XXXVIII. Just Give Me One More Day
It had been four days since Ward and Garrett had taken Bucky from Romania. Since they'd arrived at the old Hydra facility, they'd been working as hard as possible to resurface the Winter Soldier inside him, but they couldn't seem to get to that point, no matter what they did to him. Bucky was fighting as hard as he possibly could to prevent Winter from resurfacing, and although he knew what needed to be done specifically in order to change him, if the two were to strike a certain nerve inside him, Winter would reappear, and there would be nothing Bucky could do to stop it.
Bucky was determined to prevent Winter from breaking free, however. This meant not snapping whenever they beat him and not giving in whenever he was spoken to. He fought as hard as he could to remain himself. He had come too far to let go of himself again; he had come too far to let go of her again.
In actuality, Connie—and Steve—was the reason he was so focused on fighting and winning the fight. The two of them, as well as the memory of the two of them, had brought him back from the painful confines of his dark mind, and it was because of that he was so determined to hold on. The only reason he had willingly put himself in such a situation in the first place was to keep Connie safe from harm. He also knew that she would stop at nothing until she got him back, and Bucky was conflicted about it; he didn't know whether or not to be grateful that she would go to such lengths for him, or absolutely terrified that she would.
The door to Bucky's room opened and he looked up, his blue eyes immediately falling on Agent Ward. Ward was annoyed, that much Bucky could tell, but that had everything to do with the fact that Bucky hadn't broken yet. He thought triggering a formally brainwashed Hydra soldier would be simple, but it was far from it, and that aggravated the agent.
Ward strolled over to Bucky, looking at him for a brief second before swinging his fist across the soldier's face. The blow didn't particularly effect Bucky all that much. If anything, it angered him and sent a small stream of blood flowing from his mouth. He still had a control over his anger, however, and he spit the blood from his mouth to the floor before looking back up at Ward.
"Tell me. . .why is it so hard to break you?" Ward asked the soldier curiously as he began pacing around in front of him.
Bucky only chuckled and clenched his fists in an attempt to break free of the restraints he was bound by. One thing they had done right in the time he'd been here, was find the proper cuffs to restrain him with. He even wondered if they had been the same ones used on him all those years ago.
"What's so funny?" Ward grumbled.
Bucky only shrugged, further agitating Ward. Ward stopped pacing and swung his fists at Bucky's face again, delivering a total of six punches before he thought he finally had enough. Bucky sniffed and once again spit his blood onto the floor, trying as hard as he could to contain his anger. He was sure his face was covered in lacerations and contusions, and he was sure a good number of contusions riddled the rest of his body as well, but it was the least of his worries.
"Tell me how to trigger you and maybe then the pain will stop," Ward said to him.
Bucky looked up at him, his blue eyes filled with anger. "If you think triggering me will make the pain go away, you're horribly mistaken."
The door then opened again to reveal Garrett. He walked into the room with his hands clasped behind his back and a particularly perturbed expression on his face. He, too, was annoyed that they hadn't been able to trigger Bucky yet, but he was a lot less concerned about the fact of it. He knew having him on their side would serve them wonderfully, but they didn't necessarily need him. The amount of time and effort spent on trying to trigger him was time that they would never get back, and that was truly what annoyed Garrett the most. In his eyes, Bucky Barnes was becoming nothing more than a liability.
"What's our status with this one?" Garrett asked Ward.
Ward let out a breath and turned to face Garrett. "He won't break; I've done everything I can do."
"Then he's a liability, Ward," Garrett scoffed. "We've spent four days trying to trigger the soldier, which is something I'm not very happy about. Are you unaware that we have things we need to get done and a time period in which they need to get done by?"
"I'm aware," Ward sighed. "Just give me one more day."
Before Garrett could respond, one of his officers burst into the room, attracting the attention of all three men. "We've detected activity in our airspace, but we've found no physical evidence present. We think it may be Coulson and his team, sir."
Garrett turned back around to look at Bucky, who was only sitting in his seat with a slight smirk on his face. Garrett then looked to Ward, who seemed to be very angry with this newfound information. "Looks like you won't be getting that extra day after all, Agent Ward. Kill Barnes; it's clear that Hydra has no use for him anymore."
