Red Winter [Bucky Barnes]

Chapter Thirteen: Bruises

I gasped as I felt the air return to my lungs, feeling my cold blood begin to circulate throughout my body. I shoot up in the hospital bed, surrounded by wires and beeping machines. I recognized the room, it was apart of the secret medical facility beneath the Red Room. Unsurprisingly it was not the first time that I had been here. 

But how did I get here?

"Katerina," Barnes calls out, and I snap my head to the left to look at him, tears springing to my eyes at the sight of him. He quickly stands up and rushes to my side, cupping my cheek in his hand. I tear slides down my cheek as I close my eyes and sink into his touch. He gently brushes away the tear with his calloused thumb, and I savor the familiarity of his skin against mine. 

I go to open my mouth, but I hear the door swing open, causing Barnes to abruptly step away from me. Nikolai and Ivan walk in the room, their cold and calculating eyes fixed on me. "Glad to see that you are not dead, Katerina," Nikolai speaks up as he walks towards me, inspecting me as he does. "You should thank Agent Barnes for that," he noted as he motions to Barnes, "if it wasn't for his quick thinking you'd be six feet under the ground right now." 

My eyes flicker up to look at Barnes, and I noticed the intense bags under his eyes. He hadn't slept for days and I wondered if he had stayed by my side the entire time I'd been here. Even his eyes were tired, his whole presence felt exhausted. It was a stark difference to the man I had just seen, and I wondered if he would ever find that youth and optimism again. 

"What happened to me," I ask as I look over at Ivan, wondering if he had the answers. Barnes had said that he had seen it happen to other agents who received the serum, but he never said why or what exactly happened. Certainly the great Dr. Ivan had to have some theories, or at least I hoped he did. Not like my life depended on it or anything. 

Ivan begins to walk up the other side of the hospital bed, "The serum wasn't stabilized in your body." He answers curtly, as if I should have known the answer. "If you remember when we first gave you the serum, you destroyed one of our machines. That particular machine was designed to help calm and stabilize it, and well...," he pauses as he looks me up and down, "we all saw what you did with it." 

My mind flashes back to that night, and I begin to piece everything together. I had only been in the machine for a few minutes, which I guess wasn't enough for it to effectively do it's job. I guess when I woke up and everything appeared to be fine, they assumed I must have been in there long enough. Of course a few months down the line I wasn't as fine as they believed. 

"So the past few months it's been slowly destabilizing. And every time I've pushed myself the serum began to destabilize quicker." I think back to the warning signs, the aches and pains, fatigue, everything that I shouldn't have experienced if the serum had worked correctly. If I hadn't been so distracted then I would have probably noticed sooner. 

"I told you she was smart," Nikolai pipes up as Ivan nods his head, confirming my theory. If all else failed maybe I should try my hand at medical school. Like I always say, every good assassin should have a decent knowledge of anatomy. 

I take a deep breath before speaking up, trying to organize my thoughts. "So how do we stabilize the serum," I inquire, wondering if they had a plan. They managed to revive me this time, but what if this happened again? Could they save me a second time around or was I destined to walk around with a countdown looming over my head? 

"We already have," Ivan answers as he points to the IV fluids running through my veins. I recognized the familiar blue color, it was the super solider serum. "You've been out for almost a week now, and in that time we've managed to complete what we couldn't in Siberia. And who knows," he pauses again as he discontinues the fluids, the bag now empty. "Now that the serum is stabilized maybe you'll be able to harness the full potential of the Tessaract."