COBRA | B. BARNES

X. DOUBTS AND NIGHTMARES

For the duration of their walk back to the safehouse, Bucky was quiet. Aiyla didn't attempt to engage him in any sort of conversation. She recognised his expression and she knew he didn't want to be bothered. So, she let him be. As she got in the house, the first thing she did was clean her knives. She cleaned them with care, scrubbing every bit of the blade and the hilt clean, rubbing away the poison she had dipped them into before they left the safehouse.

It took her some time to clean her weapons. She then placed them beneath her mattress and took some new clothes as she headed to the bathroom. She needed to take a shower. She smelt like blood.

She stayed in the shower for a while until she was satisfied and then stepped out, dried herself off and got dressed quickly. She didn't bother brushing her hair while it was wet, instead she kept it in the towel and walked over to the kitchen to continue with her meal. On her way there, she passed by the living room. Bucky was sitting on the couch, his gun next to him, appearing to be deep in thought. As she cleared her throat, though, he looked up.

"Would you like to join me for lunch, Mr Barnes?"

For a while, he just stared at her before he slowly looked away with a shake of his head. "Maybe later."

Aiyla didn't press the matter any longer and left him with his thoughts. As soon as she was gone, Bucky leaned back in the couch, squeezing his eyes shut with his lips pursed. The earlier fight kept replying in his mind. And he couldn't help but think he had missed something.

He focused on the way she had moved. The way she protected herself using another person as cover, how she manoeuvred as she threw knife after knife, her aim precise and quick. He thought of the way she had fought in combat, using her size to her benefit as she ducked below her opponent's fist and slashed across their ribs with her poisoned knife before moving to the next opponent. He couldn't understand what he had missed or why he had thought of that abandoned building with the bodies but there was one thing Bucky knew for sure; he had seen someone move that way before.

Bucky racked his brain to remember all the missions he had been to, all the people he had fought, he even tried to think of those that had fought alongside him while he was the Winter Soldier but he came up with nothing. Nothing came to mind and he couldn't remember another similar incident, the building seemingly erased from his memory. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.

Anyone else would have supposed it was a coincidence they had thought Aiyla's fighting seemed familiar, they would have forgotten about it and moved on. But Bucky didn't trust his memory. He trusted his gut, and it told him that her moves were supposed to seem familiar. They meant something. He just wasn't sure what.

He let out a deep sigh as he placed his head in his hands as he remembered of the way she seemed so detached when she killed. It was almost as if it was something she had gotten used to. Like a tedious chore they always assigned her. And he couldn't take her blank eyes out from his mind.

Bucky didn't need to have an intact memory to know there was something Aiyla wasn't telling him. And at this point, he was almost sure; the first time he had seen her hadn't been five years ago, at Tony Stark's funeral. It couldn't be. Unless his mind was playing tricks on him once more.

With a shake of his head, he left the couch and moved it to the side. He opened the trapdoor and on his way down the stairs, he grabbed his gun. He turned the light on and headed to the wall with the guns, placing his own in its holder before leaving the room once more. He turned off the light and closed the trapdoor, moving the couch over it. He could hear the clashing of cutlery as it touched the plate from the kitchen but he didn't pay much attention to it as he headed to the bathroom and washed his hands. He washed them until he was convinced there wasn't a speck of dirt in his hands and fingernails. He ran a wet hand through his face just as Aiyla got in the bathroom, taking the towel off of her head and handing it over to him. He hesitated a bit as he grabbed it, and she sent him a small smile before grabbing a brush and leaving the bathroom.