"We will give Jesse the time it takes you to flush whatever is in your system out. After that, whatever information he gets we will use to our advantage. The plan is the same, we kidnap an agent and get them to talk." He says, sure of himself.
"You make it sound like it's going to be easy. It's not, there are so many factors to include. How are we going to find one now? We were counting on the tracker to bring them to us and we take one and get away. What are we going to do now?" I ask as our original plan is now trashed.
"You're going to track one down."
"Me? how the hell do you expect me to just track one down?"
"How did you find me?"
"The agent with smelly perfume. I tracked her...to you... ah I see."
"We will take her to some abandoned area and interrogate her by any means."
"You better figure out that abandoned area before we start all of this."
"I already have a place."
"Of course you do. What then? After we gather information?"
"We come up with another plan based on what we find out."
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Oh come on, besides that."
"Okay sure, what's your question?"
"What happened... in there?"
"When they ambushed me, they injected me with a sedative, they disabled my arm and chained me to a chair. They questioned me for hours, about you."
"What did they want to know?"
"Where you were, what happened on August 14th 2010, how to trigger you. Things like that."
"Why do they want to know about 2010?"
"I don't know, I didn't ask. I was kind of busy being interrogated at the time." He says facetiously. Something out of the corner of my eye catches me attention. A flicker of a lab coat. It's just a hallucination. I tell myself over and over trying to keep from chasing the rabbit down a hole I can't follow. "Hey what's wrong?" Bucky asks me, sensing my discomfort.
"It's a hallucination." I say shortly to him.
"Tell me about it."
"It's a lab coat just passing by my field of vision. I don't want to look at it."
"What's the harm?"
"I don't want to see where it goes, I know that lab coat."
"Okay well then just focus on something else."
"It's getting closer."
"Then close your eyes." And I do, I shut them tightly. But in doing so, I'm jerked down the rabbit hole. I stand alone in a dark room. The sound of shoes hitting the ground as someone walks, echoes off of the walls. A spotlight clicks on and I see myself against a wall. My young teenage hands are chained loosely in the air. I can see her legs trembling from exhaustion and her feet are bloody from the rough, jagged stone floor. I know this room. I recognize the smell of iron and sweat. I want to run and free my younger self but I'm frozen in place.
"Truaighe." Desolation. A deep booming voice barks out in Gaelic. Dr. Chaos, I knew that lab coat belonged to him. I watch as my chained body fights against his words, screaming out in defiance.
"Aithreachas." Rue. He says, slowly inching forward with each word. She pulls against the tirelessly as she yells at him to stop.
"Naoi fichead 's a còig" Ninety-five. He walks closer holding his book out in front of him so he can see the words clearly.
"Marbhadh." Carnage. I'll kill you!!! My defiant younger self screams at him shaking.
"Ciaradh an fheasgair." Dusk. Her body starts to work against her and she stop pulling on the chains. I'm filled with sadness as I watch myself begin to submit.
"Naoi." Nine. She stands with her back against the wall breathing deeply as I begin to straighten.
"Toilichte" Blithe. I watch the light fade from her young, frightened eyes as he nears the end of the list.
"A 'buntainn" Belonging. She stares at Dr. Chaos dead in the eyes as he nears her.
"Aon" One. Dr. Chaos begins to close the book as he reaches our to caress her cheek.
"Air leth freagarrach." Prodigy. As the final words leave his lips the last switch flips in her brain as she is fully integrated into the crafted assassin they created her to be.
"Halo a ghràidh." Hello my dear. He says touching her cheek, wiping away the tear streaking down her face.
"Deiseil airson gèilleadh." Ready to comply. She says, a shell of the girl she once was. I want so badly to run to her and to tell her it's going to be okay, that nothing happens to her this time. But I still can't move. I watch helplessly as he unchains her and leads her cold, barefoot form out of the room leaving a trail of small bloody footprints behind.
"Eden? Hey are you okay? Open your eyes." Bucky calls me back to reality from the nightmare I relived. "What happened?" He asks me as I blink my eyes open and look around the room shaking the dazed feeling from my mind.
"I was back in Scotland, in the facility I was born in. I watched the last stages of my conditioning with Dr. Chaos. The Australian scientist who did the experiment on me, he also did my conditioning."
"Are you ok-"
"UGH!" I shout, standing up with my hands balled into fists. "I HATE these feelings of fear and regret."
"It's just something you have to live with. You can choose to let it consume you or you can overcome it day by day. It's up to you, but you're not alone in this. We both have a past we can't change. It's how we deal with it."
"I'm great with giving you pep talks but when it comes to myself my perspective just vanishes." I say cracking a small smile. Even if it may be fake... he buys it. "You know what would make me feel better?"
