Chapter 18 - Heal

"The training centre, the laboratories. Here we have private rooms, the kitchen, the arsenal," Erik explained as he guided the Avengers through the building.

"I bet your food is better than anything they serve in our canteen," Natasha mumbled.

"Just wait until I make you my famous pasta," Erik winked at her. He stopped at a door and waited until the others had kept up. "Alright, the tour is over. Here are the bathrooms. I'll see if I find clothes your size."

One by one, the Avengers passed him, Steve being the last. He stopped and waited until the others were far enough away before he started talking.

"Where's Buck?"

Erik frowned. "I'm not sure. Fenris probably asked him to help with Katta's healing."

"How so? He isn't a trained doctor." Steve probed. Erik rolled his eyes. 

"Listen Steve. Are you cool with Steve? Because I'm fully intending on hitting on your redheaded friend and you should get used to my presence. You'll see Barnes sooner or later. Until then, go have a shower and I try finding something you won't rip with your muscles."

Steve ground his teeth, but nodded and followed the others. Erik turned around and walked to the infirmaries, to meet the others. He wasn't too thrilled about what was about to come. Fenris and Barnes already waited in the monitoring room, watching through the one-way mirror as Arne was strapping Katta to a metal bench, chatting with her casually. The door to the room opened, and Magnus joined them.

Erik stood next to Fenris and sighed. "We should get going. We don't have all day."

Fenris nodded and pushed a button to activate the intercom system. "Time to get it started."

Magnus turned his head to the mirror and nodded. He then pressed down Katta's shoulders while Arne started to talk. Bucky shuffled next to them, moving closer to the window.

"No need to be jumpy. We're in a safe environment. Nothing bad is gonna happen." Erik felt like he needed to comfort Barnes, who watched the evolving scene with horror written on his face.

"Sure," he muttered back. On the other side of the window, Katta exchanged one last glance with Arne. He assuringly squeezed her shoulder. "Ready?"

Katta nodded her head and closed her eyes. Soon, she heard the first words.

"Malice. October."

A slight tingling went through Katta's body, and the hair on her neck stood. Two words didn't damage much, but they stirred something inside her that she usually tried to bury as deep as possible. But now, she needed to let it happen.

"Kaukasus. Subjugation."

Katta squeezed her eyes tighter together, letting the words echo in her head. It felt like she would faint any other second. Her fists involuntary clenched, and a cold feeling gnawed on the surface of her thoughts.

"Nightshade."

That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. She didn't want it. The pain, the oppression. Katta started to struggle against the cuffs that held her on the table. They wouldn't budge.

"Thirteen."

Katta screamed. It was a sound that came deep from her body and poured out as her brain short-circuited. A searing pain pumped through her veins and into every fibre of her body. Parts of her screams were in English, Norwegian, Russian.

"Gloom."

Katta's eyes shot open, and her body slumped. She'd awakened again. Her eyes searched her surrounding, taking in the situation. A man stepped in her vision, his hands folded behind his back.

Behind the glass, Barnes had backed away. His hands had found the wall, gripping it as if his life depended on it. Fenris nodded to himself before he turned away from the scene. Upon seeing Barnes, he explained.

"The first step is done. Katta now is back into her soldier self. As you can see, she is unresponsive until adressed by her current superior."

"And who is her superior?" Barnes asked. Fenris pointed at the room on the other side of the glass. Magnus had positioned in front of Katta. Everything friendly had vanished from his face; instead, he held a blank expression.

"Soldat!" he said.

"Ready to comply." Katta's voice was even, her eyes trained on her cousin. Sweat dripped from her forehead. Bucky took in a sharp breath. There was so much about her that stirred unwanted memories in him.

"Rest," Magnus commanded.

"Yes, sir," Katta answered, lying on the bench motionless. Magnus and Arne joined them on the other side of the mirror. Magnus looked a bit shaken, sweat on his forehead.

"I swear, it gets to me every single time," he muttered.

"Yeah. I hate seeing Katta this way," Fenris nodded. Barnes looked up. "Wait, how many times has she gone through this?"

Magnus exchanged a glance with Erik, who shrugged. "Seven, maybe eight times?"

Barnes sucked in a sharp breath. "This is torture."

"Maybe," Erik answered. "We wouldn't do it without her consent." He then looked at his watch and nodded.

