The Devil Took Your Memory

Natalia's eyes widened slightly. Nazis? Hydra? Her mind was racing. There were still Nazis around that were fully operating and capable of...whatever it was that they'd done to James? "нацистский." She repeated quietly, almost as if she were testing the word out herself. "They have been operating this whole time?" She shook her head as if in disbelief. This was insane.

Bucky nodded solemnly, hoping that the information wouldn't send Natalia into overdrive. The worst thing they could do right now was panic. Panic made things more difficult to handle, more complex to deal with. They couldn't attempt an escape if they were panicking. "We spent most of the war fighting Hydra... A specialist fraction of the Nazis, dedicating to experiments and weapons. Cut off one head, two more shall take it's place."

Natalia was honestly kind of in shock. What he was telling her was complete news to her. She'd heard of Hydra, but everyone had assumed that it had ended with the demise of the Red Skull. That obviously wasn't the case. But how could an organization like this survive and live on without being detected? It made no sense to her at all. "Это - невозможно..."

"I'm... I'm sorry, I don't understand..." There was still a limit as to what Russian Bucky could speak. Although he seemed to have learnt more far quicker than he would have expected, there were still phrases that seemed to sail straight past him. Most of the important information seemed to have been clearly communicated between the two of them, but he was still human, and unable to learn a language in a day.

Language was certainly going to act as a barrier between them. That was something that Natalia realized now. While she knew very little English, he knew very little Russian. Until they got past that, things were going to be tough, communication was going to be hard. But she didn't know how else to put what she'd said. She wanted to clarify, but her head was swimming with so many different thoughts. She just didn't know how any of this was possible. And she didn't know what to say to him either.

It was funny just how little they had come in terms of trusting one another, considering the confined space they always seemed to be in together. Bucky was never truly sure if they were supposed to be working together, or against one another. Today, Hydra had made it pretty clear to both of them what they were expecting from them. Cheat heaving with laboured breath from the previous fights, Bucky looked at Natalia with a defiant expression. Everything else had been a means of surviving, of ensuring that they would both come out of this alive... But this was just cruelty. The longer he stood in front of her, the colder the sweat began to feel on his shoulders. "Я не буду драться с тобой." The language barrier had broken down between them quite significantly, something in his head seeming to switch as he picked up her narrative tongue much quicker than expected. He could feel the agents eyes burning into his skin, scientists and grunts alike waiting for one of them to make the first move. Bucky knew Natalia was becoming more and more capable of handling herself... But he wasn't about to hit a woman.

Natalia never really knew if she was supposed to be working with or against Bucky. Right now though, Hydra was making it pretty clear what they wanted. Though, for the most part, the two had remained together in such a small, confined area, she still couldn't bring herself to trust him. Not fully anyway. Trust was something that was earned, and he hadn't done anything that stuck out enough for her to know that she could in fact trust him. "Вы не так много выбора." If there was one thing that had come out of this whole thing, it was the communication. They'd managed to take down the language barrier for the most part.

"Борьба вас это не вариант." There was no room for discussion in his decision not to fight her. It was simply something he would not do, regardless of how much Hydra wanted to see it from him. He knew it was some sort of test, whether that was of what physical violence he had learnt, or to test his compassion remained unknown. Natalia was capable of taking care of herself, and it wasn't necessarily her that he was worried about... His main concern laid with what he was capable of. It was terrifying, but Bucky could feel himself changing the more and more he was forced to comply with Hydra's wishes. They were moulding him. It was clear that his new arm was powerful, something that he hadn't quite gotten the hang of yet... Even if he was going to engage Natalia in a fight, there was no guarantee he wouldn't hurt her.

Natalia shook her head. She didn't understand why he was being so stubborn. It was clear what Hydra wanted from them right now, and she really didn't want to know what would happen if they didn't follow through. She shook the thought from her head rather quickly. That certainly wasn't something that she wanted to think about right now. "Какие еще вариант у нас есть?"

There was nothing that Natalia could say to him that would make him change his mind. She was right, he was stubborn. There were plenty of others within this facility that he could fight, those who were happy to be here, and happy to fight him. But he wasn't going to bring harm to the closest thing he currently had to a friend. He had seen her fight others, and she was strong. It was clear that she had benefited from physical training as much as he had... But he would still refuse to fight her. "Мы не должны делать это. Мы не должны прислушиваться к ним."

Natalia was sure she was looking at him like he was crazy and with good reason too. She didn't know what these people were capable of, but she did know what they'd done to him, and that really didn't give her any reason not to listen to them. If anything, it was all the more reason to listen to them. "И так, что, если мы не знаем? Что происходит потом?" This wasn't really the time to be arguing, but she didn't know what else to do.

