Chapter Text
Sam slowly opens his eyes at the sound of somebody rattling metal aggressively. His eyes burn as he pries them open, the haze of being drugged slowly wearing off as he regains consciousness.
He groans as he lifts his head to see what was causing the head-splitting sounds. When he squints to try make out the vague outline of somebody, he recognises the glimmer of a metal arm instantly.
A small sigh of annoyance left his lips as he comes to terms with his situation. Not only was he kidnapped, drugged and imprisoned, he was stuck with the man he'd ignored for the last year or so.
Bucky clearly doesn't notice that Sam had woken up as he continues to rattle the bars of their cage and yell for the guards outside to no avail.
Sam wasn't mad at Bucky, per se. More hurt. The whole New Avengers thing left a sting of pain through Sam every time he thought of it. He'd confided in Bucky about starting his own team, and Bucky went and joined another without any kind of warning. Not just any team though, a team with John Walker of all people.
The super soldier took a deep breath and decidedly gave up trying to get the guards to come back. He leant his head against the bars, breathing slowly and controlled. After a few breaths he turned, Sam quickly shut his eyes. He was not awake enough for a conversation right now.
"God. What are we going to do, Sammy?" Bucky whispers, oblivious to Sam's feigned sleep. Well, feigned to a certain extent. Sam couldn't help but slip back into the warm embrace of sleep when Bucky drapes his coat over him. He was too out of it to truly analyse that. There are worse people to be stuck with, he supposes.
***
As Sam slept, Bucky tries to gain as much information as he can. He wasn't given much to work with though.
There's one small window, too high to see anything out of, but enough to see that it was still daylight.
The bars are almost unbreakable, not vibranium though, his arm didn't even make a dent. No escape there then. There is a lock, however, which means there's a key. He can steal a key if it comes to it.
The cell looks out into a hallway, void of everything. No guards, no other prisoners, not even a camera. Just a long, straight hallway with orange-tinted lights. That's a hell of a lot of confidence that they can't break out. Or perhaps there are defences outside that Bucky can't anticipate.
There was a loud whirring noise above them, blocking out any outside noises that could help Bucky locate them. No city noises, but no rural ones either. That's a non-starter. The noise sets him on edge and he can't quite figure out why. Maybe this whole situation was getting to him more than it should be.
He hadn't had any kind of contact with the kidnappers yet. Can't even remember being taken, but they must have planned this out, it takes a lot to knock a super soldier out that fast. Especially one with a tolerance for sedatives.
He tried banging and shouting to try alert somebody, anybody. An accent would help, what kind of soldiers they are would help, their age, gender, ethnicity, hell even their facial features would help. But, nothing.
Bucky felt himself getting panicky, so he leant his head against the coolness of the metal bars and took a deep breath in. His head was swimming, he knew Sam didn't want to be in here with him, regardless of how much Bucky's wanted to see him.
He turned to Sam just quick enough to see his eyes snap shut again. "God. What are we going to do, Sammy?" He whispered, might as well play along. He draped his coat over Sam gently.
He would be offended at the feigned sleep, but Sam doesn't seem to be faking for long. His breaths even out soon enough, his face becomes lax again. Must be some hardcore sedatives to knock Bucky out and have lingering effects on Sam. These people have them here for a reason, and it's clearly important to them if the obvious pre-planning was anything to go by.
But what it could be is anybody's guess. Bucky had laughably little information to go off. Hundreds of possible reasons flick through his mind, none good. He knows the Thunderbolts are currently finding them, they're all too co-dependent to not have realised that he's missing. They've probably recruited Joaquín by now as well, who will know Sam's missing too. They probably have more information than Bucky. Hopefully, anyway.
Bucky sat down next to Sam, ghosting his fingers over him, not actually daring to touch him. God, how he wished Sam would talk to him again.
But that's not important right now. All Bucky needs to focus on is getting them out, or at least how they're going to survive this long enough for their respective teams to get them out. Bucky has already told himself that he'll take all the punches for Sam. He's been tortured before. He'd do it all over again to keep Sam safe, and it's looking like he'll have to. Mentally preparing himself, Bucky takes some more deep breaths, keeping his new-found family at the forefront of his mind to try give himself some semblance of strength.