"This should be enough time. By now, the brainwashing has activated her enhanced self-healing system. We can now bring Katta back and her body will heal itself within the next hours. She'll maybe feel a slight ache then, and there will be a scar. But what is the saying? Scars are sexy, right? She'll thank us, later."

His attempted joke died down, as nobody reacted to it. Erik clapped his hands together.

"How do you get her back now?" Bucky silently asked. Every time he'd had a flashback, it had taken Steve days and some violence to get him back.

"That is the trick," Magnus hummed. "We trigger her normal- selves through memories and hope that it works. The crux is that she will start to fight back once she recognizes that we want to damage the soldier."

"How can I imagine this 'fighting back'?" Barnes frowned, looking through the mirror at Katta. Arne let his knuckled crack.

"We all have been trained to defend the soldier identity to prevent us from being broken by interrogation in case we would have been taken hostage. She'll try everything to get away from us and fight if necessary." Arne looked at his watch before nodding to Magnus, who had become slightly pale. Both men left the room and entered the laboratory in which Katta lay.

"Wait!" Barnes interrupted. "What is my task. How am I supposed to help?"

Erik swallowed. "For now, you wait until help is needed. You got this, Fenris? I need to head back and look what the others are doing." Fenris nodded and he left the room. The truth was, that he couldn't bear watching Katta going through this procedure again. Every time he watched it, it was like a little piece of his heart broke away and vanished in the depth of his debt.

〰〰〰

Katta looked at the man in front of her. She knew him from former missions; he had been a fellow loyal soldier.

"Soldat," he commanded, looking at her coldly.

"Yes, sir," she answered, ready to comply with his tasks.

"Wake up," Arne yelled, looking at his little sister. She shortly frowned, clearly confused. "Kattalina Harlovsen," he added.

The name moved something in her memories, but she couldn't put the finger on it.

"Daughter of Annelise and Dalmar Harlovsen." He bent forwards.

Katta's mind raced as she tried to proceed with the information that made no sense in her brain. Her inner alarm clocks began to ring. Something wasn't right with the soldier. He behaved weird - maybe he had been infiltrated and turned around by the enemy.

Arne saw Katta tense and knew she was fighting with her thoughts about him.

"Vikar was head-shot in front of you," the man said. He was trying to manipulate her. Katta began struggling against her captivation as she felt the gnawing in the back of her head.

"Reinrose." It was a nickname Arne had called her when she'd been a child. She'd always loved these flowers. It moved something within her. Arne could see it.

"TRAITOR."

The growl in her throat quickly rose to a yell, spatting the word like a death threat.

"Holy shit," Bucky said on the other side of the mirror. Her behaviour had changed from subservience to attack in merely seconds.

"On your last mission, you killed Christoph Lovich," Arne proceeded, knowing that this memory was one of her most hurtful. In response, Katta stemmed against the table to remove the ropes that held her to the table, ranting incoherent sentences.

"Cristoph Andres Lovich," he repeated.

Fenris pressed his lips together. Watching Katta being confronted with one of her darkest hours in life was almost unbearable. Swallowing, he watched his cousin fight against her instincts that tried to overthrow the H.Y.D.R.A influence.

Katta shook her head. All the words this man said were familiar to her, but that couldn't be right.

She dragged the ropes so heavily that they started cutting in her flesh. "Let me go," she shouted. Magnus exchanged a glare with Arne before he surrounded the table, slapping Katta's face so hard that it jolted to the side.

"Shit," Barnes cursed. He turned around to Fenris, who watched the scene. "You let this happen?" he asked.

Fenris cleared his throat and nodded. "Weaken to win."

Katta got slapped again and groaned at the impact that tore her lower lip. "Katta," Arne yelled, cupping her face with his hands, forcing her to look at him.

Her mind swirled with thoughts. Flashes of memories flew by as she watched the man that screamed at her. He looked so familiar.

"Bror?" she questioned, her eyes flickering with recognition before that emotion was immediately dragged away by the cold-rational stare.

"It's getting in the right direction," Fenris hummed, his fingers clenched into a fist. Magnus again slapped her before yelling. "Vaer sterke sammen."

"What is he saying?" Barnes frowned.

"Being strong together - our family motto," Fenris answered, gulping.

Katta's body shook as she listened to the man repeating the three words over and over. He grabbed her chin and pierced her eyes with hers.

"Almost," Fenris murmured as a loud tearing noise filled the room. Katta had managed to free her right hand and hit Magnus with a skilled punch under the jaw that immediately sent him flying to the ground. She grabbed the rope that fixed her other hand and managed to get free before attacking Arne.

