Blurred Bloodlines

Pietro rolled his eyes. 'Really?'

"Oh yes, you two are definitely meant for each other."

She trained her gun on him, "Meant for whom?"

"Wait a minute, this is Pietro. He's an acquaintance of the Winter Soldier's."

The young woman looked him up and down before lowering her gun and giving a curt nod. "Alright. Well, lead us out of here, jokester."

He gave a nod, "Yes, ma'am. Right this way. Don't worry about the other guards, they are a little occupied."

As they stepped into the hall, Syrena lifted her gun at the crimson tendrils swirling in the air around her.

"What the hell are these things?"

Pietro turned to her and smirked, "This is the product of my sister's 'gift'. She can use her powers to persuade people to do things they normally wouldn't do. That's how we're able to just walk past them."

She lowered her gun, but kept it cocked at her side. "Sure..."

They followed Pietro out the main doors and saw that the grounds were filled with guards laying down unconscious a few feet from Wanda.

Steve was standing right next to her, holding his shield at the ready.

Syrena threw an arm up to shield her eyes from the bright light of the outdoors. She uncocked her gun and stumbled a few steps before crumpling to her knees. The gun fell to the gravel and her hands clutched at the earth as she took great gasping breaths of fresh air.

'Seventeen years.'

"I haven't been outside in seventeen years..." She croaked.

Steve looked down at her and frowned at her words. "Well, it won't happen again. I promise you that."

"You can't promise that. Not even moya zvezda could promise that, so what makes you so sure you can?" She snorted before she finally looked up at him. She gasped.

"Because I never give up and I know for a fact Bucky doesn't either. My name's Steve. I'm C-"

"Captain America. Yeah, I know who you are. You're Hydra's number one target. Me and my love were training to kill you."

Cap gripped his shield, "And now?"

Her eyes hardened and the anger he saw there made him wince.

"Now Hydra will pay. They shouldn't have kidnapped my daughter and taken moya zvezda from me."

Wanda turned her eyes to Syrena and nodded, "We mustn't stay here any longer. We should return to the safehouse. Who knows-"

A shot rang out and Pietro watched in slow motion as his sister's body jerks from the impact of the bullet and crumples to the ground. Syrena grabs the dropped gun, jumping forward to tackle her to the ground, before she turns and fires the gun twice.

Steve watches in horror and slight awe as the sniper falls from his perch....100 meters across the way.

She had just killed that sniper with a handgun 100 meters away.

"Damn sniper doesn't know how to shoot. She's been hit in the stomach, it doesn't look like its hit anything fatal, but I'll still heal her."

Pietro looks at her strangely, "What do you mean heal her? You don't have any medical supplies with you."

"Kid, you still have a lot to learn." She places her hands on the dirt on either side of Wanda and closes her eyes in concentration.

They all watch in awe as the ground around Wanda begins to glow. The glow sinks into Syrena's hands and disappears. She then places her hands over the wound and presses down slightly, ripping a pained groan from Wanda's lips. The light re-emerges before sinking into the wound. As it does, the bleeding slows and the skin slowly knits back together.

"You'll still have a scar, but it's better than bleeding to death, isn't it?"

Wanda nodded, "Scars are nothing. Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She moved to stand up but lurched forward at the last second. She wouldn't slammed into the ground if it wasn't for Pietro's speed at catching her. He lifted her up into his arms and noticed how light she was.

"She's passed out from exhaustion more than likely. What should I do Captain."

Steve shook his head, "Since you have her, go ahead and take her to the safehouse where Hank and Bucky are. I think seeing a familiar face when she wakes up will put her in a better mood. We'll be there shortly."

The speedster nodded, "Yes, Captain." And in a split second he was gone.

Steve pressed a finger to his com, "Hank, Pietro's inbound. He has Syrena with him. She's unconcious."

'I think we're going to have to have a talk, Buck.'

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

Bucky's stomach was in knots and he could hardly sit still, much to the displeasure of Hank.

"Calm down, sergeant. You'll see her soon enough."

"Yeah, I know, but the last time we saw each other..."He ran a hand through his hair. "I was a much different person than I am now. I was an assassin. Hydra's lap-dog. They would say 'heel' and I would heel. They said kill...."

"You'd kill? No matter the target, right?"

"Someone once asked me if I remembered the people I killed."

Hank's eyes widened, "Do you?"

Bucky's eyes shone with unshed tears, "I remember all of them, but the one I regret the most...." He took a deep breath and shook his head, "I killed Howard and Maria Stark."

Dr. Pym's hands curled into fists at his sides. "It was marked down as an accident."

"I was told to make it look like an accident. A well-placed bullet made the tire blow out."

Hank inhaled and let it out in a long exhale, "I should yell and scream, or at least try to kill you...I bet a lot of people have done the same, right?"

Bucky nodded.

"Well, I won't."

The younger man looked up at him in shock.

Hank shrugged, "You weren't the one in control, they were. I know Hydra, son, and they will do anything, USE anything in their arsenal as a means to their end. Yeah, I'm angry as hell, but not at you. So don't beat yourself up about it, okay?"

Hank's com crackled to life and Steve's voice could be heard on the other side.

"Hank, Pietro's inbound. She has Syrena with him. She's unconscious."

Bucky tried getting up but stopped when Hank gave him a pointed look.

"Don't you dare, son. You stay put."

"But Syrena-"

The door flew open and Pietro was standing right in front of him, cradling Syrena in his arms.

