Chapter 4
Clint was talking to Nat in a hushed tone, “can we speed this up and my this as painless as possible”
Nat just looked at him. She was clearly worried for her friend, but she knew that they couldn’t rush his recollection.
The soldier knew his place. He knew that he was the muscle of the operation; the asset, not the interrogator. His handler would be getting the codes out of the target while the soldier got his hands dirty and his mind stained.
Bucky’s breathing was beginning to level out as if he was adjusting to the non-existent mask on his face. Steve rubbed a hand down his face— he still didn’t like this. He watched as his best friend was commanded like a dog.
“You will go to the third floor of the building and seek this man”— the hydra operative handed him a poorly taken photo of a seemingly normal man in the streets. They didn’t bother giving the soldier names or really any details… why would they? Bucky nodded in confirmation and examined the photo closely. “It’s going to be heavily secured up there, don’t damage our goods soldier” the Russian accented words came out in a disgustingly removed tone, the apathy was dripping from his lips. The soldier did not respond and did not move. After a moment, he handed the operative the photo and pulled his knife from his thigh as he spun on his heel. Before Bucky could get too far, he was halted. “Soldat!”
Bucky whipped his head around, suddenly rigid. He easily hid the gears turning in his head, quietly contemplating what he’d done wrong- what he’d be punished for.
“Leave no witnesses” was all the man said before he turned and left the room
Bucky instantly clicked back into soldier mode
Bucky’s heart rate had jumped, but as he released the breath he’d been holding, it righted itself. Everyone’s hearts were beating. Tony felt sick, like he was invading something intimate… I mean he was, but you know… for a good cause.
Steve and Tony made eye contact for a second, a silent acknowledgement of the stuff that they were about to see. Everyone’s attention was brought back Bucky’s memories when they heard the sounds of yelling and choking
The soldier ripped through the security as alarms sounded and the lights shut off. The only visibility in the room were the emergency hall lights and the red alarms flashing. Blood poured as his knife cut through terrified innocent necks. The soldier felt no remorse, no pride, no emotion. He used got to the door as a trail of bodies lined the floors behind him. The door screen built into the wall next to the heavy metal door flashed a yellow lightning bolt with “caution” written in Russian flashing. It was most likely due to the safety protocols of the bounding, but this door between the soldier and his target was charged up. The soldier looked up at the camera in the corner of the hallway behind him.
“Figure it out asset” an unrecognizable gravely voice echoed in his earpiece. Bucky knew he would pay for his hesitation later and the Soldier knew he deserved it. His eyes returned to the door and flicked down to his metal arm- his not yet vibranium arm.
“Oh my gosh he’s not gonna-“ Bruce said as they saw Bucky’s fists clenched into fists in the cuffs. He squeezed his jaw and then…
Screaming… the soldier heard the muffled sound of it, but surely it wasn’t coming from him. The soldier didn’t feel pain. The idea was that the mechanics of this door would be fried if he could overwhelm it using his metal arm as a conductor. The soldier’s entire body locked up as the high voltage ran through him
Bucky was screaming through the mouth guard and writhing in the chair. He arched his back and growled from his chest. He tended and huffed breaths as if his body now was being subject to the pain. The team was frozen.
When the solder dropped to one knee, throwing his head back; Bucky squeezed his eyes tighter and yelled loudly. It was the most guttural noise they’d ever heard from him. Steve was broken from his trance and rushed forward to pull Bucky out. Tony caught his bicep and yanked him back, “Cap stop! You can't pull him out yet!” Steve hesitated and looked at Bucky, fear lacing his features. When Bucky began screaming for it to stop through his mouthful of rubber, Steve whipped his head to the memories playing. he’s not saying anything in the memory.
Steve ripped his arm free from Tony, but made not move for Bucky. “I’m not letting him suffer Tony! He’s screaming for help can’t you see that?!” Steve’s fear was replaced with anger directed at Tony. “Steve! It’s his body’s reaction to remembering what the moment was like. Bucky was in there somewhere, this is just a reflection of that.” Natasha said calmly, it seemed to calm Steve a little too. I’m a much more civil, yet not totally inside voice way, Steve focused on Nat. “He’s in pain.” He said forcefully, in a tone barely under a yell. “He’s safe, Steve”
“He’s not fine! He’s far from it Nat he’s in pain, this needs to stop, he’s not FINE-“ Steve was rambling and picking up his voice again, but was cut off by Natasha’s stern voice.
“I said he’s safe, Steve. He is safe.” Steve’s eyes filled with tears at that. He knew the memory couldn’t hurt Bucky, but it sure was hurting him.
Through all the yelling, they didn’t realize that their friend’s writhing that turned into panting and low groans.
The soldier fell forward, but caught himself with a sturdy hand when the door whooshed open. He spent less than a second on his hands and knees, he couldn’t afford weakness. He climbed to his feet quickly, stumbling into the room as he did. It was so hard to breath through the mask, and his muscles were thrumming from the still sparking door.
