Take Me back to the Start | B. Barnes

Bonus Chapter: Last Piece

1945

Bucky doesn't know how long he has been captured. Hours? Days? He has lost any sense of orientation and time, yet he still feels the cold of the snow on his bare skin, he can still hear the creaking of the freight car. This cursed freight car. Though this can only mean that it hasn't been too long since he left the snowy mountains, even if it feels like a whole life in his mind. Ever since he arrived in this foreign lab, he has felt nothing but pain. In his bones, his veins, his muscles, his head– it's everywhere, especially in his left arm.

Although there is an immense lack of weight on his left side now, dragging him down on his right, Bucky can still feel the unbearable pain crawling from his shoulder to the non-existent tips of his fingers despite the bandage around his left shoulder, a reminder that he lost his arm. His nerves are aching like fire, causing his heated body to tremble in the cold of the lab and he breaks out into sweat. Whimpers keep slipping through his dry lips and he has lost the ability to think clearly, let alone even move. Strapped on the table like an object, Bucky Barnes mentally fights to stay awake since the suffering and shock keep pulling him towards the darkness.

Eve, her name runs through his head, keeping him awake. The cool metal of the dog tag around his neck burns the name of his fiancée into his mind and it's the only thing James manages to think. It's a miracle that he somehow survived the fall, but then again, Zola messed him up last year, experimented on him and drugged him up with all kinds of chemicals. And now they've got him again.

Stay awake, you gotta be awake when Eve and Steve find you, Bucky tries to control his breath and to focus on the dog tag until the door is suddenly opened.

"Hello, Sergeant Barnes." A brunet scientist in a lab coat greets him without any expressions, a neutral look is spread over the wrinkled face. The German enters the lab, two soldier walking behind him, and Bucky already glares at the Hydra member. "You know, I heard a lot of you. You're the only one who survived Zola's experiment and that makes you very important. And Hydra cannot lose what rightfully belongs to them."

A trap, Bucky realizes with widened eyes. The whole mission was a trap to get him back into their hands, to become their toy again. The Hydra scientist continues when he sees Bucky's reaction. "It unfortunately ended with a few complications, Captain America and Voltricity are really a thorn in our side. But don't worry. They'll receive what they deserve and we will get you a new arm."

His threat angers Bucky and his grey eyes now burn with rage. James Barnes spits into the scientist's face because that's the only thing he can do. "Fuck off, vermin."

The German is, to his surprise, unfazed and he signals to the soldiers with a move of his hand that inferring is not necessary. Instead, a sly smile creeps onto his face. "Interesting that you show such resistance. But..." He rips off the dog tag from Bucky's neck, "What else should I expect from... Evelyn Farrell's lover?"

"Give it back to me, you bastard!" Even though shouting requires more strength than Bucky has left, he still yells out of desperation, struggling in the firm straps that cut into his skin. Hydra is taking away his engagement ring, the only thing he possesses from Eve. He needs it to bear the torture, the pain. To survive.

"I suppose, the wedding is cancelled." The scientist announces wickedly and puts the necklace into his pocket. "We will attach the metal arm first. Then we'll wipe him."

Bucky continues to scream the worst things at the Hydra scientist, not giving in, even when he is out of the room. Panting heavily and in exhaustion, tears start to prickle in the corner of his eyes and he is now shaking in frustration, panic, and fury. Hydra just took everything that he had. The last piece that was important to him.

And he knows that he will never get it back.

A/N- I felt like this was necessary because Eve's dog tag never appeared again