Chapter 4
It had been four days since extraction from the HYDRA facility east of Germany, two since the confrontation with Bucky. Saturday dawned, and you’d been awake since late the previous night. A restless, aching awareness.
“Oh, you’re awake.” Bucky’s voice was a low rumble as he entered the cell. He carried a tray, the metallic scent of hospital breakfast clinging to the air.
“Th-thank you,” you murmured, sinking back against the worn mattress. Your voice felt brittle, unused.
Bucky offered a tentative smile, then settled into a chair beside the bed. The gesture felt…measured. Careful.
“Do you remember anything? Do you know your name?” he asked, his brow furrowed with concern. The question hung in the air, a fragile thread of hope.
You shook your head, the movement stiff and uncertain. Bucky’s expression clouded with disappointment.
“Who am I?” you asked, eyes fixed on your hands, folded tightly in your lap. The question felt detached, as if you were speaking for someone else.
Bucky’s gaze met yours, red-rimmed and swollen. Tear tracks stained his cheeks, glistening in the dim light. He looked utterly exhausted.
“You’re Y/N Rochelle Barnes,” he said, his voice a raw whisper.
“And… who are you?” The question felt like a fragile echo of something lost. You slowly lifted your gaze to meet Bucky’s, searching for recognition, for a flicker of connection.
“I’m James Buchanan Barnes.”
You sank back into the bed, silence stretching between you. “Can you tell me what I was like? Who I was? What our relationship was?” The words felt clumsy, like trying to grasp smoke.
Bucky nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Well, you’re my little sister.” He continued, his voice laced with a tenderness that felt both familiar and foreign. “You *are* everything to me, my baby sister. You were a smart girl, always getting into trouble with the teachers. Always making sarcastic remarks. You’d even crack a joke, not even caring if it was a good one or not, sometimes you’d make a joke at the worst time and get in trouble.” A chuckle escaped him, a fleeting sound of warmth. You offered a faint smile, but the feeling remained distant. You didn’t remember any of it. You didn’t remember Bucky. All you knew was his name, a name that resonated with a strange, unsettling familiarity. A name that felt, simultaneously, like a comfort and a command to destroy.
“You and Steve would always get into trouble, you were so much younger. But Steve would always fight in some alley and you were there to help get yourself hurt.” Bucky’s voice was laced with a pain that mirrored your own. “Steve? That name sounds familiar too. Who is Steve? And why is he so important to you?”
“Steve?” You looked at Bucky confused “That name, sounds so familiar. Who is Steve?”
“Steve Rogers, he was- is my best friend, you loved to hang out with him” Bucky chuckled again “when ever Steve came over to visit you would drag him to your room to show him something every time, Steve would never tell me what you showed him but it always put a smile on his face.”
“I’d show him my drawings” You looked down with a blank face, Bucky just stared at you, stunned at what you just said “How do I know that?” You shook your head, slowly looking back up at Bucky’s face, confused.
Bucky gave you a big smile “You’re remembering!” you gave him a small smile before it faded away. Bucky sighed "I'll leave you alone to think." You nodded your head as Bucky got up from his chair. He then left you alone in the cell to think.
You closed your eyes, leaning against the cold wall. The weight of your mission settled over you, a crushing burden. When you opened your eyes again, you remembered. The programming, the directives, the cold, precise logic of your purpose. You knew what you had to do. You slowly rose from the bed, placing a hand against the glass wall. Closing your eyes, you felt the familiar surge of power, the shift in your molecular structure. When you opened them again, you were standing on the other side of the glass. A slow, predatory smirk curved your lips. You turned and walked out of the room, determined to finish what you’d started.
You saw Bucky sitting on his bed, staring out the window. He turned his head at the sound of your footsteps.
“Y/N? How did you get out–” The question died on his lips as you kicked him through the reinforced glass, sending him sprawling onto the grass below. He grunted in pain, scrambling to his feet. You moved towards him, raising your fist, but Bucky managed to deflect the blow. You kneed him, viciously, where the sun didn't shine. He winced, and you seized his right shoulder, forcing all your weight onto it. Swinging your body over his, you locked your grip on his neck. You prepared to snap it.
