Memories || Bucky Barnes

Chapter 4

Bucky's POV
I know her. I've seen her before. The other man called her Emily. Looking in her eyes as she whispered 'Bucky' made my chest heavy. I cared for her. What does that mean? Who the hell is Bucky? And who is she?

"Mission report" I hear

I let her go...

"Mission. Report. Now" they repeat when I don't answer.

"She... The heaters didn't work as we expected. She didn't lose her powers and she was not alone. So I had to... I had to get out before I got compromised" I lie.

I'm not supposed to lie...

"Who was with her?" they ask

"The man from the bridge. I met him earlier this week on another assignment" I answer

I think I knew him too...

"Don't worry about him now. Your mission is the woman" they remind me

"Who is she?" I ask

"Her identity is non of your concerns, soldier. She was your target and you were asked to put her down but you failed for the second time. Fortunately for you, there is another mission for now. If you fail again, though, we'll have to terminate you. Do you understand?"

"Yes" I answer

"Good. Wipe him and start over" they order.

I don't resist.

Emily's POV
"Are you sure he recognized you? It couldn't be just a reflex or something?" Steve asks

"No. He recognized me. He was killing me and then he let me go. Why would the Winter Soldier do that?

"But they've probably brainwashed him already, so what's the point of this conversation?" I assume

"What do you know about it?" he asks

"It's called the Winter Soldier project and he's not the only one in it. The others were actual assassins from H.Y.D.R.A. that volunteered. They all received a version of the supersoldier serum. Bucky was the first one to receive it when he was captured in 1943. That's how he survived the fall from the train. We didn't know, even he didn't know" I explain

"And how is he alive today?"

"It is known that the serums you both received slows down aging. However, just like you, he was... frozen most of the time. In the security breech of 1943, one of the things HYDRA stole was my research on cryonic preservation. And they used it on him" I admit

"You're not responsible for this" Steve says immediately

"I know. But if I had just dropped it, he would not be there with them right now and I would certainly not be here. I would have died of age peacefully years ago, thinking that I'm joining him upstairs, and without knowing any of this shit".

1946
"I'm here with coffee!" Howard announced as he entered my lab

"Only two hours late" I said as I looked at my watch

"I'm the boss. And I had a meeting actually" he explained as he gave me my coffee

"Really? What was her name?" I chuckled

"Maria Carbonell" he replied

"You know her last name? Wow, must be serious" I joked

"You're so unprofessional. You know I can fire you, right?" he fake-threatened me

"You won't because deep down you love me" I winked and he laughed.

We both spent so much time together in the lab during this past year. Between me trying to move forward after Bucky's death and him looking for Steve Rogers, a close friendship was created.

"So, is everything for the experiment ready?" he asked

"Yes, I was waiting for you" I answered

"If this works, if the element survives, it means that Steve Rogers could return alive from under the ice"

"Well, lets not jump to that. This is a monitored experiment and Steve is out in the real world"

"But it's a start"

"Yes...".

Prior to this day, we had dozed some guinea pigs with a weaker version of the supersoldier serum that Steve received. It didn't give the strength benefits, it was just so the guinea pigs would mimic Steve's fast metabolism.

Howard and I wore our protection equipment and we put the first guinea pig in the capsule. I looked at my notes one more time before we started the freezing. Everything looked right.

'Please survive little guy' I thought.

Someone bursted in the lab "Mr. Stark, we have a situation" a guy said

"We have one here too" I argued without losing focus

"Ours is serious, sweetheart" he replied

"Hey!" Howard immediately snapped

"Sorry sir. We've been testing the blue glowing cube you found and now it's been acting weird" the guy explained

"Are we in elementary school? Explain weird like a scientist" Howard asked

"It started glowing more and its levels are building up rapidly".

Howard sighed and looked at me "Can you carry on without me for a second?"

"Of course"

"I'll be right back" he said and followed the other guy outside.

I continued with the experiment as planned, and monitored as the little guinea pig's vitals slowly came down. It was the first time I was working with an alive element and not just simulations.

"I'm sorry buddy. I'm not killing you. I'm going to get you back" I whispered.

~

Something happened.

I opened my eyes and I quickly realized that I was on the floor. My head was hurting and I was feeling a bit warm, which didn't make sense because the lab was always cold.

I took a look around and noticed that all the glasses in the room were broken. However, everything else was in place. It seemed like a sound wave went off and broke everything sensitive in the lab.

"Emily!" I heared my name as I started to get up from the floor

"What happened?" I asked when Howard returned to the lab

"The cube. It was like an energy bomb went off" he explained.

We both looked at the freezing expensive capsule that was absolutely destroyed. We both rushed to take a closer look.

I picked up a piece of it off the floor, but from the moment I touched it and by the time I brought it up, it had completely frozen in my hands.

I dropped it and I took a step back. Then, I touched the counter and the place my hand was on started freezing immediately. The ice spread on the counter until I took my hand back. Howard looked at it and then at me.

"I... How... What... Did that just...?" I asked.

Howard touched the frozen counter to confirm that we weren't hallucinating. I accidentally touched the wall behind me and it also froze.

"What's happening?" I asked scared this time

"Emily..."

"No, don't touch me"

"Ok, ok. Just calm down" he said

"Calm down? I just froze that. How did I do that? Why did I--" my head was spinning

"Emily?" he called.

Panic started taking over me. My head started hurting and soon I felt my knees give up.