You stood to one side of the command room with your hands behind your back and your gaze straight ahead. Not even twitching unless you were ordered to. Strucker's perfect little pet. He kept you close at all times unless you were locked in your cell to sleep. His prize. And wasn't it lovely?

Not for the first time you considered crushing his throat with your bare hands. Of course, assuming he didn't explode your head, someone else would certainly kill you before you could escape. Sometimes, you wondered if it would be worth it. Then you'd remember your mate and what fate would await him for your disobedience.

A jolt of pain radiated through your brain and down your neck. You winced and clenched your teeth to keep from screaming out. You snapped your gaze to Strucker. He smirked and slid your remote back into his pocket. "You were drifting. Pay attention, Nicto."

"My apologies, Herr Strucker. Did you have orders for me?" If you listened to his conversation and he wasn't giving you orders, he shocked you. If you didn't and he was, he shocked you. Asshole. Someday, you were going to shove that remote up his ass.

"Your former associates have discovered your location and are attacking our base. Get rid of them. Kill them. Bring me Soldat by any means necessary."

No fucking way. "Of course, Herr Strucker."

You stepped over to look at the monitors showing all the activity around the base. There was a lot more than the Avengers here. Was that Melinda? What the hell was she doing here? And Matt. And Wade. And the spider kid. For fuck's sake. They could have at least the teenager at home.

Spotting Bucky breaching the south entrance, you left to head in that direction. Strucker would be right behind you, watching your every move. You'd nearly reached the area you'd planned to intercept Bucky when a blur of black and red crashed into you rocking you on your feet.

"Princess, I'm so happy to see you," Wade shouted while wrapping you in his arms.

You allowed yourself just a second to breathe in the scent of your best friend. A moment to take comfort in his touch.

"We've got company," he said in your ear.

You sucked in a breath and shoved him away from you. A kick to his chest sent him stumbling down the hallway. Before he could fully regain his footing, you drew your firearm and placed a round right between his eyes. That image was going to haunt you for awhile.

You swallowed the lump in your throat and holstered your weapon. Stepping over the temporary corpse of your best friend, you continued down the hall. Finally, you turned into the storage area where you expected to find your soulmate.

As it turned out, you found not only him but Natasha as well. The were deep in conversation and hadn't noticed your near silent approach. Idiots. You leapt over the railing at the top of the stairs. The metal beneath your feet reverberated with the impact of your landing. Both assassins immediately focused on you with wide eyes and weapons aimed.

Bucky's gaze turned soft when he realized it was you and the muzzle of his gun lowered to aim at the floor. He said your name softly, like a prayer.

"Soldat," you said in response, keeping any warmth from your voice.

He flinched. Natasha's aim remained true as always. You kept your eyes locked on your mate as you removed your gun and dropped it on the floor.

"You owe me a fight, Soldat." You hoped he went along with it or you were going to have to fight Nat and she wouldn't be nearly as nice.

Buck narrowed his eyes as he looked you over from head to toe. Finally, he swallowed and gave you a nod. "I got this, Natasha."

She hesitated a moment before stepping back and lowering the gun slightly. You glanced at her quickly then back toward the door before snapping your attention back to Bucky. It was enough for her to get the message and she shifted the weapon to aim at the doorway behind you.

Once Bucky stripped himself of his weapons, the two of you circled, sizing each other up. "I've missed you."

You clenched your teeth, wanting to say it back, but not daring to. The walls around here had ears as the saying went. You couldn't risk it, not until you had the information you needed. "Then you should come home, Soldat. Come back to Hydra."

And, gods, the look of pure terror that flashed through his eyes gutted you. You willed him to see the truth in your gaze. You would never subject him to Hydra. Not again. He'd suffered enough for one lifetime. You just needed to make sure he lived.

With that thought, you surged forward. You punched, kicked, attacked and he took it all. He didn't swing back. Didn't crowd into your space. He only blocked your blows. All of his moves defensive. This went on for several minutes until you finally managed the motion you'd been attempting from the beginning. A twist of your hand and a feint to the side had his earpiece in your ear instead of his.

His brow furrowed in confusion and you grinned while the two of you continued to fight. "Hey, greenie. Got a question for you?"

