Chapter Ten: Runaway (U & I)

"My dear sister, I have missed you so much. I can't believe that awful mutt kept you locked up like a common prisoner." Antoni's smooth Italian greeted her as she entered some sort of dining room. It was gaudy, but she shouldn't have been surprised. He'd sent over "dinner attire" for her, which consisted of a frilly pink dress that was way too young for her and a pair of white Mary Janes.

It was like he thought she was still a little girl. She realized that he wanted her to be a little girl, she was his little sister. He'd lost twenty years of her life, of his own life, and he was trying to make up for that by creating his own little perfect world. She pitied him, she really did. But at this point in time, all she wanted was to get the hell out of there.

"Well, Arnold just does what he thinks is best for me." she countered smoothly as she slid into the seat opposite him. The table was set with fine China, and she almost grimaced at it. Whose blood paid for all this shit? Rich Nazis were the worst, honestly.

"I wish you wouldn't name the thing. It's hideous, a shame that mother and father made him that way." Antoni commented.

"Well, they made you the way you are, so are you really quite so surprised?" she sneered, taking a sip from her wine glass. She pursed her lips in annoyance. "Is this grape juice? I'm twenty-five, for god's sake." she scoffed.

"My little sister shouldn't be drinking." he ignored her first comment in order to chastise her, sipping from his own glass that was definitely red wine.

"Why did you ask me here?" she moved on from her previous thoughts, pressing him for information before Arnie signalled her to go.

"I wanted to see my dear sister." he replied easily. She balled her hands into fists, keeping her hands under the table to keep him from seeing her rings. Victor had given them to her, just in case something went wrong. She made sure to keep them off until she would need them.

"You barely know me, you don't even like me. Why did you bring me here? Why kidnap me in the first place, why not try to, I don't know, introduce yourself to me through normal means?" she asked, wanting to at least know that before she escaped.

"Oh, Donatella." he breathed, pushing his wine to the side as his eyes roved over her face, sorrow shining clear in them. "My dear sister, it is because I love you. We may not get along, but the same blood runs through our veins." he reached out, pressing his fingertips to her cheek. She flinched, but didn't back down, meeting his eyes with ferocity.

"That doesn't explain this whole hostage-situation that you put me in." she seethed.

"That was of your own making." he pulled back, rolling his eyes. "If you would only cooperate with me, I could let you out from there. We must begin our army soon, I have reason to believe your precious Avengers have come close to finding us." his lip curled in a sneer, and she tried not to let her excitement show.

"What makes you say that?" she tried to be nonchalant, but she wanted to know.

"Your lover took out a squadron of Agents a few towns over, he's on the hunt for you."

"He's alone?" she asked, her heart leaping into her throat. God, was he stupid? Running around, trying to get himself killed.

"He's been one step ahead of the rest of the team, they come for cleanup when he's done. He was trained much too well, we may be able to tame the Asset once again." he smirked. "We could bring him here. But I would never allow him near you, oh no." he chuckled, sipping his wine again.

"And what makes you say that?" she seethed, clenching her fists again.

"Because that monster has no place being around my precious sister." any pity she had for him dissolved when he called him a monster.

"Bucky isn't a monster. He's the same as you, if you'll remember." she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, no, I'm no brainwashed dog. I'm all human, he's an experiment. He's nothing." he nearly growled as he thought of the Winter Soldier. She pursed her lips, unimpressed by her brother the hypocrite.

"Our parents experimented on him the same as they did on you." she reminded him.

"Our parents loved me. Loved us. They didn't love that thing, he was their greatest struggle. I thrived in the lab, he sank, was nearly impossible to control. They had to torture him for countless hours, they wiped his memory more times than I can count." he waved his hand through the air during his explanation, and her mouth soured.

"They did those awful things. Not him. They forced him to do those things, they were the monsters, they made Arnold the way that he is, they caused so much suffering, Antoni, why can't you get that through your thick skull?" she nearly shouted, holding herself down by gripping the sides of her chair.

"They were not monsters." he replied coolly. "They did great things in the name of science."

"No, Antoni, they tortured people, killed people. That's what they raised you to do, too." she frowned.

"They made me a part of their mission." he grit his teeth, his eyes flashing with anger as he spoke to her. "You need to understand that they did all of this for us. You could live like a queen here. All of these subjects here could be yours. You could rule the world. I know that you could."

