Wrong Side of Heaven

Arms wide open, I stand aloneI'm no hero and I'm not made of stoneRight or wrong, I can hardly tellI'm on the wrong side of heavenAnd the righteous side of hellI'm on the wrong side of heavenAnd the righteous side, the righteous side of hell-Five Finger Death Punch

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Alberta, Canada; 12 July, 1989

The trio was now in motion with Logan leading the others toward the facility instead. As it turned out, Creed was still firmly under the thumb of Stryker and would have delivered them up into a trap without hesitation. They both listened intently and in silence as Logan began to speak.

"James and I met in Captain America's Invaders back in World War II," he stated as he paused. His face momentarily lit up as a match was struck to light the cigar between his teeth. "Back before they became the Howling Commandos." His fiery attention turned toward The Winter Soldier briefly. "I thought you died in '45, bub."

Like The Winter Soldier, Logan had his fair share of missing memories, and this moment in time was a very good time to not remember who it was that landed him in the Weapon X program to begin with -- the same man who killed his wife in Japan and cut his son from her belly.

His fuzzy brows furrowed as he glanced over his shoulder at that exact man and glimpsed only a flash of moonlight on the metal arm. The Soldier had returned his mask to his face whether this stranger knew the old him or not. He didn't know if anyone else would recognize him inside, especially as the stout Canadian continued on with his gruff words.

"Then I saw you again about ten years ago," he paused long enough to shake out the match and drop it to the ground. His next step smothered any smoke out of the extinguished splinter and carried them forward once again. "When you let me escape from this very facility we're gonna bring down."

Tesla let her mouth drop open a little bit beneath the hiding place of her own mask. She swiveled wide eyes toward her Soldier just as he did the same and looked toward her, confusion in his moon-lightened gaze. He didn't remember any of this, and she knew that. She knew why he didn't know, too. She couldn't afford for him to remember right now.

"Can we skip the talk until after the mission?" Tesla mentioned, her hand rising to provide comfort to The Winter Solder's shoulder as they strode ahead. She had to keep him focused as much as she could. She needed the ruthlessness of The Winter Soldier for the fight ahead, not confusion and pain and the care that came when James was more in control of his memories.

"What is wrong with him?" Logan glanced back with a scowl toward the costumed woman, a small smirk finding his lips. She looked ridiculous to him, but who was he to judge, really? At least it wasn't yellow spandex.

"HYDRA conditioning," she stated simply in return.

Logan's eyes widened some. "HYDRA?"

"Leave it alone for now, please," she stated a little more firmly, her eyes staring at the back of his head as she studied him for any sign that he would turn on them.

"For now," was all he gave in return, but he wasn't going to leave it alone for long enough. Tessa knew that already.

Another crack in the goodness of her soul began to form, and it physically pained her right beneath the flowering bruise that had been caused by the bullet to the chest the night before. Her Soldier could see it in her eyes and he reached over to let his flesh hand lightly curl around her gloved fingers.

In the colorless wash of the moon, her eyes looked so pale when she turned them toward her Soldier, especially with the heavy smear of eyeliner that smoked out around them. She told him more with that look than words ever could. Whatever the answers would be, he accepted them. He trusted her. A single nod was given which made her lightly squeeze his fingers in return.

The touch didn't last. Pulling away, both strode ahead until that moment where night was darkest. With the cresting of the sun in the east, the mountain base loomed in the shadow of the granite monster that formed its protective shell.

"Why are you here, Logan?" Tessa inquired, curious on why he'd actually been in the area. She wouldn't ask about Creed, because clearly that kind of hate had a long story to back it up. 

"I was passing through," Logan said after a span of silence between the three of them. "I caught the scent of an old friend and decided to see if I could find him. Scent leads up there."

He motioned with his cigar hand up toward the base but said nothing else regarding it or the friend he was looking to find in the area.

Logan gave a grunt of disgust just looking up at the damnable place. Tessa lifted her eyes to take in the full presentation of the outside of the base for the first time. It was big, but she had expected that. She'd been studying this place for a long time.