You spoke quietly, knowing the Stark tech would pick you up and the Hydra cameras wouldn't.

"Junior?" Banner asked, shocked to hear your voice.

You rolled your eyes. Of course, everyone had picked up Tony's stupid nickname. "Buck have a chip in his head?"

There was a moment of quiet. "Not anymore. It's the first thing we took care of. It's always the first thing...Shit. Give me a minute."

And the voice in your ear went silent.

"Who?" your mate demanded.

You snorted as you sent a high kick to his head. He grabbed your ankle and lifted it so you were forced to flip backward away from him. "Guess."

"Enough," Strucker's voice came and you immediately stopped fighting. Stepping aside like the good little soldier. You turned to him, arms behind your back, stance wide. Ready for orders.

Nat and Bucky stood behind you. Strucker stood just inside the door, two soldiers on either side of him.

Strucker pulled your remote from his pocket, thumb hovering over the kill button. "Return, Soldat, or she dies."

Before Bucky could respond, another voice interrupted the odd standoff.

"Hey guys, I found a secret room." Tony's excited voice trailed off on the last two words. "Well, this is awkward."

Chaos erupted as Tony shot one of his repulsors in their direction. You and Bucky both dove for your weapons and white-hot pain jolted through your brain. You pressed your palms against your temples as a scream ripped from your throat. Your teammates worriedly shouted your name while they fought Hydra and protected you.

When the pain subsided slightly, Bruce was yelling in your ear. "Did it work? Are you okay?"

The pain continued to fade and you opened your eyes to see Strucker frantically pressing the button on the remote.

"Don't do that ever again," you answered Bruce as you grabbed your gun and rose to your feet. Your stare never left Strucker.

"As long as you don't get any more murder chips in your brain, I won't have to." His relief was evident in his voice.

You smirked and grabbed the earpiece. "Buck." When he glanced at you, you tossed it to him. Then you headed for the stairs and Strucker. The man saw you and immediately turned and fled.

You pushed your way through Hydra soldiers with wide strides. They ignored you, assuming you were still on their side. When you passed through the group shooting at your friends, you pulled the pin on the grenade hanging from one of their belts. You hustled around the corner and grinned when it exploded a few seconds later.

Strucker stood further down the hallway, obviously hoping you wouldn't make it this far. When he turned to flee, he nearly impaled himself on a katana.

"You're...you're dead. She shot you in the head," Strucker stammered out.

You didn't have to see Wade's face to know he was grinning. "Sure did. Hurt like a bitch, too."

He shoved Strucker back in your direction. The asshole turned to find you striding toward him, your gun aimed at his head. He held up his hands as if he could stop you by pure force of will. "Nicto, you don't want to do this. Come back to us. We've done so much for you. Help me escape and all will be forgiven."

"Knees."

"What?"

By that time you'd reached him and you pressed the barrel of the gun against his forehead. "Get on your knees." When he hesitated you yelled, "Now!"

He dropped instantly, hands still up as he pled for his life. "All I did was make you better. You can't deny it. I improved you. You should be grateful."

A whispered, "The fuck?" came from Wade.

You pressed the gun harder into Strucker's flesh, knowing it would leave a bruise should he live long enough. "Perhaps I should show my gratitude by doing to you exactly what's been done to me over the years."

Strucker closed his eyes but said nothing.

"But, you see, I've been thinking about putting a bullet in your brain for a long time and I would hate to disappoint myself." You leaned forward. "It would be oh so satisfying to know that you were gone and that I'd done it. That you were no longer around to torment anyone."

Your finger twitched as you debated what to do with the man on his knees in front of you. He needed to die. There was no question about that. But how? You weren't the only one he'd wronged. He'd committed countless war crimes. Tortured and experimented on people. Did he really deserve the quick death a bullet would bring?

"Don't." You froze at the voice behind you and sucked in a trembling breath. "Don't do it, sweetheart. You'll regret it. You're better than that."

Your hand trembled as you let the gun fall away and turned to face the man whose voice you thought you would never hear again. Tears blurred your vision before dripping down your cheeks. "Daddy?"