"Antoni, the fact that you don't know me at all is really shining through right now." she sighed closing her eyes. "That is absolutely the last thing that I would want."

"Of course not! I thought you were ready, you were creating these things and selling them to the world, creating a name for yourself-you have done so much, don't you want the recognition you deserve? You should be above everyone, you are above everyone!" he insisted, and she felt her shoulders tighten.

"I'm not doing what I do for the recognition." she felt her brows furrow. "I'm doing it because it's right. You wouldn't know what the right thing to do was if it slapped you in the face." she grimaced. He looked furious.

"Nobody does anything without looking for worship in return." he seethed.

"You're wrong!" she shouted. "You're so wrong, you don't know anything about the real world, Antoni. You're a lab rat. You were never meant to be a leader, you were meant to be a weapon that could be put away on a whim and only brought out when they needed you. You need to stop thinking that this is what you were meant to be, because your intended purpose was nothing like this."

"Shut up." he spat. "Shut up. You are not the sister I know, you are not the person I've dreamed of all my life. You wear her face, but you are an imposter, you disgust me. You will do what I say." he stood, towering over her. She suddenly felt very scared. He'd never threatened to hurt her before, but now… all the cards were off the table. She leaped off the chair, scrambling backwards. This would be a great time for Arnie to enter, but unfortunately it didn't seem like he would be coming soon enough. She activated her rings, a low buzzing filling the room.

"Get back." she warned, holding her hands up defensively. He bared his teeth, lunging towards her. She screamed, pressing her palms against his chest and shoving him backwards, energy thrusting from the rings and aiding her. But his size and strength helped him get back up quickly, and she stumbled back, holding her hands up again.

"If you won't do what I say," He panted, stalking forwards, "then I have no choice."

"What are you doing?" She shouted as he lunged at her again, his hands wrapping around her biceps, holding her in place. He breathed in her face, breath reeking of sour wine. She bit her tongue as she shoved against him, but his solid chest was absorbing the blasts from her rings. Metallic blood filled her mouth as she panicked, his grip bruising as he leered down at her.

"I'm making sure you can't leave." One of his hands released her arm, and she immediately lashed out at him, but when his hand closed around her throat she panicked, thrashing uncontrollably in an attempt to get out of his grip. His other hand reached up to join the other at her neck, squeezing tightly. "You'll never leave me."

She felt her windpipe constricting completely, lungs burning for oxygen. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, and she felt her movements slow as her vision began to go black. Her mouth moved, jaw gnashing as she tried to gasp for air, but nothing slipped through his fingers, and she felt herself weakening.

His eyes were ablaze with cold fury, his face impassive otherwise, and she shoved against his chest once more, his grip loosening as he grunted, letting some air slip into her lungs before he tightened his grip once more. She caught a second wind, and she slammed her hands up to the sides of his head, feeling pulse after pulse of high-velocity energy hit him point blank at each temple. His eyes rolled back, she saw the blood vessels burst in his eyes as his hands slipped off of her.

He fell to his knees, slumping forwards for a moment as she gasped for air, clutching at her raw throat. His body thudded against the floor as he fell, his eyes staring up at her, unseeing. Oh god. Oh god, she killed someone. She killed her own brother. He was dead.

She killed him with her own two hands. She felt herself shaking. She glanced down at her hands, expecting to see a stain of blood smeared over them. Donatella saw nothing on them, no sign that she'd just murdered a man. Her fingers shook, and she clasped them together, disarming the rings as she fell to her knees, a broken sob escaping her lips.

Her throat screamed at her as the hiccuping cries bubbles up through her, but she couldn't stop. She gripped her neck, pressing her cool hands against the heated flesh. She had killed someone. Her brother was dead because of her. She hadn't even thought twice about it, she put the pulses directly up to his head and didn't stop until the life had left his eyes.

It didn't matter that he was trying to suffocate her. Nothing mattered. The only thing that mattered was that someone was dead because of her actions. She barely noticed the alarm sounding above her head, barely heard the running footsteps approaching her.

She didn't even feel it when the cold metal arm wrapped around her. Didn't notice the familiar lips brush against her temple. Donatella didn't even realize she was being picked up and carried away.

The only thing she saw were those bloodshot eyes staring up at her from the floor. The purple, bruised face. The charred marks at the sides of his temples, singeing the hair.

She killed a man. And she could never take it back.

