Lia's POV April 26th, 2013

After meeting James for coffee the day after drawing him they had become inseparable. Calling and texting whenever it wasn't possible to meet up because of work or needing to sleep. He was so sweet and quiet under his gruff exterior that it was impossible not to fall in love with him.

And fall quickly she did.

Luckily James said he felt the same way for her. The last few weeks passed in a happy blur. Tonight they were having their date night at her house. The plan was a simple dinner and a movie. Basic, but enjoyable. And if things went the way she'd hoped they would be taking their relationship to the next level.

James and Lia couldn't keep their hands or mouths off of each other, but he said he was old-fashioned when it came to that next level of intimacy. Lia understood and didn't want to pressure him. Actually, it was kind of refreshing to find a guy who didn't just want to get into her pants, but she was becoming increasingly sexually frustrated as the weeks went by and wanted James in her bed. Or anywhere really at this point.

She was late in getting home after work. Rushing to get inside her house she tossed her large purse on the floor by the door on her way to shower, shave and get dressed. Lia only had about an hour before James was supposed to be at her house. He said he'd be there at 6 o'clock on the dot with take out from their favorite Vietnamese Thai fusion restaurant and James was never late.

Shower taken cared of, Lia practically tore her closet apart trying to find something to wear. She wanted to be casual, but still look nice and something that would be easy to take off if the mood struck them. She went with a dark blue sleeveless skater dress over the new sexy lingerie she had bought for tonight. Finishing her makeup in record time she rushed back downstairs.

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6 o'clock came and went. After twenty minutes she called James thinking he must have gotten caught up in Seattle's Friday traffic.

No answer.

She waited another ten minutes before trying again.

Nothing.

Getting concerned she called the restaurant to see if he'd picked up their order. "Lotus Fusion, how may I help you?" The familiar voice of Ken, the owner, answered.

"Hey Ken, it's Aurelia. Has James stopped by for our order yet?" She asked with concern lacing her voice.

"Hey, Lia. I don't see an order put in for you or James. Let me check with Trish real quick." He puts her on hold to talk to his co-owner.

Worry fills her stomach when he comes back and tells her no one's taken an order from him tonight. "Okay, thanks Ken. If he does show up tell him to call me to let me know everything is alright."

Ken now sounds genuinely concerned, "Of course, Lia. I hope everything is okay." With a polite goodbye she hangs up and tries to call James again. Leaving him a voicemai to call or send her a text letting her know if he was alright.

After almost an hour had gone by she decides to drive the route he usually took to her house to see if maybe there'd been an accident. Slipping on a pair of ballet flats by the frontdoor she grabbed her purse and her keys. Opening the door she stopped in her tracks at the sight of three men dressed head to toe in all black military uniforms standing on her front porch.

Gasping, she took a step back. Lia tries to calm her stuttering heart. Her immediate thought was that something bad had happened to James and they were there to break the news to her. Before she could say a word they pushed their way into her house. Taking her purse and keys from her they zip tie her hands behind her back. Finally her mind catches up with what's happening. Just as she's getting ready to shout for help one of the men jabs her in the neck with a needle and the world goes dark as she passes out.

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When Aurelia came to her head was pounding. She tried to rub her temple, but she couldn't because her arms were tied to the chair she was sitting on. Panic settles in the pit of her stomach. She tried to stand, but her ankles were tied to the legs of the chair as well. Damn it, what the hell was happening!

Lia takes in her surroundings. She's in a small dirty white room. The chair she's sitting on is the only thing in there. There's only one door and no windows. In two corners there are cameras. She calls out for someone to come talk to her. That this must be some kind of horrible mistake. Nothing happens via camera and no one comes.

What feels like many hours later the door finally opens. In steps two of the men who kidnapped her followed by another man. This man seemed to be in charge based on how the other men reacted to him. Also, the fact that he was dressed in a nice suit rather than the all black army uniform they wore. He was an older man with slightly graying reddish colored hair, a clean shaven face and hard eyes.

Before Lia could say anything the man in the suit spoke to both of the guards in Russian. Telling them that if she did anything stupid they were to restrain her by any means necessary.

First of all, she wasn't going anywhere tied to this damn chair. Second, they clearly didn't know she was raised speaking Russian so they thought she couldn't understand them. Lia quickly made them realize their mistake. "Если ты думаешь, что я не понимаю тебя, ты ошибаешься, засранец." (If you think I can't understand you, you're wrong, asshole.)

The man in the suit looked at her like she'd done something interesting. Switching to English he asked Lia if she knew why she was there. Rolling her eyes at him she said, "If I knew why I was here do you think I'd be screaming at the cameras asking why I was here?"

He smirks down at her before saying, "You're here because Barnes recruited you to become our next asset."

She looked at him in confusion and asks, "Who's Barnes?"

The man replies with an evil smirk on his face, "You know him as James Buchanan. Which to be fair is his name for the most part. His full name is James Buchanan Barnes. He was tasked to find someone suitable to turn into our next asset."

