𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙉 ✮ 𝘯. 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘧𝘧

{𝟏𝟐} - 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫

"How's that even possible? It was, like, seventy years ago." The mystery man next to Natalia finally spoke up, seeming unable to believe the Captain's theory. Semna immediately recognized him as the man who inflicted the wound to her shoulder back on the bridge. He seemed to remember too by the looks he was giving her every time she shifted in her seat.

"Zola," the Captain told him. Semna glanced up at him, doing her best to hide her expressions. "Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall." He sighed. "They must have found him and..."

Natalia grimaced. "None of that's your fault, Steve." Semna eyed her bullet wound, watching intently at the blood still falling from it. Natalia's skin looked much paler than she remembered it being and she tried to reach across with her foot, just as Natalia had done. But just as she tried to move, the man next to Natalia gave her a venomous glare that sent her back into a bubble. She closed her eyes again.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Semna squeezed her eyes further shut. Even with all of Hydra's briefings, she had somehow forgotten that her James used to know Steve Rogers. More than that, they were best friends. She didn't know if she would have it in her to watch him find out how Hydra really worked, what kind of treatment his former partner had to undergo these last several decades, all while he had believed him to be dead.

As far as Semna was concerned, he might as well be.

"We need to get a doctor here." The mystery man spoke up next to Natalia, his voice commanding the attention of the vehicle. Semna rolled her eyes; as if any of these soldiers would care if they perished. "If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck. They both—"

One of the guards jumped from their seat, shoving their electric saber towards the man. They let it drop for a moment, when they suddenly turned towards the other guard, slamming it into their chest with full force. Before any of them could process the guard's motives, they had kicked their colleague into submission, watching silently as they fell to the floor of the truck in an unconscious heap.

Semna sat up concernedly, watching for any movement from the Hydra guard that was now laying at her feet. "What the hell..."

She heard a groan from the corner, turning her attention back to the other guard. They were pulling off their helmet, and it was only until she saw their face that Semna finally realized that it was not a Hydra soldier at all. "That thing was squeezing my brain."

The woman was not familiar to Hydra, but she was all too familiar in Semna's mind. Maria Hill had appeared more in her thoughts in the last thirteen years more than she would care to admit. The woman's face was burned into her mind from that dreaded day, so much so that she was not fazed by how much she had changed in the last decade. She was still a perfect depiction. A reminder of what could have been.

Maria sighed and turned to look at the man by Natalia. She eyed Semna a moment longer, but turned away before she could be coaxed into saying anything.

"Who are these guys?"

☾                       ☾                      ☾

They had considered leaving Semna behind, but Natalia was quick to shut down that idea, only it wasn't for the reason that Semna had been hoping for. They wanted to use her for information on Hydra, and decided that she should be kept in the cuffs for their own safety. So she followed obediently behind them as they worked quickly around the security measures of the truck, putting her into the back of a van that had conveniently been parked close by.