I made a promise to Nat. Or, even if it doesn't count as a promise, it was still a deal. I didn't have to start the conversation with Bucky, but knowing he knew made it hard to sleep. Could you really blame me for being pissed off? He lied. He lied to me. Bucky was all I'd had after the accident, but now he was the only one I didn't want to be around.

That didn't really work out so well for me. Nat wasn't in the apartment when Wanda and I woke up, which already made me uneasy. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of him. That's not what this was about. I was hurt, and angry, and that's why I felt so pissed off.

"Shade..." Wanda hummed softly, dragging me out of my thoughts and getting me to look up at her slowly. "I should leave." My heart lurched, and I think she could almost see it. "No, no.... Not like that. It's just... I think you two need some privacy to work this out." I sighed, closing my eyes. I knew she was right.

"Fine." I muttered. "Where can I find you later?" I asked, already knowing this wasn't going to go well. I wanted to at least have someone to go be with afterwards.

"Miss Barnes, he is on his way up to you now." Jarvis warned, just as I'd asked him to. I groaned, Wanda standing up.

"Thanks, J..."

"I'll see you later Shade. Promise." I wanted to be upset, but honestly even just her smile made my heart flutter, so I just took a breath and nodded.

"See you later."

It was exactly two minutes and thirty-seven seconds from Wanda leaving the room when I heard the tentative little knock - I counted. I didn't say anything right away, bracing myself as I stood up. "Come in." I said quietly, knowing full well he could hear it. As expected, the door opened slowly.

When Bucky closed the door behind them, he looked over at me like he was waiting for me to start screaming at him. Honestly, I kind of wanted to. I let the silence drag on, and he ended up being the one to break him. Ironic, the Winter Soldier unable to take a little heavy silence.

"Shade, I-"
"
Don't." I snapped, cutting him off. He closed his mouth, looking a little hurt. I found I really didn't care as much as I maybe should have. "Don't do that. The whole innocent routine. I'm not awake enough to deal with it." I continued. When he didn't speak, I let myself relax a little.

"See, I don't... Bucky, I just don't get it. When I was little? Yeah. You know what, that I can understand. After that, though, you could have said something. On one of my visits, you could've said something. WHEN I ASKED YOU TO ADOPT ME," I shouted, getting louder now, "YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING."

He looked down at the ground now, and suddenly any of the guilt I'd been feeling disappeared. He wasn't even going to defend himself?

"What, no excuses? No 'good reason' for keeping me in the dark?" Now, he did look up.

"I didn't want you to be afraid of me." Bucky's voice was quiet, and he still didn't look at me. It made me hesitate. For a quick second I felt bad, but then a very different emotion took over.

"Good job." I started to laugh. I actually started laughing. "Good fucking job, Bucky. Do you not remember the first morning when you showed up? Guess what, I do. I saw you fight, I watched you two spar, and I'm pretty damn sure I said something along the lines of "Do it again!", did I not?"

"I know you did, Shade, I know! That terrified me! Realizing what you'd seen just then, even just in training? All Hydra did was train me up to be a killer, just another tool for them to use to get what they wanted. Do you have any idea how many people I've hurt? How many families I've destroyed? I didn't want you to know about my past because I didn't want it to change things! For you to change your mind about the adoption, or for you to not want to come see the team any more, even though they didn't do anything wrong, and I-"

"You done?" I cut him off, quiet and monotonous as I crossed my arms over my chest. He looked absolutely shocked, like he had no idea how to respond to that. I waited a few seconds before I even bothered to say anything else. "Good." I muttered, stepping past him. "Cause I am."

He reached to take my arm, and I ripped it away, glaring up at him. "Don't fucking touch me." I hissed, angry all over again. "You turned the whole team into liars, Bucky. You just managed to break all the trust I had towards you. Real nice."

A few more moments of tense silence, and I could see actual tears in his eyes when I finally looked at him. Again, a pang of guilt, which only managed to make me feel angrier. I shouldn't have to feel guilty over this. "I'm going to go get some air. Don't follow me." I snapped at him, pushing past now and stepping into the elevator. Now I was even more upset, because now I had conflicting feelings as to what I just said. Had I really made him cry?

He turned to face me as the elevator door closed, and the wet shine his cheeks had gave me my answer. Now I felt like an absolute asshole, but at the same time I felt he deserved it. Whatever. Nat had forced me to talk before I was ready anyways.

Hey. Gonna go for a walk. Need some air.

I texted to Wanda as I got down to the ground floor, not saying anything else to anyone as I got outside to take a deep breath.

