22. of my blood
“Accessing archive. James Buchanan Barnes.”
He could still hear Zola’s voice ringing in his head, the ultimate confirmation of what Rumlow had told him on the day that turned his life upside down. SHIELD was compromised, with double agents working for HYDRA all along. The fact that Zola, a man he’d thought to be long dead, still had power to destroy lives when he was merely a glorified computer led Steve to believe that they hadn’t really won the war. He’d felt great satisfaction when the hard drives exploded under the missile.
But even as he had to deal with a threat that could affect the whole world, he couldn’t stop thinking about Bucky. It was only because of him that HYDRA had taken interest in the other man and made their wicked plans. They had been training him, Rumlow had said, although they didn’t find out the reason behind it. Zola had only said that Steve must have been more careful. And dear God, he wished he had.
He cut through HYDRA the way he’d always done, taking down their powerful weapons while he put Clint to look for any leads of the new location they had taken Bucky to. It had been some stressful few days, but finally, finally Steve was breaking into the facility, determined to find the man he never stopped loving.
Gunshots, explosions, his shield vibrating in the air. He took them down one by one without caring if they’d live or not. He expected to find Bucky the same way Rumlow had, but it turned out to be worse. Much worse. What he found in the deep end of a corridor was a dimly lit room, clean but dark, ominous-looking apparels sitting by the counter and a metal table in the center. There he found him.
“Bucky!” Steve called out as he reached it, shock etched into his expression as he saw how the other man looked. There was something about him… more muscles in his body, strong straps tying his limbs to the table as if they were afraid of his strength. And blood, God, he couldn’t look at the blood. He’d left Bucky there for almost three weeks he would never forgive himself. “Buck, hey, can you hear me?” He called desperately, touching Bucky’s cheek.