January 11, 1983.
Washington, D.C.
'I come up hard, baby, but now I'm cool.
I didn't make it sugar, playin' by the rules.
I come up hard, baby, but now I'm fine.'
A jazz tune began to play in the space as the car was started and pulled away from the driveway.
"How much time?" asked the blonde-haired girl of about twelve years old in the passenger seat.
"We literally just turned the corner, Honey." the man in his late thirties who drove the 1970s Ford chuckled softly as the girl snorted and shifted nervously in the seat.
"Where are we even going, papa?" she questioned, drawing imaginary objects on the window.
"We're just going to pick up mom from work." David Mitchell patiently acknowledged.
"But papa, I'm bored! Why couldn't I stay home? I'm almost 12 now!" she literally begged, crossing her arms and pouting at him.
"You're still too young to be home alone." he scolded her as the little girl sighed, rolling her eyes. "Okay okay, I give up.." the man let out a frustrated sigh.
Reluctantly, he took out the tape currently playing in the car stereo, holding it momentarily between his teeth as he searched for another one in the compartment under his seat -while holding the steering wheel with his left hand.
Then he finally found it and slipped the worn out tape into the car radio, right before putting away the other one in the compartment. Just in time to see the biggest of smiles grew on his daughter's face.
"Papa you're the best!" the notes of Maddie's favorite song filled the car and she immediately began singing in excitement.
"..I know nobody knows where it comes and where it goes, I know it's everybody's sin. You got to lose to know how to win.." Maddie sang, swinging her head slowly and watching the landscape roll out the window. The houses reduced every so often, but never completely left room for trees and nature. Besides, it was just a 20 minutes drive from Annandale to Washington D.C.
"Now, I know your birthday is next week.." he started. "..But I can't wait to see your reaction." he opened the glove compartment in front of her and Maddie screamed sharply at the mere sight of the object.
She pulled a comic book out of the compartment and clutched it wordlessly in front of her. She ran her fingertips over the title, it was the latest Star Wars issue she was eager to read.She immediately began to leaf through it.
Madison Mitchell loved comics, not to mention her huge collection of Captain America comics. Starting with her grandfather and then her father, from the postwar period onwards they collected the comics celebrating the hero who saved the world, up to Maddie so that she could read them.
Madison loved superheroes and the fact that one of them really existed gave her goosebumps. On the other hand, David Mitchell was more than happy to read new comics her daughter finished, or take her to the movies to watch Star Wars together, or read The Lord of the Rings for her before bedtime. But the thing he loved most was to tell Madison about his work and how SHIELD was created.
Maddie even had a picture of her parents with Peggy Carter hanging in her bedroom, since the woman became a source of inspiration for her. In fact the little girl dreamed of joining the SHIELD Academy, or US Air Force. A dream much supported by her mother Janet, while David was quite reluctant to have her daughter risking her life doing their same job. Let's say he wanted something quieter for his little princess.
Over the years David was a huge fan of Steve Rogers, and surely talking about his adventures was his favorite story to tell Maddie. Of course his favorite one was how Captain America saved Maddie's grandfather and his comrades during war. The two of them loved spending afternoons together at the Smithsonian, especially in the exhibit dedicated to him.
David genuinely smiled looking at her out of the corner of his eye as he drove. She was completely absorbed in her reading, admiring the colorful drawings on the slightly yellowed pages. Driving past Pentagon City some time later, Maddie looked up from her comic, looking at the building visible in the distance from the highway.
"Papa?"
"Yes honey?"
"Shall we go to the museum after?" she pleaded with her doe eyes to convince him.
"Of course, little one, how on earth can I tell you no?" he patted her on the head. "I'll never understand why you never get bored of always going there."
"I don't know.. I just feel safe there." she shrugged back to her comic. The truth is, she was convinced that was her future.
A few minutes later Maddie had closed the comic book on her legs and, after a series of trees, finally the marvelous Triskelion appeared before their eyes, the recently built SHIELD headquarters. Madison had already seen it at least a hundred times, but every time it had a certain effect on her. She pressed her nose against the window to look at the building.