The Winter Soldier couldn't tell if the place was familiar because he had studied their mission so deeply or if a memory was trying to resurface through the walls that his partner had aligned when she wiped his brain after awakening him.

As Tess and Logan stood there discussing how to best approach the facility, The Winter Soldier gazed up at the façade in silence, an overwhelming mist of dread chasing itself through his eyes. He did remember this place, though the way it stirred his insides made him believe that he had hated whatever reason had carried him to this destination in the past.

"How did you even get into this, kid?" Logan asked her with a skeptical look that shone in his eyes even though the sunlight had yet to touch their physical forms.

"I was raised in HYDRA, but what Stryker is doing can't be overlooked," she stated quietly, her body shifting to put herself between her contemplative Soldier and the stout, chain smoking wall of tempered rage in front of her. "My X gene triggered when I was only thirteen. I can't let others like me be taken out by someone like him."

Logan eyed her a moment, perhaps with a bit of wonder behind the look he gave her. She was more than what he had expected. For now, he agreed with her cause and would help take the place down. It was the least he could do for an old friend who had helped him escape Stryker's grip once before.

A moment later, Tesla was turning toward her Soldier, her hand coming up to rest on the sleeve that covered his flesh and blood shoulder. Steel blue eyes blinked him out of his reveries and refocused his brain onto the woman who held his reins for the time being.

"Are you good?" She asked softly, her eyes searching the reaches of his gaze.

He gave a nod that remained wordless for several seconds. Finally, he gave his low, muffled voice and slipped into Russian just in case the third of their rag tag group happened to overhear.

"I trust you, Tesla," Only four words, but the weight of them settled over Tessa and she gave a smile that softened her eyes on his.

"I won't ever leave you broken, Soldier," she responded in Russian as well and meant every word of it. "Once we're done, I'll fill in the blanks."

He offered only a nod, though his free, metal hand moved up to rest on her shoulder as she was still doing with his. With that done, he started up the side of the mountain, every step that of a predator stalking closer to its prey and enhanced by his distinctive, weight-burdened gait. Tess patted Logan on his beefy shoulder and passed right by him as she followed her partner's lead and started upward.

Once they had climbed to the facility, it was only a matter of finding the control pad beside a door that Tesla could toy with briefly to unlock. Once it slid open, the three slithered inside and parted ways to some extent. Logan slipped down one corridor, the sound of chaos following him.

As soldiers ahead of them were spurred into action and ran toward the two strangers, Tesla immediately let herself fall into the elemental grasp of her soul. Her hands moved up to metaphysically grasp the electricity in the lights lining the ceiling, bolts of it hurled in the direction of each man who ran toward herself and her Soldier. Those she didn't shock were soon felled by the rifle wielded by the metal-armed fighter at her side. Logan's ruckus stirred up the base, and the others proceeded together to drop each and every fool who ran to see what was going on deeper than where they'd been posted. When the outer ring of the entrance had been cleared, Tesla and her Soldier moved further inward, taking down the random stray but coming across increasingly more bodies that had been stabbed or torn to shreds by the wolverine who'd guided them here.

Upon reaching the lab, Tess lifted her eyes in awe at how high the ceiling was, how big the room was and how many observation windows were looking down on them. Standing in the center of the room, she closed her eyes and raised her hands upward, first feeling for the current in that looping observation room. Fingers curled until fists were made.

The air around her seemed to shimmer through the static field that gathered in against her body, followed the sleek line of it upward then bunched around her fists. Gunfire erupted from the windows at the exact moment that Tesla flung her fingers wide and sent the static upward and into the metal pipe that guided the electrical lines through the ringed room. It erupted from its containment, illuminating a dozen men before consuming them in a tidal wave of lightning that bloomed in a bright flash and showered thick glass down over the forms of Tesla and the Winter Soldier.

The power dimmed briefly in the room before brightening again after Tesla sucked the energy back into herself. In Russian, she addressed her Soldier, eyes turning toward him after a moment.

