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Wakanda, 2016 – Several months after putting Bucky back on ice

“Is this going to hurt?” the man before you asked, observing you as you heated up the electrode plates with your breath before sticking them to the sides of his head.

    You smiled, looking into his clear blue eyes that stared at you in anticipation. “Not at all,” you reassured him. “I’m only going to check your brainwaves. See how you respond to some of these words,” you said, showing him a long list of Russian code words you had found and which had been frequently used during the Cold War by Russian spies and soldiers.

    “What if they’re the right words?” he swallowed hard, letting his eyes shift over your face. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

    “Don’t worry, Bucky. That’s what we want right? To know the words so we can get them out of your head and you won’t have to hurt anyone ever again.”

    He nodded slowly, taking in a deep breath. He evaded his eyes from you and stared at the single hand that lay in his lap. The king of Wakanda – T’Challa – had offered to replace his metal arm with one made out of vibranium, but the Winter Soldier had refused, knowing he’d be less of a weapon without it.

    In the past few month you had done numerous of test on him – though with no results – waking him from his cryogenic state every so often to test your theories in person and give him a sense of belonging. He had chosen to go back into the ice himself – afraid people would use his Winter Soldier conditioning against him and hurt other people – but you knew it would be good for him to still remain in contact with life around him. He’d lose his mind otherwise.

    “The guards are only a couple of feet away,” you said, laying your hand over his. “It will be fine. I promise. We can stop whenever you want, remember?”

    “Thank you,” he sighed, a small smile curling his lips.

    “For what?”

    “Everything. You’re working really hard and I overheard the other doctors say you’ve dropped your other research to help me. T–That means a lot.”

    “Of course,” you nodded. “Everyone deserves a second chance. I just hope I can give you one.”

    “I also appreciate the time you’re spending with me,” Bucky continued, looking up at you again, his blue orbs tracing the lines of fatigue on your face. “You don’t have to. I hope one day I can repay the kindness you’ve shown me.”

    You smiled. “You can buy me dinner when this is all over.”

    “That might take a while…”

    “That’s okay,” you whispered, your eyes resting on his. “I can wait.”

    A smile curled the enhanced soldier’s lips and he told you he was ready to begin the test. You quickly explained to him again what you were doing and how you hoped to see some spikes in his brain activity when you spoke the right trigger words. You knew it was a long shot, but after trying nearly everything, you were hoping you’d be able to find out what the conditioning sequence was. That way you would at least know what you were dealing with.

    “My Russian is a little rusty, so I apologize if any of the words sound off,” you said, before starting with the first page of your sheet. You slowly moved through the first the list, attentively observing Bucky’s responds and the results of his brainwaves on the screen beside you.

    Not a one gave any visible responds.

    You sighed, rubbing your eyes, knowing this was going to be a long night if you had to find more words to test on him. “Okay,” you smiled, turning the sheet of paper and looking at the first word and it’s translation. Longing. “Zhelaniye,” you said, expecting to see no effects again. Though when you wanted to move on, you could see the painful expression on Bucky’s face and the clear spike in activity on the screen.

    “Zhelaniye,” you repeated, seeing Bucky bite down his teeth hard, clenching his hand into a fist. You quickly looked back onto the sheet of paper you had in your hands and read the next word out loud. Rusted. “Rzhavyy,” you said, hearing Bucky’s heavy breathing as you hit yet another right note. You swallowed hard, looking at the row of words that followed.

    You continued reading them, but none of them gave the same responds as the other two had. A couple gave a small spike, like the first word had, but it hadn’t been as intense as when you had said the two words back to back.

    When you came to the end of your paper there was only one word left. Freight Car. “Gruzovoy vagon,” you said, seeing another spike in Bucky’s brainwaves and a pained expression on his face. You looked at the words you had circled, counting exactly ten. You didn’t know yet what the exact order was, but if these where the right words – the only words – you would have finally come a step closer to fixing the Winter Soldier.

    “Zhelaniye,” you started, observing Bucky as he clenched his hand into a fist again. “Rzhavyy,” you continued, seeing him close his eyes, grimacing at the word. “Semnadtsat’…” you swallowed hard, reading one of the words you had circled. Seventeen.

    “Stop,” Bucky suddenly gritted his teeth, closing his hand around your wrist roughly, pulling the list away from you. His nails cut into your skin and a soft cry of pain welled from your throat.

    You quickly pulled your hand from his grasp and looked at him in shock, rubbing your wrist painfully.

