Monster

Chapter 7: What else did I miss?

Fury had called you and Steve in for an important last-minute mission. Top secret, he'd said. You and Steve were to lead the other assigned Avengers through the mission while they were on the dark on some important information. For their own good, had said Fury. The gist of the mission was to destroy a new-found HYDRA base in South America, but only you and Steve knew that it was HYDRA. Being told not to say a word about HYDRA had been important to emphasize as Fury did not want anyone to go on some side-vengeful quest. For the rest of your team it was just an extraction of some important documents that would allow to locate some high ranked bad guys. It wasn't exactly a lie, there were documents that S.H.I.E.L.D needed to get their hands one. But the secrecy was needed in favor that Bucky wouldn't get triggered by the mention of HYDRA or direct exposure to anyone who knew what was in his head. And it was the soldier's first real mission along you and Steve. He was bound to be excited and anxious about it all.

But aside from Bucky, the mission was going to be a challenge to almost everyone in the team. Wanda was made by HYDRA and still held resentment but it was more at the thought that her brother had been next to her throughout it all and now he was gone because HYDRA had been the bad guy all along; Sam had fought HYDRA when they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D and almost Washington D.C along with it; Vision was ultimately created by a villain that had used HYDRA facilities to try and conquer the world; and the same time the most affected were Steve, Bucky, and you. Two ex-HYDRA trained and raised assassins and one super soldier who lost his best friend during the war by the same organization. Yeah, it was going to be hard. But only Steve and you would know HYDRA's involvement, and the only left thing to do was hope for the best.

The mission was going taking everyone to Ecuador. Small country that borders with Peru, and Colombia. Apparently, HYDRA was now trying to turn the country into their main headquarters; as far as possible from the States as they could. The country was still in development of better systematic aspects, aiding the organization to hide in a country where no one would think twice to search. But S.H.I.E.L.D did. Noticing that the Quinjet was approaching its landing, Steve turned to the assembled team to go over the mission plan before landing.

"Okay team, we are about to land in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The mission for today is simple: we are inspecting all abandoned buildings that we come across. We are in a big city, so we're going to be divided by groups," said Steve as he looked at you to continue.

Bringing up and 3D map of the city, you pointed as you continued on, "Wanda, and Sam; you two are going to take north of the city. Steve, Bucky and I are going to take southside. Vision, I want you to run a quick visual scan of the city range and report back to me or Steve. Take the east and west after the first rundown. If we get anywhere today, tomorrow we go in and see where that takes us." You look around and see everyone nod in understatement. "But right now, we are going find a hotel and change from out suits. Got to look like tourists."

                                                                                     °°°°°

It took less than half an hour to find a hotel good enough to lay low, disguises were used and thanks to your love for idioms, the language barrier wasn't much of a trouble as you were the one who most of the talking. It came in handy at the time of asking the receptionist where guys could eat something good too. There was a lot of seafood dishes at every restaurant or little corner you all found, and they tasted as good as they looked. Even though all of you were there on a mission, you had convinced Steve to take a minute to take the beauty of it all. But soon everyone was ready to commence their respective mission. Steve reminded everyone that a map of their area had been added to the watch Tony and Bruce had developed. Everyone went their separate ways and as you saw Sam and Wanda walk away, you wondered how Sam or Wanda were going to handle themselves if someone spoke to them. You had thought him some words as he had decided to join you when watching those damn novellas; nevertheless, he didn't know enough to even make out a sentence. You started laughing at the thought of him getting all frustrated with himself as his veins on his forehead become visible at his obvious irritation. Steve, and Bucky stopped and looked at you, who had stopped to put your hands on your knees as you laughed a little too loud.

"Y/N? What's so funny, doll?" said Bucky, looking at you with the hint of a small smile on his face.

"You're laughing a bit hard there," added Steve, the blond man not hiding his smile.

"Well, I was just thinking how...how.... Sam would look all frustrated not knowing what to say in Spanish!!! Bahahaha...." You erupted into bigger cackles as you couldn't shake the imagine of a raging Sam Wilson.

The men were looking at you then Steve started laughing at your red face and streaming tears. The sound of your hyena laugh had broken the will of the blond man, and now was laughing as hard as you were. It wasn't that funny really, but it was your attitude toward the joke that made it funny. Bucky stood there, looking at his best friend since childhood, and the girl that made his heart flutter and head hurt from memories. And just as you held to Steve for support, Bucky found himself chuckling at the ridiculousness of all. Your ears caught the sound, and almost immediately your laugh stopped as you looked ahead of you...

You were in a small room, it was hot inside, but just cold enough to send small shivers down your body. You found yourself dirty and sweaty. It looked like you had been training. You heard a door opening behind you, and turning on your heels, you see him. The Winter Soldier. In his usual uniform. He looked dirty too, and just as sweaty. Well what a view: combat boots, those black pants, and that damn white shirt so tight on him. Damn, he looks good. You were brought back to reality when he started talking

"You've improved. Good," he said in English. He normally spoke to you in Russian, as it was protocol. He sounded tired, but he still held that strong voice that had started to make your knees buckle only a couple of weeks ago during training.

"Well, I have to improve. Otherwise dad would be mad at me again, and I don't like it when he gets all pissed because I can't defeat you or at least give you a hard time," you said rolling your eyes and crossing your arms in annoyance.

"You know he wants to make you strong enough so he can put you out on missions," he said walking toward the only chair in the room.

"Yeah, I know. But I just turned 16 and he still thinks my powers are not strong enough to fight on missions. I can do it. I know I can, I've put down 50 of his lame soldiers in less than a minute. But you are too damn hard to defeat with how massive you are, " you said sighing almost in defeat. A small blush dusting your cheeks as you dared to say that about him.

"You just need to practice more with your powers if you want them to get stronger. You are good at fighting hand to hand, but you need to learn to mix them both in order to be on top." He sounded less strict with his words; he was now more than your instructor...it felt like having a talk with a friend...maybe more.

"Yeah, whatever. So, are we going to train again or what? I really would like to take a shower. I'm all dirty and I smell," you said looking down at yourself. You didn't like it when he got to see you looking all dirty and messy like that.

"I think we both feel like that. But we must go out and train again but this time they want you to use a bit of your powers towards objects. See if you can concentrate enough to aid yourself in combat," he said as he stood from the tiny chair.

"Okay, let's go," you said sounding sarcastically happy. Unexpecting, he chuckled at your fake cheeriness making you stop on your track. For the first time since you met him he was finally showing emotions. Towards you. You! You felt damn special, but it made you feel fear as he wasn't allowed to show any kind of emotions. Once outside everything was quite again, as if the small sound had never happened. You were not going to mention this to papa.

...Steve grabbed you by the shoulder, shaking you a bit, starling you from your mind.

"Hey, Y/N, you okay there? You kind of froze there," asked Steve, sounding worried about you.

"Hmm? I'm...okay. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just thinking of something and I guess I spaced out too hard," you lied.

With a quick scan of your face, Bucky visibly relaxed, "okay then, let's go. We have a ground to cover."

"Right. Let's go," you said looking at his turned back as he walked ahead of you and Steve.

As you silently walked, your mind drifted back to your earlier episode. It was the first time you've had a memory come back like that. It was different from the others. This time was one close to when Fury got a hold of you. It felt as if it had been yesterday you had stood in that tiny room. It was weird. You didn't like the feelings you were having right now. Past you had talked about powers, and Bucky knew about them. Was there more that you didn't know about yourself?