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Handcuffs were tightened around his wrists and behind his back but he ignored the discomfort. This pain was nothing compared to that which HYDRA had inflicted upon him in the Memory Suppressing Machine. Bucky Barnes' long hair covered his face as he was walking through the prison hallway while a group of armed guards surrounded him marching him towards his cell. Other prisoners were yelling loudly at him and calling him names.
“Murderer!”
“You deserve this!”
“Captain America should be ashamed of you!”
It didn’t bother him because it’s all true. Suddenly the guards stopped and pulled at his arms which made the Winter Soldier stop as well. His heart beated fast as the iron door opened and a small space with a barred window got revealed. It had a single bed that was firmly fastened to the wall and floor with a thin mattress and pillow, old sheets and rough blankets. In a corner was a stainless steel toilet and sink with missing pieces. It all reminded him of the cell he had in HYDRA’s facility in Siberia. Bucky was pushed deep inside the cell before having his handcuffs removed
“You’ll be here till the judge wants to see you,” one of them said and they all left.
Bucky lifted his head up after the door closed and heard the keys turning it locked. He gazed out of the small barred window and saw raindrops falling from the sky. He wished Steve was here to save him. After five minutes of standing still in the middle of his cell he decided to walk to his bed and sat on it. For hours he sat thoughtful on the thin mattress while resting his elbows on his knees and folded his hands as the sadness and guilt rolled off him in waves, regretting choices he had no control over. He heard Steve’s voice in his mind.
What you did all those years . . . it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice.
He exhaled deeply, laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. Steve, his best friend for decades, his brother from another mother, is now an old man and the Steve who went back into the past is now dancing with the love of his life. Bucky felt betrayed but he had to accept his decision. His cell door opened again and Bucky looked aside to see a guard with a tray in his hands, placing it on a simple desk with a chair that Bucky hadn't noticed before. Then the guard left and locked the entrance. The former Winter Soldier left his bed to see what had been left behind. It was a gray tray with a transparent lid with compartments in various sizes. In each compartment was some food. He took a seat and stared at his meal as he licked his lips while his stomach started to rumble which was a sign he was hungry. Fries, chicken nuggets, broccoli covered in a lot of cheese sauce, a cup of vanilla pudding and a small juice box.
“Doesn’t look bad,”he mumbled to himself.
He took a wooden fork, stabbed it in a piece of broccoli and took a bite. The vegetable was overcooked, too salty and lukewarm. He took a bite from a nugget which was tough and also lukewarm.
“It’s okay. Better than nothing,” he reminded himself on a positive note.
While eating he heard other prisoners complaining loudly about their food. Bucky sighed as he opened his dessert and spooned some out with a small wooden spoon.
“Spoiled punks,” he mumbled after swallowing down some pudding.
After he was finished, he sat back on his bed. He looked around his cell; walls in cream color, floor was the same black color as in the whole building and there were damp spots on the ceiling. Like any ordinary prison cell he saw in the movies. His door opened again after it was unlocked and a guard entered to pick up his tray.
“Tell the chef he did his best and the food was okay,” Bucky said.
The security guard glanced sideways at him and left while staring. Right after he went over the doorstep, the door closed and Bucky got locked in again. He sighed as he had the feeling it wasn’t okay anymore to give somebody a compliment, while other prisoners were still screaming their complaints about the bad quality of food. He laid down on the mattress and decided to have a little nap. While he had his eyes closed, the door opened again.
“Be careful, he's...he's unstable. Erratic,” he heard while he opened his eyes.
Slowly he sat up and saw an armed guard aiming his weapon at him, another guard with his hand on a device which was attached on his belt and the guard who took his tray away behind them. He wondered what happened.
“Something wrong, gentlemen?” Bucky asked, friendly.
Suddenly a guard grabbed the device from his belt and tasered Bucky, causing him to scream in pain and collapse on the floor while he passed out.
His eyes opened and noticed his view was blurry. He had a dazed feeling all over his body until somebody suddenly slapped him hard in the face. Caused by the slap his view went a bit sharper and saw Alexander Pierce sitting in front of him.
“What the hell?” he whispered.
“Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century, and I need you to do it one more time,” Pierce started talking.
While the man of HYDRA did his speech, Bucky shook his head in disbelief. Steve had told him Pierce was killed by Fury while the Hellcarriers were falling down. Quickly he looked around and saw he was restrained. After a while Pierce was done talking but he didn’t hear the rest of his speech as he was in deep thoughts.
“Well?”
Bucky chuckled while he shook his head as he knew this can’t be true. He looked at his former handler with a tight-lipped smile.
“I'm no longer the Winter Soldier. I’m James Bucky Barnes,” he snarled.
Suddenly he got smacked in the head by something. When he looked aside, he saw it was Rumlow with a shotgun in his hands.
“You know, we have your pal, your buddy, your Steve. He got all weepy when we told him we have you imprisoned and he said; ‘Please tell Barnes. When you gotta go, you gotta go.’ Till they put his brain in a blender, just like we did to you,” Rumlow growled into his face.
Bucky just looked with squinted eyes at him, showed his bare teeth in anger, but didn’t respond. He knew Steve is long gone so it’s impossible they had him in custody. Then he heard words and a voice he wished he never heard again.
“Zhelaniye. Rhzavv,” Vasily Karpov said while he entered the cell, reading from a red book marked with a black star. “Semnadtsat.”
He knew the words won’t harm him anymore since he got cured in Wakanda, but somehow he felt his alter ego was rising in his mind. Karpov then walked towards Bucky, still reading from the red book.
“Pech’. Devyat.”
His vibranium arm trembled in its restraint and closed his eyes.
This isn’t real. This isn’t real, he tried to think to himself while his alter ego was still growing.
“Dobroserdechnyy,” Karpov said with a loud voice.
Bucky's head snapped back and screamed out all of his mental pain. On cue an explosion happened and Sam, in his Captain America suit, flew in and kicked Karpov and Rumlow aside. Bucky let out a louder scream, clenched his fist and ripped free of his restraints. He grabbed Pierce by the jaw and threw him through the open hole in the wall where Sam flew through. The old man landed on the black concrete floor. Bucky slowly walked over to him and stopped closely.
“Again, I am no longer the Winter Soldier. I am James 'Bucky' Barnes, and you…” Bucky grabbed Pierce by the collar of his suit and shoved him against a wall. Pierce looked at him with big anxious eyes. “You’re just a bad dream.”
Then he heard Sam screaming. Quickly he looked over his shoulder and saw Rumlow as Crossbones on top of Sam, ripping off his wings from his suit. Because of Rumlow’s heavy weighted suit it was impossible for Sam to escape from his hold. Then the villain grabbed the shield and smacked it into his throat. Sam died as Bucky saw his body go limp instantly as his own body stiffened in fear.
“SAM! NO!”
“Bucky?” he heard a little girl’s angelic voice, which was familiar to him.
Slowly he turned back around with tears in his eyes and saw his nine-year-old little sister, Rebecca. He let Pierce go, squatted down and reached out his arms.
“Rebecca?” The brunette girl with two side braids smiled at him and hopped in his arms. “Oh little sister, I missed you so much,” he whispered as he embraced the child.
Suddenly she got ripped from his hold and he got kicked down. With wide eyes he saw that it was Crossbones, who had Rebecca restrained in his strong hold and placed a gun against her head. She looked at her big brother with big brown eyes while tears welled up.
“Say bye, bye beautiful!” and he pulled at the trigger.
At the sound of the shot Bucky screamed out in mental agony, while he woke up with a jolt as he was panting and sweating. Quickly he looked around while his breathing got out of control. On the night table he saw his cell phone, took it and quickly called a number. Then he laid it on the duvet as it was trying to make contact. With his hands over his face, he tried to calm down. Unfortunately without success as the nightmare was on loop in his mind. On speaker he heard the phone making contact.
“Hey, Bucky,” a groggy voice answered. But the former Winter Soldier couldn’t speak and was still taking control over his breathing. “Calm down, it's all a dream.” Then he burst out in tears when he heard Sam from the phone confirming his nightmare. “I’m on my way, Bucky. Stay where you are. Don’t do anything stupid.”