"Don't care if he's guilty, don't care if he's not,
He's good and he's bad and he's all that I've got,
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I'm begging you, please,
Don't take that sinner from me,
Oh don't take that sinner from me"
Dolores fell in love with a boy. The...
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Washington, D.C., 2014
"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me," Steve mumbled in the back of a guarded truck, staring directly at Dolores who was gripping her shoulder in pain. Although her physical pains were brutal, her emotional pain was far worse.
"He.. he hesitated when he saw my ring. He could have killed me, but he saw my hand and just paused for a split second, and then snapped right back into it as if nothing had happened," Dolores sucked in a breath of pain before making eye contact with Steve.
"How is that even possible? It was like 70 years ago," Sam interrupted, stumped as to why his friends thought this man was who they said he was.
"Zola. James' whole unit was captured in '43, and Zola experimented on him," Dolores spat out, disgusted with the man who took her love away from her.
"Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and.." Steve couldn't even finish his sentence; he didn't want to.
"None of that was your fault, Steve," Natasha tried to offer some condolence, but Dolores knew he wouldn't listen.
"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky," Steve said firmly, catching Dolores' eye again. They shared a look of understanding; they both felt responsible for what happened to their family. Dolores sighed in agony as her wound let out more blood.
"We need to get a doctor in here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck," Sam grumbled at the guards that were sitting beside them. Before anyone could move, one of the guards used an electric taser to stun the other guard, rendering him unconscious. The four friends stared in awe as the guard removed their helmet, revealing Maria Hill, gasping for air.
"That thing was squeezing my brain," she gave Sam a weird look. "Who's this guy?"
——————————————
The Winter Soldier sat stoically in his chair as a few technicians worked on his metal arm. Flashes of images and movie-like frames played through his mind, plaguing him with confusion about what was real and what wasn't.
He saw the man on the bridge, but smaller and skinnier, getting beat up by bigger men. He saw the man sitting across the dinner table, flinging food at him as a woman beside him scolded his actions. He saw the man back to his larger size, running alongside him into battles and frontlines.
Suddenly, he saw the strawberry-blonde woman at his side. She was gripping his elbow as they walked down the street, her curls bouncing with her steps. He saw her dancing in front of him, her warm laughter filling his ears. He saw himself kneeling in front of her, placing a ring on her left finger. He saw her and the man, screaming his name as he fell further and further away from them, surrounded by icy white.
Then he saw himself being dragged away through snow leaving a trail of red and pain. He felt the torture they forced him through, seeing his metal arm for the first time and that evil doctor grinning down at him.
That face snaps him out of it as he grabs one of the doctors, flinging him across the bank vault they are situated in. At that moment, Alexander Pierce walks in, greeting a doctor.
"Sir, he's.. he's unstable. Erratic," he mumbles frantically, peering at the Soldier who seems lost in more fantasies. Or maybe they were memories. Pierce walks over to him.
"Mission report," he demands. The man with the metal arm is dazed, more images of that beautiful redhead flashing through his mind.
"Mission report, now!" He says louder, but the man does not respond. Suddenly, Pierce strikes him across the face harshly, but the Soldier simply turns his head, seemingly unfazed.
"That man and woman on the bridge... who were they?" He asked quietly. Pierce felt slight panic rise in him but kept it at bay.
"You met them earlier this week on an assignment," he made up, keeping his eye trained on the man.
The Soldier watched as an image of the girl popped into his mind, waking up beside her as she was covered in white sheets and rays of sunlight. She looked absolutely stunning as she smiled at him with a sleepy grin.
"I... I knew them. The girl, she's.. beautiful," he got quieter with each word, and Alexander grew more irritated. He sat directly in front of the confused man.
"Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. 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," he explained, but the blank look remained on the Soldier's face.
"But I knew them... Dottie... Dot." He whispered the last words without even thinking about it, but as the words left his mouth, he connected them to the gorgeous face of the woman on the bridge. It felt right.
"Prep him," Pierce growled impatiently, but the frantic doctor hesitated.
"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long," he tried to reason.
"Then wipe him and start again," he ordered, leaving the room with his guards in tow. The remaining guards pushed Bucky down into the chair, placing his restraints on.
He wasn't paying attention as he closed his eyes, seeing that man call out a name to him.
"Bucky, no!" He screamed, reaching down as he disappeared from view. He then saw the girl as they placed a mouth guard in between his teeth.
"James," she giggled, her hands gripping his face, and he could almost feel her soft skin against his. Her eyes remained in his view until the electricity began, vanishing all thoughts of the woman and shoving back any of Bucky that had escaped through the Winter Soldier's tough exterior.
