Chapter 6 - Double Agent

Bucky banged on Sam's motel door, moments later Sam appeared in the doorway with a smug look on his face but when he saw Bucky's expression his face dropped."What happened?" he asked, his focus shifted from Barnes to the girl from the bar that stood behind the soldier's tall frame,"Pack your shit, we need to go now" Bucky stated.They were ready to go within ten minutes of Bucky knocking on Sam's door, Harlow had been worried that although she was the one that was sent to kill the Winter Soldier, she didn't put it past Hydra to trail her movements. She failed at killing him, he was stronger and faster, just like she knew he'd be. She wondered if Hydra even wanted her to come back from the mission successful or if the mission was just her long awaited death sentence.She was pulled out of her thoughts by Sam,"Tell me again why are we bringing along your assassin? Oh sorry why are we bringing along your failed assassin? No offence" Sam said with emphasis on the word 'failed'.Harlow sneered at him,"And what happened with the bartender you were talking to at the bar because from what I saw you were all by yourself in your bedroom, strike out?" she asked sarcastically,"No" Sam said defensively, "I've got more game than him" he pointed to Bucky who was breaking into a pick up truck parked around the corner from the motel, "The only reason he picked you up was because you planned to kill him" Sam said.She turned to Bucky, "I don't like him" she stated pointing a finger towards Sam,"Yeah, he takes a while to warm up to," Bucky said, successfully unlocking the driver's side door and went to work trying to start up the truck."Come on man, why do you gotta be like that?" Sam asked, defeated.They loaded up the truck, Sam jumped in the driver's seat while Harlow got in the back, before Harlow could close the door Bucky grabbed in and turned to her,"Wait one more thing" he said before quickly clipping a pair of handcuffs onto Harlow's wrists and attaching them to the car door."What are you doing?!" Harlow shouted, struggling to free herself,"You said it yourself, I probably shouldn't trust you, so this a precaution" he said, jumping into the passenger seat,"You said you believed me?" Harlow huffed,"I feel like you are forgetting that I was in Hydra, I know how they operate, show me you don't pose a threat to us and you won't be treated like one" he said, giving her a small smirk,"So what, you want to use me for information then, I've already told you everything I know" she said, giving her wrists one final tug,"Maybe, maybe not" he said,"I'm about to make this the most uncomfortable car ride you've ever had in your life" she said,"And how are you going to do that?" he asked before turning back around, triumphant.Harlow smiled before sending a swift kick into the back of Bucky's chair, he jumped when her foot made contact. She continued until Bucky turned around and gave her a glare,"You're a child" he whispered, Bucky looked to Sam but all he did was smiled back,"You wanted to bring her," he said before putting the car in drive and hitting the road.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"You know you never did tell me where exactly we are going?" Harlow asked as the car ride had become painfully quiet,"We are meeting up with Nick Fury at a rendezvous point, it was in case we found out who had hacked their security systems but I feel like he may want to know about this too" Sam said,"Well aren't you going to kill two birds with one stone, it was me" Harlow replied, "I'm the one that breached their security, I was trying to find out your location but funnily enough they shipped you right to me" she said,"And doing it in a place where everyone would look like a suspect, smart" Bucky admitted,Harlow's stomach fluttered at the compliment."I knew there was no way around them finding out someone had been in their systems so it was the only way I could throw them off my trail but I made sure they didn't know what I was looking for, so thanks I guess" she said,"And the whole try and get the soldier into bed, your idea too?" Sam laughed,"It nearly worked, didn't it?" Harlow asked, looking down at her cuffed wrists, "No it wasn't my idea, Mr Fastner gave it to me" Harlow whispered that last part, visibly disgusted by the idea of him. She looked up from her hands to see Bucky watching her from the rear view mirror before he looked away.Harlow noticed they had left Washington D.C and were travelling south, Harlow felt fine being in the car with the two men, it wasn't until they pulled off the Capital Beltway highway and onto a dirt road that she started to feel uneasy,"Is going to see Nick Fury some kind of code that means we're going to leave you for dead in the middle of nowhere or did he decide it was the farmer's life for him?" she asked, while