Chapter Text
One thing that Bucky has learned in his extremely long life is that there is a certain point when a person will break. Whether it's unimaginable pain, impending death, watching someone you love die, losing your own mind, there's always something to make a person give up. He's one to know since his long time as the one inflicting harm, his own brain replays those memories every night for him and haunts his consciousness every waking day he lives. Even in his life of horrors he doesn't think he's ever reached his breaking point.
Now he's in some underground facility strapped to that damned chair reliving his own worst nightmare.
Bucky thinks he's reached his breaking point.
His whole body hurt. The bullet wound lodged in his abdomen is still leaking blood sluggishly which wasn't a great sign. He doesn't know what they did with Sam, he just hopes it's not anything like his own fate.
The chair hums to life again and pain races through his head, cutting everything away. He's losing his mind, it's working, he can feel it.
Zhelaniye…
Now they recite the codewords and put his brain back in the blender again and again until he's finally returned to the person he hoped was long gone. He had tried so hard to be a new person, but only to ultimately fail. Bucky thinks he screams when the electricity starts again.
–
“Sam, I'm pretty sure anyone will see you coming from a mile away with all that red, white, and blue going on,” Bucky said through the headset he had on to block out the noise from the helicopter. Sam was sitting across from him in full gear like he was as they were en route to a terrorist stronghold and were only a few miles out now.
They were suspecting it was a HYDRA operation or at least some other neo nazi offshoot looking to “fix the world.” Authorities had located their hideout after tracking two goons bringing illegal militia to the hidden spot in the forest. Of course hearing that had left Bucky with a bitter feeling about the mission considering it opens some old wounds. Of course he wants the remnants of HYDRA brought down more than anyone, but if Bucky had it his own way, he would never have come on this assignment in the first place. He guesses he did it for Sam, thinking that if he backed out, Sam might not want him to tag along anymore on missions. As much as Bucky would hate to admit it, he was really close with Sam, so he decided to downplay it all and deal with it. He was starting to regret it now as he found himself staring out the glass of a helicopter window on his way to see his tormentors.
“I'm not going to be the one scouting, redwing is,” Sam said confidently, smirking because he knew the idea of using redwing will piss Bucky off. He usually enjoyed their banter but Bucky was already unimpressed with their current plan of action and he didn't need Sam's little menace around. He already had a nagging anxiety surrounding their mission.
“I think you put too much trust in your metal pigeon.” Bucky looked out the cabin window out into the dense forest below, feeling uneasy. He has to admit he's never been a fan of heights since the unfortunate incident that left him with one less arm.
“We're about a mile away so I'm going to drop you guys off here," The pilot spoke through the channel as Bucky felt the helicopter dip downwards, not doing anything to help his agitated nerves. Sam had pulled the sliding door of the helicopter back to reveal the forest floor several tens of feet below. With the shield on his back and having already removed his headset, he was ready to jump.
“See you on the flip side, cyborg brains,” Sam quipped before launching himself into the air, which earned himself an eye roll from Bucky. Sam flew in a wide arc before landing a few meters away from where Bucky would land. Bucky peered over the edge, having second thoughts about going on this mission in the first place. “Come on, are you scared of heights or something?” Sam spoke through the comms. Yes actually, Bucky wanted to say but kept it in his thoughts. He braced himself before leaping down onto the pine needle covered ground, landing on his feet.
“That wasn't so bad was it? Actually I was hoping for you to land face first, would have made a perfect wallpaper for my phone.” Sam walked over to him, redwing hovering just above his shoulder.
“Which way we headed?” Bucky asked, getting to the point. The metal drone flew down closer towards his face and he had to fight the urge to snap it in half.
He brushed off his knees and got a look at his surroundings. The clearing they had been dropped off in wasn't that large and beyond it was thick bushes and looming trees as far as he could see. It would be a pain to walk through but they had no choice considering it was an undercover operation.
“Due north. Should only take us thirty minutes or so. Redwings going to go ahead and scout it out beforehand.” Sam was looking at a small readout in his visor, likely a map. Bucky watched as the red piece of metal soared above the trees towards their destination. Sam started walking into the treeline and they both started their trek towards the base.