    “I–I’m sorry,” he mumbled, letting his eyes shift over your face, seeing the slight fear that glistened in your eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

    “You didn’t,” you sighed. “You just scared me, that’s all.”

    “That’s even worse,” he swallowed hard, rubbing his eyes as he pushed himself from his chair. “Put me back in…”

    “Bucky, wait,” you said, following him as she stepped back into his transparent cryo cell. “It’s okay,” you reassured him, as he leaned his head back, waiting for you to activate the cell again.

    “We could stop whenever right?” he said, looking at you from the corner of his eyes.

    “Yes, but–”

    “Put me back in.”

    You took in a deep breath, biting your lip before you nodded your head and activated the cryo cell using the biometric control panel. You watched as Bucky closed his eyes and a thin layer of ice covered the insides of the cell, the special cryogenic formula putting him in a suspended animation. You laid your hands against the cold glass and swallowed hard, knowing even though you had taken a step forward into your research, Bucky had taken a step back in his acceptance.

    In the days after the test, with Bucky back in his sleeping state, you felt guilty. You knew you shouldn’t have pushed him so hard. He had told you before he had no control over his actions when he was the Winter Soldier and never wanted to be in that position ever again; where he could hurt the people he cared about. You had no idea what went on his is mind, but you knew you had to take things a lot slower if you wanted to get the conditioning from his head. He wouldn’t let you close enough if you kept going like this.

    It had been a few weeks since the incident when you considered pulling him from the ice again, to at least talk about what happened and reassure him everything would be fine. It was already late at night and your colleagues had all gone home, apart from the cleaning crew and the guards. You were trying to work out the right order of the trigger words, hoping Bucky was willing to give it another try.

    You thought you had figured it out when all of a sudden all the lights in the whole building dimmed. The larges pieces of equipment hummed their dismay as they powered down. You looked up from your notebook, folding your hand from underneath your head. With your eyes you searched for the cause of this power outage, but in the dark of the jungle around you it was hard to see anything, let alone the power cables that stretched out over the lands.

    You quickly turned your head towards Bucky’s cryo cell, knowing it had a power source of its own, which would keep the enhanced soldier safe for at least a few days. Something in the back of your mind though, told you it wasn’t just a normal power outage.

    Something was wrong.

    You pushed yourself from your seat, making sure to put your book with notes on Bucky in the hidden compartment of your drawer. You walked out of the lab and looked left and right, not seeing anything suspicious, before you went to check on the guards on the end of the hallway. You didn’t know any of their names, but they always bid you a warm welcome when you came in to do your work. So when you called out for them and there was no responds, you started to panic.

    As you turned the corner, a soft cry escaped your throat and you quickly put your hands before your mouth, keeping yourself from screaming. The guards all lay unconscious on the floor. You kneeled down to one of them, feeling his slow pulse throb against your fingertips. You sighed relieved, though still feeling an overwhelming feeling of panic surge through your body.

    Your eyes shifted through the control room, looking left and right on the screens that had all gone dark. You cursed softly, running back towards the lab, knowing there was only one other person in this whole building that could be of value to anyone.

    Bucky.

    “How are we supposed to open this?” it sounded in the distance and you heard thuds echo through the hallway. “It’s bulletproof glass. There’s no way we’re getting through it.”

    “There must be some kind of key.”

    “Even if we can get it to open. How will we call upon the Winter Soldier?”

    “Let the boss worry about that. Just get him out.”

    You swallowed hard, hearing two men bicker with each other on how to get Bucky from his cell. You slowly moved forward, looking around the corner of the door, seeing at least a handful of heavily armed men standing around the cryo cell. Some were trying to get it to open, using crowbars and the back of their guns, while others trashed the lab in search for something. Most likely your notes on how to trigger the Winter Soldier.

    One of them looked around the room, his hands tucked behind his back, making no effort of helping the men around him. His gaze passed you and you quickly ducked behind the door, feeling your heart beat violently in your chest.

    “There’s someone there,” it sounded in a low whisper and you knew you had been caught.

    You thought about running, but you couldn’t leave Bucky here with these men. “What are you doing here?” you asked, feeling your hands tremble as you walked into the lab, trying to seem as confident as possible. “This is a restricted area.”

    The man that had spotted you – and was most likely their leader – smiled, observing you from head to toe. “I’m sorry, doctor,” he said. “I’m afraid we let ourselves in.”

    “You’ll never get it open,” you said, taking in a deep breath. “It’s designed to withstand a nuclear war.”

    “Yes, but you can, can’t you?”