Be safe.

I will.

I didn't even know where I was going, but I just started walking. Not even fifteen minutes later, I walked past one of my favorite coffee shops, and I paused. I didn't want to go back yet, that was for sure, so.... Why not. I went inside, grabbed my drink and left, but... Well, something felt off. At first I thought I was just being paranoid because of the argument and tensions in the tower, but regardless I started to glance around. And... I could've sworn I'd seen the same guy by the tower. Tried not to think much of it as kept walking, deciding to just go around a couple of blocks before circling back. It would give me a few moments of peace anyways.

As I walked by different shops and buildings, a lot of them had glass storefronts, so I decided to start looking. I made it look like I was window shopping, but lo and behold, there's the same guy following me. Now, I started to get nervous. Alright, give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just headed somewhere in the direction I was - so I crossed the street and made to head back, just to see what he'd do. Almost immediately, he was crossing behind me. After he turned with me to walk back the other way, I knew this wasn't just a guy on his work commute. So I did the absolute stupidest thing I could have in that situation.

I dropped my drink, turned away from him, and ran. As I did, I fumbled for my phone, and quickly tried to get into my actual phone app to call Nat. I tried taking a back route to the tower I knew would get me there faster, but just as I went to try and ring her I felt myself get slammed into the wall.

I didn't have a chance to scream as my attacker ripped my phone out of my hand and smashed it below his heel on the ground. When I tried to fight he easily caught my arm, pinning me again, but this time he had a needle in his other hand. I struggled, panicking, but it was over quickly as the second he jabbed me in the neck the world began to go dark.

I didn't even feel myself hit the ground.

---
"Are you sure?" Bucky asked for the tenth time, Nat rolling her eyes.
"James, it's only been an hour. Look, you really seemed to hurt her with this, just give her some time. Let the girl breathe, it's been a rough day."
"She probably went to get a drink or something and headed to the park. Or, she's literally sitting in one of those cafe's she's so fond of." Wanda added. "She's smart enough to stay safe."

"She's not answering her phone, how can we be sure she is safe?" Bucky asked, and both the girls sighed. "Oh. You mean she'd just ignore my calls."
"Bucky, I don't think she'd answer regardless of who it is. I've tried too, just to talk. Let's just do what Natasha's suggesting and let her have her space. It's not the first time she's gone out. She'll be fine." Bucky wasn't convinced, but he let it go. For a few hours, anyways. By the afternoon, everyone was feeling a little antsy. Tony was even trying to track her through her phone, but he assumed it must have died or she just turned it off. Bucky was pacing anxiously, and even Wanda was feeling nervous at this point. Why wasn't she picking up?
When the sun started to set, everyone was really beginning to panic. "Maybe she's at a friends house?" Wanda tried, cutting in to some of the chaos, but already knew the answer. She didn't have any other friends.

"We can't take that chance. It's getting dark, we gotta make sure she's okay." Nar told her quietly. It was only as they were suiting up to get ready to go look for her that Jarvis spoke up, but.... It wasn't Jarvis.

"Attention Avengers. Or, should I address this to you specifically, soldier." Bucky stood up, looking panicked now. He knew that voice. "Due to your pleasant little outing, we finally found you. And isn't it just sweet that you found yourself a little family." His heart rate was picking up. No, they couldn't have... It had only been a day! "Since we are well aware that breaking in to your little facility would cause more of a scene than I'm planning, and you refuse to come willingly, I'm going to offer you a deal. You have exactly one week to return yourself to your proper place within Hydra's ranks, or... Your daughter takes your place."

"No!!!" Bucky shouted, Tony scrambling to trace the call even though he knew it may not do much good. Nat looked ill, and Steve was just horrified.

"One week, Sergeant Barnes." And with that, the transmission cut off and they were all left in stunned silence.

"Tell me that wasn't what it sounded like, Bucky." Steve pressed, but they all knew it was true.

"They.... They must have seen the picture on the news, decided.... Decided to use her as bait." He whispered in horror, and Wanda looked away with tears in her eyes now. She knew what it was like in there... She'd really been hoping Shade would never have to experience it. "They're using her as bait!!" How could he have put her in danger like this? This wasn't even just a normal fight, this was Hydra. The things they could do to her to 'convince' him to surrender. Well, he knew it wouldn't take much, but they'd do more anyway. He closed his eyes, steeling himself as he took a deep breath, and when he opened them again there was something far more dangerous lurking within.

"We have to find her before they decide she's more useful than I am."