Leave Me Broken [Winter Soldier] II

Prologue

"You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past."

Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor"

May 2015

            Her green eyes focused on the TV in the corner of the restaurant they were in; the news had been screaming the name 'Ultron' for the last few days, and people were beginning to fear what it or he was. The news claimed that it was a creation of Tony Stark, blaming him for the incredible losses in Wakanda, and all around the globe. Ophelia wrapped her hands around her coffee, something she had grown to love and need every single day. Though she was only grasping onto it for warmth, her hands shook and the dark liquid spilled out of the sides, burning her hands. She gasped and put the cup back down, grabbing a napkin to tidy up the mess that she had made.

          "Shit," she muttered to herself. Now that they were in Romania, her accent did not stand out as much. In America, she felt as though her own voice screamed that she was different, and that something about the way she looked advertised HYDRA. It was ridiculous, of course, but it was still so embedded into her head, that some nights she had to take a walk around the apartment building to ensure that she was still able to leave. Part of her worried she might wake up from this dream one day, and be comatose in some HYDRA dungeon.

         Bucky came out of the washroom from the restaurant and joined her at the table again; right away his presence always calmed her. He had only recently gotten used to not wearing his hat, and while Ophelia had suggested he cut his hair, he turned her down every time. 

        Their relationship had formed over the last year and a bit, developing into something stronger than any connection she had ever had before in her life. Though he still struggled with memories and the fear that he would be controlled and used again, he had grown to accept what he had done while part of HYDRA. There was no changing the past, but knowing what he had done and knowing he could do things differently from now on, he clung on to that.

      "You alright, O?" he asked, seeing her hand red and her face contorted in slight pain.

      "Look." Ophelia pointed at the TV. It was showing blurry cell-phone footage of the entire city of Sokovia being raised from the Earth itself, and the famous Avengers were fighting the battle, trying to save civilians and the world. "You know we could have helped."

     Bucky pressed his lips into a thin line. "You know how I feel about that."

     "They're saying that if the city drops, the whole world dies with it." She was surprisingly calm for being recently informed of such possible disaster. But what could she do now? She would rather enjoy her time with Bucky than cry about it. She'd been hardened over the last year and a bit, at least she thought she had. Given that circumstances were different now, she had an easier life and time to process it. "If you had known, say, a week ago, would you have tried to stop it?"

     "O, why do you press this?"

     "Because you are more than you think you are." She sighed, glancing at the TV again.

     "Yesterday, it showed on the news, two young kids with Ultron." He waited until she looked at him. "In Seoul, they stopped a moving train. Do you know how they were able to do that?"

     Ophelia shook her head, gripped her coffee again but this time she did not spill it.

     "HYDRA gave them abilities," he explained, it was a guess, but he did not think he was wrong. He knew HYDRA. "There is only one organization out there that can do those things. What do you think they would do to me if they found me? Caught me?"

     "Bucky, it's been over a year," she protested.

     "If whatever they did to me is still in my head, and they found out how to activate it, do you know who they would make me kill first? You, O." He concluded the conversation. "That is not a risk I am willing to take."

      Ophelia dipped her head, and when she knew Bucky wasn't looking, she smiled. He would go to the end of the world to protect her, and she would do the same for him. Their relationship wasn't conventional, but it was beautiful.