    You tried to keep a straight face, but the smile curling around the man’s lips told you he had read the terror in your eyes. Before you could react, the man nodded at his colleagues to grab you. They pulled your hands behind your back roughly and pushed you onto your seat all the while you felt like your heart beat uncontrollably in your chest.

    “You’re going to tell me everything I want to know,” he said, walking up to you, “and then maybe I’ll spare your life.”

    “I don’t know anything. I’m just an assistant,” you lied.

    “Your clearance level says otherwise,” the man said, pointing at your doctor’s badge that dangled from your jacket. “Now. Where’s the notebook?”

    “What notebook?”

    “The one the Russians used to control him. Where is it?”

    “Who are you?” you asked, knowing you didn’t have the original notebook the man was referring to, but you couldn’t let him get to your own notebook either.

    “The Winter Soldier and I are… old friends.”

    “Then you probably know more about him than I do.”

    “Don’t!” the man exclaimed, slamming his hands on the arm rests of your chair, startling you by his sudden outburst. “Don’t play games, doctor,” the man continued in a calmed manner.

    “You’re Hydra,” you swallowed hard, seeing the red hydra skull that marked his forearm.

    The man shook his head. “I was Hydra. We do things differently,” he said, pointing at himself and the men around him.

    “I don’t care. I’m not telling you anything.”

    “Fine, have it your way…”

    The man nodded at the two agents behind you and you were suddenly lifted from your seat and dragged towards Bucky’s cryo cell. You could see the frozen soldier peacefully sleeping before you and tears stung your eyes as you realized you had failed him.

    “Open it.”

    “No,” you said, biting down your teeth hard. “I won’t help you make him into a weapon.”

    “Open. It,” he repeated, biting off the words and pointing a gun at your head. You heard a haunting click and knew he would kill you right there and then if you didn’t cooperate.

    You nodded slowly, lifting up your hand and placing it on the biometric control panel beside you. The system read your hand print and heat signature and gave an agreeing beep before initializing the defrosting. You could see the crystals on Bucky’s skin melt and the small cloud of air that circled on the still cold glass when the enhanced soldier regained his normal breathing pattern.

    You stepped back when the large glass panel slid away, a cloud of cold air enveloping you. “I’m sorry,” you whispered, staring into Bucky’s confused clear blue orbs. You were pulled away from him and pushed to the ground before you could say anything else.

    “Winter Soldier,” the leader smiled, looking at Bucky from within the cryo cell. “It’s good to see you.”

    Bucky’s jaw tensed as he bit down his teeth, his hand clenched into a tight fist. “What do you want?”

    “I have a mission for you.”

    “I don’t do that anymore.”

    “Maybe not yet, but you will. At least, if you want her to live,” the man said, pointing his gun at you, seeing the fear in Bucky’s eyes.

    “[Name], are you okay?” he asked, letting his eyes shift over your face, though seeing no traces of you being hurt.

    You nodded, feeling yourself being pulled from the ground again by one of the agents. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

    “If you come with us no harm will come to the doctor,” the man said, seeing the connection there was between you. “I promise.”

    “You can’t,” you started, fighting off the man that held you. “After everything, you can’t–”

    Before you could finish as sharp pain nested in your cheek and you gasped, feeling a tingling sensation spread through your whole face, the man’s hand burning in your skin.

    “What will it be, Winter Soldier?” the man asked, nodding at his men to restrain you this time. “I don’t like to hurt a woman, but I will if I have to and the doctor doesn’t strike me as someone that handles pain very well.”

    “No,” you whispered, trying to pull yourself free from the tight grasp the men beside you had on you. “Bucky…”

    “She’ll be safe?” Bucky swallowed hard, resting his eyes on you, pain frowning his brow.

    “As soon as we’ve left the country she’s free to go.”

    The enhanced soldier nodded slowly, agreeing with the man’s terms. “Okay…”

    “Good,” the man smiled, closing his hand around Bucky’s good shoulder. “Now we only need to fix your arm. Doctor?”

    “No,” you shook your head. “No.”

    “The arm is right here, sir,” one of the other men said from the corner of the lab.

    “If you would be so kind,” he man said, his brow slightly furrowing upwards, asking you to connect the vibranium arm T’Challa had made for Bucky to the Winter Soldier’s other shoulder. “Not a word,” he added, telling you to keep quiet. One of his colleagues handed you the light piece of vibranium and his boss nodded towards Bucky. “Don’t try anything stupid.”