"Fenris," he yelled.

Fenris rushed towards the door until his view fell on Barnes. "Come," he demanded, quickly making his way to the other room.

"Wait here. We might need backup," he commanded Barnes. When Fenris entered, he saw Katta holding a pen to Arne's throat while glaring at him. Arne could manage to break free but would surely harm her seriously in the process, so he decided to remain silent.

"Go out of my way," Katta snarled, pushing the pen closer to the throat. Fenris raised his hands.

"You don't need to do that, Katta," he begged, but she shook her hand.

"I don't know who that is. Out of my way, now," she demanded. Fenris sighed, getting in a fight position. He couldn't let her escape.

Katta recognized that the man wouldn't step aside. She kneed the man she was holding while throwing the pen towards the other.

Fenris could dodge it, but Katta used his distraction to shove him aside and run out of the room. When she turned around the corner, she faced a man with middle-length brown hair coming in her direction.

"That is enough, soldier," he demanded.

Katta recognized the red star on his metal arm and paused. He must be a real Hydra-Soldier and, therefore, be her commander.

She quickly went in his direction, taking his arm. "We need to go. Enemies have infiltra–"

Instead of listening to her, the man forcefully dragged her to the ground and fixated her. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed her mistake.

"Wake up, Katta," he shouted at her, grabbing her face.

He had said that to her before. She knew that but didn't know why. She blinked, watching his face closely.

"Soldier?" she asked, looking at him in disbelief.

"Bucky," he answered. "James Buchanan Barnes."

Memories of him flashed through her head.

Bucky watched Katta panting. Her eyes changed from a dark stare to an insecure flicker. She shakily breathed in and out, slight tones escaping her. Without thinking further, Bucky pulled her close to his chest, burying his nose in her hair as he mumbled soothing nothings. He felt Katta grabbing his arms to pull him closer while her whole body shook.

"It's okay," he mumbled in her hair. "Everything's going to be alright."

Magnus sprinted around the corner, his jaw bruised from Kattas punch. Alarmed, he looked at her. "Katta?" he asked carefully. She slowly nodded, glancing at him, frightened.

"Takk Gud," he exhaled, coming closer. He stretched out his hands and pulled her up from the ground, nodding at Bucky, who hesitantly let her go.

"How are you?" Magnus asked Katta, who stood insecure, still a bit pale.

She shook her head and breathed in. "It's fine. Have been worse. Shit, I wasn't frightened like that in years. She carefully raised her hand and stroked his bruised jaw. "I'm sorry."

"I've been through worse. Nice punch." Magnus chuckled deeply. He slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Arne and Fenris approached them, looking at Katta.

"Damn it, Katta. That was a tough one." Fenris rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes then fell on Barnes, who still sat on the ground, watching the situation. He stretched out his hand and helped him up. "Thanks, Barnes." He pulled him closer until they faced each other.

"I'm watching you, so try and keep your hands to yourself." He met Barnes's eyes and then let go of his arm, curtly winking.

"Where are the others?" Katta asked with a trembling voice, looking around.

"Erik is with them. I'll tell them to assemble in the meeting room." Arne shortly stated, motioning her to follow.

Arne, Fenris and Magnus walked ahead, discussing something while Katta and Bucky followed.

"You bleed," Bucky remarked, noticing Katta's lower lip. She carefully touched it, looking at the blood on her finger. "That's nothing."

"Who is Cristoph Lovich?" Bucky asked. Arne had used this name as he'd tried to bring her conscience back. Katta raised her shoulders a bit higher. She turned her head and met his eyes before she concentrated back on following her brothers. Still, Bucky had recognized the hurt in her eyes. She quietly mumbled, trying not to raise her family's attention.

"He worked for Hydra when we were assigned to the winter soldier program. He was my mentor, my trainer. He was–" she swallowed, "--he cared for me. When my training was completed, I was given the last task to test whether I 'worked' properly."

Bucky watched her as she talked quietly, something in him aching seeing her like that. At the same time, he wondered who this man had been for her.

"I was commanded to shoot one of the persons I really cared for," she ended, inhaling deeply.

"I'm sorry," Bucky murmured, looking at Katta.

"Don't be," she answered, meeting his eyes. "Thank you."

"For what?" he wondered.

"For telling me, that everything's gonna be alright. I haven't heard that in some time."