They crossed the bridge to Theodore Roosevelt Island and Maddie couldn't help but think it was literally hulking. Perhaps the biggest building she had ever seen. The enormous complex occupied almost all of the Theodore Roosevelt Island. Its central structure was made up of three tall, thin, columnar buildings that supported a shared circular upper floor. Both inside and outside the facility itself, helipads and launch bays had been built on the island.
The car pulled over in front of the entrance and in that exact moment a woman with curly blond hair came out of the big glass door. Madison opened the car door and ran towards her. The woman knuckled seeing the little girl from afar and leaned down slightly to hug her.
"How was school today, honey?" the woman asked, pecking her a kiss on the forehead. Madison came face to face with the ID badge pinned to the jacket on her chest. For a second she stroked the eagle stamped on it with her fingertips.
"All right, mama. And papa gave me a comic!" she replied enthusiastically, taking the woman by the hand and dragging her towards the burgundy car.
"Ohw.. David! We decided it was for her birthday!" ironically scolded the man once they approached the car.
"Sorry Janet, I couldn't resist." the man shrugged from inside the cockpit and got out of the car looking guilty. The woman lightly patted the man's shoulder as she let him hold her in his arms.
"Ew." Madison pretended to throw up at the sight of her parents kissing in front of her and took a seat in the back of the car. "Gotta motor, folks! The Smithsonian closes in, like, a couple hours!"
Janet gave David a raised-eyebrow look, probably full of always having to take their daughter to the Smithsonian. He put an embarrassed smile and stroked his wife's cheek with his knuckles.
"Well, I couldn't resist even this."
Janet sighed loudly as Madison started knocking on the window from the inside to get their attention.
"Nobody can resist her." she pondered as David led her to the car and opened the passenger door for her.
✪
January 1996
Anya suddenly woke up in the middle of the night from that dream, almost screaming and dripping with sweat.
The eagle.
That woman.
That man.
Memories too confused and swirling clouded her mind. Suddenly another fragment came up to her mind. A scene that had plagued her thoughts for too long now.
Two bodies riddled in that underground shelter. My bloodstained hands and that ID badge tucked in the back pocket of my jeans. Did I kill them? Did they die because of me? But are those dreams or memories?
The only thing she was sure of was: that badge was somewhere in that base. And she had to find it at all costs.
But how?
She remembered something she saw on the day of her test: those men were leafing through a file, the same file was placed in Karpov's desk drawer that day. In his office.
But how am I supposed to get in there, if it will surely be guarded? I can't just kill them. Think Anya, think.
She needed a real miracle now.
And then, as if someone heard her prayers, an alarm that rang deafeningly throughout the base went off. Her bedroom door opened automatically, a red light started flashing, alternating between dazzling her and then plunging the room back into darkness soon after.
Anya retrieved her knife, tucked it into the elastic of his pants, and walked over to the door. She stopped hearing soldiers talking to each other in the hallway and then running to the right.
Great. The office is at the end of this corridor, to the left. This is my chance to finally know who I am and what I am doing here.
She slowly opened the door and suddenly the sound of the alarm grew even louder in Anya's ears, if possible. The corridors were also illuminated by a flashing red light and the siren was literally bardrums-breaking.
Anya walked along the wall through the corridors, soon finding herself behind a corner. Peeking out, she saw a guard standing outside the office door. She was nervous, then she thought that the whole electricity system was down, so the cameras were out and all the doors with electronic locks were open.
She braced herself, exiting the corner and moving quickly towards the guard. In a second she was behind him, her arm around his neck, squeezing his head between her arm and chest. The man squirmed and moved, but Anya was no match for him, until he passed out and was dragged into a closet.
A few minutes later, Anya came out of the closet wearing the guard's uniform and her face covered by the helmet. She walked over to the door and stepped inside. Something was burning inside her.
She was one step away from the truth. She closed the door behind herself and rushed behind the desk. Thanks to the knife, she forced several drawers.
This one's empty.
Empty.
Shit, this one doesn't open in any way.
Here isn't what I am looking for..
And.. Here it is!
She forced open the last one and there it was. A solitary file sitting inside the bottom drawer. She pulled it out and squatted behind the desk to read.
ДЕЛO n.17 (Subject n. 17)
She opened the folder, but what she found shocked her deeply. The file wasn't about her.
