"I remember everything. It's a burden."

-Eleanor Webb from Byzantium 

                Though Ophelia was still having troubles with her flashbacks, she was able to convince Maria Hill that she intended to help. With her ability to link with people, Hill asked her who was to trust and who was HYDRA within SHIELD. They showed her people they suspected, had her connect with them and confirm. This way, she earned some trust from her. The only one she knew for certain without needing a prompt was Alexander Pierce. She knew him personally as he had given her the mission to kill Fury only a day earlier. 

              She had been allowed to rest, Agent Hill deciding that it was far better to have a rested hostage who may comply, as opposed to the state Ophelia had been brought in. At this point, though, Ophelia wasn't much of a hostage. In fact, she felt safer in the dam than she had in her entire life, and she was beginning to see the side of things that were considered good. People like Fury and Hill and Rogers, they were good people fighting to better the world, to protect it. HYDRA had many people convinced that their way of things was for the greater good, but Ophelia was starting to see that their view was indeed veiled and skewed. 

                By the people in the dam, Ophelia was being treated like a feral dog. They were careful around her, not wanting to say or do the wrong thing to agitate her. And yet they looked at her as though she was wounded, and needed assistance to get back on her feet. This was all true, and Ophelia accepted it with open arms now. The main memory that made her feel the need to change, to comply with Hill and the others, were the things Bucky had done for her. He willingly put himself back into HYDRA captivity so that she wouldn't be hurt as badly. When it was all laid out for her like this, it was easy to see what side she wanted to be on. 

             The next morning hey had un-cuffed Ophelia, but locked her in a room overnight as they could not trust her with the location of their base. Slowly, though, over small words and brief conversation, they were getting somewhere. A foundation was being laid. Of course they were aware that anything she told them could be leading them into a trap, but they had to take that chance. Things were askew, and they were grasping onto anything in order to figure out how to solve this problem that was unresolved and insidious. With Ophelia willing to help, it made things a  fraction easier for them.

             "Can you try to locate the Winter Soldier again?" Agent Hill asked

                "It's like he doesn't exist..." Ophelia explained. "I can't even find him, let alone enter his mind to even get a hint of where he might be."

                "Have you located Steve?" Maria Hill changed the topic at hand, it was more important to find Steve and Natasha, who had gone AWOL after he became a wanted criminal. 

                "He's far, I can sense him, but I cannot locate him."

                "And Natasha?"

                "It's harder to find people I have no connection with, but I think she is with him." Ophelia looked up at Maria not with want of a reward, but to see if she believed her. It was all the truth.

                "Do you know the general area?" Hill tried to get the ball rolling. 

                "Get me a map," she suggested. "Maybe that will help. I've been living in a cave in Siberia my entire life."

                After Ophelia had been able to locate where Steve, Natasha and Sam -a new person she had linked with- were headed, Agent Hill brought her in to talk to Fury for the first time. Though she had seen the man the day before, this time it was different because he would be awake. She was nervous, after all, she and The Winter Soldier had been the one to put him in this state. The punctured lung was the least of his worries, however, and he had survived long enough to be brought to a safe place with agents and doctors he trusted. 

             She braced herself for the worst as she was lead into the makeshift room Fury was in. He was propped up, still attached to many machines that were keeping his wounded organs working as well as possible. He looked better than he had the day before, and Ophelia sensed no hatred towards her when his eyes spotted her. 

                "Ophelia, huh?" Fury asked, his voice strained and soft, but still strong enough to intimidate her slightly. "A name of Greek origins."

                She hadn't know that and it must have shown on her face. 

                He laughed, but it pained him. "How did you come into the hands of HYDRA?"

                "My father was a HYDRA agent, I think. My mother was no one..." She dug her nails into her palms nervously. 

                "Any other agents of HYDRA in the history of HYDRA... They didn't ever turn sides and instead became good friends with cyanide. How can we trust you?"

                "As I'm sure you are aware, I can connect with people, I can feel what they feel both emotional and physical. I can locate them with ease, track them down. However, while I've been using my tracking my whole life, only recently have I truly tuned into the... emotional aspect of my power," she explained quickly. "I see what you feel, what Agent Hill feels, what Steve Rogers feels... You have something that none of the HYDRA members ever did, or ever will."

                "And what is that?"

                "Compassion."

                "Not towards HYDRA members."

                "No, but towards me, you have shown that you can give second chances," she continued. "My friend is trapped as a HYDRA weapon, and I don't know if he can ever come out of it and become the person he used to be. I think with Steve's help, I can bring him back... I can stop him. He is HYDRA's most valuable weapon, and has been for half a century. You don't need to trust me, but I think I am the only one who can stop the Winter Soldier."

                "That's exactly why you are going with Agent Hill." Fury half-smiled. "You will not be given weapons, you will not be given freedom to roam. You are to go with her to locate Steve and Natasha, find them and bring them back here. If you complete this task, and help us bring down HYDRA, you will be given your freedom."

                "Thank you, Nick." She had an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and no simple thank you could truly show how she felt.

               Agent Hill came in and told Ophelia, "It's time to go. We've got a mission."

***

                Ophelia could feel Steve, Natasha and Sam's presence. They were on the highway; it was busy but the driver was swiftly navigating through the traffic with ease. Undercover, Agent Hill and Ophelia had gone to the SHIELD headquarters posed as guards, and when they found that Steve and Natasha were downtown fighting the Winter Soldier, they sent out guards to stop him. As of now Steve Rogers was labelled as a SHIELD traitor for hiding information regarding Fury's "death" and needed to be brought down. That was what HYDRA was telling those who were still SHIELD, making them believe that their childhood and current idol, Captain America, was truly a traitor.  

                Though Ophelia wanted to jump out of the van and approach The Winter Soldier by herself, to try and stop him and talk some sense into him, she knew that she would be killed or captured. This time, if HYDRA got their hands on her, they would not wipe her memory and try again. She knew that this time they would not hesitate to kill her. Envisioning a bullet to her brain, and then never knowing the fate of Bucky, she sat silently in the back of the van, Agent Hill right beside her. 

                She had given so much to SHIELD in hopes that they could stop HYDRA, but she knew that their roots went deeper than SHIELD; they were around the world, starting wars and causing chaos. They were not so easily stopped. But they were also distracted; a lot was at stake and there was a lot pointing against them.

                The van finally came to a stop and the doors opened, Ophelia and Agent Hill stepped out quickly. Though Ophelia had a gun, it was not loaded, so that she could not turn on anyone. She aimed it at Steve to look authentic, but her eyes were searching for Bucky. 

              Steve Rogers was submissive, brought to his knees by Brock Rumlow. But he seemed not to even care that he had been caught, and was instead distracted. She looked into Steve's eyes, studying them, and then followed them to where he was staring. She knew that was where Bucky had gone, nothing else would have phased Captain America but seeing his best friend whom he had thought dead long ago. Lowering her gun, she walked down the messy highway; car parts, bullet shells and weapons scattered along the ground.

                The one thing that truly caught her eye was his mask. She crouched down and grabbed it with her gloved fingers. Standing up, she held it close to her chest, trying to link with him again, but failing to find him. There was an entire world of people she could locate, and yet the only person she needed to find was so far gone in his own mind, that she couldn't. Her breath hitched and she felt as though she was going to cry; why did she feel this way about him? He was a monster. He was gone. He was HYDRA's, and would never be hers.