"What's that?"
"Sparring." I say changing the subject to hide the negative emotions that grow by the second.
"Oh no no. Not in the shape you're in."
"What? Think you'll win because I'm at a disadvantage? Hah! I'm a trained assassin, I could take you on with my hands tied around my back WITH my leg as it is." I say, puffing out my chest.
"Oh really? And you're going to spar wearing that?" He say gesturing to the shirt that's covering my body.
"What? Afraid of a little skin?" I tease.
"Only when it's yours."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, genuinely curious to his statement.
"Nothing. If you're seriously about sparing, then lets go."
"In here?"
"No outside, on the porch."
"You mean balcony." I say slowly inching my way towards the door.
"It's not really a balcony."
"It kind of is."
"It's not really a balcony, it's more of an elevated porch."
"Are we going to argue all day or are you going to bring it on." I say arching an eyebrow as I fling open the door and hobble/bolt out of it. He follows after me and we sway on the small platform above the water.
"Ready?" He asks me, getting into position.
"Born ready." I say copying his stance. We circle each other analyzing each other's strengths and weaknesses. He moves first, swinging at me. I dodge easily and maneuver behind him. With my good leg I kick my foot to the area behind his knee, sending him downward. He reacts quickly as his knee touches the ground, he turns his upper body and grabs my arm. Jerking me forward he pulls me down in front of him. I wrap my legs around his head, locking them in place. He stands up with me still in place. He bends backward causing me to fall forward. In order to save myself, I let go with my legs as my hands came into contact with the edge of the platform. I grasp it as securely as I can and my shirt begins to fall. My feet swing in front of my face at this point and using my core, I pull my legs back behind me and spring backwards returning my shirt to its rightful place..
"Nice save." He compliments me with a nod of his head.
"Thanks." I reply getting back into position, with my fists in front of my face. He follows my lead, watching me carefully. I swing first this time, barely clipping his jaw with my fist. He leans to the left and implants his metal palm in my abdomen, launching me in the air. I pull my wings out to keep me from landing in the water. Landing lightly on the platform with my back to him, I use a wing to backhand him into the water before I retract them. The sound of his giant splash elicits a chuckle from me as I imagine what his face looked like when he fell.
"I thought we were fighting fair." He says, pulling himself out of the water.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Does me having wings put you at a disadvantage?" I quip sarcastically.
"I'm never at a disadvantage."
"Then it's fair." I say feeling all justified. He drips water on the wooden plank and marches over to me, a serious look on his face. Moving swiftly he bends and places his arm around the back of my knees and the other behind my shoulders. I'm taking aback as he stands up and starts walking. He drops me over the side and my body is engulfed in frigid water. I come to the surface sputtering while I blindly grasp for the wooden porch.
"Now it's fair." He says turning away from me. I hear him quietly chuckle as I pull myself across the now wet wooden planks.
"Oh you have jokes now? Real funny James, real funny." I say as I wring the water from my hair. The wet black T-shirt sticks to my skin accentuating my curves. Bringing my fists back up to guard my face, I get back into position. I narrow my eyes slightly at him before faking and uppercut with my left hand and swinging around with my right. His attempt to dodge my uppercut, puts him directly in the path of my right fist. However, he catches my punch with his right hand.
I widen my eyes in shock and he jerks me forward spinning me into him. He holds me by my wrists against him. I unclench my hands and turn my palms out away from me before thrusting forward, breaking his grasp on me. At the same time I drive my good leg up to hit him in the chest sending him back stepping. As soon as my hands touch the ground, I push myself back up turning to face him. In one fluid motion I drive my knee into his before shoving him backward. He lands on his back and I drop down on top of him with my fist inches from his face.
"Gotcha." I say with a smirk. He tilts his head with a mocking look on his face before he pushes me over to where I lay on my back with him hovering over me.
"What was that you said?" He teases. I pull my knees into me and use my heels to drive him up off of me and he slams into the ground beside me. swinging my body over I grab his wrists and hold them up above his head. I dig my knees into his thighs, pinning his legs.
"I said, 'Gotcha.'" I pant out, looking down at him. I slump off of him and lay down beside him. "That was fun." I confess as it did help get my mind off of the nightmare I revisited.
"I let you win." He says turning his head to look at me.
"Keep telling yourself that." I say, tearing my eyes away from the sky to look at him. I look at his blue grey eyes, I mean really look at them. They're no longer the lifeless orbs from before. His eyes are colorful and vibrant now. So much has changed in such a short amount of time it's unbelievable. We still have so much more to accomplish but I honestly, for the first time, have real palpable hope for a better future for the both of us.