He could hear them all in his head now. A voice that sounded similar to a certain blonde Russian tells him to stay strong and wait for them. Bucky tries to hold onto the voice, becoming less scared with it near.
Another Russian voice interrupts and reminds him of who he is, the Winter Soldier. Bucky doesn't like to associate himself with the Soldier, but maybe it's time to stop pulling his punches. If it keeps Sam safe, then he would do it in a heartbeat.
A sharp British voice gives him courage to face his fears in the familiar mocking insults he's grown to love. Only way forward is through, he needs to face them head on if they're going to get out alive.
A strong American voice makes him roll his shoulders back slightly and sit straighter, preparing his body for the onslaught it's going to receive. As much as he hates to admit it, Bucky falls back into his old Sergeant habits when John or Yelena gives orders, complying without hesitation.
A more timid voice tells him that he's got a family to get home to. They promised to stay together, no kidnappers were going to change that. It gives him reason to stay alive.
But finally a deep voice with a southern twang reminds him why he can't just survive but why he has to fight. Only this time the voice is outside his head.
"Bucky? Where are we?" Sam chokes out, throat dry from the sedatives.
Bucky's surprised that Sam's even acknowledged him. "No idea." He breathes, sounding a little more wrecked than he'd like to.
Pushing himself up to a sitting position, Sam sighs heavily. He sways slightly and Bucky instinctively reaches out to steady him. His hands get slapped away with a clipped 'get off me, man'. This is going to be fun. Now feeling awkward, Bucky gets up and puts some distance between them.
"I've been trying to get information, nothing concrete so far. Most I've got is that this is clearly for a reason, and thoroughly planned. Plus, they're pretty sure we're not going to break out." Bucky relays his earlier findings, clearing his throat.
Sam scoffs a little. "Well I could have told you that." Bucky feels a pang of anger course through him, he's already panicking and doesn't need attitude right now.
"You know I liked this a whole lot better when you were knocked out." He grits out. "Maybe I should ask the kidnappers to give you some more of those sedatives. See if I care."
Sam just laughs, humourlessly. "Yeah, sure man. You definitely don't care. That's why I've currently got your jacket as a makeshift blanket."
A blush floods Bucky's cheeks and he snaps his head away from Sam's gaze. Not cool.
"Shut up." He mumbles. "Smart-ass"
Sam ignores his, quite frankly childish, muttering and slowly gets up on his feet. He's a bit unsteady at first, but quickly regains control. After looking like a newborn foal for a few seconds, Sam begins the same checks Bucky did. Window, bars, corridor, sounds and finally guards. He gets the same results as Bucky, nothing, which makes the older man smirk a little bit. Not so easy now, is it?
Sam scowls at Bucky's smirk and turns away. "So, we're screwed." Sam concludes.
Bucky shakes his head. "Nah, my team will already know I've been kidnapped. They'll be here soon."
"Why? Because you're so good at letting people know what's going on in your life?" Sam interrupts.
Taking a deep breath, Bucky replies as calmly as he can. "Because unlike some people, they care about my well-being." Bucky knows Sam cares, or at least cared about him, but still. He can't exactly say 'because they will have realised the moment I didn't come downstairs for hot-sauce-mac-and-cheese-lunch' now can he.
Bucky sees Sam clench his jaw, and prepares for a screaming match. However, Sam just takes a deep breath and lets it go.
"Either way, they'll be working on it now. I'll even bet they've got Torres with them." Bucky adds on.
"Why would they have Joaquín?" Sam questions, forgetting the previous anger.
Bucky falters a little. "Well, you know how he's friends with Yelena." An awkward laugh bubbles out of him because he's not actually sure if Sam does know that he's friends with Yelena.
"He's what?!" Sam yells. Okay, didn't know then. Yeah, that's on Bucky.
He winces a little at the sudden volume, and a little bit at the knowledge that he's going to get angry Yelena for a couple days when she finds out.