"No, that's not possible. James loves me. He wouldn't do this to me." He just watched her like he was bored. "You keep saying asset. What does that mean?" She nervously asks.

The man smiles at Lia making her wish he hadn't. He seemed to be taking great pleasure in her pain at revealing that James is the one who did this to her. The man holds up a folder she hadn't noticed he had. Opening it the man shows her what was inside. There were pictures of her and James together and separate. Reports sent by him on her comings and goings. There in black and white were reports on everything about her.

Her family, her friends, her job. It listed how she could speak Russian, Romanian and English fluently and basic high school French. It even lists Lia's gymnastic achievements from when she was a kid to her teenage years. Everything there was to know about her was in this file. She understood now that the man had been testing her to see if she would fake not knowing what they said.

"When I say asset, I mean our next assassin for the Winter Soldier program." He says casually like he's talking about the weather.

She shakes her head and sputters, "Assassin?! What the hell are you talking about? You expect me to kill people? I'd never do that!" The man just smiles and gives a nod to the men behind her before stepping back.

She tries to see what they're doing, but as she turns her head she's hit hard in the face and head by one man. While the other hits her repeatedly in the chest and stomach.

Their assult was so unexpected that she barely had time to scream as pain exploded all over her body. Lia's cries and screams for them to stop fill the room. Her pleas for mercy go unanswered. They assult her almost mechanically. Like beating a defenseless woman tied to a chair was nothing to them. It's not long before Lia's knocked to the floor still bound to the chair. The men switch to kicking her until she becomes an unconscious bloody mess.

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Alexander Pierce's POV

He walked over the the girls body. Leaning down to check her pulse to see if she's still alive. Finding a pulse, he looked up at one of the cameras and shakes his head no. Really playing it up he lets her limp wrist fall to the floor. He had initially planned on killing her.

Slowly.

Horribly.

Capturing it all on film for his Winter Soldier. He wanted to finally break him. Turn him back into the perfect soldier. As far as Barnes was concerned his little girlfriend was dead now. This worked well in Alexander's favor. He'd get Barnes back in line and back on ice and a new asset all in one go.

When he'd first read over the file Rumlow had done on the girl he'd thought to himself that she had potential to be an great asset. With her grasp of several languages, basic self-defense and her gymnastics training she could be molded into the perfect super soldier for his army. But he'd wanted to hurt Barnes. Make it so he never ran away again.

When he had tested to see if she would pretend not to understand his command in Russian he was pleasantly surprised by her spunky comeback. She had a fire inside her that he liked even though he would need to wipe it from her. Right in that moment he changed his mind about killing her. He wanted to turn her to Hydra's side. Make her into what he needed. The perfect compliant soldier. Better than the half broken man locked down the hall ever had been.

Standing up he wiped her blood off his hand with his handkerchief. He looked over to the men waiting for his next order. Telling them to take her to the medical bay to treat any serious injuries and to give her the serum before locking her in a cell.

Her treatment and training was to begin immediately. She would be something special, but first she needed to be a lesson for the Winter Soldier. He really hoped his men hadn't ruined her pretty face. That would be such a shame.

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Bucky's POV

Bucky could hear muffled grunts and crying coming from down the hall. Sighing, he dropped his head down to his chest resigned to his coming punishment. Part of him felt like he deserved every moment of pain he was about to endure. He had been stupid. He'd relaxed his guard and had gotten captured. He had been leaving his apartment to get dinner for his date with Lia when he'd been grabbed by the team of Hydra agents. He went willingly hoping that they didn't know about her.

He knew she'd be hurt when he never showed up and worried that something had happened to him. It was better for her to think that he had just taken off than for her to be taken by Hydra.

Since he'd gone willingly they only covered his head so he couldn't see. He gave them no reason to sedate him. They had loaded him up in a jet and had taken him to one of their bases. He recognized it as the one in Washington, DC. He'd been here a few times before. They were probably going to wipe him and send him back to Siberia to be put on ice.

A team of 10 heavily armed men had marched him into the wiping room, stripped him of his shirt and strapped him into the machine. It would wipe all of his memories of her. He was saddened by the thought, but he knew it would be better this way. It broke his heart to know he wouldn't remember her after tonight. Before they came back he tried to remember every moment with Lia over the last three weeks. Three weeks was nothing and a life time all rolled into one.

Every touch, hug and kiss.

Her face.

Her sweet smell.

The way she smiled and laughed.

He didn't want to forget her. He loved her. He'd never really been in love before. Sure, he felt like he'd been in love with a girl or two back in the days before the war, but it was nothing compared to how he felt for Aurelia now.

The door opened and in walked Pierce. "Ah, finally reunited with Hydra's prodigal son. It's good to have you home, Soldier." He smiles at him like Bucky had gone on a trip and had stayed away longer than he was supposed to.

"I'm not your son!" He spits out at him. Pierce shakes his head at him, tutting his tongue in disappointment.

