Infatuation | Bucky Barnes

Chapter Eight

A/N: I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I just wanted to jump on here to explain where we are at in the time line. What you're about to read is what's going on during the Iron Man movie, the first one. So, it's around 2008. Also, I'm going to warn you that there is a age gap relationship about to form, eventually. Technically Bucky is like 80 years old I think, but physically I think he's in his mid 20's which isn't too bad. Everything up to this point has been purely platonic. At 15, I think most of us had crushes on older people.  The timeline with the other super soldiers is going to a little different as well. With that being said, enjoy.

At age nineteen Catherine was strong, careful, obedient. She was everything Vasily Karpov intended her to be. A weapon. A pawn in his game. Karpov's plan with training with the Black Widows  was failing. Catherine had grown too strong to fight with them. It was child's play when she fought them. HYDRA was dying. Karpov's vision was dying. He only had one thing left. The super soldier serum.

Catherine disagreed with it. There was no way they were going to be able to have control over all of the soldiers. Her father didn't listen though. He no longer saw her as his daughter. She was simply another one of his experiments. She would never forget the screams of the men and women as the poison made its way through their bodies. They screamed all night. In the morning, they were worse.

Although, they had not been trained yet, they were still stronger then Catherine and many of the other soldiers. Karpov called upon his Winter Soldier and her to train them, but it was evident that she was no match for them physically. Not yet though. She watched the exhaustion on James' face every day. She could do nothing. She could not speak up.

Her life, while still quite scheduled, allowed her to have a bit more freedom. They could care less about her learning math, science, writing. They just wanted her to learn as many languages as possible and continue to learn to fight. Everyday seemingly brought something new. Today would be no different as her father requested her to see him in his office.

"I want to test you." Karpov informed her as she walked inside. . "I want to test your limits."

"Okay...what exactly do you have in mind sir." She didn't know if she wanted the answer to that question.

"I'm going to have you fight the soldiers. I want to see if you're capable of defending yourself. If you fight them, you can fight anyone." He explained.

Catherine's face paled. She could probably handle one of them, but after that, she didn't know what would happen. She also didn't know what would happen if she failed. She would more than likely be discarded.

"I look forward to it." She lied.

"That's my girl. Go change and meet Artem in the training room."

"You look terrible." She heard James say from behind her as she walked out of the office.

"Thanks. Karpov is pinning me against the soldiers today. All of them. He said he wants to test me." Catherine said quietly.

He didn't want to let her know he was scared for her. She was strong, but was she strong enough? Had he trained her well enough? Yes, she could fight, but fighting against chemically enhanced people were different. "It'll be okay. I'll be in there in case something happens."

"Do you think I'll die?" She ask suddenly and rolled her eyes at her own question. "Who am I kidding? If I lose they'll probably kill me anyways. I guess I'm screwed either way."