Barnes James Buchanan
DOB: March, 10 1917
ENLISTED: January 1942
AT: Brooklyn, NY
IN THE GRADE OF: Sgt.
FOR SERVICE IN: 107th Infantry Regiment
June 1943 shipped out. England.
July 1943 posted in Italy. Azzano, IT.
Oct 1943 captured. Azzano, IT.
The subject, together with other members of his division, was captured in Azzano (IT) and taken to Klausberg (AU).
The subject served as test subject #17 for Professor Armin Zola's Super Soldier Serum. Numerous experiments have been carried out. Subject appears to respond well and to be stable.
Nov 1943 rescued by Steve Rogers alias Captain America
Reassigned special OPS: Howling Commandos
Mar 1945 killed in action. Alps (IT)
Her head started to spin and hurt sharply. Anya shut the folder on her legs, gritted her teeth in pain and pressed her palms against her temples. A piercing pain began to tear through her brain. Suddenly she wanted to scream. Confused images took control of her vision.
✪
January 11, 1983.
Washington, D.C.
The ride to the Smithsonian was short from the Triskelion, nearly 30 minutes due to traffic. Moving on to the Lincoln Memorial, Constitution Gardens and World War II Memorial. Madison was high, so happy to spend some time with both her parents that she could hardly contain herself.
They parked quickly and soon the family found themselves inside the National Air and Space Museum. The largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world.
Madison loved to walk through those hallways full of history, planes hanging from the ceiling, a whole collection of space modules to discover. She loved to dream of going into space one day.
And then, finally, they got to her favorite part: the Captain America Exhibit.
"A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery and sacrifice. Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier." the voice explained.
The exhibit included several panels and areas about his life before Project Rebirth, his actions during World War II, a section dedicated to the Howling Commandos, and a memorial for Bucky Barnes. The exhibit also held replicas of Captain America's Motorcycle and uniform, in a series of mannequins that also held replicas of the uniforms worn by the Howling Commandos.
"While on tour in Azzano, Italy, Rogers saved 163 lives -including that of his best friend Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes." Madison read on a panel.
"Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission: taking down Hydra, the Nazi rougue science division."
Madison turned to another panel.
"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country." continued the narrator.
"A fallen comrade. James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes. Born in 1917, Barnes grew up the oldest child of four. An excellent athlete who also excelled in the classroom. Barnes enlisted in the Army shortly after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. After training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, Barnes and the rest of 107th shipped out to the Italian front." she had her eyes fixed on the panel.
"Captured by Hydra troops later that fall, Barnes endured long periods of isolation, deprivation and torture. In an ironic twist of fate, his prison camp was liberated by none other than his childhood friend, Steve Rogers, now Captain America."
Madison's parents sat in chairs while a video of Peggy Carter was being played as they watched their daughter wander around the exhibit.
"Recruited, Barnes and Rogers led Captain America's newly formed unit, The Howling Commandos. Barnes' marksmanship was invaluable as Rogers and his team destroyed Hydra bases and disrupted Nazi troop movements throughout the European Theater. Bucky Barnes 1917-1945." Madison sighed.
She spent hours in there, looking at the photos and videos of the two friends fighting together, that shield, that bike, those uniforms. She felt some kind of connection. You know, that feeling that binds you to a place, and you feel you belong there even if it's strange.
Suddenly Madison turned towards her parents as both their pagers began ringing insistently. A few minutes later the three of them were in the car. As usual.
They had been urgently called for a mission, due to suspicious movements in Africa, apparently. Now Madison was being taken to her grandmother's house as her parents had to leave as soon as possible.
✪
Aa Anya regained consciousness she was confused. Meanwhile the alarm seemed to have stopped. Crouched behind the desk with that folder in her hands. She turned the page to find multiple photos.
"James Buchanan Barnes.." she murmured taking one of those photos in front of her eyes.
I remember this photo.
I saw him.. In that museum..
Suddenly she heard some noises coming from the door as her heartbeat began to accelerate. The deafening sound of the alarm had disappeared. She carefully yet quickly put the file back into the drawer and made sure to close it.
Fuck. What do I do now?
She crawled behind the heavy and dark curtains of the windows, crouching on the ground, hidden by the thick material.
