Caden was lead into a large, dark room, the only pieces of furniture being a metal table and a couple of chairs. Ross pointed to one, gesturing her to take a seat.
"You're such a gentleman," Caden said with a snarky tone as she yanked the seat out and sat down.
"Wait here until our evaluator is here," Ross ordered as he walked out. "Oh, and do behave and not talk to Barnes without anyone in the room. We don't need you to persuade him of anything before he his evaluated."
"Bullshit I won't talk to him," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Your wish is my command."
Caden sat in the cold room for a good ten minutes before a door on the far end opened, and a clear metal cage rolled through.
It was him.
"Bucky!" She exclaimed, doing exactly what she had been instructed not to do as she bolted from her seat to where Bucky was. She ran right up to the window of it, pressing her hands into the bulletproof glass as she made impact.
"You're okay," she breathed. "It's going to be okay."
"I'm scared, Caden," Bucky mumbled, his fists balling up tightly under the restraints.l
"I know you are," Caden said. "Bucky, listen to me. They are allowing me to be in the room while a doctor evaluates you psychologically. I will be right here the entire time. I promise."
"You won't leave?" Bucky asked incredulously.
"No, Bucky," Caden smiled slightly. "If you get scared, just look at me. I'm not going to leave you."
"What are they going to be asking me?"
"I honestly don't know, but I can imagine a few things."
Bucky clenched his eyes and shuttered.
"Look at me, Buck," Caden said frantically. "You do NOT have to answer ANYTHING they ask, is that clear? Do what you need to do to get it over with as quickly as possible and I promise I will be right there when it is all over to get you out of this." Her fist banged on the glass for emphasis.
Bucky nodded, swallowing hard.
The lock on the door behind them clicked open.
"He's here," Caden said, glancing behind her shoulder. "Listen to me, stay calm, breathe, and keep eye contact with me." She started to back up to where she was sitting before. "I love you, James."
"I love you, too," Bucky responded right before the door opened.
A weasly looking man with glasses slinked into the room making himself very comfortable next to Caden.
"Hello, Mr. Barnes," he began. "I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you mind if I sit?" He turned to Caden, who just rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"Make yourself comfortable," she grunted.
The man shuffled some things around. "So. Your first name is James?"
Bucky stayed silent, looking only at Caden.
"I'm not here to judge you. I just want to ask you a few question," said the evaluator. "Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."
"It's Bucky," Caden and Bucky said at the same time.
"Tell me, Bucky," the evaluator ignored Caden and leaned forward. "You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Bucky said quietly.
Don't say anything, Caden silently pleaded.
"You fear that... if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry."
Caden noticed the strange man kept looking down at his screen, as if he was doing several tasks at once. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see the screen, but it was in a different language she did not understand.
"We only have to talk about... one."
As if on cue, their room went dark. Caden went to jump to her feet, but something was keeping her close to the table.
Her hand was hand cuffed to the table top.
"What the hell!" She exclaimed, attempting to yank her hand away, but to no avail. "Bucky!" She called out into the dark room but received no answer.
By the time the emergency lights started to turn on, she knew she was too late. The evaluator was circling Bucky's pod, repeating phrases in what she recognized.
"Those aren't-" she gasped. "NO!"
They were his trigger words.
"No," she heard Bucky say, snapping his head back as if to restrain himself as the man repeated the first couple of words. His fists clenched as if trying to control himself. "Stop!" He pleaded.
"Bucky!" Caden screamed, continuing to yank and tug at her own restraint until her wrist was bleeding. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing to him! Bucky, look at me! Fight this! BUCKY!"
The evaluator turned to smile at Caden. "I think I do."
With the next word, Bucky was free of his restraints.
Caden's eyes widened. No.
Word after word, Bucky went for the sides of the pod. Word for word, punch for punch. It was a matter of seconds before he had gotten out.
"Солдат?" Soldier?
"Я готов отвечать." Caden felt as if she had been shot all over again. She knew what that meant. She knew what happened when Bucky said those things.
He wasn't Bucky anymore. He was the Winter Soldier.
"Mission report. December 16, 1991." The evaluator demanded.
Before anyone could breathe, the Winter Soldier turned to the man, and punched him straight in the chest, sending him across the room.
"Bucky!" Caden finally found her voice.
The Soldier turned to her.
"Do you know me?" She begged pleadingly. "Bucky, do you remember me?" The panic rose quickly in her voice with each word uttered.
The Soldier glared at her. Slowly he walked over to her, every ounce of hatred possible visible in his face.
"Bucky," Caden felt herself back up as much as she could.
Expecting the worst, she closed her eyes. She felt the breeze of his broad body moving close to her. She felt the metal fingers wrap around her wrist.
Please don't, she silently sobbed to herself.
She felt her wrist snap back. But it didn't break. It didn't move in the way it would break.
She opened her eyes.
Her wrist was free.
She looked around frantically for Bucky, only to be met with the flashing of red lights and the blaring noise of a siren. She looked back over her shoulder, glaring at the little man on the ground, holding an emergency device in his hand. He set off the alarm.
But he was hurt, he was dazed. And Caden took advantage of that.
"Who the hell are you?" She demanded as she slammed the evaluator into the ground as he tried to get up. Her left knee met his chest and pinned him to the ground, her right heel grinding into one of his hands. "What do you want?
"To see an empire fall," he spat in her face, throwing her off guard long enough to yank her off of him with his unpinned hand.
Caden gasped in surprise as she rolled to the side of the intruder. She quickly got to her feet to chase after him, and would have caught him, had it not been for Rogers slamming him into the wall from the side.