"Yeah." Bucky sighs. "They got close after a mission in Madrid."
Bucky wasn't entirely clear on the exact story of their friendship, Yelena was happy to have a new friend and that was good enough for him. The kid was a good man, so Bucky didn't feel the need to delve into it too much.
He could see Sam doing mental gymnastics trying to remember a mission they did in Madrid and coming up blank.
"He may not have told you about said mission now I think about it." Bucky trails off a little. Suddenly remembering Joaquín saying how Sam would kill him if he knew.
The look on Sam's face turns from confused to almost homicidal. "He kept a whole ass mission a secret from me? Why?"
Bucky winced again as more memories came back. "Well, let's just say it wasn't exactly low-stakes." What he actually meant was that Joaquín had dismantled a bomb in a previously abandoned O.X.E building containing a group of hostages. Long story.
Sam had his jaw clenched so tightly, Bucky was worried his teeth would break. "What kind of high-stakes are we talking here?" He says lowly. Bucky tries to come up with some response that doesn't throw both himself and the kid under the bus.
Luckily, he doesn't have to answer as he's interrupted by the giant metal door at the end of the corridor creaking open. Two soldiers walk through, full body armour, but no face coverings.
The first is an adult woman with pale skin and a jagged scar across her left cheek. She holds herself with an air of clearly earned confidence and carries a machine gun across her chest, an obvious ploy for intimidation. However, she carries it comfortably, clearly having used it before. Bucky makes a mental note not to mess with her too much, she clearly has a backstory that involves handling guns.
The second, though. A teenage girl, maybe 16, same pale skin but clear of scars. She holds her handgun shakily, fidgeting like she's never held one before. The closer they get, the clearer Bucky can see that her gun doesn't actually have any ammo in it. Yet she's still holding it as though it could go off at any moment. Inexperienced and possibly unwilling, but also not trusted. Bucky can work with that.
They walk up to the bars and Bucky rolls his shoulders back again, following what Voice-John had told him to do. Sam similarly stands straighter, unsure where this interaction is going.
"Can I help you?" Sam asks, with a familiar tone of derision. As though this is a big waste of his time.
The older woman shrugs. "Possibly." Bucky's eyes flicker to the teenager who looks unsure under his gaze. "But you're not the one we really need."
Bucky breaks his stare on the teenager and looks up to see the older soldier's eyes firmly on him. His skin begins to crawl at the intentions behind it.
"Then why am I here?" Sam questions, which Bucky can't help but feel his stomach churn at. He really couldn't give two fucks about Bucky anymore could he?
The soldier never breaks eye contact with Bucky. "You're here in case of," She gives a disgusting grin. "Un-cooperation."
"Un-cooperation?" Sam tries. Bucky cuts in to try stop him. He knows where this is going.
"Sam. Don't." Clearly they know how much Sam means to him, and the lengths he's willing to go to keep him safe. He doesn't need Sam to know that too.
"That humming noise." The solider redirects their focus. "Sound familiar?"
Bucky hones in on the sound, trying to figure out what it might be. When he realises, he feels his heart stop for a second.
He must show it on his face as the soldier just laughs in response. The younger girl stares into the distance, a grim look on her face.
Sam's eyes dart between the three people in front of him. "What?" He asks. "What does the noise mean?"
The older woman ignores Sam's questions and steps away, gesturing for the other to follow. "See you tomorrow, Soldat."
When the two go back through the metal door, Bucky falls to the ground and places a hand on his chest. His breaths become erratic and he tries to slow them down. He brings the voices back to the front of his mind, they all sound a bit blurry but they help a little nonetheless.
He knows Sam's saying his name, clearly worried. However, Bucky can't bring himself to explain what's going to happen.
After a few moments, Bucky feels his chest becoming lighter and the voices getting clearer. He holds them close, a comforting feeling enveloping him. Sam doesn't do much other than placing a hand on his shoulder. It still helps, though.
"They have the machine." Bucky rasps. "The same one they used before."