looking out the car window to see nothing but dirt."No, there are plenty of other places we could have left you, why take the trouble to drive all the way out here?" Sam laughed, which didn't ease the pit in Harlow's stomach,"It's a safe house, middle of nowhere doesn't draw attention" Bucky said rolling his eyes at Sam's comment,Soon enough they drove up to a house that sat in darkness, it looked like no one was home, until a man in a long black coat appeared on the porch while the car came to a stop.Nick Fury walked down the old house's steps looking as pleased as if he had just witnessed his puppy get hit by a truck.Harlow swallowed hard as he walked up to her car door and opened it."So you know who I am?" Fury asked,"Yes Sir" she raised her eyebrows at him,He did a small chuckle under his breath before turning to Sam,"You weren't followed?" Fury asked,Sam shook his head,"Good, bring her inside, we need to talk," he said before turning and walking back into the house.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Harlow was taken inside the old, beat up house. It was caked in dust after years of neglect, the air was stale, nothing felt safe about the place.Still bound by handcuffs, Bucky lead Harlow to the top of the stairs that led to a basement,"Oh great, this just keeps getting better" she joked, showing resistance of going any further,"Shut it, go," Bucky ordered, giving her a slight push which made her carry on down the stairs with Bucky and Sam following.In the basement Fury stood waiting with a frown still frozen on his face."Follow me" he said before turning to face the brick wall,Harlow shot Bucky a confused look but then the wall started to come apart as it was revealed to be a door to an elevator. Harlow shook her head,People and their secret doors.They entered the elevator and rode down what felt like fifty floors until the doors finally opened,"How big is this place?' Harlow asked, mouth opened wide,"Big" replied Fury, as he walked ahead of them down a long hallway which led into a massive room filled with people and computers."Take her to one of the rooms, I'll meet you there shortly" Fury called out from over his shoulder.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After being placed in a room Harlow was interrogated for what felt like hours by Fury. Bucky and Sam weren't with him but the suspicious mirror that sat behind Fury seemed a bit too big to have just been a mirror so Harlow assumed they watched the whole thing from behind it.Harlow felt uneasy, she had told them everything she knew which wasn't much at all but the looks Fury was giving her felt like he didn't believe it.By the end of the interrogation Harlow was taken to another room, it was similar to the one she had woken up in when she was taken by Hydra after returning from the Snap.The handcuffs were gone but she was still locked in another room. She lied on the bed and stared at the ceiling, she had no control over what was happening to her,When have I ever had control over my own life anyway, she thought to herself.Harlow's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock at the metal door, she shot up and slid to the edge of the bed,"Uh come in I guess?" she called out,The door opened and Bucky appeared in the doorway,"What do you want?" Harlow sighed, turning her face away from him."I've come to speak with you," he said, walking over to her.Bucky pulled out the chair that sat in the corner of the room and sat down in front of her,"What, a final goodbye before I'm shipped off to some prison to never be seen or heard of again" she mumbled,"You're not going to prison Harlow" he said,"Sure I'm not, I'm Hydra remember" she said turning to him,"And so was I?" he replied,"Yes but you're Steve Rodgers best friend, he became a fugitive just to save you because he believed you were good, no one is doing that for me" she said defeated,"Sam and I vouched for you" he said,"Why? I was assigned to kill you" she stated, feeling confused,"You're no killer, Harlow, believe me" he said sympathetically,"But I was trained to, I've hurt people" she whispered, thinking back to the girl from training and all the other times she had hurt people while working for Hydra."Hurting people in training and killing people are two completely different things, look what's done is done, now are you going to stop throwing a pity party and listen to me?" he said,Harlow frowned, "Fine why are you here then?" she asked,"You're going to help us take down Hydra once and for all" he said,"Oh yeah and how exactly am I going to do that?" she laughed at the idea,"Well first of all I need to die and second, you're going to need this" he said with a smile before he lifted a hand up to detach his metal arm from his body and held it out to Harlow, her mouth dropped as she looked at it with horror.