Those familiar arms carried her somewhere, and she felt her anxiety begin to melt away as she got further from her brother.

"Donatella, can you hear me?" She heard a voice ask. She had been set down somewhere, and her throat hurt.

"Bucky?" She croaked out. The world was blurry, or was it just her eyes? She couldn't tell. A face swam in her vision. "Where did you come from?" she could only focus on those blue puppy dog eyes.

"I just got here, I made it down to this level. Sweetheart, what happened? What's going on here?" He smoothed his metal hand over her cheek, and she melted into his touch. She felt completely lost, like she wasn't even in her body, but she could respond to him. She always would. She could never forget his touch, his voice, the feel of him. Just him next to her, the way he said her name, the way he spoke to her, looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the entire universe.

"It's cold. I was so lonely." She felt tears on her cheek.

"I think you're in shock, Don." Another voice came from above her. There were some quiet murmurs before the voice spoke again. "We're gonna get you out of here, okay?"

"Arnie!" She blurted out, finally focusing. "Where's Arnie?"

"Sweetheart, who's Arnie?" Bucky asked in a calm voice, but his eyes shone with confusion. She could taste the salt from her tears as she licked her lips, and she glanced around.

"He's been helping me, He was a HYDRA experiment… he was going to help me escape. But now he's gone, where is Arnie?" Her voice was rapidly degrading, becoming more hoarse with each syllable.

"I'll go look for him, can you tell me what he looks like?" She recognized Steve's voice. She took in a ragged breath, her throat screaming at her to be silent, but she had to know. She couldn't leave him behind.

"Donatella, I am here." she heard his voice, and her head whipped towards his direction. Almost immediately, Steve lurched at him threateningly, but she called out weakly for him to stop.

"It's Arnie." she coughed, attempting to stagger to her feet. The robotic man walked into the room, the dim lighting making him hazy in her vision, but she could still see the horrific burns and mangled flesh around his metallic plates. Steve's face was clearly concerned, uncomfortable, and a bit grossed out. Bucky gripped her waist tightly, hoisting her into his arms and lifting her, her weak knees not doing a great job of keeping her upright.

"What happened, where is Antoni? You were supposed to wait for my signal." Arnie shook his head, coming forward with a concerned look on his face.

"We're gonna have to wait on that story, we have to get out of here. Are you okay if I move you, sweetheart?" Bucky cooed down to her, and she nodded gently, wincing at the pain that burst from her neck. He rested her head on his shoulder and tried to keep her as stable as possible. Just the feeling of his arms around her caused all of the stress and tension to leech from her body, and she felt herself relaxing in his hold. Her head lolled onto his shoulder as her body became boneless, she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. "Hey, Donnie, stay with me." Bucky's voice was slightly panicked, but she couldn't help it at that point. She was out cold within a few minutes.

Her dreams were awful. Antoni's face haunted her, the anger draining from his expression and leaving behind that cold, dead look. The purple bruises around his red, bloodshot eyes. It was horrible, over and over it was like his life force melted before her eyes. Because she killed him. There was nothing else to it. She had killed her own brother.

"You can never leave me." his voice snarled at her continuously. He was looming over her, his face changing between life and death so quickly it made her nauseas. It must have been hours later before she woke up again. She blinked, nearly sobbing with relief when she saw it was her own roof above her head. She was in her own bed, with the sheets that smelled warm and sweet, a bit like Bucky as well. She gripped the blanket and pulled it up over her shoulders, holding herself in that spot for a couple of minutes before sitting up.

"Hey! Lay down!" a wonderfully familiar voice startled her. She turned, tears filling her eyes as Bucky's frame entered the room. Her gaze raked over him, his hair a bit mussed up, scruff forming over his face. His mouth was slightly upturned on one side, he was smirking at her in the way that she loved most. She felt a whimper escape her as she flopped back down, her limbs felt weak as tears streamed down her face. He was at her side in a second, hand smoothing over her hair as he shushed her. "Everythings okay, sweetheart, everything is fine. I promise, I'm here, nothing bad will happen." he cooed.

"It hurts." she winced at the pain in her neck, her voice completely garbled.

"I know, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. Do you need anything? Some water? Tea?" he whispered, fingers raking gently through her hair. She relished in the sensation for a moment, the feeling of his soft skin against hers, the sight of his beautiful face hovering over hers.