"Keep watch," she said softly, her booted feet carrying her toward the large bank of computer consoles kept near a tank filled with some kind of bluish fluid and attached to all sorts of machines.

She eyed the tank a moment before turning her attention to the task of collecting all of the information on Weapon X that she could from their own computers.

A shot chipped the cement beside her foot, but Tesla wasn't disturbed in the slightest. Another, much closer shot sounded followed by a thud as the shooter was wiped out by a Soviet round that exploded through his head and painted the wall behind him with blood, bone and gray matter.

Tess could hear The Winter Soldier slowly pivot, ever turning to keep an eye on the several archways that anyone could pass through at any second. His sole purpose was to keep her alive and to follow the commands that she uttered to him.

He trusted her, and she assuredly trusted in him as well.

Fingers flew rapidly across the keys as she hacked her way into the computer, guiding circuits as she needed to in order to alter the binary coding of the system until every secret was hers for the taking. Within only a few minutes -- and without further gunshots -- she had everything they needed. She straightened, pulled the storage device free and slipped it back into place beneath one of the thicker strips of padding that crossed over her body.

When he heard her stir from her task, The Winter Soldier shifted until his back was facing her. She acted in tandem with him, taking a puck from his utility belt and affixing it beneath the edge of the computer's mounting. This one small device would destroy the whole of this room, but they had others to plant further in."Let's go," she stated when she returned to her Soldier's side. He nodded and they set themselves into motion again with him taking the lead.

As they progressed, it became more a cautious following of Logan's trail through the place, at least until they got to the bottom level of the facility and the sound of a fight that was very reminiscent of the one they had witnessed in the valley the night before.

At one end of a what seemed to be a huge warehouse of cages, Logan and Creed were locked in another battle of vitriolic, primal need to destroy one another. Tesla offered a glance toward them, but it didn't linger. She held point while The Winter Soldier followed behind her all the way down to the end of the double lines of cages that each housed numerous mutants. Some of them were physically different, some looked like normal kids, but all of them had to have been teenaged or younger.

"Break the locks from the cages," she stated as icy colored eyes turned to her partner. He nodded and started down one side, breaking each lock with his metal hand as he passed it.

Tesla stood in place, her feet anchored against the floor. Every time Logan parted from Victor, lightning was drawn down onto the gigantic hulk of a beast which was doing nothing but pissing Sabretooth off within his blind rage. It wasn't until she heard her Soldier nearing her again, that she finally played dirty and sank her mind into Creed's to stir up the firing of impulses that would blind his vision and bake his brain until Logan could finish him off, at least for now. As his body was toppled, Tesla drew power back into herself.The Winter Soldier came to stand at her side, his eyes resting on the man from his past who had fallen into a predatory stance as he gathered his breath back into his lungs. From Logan's viewpoint, he watched the others briefly before the woman's movements drew his attention toward her.

She had raised both of her arms into the air again, her eyes an unsettling flicker of light that grew brighter as the illumination in the warehouse grew dimmer. His brows rose and were shortly followed by his eyes lifting to watch every bulb dim. Sparks leapt and burst outward over each of the cages where electricity collided into itself in a junction before spilling forward.

One by one, each of the cages full of kids was unlocked with a loud, electrical pop then slowly opened so the captives could eventually make their way out and gather nearby those who had saved them. The air was silenced by awe as the scene continued to unfold with Tesla. She drew every familiar volt back into herself and absorbed it while returning the facility's electricity back into its lines.

Her Soldier turned toward Logan and spoke in his hushed, rough tone, "Take them north to the village there. Tell no one about any of this."

Logan regarded his broken old friend a moment before moving in toward him, retracting his adamantium claws as he did so. A hand was extended between them. The Soldier regarded the man's hand then eased his right hand forward to shake it. It was the first physical contact they'd experienced since World War II, and the moment was surreal for the Canadian.

