Chapter Text
You walk into the room, looking for something, someone, that should be in plain sight. Just when you’re sure the vast, crumbling room is vacant, you notice a small figure huddled in the corner.
A space that had been filled by you ,alone, only seconds before.
That’s when you hear the smallest of voices echo, "Zimney Soldat?"
Your body tenses, preparing to fire but find your body riveted in place, no matter your 30-plus years of training and biochemical reconstruction. Your eyes focus on the small creature crouched by the wall, closer than before. 'I can’t take my eyes off it again or -'
“She,” the figure giggles into your head, you finally realise, “She has immobilised everyone in your party, including the Soldat iarnă infam. You are not here to die, Soldat; relax. The gaozari that collar you remain unharmed. So far. ” Her voice drips animosity towards your Handler's. The last part of her sentence almost sounds like a death nell for those men.You were thankful, for once, to just be их активов.
She rises gracefully, much like a jungle cat, and glides to you, stalking and studying you as she moves near. That is when you fully comprehend what about this girl has you off-center: albeit she physically appears a child of ten years, she conducts her movements and speech with an air of importance; she was far more awe-inspiring than the reports stated.
“They said what I wanted so I could get you here, James,” she affirms, as if playing a game with HYDRA was akin to a Sunday stroll. “For me, eto tochno tak zhe. But HYRDA is not why, per se, you are here." She pauses in her assessment, a curious shadow passing over her face before blending back to a neutral look. "You have not once corrected me to use Pусский, or Română, sau orice altă limbă, other than English, once I confirmed who you were, James. De ce este asta?” She queried.
As you tried to think of a response to her sudden scrutiny, awareness viscously slammed into you; your mind scrambling to assimilate, chest heaving from the exercision needed to remain conscious. This tiny, magnificent принцесса has saved you from HYDRA's sway, removing the Winter Soldier with just her mind.
"But...Why?" You croak internally, too weak to use your voice. "Why did you bring me here:: to free me or to imprison me just as They did?!" You demand, fear and self preservation having taken control of your senses once more.
Her laugh is like the tinkle of broken glass overlaid with a thousand bells chiming simultaneously throughout your mind. “Oh, James, harming you is the complete opposite of why I released you from their simpering attempt at mind control!" She cocked her head, listening as gun shots rang out across the site, before lifting her doll-like face into a deadly smirk. "They torture their jucărie preferată, yes? But they haven't the mercy to kill you. Nor will they ever, as long as they have use for you. You are their prized pet, weapon and имущество,” her features harden, voice bitter as she spat out his treatment over the past almost three decades.
“Alas, that is also why you are here. I need your -yes, YOUR - protection. The world spins on in ways I cannot predict. If I cannot predict it, I cannot protect myself," her head drooped at this, vulnerable in this admission. You only nod, encouraging her to continue. "You are correct that I have lived longer than I appear. With wisdom and time, I led you here to take me in under your protection.” Her cheeks tinted a pale rose, revealing more in her request for aide than you could begin to fathom.
In all the years you had been with HYDRA, never had anyone turned themselves in for help.
“But...why me?” you pleaded, recalling all the evil you’d done to innocents and presumably guilty alike in HYDRA's name.
“You are still pure in heart, James,” she answered, stepping near enough to rest a hand over your heart, as if that action would provide the truth behind her words. Before he could question her further, her musical laugh rings out again, signaling the final gunshots from the ensemble your Handler sent. She concluded, "In return for your assistance to my survival, Eu te va elibera from these gaozari's: return you to yourself, James, and give you back the life of which you were denied.”
~~~~
You wake in a cold sweat, knotted in your sheets and hands in fists at your sides. The nightmares were normal -victims faces haunting you, screaming as they died- that was usual. This serene scene with the child wrapped in white -what the hell was she wrapped in anyways??- threw you off your game.
But as usual, you were wide-awake and something told you this dream was one that Sam and Steve were gonna want to hear about.