He walked over to a wide eyed man, who did nothing to fight back except back away. Coward.
Bucky closed the distance and pinned the man to the wall. He waited for an operative to strut in and demand the code for the weapons system…. Nobody came. The soldier just stood there, he didn’t have free will, he couldn’t disobey orders. He didn’t know what to do. Never had he thought that a thick Russian accent through his ear piece would be a relief. “ Soldat, we have a situation here. Get the code and kill the man.” was all he said before the line disconnected. He knew he shouldn’t hesitate to execute the order, but he had a muzzle on his face and he didn’t have the right to speak to the targets. But… it was an order. It went against everything that had been beat into him. The soldier did it anyway. Maybe it was a test, but he took his free hand- his flesh hand- and pulled the mask off of his face, letting it fall to the floor. The soldier didn’t say a word, didn’t dart his eyes in confusion, he just froze. This was more paralyzing than the electricity he’d just endured. This was psychological; he could handle physical, but this?
The soldier’s throat was raw from the yelling- so that was him. His eyes were probably just was wide as his victim’s when he began to speak.
“дай мне коды” Bucky and the soldier said at the same time, both equally strained and gravely. He said it as if he didn’t know what he was saying, it was cold and monotone, there was no force in his words. “What’s he saying?” Peter whispered as he nudged Natasha. “He just said ‘give me the codes’ no threats, nothing” Nat was confused. The Winter Soldier was the most feared assassin and he was demanding answers as if he was unsure.
“I- I don’t know what you’re saying, I only know English sir!” The man was frail and frantic, and shaking like a leaf. Of course this is the man that has his info. Bucky stared directly into his eyes, intimidating him yet showing no indication that he’d heard the stammering man.
Everyone in the room jumped when the silence was suddenly shattered with “THE CODE!” From both Buckys’ as the memory one shoved into the victim’s throat and thrust his head close to the terrified man’s face. The Russian accent was apparent even with the English words, but what worried the team most was that the real Bucky was speaking in the same way. He was fully immersed in his own head.
His body was reacting as if he was in the moment all over again, only without the skilled concealment of his thoughts and emotions.
The soldier waited a second for a response… when he got nothing other than a fearful stare, he whipped out the knife strapped to his thigh and in one motion, sliced the man’s face. The guy screamed and struggled.
Bucky screamed a mixture of “no”s and shook his head violently as he simply yelled as the soldier cut the man again. Steve couldn’t take this…
“Please! I don’t know anything!” The man was crying now — pleading. But the soldier knew his mission: get the code by whatever means necessary. “Tell me or meet your maker” he growled through his teeth. Bucky could have been shaking with aggression, but he wouldn’t have noticed.
Bucky lined up the knife with the man’s throat. Both of them knew he would deliver on his promise, the winter soldier had no moral qualms about killing a non compliant man. Afterall, noncompliance is unacceptable to Hydra. When Bucky applied pressure, the man broke.
Tears were streaming from his shaking body when he choked out a “32862”. He looked so broken, so defeated. The soldier recognized this.
He sliced the man’s throat without hesitation.
Bucky screamed as though he’d been stabbed himself as tears rolled down his face. He yelled once from his gut, a blood curdling scream that belongs in horror movies and that would haunt the avengers tonight in their dreams. Then he was silent, the lines on his face smoothed and his body stilled. It’s like he’d been reset.
The soldier didn’t know what to do now, there were no more orders to follow.
He winced at the slight twinge as he thought of what he was meant to do with the newly learned codes.
tell Steve he’ll know
Who is Steve? He shouldn’t tell the codes to anybody except Hydra, right? Was Steve part of Hydra?
Bucky was stolen from his thoughts by an agent he’d never seen before storming in.
“Did you get the codes Asset” the man barked at him as if the question was an order. He was breathing heavy and his eyes were slightly widened— this was urgent.
Bucky hesitated. He just stared and blinked.
He didn’t even see the slap coming before it hit his skin.
“солдат, отчет о миссии” (soldier, mission report), the man was angry now; or shocked, Bucky really couldn’t tell.
Regardless, this woke him up and he almost robotically delivered his mission report with a flawless recollection.
“Good” the man looked him up and down as if trying to solve him. He turned to the Hydra operatives filming into the room guns blazing, “wipe him.” Was all he said before he stalked out of the room.
Strong hands immediately grabbed Bucky’s biceps, taking him by surprise. His body had a mind of its own and he tried to fight them off, he didn’t even know why he wanted to escape their hold so badly.
Bucky knew this was coming, why was he so against it?
The men were struggling against Bucky’s metal arm and superhuman strength. Bucky managed to free his arm long enough to land a punch on one of the men, sending him stumbling backwards gripping his bleeding nose. His victory was short lived, however, as another person yelled “knock him out!” And a tranq dark was emptied into his bloodstream.