"I just want you. It's always you." she croaked out, her awful voice probably ruining the sentiment she was trying to convey, but his blue eyes softened as he looked down at her.

"You're it for me too, doll, don't ever forget it." he gave her a sloping grin. She leaned up, eyes fluttering closed as she brushed her lips gently across his. He responded fiercely, fingers gripping her hair tightly as they kissed.

"Can you all stop with the making out for two seconds? We've got stuff to figure out." a voice called from the living room, and Bucky groaned, a scowl coming over his face.

"Sam is here." she commented with a small chuckle. "What a cockblock." she muttered, struggling to sit up, wiping nearly dried tears from her cheeks.

"Here, let me help." he gently lifted her into a sitting position, stuffing some pillows behind her back for good measure, and making sure to adjust the collar of her robe.

"Did you change me?" she glanced over herself, realizing she was completely nude underneath.

"Well, that dress was cute, but it was very…" he trailed off, waving his hands with a frown.

"It was very much made for a ten year old." she finished for him with a small smirk. "Antoni had a few loose screws." she said casually, trying not to think about his lifeless expression.

"That's something we need to talk about." he frowned. "We still aren't sure exactly what happened, why they took you."

"Arnie didn't tell you guys?" she croaked out, settling into a more comfortable position.

"Not… exactly. He's been refusing to talk until he can see you again, he's not exactly sure what happened before we showed up as well. He said something about not being awake when you got there? You're the only one with the whole story, doll."

"He hasn't said anything about himself, either?" she frowned.

"I know who he is." Bucky sighed. "He's The Warrior. He was… your parents creation."

"I know, Buck." she frowned. "There's a lot that I found out while I was there…" she rubbed her hand absentmindedly over her sore neck. "You should bring everyone in so I can tell everyone what went on down there."

"We're coming in!" Sam must have been listening outside the door because he waltzed in as soon as she had finished talking. He was pulling a chair from the dining room table along with him, and in followed Natasha, Steve, and Tony.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?" Tony scolded her, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Um, why are you acting like it was my fault that HYDRA kidnapped me?" the corners of her mouth turned down, and he gave a huff, looking to Bucky.

"Well, I know you wouldn't let me blame Barnes for it. I mean really, who uses an ex-HYDRA assassin's girlfriend as a hostage? Uninspired." he scoffed.

"They didn't want Bucky, actually." she revealed, trying to figure out the best way to breach the subject. "Where is Arnold?" she asked, suddenly distracted by his absence.

"He's in the lab getting checked over. Now, please elaborate?" Tony raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"Well… I guess it's kinda complicated. Tony, do you remember the man that I thought looked very… concerning?" she asked. Tony gave a slight nod.

"We saw him, he was there when they took you. As soon as they had you it was like everyone else backed off, they all scattered. Now we know it's because you're what they wanted all along, not Barnes." Tony commented, raking his hand through his hair. Bucky was seated on the edge of the bed, their fingers intertwined, and he gave her hand a slight squeeze, encouraging her to continue.

"Well, when I got there I didn't really know what was going on at first. They treated me pretty well, but I was locked in a room for a while before anyone came to see me. After a while a guard brought me food, he was really nice actually. His name is Victor, if anyone was wondering." she pursed her lips, and Natasha gave a slight roll of her eyes.

"You're rambling." Natasha commented dryly.

"Right, right…" she chuckled sheepishly. "This is just… it's still surprising, even to me." Don sucked in a deep breath as Bucky squeezed her hand again. "So, I got there, and then Victor brought in the man that I mentioned before. He sat down, and started talking to me…"

"Can you get to it?" Tony interrupted, and Steve shot him a look.

"Tony, hold your horses, she just got back from being kidnapped." Sam rolled his eyes.

"He told me he was my brother." she revealed quietly. Bucky's eyes widened and he swiveled to look at her.

"But he was lying, right?" Tony stood suddenly, concern shining deep in his eyes. She shook her head.

"No. When I was there, I realized why I had been so concerned about him… when I was younger, there was an… incident." she explained quietly.

"What kind of incident?" Steve asked quizzically.

"When I was younger, there was a man who had tried to take me from school. I probably had nightmares every night for years after that. It turned out to be him, my own brother just wanted to be able to see me, but our parents didn't want me around that type of life it seemed." she averted her eyes, tracing her fingers over patterns on the sheets.

