PURE AND TAINTED
CHAPTER FIFTY
( it smelt like cabbage )
AFTER MAKING SURE SAM WOULD be okay, she sent him off to find Rome while she ventured out to hunt down Steve and Bucky. Aline knew there was no way she'd be able to face Rome yet; she had no preparation! Luckily, she didn't have to search far for both the super soldiers were floating in the river and she helped drag them ashore. With Steve's help, she managed to find an abandoned warehouse for them to hide out in, then sent a message to Sam to meet with them, which sent Aline through a small panic.
The tribrid was already on edge with their current situation 一 by not signing the Accords, they were technically criminals in the eyes of the United Nations, especially since they were aiding and abetting a known criminal. Who knows, maybe Ross would send Tony to hunt them down. But now, she was going to see Rome, a woman she hadn't been in contact with in five decades. How exactly was she supposed to react to this situation? She will admit that most of the reason why she had left was because of Aline, but her soulmate had been murdered and Rome had left right in the middle of her grieving period. The time she needed her most, she vanished without a trace.
She's tried to see Rome's side of things and she did get it. Aline had done a lot of bad things in order to get revenge on Madelaine's murderers, it had been horrific and bloody and gotten the attention of several newspapers and the government. But Rome was no saint 一 she'd done just as much bad as she, her cousin couldn't call herself the better person. If it had been Rome's soulmate who'd been lost, perhaps it would have been chaotic and deadly. A part of her has always wondered if Rome had been jealous of her relationship with Madelaine. Not because she found love, but because she had a soulmate. In this world, soulmates were such a rare thing to find, and Aline had been one of the few they've ever seen or met to have one. Even her Avenger friends had been surprised that she had a soulmate.
When she heard two people enter the building, she balled her fists before she forced herself out of the room. They had to meet sooner or later, and it was best to just get it out of the way now before something else happened. Aline's movements were slow as she spotted the familiar blonde besides Sam. It felt like ice filled her veins.
Rome hardly looked any different. Her blonde hair was just a little longer, if anything, and there was little to no makeup on her face; there was, however, some smudged mascara underneath her eyelids, but Aline had only noticed it because of her enhanced eyesight. A black coat covered her body, but revealed her jean-clad legs. A necklace sat around her neck, tucked beneath her clothes. A ring of red surrounded her throat, one that she was positive would eventually bruise, and for a moment, a part of her had grown furious that someone even dared lay a hand on her. Even after all these years, she was still protective of Rome. A thin cut was on her temple, with dried blood against the wound.
Her cousin froze when she saw Aline, green eyes going wide. Their eyes met but Rome was the first to speak. "Aline," she whispered, but the tribrid could hear it clear as day. Honestly, she could hear the thundering heartbeat within the witch's chest just as loudly.
"Rome," she greeted, shoving a hand in her pocket. What the hell was she supposed to say? Instead of saying anymore, she nodded her head to the side then looked away to hide her reddening cheeks. "Bucky's in there if you want to see him."
She bit her lip, but nonetheless Rome nodded and started to walk to the side room. They passed by one another, tension so thick you could see it, and Aline watched as she disappeared into the other room with Sam following behind. The moment she was out of eyesight, she let out a loud breath and blinked rapidly. No, she was not going to cry! But she couldn't help the overwhelming feeling growing rapidly in her chest, and she shoved her other hand in her pocket so no one would see them shake.
She turned at the sound of her name, seeing Steve slowly walking towards her. "Mind if we talk?" he asked, to which Aline begrudgingly nodded and allowed him to lead her farther away into a corner of the room. When they were away from the rest of the group, Steve was the first to speak. His hands were shoved into his pockets and he leaned against a wall. "So that's Rome."
"Yup." Aline nodded, popping her lips, and her hands fell to her sides. Of course she knew where this was going, but that didn't mean she was going to like it. God, she was dreading every conversation.
"She seems... nice."
"Oh, yeah, totally," Aline said bitterly, "if you completely disregard the fact that she abandoned me for fifty years for some guy, then yeah, she's the nicest person in the whole flippin' universe." She leaned against the wall. Bitterly, she slammed her fist against the wall and grit her teeth at the sudden pain.
"Ali 一"
"Don't!" Aline shouted, holding up a hand. She then remembered that her cousin wasn't too far and lowered her voice. "Please tell me how else I'm supposed to be reacting, I'd love to hear it." She shook her head, brown hair falling around her gentle looking face. "I find out my cousin, one of the few people I have ever truly loved, is alive and has been with HYDRA all these years and I'm supposed to be calm? I'm supposed to forget that she left me when I needed her?" Rome had left her in her darkest hour and Steve was just expecting her to play nice? How? It was already difficult enough with everything that's been going on outside her family drama. Now was definitely not the time, considering everything they'd gone through just today.
