-Flashback-
Berlin, Germany
1998
The Winter Soldier fired off another round from his machine gun into the air, warning the civilians to not interfere. One of the hostages began crawling towards the fire alarm, and winter nodded to his counterpart as single shot rang out, the man dropped to the ground dead. The Marksman said something in russian into her comms as they both split up, both with their own missions.
Marksman made her way down the winding hallway, pulling out her computer and easily getting past the laboratory's firewalls. A large metal vault door loomed infront of her, the only thing standing between her and her mission. She quickly typed some lines of code into the small device she had in her bag and the doors red lights blipped to green. Opening dramatically, a cloud of fog rolled from behind the door at the drastic temperature change. Marksmen walked inside and extracted the target, storing it safley in her satchel. 4 shots into the 4 security cameras in the room gave her anonymity as she left.
Winter met her at the planned spot on the roof, the large blood splatter on him informing her that his mission had been successful. After radioing for pickup, she stepped forward and wiped the drops of blood off of his forehead. Winter cringed at the contact at first, but immediately relaxed. He knew he could trust Marksmen completely, despite both of them knowing they would kill the other in a heartbeat if necessary.
She looked into his dead eyes with a slight hint of sentiment, something flickering in his eyes as well. Something like a faint memory flitted around the edges of her mind.
No. Emotions equal weakness.
She shook her head, trying to push the weakness out of her head. Winter's eyes flickered past her before he shoved her to the ground, a stream of gunfire barely missing her. One of the guards advanced towards the two, his gun drawn.
Winter took a small device from his amo belt and rolled it in the path of the guard. A small scream followed by an explosion announced another target neutralized. Just then, a small helicopter appeared overhead, dangling a rope ladder from it's open door for the two assassins to board.
Marksma- Lily grabbed the rope and began to climb towards the cabin following closely behind Winter who was just a few rungs ahead. Her sharp eyes caught a frayed rope hanging from one of the wooden bars that winter was about to step on, "зима, твоя нога!" - winter, your foot!
He looked back at her quizzically, stepping on the rung anyways and losing his balance.
"BUCKY!!" Lily screamed out of instinct as she grabbed his arm as he flew past her, bracing herself against the ropes. She swung him towards the ladder hanging below her, their eyes met for a brief second both wondering why she had said that word and what it might mean.
On the way back to the base, Marksman and Winter both maintained their usual stoic silence. No one spoke unless necessary, why should they?
This time was different however. Winte- Bucky, couldn't stop himself from casting glances to his counterpart. He could tell that she was struggling with her own mind as well. Fragments of conversations kept coming back to his mind, all mixed up and tangled in a gaint knot. All he knew for certain, was that Marksmen had a history with him before Hydra. The confusing part for the soldier was that there was no "before Hydra".
Hydra had been around since the beginning of time, and he along with it. All that mattered was the current mission, and efficiency. Why then did he feel drawn to....Lily? Was her name Lily? She looked like a Lily.
He replayed that moment on the rope ladder in his head again, the slip, fall, and looking up at Marks- Lily's scared eyes. He also remembered falling, a man's scream of "Bucky" and then..silence. No. That's not what had happened. Not in this lifetime.
Their eyes met again, and it felt as if a light went off in both of their heads. Everything came back.
Lily.
A bright light glared down on Lily and Bucky as they slowly came to their senses. They were both strapped to chairs in the middle of a standard cell somewhere below Hydra. The moment they had stepped off the helicopter, it was obvious to their handlers that something had happened. After a brief struggle, they had both been knocked out.
Bucky blinked as he looked around the room, usually by now someone would have come in and simply wiped their minds or stuck them back in the cryo. He looked over at Lily who was still mostly out.
The door in the corner opened and several heavily armed guards entered the room followed by a slender man in a dark suit. His nametag read Andrew Grant.
"Hello friends," he chirped, rolling a large tv into the room and stationing it infront of the two assassins, "I trust you had a lovely rest"
The Winter Soldier glared silently at the man.
"Aw it appears our dear Lillian doesnt want to wake up," he tenderly cooed, walking up to the still hazy girl and smacking her across the face violently. The abrupt action contrasting starkly with his demure attitude and shocking the girl awake. A slight trickle of blood appeared in the lower left corner of her mouth, "oops I forgot to take my ring off" the man chuckled lightly, "I suppose you both have been wondering why you were brought here instead of simply being shoved back into the crypt until we have use for you again. Don't worry, we'll be getting to that part later but first, I have a special treat for you both."
Lily looked from her friend to Grant and back again, still trying to fully come to her senses. She had been kept on ice a lot more than her counterpart, and she wasn't as used to the rough treatment. "Bucky.. whatever happens, I'm sorry I'm so so sorry.." she cried, her honey brown eyes meeting his bright blue ones.