"He tried to kidnap you once before? How old were you?" Tony demanded, pacing the room. "This man… I swear if I ever get my hands on him-"

"He's dead." she cut him off, her voice sounding hollow even to her own ears. Everyone stopped to look at her, Bucky's eyes shining with sorrow. He somehow knew already, even before she said anything. "I killed him. When I was escaping, he did this to me," she gestured to her mottled neck, everyone wincing at the sight, "and I killed him to get away."

"Donnie…" Steve stood, a worried look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"It's fine." she lied through gritted teeth. God, it sucked to feel this way. They had all killed before, many times in certain cases, and here she was, acting like it was a big deal. But it was a big deal, especially to her. She was a doctor, she took an oath to protect life, and she'd gone and killed somebody.

"But why did he try and take you in the first place? He's a soldier, what did he want you for?" Natasha pressed.

"He wanted a family. He was put on ice for twenty years, and he came out to find that our parents were dead." she explained, glancing at Bucky, guilt clawing at her chest as she saw him tense up. "All he had left was me, even though our parents wouldn't let him near me. So he took me, and he knew that you would all be coming for me, so he took Arnie out to help get rid of you all so he could rebuild HYDRA and keep me as his little puppet." she sneered. "He was a bit too ambitious, I guess."

"But then, what, you befriended the cyborg and it blew up in your brother's face?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." she sighed. Natasha eyed her, obviously scrutinizing her as she laid there prone in front of the group.

"I think we should go now. We have more information now, and Donatella needs to rest." Nat called out, standing and ushering the men out while shooting a half-smile at the girl on the bed. Donatella mouthed a thank you to her. The two women had gained a sort of kinship over the past few months, occasionally grabbing lunch. They led two very different lives, but they found that there were a lot of similarities between them.

Bucky gave a relieved sigh once he heard the front door close behind the group, the apartment now completely silent.

"They drove me nuts while you were gone. You know how many times Peter texted me? It was a nightmare." he turned with a joking smile, but it quickly faded as he saw her expression. She was trying to hold it back, but tears were filling her eyes rapidly, dropping down her cheeks.

"I killed someone, Buck." she croaked. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her, and she finally felt safe.

There was nothing that she needed more than just being in his arms now.

And she would make sure she never left them again.

End of Part Two

Sorry it took me so long to post this! I've been a bit busy these last few weeks and I'm still working on the end of part three. I'm struggling to conclude things in the way that I wan't, so I'm going to wait a bit longer to post the last part. I don't want to put anything up that's half-assed, so I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long. I'm giving a short preview in

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Chapter One: come out and play

She was struggling, a lot, to come to terms with what had happened. She gained a brother, and a few days later she had lost him by her own actions. It was really hard for her to feel okay with, and she wasn't quite sure if she would ever be the same afterwards. Bucky, of course, had been extremely patient and helpful with her mental state. He was able to speak from experience with most things, but didn't force her to think any certain way, actually letting her muddle through her emotions on her own.

It honestly made her fall in love with him a little more, she'd given even more of herself to him. And he offered up the same, sharing hushed stories and confessions that made her weep for him, for what he'd gone through. She told him more of what had happened, how she felt after taking a life, and he was so understanding, so concerned, yet he gave her as much space as she needed. He was always there when she needed him, always knew exactly what to say, what to do. Bucky gave her affection when she needed it, craved it, a shoulder to cry on, a strong, sturdy pillar in her fogged up daze of pain and confusion. She felt like the rest of the world was just out of her grasp, but he was always there, a steady beacon to pull her out of that hazy place and bring her back into real life.

They had more time to focus on their relationship, and actually discussed their future. He confessed that he wanted to get married and have kids, he craved that normalcy, the escape from his fucked up life. They still weren't sure if he was sterile or not, but they decided they wouldn't go to find out until they were ready to think about kids, which wouldn't be for a while yet, not until they managed to get their feet under them after the shock of her kidnapping. And she told him that she was nervous that she would be a terrible parent, just like her own had been. He understood, but he refused to let her believe that she could ever be like her parents. He reminded her of who raised her, how wonderful of a person Janita was, and he looked so sure of what he was saying that she believed him. If she could ever be even a little bit like her adoptive mother, she would be happy.

Bucky just wanted her to be happy.

EDIT: THE FINAL PART OF THIS SERIES IS NOW UP, TITLED "THE MOST" make sure you go and look for it on my page! Thanks for all of the love and support on this series so far!