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"You can trust me," Bucky tells Sam approximately ten minutes before he plants his big hard boot in the centre of Sam's chest and kicks.
Sam falls backwards off the balcony, too fast to open his wings and at an angle too awkward to get his feet underneath him and too disoriented by déjà vu to understand what's going on.
He lands hard on his ass and hears his tailbone break, has enough wherewithal at the last minute to let himself roll so most of the force can be dispersed. He doesn't tuck his head in enough and the back of his skull grinds dangerously hard against the grass, but at least it isn't pavement. His pelvis is on fire so possibly more than his tailbone is broken, and he lies in a dazed heap watching the Hydra agents swarm in around Steve on the platform above him. Bucky's helping them surround him, his rifle trained on Steve. Sam tries to get back up, to help Steve or at least go down trying, but his body refuses to obey—it seems that he's already gone down.
The last thing he sees before he blacks out is Bucky's face, unperturbed as a placid lake on a windless morning, as he takes the handcuffs someone gives him and moves in on Steve.
* * *
He wakes up to Bucky cursing violently and holding him down, which makes him flinch back and try to throw a punch.
"Goddammit, Sam," Bucky grits out, and he sounds so much like the man Sam did in fact trust that Sam suddenly wants to vomit. He struggles to get his arms free but Bucky, or the Winter Soldier, is too strong.
"Hold still, you might have internal bleeding and you're just going to make it worse," Steve says.
Steve does not sound like he's currently being tortured by a dozen Hydra agents, so Sam relaxes fractionally and the Winter Soldier takes the opening to strap him down with something.
"Motherfucker," Sam snarls, and he needs to get free. If Steve is mobile then they still have a chance, they can still fight their way out of here, get Bucky back and go right back to square one on the whole deprogramming him from his brainwashing plan, although probably try something new this time because apparently last time didn't take.
"Hey, hey, easy," the Winter Soldier says, laying his flesh hand on Sam's forehead and Sam does not appreciate him using Bucky's soothing voice to trick him.
He thrashes as best as he can, trying to get some slack into whatever's holding him down, but they're not elastic like gurney straps—they're improvised from belts or something, and they dig into his skin. He grunts and ignores that superficial pain, hell bent on wriggling free, getting to Steve, Steve, Steve, Hydra has Steve, Hydra has them both and—
"Sam," Steve's voice comes again, from somewhere just ahead of them, "I'm right here, Hydra doesn't have me. Hydra doesn't have anyone. We're all safe. That was part of the plan, remember? Do you remember the plan?"
Sam feels pressure on his forehead. It's Bucky, pressing again and willing him to make eye contact. "His pupils look a little mismatched," he reports grimly, and then he switches to the soothing voice again and says, "The plan, Sam. We were cornered and the only way out was through. I pretended to turn on you and we let them take us in. And then we stole their fucking truck." He flashes Sam a crooked grin.
The plan. Bucky would pretend. Sam didn't want to see him turn back into the Winter Soldier, even for show. But they had no time to come up with anything else and you can trust me. He had stolen a kiss before they got into position. Steve would draw all the agents' attention. They would think Sam was dead or as good as, wouldn't notice him sneak back around. Fuck.
"I fucked it up," Sam says.
"No, that was all me," Bucky reassures him. "Timed it badly, aimed it badly, landed it badly, and now your butt's broken. Literally."
"You still got it done."
"Would've been a lot more fun with your help," Steve says, and now Sam realizes he's at the wheel of the truck they've stolen, driving them to wherever while Bucky keeps Sam still in the back. The cargo area smells of fresh blood.
Steve rattles off information about a guy he knows through Natasha who can get Sam x-rayed on the DL and if he needs surgery then they'll figure it out from there. Bucky slips his hand into Sam's and clutches at his fingers slightly too hard. Sam doesn't complain.
"I'm sorry," he whispers.
Sam thinks about the moment he was sure that the Winter Soldier had betrayed them, that everything he and Steve had built their worlds around was nothing but a façade, and he almost laughs. He squeezes Bucky's hand back. "Man, Buck, this is not even close to the worst thing that could've happened to me."