16 – Going Dark

I don't ever really fully fall asleep, the stinging from my bullet wounds keeps me drifting throughout the night. The times I'm conscious, I hear silence. I hear nothing from Winter, but I can feel his presence. That's enough to tell me that he hasn't left me on my own.

The hours drag on. I feel myself losing sleep instead of gaining. Fragments of the base attack stream through my mind. HYDRA. Winter. The base going on lockdown. The power outage. Winter and Romanoff. Tessa and those stupid words.

Tessa.

That bitch.

I'm going to kill her.

She caused me to go a-wall. She caused Hell's Angel to come out and play when she was disappearing.

My body tenses. I'm really mad right now. I feel like I want to punch something or rip something apart.

I open my eyes slowly. The venue hasn't changed. I'm still in the same couch, stained in my own blood, feeling the weakest I have ever felt in my life (that I can recall).

I become more alert when I realize Winter is staring at me while seated in a chair. He looks just about as bad as I do, only I doubt his reason isn't for injury.

"Where are we?" I grumble.

"Someplace safe, for now. Wasn't exactly taking my time in browsing, what with you bleeding out."

I rub my eyes. "My apologies for not stopping my bleeding while I went unconscious."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Only fragments." I scowl. "Believe me, I wish I could forget them."

"Well, you're gonna have to start remembering them, right now."

I glower at the small pistol pointed at me. "Really, at this early in the morning? Kind of the worst time to pick fights."

"I was nice, I gave you time to rest."

"Pft, what rest?" I scoff. "I would've had a shot of sleep if you brought meds with you."

"Didn't have the luxury to steal any."

I wonder if that's the same pistol that he shot me with. "It's bad enough you already shot me twice."

"Once," he corrects me. "Romanoff shot you after I did."

I snort. "How rude."

"You wouldn't let go."

"I have a high pain tolerance."

Winter rises from the chair, hovering at the couch, pistol pointed at me. "You're gonna explain everything."

My brows crease. "What are you talking about?"

"That ambush. Everything. You snapping." He wears a frown similar to mine. "They've certainly improved since me. Made you better, more approachable. When the time came, you turned."

"You knew it was dangerous to keep me," I say neutrally. "All of you knew it."

"You're too smart for your own good."

"Gonna put me down, Winter?" I ask. "Think you can manage that without batting an eye?" He just stares at me. "I thought so. You've lost your touch."

"I'm not the Winter Soldier anymore."

"You always will be." I snort. "It never leaves you." I'm learning that the hard way.

"What the hell happened back there?" he demands.

"You want the truth?"

"Anything at this point."

"I planned on killing you. HYDRA wants you back, Winter. I didn't. Why bring back my predecessor so they can forget about me and put me away?" I see his grip tighten on the weapon. "My original plan had been to get close and then strike when the chance came. I tried, once, and failed. Never rose to the occasion again."

"Why?"

"My memories poked through. The longer I was away from HYDRA, the more I felt like...myself." I wince when I inhale.

"And I should believe you, why?"

"You shouldn't. This world is full of liars." I smile grimly.

"So...when you snapped, it wasn't...you didn't...?"

"I didn't want it to happen. Someone triggered me, brought her back out." I look up at the ceiling.

"Who?"

"Tessa."

"Tessa?" I hear the angry malice in his voice.

"She was forced," I say defensively. "If you had faced her like I had, you would've seen it. She was brought to tears. HYDRA got to her somehow." I'm still mad at her for saying the words, even though she was most likely threatened in some manner. The damage she helped inflict...

"We had HYDRA inside the base?"

I shrug. "Or they reached her from outside somehow instead of smuggling themselves in."

"Tessa never left the base."

"That's not true. That day I went to go outside, she reined me back in. She lingered. I...Nobody thought anything of it." I look at him. I sigh heavily. "Put the gun down, Winter. It's not worth shooting me when I'm speaking the truth here. I mean, go ahead if you want to put more stitches into me."

"That's the truth?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes. I wasn't in control. I was the mindless puppet HYDRA conditioned me to be. You'd know what that feels like. I didn't want it, Winter. I was making progress, progress that I actually cared about. I was shedding that Asset persona they'd given me all that time ago. Now that I've been away from them..."

Winter sighs, tucking the pistol away. "I get it."

"What I don't get is why you didn't just put me down when you had the chance. You and Romanoff shot me, I was pretty incapacitated."

"I saw the fear in your eyes. I wore that same look once. You're just like me, someone who was forced to become a villain against their will. You weren't in your right mind."

"So you wanted to try and save me?" I say. "Good going, Knight in Shining Armor. You shot me and nearly let me die. You almost killed me."

"I stitched you up."

I lick my lips, sitting up slowly on the couch. "Well...thanks anyway." As I move my legs to touch the floor, Winter moves in on me. "What?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting up?"

"You're wounded, Vick."

This is the first time I'm hearing that name out from his mouth. Well, he does know my real name now. I'm sure it just slipped out and he didn't realize it. "Yes, thanks for the painfully obvious reminder." I grunt, using what strength I have to stand upright.

"You can't go anywhere."

"Oh, just sit back and watch me." I stop, quirking my mouth, as Winter steps in my way. "So help me I'll fight you."

He chuckles. "See how far that gets you, I dare you."

Pouting, I plop back down onto the couch, flinching as I feel the pain. "Okay then, warden, what do you suggest?"

"We don't know if HYDRA's following. We have to assume they are. We can't hang around for too long."

"Awesome, so let's go right now."

He stares at me pointedly. "Not until we know you can move without tearing your stitches. I don't want to have to make pit stops all because you got stupid and tore them open."

"Ouch, Winter. Your lack of faith really hurts me."

He rolls his eyes. "We'll stay here for a bit and then figure out where we can go."

"Did S.H.I.E.L.D. have a plan when this would happen?" I ask. He just looks at me. "What, there wouldn't be an 'if' as to when HYDRA would come."

"I'm sure they had a spare empty base or two to take refuge in. Problem is, I was never given the coordinates."

"So...we're stranded."

"Until we can contact someone, yeah, we're pretty much stranded. On our own. Wouldn't be my first time."

I blow out a noisy breath. "Well, I guess it's good that I'm paired with someone who knows how to hide from HYDRA. I mean, you went dark for, what, a few years? That takes skill." I look around this place, sighing. "You did pick an abandoned apartment, right?"

"No, Vick, I tied up the residents and threw them into a closet down the hall. Yes, I made sure the place was empty."

"And I thought I had a bad night. Did you bring anything with you?"

"Besides what I've got on me, no. Same for you."

"Great. Well, that's why we've got here, right?"

"I scoped out the place. Kitchen is cleaned out, but the electricity and water still work in this place. We just gotta get food and whatnot for ourselves for a bit."

"You mean you, since apparently I'm put on bedrest." I stick my tongue out. "I'll take sentry duty here while you run out for things and try to not get us both captured."

"Yeah, no pressure there."

"Well, you've done it before. Should be easy."

"Not when I've got you with me."

My mouth parts. "Oh, so, you're saying that I'll make things worse?"

"As long as you don't do anything stupid, you won't."

I squat at him. "Just go out and get something for us to eat, will you? And don't try and expose us. I can't if I'm here, that'll be on you."

Winter rolls his eyes, but he soon leaves anyway, leaving me in this place all by myself.

**Mm, so now we've got WinterAngel on the run.

This ought to be good.**