The captain watched Aline as she continued to speak. Ever since they discovered Aline's cousin had been with Bucky, she'd been acting distant. Hell, she hadn't even been answering Wanda's calls, so they knew that something was wrong. Because Sam was newer to the team, he didn't really know the complications between Aline and her family, but he knew that it was something that happened a lifetime ago and it was something Aline had never gotten over. Sam would never truly know the pain she'd gone through, not like the others knew. Yes, Aline wasn't always the most open with her problems (really, she only ever complained about the littlest of things to anyone) but this problem was more physical than vocal.
Steve remembered when Aline had first told him about Rome 一 a beautiful and powerful witch and her older cousin, Rome was more a sister (a much, much better and more loving sister than Aline's biological one, which he'd heard even less about). The tribrid had always talked about Rome in a strange way, with so much happiness and yet so much bitterness mushed into one. It'd broken his heart to know that someone had left Aline like that, a broken little mess, and for a while, he'd been just as angry with Rome.
Aline's voice dropped. "How am I supposed to talk to her?"
Steve was at a loss for words. "I guess you'll just know."
Before she could roll her eyes and talk about how cliche that sounded, Sam shouted to them. "Hey, Cap!" Sam's voice called out, echoing through the large building. It made the two of them jump and suddenly remember their situation. This wasn't to be a chick-flick moment, this was serious. They were criminals now.
The two of them walked back into the side room, seeing Bucky had just started to stir. His eyes blinking in surprise and recognition. Rome was standing close to him, arms holding herself. Bucky looked to his left, not exactly surprised to see that he was restrained. When he saw his best friend, he managed a weak smile. "Steve."
"Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve asked, sure to make his face remain as neutral as possible.
Aline walked to lean against one of the boxes piled up in the corner. She watched Rome as she moved to stand closer to Bucky, still within arms distance. Internally, she wondered who exactly Rome and Bucky were to each other. Apparently, from what Steve had told her earlier, the two had been together for a few years, and she saw the way they looked at one another.
The ex-Winter Soldier hesitated before saying, "Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." He ended with a chuckle, laughing at the faint memory.
"You can't read that in a museum," Steve said.
Sam scoffed. "Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" he said in a bitter tone, his arms crossed.
"What did I do?" Bucky asked, obviously scared of the answer.
"Enough," Steve said.
Rome took a step towards Bucky. "It's not your fault," she said in a reassuring tone, smiling at him gently. "Don't think too hard on it."
The hybrid nearly scoffed at those words. How was he not supposed to think hard on it? It didn't matter if he didn't have control of his body; in Bucky's mind, he was going to convince himself that he'd been too weak to stop them from controlling him and forcing him to do unspeakable things. It had been similar with Aline. When Madelaine first died, the aggression that came with being part werewolf had seemed to take over her every thought, making her act out its cruel whims. Once the chaos had settled, Aline had gone into hiding simply because she couldn't accept the fact at what she'd done. God, how could Rome tell Bucky, knowing everything Aline had gone through and done?
"I knew this would happen," Bucky said, bowing his head. He scrunched his face up. "Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."
"Who was he?" Steve asked and cocked his head, referencing the doctor.
"I don't know."
"People are dead," Steve reminded. "The bombing, the setup 一 the doctor did all that just to get ten minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know.'"
"He wanted to know about Siberia," Bucky replied quickly, slightly nodding to himself, "where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."
"What's so special about Siberia?" Aline asked, her brows furrowed. "It's cold, boring, and I thought it smelt like cabbage." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rome give her a small grin at her funny comment, resulting in her to duck her head. They were supposed to be angry with one another, not laugh like they were back to normal (whatever the hell that was).
"Because," Bucky said, "I'm not the only Winter Soldier."
They all listened with intent to understand as Bucky explained what HYDRA had been doing behind the scenes. Some time ago, the secret organization had managed to create a similar copy to the original super soldier serum, on several other participants. Because the others had been too difficult to control, they had sent the remaining Winter Soldiers into something of a cryo-sleep somewhere deep in the Siberian wilderness.
"Who were they?" Steve asked.
"The most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history, and that was before the serum."
Aline quickly looked to Steve, exhaling deeply. Even though she hadn't personally experienced it, the tribrid knew how difficult it was to put down Bucky when he was in that mindset. That was one man, so the fact that there were several others just like him 一 just as lethal, just as bloodthirsty 一 was a terrifying thought. There was no way that they could let that mysterious doctor let them into the world.
"They all turned out like you?" Sam asked.
"Like brainwashed lab experiments with semi-anger issues?" Aline teased, winking playfully at Bucky. However, she saw that Rome had snapped her head towards her, glaring at her, but she didn't exactly care. So what if Rome was angry with her for making the comment?
Bucky nodded. "Worse."
"The doctor," Steve asked, "can he control them?"
"Enough."
Steve looked back up at Aline then Sam. "He said he wanted to see an empire fall."