Garrett then turned to look at the startled officer. "Shoot them down; if they reach the base, the next person to die after Barnes will be you."
"Yes, sir."
Meanwhile, Connie was working on adjusting her tactical suit to further help conform to her comfort. She placed the ICER she had been given in a holster on her right side, while she placed a pistol in the holster on her left side. It had taken a while for Phil to agree to it, because he knew just how irrational she could be sometimes, but using his words from the briefing the previous day won him over instantly.
As Connie finished zipping up her boots, Phil made his way into the lab. He had something in his hands, but Connie didn't pay much mind to it.
"Are you ready to get your boy back?" Phil asked her.
Connie only nodded and grabbed her earpiece from the table and placed it inside her ear. She had been particularly quiet since the team meeting had ended the day before. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to anyone, but she had far too much on her mind that she was focused on. Talking and engaging would only serve her as a distraction, and that was something she didn't need at the moment. She needed to be alert in order to get Bucky back.
"I have something for you," Phil said. He held the long, black casing out to her and she took it, her brows furrowing slightly as she looked over it.
"What is it?"
Phil shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Just open it, Connie."
And so she did. The moment she pulled the casing open, she was met with the sight of two, long black batons. They looked very similar to the batons she had lost in the Potomac, though they appeared to be upgraded to some extent.
"They're your battle staves," Phil told her. "I know how much you enjoy using these things in battle, and I'm also aware that you lost your old ones in the helicarrier battle, so I had Fitz construct a new pair for you. He even had your initials engraved on the bottom."
Connie smiled at the gesture and twirled the weapons around in her hands as if to get a feel for them. Using batons during combat made her feel a lot more comfortable than using firearms, though she had no problem using firearms if she needed to. "Thank you for this, Phil," Connie spoke quietly.
Phil grabbed the quiver for the batons from inside the casing and moved behind her in order to attach it to the clip on her back. Once he had done so, he proceeded back to his previous spot in front of her and smiled.
"Anything I need to know about these before heading into combat?" Connie inquired as she placed the batons into their quiver, locking them into place.
"They're synced to your biometrics, which means only you can use them to their effective capabilities," Phil began. "They do, of course, deliver a strong electrical shock, and Fitz also thought it would be cool to include lasers for you to cut into things with if you needed to."
Connie laughed and nodded her head. "I'll have to thank him for his generosity later."
"Maybe after all of this is over, if you're up for it, you could join the team?" Phil asked her hopefully. He missed having her around more than he cared to admit. "I talked to the team about it and they all agree with me that we could use someone like you on the team. Skye practically fell out of her seat when I mentioned it. I think she's taken quite a liking to you; I told you the two of you would get along well."
A quiet chuckle escaped Connie's lips and she shook her head. "Tell her the feeling is mutual, but I'm not sure, Phil. I know that when we get Bucky back, my main focus is gonna be on taking care of him and making sure he's safe. I can't bear to leave him, and you know that."
"I completely understand," Phil replied with a small smile.
"Just know that I appreciate the offer more than anything."
Phil opened his mouth to respond to her, but as he did a strong force hit the plane. Connie held onto the lab table to keep from falling to the floor, while Phil did the same. The plane was hit yet again, and before the two of them could think, Steve was running into the lab in all of his Captain America glory.
"The fighters have spotted us," he said.
"But how? The plane is cloaked," Connie exclaimed.
"There's no time to discuss that, we need to get on the ground," Phil retorted.
Connie seemed to perk up, and she pushed herself off of the table and towards the entrance to the cargo hold. Phil and Steve followed behind her, unsure of her intentions at first, though they became quite clear the moment she picked up a parachute and began strapping it on.
"Connie, what are you doing?" Steve called out to her.
"There's no time to discuss that," Connie repeated Phil's words as she pressed the release button on the cargo hold door. "I'm going to get Bucky back."
Connie jumped from the plane before the two could even think, and Phil looked to Steve.
"Go after her," he instructed the Captain.
"What about you and Agent May?"
"Just go," he pressed. "As of right now this mission not only entails getting Barnes back, but it entails preventing Connie from getting herself killed over him. Now go."
Steve only nodded and grabbed a parachute. He strapped it onto his back and grabbed his shield, and in seconds he was taking off through the air after his very determined little sister.
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