Tesla looked toward them, and the movement drew Logan's attention toward her. In that one moment, she was in anguish, begging him with her eyes to keep the past to himself for the time being. He grunted and didn't like it, but a single nod was offered and James' hand was released to return to his side.

"Alright, anklebiters, let's go," Logan's voice echoed lightly off the walls, but it was covered by the dozens of footsteps that were soon to follow him.

Tesla was relieved that Logan let his questions go. There was still a mission to follow for just a little longer. The Winter Soldier glanced back over his shoulder as he felt his partner come up behind him, her hand smoothing against his lower back as she skimmed his utility belt and pulled out the final two charges from where they were kept.The sensation that her touch brought him was indescribable, but it felt as natural as the thought of protecting her at all cost. He felt hairs prickle over his right arm beneath the shirt he wore under his vest. When her touch was quickly gone, the core of him protested the loss.

A brief shake of his head was given to clear his thoughts. He listened to her turn and start back the opposite direction than Logan was taking the kids. She paused where the load bearing wall met the rest of the facility and anchored the charge in place. The final explosive puck was left at the base of the stairway leading back up into the labs and observation area.

They were ever cautious as they moved, but they didn't run into anyone until they were making their way back through the observation room. A rifle banged, Tesla cried out and her Soldier was immediately on high alert. He snagged his handler with a whir of calibration and the shifting of titanium plates on his arm. He drew her behind him with a hard grip on her upper arm, holding her there until he felt the familiar press of her palm between his shoulder blades.

Bringing that left, metal arm up, The Winter Solider moved from their momentary haven in order to gain ground toward the man shooting at them. Rounds were deflected with sparks from each squeeze of the trigger that failed to wound his prosthetic. Keeping himself between where the man was and Tesla, her Soldier stayed always in motion until he was able to level the rifle with his right hand and end the moment of crisis with a double tap of rounds through the center mass of their attacker.

There was sudden silence when that body hit the ground. Neither Tesla nor The Winter Soldier were breathing while he assessed the room and decided that it was now safe. He eased away from her hand and pivoted so that he was standing beside her soon after. His hand moved to the small of her back out of a muscle memory instinct that clicked somewhere in his mind. The tight grip was gone the instant his hand landed on her lower back to keep her in place while he took a careful look over her body and thankfully found no wound.

Feeling it happen made Tessa's heart flutter, a little of it excitement and a bit that stemmed from her guilt of having kept him from himself for as long as she had. For now, he guided her toward the man who had shot her in the left shoulder. Without a second thought, he finished it all with a single round to the forehead of William Stryker.

"Colonel Stryker," she sneered as she looked down on the very dead man. "Rest in hell."

Without needing her order, The Winter Soldier turned to head back to the entrance of the facility and out into the long distance back to the valley. It was slow going with Tess favoring that shoulder Stryker had shot, but her Soldier was always there to carry her down or grip her tight to assure her safety in the descent.

A good clip away now, Tessa took the opportunity to set off all three explosive pucks inside of the Weapon X Facility. Even at the cache, they could feel the ground rumble as the mountain fell in on itself following a brilliant flash of white-hot light. The majority of the explosion was blown into the core of the mountain, but the valley at the base took a huge scar in the process.

They changed clothes in the cluster of trees where HYDRA operatives had hidden their cache of weapons and now-trashed transport then Tessa stood and watched the facility smoke while her Solider gathered up his bag and crossed the strap over his chest. They were both now dressed much the same as they had been on that horrible morning in Florida. Two young adults now, backpacking through the Provence. As Winter Soldier gave her arm a tap, it pulled her from her thoughts and she gave a nod that would set them both into motion.

It wasn't until late into their second night when they stopped finally in Edmonton. Tessa paid cash for a hotel room and they disappeared up the lift without lingering long in the lobby. They had just passed the threshold of their room when she gave a deep sigh that almost carried a small bit of relief to it.

She shed her bag as she passed the dresser, slid out of the jacket at the edge of a chair and practically had her boots off before her backside ever hit the foot of the one bed in the room.

