Ambivalence

Part 2

When you start coming around, you immediately take in your environment along with your injuries. You were lying on a concrete floor, there was a toilet in the cell you were in but nothing else and the lights were so bright they brought tears to your eyes. You could feel that your shoulder wound was stitched up and bandaged along with your thigh wound. Your face felt slightly bruised and you could feel a small split in your lip. 

You sit up slowly and even though your leg and head protest you get to your feet. You walk up to the metal bars just as you hear boots marching down. A man with a black trench coat and an eye patch stop in front of you flanked by an armed guard and Captain America but dressed much more casually from the last time you saw him. 

You stare at the man with an eye patch and he does the same to you. You stay like that for a couple of minutes and when Captain America starts to shift nervously, eye patch speaks, "Y/N Myers, aged Y/A, daughter of Dr. Taylor and Dr. Myers who were a part of a group of the best scientists in the world called the Sanctum seven. They did great research ranging from a cure to cancer to helping the government with weapons. They got taken by the Winter Soldier for their knowledge and are now deceased. You bounced around foster care for a few years before disappearing off the face of the earth. Now what I'd like to know is where have you been and where did you learn to fight like that?", he raises an eyebrow at you, but you continue to stare. 

You already suspected they would have that information anyway, so none of it phased you. You weren't going to give them anything unless it was absolutely necessary. Eye patch chuckles, "okay okay, I see you're not the talking type and I've realised how rude I've been. My name is Nick Fury and I'm the director of this organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D. Have you heard of it?", you give a slight nod before he carries on, "this is Captain America, otherwise known as Steve Rogers. And this guy", he motions to the armed guard, "you don't need to know. Steve informed me that you tried to kill Bucky and though I am sympathetic as to why, I can't let you do that. I can't let you go because I can't trust that you'll leave him alone and I feel slightly uncomfortable keeping you locked up for the rest of your life. So, I feel like I've come up with a solution to the problem. I want you to join the Avengers". 

Now it was your turn to raise your eyebrow at him. "You can't be serious right? Because I'll just slit his throat the moment everyone is asleep", you state it like a fact and Steve frowns. He clears his throat before speaking, "He's not the Winter Soldier anymore. They tortured him and wiped his memory, his sense of self and forced him to do the things he did. The man that is upstairs is a good man and if he had any choice back then I know he wouldn't have done any of it. I also know that if he could give his life now to get even just one of those people back that he killed he would, without hesitation. I think you just need a chance to see that. And I'm confident that this will work because the guy you know as Iron Man had his parents killed by the Winter Soldier and is managing to work with Bucky civilly. Join the group Y/N, your talents are a waste rotting in this cell when you can do some good. We all forgive you for the injuries you caused yesterday, just please, give Bucky a chance". 

He doesn't wait for your reaction before walking off, but you feel Nick watching you intently. "For the most part you can avoid Barnes. We won't put you on missions with him unless its imperative and the compound and living quarters are big enough to avoid someone for weeks. I want you to think carefully about this offer Y/N. If you don't accept then you'll be held here indefinitely for the safety of the Avengers". With that he walks off too but the guard stays. He stands next to your cell not uttering a word. 

You walk over to the back wall of your cell and slide down to the floor, your legs out in front of you. You feel the coldness seeping in through your clothes and let out a sigh. Did you really have much of a choice? You didn't know much about the Winter Soldier at all. You never really cared before. You didn't even know he had a real name or that he was apparently not in control of himself. You let out a sigh again. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in this shitty cell? It doesn't even have a bed for fuck sake. You don't know how long you were sitting there contemplating it all. You rose to your feet with some difficulty because of your thigh, and limp over to the metal bars. You wrap your hands around the cool bars before asking the guard to get Nick because you had made your mind up.