Hidden Location
Washington, D.C., USA
April 2014
SEMNA sat rigidly, massaging her wrists underneath the table. She ran her fingers absentmindedly over each muscle, never truly applying much pressure. She was used to the feeling, so her hands were no longer sore; rather, she was trying to avoid the many pairs of eyes she could feel fixating on her battered form.
Captain Rogers sat beside her, along with the man she encountered on the bridge—she learned his name was Sam. She also hadn't heard the Captain speak more than a few words, but it was what was best for now. Semna didn't think she could explain to him the horrible things his best friend has had to endure in the time they spent apart. She could hardly believe what had happened to James since the last time she spoke to him, the night before he was wiped of everything he knew.
It was hard to believe that was only two nights ago. Two nights ago, she still had her best friend right by her side, talking her through the troubling times and picking her up with clever anecdotes. Now, she has a shell of that man. She was more unsure than she had ever been about James. Normally, the routine wipes of his memory were nothing more than a bump in the road, one that he overcame in enough time to tell her another story about his life before Hydra. She would always listen eagerly, writing it down word-for-word in her journal. Every time they wiped him, she could still see remnants of her James. And, every time, she could weed out the bad that Hydra tried to put into his brain. She could make him remember Semna and their friendship.
Except this time. This time, he was a stranger who had no signs of the personality she could once see in James. This time, Semna knew there was no going back.
And if she felt this way about the loss of her best friend, she could not imagine the pain Captain Rogers had felt all these years of not knowing whether James was even alive.
The room had been silent for several minutes now. Semna wasn't sure what they wanted help with, exactly, but she wasn't willing to offer up everything she knew about Hydra; not just yet. She had faith she could trust Natalia, but she was not completely sold on everybody else in the room. Natalia already knew a lot more about Semna than anybody, both the good and the bad. But, even then, there was a thirteen year gap between now and the last time they had both seen each other. A lot can happen in thirteen years.
Reluctantly, Semna looked up to Natalia, taking in her appearance. The one thing she always remembered about her was the unwavering confidence in her character. No matter what challenges came her way, Semna never saw her break her resolve. She was always a rock that Semna could lean on when things got tough. Yet today, Natalia leaned back in her seat, her shoulders slumped. Her arms were folded over her chest as she stared down at the table. Semna mirrored her completely, stumbling over her thoughts, one occurring more often than the others—
How the hell did they end up here?
Semna's breath hitched as Natalia's eyes came up to meet her own.
However, the looks the two women shared now were entirely different than they were in the fight. This time, Natasha knew exactly who she was looking at. The icy eyes weren't just the spectacles of a Hydra soldier anymore; these were the same eyes that her teenage self would get lost in all those years ago, and the ones that once admired the stars as if they would leave at any moment. They had shared enough nights together to have an entire conversation without having to utter a word.
But today, they both faltered.
Natasha wasn't so sure she wanted to know how Semna got here...not anymore. She knew how Hydra worked and she knew how she was treated in the Red Room all those years, and it was no coincidence that Semna's injuries became more frequent just after her time at the academy had been slimmed down.
She remembered the day she first found one of these injuries. Semna had been unusually quiet since her private meeting with Madame B and as one of the many results of said meeting, she was missing more and more of her classes. She was missing more and more time with Natasha. On one of the few nights she was actually at the academy they snuck off to the windowsill, talking quietly for almost an hour, until Semna's nightgown had risen up her leg and exposed a large, untreated cut on her thigh, at which she abruptly ended their conversation and refused to speak to Natasha the rest of the morning. This was only one of the many occurrences in their partnership.
They never discussed the incident. Now Natasha knew exactly why.
During her daydreaming, Natasha had begun to spin the ring on her finger delicately, just as she always did when she thought of Semna.
Semna noticed this and forgot herself for a moment, speaking up amidst the eerie silence from the group around her. "You kept my ring."