There was no more Tesla as she lingered there in her respite. The sight of her relaxing made her Soldier smile to himself. He said nothing and went about the task of setting down his own bag, taking off his own jacket, checking the locks on the windows and pulling the drapes shut. The safety chain was set in place on the door and he took a spare chair to wedge it beneath the knob.

"You did well with this," he stated as he paused at the edge of the dresser and pulled off his fingerless gloves. "The planning, the preparation and execution. I'm proud of you."

She chuckled and lifted her gaze toward him while her legs straightened out and crossed at the ankle. "Why are you proud?"

He told her before that he was proud, but this time sounded ... different.

"I am proud to fight with you, to have your trust and for you to have mine," his words were blunt but heartfelt. It came across in the light that shone in his eyes.

Tessa smiled softly and nodded, "And I am proud to have you with me in every way." She felt no urge to mention the trust, because he just laid it out well for them both. She didn't have to reassure something he already knew.

Her Soldier gave a smile, a nod then continued on with removing his own boots. After a brief dig into his bag, he came up with a pair of shorts to sleep in and a shower kit he could use to clean up. With no announcement, he got up and headed off to the bathroom.

The blond rested there for several minutes before she gave a lazy shift, stood and moved over to the phone on the table beside the bed. She settled and took the handpiece from the cradle in order to follow the instructions on getting an outside line and making a long distance call.

"Pierce," came her father's deep voice on the other end of the line.

"Hi, dad," Tessa smiled. She immediately heard him shift and waited through a silence that told her he was moving into another room to take the call. He had company. "I can call back..."

"No," he said softly. "It's alright, Button. Just Agent Fury. How did things go?"

"Right to plan," she wouldn't go into details over the line especially with a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent there with her father, but she wanted to let him know she was okay and the mission was completed. "I'll be in Edmonton for a couple of days, but I'll call you when I get home."

By now, Alexander Pierce was accustomed to the vague words conveyed to him on the open line. It was something Tessa had picked up on her own after her first mission, and it further cemented the idea of leadership that he saw in his daughter.

"That sounds marvelous," he smiled into the phone. "I hope you both enjoy yourselves while you're there. I hear it's beautiful."

"We will," she said warmly, though she was fairly sure that her father's warmth wasn't for the benefit of her right then. "I love you, dad. I'll call when I'm home."

"I love you, too, Button," he offered. "Talk to you then."

As he went to hang up, Tessa could hear him say something about his daughter and her boyfriend in Canada, but she didn't catch it all. A small furrow etched into her brow briefly as she thought over why Fury might have been at her dad's home. Yes, they were friends, colleagues, but Fury rarely came by the house on his own as far as Tessa knew. He was a threat to the secret life her father lived.

For now, it decided to wander off into her thoughts as she laid back sideways across the bed and was suddenly met with her Soldier standing over her from the other side. It visibly startled her. She forgot just how silently he could move when he needed to.

He was dressed in the shorts he'd carried off with him, and his hair had been toweled enough to get most of the water so that it didn't drip on him.

"Sorry," she said and sat up immediately. He pulled back the blankets and sat down across the bed from her. "I was checking in with my dad to let him know about the mission."

"What did he say?" came his question.

"He had company, Agent Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently," she said offhandedly as she rose from the bed and moved to her own bag to collect her pajamas and her own shower bag. "I told him we were going to rest here a couple of days then head back to Siberia. I'll send him a full brief at that point."

Her Soldier nodded his head but watched her every move. When she headed into the bathroom to shower as he did, a piece of him wanted to stay as close to her as possible, but he held fast against that. He did lay there and listen to every splash of water, every bump against the tile, every movement he could pick out with ears that heard much more than a normal human.

It took everything in him not to immediately look toward her when she finally came back out into the room. She always looked softer when she didn't have the smoke of black around her eyes.

A sudden memory shot through his vision and he stilled like a stalking animal whose location was in danger of startling his prey into running.

Darkness. Her presence enveloping him in a hug in a bed almost this same size. Fear of a task ahead of them. A bond that shone like a beacon in the blackness. Her words -- I'll see you on the other side, James. -- a tender promise that he frantically clung to now before the vision was even complete.

