Invisible, Not Invincible

Chapter 28: Reigniting

I looked at Bucky's face, it was expressionless. He was silent and in thought.

"How old are you?" He said, without looking up at me.

"23"

"What year were you born?" He said,

I sighed. "1939..."

"So, your..."

"... 71," I said at barely a whisper.

Bucky and I couldn't even look at each other.

With the sudden tension in the air, the vibe completely shifted.

"I was 14 when he finally started to freeze me," I said, looking down at my hands. Nervously picking at the skin around my nails.

"Guess I had started to resist more as I got older, became too much trouble."

Silence spread between us. Lingering for a few minutes.

"He eventually did it. He isolated the chemical compound that was in my blood, and used it to figure out the missing ingredient to the super soldier serum... I was around 15 when they reinjected it into me, and started training me. Shocking me. I was no longer the chosen one, the one needed to find the missing piece."

I hugged my knees to my chest again, resuming to project images with my powers.

"I was 16 the next time I saw you," I said, trying to suppress the emotions threatening to break through.

"That life in your eyes, it was gone. Fuck." I said shaking my head.

"The last time I had seen you, we were both such different people. I was a scared little girl, and you, a scared soldier. Then the next time we saw each other, it was like both of us had our lights blown out. Just husks of who we were, empty shells, broken."

"Every time I saw you, you looked so hollow. So defeated. Those people we were, they were gone. I believed that."

"I had become a killing machine over the next 60 years. I'd be put on ice when they didnt need me, and killed without question. I had lost hope in ever escaping, in ever being anything else. Over the years, I had forgotten about her, my mother. I guess wiping her from my memory made me less resistant."

I wiped a tear from my cheek, still not looking at Bucky.

"Then, " I cleared my throat.

"They had gotten so used to my compliance, my cooperation, that they made a mistake." I smiled.

"Walking back from training one day, I heard the commotion in the room I was passing. Seeing high-ranking members of Hydra talking to someone. 'That man on the bridge... Who was he? I knew him...' I heard a man say, not recognizing the voice. But then, when they turned on the machine, I heard those familiar screams. It was you. It was the first time I had heard your voice... And I realized you were still in there." I hugged my knees closer to my chest,

"And if you were still you, deep down inside. That there was hope."

"So, no matter how physically painful, and agonizing it was, I choose to remember. To remember my mom, and everything that she taught me. To remember how my childhood was stolen from me, my mother killed in front of me. To remember that glimmer of hope, that light, that was in your eyes the first time I saw you. To remember Steve, raising hell on earth to find you, to find his best friend. I forced myself to remember." My voice changed from one of sadness to one of determination as I spoke.

"And the first opening I saw, even if it wasnt for me, no matter the repercussions; I unlocked your door, and took your restraints off. I just had to hope that the Bucky inside of you was strong enough to do the rest."

I looked up at Bucky and smiled, a single tear escaping from my eye.

"And you were."