twelve : mission report

      INSIDE THE ARMORED TRUCK, BUCKY WORE RESTRAINTS INSIDE A PRISON POD WHILE ELAINE WAS IN A SIMILR ONE. Three armed guards anxiously sat on the other side of the glass-walled pods.

      Bucky and Elaine kept making eye contact from across each other. Bucky's eyes wandered to the tight straight jacket Elaine was forced in and his brows furrowed. His eyes then travelled to the shock collar that was tight on her pale neck, leaving faint bruising edging around it. They treated her like some stray dog, and his fists clenched from the thought.

      Elaine didn't remember most of the journey, only making constant eye contact with Bucky and meeting Steve's concerned gaze before they moved her and Bucky to an evaluation room.

      "I'm not here to judge either of you." The man on the other end of the room assured. "I just want to ask a few questions. Do you know where you are, James?" Bucky didn't reply. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

      "My name is Bucky." He rasped.

      "Tell me, Bucky." The man spoke. "You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

      "I don't want to talk about it." Bucky finalized.

      "You fear that... if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop." The man concluded, and he was beginning to sound like a therapist. "Don't worry." He paused, looking down on a tablet. The expression on his face became confident and almost smug. "We only have to talk about one."

      In the bunker the lights go out, causing Elaine to look around herself. "That wasn't me." She declared.

      Bucky looked over at Elaine before looking forwards. "What the hell is this?"

      Instead of responding, he replied with something else. "Why don't we discuss your home? Not Romania. Certainly not Brooklyn, no. I mean, your real home." The man removed his fake glasses before he walked towards Bucky, reading from a worn down red book with a black star on it by torchlight. "Желание. [Longing.]"

      Bucky screwed shut his eyes. "No." He muttered.

      "Bucky? What's he saying!" Elaine badgered.

      Bucky's head snapped back onto the headrest as the man, who obviously isn't the evaluator, continued."Ржавый. [Rusted.]"

      "Stop." Bucky weakly said, the words somehow affecting him. Elaine had to figure something out as she wriggled in her straight jacket.

      "Семнадцать. [Seventeen.]" The man added.

      Bucky's metal arm trembled in its restraint. "Stop." He angrily repeated.

      "Рассвет. [Daybreak.]"

      "Stop!" Elaine shouted just as Bucky screamed, clenched his fist, and ripped free of his restraints. Elaine harshly tugged once more, finally breaking the buckle and releasing her left arm.

      "Печь. [Furnace.] Девять. [Nine.]" Bucky thumped the inside of the pod, trying to break free. "Добросердечный. [Benign.]" Bucky punched harder as Elaine finally got her right arm free. "Возвращение на Родину. [Homecoming.] Один. [One.] Грузовой вагон. [Freight car.]"

      Bucky battered the front of the pod with his metal fist and the glass screen flew clear as Elaine pried off the shock collar, taking off the straight jacket as well. The man slowly rounded the pod with the book and the torch in hand. He anxiously stood before Bucky who straightened, a dark frown on his face.

It wasn't Bucky anymore.

      "Солдат? [Soldier?]" The man questioned as Elaine began using her misty energy beams to try and break the glass.

      "Я готов отвечать. [Ready to comply.]" Bucky responded as the glass finally shattered, a few flying past Elaine's face and making a small cut on her cheek.

      "No." Elaine whispered.

      "Mission report. December 16, 1991." The man ordered, the date recalling horrible memories she long buried.

      "I said, NO!" Elaine bellowed, her sonic scream sending a powerful wave of pure energy and electricity at the man as her hair viciously flew away from her face.

      He harshly landed on the ground as he wheezed. "Help me. Help."

      Steve suddenly rushed in, finding the man in a heap inside the chamber with a furious Elaine not far away. "Get up." Steve spat as he grabbed the man by his collar and shoved him against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"

      The man smirked. "To see an empire fall."

      As Sam entered, Bucky swung his fist which smashed through the concrete wall as Sam ducked. Elaine forgot Bucky was even there, let alone not himself. Bucky grabbed him by the jaw and threw him at his open pod. Steve lurched into the fight and landed a punch, which Bucky barely felt.

      As Elaine was distracted, the man had gotten ahold of a weapon and knocked Elaine in the head with it. She fell to the ground with a groan as a ringing went through her ears. She looked up, seeing Bucky kicking and punching Steve out of the chamber.

On a PA, a male voice rang through. "Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert. Ich wiederhole: Der Ostflügel ist kompromittiert. [The east wing is compromised. I repeat: the east wing is compromised.]"

"Hey." Sam groaned from the floor, seeing the man bolt. Sam rose, helping up Elaine who had a searing headache from the metal pipe she was hit with.

Elaine stumbled as she followed closely behind Sam, her vision parting in two. Outside staff fled the building in a mass, tripping over each other with anyone else in the building. Elaine grasped the doorway for balance as she found Sam among them. He quickly spotted something on the ground, causing him to bend down and pick it up.

"Damn it." Sam muttered as Elaine balanced her walking and stood next to him as he looked around the wide courtyard and scowled.

▔▔▔▔▔▔

     It took around fifteen minutes to find Steve, who was soaked and had an unconscious Bucky. His arm hung around Steve's shoulder as they got to a huge abandoned warehouse where nobody would look for them. Elaine had been curiously watching the brunette from a doorway with Sam.

      As they noticed Bucky begin to move and groan, Sam called out. "Hey, Cap!"

      Steve came from around a corner to join Elaine and Sam by Bucky, who sat with his metal arm trapped between two heavy objects.

      "Steve." Bucky muttered, still weak from the helicopter crash Steve told them about.

      "Which Bucky am I talking to?" Steve asked, not dropping his guard.

      "Your mom's name was Sarah..." He recalled before starting to humorously chuckle. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

      Steve's eyes showed pure relief and happiness. "Can't read that in a museum." Steve shrugged as a ghost smile appeared on Elaine's lips.

      "Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?" Sam defensively asked. Elaine glanced over to him, seeing Sam staring at Steve with an annoyed look.

      "What did I do?" Bucky questioned.

      "Enough." Elaine stated.

      "Oh, God, I knew this would happen." Bucky frustratingly sighed. "Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

      "Who was he?" Steve asked.

      Bucky replied. "I don't know."

      "People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you and possibly Elaine as well. I need you to do better than "I don't know"." Steve firmly told his best friend.

      A look of realization crossed Bucky's face. "He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

      "Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked.

      Bucky sighed, his memories collecting themselves as he looked back up. "Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier."

      "Who were they?" Steve asked.

      Bucky began explaining as Elaine used her powers to free Bucky's metal arm. "Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum."

      "They all turn out like you?" Sam asked, distaste in his tone. Elaine rolled her eyes at his pettiness before brushing her hair back with both of her hands.

      "Worse." Bucky replied.

      "The doctor, could he control them?" Elaine asked.

      "Enough." Bucky rasped, looking down to the floor.

      "Said he wanted to see an empire fall." Steve recalled.

      "With these guys he could do it." Bucky confirmed. "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize, They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming."

      Sam stepped up to Steve. "This would have been a lot easier a week ago."

      "If we call Tony..." Elaine trailed off. Even if she and him were on different sides, she would always have full trust in him.

      "No, he won't believe us." Sam shook his head.

      Steve sighed. "Even if he did..."

      "Who knows if the Accords would let him help." Sam finished.

      "We're on our own." Elaine bit her lip, running a hand through her silky hair.

      "Maybe not." Sam smirked. "I know a guy."

▔▔▔▔▔▔
sorry for taking so long to update! here's a new chapter for y'all