You should have seen it coming.
After finding out about Bucky's life, about the people he worked for, you should have known that this was a trap.
You should have been more careful, more cautious when talking to strangers. Especially those with scarred faces and sly smiles.
You had just finished your shift at the company you were working for and it once again was past dinner time. There was a lot of work for you to do these days and you often didn't get to leave before seven.
After packing your things, you sent your boyfriend Buck a text saying you were on the way now, and you almost made it to your car when a man approached you.
He was wearing a hoodie that covered most of his arms and face and when you turned to him after he spoke up, you immediately saw why. His hands, his neck, his face, everything was covered in deep scars that looked a lot like he suffered terrible third degree burns all over his body.
“Excuse me, ma'am, I was wondering if you knew how to get to the next bus station.” He asked, a small grin on his lips when you turned to face him.
Of course he scared you, he looked terrible, one eye looked like it was blind and you didn't want to imagine what must have happened to him to suffer such wounds, they looked painful even though they were mostly healed.
But Bucky scared you too when you first saw him. His dark hair was falling into his face, he kept his gaze down and well, he had a metal arm. And you fell in love with him nonetheless, so you knew better than to judge a book by its cover.
This time, you should've run as soon as you felt like something about that man was off.
However, you knew a rehabilitation center for veterans wasn't far from a bus stop around here so you assumed he lived there and wanted to get back.
You pursed your lips for a moment, opting to just tell him no. It was dark outside, pretty cold and it was a quiet area you would have to go to. Then, you figured that if he wanted to hurt you, he would've done it by then.
So you nodded and offered him a small smile.
“I do, yes. It's not far from here.” You explained, locking your car again and glancing down at your phone. You saw Bucky replied to your text, but you decided against telling him what you were doing. It would only be a few minutes anyway.
On the way to the right street, the man told you his name was Rumlow and that he was some sort of veteran.
You were walking down the street where the bus stop was and once you reached it, the man held out one of his badly burnt hands for you to shake.
You shouldn't have reached for his hand, you should've accepted the thank you and walked away. Before you could realize what was happening, his hand held on too tightly and you suddenly felt something heavy hitting the back of your head.
You passed out in seconds, only seeing the man's sly grin before everything turned black.
-
When you woke up, you immediately felt a terrible headache, vision still a bit blurry when you tried touching your head. You could feel dried blood and a bump, wincing when you touched it. When you tried to stand up, you had to hold onto the wall you had been leaning against, frowning to yourself when you realized the wall was cold and rough. You blinked a few times, alarm bells in your head going off when you remembered what happened.
Something hit the back of your head and knocked you out. When you started seeing clear again, you realized why the wall was so cold. It was a stone wall, and when you turned around, your heart nearly stopped beating.
You were in a dimly lit room, and you weren't alone. Your ankle was tied to a hinge in the wall and across the room, a man turned to look at you.
“Ah, wonderful. She woke up!” He announced, earning a muffled groan from someone you couldn't see. As he started coming closer to you, you saw two more men standing by something that resembled a doctor's chair. You squinted your eyes a little and you felt like someone punched you in the chest when you saw who it was.
Bucky was trying to fight the restraints on his legs, arms and neck that tied him to the chair, chest heaving when he heard Rumlow's words.
You wanted to move, you wanted to help Bucky, but the chain on your ankle was pulling already and when Rumlow came over to you, you backed up against the wall, tears of fear welling up in your eyes when he grinned at you.
“What a pity that such a nice young lady had to be involved in this,” He sighed dramatically, coming dangerously close to you and laughing when you turned your head away from him.
“You should've taught her not to talk to strangers, James. Or maybe you should've stayed away from her in the first place. You put her in great danger, Winter.” He spoke loudly, making you flinch with every word. When he called him Winter, your eyes darted up, though. When he saw you reacted to that, he chuckled loudly.
“She has no idea what's going on here! Poor little thing, better let you know, then.” He stated, crossing his arms for a moment before he reached out to try and touch your face with his scarred hand, but you quickly turned your face again.
“I should probably introduce myself, right? I'd ask you to do the same, but I luckily know everything about you, (Y/N). Saves us some time here.” He muttered, and you felt sick when he said your name.
“My name's Brock Rumlow, as you might remember. Former Agent of SHIELD and team leader of the STRIKE team. Active member of HYDRA.” He started, blocking your view of Bucky.
“I used to work with your boyfriend over here, back when he still was HYDRA's super weapon. Unfortunately, after what happened at SHIELD, we lost track of our own super soldier and HYDRA was left with only a few members. Luckily, the Winter Soldier started getting more incautious lately, so we tracked him down again. But, well, we knew we couldn't just get him from the apartment he shares with Captain America, so we had to think of a way to get him to come here voluntarily. And you were our ticket. It just took a few weeks of observing you to know that there was something special going on between you and Winter and when you started working longer shifts, we knew our time has come. Bless your innocent self for helping a weak man like me get to the bus,” Rumlow emphasized the last phrase with great sarcasm.