The former assassin held his breath at seeing Syrena's face again. She looked the same as she did in the video that started all this. Her hair was long and a deep rich chocolate brown and her body still held the softened curves of motherhood. He swallowed hard at that thought.

They had conceived and had a child together.

A child that they now had to save from the clutches of Viper.

The speedster's voice cut through his thoughts. "Is there someplace I can set her?"

Hank motioned to the couch next to Bucky's chair. "I think It would be best if you set her there. Here let me move a few things..."

He removed all the cushions but one, leaving that to support Syrena's head.

Pietro gently laid her down and looked at Bucky. "She's not wounded. She healed Wanda though."

He got a shocked look at that.

"She healed her? What happened?"

"Sniper, but she got him and with a handgun 100 meters away...."

Bucky shook his head, "that's nothing. She can make the same shot at 1000 meters and hit her mark dead center."

Hank looked shocked this time, "How do you know that?"

"Because I taught her to."

"Well, that certainly explains things." A voice said from the door.

Bucky turned and noticed the questioning look Steve was giving him.

His eyes dropped to the floor, "Hydra wanted soldiers that could kill from any distance and any vantage point. We had to mark and take out our targets as soon as we found them and then disappear just as fast, making sure to leave no trace. And absolutely no witnesses."

"But you broke that rule."

"Yeah. Well, when I had found her, she put a kitchen knife in my left arm and disabled it. That was a pretty good move for a seven year old. So I took her with me and trained her. She became the Winter's Wolf. Moy malen'kiy volk."

Steve gave him an odd look and Wanda smiled.

"It means 'my little wolf' Captain."

A low groan caught their attention and they all turned to watch the young woman as she twitched and turned onto her side.

Her eyes opened and familiar green eyes stared blankly at the room. He shifted in his seat and the green eyes cleared and focused on him. They widened and she gave a gasp, and jumped up to a sitting position. She swayed as the motion caused a wave of dizziness to hit her. She clutched the couch to steady her and when the dizziness passed, she stood and took a step towards him.

He reached a hand out to her, "Moy malen'kiy volk? Syrena?"

She clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her sob. "Moya zvezda? You're really here? I'm not imagining it?"

Bucky shook his head, "Net, moy malen'kiy boyets. I'm really here."

She slapped him.

"Seventeen years! Why did it take seventeen years to come get me?!"

Bucky's eyes hardened and he shakily stood, looking down at her with hardened eyes. She took a step back.

Steve moved to take a step forward but was stopped by Hank's hand on his arm. He looked at the doctor questioningly, but only received a shake of the head in response.

He understood the silent reply, 'Don't interfere.'

The former assassin's voice was deadly calm as he replied, "I was too busy having my memory wiped every 6 weeks, sometimes every three weeks. It all depended on how quickly the wipe would be broken. It took me nearly beating Steve to death for it to finally be broken. And even then I wasn't free, not with those trigger words floating around in my mind. And damn it, I'm sorry! I-"

Bucky was cut short when she took a step forward and gripping his shirt with both hands, yanked him forward and slammed their lips together.

He groaned.

This he remembered more clearly than the other memories of her. She always kissed with fire and aggression. And he remembered letting himself be burnt numerous times.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled their mouths apart. "I'm sorry. I should've fought that day. I should've killed that bastard right then and there."

She smiled sadly, "He was holding a gun to her head, my love. He would've killed her. You made the right decision although it was a painful one for all of us."

Bucky pressed another kiss to her lips.

She shook her head. "Now you had mentioned in your message that our daughter is alive but its complicated? How complicated?"

"Viper has her."

Syrena took a step back from him breathing heavily and snarled in anger, "Viper!? How did that deceptive bitch get a hold of our daughter?!"

"Strucker gave her to Viper after an incident at his facility occurred."

Pietro wanted the floor to open up and swallow him in that moment. He knew what was coming and Syrena still had her gun. He swallowed hard.

His sister grabbed his hand and gave him a soft smile.

As if saying, 'I'm here, brother. We will face this together.'

"What incident?"

"Wanda and Pietro were-are friends with Becky. Well, Strucker found Pietro and Becky in a compromising position."

Pietro snorted, 'Compromising...sure.'

Syrena's eyes fell on him and narrowed. "Strucker found you two in bed, didn't he?"

'Well, I'm a dead man.'

He nodded.

He was suddenly very confused when she smirked and shook her head. "Sounds like us a time or two when we were under Strucker's command. Well, at least she choose a cute one."

Bucky stared at her in silent shock. "What? Syrena, they slept together and you're okay with it?"

She shrugged, smirking playfully at him. "Oh its not like we didn't sneak around either. Or do you need me to recount all the times we were caught? I think the most memorable one was that boiler room at the Slovenian embassy, you remember that one?"

Steve's jaw dropped and he shook his head as a chuckle escaped him. He received a glare from his friend. He held up his hands.

"Sorry Buck, but its a little funny. I think this is the first time that I've known you that I've ever seen you blush."

Syrena threw her head back and laughed. When her laughter died down she surged forward, grabbing Pietro and slamming him into the wall behind him.

"I don't care about what you and my daughter do in private, but hurt her and they will find your body piece by piece over the course of the next 5 years. Got it?"

Pietro furiously shook his head in assent.

"Y-yes ma'am."

She patted his cheek, "Good boy."

She released her grip and he dropped to his feet as she had lifted him a foot off the ground during her threat.

Syrena turned to Bucky and smiled, "So, 'Bucky', when do we leave?"

Notes