You Will Remember Me

The Lightning Strike

BB

The fourth day had started with Steve and Bucky heading to the training room. After the former had left to get burgers for lunch (Bucky was wondering what fast food joints of the 21st century were like), Bucky continued to train until his third punching bag of the day had split and spilled its contents all over the floor. That had been the last one in the Tower, and JARVIS had sent for another 50 to be shipped in. Upon notice of such shipment, Tony declared he was going to design new, more durable punching bags for the super soldiers. In the meantime, Bucky figured he'd finish up for the day and head up for a shower.

When he grabbed his duffel from a bench against the wall behind him, he checked his phone for the time. As soon as he picked it up, however, something caught his attention before he even turned on the screen.

The red light in the corner was flashing. The one that Tony said would flash if he found Sam.

Bucky's heart leapt as he dropped the duffel and jogged to the elevator, pushing the button for Tony's lab. He noticed his hand shaking slightly at his side, and he clenched it into a fist to keep it still.

As soon as the doors opened, Bucky jogged to the monitor setup.

"Tony?" He called. There was no answer.

"Tony?" He tried again.

Still no answer.

As he approached one of the monitors, he saw a red flashing bar that read "MATCH FOUND."

"JARVIS, can you pull up the image?" Bucky asked, able to see the corners of a security camera image past the red bar.

"Of course, Sergeant Barnes." The AI responded.

Sergeant? Since when did he start calling me that? Bucky wondered briefly before JARVIS projected the image above the monitor.

The same girl, dressed in a black hoodie this time, was walking in front of a store Bucky couldn't make out. But this image got a clear shot of her face, unobstructed by sunglasses, and it was unmistakably hers.

"Sam." Bucky breathed, his voice catching. "No..."

He was overjoyed to know for sure that she was alive, but now he knew for a fact that his nightmares were true; HYDRA had found her. Why else would she suddenly turn up in the same city as Bucky, and how else could she possibly be alive? She was sent here by HYDRA...and if they experimented on her as they had with him, she was sent to kill.

Bucky knew he shouldn't be getting his hopes up; though he himself had been able to break free of the brainwashing HYDRA had done, he wasn't sure if Sam could. It had taken Bucky's best friend, someone incredibly close, to even plant the thought in his head that he may have known him, that he may have had a life before HYDRA. Yes, Sam had also managed to break him of their control, but she was the only person Bucky had known besides Steve. Plus he had fought the brainwashing as hard as he possibly could.

Sam, however, probably wasn't quite so attached to Bucky. She would need someone close to her, like a brother or another family member. She'd never mentioned either of those to him, only a boyfriend that had left some of his clothes at her house.

"Dammit!" Bucky cursed sharply. Then he got an idea.

"JARVIS, can you pull up family relations? Maybe a brother or a sister?" He asked, crossing his arms and stepping into the center of the monitors.

"Miss Summers appears to be an only child." The AI answered.

"What about other family? Mother? Father? Where are they?" Bucky tried, biting his lip as files flashed across the screen.