"Oh soldier, you've a hard lesson to learn. I do hope you're comfortable." Pierce laughs at his own joke. Bucky just glares over at him. He nods his head towards the door as he walks over to a monitor on the wall to the right of the door. Rumlow and a whole squadron of soldiers come rushing in fully armed. All of their guns pointed in his direction.

"Now. Everything you're about to see happened because of you. If you hadn't run off she would never have gotten hurt." His words make Bucky give Pierce his full attention.

He crosses his arms as he settles himself on a stool and tilts his head to the monitor. Footage comes on showing Lia strapped to a chair in an empty room. Bucky could see her calling for someone, but he couldn't hear what she said because there's no audio.

It fast forwards until Pierce and two soldiers walk into the room. Bucky can see her confusion. Then her beautiful face gives Pierce a smirk. He can tell she's made a sassy comment based on her facial expression.

'That's my girl' he thinks to himself. He couldn't hear what Pierce was telling her, but the more he talks the more upset she becomes. He shows her a file. Opening it for her and showing her what's inside. She shakes her head no. Tears forming in her beautiful blue eyes, a look of defeat on her face. Then shock at something Pierce says.

With a nod from him the two men start beating her until she's knocked to the floor. They then start kicking her until they step back at Pierce's command. Bucky can see him kneeling to check her pulse. Looking up at the camera with a sorrowful look on his face he shakes his head no. Tears had been streaming down his face the whole time they beat her, but at that he lets out a cry of pure heart breaking anguish.

She can't be dead. Not his fată frumoasă. (his beautiful girl)

Bucky's chest heaves with sobs when he hears Pierce speak again."It's a shame that such a beautiful girl had to lose her life because you were selfish, soldier. I think it would only be fair that instead of wiping you we let you go back into cryo with your memory intact. This way you don't forget what your disobedience gets you. Sedate him and put him in storage."

Feeling a pinch in his neck from the needle he just continues to cry. They inject him with whatever concoction they had cooked up to put him out because a normal sedative wouldn't work on him with his enhanced metabolism.

It takes several long minutes to start working. The whole time he's sobbing. Calling out Aurelia's name over and over again. For once he wishes they'd wipe him so he wouldn't dream of her in cryo. Pierce knew he had Bucky were he wanted him. Broken and complaint. He'd taken away the only woman he had ever loved. He had nothing left to live for now.

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Lia's POV Length of time unknown

She didn't know how much time had passed from that first day until now. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Her heart was broken. James or Bucky, whatever his name was, had never really loved her. It was all lies so he could get her here. Every day they beat her. Putting her through a regimen of physical, psychological and emotional torture.

Every day they wore her spirit down until she stopped trying altogether.
Having given up all hope of being rescued or dying from what they put her broken body through she gave the man what he wanted.

"готов подчиниться" (Ready to comply)

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Alexander's POV Spring 2015

It had taken three long months for them to break Aurelia before she finally complied to the treatment. At some point during her conditioning the mutant DNA that lay dormant inside her was activated. It gave her wonderful abilities that he capitalized on. Her new abilities, paired with the new and improved serum would make her the best assassin Hydra had ever seen.

She could read minds. Control them as well as control and manipulate emotions and teleport to a degree. Aurelia took to her training like a fish to water, surpassing everyone's expectations in hand-to-hand combat and weapons training. Excelling specifically in knife fighting thanks to her unknowing lover. The soldier had been wiped when he was woken up and put to work training her.

As soon as she was given the green light, Pierce had sent her to take out as many of Hydra's opposition as possible. She had cleared more across the board in almost two years then the Winter Soldier had done in fifty. The best part was she didn't even have to use weapons to kill her targets. All she needed was her mind. She could break you just by glancing at you. Give her time to really concentrate and she could kill you with your own fears.

She became Zimniy Koshmar, Winter's Nightmare.

Pierce had taken perverse pleasure in naming her. He knew that Barnes dreamt while in cryo and because he didn't wipe him before he went in he knew that he would be reliving what he thought was her death over and over. Officially Winter's Nightmare was her code name, but that wasn't the name that sent fear into the hearts of every agent as she passed them in the halls. The name that paralyzed the opposition at just hearing it whispered out loud.. Krasivaya koshmar. Otherwise known as Beautiful Nightmare.

Aurelia was a very beautiful woman and her ability to show a person their worst fear. Their worst nightmare, over and over until they died; never even having to lay a finger on them had added to her legend. It had made Pierce immensely happy that he hadn't killed her. That is until two months ago.

A problem that even he hadn't foreseen was that her abilities made it so they eventually couldn't wipe her to keep her compliant. They apparently didn't have the the technology to block her mind from reading any of the agents around her. Aurelia would pick up their memories and thoughts about herself moments after being wiped undoing all of his hard work.

The last two months had seen her locked in a cell. He had them trying everything to bring her back under control. If it was the last thing he did he would make sure his perfect weapon was under his control again.
That is until Captain America, Nick Fury and Black Widow ruined it all. If it wasn't for her stubbornness he would have sent her after them knowing she'd have them all taken care of within hours. Instead he had to send Barnes and he fucked up and let Rogers slip through his fingers.