Before you could deliver the killing blow, a sharp sting erupted in your arm. A wave of dizziness washed over you, and you fell forward, collapsing onto Bucky. Peter Parker, somehow, had caught you before you hit the ground. Bucky turned to see his sister lying unconscious in Spiderman's arms. Steve strode towards him, his face grim.
“You okay, Buck?” Steve put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.
“Do I *look* okay?! MY SISTER JUST TRIED TO MURDER ME!” Bucky roared, swatting Steve’s hand away before he turned and stalked off.
You awoke back in your cell, your head throbbing with a dull, insistent ache. You turned your head to see Bucky sitting in a chair on the other side of the glass. Steve, Tony, Peter, Bruce, and Wanda stood beside him, their faces etched with concern.
“What happened?” you rasped, your voice cracking with disuse.
“Oh, I think you know what happened,” Tony said, his eyes fixed on you with an intensity that felt like a physical pressure. “In fact, I think you know everything.”
“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You furrowed your brows, feigning confusion.
“We know you remember everything. Fact is, you’ve known for a while.” Bruce said, his voice calm but firm. You sighed, a flicker of resignation crossing your face.
“You’re right. I do remember. I remember being tortured, I remember what my mission is, I remember what happens if I don’t complete it. What my master will do to me. I don’t want to fail another mission.” You looked down, your eyes brimming with a sadness that felt ancient and unbearable. Why was life so cruel to you?
“What was your mission?” Steve asked, his arms crossed.
“To kill James Buchanan Barnes,” you said, staring directly at Bucky. The words hung in the air, a revelation that shattered the fragile peace.
“Why?” Bucky asked, his voice raw and desperate.
“You failed your mission and disappointed our bosses. So they sent me to kill you.”
Bucky stood up from his seat and walked to the glass wall that separated them.
“I didn’t kill him because he was my friend, because I remembered who he was” Bucky said, defensively.
You smirked at Bucky, He gave you a questioning look before you grabbed his throat through the glass wall.
“What? How?” Peter was shocked at how your arm was phasing through the thick glass, Wanda used her power to push you against the wall releasing Bucky from your deathly grip.
“How were you able to do that?” Steve shouted, You laughed menacingly.
“I’m not just some young pretty soldier, Stevie. I’m more than that. I’m more advanced. HYDRA’s greatest creation. I’m the first female winter soldier. I took down government officials. I’m the reason behind Russia’s Red Room. Because they wanted to make more of me. I’m a legend that never dies, People fear me. I am Teleiras”
“I remember you, Pietro and I would always hear the people that took us talking about you. How you were the best, and that they wanted to make more like you.” Wanda looked at you.
“See, at least someone knows me” You smiled.
“What are your powers exactly?” Bruce asked.
“Tsk tsk tsk, Dr. Banner trying to take all the fun away, you’re just gonna have to do more research cause I ain’t tellin’” You smirked, Bucky slammed his hands on the glass.
“Do you think this is some kind of game?” Bucky shouted.
“Isn’t it always a game? Isn’t life a game? All that ever matters is survival, might as well have some fun with it” You said shrugging, not being affected by Bucky’s outburst “fine, I’ll tell you since you’re all being no fun” You rolled your eyes “Teleiras stands for the three abilities that I have. Telekinesis, Fire, and Phasing”
Steve walked a little closer to you “So Y/N–”
“Steve,” You interrupted. “I didn’t get the name Teleiras to not be called it. So, please do call me my name.”
“Fine” Steve sighed. “Teleiras, do remember your life before hydra?”
“Nope” You said, popping the 'p'. “All I know was that I was weak before hydra, just a pathetic little girl.”
“You were happy before, we were a family!” Bucky said slowly looking up.
“A family? I have no family! The family I did have abandoned me. Left me in the hands of hydra.” You spoke harshly.
“Yes! you did have a family! you do have a family! and we loved you, we still love you.” Tears streaming down Bucky’s face.
“Love, pft. Love is for the weak” You scoffed. “I left love behind long ago.”