Natasha paused in her movements. It wasn't a question, but slowly, she nodded at Semna and a sad smile crept onto her face. "You thought I wouldn't keep it?"
"I thought you might have been upset with me," Semna admitted. "I had no idea what you would do with it."
They shared a smile. It was only a moment, but it was enough to make Semna's heart swell. So far, seeing Natalia again hadn't been what she imagined, but it was perfect nonetheless. She never knew if the chance would actually come for them to be this close ever again. There was another thing that had been on her mind, though. Hesitantly, she turned to Steve, who had been standing near the doorway, staring daggers at her.
She offered him a small smile. "I am sorry about Bucky."
Steve's eyebrows unfurled and his mouth fell open slightly. "You know him?"
"Well, obviously I do, yes."
"You know him as Bucky?" He corrected, shaking his head. "Not as the Winter Soldier? Not as James?"
"No, I..." she trailed off, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut. She felt like she had already said too much for her liking, and all she was trying to do was offer up sympathy to someone she barely knew, someone who was supposed to have been her enemy all these years.
This was going to be a lot harder than she expected.
"I know his name," she said carefully. "I know he went by Bucky before the war and I just know that is what you called him...call him. But I was only ever allowed to address him as Soldat in front of my commanders."
"And who are your commanders?"
"Um..." Semna bit her lip. "I only know the name of one: Andrik. He was my personal commander, and he was on the bridge with me. I have seen his bosses before, but I have never learned their names."
"If I showed you pictures of people in SHIELD," Maria interrupted, "would you be able to identify the ones you recognize from Hydra as well?"
"Probably." Semna felt confident for the first time since she got here. She felt like she could really help. "I wasn't high-ranking, by any means, but I was there long enough to see new and old agents come through. I'm sure I could spot a few that I know."
At this, Fury reached into his coat and pulled out an old, frayed photograph. He tossed it onto the table and nodded at Semna. "Do you know him?" Semna grabbed the picture and held it under the light, not that she needed it to know who she was looking at.
Andrik had made her memorize the faces of his direct superiors early on in her training. He said it was important for her to show respect for all commanders in Hydra, but she knew better than that. He didn't care if another commander punished Semna, he only wanted her to make him look good when the opportunity presented itself. The man in the photograph was the one Andrik had been the most insistent about impressing, perhaps because he was scared of the man himself.
"I know him," she muttered. "But I do not know his name. What is his name?"
"That is Alexander Pierce," Fury told her.
"Pierce..." She thought for a moment. Her eyes wandered over the contours of his face, the menace in his eyes. She shuddered. "What does he do?"
"He's a part of the World Security Council," Maria said. "Basically, he oversees SHIELD. He knows all of our moves before we even make them."
"Who is he to you?"
Semna turned to Steve, hesitating for a moment. "Um..." she didn't know how to describe it, exactly; she never knew who he was or what he did, she just knew that she was supposed to be afraid of him, and make him be afraid of her. "He was my commander's...commander. If he said something, I was supposed to listen to him instead of my direct superiors." She sighed. "I don't know, he just always seemed weird to me. Always came out of nowhere and would stand in the corner most of the time...just watching whatever we were doing. It kind of creeped me out."
"Does he know you?" Natasha asked.
"Yes," Semna nodded intently, "he definitely knows me."
The Captain pulled out a chair across from Semna and sat down in it. He leaned forward, pressing his hands firmly into the table as she avoided making eye contact with him. "What? What do you mean he definitely knows you?"
"Pierce's prized possession is the Winter Soldier," Semna explained. "As long as I was helping Hydra keep him under control, he would give me whatever I needed to keep that up." She thought for a moment, confused by something that was said earlier. "Wait, you said Pierce also oversees SHIELD? I don't see how that's possible to maintain."
"He's a rather impossible person to understand," Fury said scornfully. "But we can figure that out later. What's important right now is stopping the launch of Project Insight."
