Her feet are soft against the ground while her steps were anything but.

The brunette woman made her way down the halls quickly, wanting to get to her patient before someone else did.

Her patient being James Buchanan Barnes, alias the Winter Soldier.

Though she would not call him patient, if it weren't for the formalities of this compound.

The woman didn't bother greeting anybody she came past on her way to him. Why would she, when she had more important things to mend to. Everyone knew of that, too, so some wouldn't even motion to acknowledge her, despite the fact that the woman had just entered through the gates of this hell.

Theresa Romilly Stark had a lot of things on her mind. One of them being her getting to James before Alexander Pierce could.

She had heard of what had happened on the bridge. What they had done, before the 'culprit's had been captured. And she knew that, in a situation like this, James needed her.

Walking through the doors that led to her final destination, she found James sitting in a chair, a scientist working on his malfunctioning metal arm. Just a wave of her hand told everyone else in this room to leave - they wouldn't want to face the consequences if they didn't, anyways.

Theresa flashed a short, formal smile towards James as she came to occupy the seat the scientist had just left, quick to continue his work.

"How was the mission?"

She didn't ask because she didn't know. She asked because she needed to know about it from him. She hoped, that, if he would turn out as mentally unstable, she could buy them more time from Pierce. After all, she didn't want her PhD in psychology to have been for nothing.

"I knew him."

The Stark expected as much. The fact that, after it having been a while since he was last wiped, he was regaining bits and pieces of his memory, was to be expected. Though she wasn't quite sure just how much he seemed to remember.

"The man on the bridge. I knew him."

His voice was rough, just like some sort of lost puppy. That was truly the only comparison that would come to the doctor's mind.

James turned his gaze towards the woman working on his arm, his blue eyes dull as he repeated those same three words one more time.

"I knew him."

Theresa glanced up from her work on his arm. She'd have to be quick to evaluate his psychological state, she could already feel the devil approaching.

"You mean Steven?"

The Stark knew who the male before her meant, but she wanted to hear I'm confirm it nonetheless.

James nodded, Theresa nodding to herself in response, figuring just how to phrase it for Pierce to understand that she needed more time with James, before he could request his mission report.

"Soldier, I need you to tell me something, anything I can use to buy us time," Theresa couldn't help it, there was a mild hint of helplessness in her voice, until she felt it.

The thrumming of James' blood in his veins seemed to get louder, his heart speeding up, and she could tell by the way how he tensed that he was regaining some memory, though she couldn't tell which.

All she knew was, that this was not good. Not good at all.

She knew he'd snap before he could even process what had just happened and, just before he could, something took him over. His heart slowed to its regular pace, though his eyes were still left wild and confused.

"This is not good," the woman mumbled to herself, working on the last finishing touches on his bionic arm, before it was too late.

The true monster stepped through the doors and she had no other choice to improvise now.

Theresa sprung to her feet and moved before James, approaching Pierce with a calm, but hurried demeanor.

"Move aside, doctor, I need to talk to him."

Pierce's command was clear, but Theresa wouldn't move an inch.

"I apologize, Sir, I cannot do that. The sergeant is not in the condition to give a status report right now, I have still to finish my evaluation. I advise you to return in an hour at least."

Pierce raised his brow as he looked down at the woman before him. He was used to her being stubborn, but now was not the time to test his nerves.

"I am not repeating myself again after this. Move aside."

Pierce moved to step past her, but Theresa followed his motions to continue to stand in his way.

"He is not ready."

"Doctor."

His tone was threatening, but the woman wouldn't let herself be overpowered by this man, when she could easily overpower him.

"No."

Alexander Pierce was never more bothered by this woman as he was now. When he once again moved to walk past her and she struck out her arm to hold him back, he's had it.

His hand came towards her face with a force Theresa had no idea he could muster. And with the surprise on his side, she couldn't find enough time for herself to stabilize her footing, so she stumbled to the side, leaving James up for the monster.

Without her knowledge, her hand raised, ready to draw Pierce back, the only thing stopping her being the sound of guns loading and being pointed towards her.

Alexander turned to face the young doctor, her hand still outstretched towards him, ready to strike. A grim smile placed itself on his lips as he couldn't help the taunt that followed.

"You know better than to do that, Thasia."

The anger thrumming through her veins was close enough to make her boil over, but, knowing what was at stake, who was at stake, she knew he was right. She knew better than to do this.

Reluctantly she lowered her hands and balled them to fists, trying to suppress their shaking. 

If they were shaking because of anger or because she was running out of her last dose of Carfentanyl, she wasn't sure. But, since her last dose was a couple of days ago, she would guess it was a little bit of both.

"Mission report."

And judging by the sharp jab in her chest, it was the Carfentanyl that was running out.