"I'm exhausted," she yawned as she crawled into the opposite side of the bed and shut out the only lamp that was on. "We'll grab food and stuff tomorrow, 'kay?"

Steel blue eyes watched her as she settled in the dark, and he calmed his own sudden restlessness. Even with very little light coming in, he felt like her eyes could see into every piece of him, even the places he didn't know were there yet.

"Okay," was all he came up with when he blinked out of the stare he'd maintained on her eyes. He felt snared in some carefully planned trap she set out for him without even realizing she'd done it. Instead of feeling sheer panic at being locked away, though, the idea of it thrilled him.

Tessa studied him in the darkness. When he looked into her eyes, there was something there. There was something more, something she hadn't seen from him before. She was familiar with the bond they shared, but something weighed heavier in his gaze than she could begin to explain right then. It made her want to touch him, to draw closer, to see what it would feel like for his skin to brush her own.

He blinked and she did as well, quickly returning with a statement more whispered than spoken. "Then goodnight. Rest well, Soldat."

Tessa adjusted her side of the blanket up over her shoulders then turned so that she could rest with her back toward him. She wasn't at all sure how to address what she felt or what she saw in his eyes. The Winter Soldier admired all of her, what could be seen and the shape that curved the blanket draped over her body.

At some point, they both fell asleep and slept soundly through the night.

In the pale light of the following morning, steel blue eyes opened and took a moment to recall where he had fallen asleep the night before. It took him one glance at Tessa's sleeping face to find peace in the moment, and his memory from the night before came right back to the surface of his mind.

While she slumbered, he took in every nuance of her -- how soft her hair looked even as it was a mess from her sleep, each slender arch of brow, the heart shape of her facial structure and that lovely cupid's bow on her top lip. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, and the human part of him could appreciate that.

Watching her stirred other memories that reminded him of the bond they had formed that had taken his breath away with memory the previous night. How eager she had been to learn what he had to teach and how reluctant she'd been when she'd been forced to accept what HYDRA had made her into. He couldn't remember her pushing the core of his personality back into hiding, but he did know he didn't remember much pain. He always remembered the pain above everything else. 

He remembered tenderness and care put into the entire ordeal before all memory just vanished like a wisp of smoke on the wind.

Tessa shifted, a hand coming up to bump against her nose before rubbing over it. He took this as a sign of her beginning to wake and closed his eyes to simply listen to the changes in her breathing.

A soft groan was given as Tess pulled the blanket up closer to her face, but it was too well tucked in to give her relief from the growing light that managed to escape through the weave of the material of the curtains. The Winter Soldier almost smiled. He knew exactly what that groan was for; she hated mornings. She finally gave a small sigh and accepted defeat to allow herself to be wrested from sleep.

Opening her eyes, she looked over toward her Soldier. He was laying still with strands of his hair carefree across his face. She hadn't felt him stir the night before so she doubted that he'd gone through any nightmares. Instead, she hoped for deep and restful sleep on his behalf. Reaching up and over, she gently plucked his hair from his face and laid it back out of the way.

The opening of his eyes briefly froze her in place while her vision settled on his, but once it had she laid a second bunch of dark hair from being in his face. Her arms curled around each other and tucked against her chest for the time being. There was no fear in her when it came to just holding his gaze. She could look into his eyes until her dying day and never tire of them. They reminded her of home and warmth.

"My name is James," he murmured low enough it wouldn't have carried further than the edge of the bed.

"I know," she gave him a tiny but playful smile.

"You take care of me," his hand reached up to gently brush the back of his fingers against her cheek just to kill the curiosity over whether it was as soft as it looked. He had been right.

She hadn't expected him to touch her so intimately, and she certainly didn't expect the way her stomach flipped around on itself when he did so. A soft, content sigh was her initial verbal response to his words, though she quickly made herself get her attention back into the right place.

"I always will," she promised. "Like you take care of me."