Semna's blood ran cold. "They're really doing that thing?" She exclaimed.
"They most certainly are." Fury opened the briefcase in front of him, displaying it to the group. Inside were three identical cards.
"What's that?" Sam asked.
"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria explained.
Fury nodded. "We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."
"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational," Maria took a breath, "a whole lot of people are gonna die."
"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is Hydra. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage what's left—"
"We're not salvaging anything," Steve interrupted. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down SHIELD."
"SHIELD had nothing to do with this."
"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. Hydra grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."
"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."
"How many paid the price before you did?"
Semna would never admit it to him, but she agreed with the Captain. She had watched a lot of people suffer by Hydra's hands—by her hands—over the years. She was miserable in the position she was in, and imagined it was much worse for people who had lost family or friends due to their brutal methods. She would have hated to find out it all could have been prevented.
"Look," Fury sighed. "I didn't know about Barnes."
"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that, too?" Steve's jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. "SHIELD, Hydra—it all goes."
Fury stared at him in disbelief, reluctantly turning to Maria, who he was shocked to see agreed with the Captain. He then turned to Natasha, who only stared at him, until his eyes settled on Sam standing behind her.
He shook his head. "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower." He gestured to Steve.
Fury turned to stare down a hesitant Semna, who was silently watching the interaction go down. She leaned back and cleared her throat. "Don't look at me either. I just got here."
Fury sat back, seeming to think through his next plan of action. "Well," he said to Steve, "it looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."
They all took a minute, each of them taking in Fury's words. Steve was right, and they all knew it; it was more surprising that Fury had willingly given up his command for what might be the most important mission of their careers. Semna, for one, was more annoyed than shocked. Steve was the one person in the room she did not want to take any orders from.
"Steve," Sam spoke up, "He's gonna be there, you know."
The Captain huffed. "I know."
"Look, whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save." Sam lowered his head regretfully. "He's the kind you stop."
"I don't know if I can do that." Steve hung his head. Semna couldn't help but feel bad for him. If it were her, she would do everything she could to get James back to being her best friend instead of her enemy.
"Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."
Semna could practically see the heartbreak in the Captain's eyes. She sucked in a harsh breath, wiping her cheek passively. "Yes, he does."
Both men turned towards her, sharing a subtle look that she could not quite pick up on. "He does?" Sam deadpanned. "How are you sure?"
Semna locked eyes with the Captain. He bore into her with an air of sovereignty, getting closer to her with each passing second. "Um." She stood up and nearly stumbled over the chair, narrowly avoiding crashing into the man's rather large frame. "I mean, h-he may not exactly....um...I'm sorry..." Her back hit a wall.
"What are you talking about?" Steve's voice echoed around her. "Answer me!" Semna's muscles tensed. She opened her mouth to respond, to explain...but no sound came out. Her stomach twisted and ached with every breath he took in her midst and all she wanted to do was collapse until the pain went away. But she was glued in place. She refused to budge until he made the first move.
"Steve!"
The Captain turned back to Natasha. The rest of the group was staring at him, and at Semna, waiting to see what she would say next. But the girl remained still against the wall with her hands tucked behind her, eyes wide and forward.
Natasha's heart hurt at the sight. She knew, better than anyone, what was going on in Semna's head.
"Get away from her," the woman snapped. "Now."
Steve and Natasha locked eyes, but he made no attempt to move away from Semna. She remained tethered to the wall, muttering the same mantra over and over again under her breath.
"Nat," he argued, his voice commanding and gruff, "you can't be serious. I know she's your friend, but she has information about these people. We have to go and take them down before this gets out of hand."
"I think it's safe to say it's already gotten out of hand. Besides, you're not getting anything out of her like this."
"But—" Steve ran a hand over his face and turned back to Semna. She still would not make eye contact with him, and a moment of silence allowed him to hear the changed, bone-chilling voice coming out of her mouth.
"Gotov vypolnit'."
Ready to comply.