The look on Natalia's face drew a small smile on Bucky's. It wasn't the time to be laughing, or smiling, but it just seemed to be such a familiar look. It was one he'd given Steve many a time, and one he had seen the other Howling Commandos use. He gave a small shrug, "Они не могут заставить нас бьют друг друга." Something about the way Bucky stood, or spoke, must have come across cockily to one of the agents stood waiting for both of them to do something. It must have been undoubtedly frustrating for them, watching the sparring partners stand there without so much as a slap. "Genug!" One of them yelled out after a moment, falling into a firm stride as he made his way towards the two of them. "Wenn du sie nicht schlagen, ich werde."

Natalia noticed the smile. It was small, but she'd picked up on it, and it honestly kind of infuriated her. Did he think that this was a laughing matter? She certainly didn't think so. "Но они способны прочего." She shot back moments before one of the agents spoke. She didn't need to look at the man to know that they had angered him, and she certainly didn't need to understand what he was saying either. Some messages could be conveyed without a full understanding of it, and this one was clear. They'd pissed the guy off. Great. This was exactly what she was hoping to avoid.

There was nothing about the situation that Bucky found funny, but simply the expression he had received from Natalia. But now that the agent was making his way towards the both of them, the smile was long gone from his face. He was prepared to fight the Hydra agent, and he would do so with pleasure. His stature was immediately one of preparation, and brace. So when the agent instead went for Natalia, he was taken by surprise. Shock set in as he watched the man grab a fist full of red hair, yanking her head back with little remorse. His other hand came up to tightly grip at Natalia's jaw, his eyes fixed on the American man before him. "Wir haben keine zeit zum flirten. Sie werden tun, was man dir sagt."

Natalia didn't know who she was expecting the agent to approach. Though, when he came to her, grabbing a fistful of her hair, she couldn't help crying out. It wasn't so much the pain as it was the shock. She could defend herself just fine, but this man had caught her completely off guard. She struggled in the man's grasp, trying to get away. She was strong, but he was stronger. "Отпусти меня." She managed to get out.

"Schlug sie." The man snapped at Bucky, who looked as caught off guard as Natalia had. It was only in disbelief that he didn't react sooner. "Schlug sie, du dumm Amerikaner." Before Bucky even had time to process a single train of thought, his feet carried him forward, charging towards the pair of them. He caught a brief look, a smug, gloating look on the agents face as he erupted towards them. The next look he saw was one of shock, and panic, as his metal hand thrust forward to take hold of the agents throat. It was only then that Bucky registered he was stood still, Natalia by his side as he held the agent off of the floor. He couldn't feel the fleshy hands of the German clawing at his bionic wrist, his eyes watching the colour swell in the man's face.

Everything seemed like it was happening so fast. One second, Natalia was struggling to get out of the agent's grasp, and the next she wasn't. One second, Bucky was on the other side of the room, and the next he was standing there, his metal hand around the agent's throat. Her eyes were wide with shock, and for a moment she said nothing, simply watched as the man lost more and more oxygen. Finally, she realized that she needed to say something. If she didn't, she didn't think Bucky would stop until the man was dead. "Bucky, остановить. Ты убил его. Я в порядке, я обещаю." This was a side of Bucky that she'd never seen before, and while a part of her was scared, another part of her realized that maybe, just maybe, he was someone who she could actually trust.

"Он не заслуживает того, чтобы жить." Bucky muttered under his breath, although his hand soon loosened from the man's neck, allowing him to crumple to the floor in a spluttering heap. He wasn't entirely sure what had taken over him, driven him on to perform such an act of violence... It remained uncertain if it was anger, instinct, or simply Natalia. He had never liked to see violence against the innocent, but there was something different about this. There was silence in the room as he turned to Natalia, daring to be closer to her than he had ever been before. It felt as though another barrier had been dismantled between them, one that they had both been all too aware of before. "Он тебе больно?" He asked quietly, his hand coming up to brush some red hair from her face carefully. His fingers seemed to hesitate before touching her hair, as though he was uncertain in the action. There had to be a reason for his reaction... But if she could trust him, he knew he would grow to trust her.

Natalia watched, silently letting out a breath as the man crumpled to the floor. She knew that this incident would do neither of them any good. She couldn't imagine what would happen if Bucky actually did kill the man. She was silent still as Bucky approached her, surprised by their sudden closeness. She didn't think they'd ever been this close to each other. Oddly enough, her heard was racing. She shook her head. "Я в порядке..." She said quietly. "Спасибо..."

Bucky's bowels released as he saw Natalia. She was......she was twerking.