    You grabbed it from his hand and took in a deep breath before walking over to the enhanced soldier. He watched you silently as you tested the hydraulics of the arm and slowly placed it against the hole in his shoulder, your hand resting on his bare chest. Bucky’s muscles tensed under your touch, though the arm fitted perfectly and with just a few tweaks it pulled itself into place. The fingers moved instantly and Bucky clenched the hand into a fist, feeling the weight of his new arm, making him whole again.

    You looked up at him and for a moment you saw a great sense of determination reflected in his eyes. His human hand rested on your arm and he caressed your skin softly, trying to reassure you everything was going to be okay.

    Not thinking about all the other men in the room with guns, you threw yourself into his arms, burying your face in his neck. You felt his soft touch as he pulled you closer against him, not knowing you were considering doing the unthinkable.

    “Zhelaniye,” you whispered, feeling how his hand clasped around your arm. “Rzhavyy… Semnadtsat’…” you swallowed hard as Bucky fell to one knee, taking you down with him.

    Longing. Rusted. Seventeen.

    “What is she doing?”

    “Rassvet…” you continued, seeing the enhanced soldier pinch his eyes shut in pain, though not stopping you from putting him under the Winter Soldier spell, knowing if you did it, no one else could. “Pech’… Devyat’…. Dobroserdechnyy… Vozvrashcheniye na rodinu… Odin…” you nearly cried, feeling Bucky’s tried grasp on your arm, trying to hold on to the last piece of humanity that still rested inside him.

    Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One.

    “The trigger words!” it suddenly sounded beside you and you were pulled away from him with great strength. “Don’t let her finish.”

    “Gruzovoy vagon,” you yelled, before being knocked to the ground.

    Freight car.

    It was completely silent in the lab. All eyes in the room rested on Bucky, while his were glued to the floor. Slowly, the enhanced soldier rose from the ground, his metal hand still clenched into a tight fist. He looked up at all of you, his jaw tensing as he saw the faces before him.

    “Bucky?” you whispered, picking yourself up, ignoring the pain that nested into your muscles. You tried to read his responds, but there wasn’t one for a long time and for a moment you feared you had messed up the order and instead had given Hydra – or whatever organization the men around you worked for – the tools to make Bucky into a weapon.

    “Ya gotov vypolnit’,” he suddenly said, keeping his eyes on you, a blanc expression covering his face. I’m ready to comply.

    “Good to see you, old friend,” the leader smiled, walking up to Bucky, laying his hand on his shoulder.

    Bucky’s eyes followed the man’s hand, looking at his fingers at they tapped his shoulder. Before the man could react his hand was folded backwards, the fragile bones in his fingers breaking as Bucky pulled them down. A cry of agony escaped the man’s throat and his men immediately aimed their guns at the Winter Soldier’s head and started shooting.

    With the vibranium arm he deflected every shot and walked up to the men that were firing at him. He got one of them by the throat and pulled him from the floor, before bashing him into one of the many research machines stationed in the lab. He ducked as one of the others came for his head and slammed his fist into the man’s stomach, sending him flying back against the wall.

    They were no match for the Winter Soldier and soon every single one of the agents was either unconscious or on the verge of. Groans of pain echoed through the lab and you couldn’t help but swallow hard as you saw the devastation around you.

    Devastation you had made Bucky cause.

    “Stop, Winter Soldier,” the man said, pushing his gun against your temple and getting you by the arm, motioning you to walk in front of him. “That’s an order.”

    You bit down your teeth, seeing Bucky’s eyes shift between his ‘old friend’ and his new one. “Do it,” you whispered, ducking as the enhanced soldier moved from his place, his fist ready to take out anyone and anything.

    The man fired his gun, but Bucky had already closed his hand around it, smoke coming from his fist as the vibranium stopped the bullet. He slammed the gun back against the man’s face, blood gushing from his nose as he staggered backward. With a last, hard punch to the stomach the man went down, his head hitting the ground hard.

    Bucky and you both walked up to him and stared at him as he fruitlessly tried to get up again, looking at you, anger filling his eyes.

    “You forgot one thing,” you told him, swallowing hard. “The Winter Soldier only listens to his handler.”

    The man’s jaw tensed, ready to say something, until his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness. You stood there with Bucky in silence for a moment. His ragged breathing filled your ears as he waited for your orders and looked at the group of men before you that had all been knocked down by the Winter Soldier, broken bones and all.

    “I’m so sorry,” you whispered, feeling a lump in your throat as you realized you had made him do the thing he had sworn he would never do again. You knew it had been to protect the both of you, but you couldn’t help but feel that Bucky was never going to forgive you for this.