She heard a few heavy footsteps passing her, then a chair was swiped back and someone sat down heavily. Anya gripped her knife in front of her, ready to defend herself if the need arose.
"So, let's see.." that was Karpov's voice. Anya heard him open the drawer and pull out a file. "Tell me what happened." he inquired.
"He was out of control Sir. Completely." it was a guard.
"And the reason?" the Colonel insisted.
"We don't know Sir. We managed to sedate him, we are running tests and checks on him now." scratch that, he was a scientist. "There appears to be high brain activity, see? The brainwashing may not have gone well." she could hear the sound of paper being moved and passed from one to the other.
"Well repeat it! What are you waiting for, for him to kill us all? He's a monster." Anya could hear the Colonel write from the strength he was putting into it. He sounded quite angry.
"It's- complicated.."
"No, it isn't! The meeting with the girl went so well! Not even the shadow of a memory." he yelled at the poor scientist.
"And indeed it is so, Sir. We have only deleted his memories of the girl. Perhaps the selective wipe method is yet to be perfected."
"And why is that?" he was on a rampage.
"Because after seeing her, he might have remembered. Consequence is the mess he just made."
"дерьмо.. Alright, do something. Get it to work, I don't know. Surely the next mission will be the girl's last one. After that I want you to cancel her memory too. Total reset it if necessary."
"Yes, Sir."
The scientist was dismissed as Anya laid there on the hidden ground for what seemed interminable, then she finally heard Karpov putting the file away and leaving the office.
Anya let out a sigh of relief and waited even longer, if he even decided to return. Then she pulled out the folder again, continuing to read.
Doctor's Notes - March 23, 1945
The package arrived this morning, though whether we will be able to get anything useful from it is yet unknown. The physician aboard the patrol convoy has speculated that the subject's contact with the snow and freezing air may have preserved him, as it prevented his wounds -consisting of several lacerations on the left side of his body and the loss of his left arm at the shoulder- from bleeding out. Since they had not the facilities to test this theory onboard, he was kept in cold storage until he could be transported to Moscow.
March 24, 1945
Tomorrow we will begin the process of allowing the subject's body to regain its heat, in the hope that his blood will still be viable for testing.
I have not personally witnessed this, but have read of cases where a body that is flash-frozen has been completely revived.
I don't think we will succeed in the intervention at this juncture, but comrade Zola and his superiors have high expectations.
March 26, 1945
Yesterday exceeded all expectations. Subject's body temperature was increased over the course of several hours, and his wounds were dealt with, to prevent bleeding. When his temp. was close enough to normal, our assumptions were confirmed. Tissues and blood were still viable.
But, as I had predicted, he was in fact deceased. Either the fall, the impact or his time in the snow, had killed him...
Anya gasped and brought a hand to her mouth as she read.
...Comrade Zola had an idea that had not occurred to me. Since the subject was frozen soon after his demise, he suggested trying to revive him as if he were only recently deceased.
We administered electricity, Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and adrenaline directly into the heart. And though I can still hardly believe it, the subject was brought back from death.
The severely damaged remains of his arm were replaced with a prosthesis. His memory was erased through Electroconvulsive Therapy, which severely damaged his brain and limbic system. Thus allowing them to shape him to their liking and making him a kind of puppet. A document reserved for the senior leaders of the KGB and HYDRA attested to the start of The Winter Soldier Project.
"Bucky Barnes.." she muttered under her breath, stoking with her fingertips a photo of him in which he was frozen inside a cylindrical chamber.
It's him.
The boy from the museum. If that thing -that dream- perhaps a memory, was true, then she had always known him. All her life she had read about his death in a museum and books. But yet he was there, killing hundreds of innocent for years for the will of the Nazis. And the world still believed he was dead.
From the moment of his recovery until the date of the first mission report, ten years passed, in which he was stabilized, trained and frozen to preserve him for all that time. A war hero turned a trained assassin.
WINTER SOLDIER - MISSION REPORT.
Cairo, 11 January 1955.
Objective: United Nations Diplomatic Negotiation Team. All targets eliminated without incidents. Fire reported as accident.
WINTER SOLDIER - MISSION REPORT.
Algeria, 1 April 1956.