"Ah! Your memories have all come back very good very good indeed. That will save me the trouble of explaining who this man is then." Grant pushed a button and the tv screen flickered to life, revealing a picture of Steve Roger. Even though the image was black and white, they could tell that his uniform was torn and bloodied slightly, and he had dirt smudges and a few cuts on his face. Steve looked like he had talen a real beating. Grant played the video for the two hostage movie goers, both with tears in their eyes at the sight of their old friend.
Steve seemed to be flying some sort of plane and talking into the radio.
"There's not gonna be a safe landing, but I can try and force it down." The sadness in Caps voice broke Lily's heart.
A voice cracked over the radio, Bucky and Lily both peeking up at the sound of Agent Carter's musical voice, "I'll-I'll get Howard on the line. He'll know what to do."
"There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York. I gotta put her in the water."
"Please don't do this. W-we have time. We can work it out."
"Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die. Peggy, this is my choice."
Steve turned the plane towards the earth,"Peggy..."
"I'm here."
"I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance."
"All right. A week next Saturday at The Stork Club.
Steve nodded sadly, placing his open compass infront of him, "You've got it"
"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late. Understood?" Even through the plane's radio, the sound of sniffles could be heard as the sweet agent fought back tears.
"We'll have the band play something slow."
The ship Cap is piloting is about to crash onto an icy land in the Arctic.
"I'd hate to step on your-"
the camera showed the plane hit the ground sending Steve flying backwards on contact, the air ship began filling with water slowly. The image went black but the audio kept going for a few more seconds.
"Steve?....steve?"
"Peg..."
The video screen changed to blue as Grant pulled the VHS tape out of the player. Lily felt sick to her stomach and Bucky looked completely broken, as if someone had torn his heart in two pieces.
"As you can see, your friend Steve Rogers wasn't as lucky as you two." Grant pulled up a chair and perched in front of them, "thanks to the advanced tech on Schmidt's plane we were able to not only see what happened, but we can also trace your friend's location. Sadly, he's a bit past his prime now so why go to the trouble of digging him up?" Grant laughed to himself as his best agents stared at him in shock. "Hmm this wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Not a single tear for your lost friend? Okay fine let's get this part over with" the man clapped his hands and motioned for the doctors to come in and begin the process. Bucky was moved into the next room, completely silent and still numb from what he had just watched.
Lily braced herself as the metal arms were placed on either side of her head and the first wave of electricity shot through her body. She could hear the distant screams of Bucky in the room over, as she tried to block out the pain she was experiencing herself. Soon enough, the pain subsided and she felt a cool glass of water being pushed against her lips.
"Whom do you serve?"
"Hydra"
"Mission report?"
"Ready to comply"
Grant sighed, closing the little red book he was reading from. "Take her to the cryo." Lily felt a sharp pinch and then, inky darkness overtook her vision as the sharp cold crept inside of her.
-Hydra HQ-
Modern Day
"NO!!" Lily woke up from her vivid dream with a start, her limbs trembling and covered from head to to in a cold sweat. Her dream had felt so real, more like a memory than anything else.
No that's not possible. Grant would never be so cruel.
Lily pulled out her airpods and checked the time.
4:30am
She must have fallen asleep listening to Bucky's song. Hazily, she set her phone on the nightstand and rolled over in bed, trying to allow the soft music from the speakers in her room lull her back to sleep.
"First time?" Lily asked as a smaller blond girl was thrown roughly into the holding cell next to hers. She looked to be about Lily's age, with blonde messy curls and piercing grey eyes.
She rolled over and sat up, laughing slightly. "Nah this isn't my first rodio," the smaller girl looked down at her bloody arm in distain, "hey you wouldn't happen to have a band-aid on you would ya?"
Lily smiled and ripped the hem off her shirt, reaching through the bars to wrap the poor girls wounds. The word "Phoenix" had been carved into her arm with a sharp knife.
"I'm Kita by the way"
Lily's eyes flew open, unable to escape the memories. Everything came flooding back, the dreams, the memories, Grant. Everything was true. She stumbled out of bed and began to dial Steve, tears filling her eyes as more memories came back. She had left him behind. Not only had she completely deserted everyone she knew and loved, she had done it for Hydra willingly.
"H-hello?"
"Steve its me!! Hydra's got me and I need your help please come get me please!!"
"Hang on we're coming just don't let-"
Steve's voice was suddenly cut off by a loud screeching sound blaring through the phone.
Lily felt her heart begin to race as she realized what was happening.
"Fourteen"
No no no. Lily covered her ears, trying to block out the voice.
"Red"
"No!!" She screamed, holding her head and stumbling around the room, grabbing her phone and airpods case.
"Courage"
Lily felt her mind racing as she scanned for exits, knowing she had exactly 17 seconds before the words would take effect.
She had to escape.
-----
I have a mini golfing date with Kita (eva) tomorrowwww eeee so exciteddd!!
She's gonna kill me tho cuz I made her read such a sad chapter with her own two eyes.
Hehe sorry loves!! I promise you'll get a happy ending soon UwU
- Gryffin Lestrade❤