“As soon as we had you captured here, we just had to let your boyfriend know. And well, he used to be smarter and more efficient when he was our tool.”
You felt hot tears rolling down your cheeks already because Buck had to hear every word Rumlow said and you could hear him trying to free himself in the back.
“What do you want? Now that he's here?” You asked quietly, trying to somehow keep yourself together as you looked up at the man.
“Well, as I already mentioned, HYDRA lost a lot of its power and those who are left want HYDRA's strength, power, influence back. We used to be an enormous group, and there's only one way to regain what we once had; we need our super soldier back. He's going to finish what he had planned for him.” Rumlow explained, finally stepping aside and back so you could see Bucky again.
“He- He'll never-” You started, shaking your head a bit as you looked at the man.
“Oh, we know. He'd never voluntarily come back to HYDRA. That's why we needed you here.” He continued, grinning at his words.
“We gave him the simple choice; you or him. We were going to torture you, right there on that chair, in front of his eyes. He practically threw himself on that chair to protect you. How heroic.” Rumlow rolled his eyes at the last word, then he stepped back to where he was standing before, next to Bucky.
You could see that they have tortured him.
His eyes were hazy, he was pale, he had cuts and bruises all over his face and his bare chest. He didn't give in yet, he was refusing to let them wipe him again. But he passed out twice already throughout the beatings because he couldn't fight back. At the smallest move, there were three guns aimed at your head, so he just took the beatings, the torture. He wasn't going to let them hurt you.
But you could see he was getting weaker.
They once again started putting electrodes on his chest and head, made sure he was strapped to the chair tightly before they lowered him into a laying position and turned the machine on. They were electrocuting him. Again. A normal person wouldn't have survived a single second of this, but he was enhanced. And they were going to break him. They were going to break his will, they were going to turn him into a killer machine again.
You wanted to get to him, you wanted to get him out of there, and you heard yourself screaming out his name when his body started shaking with each electrocute.
You were crying, your head was spinning and you felt like you were going to pass out again. You knew he didn't want to be like that again. He never wanted to be the Winter Soldier. He hated himself for what he has done and he hated HYDRA for what they did to him. And now it was happening all over again.
When the electrocuting stopped, they lifted him up again and he immediately earned a crunching punch into the ribs and jaw to keep him down.
And he was staying down. He blacked out three quarters through the procedure, and when you realized that, you started screaming again.
They were breaking him.
Bucky didn't deserve this. You were screaming and crying and trashing around, trying to free yourself to help him, until you heard his voice again. It was rough and strained, but he was calling out for you.
“(Y/N)-” Was all you heard, tears still streaming down your face as you tried to tug off the chain around your ankle. You saw his eyes turning darker, pupils blown, and you knew they were going to wipe him.
“(Y/N), please-” He called out again and you were sinking to the ground in desperation and exhaustion, trying to get to him, to help him.
But something was different this time. You felt yourself getting lightheaded, and-
-
“(Y/N)? Oh God, please wake up,” Buckly was nearly screaming when you finally jolted up, eyes wide and skin damp with sweat. Your heartbeat was going fast and you felt out of breath, immediately trying to hold on to the nearest thing and – it was Bucky.
He was sitting on the edge of your bed, eyes wide with worry as he held you by your arm and shoulder, immediately examining your face.
“B-Buck, wh-what happened?” You whispered, your entire body and your voice were shaking as you looked up at him, pupils blown wide and skin pale.
“I don't know, I woke up because I heard you screaming and I thought something happened and when I came in you were trashing around in bed so I tried waking you up,-” He explained hastily, he seemed just as shocked and worried as you were.
“Y- You're not- HYDRA's not- But Rumlow-” You mumbled, staring up at your boyfriend with big eyes.
“It's two in the morning, (Y/N). You had a nightmare.” He whispered after a few seconds, finally catching up on what was going on.
You stared at him in utter disbelief, but when you looked around the room, he was right. You were in your bedroom, the alarm clock was showing 2.14AM and Bucky was sitting there in a pair of boxers, looking like you'd just scared him to death.
“Oh god, I'm so sorry,” You replied quietly, swallowing thickly as you leaned in to wrap your arms around him tightly. He whispered something about not worrying about it against your neck as he held you close, soothingly rubbing your back as you clung to him as if your life depended on it.
After a few minutes, you finally felt ready to pull away again, smiling softly when he kissed your cheek a few times before he let you pull away.
“I should probably take a shower.” You mumbled after remaining silent for a bit, you had been so into your nightmare that you were sweating from all the trashing around.
Buck nodded and carefully helped you to get up.
“D'you want me to come with you? You still look pretty upset. You could tell me what the nightmare was about and then we'll have some hot chocolate?” He suggested carefully, causing you to smile softly and place a gentle, thankful kiss to the corner of his lips.
“That sounds like a plan, Buck.” You agreed, smiling down at your hands when he laced your fingers together and helped you up, gently squeezing his hand just to make sure you really were up now.
Bucky was there and he was safe.