Nightingale's Song (My MCU #3)

Chapter 10

Anna moved off of Steve's lap so she sat beside him instead and linked her hands together in her lap as she leaned forward. Steve placed his hand on her back as he quieted everyone down. "Okay. Everyone let her breathe. One question at a time."

"Why act like you couldn't speak when you clearly can? Why lie?" Tony looked almost offended at the deception.

She shook it off, she barely knew these people. "Don't take it personally, Tony. I haven't spoken to anyone since sometime in 1957."

"That's not possible. Your vocal cords would be useless if that were the case," Bruce piped up.

Anna gave a little smile. "I heal. Everything. I was never 'on ice' as you put it. I've been awake and aware for every single day of Hydra's tender loving care."

"But you haven't aged a day since I last saw you," Steve argued. "I was in stasis, but you weren't. You should at least have a gray hair or something."

"Aging is the body's weaknesses as it grows older. I heal them. Don't be surprised if you don't age normally either. You or Buck. I've had a lot of time to think about it."

"About this healing—" Dr. Banner started and Steve held up a hand to cut him off.

"What do you mean that Bucky's alive, Anna? He can't be. I watched him die, remember?" The pain in Steve's eyes nearly broke her heart all over again.

"You watched him fall, Steve. I've seen him, touched him, healed him. He remembered me once. What they did to him after..." She shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye. "I didn't help him remember any more."

"Remember?" Banner asked.

Anna ran a hand down her face in an effort to wipe away the fatigue. She licked her lips and a bottle of water appeared in her vision. She glanced up in surprise to find Clint smiling down at her. "Thanks." She took a long swallow. "They erase him. I don't know how else to describe it. The last time I saw him there wasn't anything of my Bucky left in him, but I have to believe we can get him back."

The red-headed assassin who had introduced herself as Natasha held up a hand. "I'm sorry, but who is Bucky exactly?"

Anna glanced at Steve. He looked a little shell-shocked if she was honest. "My best friend. And her fiancé. He was part of the Commandos and fell off a train in the mountains during a mission. Naturally, he was presumed dead."

"As you do when someone falls off a train in the mountains," Tony added with the lift of one brow. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You seem real nice and all and Cap obviously knows you but doesn't this seem a little out there, even for us?"

Everyone shared glances, unsure of what to say as Steve and Tony started arguing. Anna shifted her gaze to Natasha. "To them he's the asset. You know him as the Winter Soldier."

Her eyes went wide and she shot to her feet. The bickering men went silent and turned their attention to her. "We need to talk. Now."

***

Banner led Anna back to the medical lab claiming he wanted to run some new tests now that he knew her age. She saw it for what it was—an excuse to remove her from the conversation. She didn't bother mentioning she would be able to hear them anyway. So, she listened to the doctor and answered his questions while listening to the rest of them argue on the floor above her.

Natasha was vehemently against even attempting to find Bucky. Steve, of course, wanted to leave immediately. Everyone else was more or less just trying to figure out what was going on. "Your friends aren't very bright."

Bruce gaped at her. "Excuse me?"

"They're arguing about someone they don't know. Neither Steve nor Natasha want to admit that there might be more to him than what they know. Steve wants to believe that Bucky is the same man that always had his back. And Natasha wants to believe he is nothing but the weapon they have made him into. It seems to me that the conversation would best be had with the woman that has known both aspects of him. Instead they send me here to get me out of the way."