Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Seventy Four

Berlin, Germany

It had been 10 years since the last time Catherine stepped foot in Berlin. It was a place and time she wanted to forget ever happened. She was quiet most of the drive to the prison where one of the men she hated most in the world rotted away. It was a flood of memories hitting her at once. Some from the time she was in Germany with Bucky. Some from the time when Zemo caused so much chaos in her life.

Bucky kept his eyes on her, knowing she was nervous. Hell, he was nervous to come face to face with Zemo again, but he would never admit it. She always got quiet and fiddled with her nails when she was nervous. He knew them being back in Berlin wasn't helping either.

"I'm going to go alone." Bucky told Sam and Catherine as they stood in the prison hallway.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because you two are Avengers. You know how he feels about that. Especially you Catherine. You were there when the whole Sokovia thing happened with Ultron." Bucky explained.

Catherine crossed her arms across her chest, not thrilled with the idea. "I don't trust Zemo around you."

"Yeah. I agree. It's not like you two were known for frolicking in the sun together." Sam agreed.

"I'll be okay. I promise. He was obsessed with Hydra. We have history together. Trust me. I got this." Bucky assured them.

Catherine leaned against the cement block wall as Bucky disappeared down the hall. She had the most uneasy feeling, but she needed to trust Bucky.

"You don't know anyone else we can trust other than Zemo that would have information about the serum?" Sam asked.

Catherine shook her head. "Most everyone involved with the Winter Solider program is dead. If I had access to one of Hydra's databases, maybe I could find something, but most of those were destroyed after Washington DC."

"Last night, Walker mentioned the 'unspeakable' things you've done. How does he know that?" He asked.

Catherine's jaw locked. Her gaze became stone cold. "He doesn't. He's bluffing."

"Your reaction says otherwise. I know I'm not suppose to pry, but we know everything Bucky did and Natasha, but not you. You've never once mentioned it." Sam continued.

"It's because I don't talk about it. Bucky knows everything. Fury knows a handful. That's it though. I was 12 when I killed someone for the first time." She drew a shaky breath in, not wanting to think about the awful memory. "They put me in a room with the other girls. Someone was sitting in a chair. They put a gun in your hand and told you to shoot the person. If you didn't, they would execute you. After I...pulled the trigger. They told me he was a bad man. He killed like five people or something. That wasn't the point of the exercise though. It was to weed out the weak. It was to see if you were capable of killing a person regardless if you knew their background. The difference between Bucky doing what he did and me, was that he was under mind control. I wasn't. "

Sam was shocked by her words. Never once did he figure she could just kill a person, point blank. She was so kind. "Catherine...it wasn't your fault. From the time you were two, you were raised to be an assassin. It was the only thing you knew. You were just a scared kid following orders."

"But I still did it." She whispered. "When Bucky and I would be sent on missions together, he would-he would try to eliminate as many people as he could so I didn't have to do it. He never told me, but I noticed it. He was trying to protect me the entire time I was with Hydra. I didn't know why until...until I saw them wipe his memory. He didn't want that to happen to me."