★ ★ ★

The lights were dim inside the simulation chamber, making it fairly difficult for Marlena to make out her surroundings. She didn't necessarily want to be doing this at the moment—she would rather be training—but Rumlow said that a skills assessment was necessary for her to "take her her place in the world." She didn't understand why a skills assessment was so important to Rumlow, especially after he had spent the last few months assessing her skills himself, but apparently the assessment was so his boss could see just how much her abilities had improved since she arrived at the facility.

Marlena had become Rumlow's most prized possession over the course of the few months she had been at the facility. Her dedication and her passion for the fight had become two of Rumlow's most cherished of her personality traits, and he couldn't help but be more than thankful that his boss had put him in charge of her. She had improved greatly since her arrival, so much that Rumlow feared she would be able to take him on in battle, and he was among Hydra's most gifted agents. He knew the likelihood of such a situation coming to pass, though, was very slim, so he didn't exactly find himself too caught up in worrying about it. He was far more caught up in worshiping his assassin to pay attention to anything else.

That would soon prove to be his first mistake, though.

As Marlena stood on the platform in the simulation chamber, waiting for whatever it was to make a move towards her, her mind drifted towards the plan of escape she had spent the better part of three months concocting.

Marlena knew that she needed to stick to the plan in order to make sure everything worked out the way it was supposed to, but it was becoming harder and harder to do so. Her patience regarding the situation with Hydra was now at an all-time low, much lower than it had been the day Rumlow took that retched picture of her to send to Bucky. She was growing closer and closer to snapping, so close that there were days when she simply wanted to bash Rumlow's head into the training room center and take off. There was only so much Hydra that a person could take, and Marlena was beginning to figure out just how true that statement was. She was sure that her combatant abilities and her weaponry abilities would provide her with the upper hand against majority of the Hydra agents that littered the facility, but she couldn't act on it just yet, no matter how desperately she wanted to.

All Marlena wanted was to get the hell away from Hydra and get back to her family and Bucky. She wanted to prove to them that she wasn't dead but that she was okay and that everything in their lives from that point on would be right again. She wanted to take away the pain she was sure they had been feeling for the past few months, and if that meant inflicting pain on every single agent in the building she wouldn't hesitate to do so. It was what she had planned on doing in the first place, but thinking about the pain they had caused her and her family only made her more sure of what she was going to do.

Marlena was out for blood, she was out for vengeance. She refused to let anyone get in the way of that, for whoever it was would be stupid to even try.

A blue light in her peripheral caught her attention, and she spun around to see what looked to be some sort of hologram running at her. She rolled her eyes at Hydra's need to use something other than actual agents to fight against her, but she understood their need to preserve their workers, not that it would exactly help anything when the time came.

Marlena grabbed a throwing knife out of one of her holsters and threw it at the hologram's head before somersaulting off of the platform. Two more of the holograms materialized, and this time Marlena took out two guns, aiming them at the projections and firing only once. She struck the faux beings in the forehead and smirked before twisting her body towards the holograms attempting to sneak up behind her. She pulled the triggers once more, ridding the chamber of the poor quality holograms.

She began to wonder if that was all that Rumlow had for her until what seemed to be some sort of explosion shook the grounds of the chamber in which she was standing. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, thinking that it could somehow be part of the skills assessment. She looked around for any sign of the holograms but found none, and instead she was met with the sound of yet another explosion. The ground shook once more, the magnitude being strong enough to pull Marlena down to the ground. Almost immediately, the chamber lit up and Rumlow rushed in.

"What the hell is going on?" Marlena grumbled as he pulled her off of the ground and over towards the chamber exit. She could now hear everything going on, which meant that she could hear the annoying and deafening sounds of the overhead alarms. "And who triggered the alarms?"

"Do you think you're ready to start that mission now?" Rumlow asked as he pulled her into the hallway where dozens of agents were making their way through the hallways, each of them with weapons in their hands.

Another explosion sounded, shaking the floors and the ceilings. Marlena covered her head as dust from the ceiling rained down on top of her. "What mission?"

"The mission that involves you apprehending the Winter Soldier for us," he said as he continued pulling her through the corridors.

Her eyes widened in response to his words and she looked up at Rumlow, a questioning look on her face. "The Winter Soldier? Is he here?"

"Yes, and he's not alone as we originally anticipated he would be," he told her as he pulled her into a room.

