Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

Industrial Espionage (part one)

He downed the remainder of the drink in one last swig and went to sit back on the couch. There was a clock on the wall above the sink. Half past four.

The Soldier didn't reckon he'd be sleeping much for the rest of the night.

***********

Erin was woken by her alarm at eight O'Clock exactly. She stumbled out of bed and hopped into her shower, spending slightly longer in than usual before towel drying her hair and slipping into a pair of skinny jeans and a tank top. There was a small sense of unease in her gut, but she pushed it away as she set about blow-drying her hair and tying it up behind her head in a messy ponytail. It was only when she went to open her bedroom door and found out that it was locked that she remembered.

"Shit." She muttered to herself. Optimus had stayed the night. She'd let him sleep on her couch.

She still wasn't entirely sure if she could trust him. She wouldn't put it past HYDRA to come up with a scheme this complex and messed-up just to get what they wanted. Of course, there was the look on Optimus' eyes when she had seen him last night. Completely lost.

That wasn't the kind of look a guy could make up.

She braced herself and unlocked the door, sliding the metal bolt sideways, like that would have stopped him, and pushed it forwards, stepping into the light of her main room.

He was awake, lying on her couch with his feet hanging over the edge, Crookshanks curled up on his stomach asleep. He glanced up under long dark lashes as she walked in and gave her a nod of recognition, not wanting to startle the cat out of its place. Erin gave him a tight-lipped smile and walked over to her cupboards, where she pulled down a box of cereal.

"You want breakfast?" She asked, holding up the box as an offering. The guy didn't look as if he'd eaten in days, the least that she could do was give him some Cap'n Crunch. He raised an eyebrow but shook his head, a small smile on his mouth.

"I figure I should lead myself back into normal life steadily. If I ate something that sweet I'd probably barf it back up on your carpet."

She raised her eyebrows at his admission. It wasn't that he looked skinny, quite the opposite. She could tell that under his red shirt he packed a solid bit of muscle, but there was a gaunt drawn look to his face that reminded her of the kids she used to teach in Manchester. She taught in high schools where many of the children came from broken families. She knew that look well.

It wasn't food the Soldier was starved from, it was compassion.

Erin hopped up onto the counter, eating the cereal straight from the box, looking at the Soldier intently. They had a plan for today. Sneak into the University and cook up a batch of M.F.C.T.S in one of the Chemistry labs, and then get back to her flat in time to test it on the Soldier. He was about to finally found out who he was.

"What time should we go in today?" Erin asked through a mouthful of cereal. The Soldier gently moved the cat off his lap and sat up, pushing his hair back from his face. He did that an awful lot, Erin noticed. Maybe he needed a haircut. She decided against the idea almost instantly. He looked so wound-up that she reckoned anybody who got within three feet of him with a pair of scissors would get a metal fist to the face.

"I was thinking around midday," He said, his voice low, "When do the cleaners come in?"

"They usually turn up about three."

He nodded, "How long'll it take you to make that serum?"

"I could do it in two hours at a push."

That was a lie. Erin had never been able to make the serum in faster than three hours, but she was sure that with the fear of arrest looming over her head, she would probably be a lot quicker. The corner of the Soldier's mouth quirked up into another little smile. It was incredible how the small hint of humanity completely changed his face from that of a stone cold killer to a man who seemed nearly friendly. She'd almost believe the façade if she didn't know that he could kill her in seconds if he wanted.

"Alright, so if we set off at eleven, we'll get there by twelve. Then you whip up the serum and we're out before the cleaners come in at three."

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled, "Mind if I get some work done in the meantime?"

The Soldier shook his hand, "Not at all."

Erin hopped off the counter and put the cereal back in the cupboard, before taking a seat behind her desk and pulling out her briefcase from underneath it. She lifted out a stack of papers and placed then next to her, picking out her trusty red pen and beginning to mark. Sixty papers on the function of the liver by sixty different second-year biochem students took a long time to mark, she may as well get on with it. 

"Have you heard of a guy called 'Michael Holton?"

The Soldier's voice surprised Erin, and she looked at him in shock over her papers. Michael Holton? Naturally, she'd heard of Michael Holton.

"Holton industries? He was a multimillionaire, of course I've heard of Michael Holton. Someone shot him in his apartment about six years ago. Nobody found the guy who did it."

Optimus nodded silently, thinking.

"He was a philanthropist, as well," Erin continued, "Founded a bunch of children's orphanages in Vietnam, Japan, China, all sorts of places."

"He was a sex-trafficker." The Soldier muttered. Erin's eyebrows raised in shock.

"What?"

"Men, women, children. He sold them all to the highest bidder." The Soldier's spat out.

"How on earth do you know that?"

He looked up at Erin, his blue eyes intense.

"I think.... I think I killed him."

Erin was silent for a good ten seconds. When she didn't respond, the Soldier continued talking.

"I had a dream last night. A really vivid dream. I shot that sick bastard through the stomach and let him bleed to death."

The room was silent with his admission. The Soldier looked down, not able to keep eye contact.

"He was a monster. But still... I killed him." He snorted out a humourless laugh, "I guess that makes me a monster as well."

"Hey," Erin pushed herself up from her desk and walked over to him, perching on the arm of the couch. She couldn't help but notice the way that he flinched slightly as she sat down. His head was in his hands, his elbows on his knees. That long brown hair falling over his face, shielding him from view.

Erin raised her hand, pausing for a second before placing it lightly on his back. He flinched at the contact and looked up at her, his eyes almost impossibly blue.

"You're not a monster, alright?" Erin reassured him, removing her hand and placing it on her lap, "The Winter Soldier was a monster, but you're not him."

Optimus let out a humourless snort and leant back, placing his hands behind his head.

"The two of us aren't mutually exclusive, Erin."

"I've seen the Winter Soldier." She said, "And you aren't him."

He pursed his lips and she let the corner of her mouth twitch up into a smile.

"You're not a monster."

PART 2 IS COMING IN A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS (aLSO PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU LIKED THIS)