Winter's Daughter

Chapter Three

Bucky's Pov

I sit straight up in my bed, begging for air to come back into my lungs. I run my fingers through my hair, realizing that it's damp with sweat.

I had so many questions. Who is Nadiya? And why on Earth was she with HYDRA? For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel the emptiness inside of me. I needed to find out who this girl was.

But in order to do that, I needed to get my memories back.

I sigh in defeat while I run my hand over my face. I am exhausted. I look at the time just for it to tell me that it is 3:16 am. Looks like it's going to be another night where sleep deprives of me.

To kill the time, I decide I would go for a run. Not only is running a great pastime, but it clears my head. I head to my closet to change into my workout clothes and start my run.

I was about 5 miles in when I got a call telling me to come back to the Avengers tower. It took me about 10 minutes to find my way back. By the time I got there, everyone was already in the conference room waiting for me.

"What'd I miss?" I say casually as I take a seat next to Steve. "Nothing much, you made it just in time." Steve says while giving me a reassuring smile. I return the gesture and we all fall into a comfortable silence as we wait for to come Fury and explain our mission. I'm guessing it had to be pretty serious. By saying that, I mean that all of the Avengers were here except for Thor, who had business in Asgard, and Banner had his own project down in the lab.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when Fury walked into the room. "June 17th." Is all he said.

"Excuse me?" Natasha asked confused. "June 17th." Is all he replied with. "Okay, yea, what's so special about June 17th? That's like a month away." Clint asked slightly annoyed. "For once Legolas and I are actually on the same page" Tony said sarcastically with a smirk, which earned him a glare from Clint.

"There are things you all don't know. There are things  you all will never know. The knowledge you receive is only because I allow it. This is one of the few times where I plan on sharing." Fury says as he turns around to give a hologram presentation. "Ever since we've learned about what HYDRA can do, I've sent agents under cover into their industries. I've gotten recent intel that they've created a new super soldier. The only reason we are hearing about this until now is because they plan on using her to do something big. We aren't sure what it is yet, but it's targeted towards SHIELD."

"Do we have any information regarding this super soldier?" Steve asks. Once Steve said that, Fury went onto a different slide to reveal all the information regarding the soldier.

"Her name is Nadiya. As far as we know, she doesn't have a last name. HYDRA also referred to her as test subject 018-WB. This serum was so severe that it killed seventeen people in the process. She was the only one to survive. As far as family goes, she has none. Records show that she was born and raised into HYDRA." Fury pauses for was seems like a lifetime. "The serum that they used had the same affect as it did when they used it on you, Cap. The only difference this time is that she's a thirteen year old girl who didn't sign up for this. If we can get her back to SHIELD, maybe we can get her the life she deserves away from HYDRA."

As Fury finishes, I'm at a loss for words. This can't be the same girl from my dreams, is it? I mean, yea they have the same name, but that could just be a coincidence, right? No, it's her. It has to be.

"Barnes!" I snap my head up to the sound of my name. "Oh so you listen to Fury right away, but for me it takes five times? Unbelievable." Tony says. "Shut up, Tony." Nat says. Fury rolls his eyes at their childish behavior. "You don't look so good, what's up with you?"

"I know her." I say barely above a whisper. As I get no response, only stares, I can tell they want me to continue. I sigh. "I don't remember much, in fact it's just one memory, but I knew her. It was a short memory, but in that time I was able to see her vulnerability. She wouldn't hurt someone on purpose, only if she was made to. She's not dangerous."

"How old was she in the memory?" Nat asks becoming more intrigued. "I don't know, around seven. Listen, you just have to trust me on this, okay? If the Nadiya I once knew is still in there, she'll come with us. She never wanted to be tangled up with HYDRA in the first place. Heck, who does?"

After what seems like years of silence, a voice breaks it. "I trust you." Steve says. I give him a small smile in return. "Yeah, count me in." Nat says. "Me too." Clint says with a smile. With that, all eyes turn onto Tony. "W-What? Oh. Oh! Yeah, count me in." We all chuckle at his childishness and stand up to go our separate ways.

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Nadiya's Pov

Not even my screams to God can help me. No matter what I do, it just keeps on coming. I'm going on almost an hour of being whipped for telling a victim my identity. The worst part is, this is only the beginning. My punishment was to go on for the entire day.

First, it was for me to be whipped for an hour. Next, it would be experiments for three hours. Then, torture for another two. To finish it all out, I would get my memory wiped.

I can't help but think, will I be able to survive this?

Dr. Popova, also known as HYDRA's head master and lead scientist, was furious when he found out I had compromised my identity.

But, at the same time, he was glad that I failed. He wanted to try a more severe way of wiping my memory so that it would insure my cooperation. I had a big mission coming up and he had to make sure I was on my best behavior. If I do not satisfy, then I would be killed with no mercy.

*Time skip to after torture*

I've been cut, bruised, broken, poked, injected, beaten, whipped, and many other things. The list could go on. The one thing that couldn't go on, was me.

Every movement of my body hurts. It hurts to breath. Usually, my quick healing would leave me in better condition than what I am right now. But Dr. Popova injected me with a serum that slows my healing down.

As I battle to stay conscious, I quickly feel two set of hand lift my up by my arms. They begin dragging me across the long, narrow hallways until we reach a door.

"No" I mumble. I'm too weak to fight back. "No, please" I cry out. Well, big mistake. As soon as one of the soldiers saw a tear fall down my cheek, I was slapped. "You are a soldier! Soldiers do not cry!" He screams into my face. I want to retaliate, but I know better not to.

"Yes, sir" I say barely above a whisper. This is as loud as my voice allows me to reach. From all the screaming and crying, my vocal cords are out of juice.

He slaps me again and grips my chin so that I am looking at him dead in the eye. "There will be no whispering. You are not a young girl. You are nothing special. You are a soldier. That's what you are, and soldiers do not whisper."

All I want to do is sink down to my knees and cry. Cry about all the pain. Cry about how weak I feel. Cry at how I believe what he says. I'm not special, I'm a soldier. Soldiers don't cry.

"Yes, sir!" I say louder. He looks pleased with my response and allows the other agents to drag me to the cold, metal table that haunts me in my dreams.

The doctors almost look surprised when they saw that I wasn't resisting. Don't get me wrong, every instinct is telling to thrash around and get away. But, I'm tired. I'm tired of always fighting. Fighting just causes me more pain, and I don't want to be in pain anymore. I'm done.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the helmet was placed over my head. I take one more look at my surroundings, making sure I take everything in. I proceed to then close my eyes and wait for the process to take place.

And then, it all went black.

Updated 7/18/19