Honesty ♧ Bucky Barnes

Persuasion

Guess who's back? Bucky, that conflicted, adorable, heart-broken man. Also, watch out for the second half of this chapter, which is pretty violent. As always, enjoy xx 

There had been a camera installed in interrogation room 435 prior to Jefferson's admission. According to Pine, it would be easier to 'keep tabs on her'. Despite that, he had still found it necessary to send one of the younger Privates in - just to check that she was still alive. For some reason, the thought of another person in her room irritated the Soldier.

He was sat in Pine's office, looking intently at the small fuzzy image from the camera on the computer screen. Erin was lying on her back on the filthy mattress that somebody had thought it wise to place in the corner of the room. She wasn't moving and he could only just make out the rise and fall of her chest, the sign of life that Pine needed.

Private Goodwinson entered silently and the Soldier almost rolled his eyes as the younger man stood awkwardly by the door, wringing his hands together in front of him. He didn't know why Pine hadn't sent one of the bigger guys in, because by the look of this kid Jefferson would beat the shit out of him, even in her pain-induced coma.

Colonel Pine had a confusing relationship with Private Goodwinson. It was almost as if the younger man was constantly trying to prove himself to the Colonel, first getting the intelligence on Erin and now this? Volunteering to check that she was still alive when the guy looked like a steady wind would probably knock him over? Suspicious.

Erin noticed him immediately and sat up quickly. The Solider winced mentally to himself, that would have hurt considering that the scars on her legs wouldn't have healed yet. Even through the densely pixelated screen he could tell that she was pissed off. Goodwinson continued to talk to her, his body language desperate. What was he doing? He was only supposed to check the damn girl was still alive, this was no time for a chat. Not for the first time the Soldier wished that the cameras were equipped with microphones.

The blurry image of Goodwinson walked over to the girl and she attempted to stand up, but nearly fell, causing Goodwinson to grab her upper arms and basically carry her to the chair in the centre of the room. He was surprisingly strong for someone who looked like they weighed thirty pounds.

The Private kneeled in front of Erin on the chair and the Soldier folded his arms before leaning back in his chair. This was definitely not part of protocol. James Goodwinson wasn't starting to get a crush, was he? That could endanger the whole mission...

The Soldier slammed the laptop lip closed and stood up, his legs aching from so long sat down. He was going to need to have a little chat with Private Goodwinson. Developing emotions towards a captive was a sure fire way to contaminate a mission and if he fucked this up, they would all have to pay. Also, there was a small part of the Soldier that wasn't entirely happy seeing the way that James had placed his hand on Erin's shoulder. The gesture was far too intimate for his liking....and completely unprofessional.

He was about to exit the door when Pine burst through it, a look of steely determination on his face. The corner of his mouth raised in a grim smirk when he took in the Soldier's face.

"Just the guy I wanted to see." He said, brushing past him and making his way to his desk, opening one of the drawers behind it and pulling out a suspiciously long knife, "Turns out our friend isn't dead yet."

He held up the knife, looking over the recently cleaned and polished blade with a practiced eye.

"Time to make her wish she was."

He set off again for the door but before he knew what had happened, the Soldier had placed his metal arm out in front of him, preventing the Colonel from leaving the room, effectively barricading the door. The larger man looked down at the Soldier with an expression of confusion on his face.