Marlena recognized it as the suit room, the room that held both hers and Bucky's supersuits, as well as countless others. Rumlow pulled her over to the tube containing hers and typed in some sort of code. In seconds the tube was opening and Rumlow was pulling the fabric and the boots off of their stands. He shoved the items into Marlena's hands and pushed her towards a door that sat along a separate wall.

"Get changed," he told her as he pulled her weapons off of their hooks. "I'll ready your weapons."

Marlena shut the door immediately and began stripping herself of her clothes and the remaining weapons she had on her. She hurried to change into the spandex suit, but the thought of Bucky actually being at the facility had taken a bit of a toll on her. She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he was actually here. She didn't know whether or not she should be happy or scared that he was here. She knew she was happy because it had been months since she had seen him, but she was also scared because she knew that he was the reason for the numerous explosions taking place around the facility. She feared that his stupidity was going to get him killed, and she refused to let that happen. Also, she wasn't aware that her plan would be forced upon her like this. She thought she would have just a bit more time, but she couldn't complain at all. She had been ready to snap for so long, and now that she was being given the opportunity to do so she was going to take it.

The thought only made Marlena quicken her pace, and she pulled the remaining fabric over her shoulders and zipped up the suit. She grabbed her boots and pulled them on, only stopping for a second to admire just how empowered she felt with the suit on. She predicted it would become shredded by the end of this, so she felt that she had a right to admire herself in it.

She pulled the door back open and stepped out, and almost immediately Rumlow began placing her weapons wherever they belonged on her suit. He placed the guns in the holsters where they belonged, the throwing knives in the quivers where they belonged, and the battery packs inside her gauntlets. Marlena watched with fascination as her wrist gauntlets lit up with a bright red color before dimming back down; she could only assume it was another matching factor.

Marlena looked up at Rumlow with a smirk on her face, and it was then she knew what she needed to do to begin her mission.

"I appreciate everything you've done for me, Rumlow," she said to the man. "But I can't say I appreciate all of the pain that you've put me through."

Rumlow's smirk fell and Marlena's only grew. "Prodigy?"

"My name is Marlena Claire," she replied before taking his head and slamming it against the wall at her side. "And you would be wise to remember that."

Marlena dropped Rumlow's now-unconscious body to the floor and hurried out of the room, now with more motivation to get back to Bucky than ever before. The only problem was that she didn't have a clue where he was. She only knew that the explosions were coming from the east wing of the building and that seemed to be where a lot of men were running off to.

As she ran, though, she couldn't help but wonder why none of the Hydra agents were attempting to fight her. It only took her a matter of seconds to realize that they believed her to be on their side, and the fact only made Marlena smirk. She reminded herself of what she told herself only minutes ago, and she knew that now was a better time than never to begin the pain infliction process.

Marlena pulled out the pistol on her back and began shooting it at the agents in front of her without any kind of remorse in regards to their lives. Majority of them fell to the ground, just as she had expected them to, but it didn't take long for the agents in front of the line to realize that something was wrong behind them. Most of them turned while the others continued on, their guns aimed to shoot, but before they could Marlena shot them down.

She listened as rushed footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned just in time to see a very angry—and very large—Hydra agent running towards her. He didn't have a weapon, and neither did Marlena. She was out of ammo in her pistol, but she wasn't going to waste the ammo inside her other guns or waste her knives when she could take him down just as quickly without a weapon.

The man charged at her and she kicked him as hard as she could in the knee cap, earning a pained grunt from him. He wasn't even given the time to retaliate before Marlena flipped over his tall frame and wrapped her legs around his neck. She twisted her body with such a force that sent him barreling to the ground and sent her somersaulting away from him.

Marlena ran as fast as she could towards the explosions and the gunfire, not at all phased that she could possibly be running towards her end. She needed to get to Bucky, and she didn't care who she had to go through to do that.

As she approached a small fleet of guards she smirked, knowing exactly what it was that she needed to do in order to take them down. She wouldn't be using her weapons, but, instead, would be using the wonderful combatant abilities that Rumlow and her trainers had graced her with. She found it useless to resort to only using her weapons. Sure, they came in handy when it was necessary, but after spending fourteen hours a day every day learning how to fight hand on hand, Marlena was going to do just that. She wasn't going to waste the abilities that she had worked so long and hard to perfect.

