The first thing she registers is the smell. The sharp, putrid aroma of rust, blood, and human waste overwhelms her senses. As soon as she takes in a sharp breath through her nose, she sputters into a coughing fit. The air gets caught in her throat and she gags.

She pulls weakly at the restraints bolted against the metal chair she seems to be strapped to that are wearing against her wrists, ankles, and sore neck. It's like her mind is trapped under a thick fog; there are no intelligent thoughts running through her head and she doesn't have full control over her limbs. Her head lulls to the side.

She struggles against the metal, her panic rising. She's so caught up in the panic and the overwhelming foul smell overstimulating her senses that she isn't even aware of what's going on in the large, dimly lit room.

Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Captain America are all present and fighting, clad in their suits. Iron Man's hand fires a shot at a scientist that's lunging for a syringe on a metal table. Hawkeye covers his back and shoots armed HYDRA agents flooding into the room alongside Captain America.

The patriotic super soldier thrusts his fists into faces and stomachs as he launches his spangled shield at the enemy.

The heroes haven't even noticed the girl. They entered the room for an infamous HYDRA scientist, and once they were forced to eliminate him, they were swarmed.

Clint perks at the sound of soft whimpers and turns. His brow furrows at the sight of the girl strapped to the chair in the corner.

"Who's the girl?!" Hawkeye shouts over the sound of Iron Man's repulsers and the screams and grunts of the falling agents. The archer is kicked in the stomach and groans, but gains the upper hand with a punch. He launches an arrow into his component's heart.

Captain America spares his teammate a confused glance. "What girl—Oh." His eyes zero-in on the only female in the room. Steve scolds himself for not noticing her presence sooner, considering she's strapped to a metal chair with a contraption hanging over her head. He does a double-take when his eyes glide over her metallic limbs.

Finally, the crowd of agents storming into the large room thin. Steve takes this opportunity to mount his shield on his back and approach the girl. Clint covers him as Steve turns his back to the fight.

The girl's in a black tank top and black shorts. A blanket of sweat glistens off her face as she struggles to get free from the metal clamps holding her neck, wrists, and ankles in place. Steve stands unmoving in front of her, unsure of what to do. There's a cyborg writhing in front of him—what is he supposed to do?

He snaps out of it and springs into action at the sight of blood dripping down her neck when the metal rubs too much against her skin. His fingers find the metal and he yanks with all his strength. His eyes squeeze shut and his teeth grind as he pulls.

The girl's fearful hazel eyes dart to the man casting a shadow on her face. His face isn't far from hers as he struggles with the clamp around her neck. She's pulled from the oblivious panic she was trapped in and scans the room behind the man with the top half of his face covered with a mask. She witnesses the Avengers fighting off the last of the adroit HYDRA agents with wide eyes.

Steve lets out a grunt as he rips the metal clamp from his hinges attached to the chair behind the girl's head. The metal clangs against the ground. Her raw neck stings at the cool air.

She attempts to move her head so she can watch Steve free her wrists and ankles next, but  pain shoots up her spine and neck into her head. Her head lolls to her shoulder as she winces. She attempts to clench her fists, but her body feels like putty.

Soon all the restraints are on the floor, which happens to be the same time the agents run out. Iron Man's helmet reveals his face, and Clint mounts his bow on his back. He shakes out his arms and legs.

"I really need to stretch before missions."

Tony trains his eyes on the girl in the metal chair with choppy black hair and blood running down her neck. His stoic expression hides the fear and disgust for HYDRA that rises as he takes in her metal arms and legs.

"Take her back to the tower," Tony commands.

Clint cracks his knuckles and he shoots Tony a sarcastic glance. "No, I thought we were just gonna leave her here."

"Shut up," Steve snaps at the childish behavior and tucks his arms under the girl. She flinches violently in his touch, but Steve heaves her into his grasp with one arm under her metallic knees and one under her back with ease. Too weak to move, she doesn't struggle.

She blacks out as soon as Steve takes a step with her in his arms.

⌖

Bucky Barnes doesn't like to be bored. He hasn't really experienced the feeling in a long, long time, but now that he has, he rediscovers his dread for it.

When the rest of the Avengers left for Syria, Bucky decided to train more since there would be no one else taking up all the training and exercise equipment. Four days of nothing but excessive training and balanced meals, Bucky finds himself bored of the healthy routine. When there were others occupying the tower and missions to go on, Bucky was too annoyed or too busy to actually pay attention to the endless cycle of staying active and eating only healthy and organic foods. Now that he's hasn't even seen one of his teammates in days, he finds the whole routine bland.

