Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Four

A/N: Hello! As you can see this chapter was added in after the story was completed. I just had the idea in my mind and wanted to post it. I may add a few more filler chapters in, but I'm not sure yet. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

At age twelve Catherine felt stuck. She wasn't a child yet she wasn't a teenager yet. She felt as if she was growing, maturing but sometimes she felt as if everyone still viewed her as a child. However, she was being trusted more. Given more responsibilities. More training. She was become more valuable. There was something else she was feeling too. She wasn't sure if she was becoming more aware or perspective. It was just a confusing time in her life.

With every passing year she was pushed further and further to her limits. Mostly physical and intellectually. She would train for endless hours a day. Punching. Kicking. Blocking. She would learn about more weapons. She would learn more languages. She would learn basic life skills such as first aid or how to hot wire a car. Occasionally they would drop her in the middle of the mountains in Siberia and make her survive for a week without anything.

Catherine became more secluded. Especially after learning that her parents weren't biologically her parents. She began to draw herself away from making any personal attachments to people. It was difficult though. She loved her mother. She respected her father. She missed her Zima. When she younger she didn't understand the concept of time. Now she was.

She realized that she would go months without seeing the soldier. She didn't know where he went and she didn't dare ask. She had theories that they sent him away on long missions or maybe sent him away for more training. Or maybe he liked to stay secluded like her.

She was curled up on her bed studying her French textbook. It was yet another language that they wanted her to learn. She didn't mind learning other languages, but she found it was starting to get boring. She wanted to learn about something other than languages and weapons. Ana had managed to slip her a couple basic science textbooks and those seemed far more interesting.

She would often ask Ana why she was only allowed to learn about certain subjects. Her response was simple; it was dangerous to be smart and resourceful. Catherine didn't see herself as either.  Not only did she long for a more traditional education, she wanted a normal life like the ones she read in her books. She wanted friends. She wanted to run along a beach, whatever that was. She wanted a handsome prince to whisk her away on a white horse. Those were just stories though and she was living in reality.

She was terribly unhappy. It didn't take a complete genius to understand that. Ana saw it. Vasily saw it. HYDRA saw it. The little girl who used to run through the halls with a frilly pink dress on with a large smile on her face was no more. Now she barely smiled. She certainly didn't wear dresses anymore. She was quiet. She did as she was told. She was the good little girl HYDRA wanted her to be.

A loud commotion on the other side of the door drew her attention away from her book. At first she paid no attention to it. Loud noises were a frequent occurrence in a HYDRA base. The shouting was what caused her to put her book down and walk out of her room. She was cautious as she walked down the hallway that lead into the main part of the base.

It was chaos. People were running everywhere. Guns were trained at various people. There was shouting. And then she saw the soldiers. She remembered them from years ago. She remembered hearing their screams as the blue liquid was inserted into their veins. They were uncontrollable. Every time Karpov tried to train them, they would resist.

She looked around with wide eyes trying to understand the situation. It was pretty evident that it was another failed attempt to domesticate the soldiers. She heard a familiar, mumbled voice. Artem. Her eyes landed on the man who currently had one of the soldier's hands wrapped around his throat. Catherine marched over to him wanting to help. It was dumb idea. She knew that, but if she didn't attempt to intervene he would kill Artem.