Marlena jumped up as she neared the first soldier and connected her boot with his spine. He grunted in pain and began falling to the floor, but before he could she propelled her body off of his and went flying towards one of the men in front of her. She arched her small body in the air and placed her hands on the man's shoulders, activating her wrist gauntlets. She watched as the red energy crippled the man, and he fell to the floor while Marlena flipped in the air and landed on her feet in front of him.

She ran towards another man coming after her but ducked before he could strike her or shoot at her. She slid through his open legs and delivered a strong blow to his knee and his groin, sending him to the floor in a heap of pain.

Another agent made his way towards her from the opposite side of the man, and she hopped up, using the downed man's body as a way to hoist herself towards the man who was now pursuing her. She placed her thighs on either side of his head and cartwheeled across the floor, leaving the guard on the floor gasping for air. She delivered a final blow to his face with her boot to knock him out, and before long she was taking back off down the hallways on the search for James Buchanan Barnes.

The sound of gunfire was dying down a bit, but Marlena didn't stop her search. She knew he was there, and she knew he wasn't that far away. That alone pushed her to keep going, pushed her to keep fighting.

Marlena soon found herself in an open corridor with three separate entryways: one on her left, one on her right, and one in front of her. She didn't know which one she was supposed to take either. It seemed as if the gunfire had completely died down, and the smell of death and gunpowder was all over the place, so she couldn't exactly narrow it down to a single entryway. It frustrated her, though, and after spending almost a minute contemplating where she she go, she took off for the entryway in front of her.

She barely made it five feet as the sound of footsteps and metal clanking caught her attention. What really made her stop, though, was the sound of one of the guards' voices and the name that fell from his lips.

"Prodigy!"

She slowly turned around to face the Hydra guards that were slowly inching towards her. She counted out six guards and knew then that taking them down wouldn't be much of an issue.

"Surrender yourself, Prodigy," the guard who called her name instructed her, his Russian accent thick. "You are in no position to fight us; you are outnumbered and outmatched."

"Podumayte yeshche raz (Think again)," Marlena grumbled as she charged towards the men, ignoring the rushed sound of footsteps in the corridor behind her.

The man who spoke raised his gun at her, more than ready to shoot, but Marlena was too quick on her feet. She ran faster, hoisting herself into the air using the wall. She spun around in the air, kicking her leg out to rid the man and the man beside him of their weapons. She delivered a strong blow the guard's jaw before moving to take care of the rest of them.

They fell almost as quickly as they came, and it was only seconds later that Marlena was left to fight the remaining two guards. She ran at the one closest to her and hoisted herself onto his shoulders, shoving the gauntlets into his neck. He cried out in pain as the electricity made its way through his body and fell to the floor, leaving Marlena to roll off of his body to take care of the next guard.

He charged at her with a gun she assumed he grabbed from one of his comrades, but was never given the chance to use it on her. Marlena grabbed his arm and twisted it in the air, eliciting a cry of pain from the guard. He dropped the gun to the ground and Marlena released him. He threw a punch at her, but she reacted quickly. She ducked and spun around on her heel, kicking her leg out and sending the remaining guard stumbling backwards. She growled in response to the guard's refusal to go down, so she kicked her leg up and spun around. She listened as a sickening crack echoed through the corridor when her boot made contact with his jaw, and in seconds the guard was falling to the floor along with the rest of them.

One of the guards, however, managed to regain consciousness which annoyed a seemingly exhausted Marlena. She pulled out her second pistol and aimed it at the guard before pulling the trigger. His now-dead body fell to the ground, but she didn't care. Every last one of them deserved to die, and if she hadn't been so focused on finding Bucky she would make sure every last one of them did.

Marlena took a deep breath and moved to put her gun away, but the sound of metal against metal behind her startled her. She spun around quickly, her gun raised to shoot at the Hydra agents closing in on her, but the two men now standing in front her were nowhere close to being Hydra agents. The two men were Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, each of them with a shared expression of shock on their faces.

Before either of the men could say a single word, Marlena dropped her gun and ran to Bucky. She was at a loss of words and everything in her was telling her to go to him—to feel his embrace. It had been months since she had even hugged anyone, let alone felt loved.

She practically leaped into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as he caught her. Bucky's flesh hand found her thigh and supported her weight while his metal hand held her lower back. Marlena's hands found either sides of Bucky's face and she pulled his black mask off, letting it fall to the floor.

Tears threatened to fall from her captivating hazel eyes that Bucky had missed looking into so much, and he could not think of anything other than that he never wanted to let her go again. Their lips collided in that moment, both of them overwhelmed with emotions.

