The first time Bucky saw her, he wasn't actually sure he'd seen anyone. It was just a flash of black and denim, brown hair, and Caucasian skin passing by at the end of the hallway. Could've easily been a hallucination, and Lord knew it wouldn't have been outlandish. He shook his head and kept walking.

He was headed toward the training holodeck - how on Earth Stark built a holodeck, he had no idea - and slowed when he heard music coming from inside. He sighed. Wanda knew this holodeck was for training purposes only. He opened the door, ready to tell her that, and saw the girl again.

It was a training simulation; she just had music playing in the background. She backflipped over a HYDRA droid - which was a bit impressive, because she was 5'4" and the droid was 5'6" - and used her lightsaber - it was an actual freakin' lightsaber, holy cow where did she get that?! - to slice its head off. The droid fell with a thud, but she didn't stop. She immediately resumed attacking the others.

She matched her moves and speed to the fast paced music pouring out of speakers that he couldn't find. He watched her smoothly, quickly, and effectively take out one droid after the other. The broken remains of the ones she'd already dispatched littered the floor, and she had to expertly weave around them. The still attacking droids kept getting blocked and tripped up by the shattered shells of their fallen copies.

She Force pushed - no, she literally used the Force; there was no other way to describe it - the last five back, and they hit each other and the floor hard enough that they shut down. The music stopped. She breathed heavily, and it hit Bucky that she was only about 15 years old. "5:58," Jarvis chimed before she could ask. She grinned widely, jumped up, and pumped her fist.

"Yes! That's a new record!" she shouted joyfully. "I'd like to see Hawkeye beat that." She turned around and saw Bucky. She took a step back, startled. "Sorry, didn't know you were there. You looking for me or were you here to train?"

"To train," Bucky answered. "Firstly, that was impressive. Second, who are you?"

"Well, thanks, and I'm Frostbite." At his confused expression, she further introduced herself. "SHIELD agent Nicole Skylar. Though, people refer to me by a lot of different titles. 'Fury's stray, the Jedi, the Firebender,' etc."

"Ah-hah," Bucky said. "They told me you were young, but I had no idea you were only 15. I'm Bucky Barnes." Her eyes went wide.

"You're the Winter Soldier," she breathed. She looked awed. She held out her hand for him to shake. "It's an honor to meet you." He shook her hand. He was slowly getting used to the title inspiring awe and admiration instead of fear. "Well, I'd better get going. Fury wanted me back at his office at 1300."

"It's already 1300," he replied with a chuckle. She went wide eyed again, but this time, for a different reason.

"Oh, shoot! I gotta go; he's gonna be furious!" She had been racing out, but she'd only gotten to the door when she said the last part. She stopped and bent over, laughing for a moment. "Okay, now I really have to go. I'll see you later!" she called. He chuckled and waved before starting up his own training program.

That night, he started doing research on her. He looked over her file, asked some of the other Avengers about it, and even called Coulson to ask what he thought of the girl. Coulson chuckled and said "I guess you saw her fight," before telling Bucky what he knew about her. She was a intelligent, energetic, skilled, powerful young girl. And yes, she was a Jedi. Or could've been.

She also seemed to bump into the Avengers fairly often. Bucky suspected Fury and Coulson had a lot to do with this. Eventually, she stopped by often enough that Tony surprised her with her very own room and Tower Pass. She was ecstatic about it, and squealed and hugged everyone who was there.

Who Fury and Coulson "teamed" her with changed every couple weeks, and when she was teamed with what Tony dubbed 'The '40s Gang' - Steve, Peggy, and Bucky himself - Bucky found that he became very protective of her, like she was his little sister. Whether or not she saw this was irrelevant.

She did, though, and gravitated toward him. She seemed to slip into the role easily, joking around with him, getting them into - and sometimes out of - trouble, deferring to his judgment when he had more experience but not afraid to take the reins herself when she felt she had more experience.

Bucky passed her room on the way to the kitchen. He stopped when he heard a guitar and an angelic voice. Pressing his ear to the door, he listened to her sing "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson.

"I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly. I'll do what it takes, till I touch the sky. I gotta make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway." He stood, listening for a while. When the song ended, he shook his head. Geez, it felt almost like he'd been hypnotized. He knocked on the door.

"Come in," Nikki called. He walked in and saw her put down the guitar. "I guess you heard me singing, huh?"

"Yeah. It was beautiful. Where'd you learn to sing like that?" he asked, sitting down on the corner of the bed closest to the door. She tucked a stray strand of her loose hair behind her ear before answering.

"Um...actually, my dad taught me. He said I have a natural talent for it, which, since I'm part Phoenix, I do."

"So, who taught you to play guitar?" Bucky asked. Nikki smiled again.

"Dad. All the way. There weren't a lot of things that were happy about my life after we left Tennessee, but there wasn't a day that went by without music. Whether it was guitar lessons, or playing the radio, or just humming to a song in our heads, there was music. It was one of the few traditions I haven't let go yet."

"Well, Steve knows how to play, but he's always ridiculously busy. I've wanted to learn how for a while. Maybe you could teach me?" Nikki nodded, and Bucky sat down next to her.

There were few things scarier than a ticked off Winter Soldier coming at you. In the minds of the poor, sorry HYDRA foot soldiers stuck guarding the door to the lab, there was nothing scarier. With a gun in his left hand and a knife in his right, he was 6 feet of concentrated rage. He pointed the gun at them, fixed his cold gaze, and said only one thing. "Move."

They parted like the Red Sea.

He walked through the compound, daring anyone to attack him, and promptly shooting those who tried. It didn't take long for everyone to simply let him pass. The 'Fist of HYDRA' didn't earn that title by being nice.

He broke into the lab, finding only one person there. Nikki, strapped to the table, half-conscious and whimpering like a puppy. The doctors and scientists had cleared out earlier, likely when they heard the Winter Soldier was walking through looking for their lab rat.

He tucked the weapons back in their holsters, tore off the restraints, and picked Nikki up. She was still awake enough to know who he was, so she grabbed and hung on to him like he was the only thing keeping her from losing her mind. He probably was.

He walked out without being stopped. Soldiers looked on wide-eyed as he passed, not one daring to move anything but their heads as they watched him. The message they took away from that encounter was clear: She was his little sister, and Lord help the fool who forgot that.