule, if it means protecting her from the monsters lurking in the shadows.

Bucky recalled Alistair's confession, the cult files, and the fragments of Gretchen's life. Memories of her - her laughter, her strength, her beauty - fill his thoughts, urging him forward.

Wherever she was hiding, whatever her reasons, I will find her. And I will make her understand that I will fight for her, protect her, no matter the cost.

My enemies, those who dared to harm Gretchen, will pay for their crimes.