This was the moment that Marlena had been waiting for after all those months she spent pretending to be a brainwashed assassin and being completely obedient to Rumlow's every command. Reuniting with Bucky Barnes was mostly what motivated her to stay strong—that, and also her mother and brother that were waiting for her to somehow make it home. She was completely and deeply in love with this man, regardless of how much time they had been apart. Bucky felt the same way about her; he'd never given up on finding her and after seeing the photo that had led him to believe she was dead, he still wanted to do right by her—to get justice for her.

Though Steve felt completely out of place standing next to the two, he was relieved to see that Marlena was very much alive, and that Bucky was no longer broken inside. He had only ever spoken with Marlena over the phone, but after hearing Bucky talk about her it had made him feel as if he'd known her almost as well as Bucky.

Marlena pulled away, her lungs screaming for oxygen, but she didn't go too far away. Their foreheads rested upon one another's, Bucky still holding her tightly in his arms as if he was scared she would disappear.

"I told you the man bun suited you," Marlena smirked, finally breaking the silence.

Pressing another kiss to the soldier's lips, Marlena felt an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. Bucky had found her; this was not exactly how she had expected her plan to go, originally, but this was a far better outcome than she could've hoped for.

As for Bucky, he was utterly amazed. Not only was Marlena alive, to his surprise, but she was a total badass. He'd just watched her single-handedly take out multiple Hydra soldiers in less than a minute. She didn't look as if she needed any saving, though he would still fight for her at all costs.

"You're alive, Mar," Bucky whispered, his lips upturned into one of the biggest smiles Steve had ever seen on his friend. "How? I mean, I saw the picture. You were—"

"Rumlow was just trying to fool you, to lure you here. Listen," she couldn't help but smile when looking at him, "we don't really have the time for story telling, now. It'll have to wait."

Bucky nodded, releasing her from his hold, already hating the lack of contact between them. He glanced at Steve who was now pulling Marlena into an unexpected hug.

"Thank God," Steve sighed into her hair. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person, Marlena."

"You, too, Captain Rogers." Marlena smiled, hugging him back for a second before pulling away at the sound of another explosion.

Bucky and Steve exchanged knowing glances before receiving a confused and questioning look from the brunette dressed in clothes eerily similar to Bucky's Winter Soldier attire.

"If you two are here, who's trying to blow the rest of this place up?" she asked, leaning down to pick up Bucky's mask that she'd been so quick to remove.

"That would be Natasha Romanoff and—"

"Sam Wilson, baby! But you can call me the Falcon." Sam jogged down the hallway, his metal wings folded down.

Behind him, the curvy redhead came into view, her red lips forming an 'o' shape.

"What the hell?" Natasha held a pistol in each hand, each smoking at the tip.

Bucky still had a smile on his face, barely able to keep himself off of Marlena. All he wanted was to feel the warmth of her body, to take in her sweet smell that reminded him of lavender and vanilla. Up until now, he thought she was gone forever—that Marlena was just another piece of his life that Hydra had taken from him.

"Nat, this is her. This is Marlena." Bucky stepped closer to Marlena again, taking his mask from her hands.

Before anything else could be said, two Hydra agents came barreling down the hallway behind Natasha and Sam, their guns raised to shoot. The two never quite reached the group, though; Marlena was among the first to notice the two of them, and she jumped into action immediately. She removed a knife from a holster on either one of her thighs and twirled them around in her hands before sending them flying towards the unfortunate agents. Both weapons struck either man in the neck, which was exactly what Marlena had been aiming for in the first place.

Marlena watched as the two guards fell to the floor—as did the rest of the group—and strolled over to retrieve her weapons. She pulled the knives out of the dead agents' necks and shoved them back into their holsters before turning around to look at a very surprised looking group of Avengers. . .and Bucky.

"What?" she spoke cautiously, unaware of why she was being stared at the way she was.

"That was. . .impressive," Natasha said simply, readjusting her grip on her hand guns.

"Hell yeah, guys. The Winter Soldier Squad just upgraded," Sam added, removing his goggles to get a better look at their new 'squad' member.

Steve and Natasha merely rolled their eyes in response; Bucky didn't even pay attention to Sam's words.

This Marlena—the one that had somehow managed to overcome Hydra's influence—was entirely new to Bucky. He never would have thought that his small, feisty Marlena could end up becoming this lethal soldier that stood in front of him. All the less, it was still her, though, and he would never trade her for the world.