Sam doesn't need Bucky to explain what 'before' means. It's pretty self-explanatory. Which is probably why Bucky can feel Sam's hand twitch a little.
"But, the Wakandans fixed it all. Right? You won't turn back into Him." He sounded a little unsure, regardless of the attempt to provide some comfort.
Bucky shakes his head and explains how they don't actually know what might happen, they didn't try re-brain-washing him again after all. Maybe it makes him more susceptible to it. He doesn't know, and that terrifies him.
He needs his team. Ava would already be wrapping her arms around him if she was here. Walker and Alexei would be figuring out some way to break out. Yelena and Bob would be saying comforting whispers that would somehow work, regardless of how cheesy and overdone they are. Instead he's here with his biggest weakness that would probably rather die than give Bucky a hug now.
Bucky takes a shuddering breath and pushes himself off the floor. He doesn't have his team right now. It's up to him to get himself out. While he knows they will be looking for him, this whole situation just got a lot more time-constrained.
"We need to get out before they can get me near that damn machine." Bucky states the obvious, but it seems to snap Sam into Cap-mode. The two of them begin searching the cell top to bottom to try find some way out.
When they find nothing after what feels like hours, Bucky lowers himself to the floor and leans his head against the wall. "Sam." He says, quite pathetically.
Sam ignores him and keeps searching like a madman. "Sam. Stop." Bucky tries again. Again, he gets ignored.
The third time he tries, Sam whirls round. "No, Bucky! I can't just stop. Not when you've just told me that at any moment those soldiers are going to come back and force the soldier back into you!" His chest is rising and falling with a force that looks downright painful.
"Yeah, how do you think I feel!" Bucky snaps. How come Sam gets to be angry when he's not the one that's about to be tortured.
Sam doesn't back down though. "Exactly! So why are you just giving up?" Bucky clenches his jaw.
"Oh no, you don't get to lecture me on giving up." He grits out. Okay he's still mad, better get it all out now. He pushes himself off the floor and stands in front of Sam.
Sam gets in his face and squares up a little. "And what is that supposed to mean?" He says lowly, similar tone to his question about Torres.
Bucky scoffs. "Please. You gave up on me without a second fucking thought. Never even gave me a chance to explain or even talk to you."
He keeps talking, not really meaning to, but not being overly worried about it either. "If you had let me explain you'd understand that both you and the public were lied to. It wasn't some plan that was years in the making, it was Val's last ditch attempt to save her reputation."
He felt himself getting angrier the more he explained, remembering the way she offered them up to the press like nothing. Just pawns in her wild scrabble for power. "I didn't fucking want it."
"Then why stay?" Sam countered. "If it really was as spontaneous as you make it sound, why not expose her?"
"Because of them!" Bucky yelled. Silence fell between the two men for a moment.
"Them?" Sam questioned, anger dampening. Bucky took a deep breath.
"The Thunderbolts." He said, as though that explained anything.
"Thunderbolts?" He asked, more confused than angry. Right, Sam didn't know about the whole childhood soccer team thing.
Bucky waved his hand around a little gesturing to nothing in particular. "It's what we call ourselves, I mean my team."
Turns out the anger wasn't fully gone. "You mean the New Avengers?" Sam sneered.
Bucky threw his hands up in the air and laughed at the absurdity. "See? Why can you never just let me fucking explain without taking some fucking dig?"
Sam rolled his eyes, so mature clearly, which only made Bucky want to punch him in the face.
"Fine. You know what, knock yourself out. Avoid all attempts at communication and search this room a million times over if you want. But don't you dare say I was the one to give up." He huffed.
"Fine." Sam retorted.
"Fine." The other mocked in return. Okay, he wasn't exactly mature either.
Sam continued to search the cell in silence, never finding anything of substance. It was a pretty bland cell. Just 3 stone walls and a bars. But if he wants to look for nothing just to prove a point, let him. Bucky just sits back down and closes his eyes.
After a while, Sam eventually gives up and throws himself down next to Bucky.
"Find anything?" Bucky jeers.
