Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Flashback

The Winter Soldier stoically stared straight ahead. It had been several hours since he had been woken from his frozen slumber and ordered to board a plane to be taken to his next mission. From the little bits of conversation that he had overheard, a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent had escaped Hydra custody and had captured the organization's youngest trainee.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent had unwisely chosen to use a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane in their escape. It was a poor choice on their part since Hydra could track any of their rival organization's planes at any given moment. He had heard something about going to Tennessee. Not that he particularly cared; this was no different then any other mission he had been sent  on over the years.

The majority of ride was primarily silent. There were two Hydra Agents who were accompanying him—a man known as Rumlow, and one of Hydra's leaders, John Garrett.

"Here's the plan." The man called Garrett addressed him. "We need you to eliminate the threat: Mary and Richard Parker."

The Winter Soldier glanced down at the picture that Garrett flashed in front of him. He quickly memorized their profiles and curtly nodded.

"The problem is they have our littlest agent. You would know her as Kobik." Garrett held out another photo.

The Winter Soldier glanced down to see the face of a smiling little girl. She had reddish brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. "I know her." He hoarsely whispered.

Garrett nodded. "Yes, you have trained her recently." He paused. "You need to find her and bring her back, unscathed."

"Unscathed?" The Winter Soldier questioned. This was not a normal mission. He job was to kill, to eliminate, to destroy, but now, they wanted him to save someone. Confusion washed over his face as he tried to understand the mission. Why was she so important?

"You see our little Kobik has some very powerful connections. If Hydra's plan doesn't go as projected." Garrett's brow furrowed as he scoffed at the thought. "Then she will serve as leverage."

"Leverage?" The Winter Soldier repeated the word. She was needed as insurance.

Garrett nodded. "A father's love will drive him to do anything to save a child, even one he doesn't know anything about."

The other man, Rumlow, scoffed. "You seriously believe he would betray S.H.I.E.L.D. to save a daughter he never knew about."

Garrett nodded. "I don't think he could handle that on his conscience."

The Winter Soldier quietly observed Rumlow shrug in response, furthering the already growing tension between the two men. Lately, it seemed his handlers grew more and more agitated with each mission. He had also noticed that his handler had remained the same for much longer than normal. The time period between his missions was growing closer and closer together. There was a storm brewing, but he didn't know for what.

The plane jolted to a landing. Bucky reached for his gun as he prepared to face his upcoming mission.

"You finish this mission successfully." Garrett sternly began as he grabbed the soldier's arm. "And you will start training Kobik on the field. We need her to be ready for the release of Project Insight."

The Winter Soldier nodded. He wasn't sure what Project Insight was, but he knew it was an important mission that he was to be involved with in the near future. Without another word, he headed down the ramp of the plane, ready for whatever awaited him.

The sound of a fight nearby alerted him that his targets were nearby. He rushed through the trees to find another Hydra Agent fighting the two S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Where was Kobik? He quickly scanned the area for her. Then he saw her. She had a gun that she was aiming at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Before he could stop her, she had fired and both agents were laying dead at her feet. He could see fear fill her face as she realized what she had just done. Within seconds, she had taken off running into the woods.

He took a second glance at the Hydra Agent, and then took off after the child. Before long he had completely lost sight of her. He angrily shook his head; she was much smaller and could fit through spaces he couldn't. Finding her was not going to be as easy as he had originally thought.

After several hours, he finally found her trail. He quickly followed her tracks and before long he heard the sound of a child crying. He glanced up to see a pair of periwinkle blue eyes staring back at him. Kobik, the young Hydra operative. He strode toward the child; this mission had been very simple. All that was left was for him to return her to her handlers. She should know better then to wander off after completing a mission. However, when he reached the child, he noticed that she wasn't afraid as most of his targets. Her eyes were red and puffy from constant crying. She was sad.

He stared back at her almost unsure of what to do. He hadn't experienced sadness in quite some time. But now that he thought about it, had he ever felt that way? He couldn't remember.

"I did a really bad thing." The little girl began to cry. "I hurt my friends." She whimpered. "I didn't want to hurt them. Please don't take me to jail." She began to plead with him.

He froze as he continued to stare down at her. She was just like him; she was their weapon. Hydra had made her kill those agents; just like they had made him kill so many others. "We're losing daylight." He stiffly replied as he motioned for her to follow him.

Confusion washed over her face as instead of following him she turned to sit down on the ground. "I'm not going back." She stubbornly replied as she crossed her arms and glared up at him. "You can't make me."

The Winter Soldier turned back to stare at her. None of his training had ever included dealing with children, especially stubborn ones. "You're my mission." He firmly told her.

"I'm not going back there." She shouted as tears began to fill her eyes. "I hate them. I hate all of them." She covered her face with her hands as she began to sob. "I want to go home. I want my daddy and my big sissy." She continued to whimper.

He watched as she continued to cry. He slowly slid down next to her. "Hydra is our home now."

"This isn't what home feels like." She whispered through tears. "Home is warm and happy and you're never all alone." She glanced up to look at him. "Why do they always put you in the scary machine?" She shivered as she began to think about it.

His face clouded as he thought back to the machine she was referring to. The memories surrounding it were all fuzzy, but he knew he lost a part of himself every time he was strapped in the chair. The harder he thought; the more he could feel himself slipping closer to some semblance of his real self. But deep down he was scared of what he would find if he did regain any of his memories.

"Mr. Bucky." She softly whispered. "Are you ok?"

He glanced back at her to see she was tightly gripping his metal arm. Why was she calling him Bucky? Was that his name?

Her blue eyes continued to grow large as she stared at his metal arm. "Can you feel things with your metal hand?" She tentatively asked.

"No." He gruffly replied as he turned to head back towards where they had left the jet. He glanced at the sky through the thick foliage; they would be lucky to make it back before nightfall.

The child's face crinkled as she stared up at him.
"Does it make your shoulder hurt?" She motioned towards his metal arm.

"Yes." He softly said.

"Why do you help Hydra?" She continued to pester.

"It's my mission."

"Well it's a stupid mission." She exclaimed as she glanced around the woods. "It's getting really dark." She fearfully whispered.

The Winter Soldier remained quiet as she continued to talk enough for both of them.

"Are you scared of the dark? I'm scared of the dark." She continued.

He suddenly tensed as he felt someone grip his real hand. He glanced down at her to see a small smile spreading across her face as she gazed up at him. "This way you know you're not alone."