Objective: French Defense Minister Jaques Dupuy. Target eliminated with prejudice. Algerian Nationalist Movement implicated.
WINTER SOLDIER - MISSION REPORT.
Mexico City, 17 February 1957.
Objective: United States Colonel Jefferson Hart. Target eliminated with prejudice.
Anya just wanted to cry. She hadn't found her file, but at least she found something.
Then she found a long document.
INCIDENT REPORT. 12 March 1973.
Codename: Winter Soldier
I regret to report that after more that fifteen years of selective use all around the world, all to great success, last month's Winter Soldier mission into the United States did not go as planned.
The target, Senator Harry Baxtor, was eliminated, ad the death was made to appear accidental. But after that, something went wrong..
..Codename: Winter Soldier failed to appear at his extraction point.
His handlers waited, and listened in to police transmissions, but he did not arrive, and the local authorities reported nothing that implied he'd been apprehended.
Following protocol, our agents in the U.S. began a wide search for Winter Soldier. All extremes were taken to recover this valuable asset, including several sleeper-agents breaking cover..
A tear suddenly hit the paper.
..Through that considerable effort, we were able to track some of his movements. Security camera footage showed him in civilian garb at Dallas train station, boarding a train to Chicago.
Interrogation of several passengers onboard the train left the impression that the Winter Soldier was confused while on board. He was apparently confused about what year it was, and appeared uneasy around the other passengers.
In Chicago, he was seen boarding a bus for New York City..
Anya paused for a moment to calm her breath and back the tears. He had escaped. He had succeeded once.
..His movements in New York are unknown to us, but for two weeks he was completely off the grid.
It was only through sheer luck that he was found by one of our agents, sleeping in a flophouse on the Lower East Side.
It took several of our agents, in the garb of New York policemen, to take him into custody.
Yet even after subsequent mental conditioning, Codename: Winter Soldier has no answers for his conduct, or any memory of his time out of our control.
PROJECT WINTER SOLDIER - FINAL ORDERS. 4 August 1983
Project Winter Soldier has been decommissioned today. Codename: Winter Soldier has been placed back into stasis.
It is recommended that if Codename: Winter Soldier is revived from stasis in future, thorough mental re-implantation be done to assure control of the operative.
Codename: Winter Soldier will be stored at an undisclosed location, along with much of Hydra scientific division's abandoned experiments.
Anya went on reading for hours, about how a few years later he was revived and how a sequence of trigger words in Russian was implanted in his mind. Capable of putting him into a mode where he had no conscience, his personality would pass directly into the background and his body moved according to the order of the mission.
Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car.
There was also another word, which if said could make him fall unconscious. Like some sort of safeword in case things got bad.
Then, December 16, 1991. The Winter Soldier was awakened and sent after Howard and Maria Stark. Apparently these two had the serum which was injected into Anya.
Wow. This is a lot to process now.
Some men gain fame after they die, while others fade in the dark. But what the world fails to realise is a villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told.
You were a star, my dear, the brightest in all the skies. But stars burn out, and everything golden dies.
The file stopped abruptly there, almost suddenly. There had to be some continuity somewhere. And certainly her file too. But it was too late now, she had to get away.
Anya's thoughts suddenly went to Karpov's words. For five years he hadn't been wiped, after the last mission it had been wiped but she wasn't. And not even killed. Apparently there had been problems with this new wipe method.
But then again, why didn't they wipe her too? Perhaps she served as a test to see if the new memory erasing method was effective?
'The girl's next mission will be her last. I want you to wipe her too.' These words echoed in her mind.
No. I just can't allow it.
You're right, Colonel. It will be my last mission because I'm tired of being part of this sick theater.
This time it won't be that easy to get your puppet back, I swear.
--
A/n:
Well helloo people.
I've been binge watching Once Upon A time Time lately and now I feel depressed cuz the happy ending of this story is still very far away. 😭
But don't worry because things are about to take off hehe fasten your seat belts!
How are we feeling about young!nerd!Anya I mean Madison😂 I love her personally, and maybe we'll see more of her in the future.
Now imma go back to see the second episode of Hawkeye, I've only seen the first one and I'm already in love with Kate Bishop fuuck okay.
Lots of love❤️
Juls xx