"Fuck off." Sam bites back. "Forgive me for wanting to leave this damn hellhole."
The poorly concealed worry in his tone shocks Bucky. If he's honest he hadn't really considered what Sam might be going through here. Yeah, Bucky might be tortured into becoming the Winter Soldier, but if that happens Sam's in real danger.
"Sam. It'll be okay." Bucky lies to give some kind of comfort. "Trust me, I'm not giving up easily. It took them around 70 years to get rid of me last time. And this time I've got things to fight for." His mind flashes with images of his team, as well as Sarah and the boys, but more importantly Sam.
Sam blinks back tears of frustration. "I don't care. They're still going to hurt you." His voice stays strong regardless of him remembering the stories Bucky's told as well as the whole Selby situation. "I don't want to see that."
Bucky shakes his head violently. "You won't. And if it helps, they can't hurt me any worse than I haven't already been." Okay, maybe that's not very helpful but it's all he's got right now.
Sam laughs a little. "Why are you comforting me, man? I should be the one telling you it's all going to be alright."
"Because I've always been the more open with feelings out of the two of us." Bucky jokes, making Sam shove him a little.
"Oh yeah, Mr. Ignores All Phone Calls." Bucky doesn't point out that Sam's currently the one dodging all his calls. Best not restart the argument.
"I'm sorry this is happening." Sam says after a moment. "I know how hard you've worked to separate yourself from the Winter Soldier."
Bucky leans his head back against the wall and lets out a hum, not really having a response to that.
"What are you going to do when they come tomorrow?" Sam whispers, wringing his fingers together.
Bucky shrugs. "Not much I can do." Letting Sam get hurt isn't even an option here, if that means handing himself over then so be it.
"I know you hate me, or whatever, but just for tonight..." Bucky trails off. Unsure if he can really ask this of Sam.
"Just for tonight what?" Sam presses.
"Don't hate me?" He asks, voice quiet and timid.
"Yeah okay." Sam whispers back. Looping his arm through Bucky's and intertwining their fingers.
It's almost pitch black in the cell, Sam can't really see Bucky all that well, but he can hear his breaths becoming more deep and slow as he falls asleep, Sam leans his head against Bucky's shoulder and quickly follows. Tomorrow is going to be Hell, but for tonight it's just them together. That's going to have to be enough. It is.
***
Bucky wakes to the sound of metal screeching against the stone floor and Sam curled up into him with Bucky's arm through his and their hands held tightly together. Sam wakes up too, but doesn't move an inch.
"We're okay." Bucky reminds, whispering. Sam nods slowly and unlocks their fingers.
The same two soldiers appear at the cell door. "Well, that's just heart-warming." The older woman mocks. Bucky swallows all the profanities on the tip of his tongue. Don't escalate. Keep calm.
A key turns in the lock of the cell doors and the two soldiers walk in. They clasp Chitauri handcuffs on Bucky's wrists, and yank him to his feet. He keeps his eyes on Sam, not wanting to waste a single moment in the same room as him. For all he knows this is the last time he'll see him as Bucky instead of the Soldier.
As Bucky readies himself to be ripped away from the man he loves, the younger soldier gently places some handcuffs onto Sam as well.
"Woah, woah." Bucky says quickly. "What are you doing? You don't need him, you only need me." He sounds desperate, he is desperate, as Sam meets his gaze with worried eyes.
"Easiest way to keep you compliant, Soldat." The elder soldier explains with that awful smile that makes Bucky want to gag. That paired with the Russian name fills Bucky with dread.
"I'll comply. Just leave him alone." He's borderline begging now, but he's given up pretending to have any kind of leverage. "Please. I'll comply, I swear."
The soldier seems to consider it a moment. "Maybe if you comply today, we'll consider letting the Captain stay behind next time." Bucky struggles against the handcuffs, pleading and promising, anything he can think of to try convince them.
The younger soldier seems more and more distraught with everything Bucky says, but the elder is undeterred and orders them to move their feet towards the metal door at the end of the corridor. Bucky's pleas continue the whole time, as Sam grunts with every forced step he takes, the kid's gun pressing into his back.