"Who are you?" He asked him the same question.
He had no time to answer this time, for when Sam entered the room shortly behind Rogers, Bucky came out of nowhere. He swung his fist at the man, smashing through the wall and nearly missing Sam. Bucky grabbed Sam when he was off center and threw him toward the middle of the room. Caden cried out at the site, running towards Sam.
"Are you okay?" She asked, sliding to the ground next to him.
Sam coughed a few times before nodding and getting up to run after Rogers, who was now engaging the Soldier.
"Steve! Don't!" Caden screamed as she saw him land a punch at the Soldier, one that he did not even seem to feel. Instead, he took his super human strength out on the surprised Rogers, landing a few hard punched before kicking him out of the chamber.
Caden and Sam ran after them, Sam engaging in fights with whoever was close enough to punch while Caden just tried to keep her sight on the Soldier. She watched with mouth wide open as he pinned Rogers up against an elevator door, his powerful fist smashing through the metal as Rogers ducked.
With shock, she watched as the Soldier smashed his fist into Rogers again, sending him reeling back into the dark elevator shaft. "Bucky!" Caden cried out, desperate to gain his attention before he caused anymore damage, especially to Rogers.
The Soldier looked back at her, and for a second, she could sense the familiarity he had in his eyes for her. It barely lasted a second before it was replaced by pure hatred as he took off down the hallway of the floor.
Caden followed, running down the stairs as fast as she could as she attempted to get closer and closer to the Soldier. If she could just get close enough to him. If she could just get him to hear her voice, maybe she could fix this. Maybe she could reverse whatever the evaluator had done to him.
"Caden!" She skidded to a stop on the stairs as she heard her voice being called from behind a huge pillar.
It was Stark.
And she wasn't the only one who heard it.
The Soldier was already running towards her cousin, ready to engage him.
Stark was ready, too, and sent a stun burst at the Soldier from an Iron Man glove.
"NO!" Caden screamed at her cousin as it knocked the Soldier temporarily back. "Don't hurt him!" She ran down the rest of the stairs and was now on the ground floor, but she felt miles away from the two men fighting.
She cringed as the Soldier tried to shoot her cousin, who blocked the bullet with his glove. He yanked the gun from him, but the Soldier was mad now. He punched Stark sending him backwards.
She was so close to him, she thought to herself and her legs pounded against the floor. So close.
Two women got to him first and engaged him in fighting. She recognized one of them as Natasha, the other, the blonde, she had no clue who it was.
The Soldier didn't take kindly to this, smacking the blonde girl off him and sending her towards Caden.
"Are you alright?" Caden helped the girl to her feet.
The blonde merely nodded and together they ran to where Natasha was fighting the Soldier.
Caden felt herself coming to a stop again as a black streak came out of nowhere.
It was that damn cat king.
He began exchanging punches and kicks with the Soldier, who was slowly beginning to realize that this was one opponent who might get the better of him. Caden was sure of it herself when she saw the look of worry in his eyes when the cat gripped onto his metal arm and it wouldn't budge when the Soldier yanked it away. The cat, still holding onto his arm, kicked the Soldier down the stairs, sending the two of them tumbling.
Caden followed their fight as closely as she could. She stood at the bottom of the stairs as she watched in shock as the cat knocked the Soldier's feet out from under him, sending him over the railing.
"Bucky, no!" She screamed in agony as the Solider landed on the ground on his back. He got up seconds later, to which Caden breathed a sigh of relief.
The Soldier looked at her, immediately identifying her as the one who called out to him. Silently, he grabbed her arm, throwing a surprised Caden over his shoulder as he sprinted from the room.
"What are you doing!" Caden exclaimed as they made their way outside.
"I know you," was the only explanation he gave as he quickly climbed the outside of the building to the roof, where a helicopter was sitting.
She swore she stopped breathing for a second. It was the only explanation she needed, though. He knew her. "Put me down, I can run!" She demanded, to which he dropped her to her feet, not losing pace for a second.
She took off at full sprint after him as he ripped open the door to the empty helicopter. He turned around only briefly, just long enough to throw her over him to the copilot seat. The Soldier started up the helicopter quickly, trying his hardest to just leave, when he noticed Rogers sprinting full speed towards them. He tried to fly away, but Rogers leapt and got hold of the landing gear with one hand, the other desperately clinging to the railing of the rooftop.
The Soldier glowered before jerking the chopper to the left in an attempt to shake Rogers.
"Don't hurt him!" Caden called out a second too late as the blades smashed to pieces against the concrete roof.
Rogers ducked just in time, but the chopper turned towards him, close enough for the Soldier to smash his metal fist through the window and grab him around the neck.
"Steve!" Caden cried out in fright, before looking to her right only to see the chopper begin to fall down towards the water below them. "Bucky, look out!" She exclaimed in fear as it slammed into the freezing water of the river.
All air that she was able to gulp in before hitting the water was immediately expelled from her lungs, and she blacked out for a couple seconds. When she came to, she let out a silent scream seeing an unconscious Bucky next to her. She reached to tug him towards her, but his arm was stuck in the debris, and what was left of the chopper was sinking fast. She tugged and tugged with all her might, but he wouldn't budge.
She looked around desperately, her body quickly running out of oxygen. Where was Rogers. Where was he!
Behind her she felt a strong pull, yanking her out of the chopper with one swift motion.
It was Rogers. He was okay. She watched him reach in after her and pull out Bucky effortlessly. Together, they swam him to the surface of the water, gasping for air when they broke through.
"Come on," Rogers instructed as he swam the unconscious super soldier to the shore. "We have to get him out of sight."