    “Doctor [Last Name],” it sounded in the distance as someone called out to you for a second time. A group of Wakandan soldiers entered the lab and looked around the room, seeing the chaos and destruction the Winter Soldier had left behind. “Ready to fire on my command,” W’Kabi said, pointing up the tranquilizer gun and aiming it for Bucky.

    “It’s okay,” you told T’Challa’s commander in chief. “It’s okay,” you repeated, now turning to Bucky. You swallowed hard as his blanc expression glided over your face. “Bucky?” you spoke softly, lifting your hand towards his cheek and resting your fingers on his soft skin.

    “Ya gotov vypolnit’,” he said, seeming to stare right through you.

    You shook your head. “No, you’re not. This isn’t you. You know that,” you said, caressing his cheek. “You still owe me dinner,” you continued, a desperate laugh escaping your throat. “Please come back to me…”

    You let your eyes shift over his face, but there was no responds and you let out a shaky breath, knowing you had made a grave mistake. A small smile curled your lips, more for your own comfort than for his. You slowly pressed a soft kiss on his lips, feeling hot tears wet your cheeks, realizing you might never get him back. Not truly.

    You were ready to pull away, when a warm hand rested on your waist and you were pulled into a tight embrace, Bucky’s metal arm pushing you even further against him. You felt his soft lips against yours, a strange hollow sensation spreading through your stomach.

    “It’s okay,” he said, wiping the tears from your face, repeating the words you had told him only moments before.

    “Bucky?”

    He nodded. “Yes, it’s me. I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

    “I didn’t see any other way,” you said, looking into his clear blue eyes that stared into yours lovingly. “I’m sorry.”

    “I know.”

    “I thought I might never get you back…”

    “But you did,” he smiled kindly, wiping the hair from your face, seeing the bruise that slowly formed on your cheek. “The Winter Soldier isn’t stable,” he explained, reassuring you. “They used to wipe my mind to make me believe every mission was my first… and it worked, but now that I remember everything, even a small thing can pull me out of the conditioning.”

    You took in a deep breath, nodding at his words. “That’s good.”

    “Yes, but I was lucky you were there to pull me out. We need to make sure this never has to happen again. I don’t like it, but it might still take a while before you find a way to get the trigger words from my mind.”

    “You want to go back in…” you whispered, feeling his soft touch on your skin as he reassured you everything was going to be okay.

    “It’s for the best,” it sounded behind you and you turned around, seeing W’Kabi order his men to clean up the lab and check on the guards. “He’s more safe inside the cell. T’Challa has ordered more guards, stationed directly inside the lab. This wasn’t just an attack on you, Winter soldier,” he veteran spoke wisely. “It was an attack on Wakanda. It will not be taken lightly. You’ll be safe here.”

    “Thank you,” the enhanced soldier smiled kindly.

    “I’ll find a way to get you out,” you said, walking with Bucky and W’Kabi towards the cryo cell. “I promise.”

    “I know. I still owe you dinner, remember?”

    You smiled, nodding at his words, watching him as he took his place inside the cryo cell and leaned his head back, telling you he was ready. You walked towards the control panel and typed in the codes that would initialize the cryogenic sleep.

    “[Name]?”

    “Yes?” you turned your head towards the enhanced soldier, feeling a cold, metal hand close around yours and pull you closer.

    A soft kiss found your lips, a warm hand resting on your cheek as Bucky kissed you passionately. You slowly pushed yourself from his embrace and shook your head, seeing the large smile that curled his lips. You let your eyes shift over his face one final time – a shaky sigh filling the silence between you – before you walked back towards the biometric plate and placed your hand in the centre, hearing an agreeing beep.

    The glass door of the cell slid back into place. You could see the temperature drop inside the cell, crystals forming on the glass while a thin layer of ice covered the enhanced soldier, a satisfied and happy smile plastered on his face.

    You took in a deep breath, nodding at W’Kabi, reassuring him you’d be okay. He told you to go home, but you knew you couldn’t leave Bucky here on his own. He might not know you were there, but after what happened today you were eager to regain your research and get him from his cell as soon as possible. Not only for him, but for you as well. You had come to care a great deal about the enhanced soldier and you already longed for the day you could spend every waking moment with him. Feel his warm – and cold – touch on your skin and wake up in the morning beside him.

    You knew you would get him out. You had to. Maybe not today or even tomorrow, but someday…

    You would get him out.

THE END