They make it to an elevator and are roughly pushed in, well Bucky is, Sam seems to just be coaxed in gently. Bucky tries to reach Sam but is held apart from him.
"We're okay." Sam whispers, mirroring what Bucky had told him earlier. Eyes closed, he nods his head vigorously.
They're quickly shoved to opposite ends of the elevator, Bucky's guard keeping her machine gun firmly on the back of Bucky's neck after shoving him to the floor.
"Control your prisoner." She snaps at the younger soldier, who timidly tells Sam to get on his knees, similar to Bucky. He doesn't fight against it, making life a little easier for both himself and the kid. It's clear she doesn't really know what she's doing.
Their eyes meet and Sam gives a small nod to him. Bucky doesn't dare move due to the gun currently aiming at the back of his skull. Sam doesn't need a response though, he knows Bucky and he knows that he can survive this.
The elevator ride is reasonably short and soon enough Bucky's kicked onto the floor of something out of his worst nightmares. The room is laid out almost identical to the Siberian base where Bucky spent most of his torture-filled days over 80 years ago.
In the middle of the room, the chair connected the memory-suppressor machine sits surrounded by cattle-prods and whips. The sides of Bucky's face hurt just at the sight of it. His breath catches a little as he takes it all in. This was such an intricate plan, they must really need the Winter Soldier.
"Jesus Christ." Sam whispers from where he's stood above Bucky, who's still on the floor. God, he does not need Sam seeing this.
A man in a lab coat strolls over to them and puts a smile similar to the soldier's, and introduces himself as Dr. Suyi. He's got blonde hair and blue eyes, and looks eerily like Steve. He remembers how Pierce used to look like Steve as well, maybe it's all part of stripping him of his knowledge of reality.
Dr. Suyi tells the teenage soldier to take Sam to a small cage at the front of the room, which, unfortunately for Bucky, means he still has full view of the chair. Sam stays close to the bars when he's locked in and calls out to Bucky.
"Let him go, please." Bucky tries again. Maybe he'll listen. Foolish thought, but Bucky's desperate.
The doctor just shakes his head and explains that Sam's only there to provide incentive for Bucky to comply. As he explains, the soldier guides Bucky up off the floor and shoves him roughly towards the chair.
Bucky pushes against it, not ready to give up just yet. "No." He repeats over and over as he fights against her strong grip on his shoulder. She doesn't waste any time and tells some other soldiers in the room to use the cattle-prods Bucky saw earlier on Sam.
When Bucky hears the sickening cracks followed by pained groans from inside the inhumane cage they've forced Sam into, all fight leaves his body almost instantly. He weighs up his options. What's worse? Sam getting hurt or Sam watching him get hurt? The choice is clear as day.
"Okay, okay. I'll get in the chair." Bucky all but yells. "Just, stop."
The soldiers retreat a few steps away from Sam's cage and Bucky sits in the chair. His heart is pounding so hard it hurts and he can feel his breaths becoming strained. The anticipation of the pain starts to become pain itself as Dr. Suyi walks over and uncuffs him, replacing the handcuffs with leather straps on the arm rests. Bucky strains against them, but they hold firm and cut into his wrists.
Bucky's now facing Sam head on, who has pressed himself against the bars as if it brings him any closer to Bucky. Bucky closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath and prepares himself.
"Now, to begin." Dr. Suyi starts. "We need to check something."
Bucky's about to ask what 'something' means, but is cut off by another man in a lab coat saying 10 very familiar words.
"Желание. Ржавый. Печь. Рассвет. Семнадцать. Добросердечный. Девять. Возвращение на родину. Один. Грузовой вагон."
The words bring bile up his throat, not because he's turning into the Winter Soldier, but because he knows that because those words don't work they'll start from scratch. Meaning they'll beat his memories down until there's nothing for him to cling onto and will shove 10 new words into him.
Dr. Suyi hums a little, disappointed that the words have no true effect on Bucky's mental state. He gets over the disappointment quick enough though, and tells the other soldiers to hold his shoulders down.