So he orders a pizza. He can't even remember the last time he had the greasy, cheesy goodness on bread, so when it comes up to the tower, he starts to second-guess himself on his choice of food. He's heard all about how obsessed everyone is with pizza, but looking at the round pepperoni pizza in front of him, he has to push back any thoughts about how unappealing it looks. You can literally see the grease bubbling on the surface.

Bucky takes a seat at the head of an empty table in that level of the tower's kitchen. He just stares at the pizza for a while before tentatively picking up a slice. The cheese stretches as he lifts it to his mouth, and then he takes a bite.

Bucky doesn't even remember eating the entire pizza. In a flash it's gone, sitting at the bottom of the man's stomach to digest. A satisfying feeling of being full makes him tired, so he skips his usual work out and heads to the couch and takes a nap.

After that heavenly experience, Bucky gets bored again once he wakes up. So, he continues with his exploration of foods outside his usual healthy diet. He still trains, but not as much. Boredom overtakes him completely and he resorts to trying to figure out how to use Netflix on the big TV in Tony's room, but gives up and plays the Wii sports game Steve has set up in his room.

Bucky's daily routine goes like this for another three days. He tries out new music, new technology, and occasionally talks to F.R.I.D.A.Y. He's in the middle of reading The Fault in our Stars when he hears footfalls echoing down the floor's main hallway.

He sets the book under his pillow and wanders out of his bedroom on high alert. He relaxes as he spots Tony, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Peter entering the living room. They're all in casual attire, but Peter's face is sporting a black eye and the others have various scratches and scrapes. Bucky frowns at the tense expressions they all wear and assumes someone got injured for a second, but concludes that can't be it since none of them are badly hurt.

Peter's the first to notice Bucky's appearance in the door way. A nervous, crooked grin spreads across his lips. He gives a jerky wave.

"Hi, Mr. Barnes."

"It's Bucky," he corrects. Peter quickly nods and goes to apologize, but Bucky cuts him off. "How'd it go?"

Clint puts his hand on Peter's shoulder and leads him out of the room despite the younger Avenger's protests. Natasha crosses her arms, and Tony and Steve share a look.

"It went well; we wiped out the entire base," Steve replies, conspicuously holding something back. Bucky's eyes narrow, and Steve sighs.

"We found you a girlfriend," Tony says with a strained grin.

Bucky's eyes flicker to his. His brow furrows.

"What?"

"We found you—"

"Tony," Steve warns. Tony locks his lips and motions for Steve to continue. He nods gratefully at the rich man and turns back to Bucky. "We found someone."

The breath in Bucky's lungs is caught in his throat.

"She was captured roughly fifteen years ago. The scientists there were trying to make her like you, but better and more controllable," Steve explains. "Tony grabbed her files when we were leaving. I'll spare you the details, but you can take a look at the files if you think you can handle it. The conditions and what they did to her—it was worse than anything we've seen from HYDRA."

Bucky's mind races to process all of this. Someone else like him, but worse? He can't believe that there's someone who could possibly be worse than him; he took too many innocent people's lives and caused too much destruction. How could someone be worse?

"I don't understand." Bucky licks his lips. "Where is she? Is she still there?" A thousand more questions buzz in his head, but he can't seem to find the words to ask. This new information is rendering him speechless.

Steve studies his friend's face. He knows that Bucky would never forgive him if they left the girl with HYDRA to continue being experimented on and used as a killing machine. Steve could never live with that weight on his conscious, either.

"She's on the medical floor being treated and babysat by Banner."

Steve glares at Tony for the terse answer.

"What? She's here?" Bucky asks, stepping forward towards the hall where the elevator is. Before he can get far, Steve grabs onto his metal bicep and keeps him in place. Bucky turns his head and meets Steve's eyes.

Steve slowly lets go of his friend. "It's too soon. She's still unconscious, but she could wake up any time and there's no telling how dangerous she will be when she does. She may have been innocent like you, but that doesn't make her any less of a threat."

Bucky looks away. Something about how Steve is labeling the unknown girl as dangerous and as a threat brushes him the wrong way. Bucky was like that once—he was a threat, and he was dangerous. He knows how it feels. Maybe that's why he's so determined to see this girl.

Without another word, Bucky turns. He walks past Tony and Steve on his way out of the living room and back into his bedroom. He enters his bathroom attached to his room and splashes water on his face, and as he looks up into the mirror in front of him, he doesn't think that he's a monster for once. His mind just can't slow down about this new girl. He can't bring himself to hate his reflection, to hate what he's turned into, to hate his metal arm.

He just thinks about the girl.