Titanium ~A Bucky Barnes Love Story~

Chapter Eleven

"After the death of my parents, my only living relative was Tony," Caden said, continuing her story. "Naturally, the court assigned him the duty of guardianship. Also naturally, Tony really couldn't have cared less about the care of a five year old. So, um, I was basically brought up by Tony's mentor, a brilliant, insane man by the name of Obadiah Stane. He took me under his wing, brought me up as if I was his daughter. I trusted him with my life. Under his hand. I was rigorously schooled until I graduated highschool at fifteen. They called me a... a prodigy." She shook her head, as if still in disbelief. "I started receiving letters from universities around the world. Each one wanted to be the school that Caden Stark went to. Out of all of the letters, one truly stuck out, the University of Paris. It intrigued me the most. So, I took the entrance exam and began my first year of college in the fall of 2004." She stopped, getting a breath of air.

"What did you study?" Bucky asked, clearly starting to show interest in Caden's tale.

"Pre-Medicine and History," Caden smiled happily. "Boy, was I a nerd."

"What ever happened to your mentor... Stane? You said he was insane."

"I said that?" Caden asked sarcastically. "Insane doesn't even begin to describe him. No, Buck, he was a psychotic, homicidal lunatic. Four years into my college years, be decided to pay a bunch of assassins to kill Tony, because he didn't agree on how Tony was running Stark Industries. He wasn't running it his way, so he decided Tony wouldn't run it at all. When he was found out, people naturally started questioning me, as the public knew how close the two of us had been. 'Did you know of Stane's plans? Are you a part of it? Are you aiding him?' Were questions that I heard on a daily basis. When things got really nasty between the two, France got real nervous about having me on their soil."

"Were you deported?" Bucky interrupted.

"I was being escorted to my jet when they received word that Stane was dead and that Tony had cleared me as a non-terrorist," Caden said grimly. "Stane really did love me though, as I had come to love him and see him as the father figure in my life. I was heartbroken when I heard what he had done. It changed my life, not only personally, but professionally, too. They, the professors, questioned my intelligence. Knowing that I had been educated by Stane, they very critical. I was constantly being challenged in class, in the labs."

"Did you ever think about just... Quitting?" Asked Bucky.

"What, and let them win?" Caden smirked. "No, I never thought about quitting. Instead, I took on more classes, more credits. Two years later, I graduated, Summa Cum Laude, at the age of twenty-one with a Ph.D in Psychiatric Medicine and in History. Graduation was the best day of my life. I couldn't stop thinking about how embarrassed the professors must have felt," Caden said with a laugh.

"It must be a good feeling, proving everyone wrong," Bucky wondered aloud. "You and Steve seem to both know."

"Hell yeah it is!" Caden agreed.

"How did you come to be with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"I'm a Stark, I've kinda always been on their radar."

Bucky shrugged and nodded.

"Three years ago, though. Steve was defrosting, and I was called in to be his counselor. I helped him cope with the twenty-first century, learn the modern ways, help him his PTSD, all that jazz. In return, he told me what really happened during World War Two, and I, being the History buff I am, totally ate it up."

"Wh-what about the battle of New York?" Bucky asked, curiosity edged in his voice.

"Yes... And no. I was a front line responder. We took as many wounded as possible to the hospitals, but many were in such critical condition that they couldn't be moved. Myself and a few others stayed with then in an abandoned warehouse. That's where I received this-" She pulled up her shirt sleeve, revealing a nasty, jagged, six inch scar on her upper arm. "One of those filthy creatures decided to blast its way through our makeshift defenses. I was nursing a little girl, no older than ten. He came after her first- easy prey I guess. I rose my arm to block his blade. It ended up going right through me."
At this, she twisted her arm around, revealing an equally long scar running down her tricep.

"It perforated muscles, tendons, ligaments, and it drilled through bone. Basically, it destroyed everything in its path. I had multiple surgeries on it and was in a cast for months. But, none of it helped. I've never been able to really rely on it since." She then compared her two arms, and Bucky immediately noticed the vast difference in size and shape.

"I know how it feels, you know, to lose the use of a limb," he said, unconsciously running a his flesh hand over his metallic one.

"It's a horrible feeling," Caden confirmed. "Anyways, after the battle, I stayed low key, taking an extended leave of absence. Until, one day, Steve and another agent, Natasha Romanoff, showed up at my door. Said they needed help accessing Hydra's secret files. So, I helped them. I ended up staying away from most of the action when Hydra was discovered within S.H.I.E.L.D., save a street fight and being kidnapped by Hydra agents."

Bucky looked at her, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Got out okay, even picked up a souvenir." She paused, pushing away her hair that covered the left side of her head. A thin scar could be seen, running from her hairline above her eye, trailing down to her temple."

"You could have lost your eye," Bucky reasoned.

"It's a damn good thing his aim wasn't with him that moment." She sighed. "After S.H.I.E.L.D. went down with Hydra, I was forced to take refuge here at the Tower. Slowly, we have been working towards rebuilding the agency. We now have two bases that are completely mole free: Here, and a classified area known only as 'The Playground.' My work here is to find lost agents and soldiers, give them the necessary help to recover from the vicious Hydra attacks, and get them back in the field."

Taking a deep breath, she sighed, relieved that her story was finished.

"Well, there you have it. Now, you know everything you need to know about me." Glancing at her watch, she silently made her way back to her desk, leaving Bucky on the sofa. "I must get back to work now," she explained quietly. "But, I want you to think about what I've told you, and then I want you to answer my question."

~~~

Minutes went by, neither of them saying a word. It was silent, the only noise being heard was the tapping of Caden's fingers on the computer keyboard.

"Thank you," Bucky said suddenly.

"For what?" Caden asked, her fingers stopping jn midair.

"For showing me that I can trust you."

Caden smiled. "I'm glad."

Bucky stood up slowly. "I... Should go now." He started making his way to the elevator. "Can you tell me something?" He asked, stopping and turning around.

"What is it?" Caden asked.

"Who was he?" Bucky asked, pointing at Caden's forehead. "The one who cut your head?"

Caden smiled, running her hand over her scar. "Not right now. That's... A story for another time."

"Alright," Bucky said, looking at her curiously, before stepping into the elevator.

~~~

Several minutes passed. Caden hadn't done anything in that time. She sat there, at her desk, her chin resting in the palm of her hand, trying to figure out what all had happened. The emotions running abnormally high, the broken lamp, still in its smashed state in the corner, her brief moment of unprofessional behavior- that, she would have to explain to Banner, soon- and whatever had compelled her to share her life story with a mentally disturbed ex-Hydra assassin.

"You need to get a grip on yourself," she groaned, burying her head in her hands.

"I'll say."

Caden's head snapped up. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked a hooded figure, who was inconspicuously sitting in the corner of her office.

"You didn't tell him everything," he said.

"Why does it concern you? And you're avoiding my question. What are you doing in my personal office?"

"And you're avoiding mine, Agent Stark," the man removed his hood, and the face of Phil Coulson appeared. "It doesn't really matter why I am here, does it? What does matter is, why didn't you tell Sergeant Barnes the whole story? He's gonna find out eventually, might as well be from the only person he truly trusts."

Caden growled slightly. "I told him exactly what he needed to know, nothing more, nothing less, to get him to do what you just said. Trust me." She said shortly. "And for the last time, I am no longer an agent."