"Until the end of the line," the phrase was uttered without a single thought other than he had made that promise before to someone else.

"Until the very end, James," she responded in return, her hand coming up to run up along his forearm as he continued to stroke her cheek in an absent manner.

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Siberian Facility, USSR; 14 July, 1989

For two days, James and Tessa did nothing but rest and eat and urge his thoughts along as they returned to him naturally. While he didn't think it would have upset the other guests, Tess was concerned that realigning his thoughts in the hotel was far too risky. Since she was his handler, he reluctantly submitted to her decision.

The flight back to Siberia had been long and exhausting, but they made it back in one piece. Each gave their mission report to Karpov who meticulously kept notes of everything that happened before the reports were passed on to Pierce. He informed Tess that her father would be joining them in a few days to go over everything with them.

Until then, she and her Soldier were both free to roam the base and do whatever they wanted. Rather than laying in bed and talking as they had in Edmonton, they cleaned their gear and got it properly situated and ready for their next mission. Neither of them knew when that would be, but there would be another at some point.

That night, instinct brought The Winter Soldier back to Tessa's door just after 01:00. Normally he waited longer, but tonight he burned with an impatience that he couldn't really describe or ignore. He just had to be near her, not in his meager room with its moldering cot and flimsy blanket.

When he knocked twice then pushed open the door, he found her laying in bed and still wide awake, though the room was dark. Without a word, he slipped in and shut the door behind him then headed over to her bed. She sat up as she always did and made room for him. This time, he sat much closer than where her knees had been.

"What's wrong?" she whispered, as if some great chunk of foreboding had entered along with him.

"Nothing," came his voice after a moment, soft and quiet still but carrying with it a tone of something she'd never really heard from him. "I... wanted to just be here, near you."

Her teeth found the inner corner of her lips and chewed there a moment before she dared to reach out and run her touch up over the fabric covering his metal arm. Without much warning, Tessa slipped closer which caused her to tuck in between that titanium arm and his body.

She reached up and cradled her hand to his cheek then pulled in even further to press her lips to his, the soft but curious exploration of one's first kiss.

He hadn't exactly been expecting it, but he sure as hell didn't stop her from doing it, either. There had been those couple of women in the past, and the kiss returned to him the feel of physical pleasure that he had missed out on for years. He was aware of the fact of it more than he remembered any of those memories right then, but the experience of his old life was there to guide him into a different role of teacher with Tessa.

With a subtle tilt of his head, James eased his partner further into the embrace after lingering for a moment within the chaste spectrum of things. When his tongue was allowed to find her lips, he paused for permission before taking advantage of her parting lips.

The metal of his arm pressed against her back, and fingers gripped at her side as he pulled her closer, close enough that her knee eased against the edge of the bed just between his lower thighs. He longed to pull her further, but there would be no hurrying through those few seconds that they managed to take for themselves.

There was nothing hastened or sloppy about that embrace. It was one of the most perfect moments created, something that would make its mark in time itself. It took their bond and reinforced every inch of it.

Unfortunately, that beautiful pinprick in time wouldn't become more than that yet.

Without warning, there was a single knock at the door that at least broke them apart a small bit before Alexander Pierce eased his body into the doorway just as he always did when he stopped by to greet his daughter.

Neither of them could see his expression because of the way the lights behind him glared into the darkness of her quarters. They could see him go tense where he stood, though, and said absolute nothing for several seconds.

Without a word, he strode into the room and fisted his fingers into The Winter Soldier's hair, dragging him from the bed and flinging him into the hallway. Tessa was immediately in motion to protest but only managed to walk into the iron grip of her father as his hand snatched her wrist and dragged her roughly into the hallway behind him.

Half propped up by the wall, the Soldier watched Pierce grab his daughter, and everything within him screamed out that the man was never to touch her that way. His face changed, hardened and he straightened to hulk beside Pierce, but the lethal tone in the future-Director's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"I will have you permanently deactivated," he warned, and the look of terror on Tessa's face was proof enough that he didn't want to press Pierce -- one of his handlers -- right now. Pierce pointed down the hallway in the direction that would lead to the silo, and Tessa's stomach immediately began to follow suit with her heart and take flight inside of her body.

