Chapter 5
Now
When he’d come home from his medical appointment, looking like a ghost, smelling of some kind of cheap vodka and his pupils the size of pinpoints, well. That’s when Sam’s concern turned to genuine alarm.
Steve had entrusted him with a duty. That duty was to look out for Bucky. “There are things you don’t know about him. But he’s a good man. And he’s worth saving.”
Sam was all out of answers. But he thought he might know where to find them.
Sharon’s voice on the phone sounded terse at best. “What do you want, Sam?”
He explained as best he could what was going on. He told Sharon about Bucky putting his fist through a window. About the drugs and the nightmares.
Sharon sighed. “So…you’re worried about having a Winter Soldier sized nuke on your hands. If that’s the case, why not just turn him over to Shield and let them put him in deep freeze a while?”
Sam had thought about it. It was a tempting idea. But, as he told Sharon, “He’s not that anymore, Sharon. But I’m worried. About him. Steve told me - told both of us - that we had to watch out for each other. So even if I’m not the dude’s biggest fan? Steve was.”
“OK,” she said softly. The mention of Steve’s name had caused a notable shift in the tone of her voice. “All I know,” she said, “is that Steve told me to watch out for the Winter Soldier. And if it ever looked like there was even a chance that he might be coming back, to open this file he gave me. You on your computer? I’m sending it to you.”
Sam opened his laptop and waited for the email to arrived. When it did, he clicked download. He saw it was a zip file - the file was named: “In Case of Emergency, Break Glass.”
“I don’t think I want to know what’s in there,” said Sharon. “So, unless I need to know…keep it to yourself, OK?”
“10-4,” said Sam. Then he paused. “Take care of yourself Sharon, okay?”
“You too, Sam.” Her voice was quiet.
Once they’d hung up, Sam checked the apartment twice to make sure Bucky wasn’t eavesdropping. Then he opened the zip file.
The first file appeared to be a video. It was entitled “play me.”
When Steve’s face appeared on his screen, Sam felt like a concrete block had hit him right in the chest.
“Whoever is watching this - Sam, or Sharon, or Natasha - If you’re watching this, I’m not around to look after Buck anymore. And now that’s your job. I know he can be a handful. But he is a good man and a good friend. You deserve to know exactly what happened to him, so you know how to help him. And it’s not going to be easy, I guarantee you that. But this file contains all of the medical records, police reports, and personal data relating to James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes. Now, you have to promise - none of this will see the light of day. This is for your eyes only. Bucky would be pissed if he knew I gave you any of this. But I couldn’t let it die with me. So, my friends…I’m entrusting this to you. And I’m trusting you to save my friend.” Then the video went dark. And Steve - Captain America - was gone again.
Sam sat trembling for several minutes before recovering himself enough to click over to the rest of the items in the folder.
It was thorough alright. Sam pulled up a document at random. It appeared to be a scan of a medical chart. There was a photo, and it was gruesome.
In the photo, Bucky lay on a hospital gurney. Someone pulled up an edge of the sheet that covered him to reveal a galaxy of purple and yellow bruises crossing his entire back. As well as what looked like burn scars of some kind, white and gruesome. The notes accompanying the folder were in German but someone had typed meticulous translations of the notes into the margins.
“Fracture of right clavicle. Multiple severe contusions. Damage to the spleen. Damage to the liver. Internal bleeding. Evidence of sexual trauma, both historical and recent.”
Sam took an involuntary gasp of air. He scrolled further down to a second of Bucky that accompanied the report. He looked the same - but his eyes were different. Vacant. His face was coated in bruises to where his normal skin tone was not discernible. The notes continued: “Fractured orbital bone. Dislocation and fracture of the jaw. Damage to throat and bones of neck. Subject is healing remarkably well, but we advise he be immediately transferred out of the Ekaterinburg facility and away from the perpetrators of this assault. The asset is too valuable to be physically and psychologically damaged to this extent.”
Sam looked again at Bucky’s eyes. It looked like he was a creature, desperate, barely alive. He truly did look like a cornered animal, a snarling wolf. Sam had known that Bucky had been tortured, but this? This was beyond the pale. Beyond what he’d imagined. Bucky was able to heal up quickly from these types of fights, Sam had seen it. So this must be the immediate aftermath. And it was painful to behold.
Sam understood now, the nightmares. The screaming. The reason Bucky reached for his pill bottle like a life line. Sam, too, would do whatever he had to do to forget all of that.
But what now, Steve? Where’s the instruction manual for this? How do I save him?
At that moment, he heard Bucky’s keys jangle in the door. He rapidly shut the lid of the laptop and took out his phone, pretended to be texting.
“Hey,” said Bucky warily. “You’re still up?”
“Yeah, this damn…cell phone game,” said Sam lamely.
Bucky just raised an eyebrow. “Well, so you mind shutting the door so I can get some sleep? It’s been a rough day.”
“‘No problem, man, no problem.”
Sam took the laptop with him back to his bedroom. As he lay in bed himself, reading, he noticed that tears were in his eyes. He pictured the man sleeping in the other room. Steve’s friend. Now, his friend. And his responsibility.
He would save Bucky Barnes.