The Darkest Path

9

When Rumlow almost threw her out of the building, Grace immediately ran to the bushes and threw up.
She couldn't bear the idea what they were doing to him. It explained everything. Why he never told his name, why he was always a bit confused. Why he was the perfect soldier.
Her father lied to her about everything.
    Grace got up and leaned against the wall behind her. The chilly air of the afternoon cleared her mind a bit.
Go do something fun. She got sick of the words of her father. She couldn't believe that her father was capable of this. "How could I be so stupid?" she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes.
Grace put her hand in her pocket and took her phone.
With numb fingers she searched for the number she wanted to call. After two beeps she picked up.
"Grace! I never expected you to call on a time like this," yelled Kathie Stevens enthusiastic. Her best friend, even though she almost never had time for her because of her work. What would happen to her job, Grace had no idea.
"Yeah, me neither. Are you free this afternoon?" Grace was smart and her father knew that. He told her he would be watching her, and the best way to make sure they wouldn't come too close, was to be close to civilians.
    She needed to be seen.
"Always! Why are you asking?" Grace swallowed and started to walk — she needed to get a taxi. There was no other way to come home, or wherever she would go. It was too far to walk and her bike was officially gone.
"Well, I'm free," Grace began, but Kathie didn't let her finish.
    On the opposite of the street she saw a commercial board. It was pretty new — it was clean and looked like it had just been placed. The Captain America Exhibit.
    Perfect.
"No way! Why didn't you say that before? Do you want to do something?" Grace smiled a little, happy hat she had a friend like Kathie Stevens.
"I was thinking to go to the museum." Kathie probably wanted to shop or get a drink, but Grace wasn't the kind of person that went to a bar. She had never been like that.
"The museum?" Kathie sniffed and Grace rolled her eyes. She was a bit dizzy, but reached the street and was able to catch a taxi. "Oh! Then we can go to the Captain America Exhibit!"
    Grace glanced over her shoulder to the building. No one there. Maybe her father didn't sent someone yet.
Grace frowned, she was a bit confused after what she had seen. She could still hear his screaming, his eyes. Grace shivered and told the taxi driver the destination.
"See you there over twenty minutes at the Smithsonian," said Grace and hung up.

- - -

Kathie, her brown haired and probably only friend, leaped up from her place and ran into Grace when she got out of the taxi.
"I can't believe this! Why did you get free this afternoon? You always have to work, work, work!" she cried and Grace hugged her back.
"I know. My boss was in a... good mood." She got sick when she thought about her father. He was sick in his mind. But she still didn't found it his secret. Only a part.
She wanted to cry when she thought about him, the Winter Soldier. His brain was being wiped out, he wouldn't remember her or his feelings. She blinked and focused on the present.
"How amazing. You're the best doctor they have, I'm not even that surprised," said Kathie as she pointed her eyes to Heaven. She put her arm around Grace and together they walked in, to the rolling stairs.
"Yeah, I guess," mumbled Grace. Kathie frowned at her.
"Cheer up a little bit, Doctor. What happened?" Kathie gazed into Grace's eyes and she looked away. Kathie was a journalist, it was her job to found out secrets.
"Nothing," smiled Grace, "I'm just a little bit tired. That's all." Kathie raised her brows and shook her head.
"You work way too hard." They entered the Captain America stage.
"We've never been here, you know," mumbled Grace as they walked in. Pictures and art of Captain America were everywhere. Sure a Captain America stage it was.
"I know right! Remember that time when we actually needed to go here on a school trip but we skipped it?" Kathie laughed and Grace grinned. She remembered. She loved the museum, every single one of them.
But ever since everyone was completely keen about going to the Captain America stage, she didn't want to go. She always wanted to go alone or with someone she loved.
Else it was too busy and she couldn't concentrate on the art or the history. Grace looked around, sucking all the information.
"I remember." Kathie laughed. "We ate ice cream and went to the cinema. No one knew we were gone."
"We were horrible students that day," said Grace as they walked to see their uniforms. Grace looked at the uniform that Captain America once wore.
"Crazy idea, right?" said Kathie suddenly and Grace looked up. She knew that Kathie wasn't really that kind of history, but somehow this was fascinating to her.
"What?" Grace looked around, searching for the guys that would follow her for the rest of the day, maybe even for the rest of the week.
She swallowed and tried to change centrists on Kathie, on the tributes.
Kathie grinned. "That Captain America is still alive. It's such a strange idea!" Grace nodded. He saved them from the alien attack on New York.
He came out of the ice not that long ago. The whole world was in awe when it happened.
"Indeed, right?" said Grace as she looked around again. Where was he? The guy that would follow her. She knew that he was coming, maybe he was already here. Grace knew her father well enough that he would do it straight away.
"I'm over there," said Kathie, to take her out of her mind. Grace nodded, snapped back to reality.
Looking around without reading any of the signs, Grace walked along. She wondered how the Soldier was doing. He probably didn't remember anything, was completely wiped out.
The man she fell for was gone. Grace needed to get control of herself, before she would burst into tears.
And then suddenly, she saw him. There he was, looking as serious as always, without his long hair and somehow... different.
Grace breathed heavy and moved closer to the memorial. Her mind was racing and she almost couldn't stand in her feet.
    James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. Grace blinkend and read, everything she could. The voice over told her a few words.
    "Best friends since childhood. Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."
If they only knew. Grace felt dizzy when the information got into her head.
    He never died.
   They set him on ice, it was the only explanation. It was impossible for humans to live that long without ageing.
Grace swallowed.
    Brooklyn. He came from Brooklyn. He worked at the 107th in the Second World War. He was over a hundred years old!
    Tears filled her eyes when she read it over and over, soaking up all the knowledge.
Furious she blinked to get them away. His name was Bucky. She almost said it, but kept quiet.
    Bucky.
"Here you are!" Grace almost jumped into the air of shock and Kathie raised her brows at her. "Are you okay? You look pale."
Grace swallowed and was well aware that maybe all the blood in her face had left. She needed it in her brain. It was working over hours.
"I'm fine," she said and thought quickly. Captain America — Steve Rogers — was his best friend. He was the man at the bridge the Soldier, Bucky, was talking about.
Grace needed to find him.
"You have a car, right?" asked Grace. Kathie thought for a moment and looked at the memorial. She didn't understand. That was okay. Grace didn't want to explain it and Kathie knew that.
"Yes...? Why do you ask?" Grace grabbed her arm.
"I need you to bring me to someone," she said in a hurry and she started to pull Kathie away from the memorial, to the exit doors.
"That's fine, but now? We haven't seen everything yet!" Kathie wanted to push Grace off of her, but she wasn't strong enough. Kathie was small, didn't have enough muscle and was weak, roughly said.
"I promise you I'm going to take a drink with you, but now I really need to see someone." Grace sounded irritated and she was. Her father was a liar and a monster, Bucky was being brainwashed and Steve Rogers was he only person on Earth that could help her right now.
"Who?" Kathie frowned. She didn't like this.
"That doesn't matter. I don't even know where he is. But I'll find him, you only have to drive."