𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐄𝐕𝐄 ☁︎︎ 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴

- toast -

—☁︎︎—

— HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION had been in progress during the Nazi reign of terror in many different forms. The majority of the victims were people Hitler considered 'undesirable', these were largely Jews but also included: homosexuals, disabled Germans, Soviet prisoners of war and sometimes even children. However, Hydra subverted from this by experimenting on American soldiers. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes was one of the lucky ones to survive the trial and error experimentations by the immoral Dr Zola, but on the other hand had in turn suffered years of torture and torment because of it.

Bucky.

Not only did he not even know that was his name but the entirety of the name had lost its meaning because of the new, (and according to Hydra 'improved') Winter Soldier. 'Bucky' had been lost in translation between the once two coexisting identities but now Hydra was sure that Bucky Barnes was no longer a present identity inside, but they were wrong.

Bucky, despite not knowing that was his name, had somehow begun to resurface because of this woman and her abrupt chattiness. She was brave that was for sure and had such unrelenting spirit and warmth the Winter Soldier couldn't help but adapt from the cold harsh winters of Serbia that kept the soldier on the surface, to the warmth of Santa Monica's beaches and summer sun that Evette represented, and Bucky once did too. Everything about her had opposed everything and everyone he had ever encountered in Hydra because she was alive and free. Not just physically but spiritually alive and free, and for many reasons, it made the soldier jealous. She could disobey orders and condition herself to follow her own choices, he on the other hand had only one objective every day that he was awake and it was never decided by him and he couldn't ever say no. The fact she had choices made him envy her like the sun envies the moon for its closeness to Mother Earth.

The freedom of choice was a luxury he no longer had.

But now, there was a chance for him, and if he didn't take it now, he wasn't sure how much longer he could take.

▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄

Saturday 1oth August 1974 - 7:16pm

— EVETTE OPENED HER EYES CAUTIOUSLY TO SCAN THE ROOM, her arms were unbuckled and she rubbed her wrists from the friction. She had slept for hours, no doubt the lack of medication was taking its toll and her utter fatigue from all that she had experience the night before wasn't helping. She stood and walked hesitantly towards the bathroom, the hole in the wall made only the night before, notifying her that it was in fact the bathroom. The cold tiled floor against her steaming hot feet was refreshing and she walked to the sink to splash her face with some water. Her throat was dry so she drank from the tap, not being certain when her next drink of water was gonna come. Tilting her face back up to the mirror she viewed her messed up face, blushed and blotchy from crying as well as lethargy, not forgetting her bruised up nose. She stared at herself for a few moments, her eye makeup was patchy from her sleep and she attempted to wipe it away as best as she could. She heard the door open and turned to attention at the sound.

"What time is it?" Was the very first question that came into her mind, it was evening time she supposed, realising she had slept all day like some sort of nocturnal owl.
"7:20pm." He spoke his voice like marble but his eyes displayed something more. "Out." He said and she followed him from the bathroom curiously, but also fearfully.

Evette accompanied him out into the hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen where he pointed to the chair at the table. The sun was seeping in through the back door that was majorly glass, it spilled across the floor like liquid gold and the way the shape of Evette's legs (that had been stripped of her sweat pants) were like silhouettes against a skyline. The entire image had warmed her to the soul and not just the skin of her calves.
"I don't know why you're here, I do what they tell me to." Her eyes widened slightly at his confession and saw this bitter barrier he held extremely strongly break down. He stood directly beside her and stared at his left arm, he watched the way the scaled metal moved at his command, he sighed, unnerved.
"Do they force you to do these things?" She asked, suddenly in her interview frame of mind and taking her thoughts away from the fact he had kidnapped her, but if she played this right, it could be her way to freedom, as well as his.

"I can't say no, because I'm programmed to comply." Evette stared at the floor and looked back up at him and their eyes met, perhaps for the first time.

'My god... his eyes look so empty', Evette thought to herself.

"How?" She asked, intrigued by this 'programming' as he referenced to it as. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know." He gritted through his teeth and clenched his fist to the point where I was expecting another hole in a wall somewhere. "They say words... and I slip away."
"Like triggers." Evette asks abruptly, suddenly understanding the method.

It would be difficult to say that the scientists responsible for the Winter Soldier weren't geniuses, evil, but geniuses nonetheless. The use of triggering words were not dissimilar to those that occur during PTSD or anxiety, but instead of panic attacks, the triggers create the alter identity of the Winter Soldier and the wall between the two sides of the man stood before Evette.

"Yes... trigger words." he suddenly straightened up and walked out of the room.
"And here I thought we were having a talk." She muttered to herself before hearing her stomach growl from lack of food. Evette stood up without thinking and walked over to the cupboards, scouring them to find a loaf of bread, butter and some milk in the fridge that was maybe a day away from not being consumable. The soldier returned and watched as she fiddled around in the kitchen with a slice of toast in her mouth. "Was I not supposed to-..." he tilted his head slowly, it was almost like he'd never seen toast before. "You want some?" She asked, not expecting the question to have a weight to it that would make the soldier, the burliest and most badass individual she'd ever seen, almost tear up.

"What-.. what?" He whispered in agony, his fist placed on the table. Evette put the toast down slowly and gently walked over to face him.
"Is toast a trigger word?" She asked sympathetically and the soldier - for the first time in almost 30 years - laughed.
"I-..." Evette's eyebrows furrowed as the man convulsed into a laugh that lasted for all of half a second before he seemed to realise the amount of emotion he had just shown.
"I can't answer." Evette only grew more and more confused by the second. "I don't get to choose-..." Evette quickly interrupted, finally catching on.

"Bullshit," she dragged out.

"I'm giving you the choice... so do you want some toast?"

"Yes please."