Ten Words- Bucky Barnes x Reader

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Ali woke up the next morning and went to training as usual, but with less motivation than she had felt in the last week. After her surgery, Bucky was really the only thing that kept her going. But now that he was gone, Ali didn't really feel like doing anything, not that she had a choice anyways. However, she kept his promise in her head, and wore his dog tags as a constant reminder to herself that he cared, or at least pretended to.

As she was about to leave a particularly grueling training with some HYDRA rat when another Strucker ran into the room. "Иди скорей! Кларк, тебе нужно это увидеть Come quickly! Clark, you need to see this'' Ali sprinted out of the room, right on Strucker's heels. They ran right into a large room that Ali had never seen before, packed full of russian officers, and with walls covered in television screens. A few of these showed surveillance footage of the base, but most were tuned to the news, showing the bombing of the United Nations, and a zoomed in photo of a man who had been credited with the bombing.

The news reporters described this man as the "Winter Soldier" and once again showed the blurry photo that had been captured. Ali, who hadn't really been looking too closely at what was happening, suddenly froze at the picture. Though small and hard to see, Ali immediately recognized the man in the photograph to be Bucky. She watched, in horror, as the news explained the outcome of the bombing, including the death of the king of Wakanda. "Dammit Bucky, what were you thinking? How could you?" muttered Ali under her breath. Her hand immediately flew to her neck and she twisted the silver chain around her finger in a desperate attempt to make sense of the situation.

In a flash, a HYDRA agent grabbed Ali's arm and pinned her against the wall. In one movement, another one clapped a pistol to her forehead. "Говори, девочка! Что ты ему сказал! Я знаю, ты его знал! Speak girl! What did you tell him! I know you knew him!" shouted the agent. Strucker immediately stepped forward and yanked the officer off of Ali with enough force to pull him to the ground. "Get out of her face, idiot" Strucker said, and Ali felt gratitude swell toward him "We have to keep her alive, she possesses important information". The feeling towards Strucker suddenly turned very sour. He turned his attention towards Ali, who was still pinned against the wall.

"Let her go", he said softly to the other agent. He released his grip on Ali's arm, and she immediately put her hand to the back of her belt, where she kept her own pistol, just in case. "Do you know anything about this?" Strucker asked. Ali didn't know what she should say. She didn't really know anything about this bombing, but Bucky did tell her about some mission, could this have been it? But then, wouldn't Strucker have already known about it? "I-I really don't know. The last time I saw him was yesterday morning. Someone came and took him."

"Who took him?" Strucker pushed, "Was it an agent? An officer?" "He was wearing a HYDRA uniform", Ali said, racking her brain for the details. Whether or not Strucker was planning on doing anything bad to Bucky, she was desperate to find him. "Do you remember anything else? What did he look like?" Strucker questioned, clearly impatient. "H-he had blonde hair, and ummm" Ali could distinctly remember something striking about his eyes, "They were violet, his eyes vere violet" Ali felt ashamed that she couldn't help provide more details, but she really hadn't seen too much.

Strucker turned his attention back to the agents in the room. "Check the surveillance footage for a man of that description" Quick to jump to action, agents started rewinding footage, showing the stone hallways over the past day. "Wait, stop!" Strucker called, and the screen paused on an image of the man who matched Ali's description. "Zoom in" barked Strucker, and the agent was quick to comply.
' Strucker turned his attention back to Ali, "Is this the man?" Trembling, Ali nodded. The agent did a quick face search, and soon pulled up information about the man. "Helmut Zemo", another agent said. It was clear that this was a name most agents knew, as the room went silent. Ali shivered as though an ice cube had slipped down her back. If this was a person that Strucker didn't like, surely he was a cause for concern.

Sure enough, Strucker was gripping the back of a chair with white knuckles and gnashing his teeth together. "Собери вместе моих лучших людей. Я хочу, чтобы ты нашел этого человека. Get my best men together. I want you to find this man." Strucker signaled for agent Brock Rumlow to come over to him. To Ali's surprise, he turned to her and said "You will go on the mission with Rumlow, you know him better than anyone. Maybe you can get him to trust you." Ali didn't like the idea of being the bait for Bucky, luring him back into the jaws of HYDRA, but she didn't really have a choice.

Strucker pulled himself to his full height and pulled Ali's chin to look her in the eye. "I think it's about time that you start getting some responsibility around this place. Do what research you need to do for this mission. Consider this your permission" Rumlow didn't seem to agree with this very much. He swore in russian, "Дурак, она собирается выступить против нас. Она слишком много знает. You fool, she is going to turn against us. She knows too much." Personally, Ali agreed with him, but was proud that Strucker had even a little faith in her. She was eager to see what Strucker was going to say in her defense.

"She has no choice." Strucker said tartly. "If she leaves she has nowhere else to go, who would take in this little brat? And besides," he said, turning to look Ali coldly in the eye, "she knows all too well that if she dared defy me I would send a squad to hunt her down and kill her." Tears pricked Ali's eyes, and she backed up a little further into the wall as Strucker strode out of the room, Rumlow in close pursuit.

As the room cleared out, Ali did not move. She stayed huddled in the corner, silently crying. She had no choice but to follow Strucker. She wanted to save Bucky, yes, but the last thing she wanted to do was lead him back into HYDRA. She heard his story, how incredibly messed up HYDRA made his life, and felt helpless because all she could do was take him back. In that way, she hoped that they were never able to find him, so that Bucky could have another chance at a better life, outside of the cold walls of HYDRA.