Bucky can hear the familiar sound of the machine clanking down towards his head and he resists against their hold. One of the soldiers tries to shove a rubber bit into his mouth, but Bucky refuses to open his mouth. He struggles and fights against them, not giving them any kind of opening. Another soldier forcibly pulls his jaw open and the other shoves it in. Bucky tries to spit it out but they keep it there. Eventually the machine tightens around his head, regardless of his insistent struggle, and the pain kicks in immediately.
He won't scream. He just won't. He jolts and pulls and grunts, but. He. Will. Not. Scream. In a situation with absolutely no control, he gives himself control. They can do whatever they want, but they will not make him scream out in pain.
He repeatedly runs a series of numbers through his head: 89-80-30-86-88. He used to use his tag number, something important to him. It isn't as important to him anymore, also ironically he can't really remember it, so he decides to use birth years of the Thunderbolts this time. It's two digits longer and maybe that'll help keep him tethered for longer. He's willing to try anything at this point.
He tries to not focus on what's happening, maybe if he ignores the pain he just won't feel it anymore. It isn't really working, but still. Sam calls out for him, and Bucky can just about make out the teenage soldier at his side, refusing to look in Bucky's direction. She might be a weak link, she clearly doesn't agree with all this.
Before Bucky can fully formulate a plan to get her to help, he's interrupted by a pulse of sharp pain into his temples. His whole body jolts at the surprise, he still doesn't scream but it does remind him of where he is. He thrashes around in the chair as he's subjected to an onslaught of the same pulses, fighting against the leather cuffs.
One of the soldiers takes the gag out of his mouth and Dr. Suyi starts to ask Bucky questions. "So tell me Soldier, when were you born?"
The basic nature of the question shocks Bucky a little. "None of your business." He quickly says, still jolting from the pain.
He hears Sam yell again after a sharp crack from one of the cattle-prods. He doesn't dare look in Sam's direction, but he hears the telltale sound again.
"1917." He snaps out. He was really giving them the upper-hand here, but he can't really find it in himself to care when Sam is finally left alone.
The doctor hums an affirmative noise. "And your family, what were their names?" Bucky feels sick at the past tense of 'were', and keeps his mouth shut.
"I'd answer the question, Soldier." Dr. Suyi said with an air of faux-nicety as though he was giving some advice from God himself. "I'd hate to see the Captain get hurt because of your stubbornness."
And goddamit, it worked. "George, Winifred, Becca," He was cut short by another pulse into his head. The doctor clearly thought that was enough and moved on, not needing the other siblings' names.
Dr. Suyi smiles. "Anybody else important from your past?" He wants to know about Steve, Bucky concludes.
He takes a deep breath. "Steve is dead." While that's not exactly true, that's what they believe to be true. Bucky's not going to willingly give information they didn't need to know.
"Good." Dr. Suyi commented. "Now clearly the code-words don't work anymore. So, we're going to make some new ones, okay?"
Sam rattled against the bars. "No, man, not okay! So far from 'okay'!" Bucky would have laughed but the whole torture thing kind of took away the humour of it all.
"птица." The doctor said, ignoring Sam. "блондинка. призрак. звезда. золото. щит. луна. альпийский. девяносто семь. лодка."
Great, more words to bring him out in a cold sweat after this is all over. He's overly concerned with the personalisation of the words, especially the words relating to Alpine and Louisiana. They really have done their research.
As much as he hates to admit it, he's becoming weaker and weaker by the minute, the strong shocks and pulses draining him. He stops fighting as much against the restraints and his body moves much more with each jolt. He's sure he looks like a corpse being revived with shock-plates over and over again.
"Bucky." Sam pleads. "Fight back, goddamit!" Bucky feels his vision start to blur as the shocks hurt every nerve in his body.
He doesn't know how long he stays there, flapping around like a dying fish, but soon enough they decide they're done for the day and the machine detaches from his head. He doesn't move a muscle. Can't move a muscle. Just blinking makes bile rise in his throat. A few hands work to undo his restraints and quickly snap the handcuffs back on just in case he tries to fight. Not that he could even if he wanted to. And he really fucking wants to.