"Dad! Wait!" Tessa's pleas fell on ears unwilling to listen to her. James didn't pause for long, but he did turn his pained eyes toward Tessa before heading down the corridor as he'd been told. Pierce was soon tugging his only child along with him. Tess dug her bare heels into the cold concrete. "Dad, stop!"

"I thought more of you, Tessa," Pierce said, his words stone cold right then. "I read your reports and was coming to congratulate you on a job very well done." He tsked her and continued to pull her forward when she fell behind in continued protest. "You even knew that going down a road like this -- like the Red Room -- would get him punished and you still did it."

Suddenly, the small blond knew what was going to happen. James was being ripped away again, being punished for what had been done. She recalled what she'd learned when it happened in Belarus. He had been forced to watch the woman he'd dallied with be subjected to pain and forced to forget him. He'd been left to feel the heavy burden of it for days afterward before he was blessedly reset and given brief peace.

Reaching the silo, two guards responded to the command to seize The Winter Soldier and put him into the chair. His panic was clear in his eyes when he desperately looked at Tessa, but he didn't fight what was happening for fear that something worse might be done to her.

The restraints slid around his arms and held him steadfast. He waited for someone to offer his mouth guard. It didn't happen. He waited for any sign of the red book. It never appeared. He waited for the Mind Crown to shift and signal it was going around his head, but even it remained still. He was simply stranded there as a scene began to play out before him that was worse than anything this chair had to offer.

Pierce pulled on Tessa's arm to jerk her into the backhand that he threw with his other arm. Light starbursts flashed through her vision as she was staggered backward and fell to her ass onto the frigid floor.

"No!" James screamed out, his body bucking briefly against the chair. He knew it wasn't going to crumble at his urging, no matter how strong he was.

Spurred on by the anguish in the Soldier's voice, Pierce got his daughter back to her feet and repeated the process, this time aided by one of the HYDRA soldiers who took a hold on her upper arm.

Tessa coughed and blood spattered to the floor. Her lip was busted and part of the inside of her cheek torn open to spill the taste of pennies into her mouth. Her father had never hit her before. She didn't fight back. Her mind was held in such a state of shock that she wasn't even aware what was happening until she felt the electricity around her begin to hum.

At that point, her father had released her and she was allowed to droop between two nameless soldiers. Her knees were weak and her senses addled enough to make her momentarily compliant.

There was little she could do when the Mind Crown settled down around James' head, but she wordlessly held contact with his eyes in the seconds that passed between them. A sob escaped her when he started screaming, when his soul was flayed from inside his mind without the care or kindness of her guidance.

Pierce cut his stony gaze toward his daughter. "Say the words."

And she did, if only to make this end sooner. Ten horrible Russian words fell from her lips along with spittle and blood, resentment and regret carrying her command to the ears of the man she cared about more than anything.

He didn't so much look at her, though; he looked through her until the very end. Until she told him good morning.

Steel blue eyes that had only days before been like home were now cold, unfeeling, back at the start all over again. Like a perfectly programmed computer, he responded his willingness to comply, and those words broke her entirely.

Tears slid down over her cheeks as the soldiers lowered her to the floor and let her crumple there under the emotional defeat. She began to speak a couple of times before finally getting the words to leave her.

"Put him on ice," she said weakly. End the pain of this as soon as possible.

She listened to her father's steps retreat out of the large room. She listened to the dragging of James' boots upon the floor. She knew when they had him in the tank and when that clear sheath locked the pod fully into place. She felt electricity momentarily stir to lock the pod and activate the hiss of winter that poured in to usher him to sleep.

Tessa felt the lights as they were turned out at the wall and knew when she was left there in silence and glacial Siberian temperature, detached from everyone else in a pit of loneliness of the likes she had never known.

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Posted: 30 July, 2021