–
After a while of making their way through the bushes, Sam and Bucky came up to the stronghold. Hidden by the thick forest canopy was a small concrete building in the middle of the woods which likely led down to an underground facility. Sam and Bucky were crouched fifty feet from the structure to ensure there were no guards. Redwing had already scouted the place out earlier as they were walking and had gotten a readout of a few heat signatures below the building, meaning someone was definitely home.
There were no guards outside the concrete structure which was a bit odd considering the level this faction was on. They weren't exactly amateurs from what Bucky and Sam had heard in the briefing. By far the most concerning thing was that the building was so low security. No guards outside, thin door, and no defense systems. You'd think they'd have more than just a small slightly mossy piece of concrete as their only means to their whole underground operation.
“So what's our plan? Walk right in through the front door?” Bucky asked Sam who was just as confused as he was about the absence of guards.
“I don't suppose we have a better option.” Sam shifted towards the small building, Bucky following behind until they were in front of the plain metal door. If redwing was right, there should be some guys on the other side. It wouldn't be too hard to kick the door down by the looks of it.
“I'll guess there's at least a dozen guards waiting down there and I'd rather you come out not looking like Swiss cheese,” Sam said, stepping in front of Bucky before he could bust down the door. Bucky really didn't want to waste any time but here they were.
“Alright then. Do the honors, Captain America.” Bucky gestured sarcastically to the door before Sam took the shield off his back and unceremoniously strikes the handle off. The door swung open with a creak revealing a dimly lit concrete staircase leading down into the ground.
“I don't know if you guys had horror movies in the forties, but this is definitely something you'd see in one.” Bucky hadn't seen any horror movies in his lifetime, but he is pretty sure he's lived through enough horrors to know this was definitely not a good sign.
Thanks to his new Wakandan tech, Sam only pressed a few buttons on his wrist before his goggles showed him at least five heat signatures somewhere down the hallway. “I'm picking up some guys down there so be on watch.”
Bucky definitely wasn't not on watch, he was definitively the opposite as of now. Every sense he had was alert and ready because the very people who had hurt him for so long could be right down the hall. The building already reminded him of the cold, merciless cells HYDRA kept him in. He was reminded of the chair and the cryofreezing and all the lives he took. This place made his skin crawl and his bones ache.
Sam had the shield held in front of him as he led down the cold steps, their boots thudding against the floor. They came upon another door, this time with a window into the room on the other side. The room looked about as desolate as the rest of the structure, hard concrete on all sides only kit by scattered hanging lightbulbs. The only thing occupying the bare room were a few metal tables with various medical and science equipment. There were a few glass vials and beakers shattered on the floor with colored liquids spilling liquids onto the wide expanse of the floor. This really didn't look good.
“I don't like the look of this, any of this. Something ain't right,” Sam turned to Bucky, who felt the exact way. The mission had turned from an easy undercover op—find the base, catch the bad guys—to whatever was going on now. Sam had turned his goggles on again. “I'm not picking up any heat signatures anymore.”
Bucky was shocked when a loud clang sounded, which turned out to be Sam knocking the handle off the door in front of them. He walked into the expanse of the room checking for anything out of the ordinary. Bucky had a sinking feeling in his gut.
“Sam.” The winter soldier would be scoffing at him right now if he saw how worried Bucky was right now. Maybe coming along was a huge mistake. Maybe he should have talked Sam out of this one and they could have gone back to Delacroix and had a beer on the dock together. Bucky wished he had done that.
Bucky waited just outside the doorframe but Sam was still in the center of the room trying to get anything out of his sensors.
“It doesn't make sense. How could these people just disappear like that!? There has to be something else here other than just an empty room.” Sam had begun padding the walls, looking for some sort of secret entrance. It all felt wrong to Bucky. Why had HYDRA goons been followed straight here, only for them to just disappear. Unless they wanted to be found, Bucky thought but it was too late.
“Sam,” Bucky said firmly this time, the uneasiness showing in his voice. Just as Sam had turned to look at him it all went to hell.
A deafening boom went off and the ceiling crashed down on top of them. The last thing Bucky remembers is Sam being crushed under concrete.