Take Care of You (Bucky Barnes x reader)

Part 07

Ideal Federal Savings Bank, USA, April 2014

The temporary HYDRA facility was dirty. Empty lockboxes lay scattered across the ground, covered in dust and dirt. The area in the middle of the room had been swept and cleaned for the Memory Suppression Machine (MSM).

Bucky sat on the chair for the machine, his left arm resting on a table as the scientists worked to fix it. The battle earlier that day had left the inner workings of the metal arm on display.

His face was stern, unfeeling, hiding the ocean of confusion he felt as unknown memories bubbled to the surface.

"Sergeant Barnes." A man in a lab coat with a bow tie and round glasses leered over him.

A punch. Did he throw it? Or receive it?

A train rushing past snow-covered mountains.

"Bucky!" A man wearing a strange uniform with worry clearly evident on his face. The same face as the man he had fought earlier.

A broken handle.

A ravine rushing towards him as someone screamed—no, as he screamed.

Soldiers in fur hats carrying a body with a missing arm. A red trail of blood in the snow.

A woman.

A needle jabbing into the woman, and an overwhelming sense of panic.

Scientists, doctors, cutting off the remaining arm.

Waking up with a metal arm. Flexing the metal fingers, he suddenly reaches out to grab the observing scientist by the throat.

"You are to be the new fist of HYDRA."

The man with the bow tie, smiling at him.

"Put them on ice."

The woman thrown in a machine identical to his.

His reflection staring back at him as everything froze.

He lashed out, throwing the scientist working on his arm across the room.

Every soldier turned to him, pointing their guns.

A skinny kid getting beat up in an alley. He rushes to save him.

A funeral. He searches for someone. The kid?

"I don't know your name, but I'm sure it's as beautiful as you are." The woman from before, smiling at him shyly.

"I love you, Bucky Barnes." The woman's voice.

"I'm with you to the end of the line, pal." The kid—no, the man from the bridge's voice.

"Mission report."

He didn't notice Alexander Pierce enter the room, and he didn't care.

"Mission report now."

"I love you, Bucky Barnes."

"I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."

Pierce backhands him.

"The man on the bridge," he says quietly. He knows he shouldn't speak. He knows what will happen if he asks too many questions. He doesn't care; he needs to know. "Who was he?"

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment."

He's lying. He knows Pierce is lying. "I knew him."

Alexander Pierce sat on a stool in front of him. "Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. And I need you to do it one more time. Society's at a tipping point between order and chaos, and tomorrow morning, we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

"But I knew him."

Pierce sighed before giving the order to have his memory wiped.

He gulped and opened his mouth for the guard. They pushed him back in the chair and watched as the MSM began its work. The metal plates attached to his face, and, as much as he tried to fight it, he screamed.

--

Triskelion Ship, USA, April 2014

Who was this man?

He had spared his life not once but twice now in the same battle. Why would his target do this?

"You know me," the target said.

"No, I don't!" He swung wildly, punching the man with his left arm and nearly collapsing. After having several tonnes of steal crush him, getting his arm broken, and being knocked out, he was tired.

They were both panting.

"Bucky, you've known me your whole life."

"C'mon, Steve! You don't want to make me go on by myself, do you?" A skinny boy chased after him.

"Slow down, Buck. It's not like the Cyclone is going anywhere."

He backhanded his target to the glass floor.

"I can get by on my own." The boy had the same face as his target, but they weren't the same, were they?

"The thing is," he said, "you don't have to." He put his arm on the boy's shoulder. "I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes.

"Shut up!" He knocked him to the floor again.

The man stood, dropping his helmet and shield. "I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend."

A voice in his head begged him to stop, to listen to the man. But Pierce's voice was louder. 'Complete your assignment. Finish it, or we'll finish you.'

He tackled the man to the ground, repeatedly punching him. "You're my mission."

The man did nothing, and he hesitated.

"Then finish it," the man mumbled through his torn face. "Because I'm with you to the end of the line."

He couldn't do it.

The floor gave out beneath them as a piece of the ship shattered the glass. He held on to a metal beam, watching the man he knew fall to the ocean below.

"Bucky, come on. There are men laying down their lives; I got no right to do any less." His friend was the best person he knew, always trying to do what's right. "That's what you don't understand. This isn't about me."

He couldn't let him die. He let go of the beam and dropped into the water.