The teenage soldier unlocks Sam's cage and he immediately tries to run to Bucky. He's intercepted before he can reach him, but that doesn't stop him from kicking and fighting to try. Bucky's dragged to his feet by a calloused hand on the back of his neck.
His vision goes black so he follows the movement with no complaint. He stumbles and trips, but the hand keeps him going in a certain direction, hopefully back to his cell where he can lay down and finally let himself heal. When they stop, he crumbles to the floor and hears the ding of the elevator. He can also hear Sam trying to talk to him, he doesn't respond.
When the elevator stops again, the hand is back on his neck again and dragging him through the metal door he recognises as the one in their corridor. He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing their cell is only a few moments away.
When he's thrown to the ground, he doesn't try getting back up. The floor is cold and solid unlike his spinning head. He vaguely feels his handcuffs being unclasped and hears the cell door lock behind the two soldiers.
Sam doesn't waste a second and rushes to Bucky's side. "Jesus Christ, Bucky." He whispers. Bucky makes a noise of agreement. Jesus Christ indeed.
"Are you okay, man?" Sam asks. Bucky huffs a little. "Yeah, okay stupid question."
Bucky stays in his crumpled position, and Sam lays by his side with a hand on his arm, a silent promise of comfort when he needs it. When Bucky finally gains enough strength he flops himself over and curls into Sam.
"Don't hate me again?" He asks barely above a whisper. Sam brings his arms around Bucky.
"Okay." He agrees. Bucky finally allows himself to relax and closes his eyes.
He stays in a doze-like state for a few hours, never truly falling asleep but enough to rest. He wakes fully when he hears the creak of the metal door. Sam apparently hears it too as he tightens his arms protectively.
Instead of both the soldiers coming to the door, only the younger one appears. She stands awkwardly, holding a green case.
She clears her throat a little. "Can I come in?" She all but whispers.
"You're asking if you can come into the cell you put us in?" Sam asks incredulously. The girl looks down ashamed.
Bucky looks her up and down a moment. "I don't think she's the mastermind behind this all, Sam." He says.
Sam stays silent for a second but reluctantly agrees. "Fine. Come on in."
She lets out a small sigh of relief as she goes to unlock the door. She shows them the green case which is apparently a first aid kit she found as an olive branch.
"Can I look at your wounds?" She asks. Sam looks to Bucky, a question hanging between them.
"Only if you look at Sam's first." He compromises. The girl agrees and sits beside Sam who has now detached from Bucky and sat upright.
Sam pulls his shirt up a little and Bucky can see the red raw marks of where he was shocked with the cattle-prods. The soldier starts to clean the angry marks with antiseptic wipes before applying a salve onto them.
"This should soothe them." She explains as she rubs it in. "They only seem to be second-degree burns. If that helps at all."
Sam huffs a laugh. "Yeah, thanks. Makes it so much better."
"Stop it." Bucky cuts in. "She's only trying to help."
Rolling his eyes, Sam huffs again. Bucky just ignores him and thanks the kid.
"Am I alright to check yours?" She asks cautiously. Bucky agrees and she immediately starts to inspect the sides of his face.
She grimaces a little. "These look more like third degree burns." Yeah, Bucky had thought so considering the wounds are more numb than painful. She starts to clean them up, applying the same salve she used on Sam.
"Why are you doing this?" Bucky asks while she cleans them.
She stays silent as she moves onto cleaning the blood off his cuts on his wrists. "You clearly don't agree with everything they're doing, else you wouldn't be here patching us up." He states.
Still, he gets no response. "Okay, you don't have to answer. Can we at least know your name?"
The kid begins to chew the inside of her cheek. She covers his cuts as best she can and quickly packs all her medical equipment away. When she reaches the door again, she stops. "My name is Stevie." She says and then promptly leaves, locking the door behind her.
Sam looks at Bucky, clearly thinking the same thing. Stevie's their ticket out of here. The weak link in the chain.