Warnings: Extreme triggers! Talks of kidnapping, abuse, murder, labs, powers
Bucky!Barnes x Fem!Reader
Find previous part here
Masterlist
Sleeping alone is still a strange thought.
You only were in a room by yourself when you were being observed…or living through a punishment.
The empty and quiet walls of your new room have you missing the sleeping quarters of that damn place…wherever it is. You close your eyes, grunting as you desperately try and remember all the important things, names, locations, anything that would be more helpful.
There’s nothing but white spaces in your memory.
You huff and bury your face in your pillow. If you soften your breathing just enough, you could hear the overlapping huffs of the girls you once had a bed next to. They’re long gone now, all you know of them is how they look lying still and lifeless.
To say the least, you struggled through the night.
In the morning, you twitch and itch slightly as your body pulses for that fix it’s gotten so used to. If it were up to you, you wouldn’t take the infusion, but your body threatens to give up if it doesn’t have a taste, so Dr. Banner is your saving grace, administering a low dose that continues to get lower until you don’t need it anymore.
It feels like hell.
There’s clothes in your closet that you aren’t a fan of, shades of white and beige, pastel colors of blue and pink.
The things you would do for a pair of pants.
You throw yet another dress on, a different pair of knee socks and those red high tops…the only thing of yours they let you keep. You get lost on your way to the communal women’s bathroom, but you turn back around and find it.
“Good morning.” Wanda greets you as you enter. She’s in front of one of the mirrors, applying makeup.
You smile at the normality of it.
Brushing through your ragged hair, you can’t help but let out a frustrated sigh when it gets knotted again.
“You know, Natasha could help you with a hair cut if you’d like. Maybe a trim? Get rid of those dead ends?”
You look over at her and nod.
Like she was summoned, Natasha appears and is more than happy to assist.
You head to the meeting, free of a few inches.
“Haircut?” Tony asks as you sit down besides Nat.
You nod.
“Looks good.” He approves.
“Good morning, Blue.” Steve greets, causing question from the few Avengers that are in the conference room.
“Blue?” Sam questions.
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “Because her powers…are blue…look, she doesn’t remember her name and I’m not calling her by a number, Blue will have to work.”
You giggle to yourself, and Steve grins in victory.
“Ha! I was the first to make her laugh.” He calls out in victory as he sits down across from you.
“She’s probably laughing because you’re an idiot.” Sam claims, taking his own seat.
One by one, the rest of the team joins.
Headphones on your ears, you aren’t necessarily paying attention to the things around you. Not when Nat argues with the Captain, saying she’s taking you to get clothes and Steve claims you needed to stay here.
“She’s wearing borrowed clothes, looking like the girl from Buffalo 66. She’s a grown woman, and she needs pants.” Nat defends with a glare.
“What’s Buffalo 66?” Steve questions, now side tracked.
“Alright, enough.” Tony calls. “Nat, take the kid shopping, don’t let her you know…do anything crazy.”
That ends the conversation.
Bucky comes into the mix, black coffee in hand as he sits next to Steve…across from you.
“Haircut?” Tony asks, having deja vu.
Bucky just gives him a blank expression, then looks to you.
“What’s her deal?” He asks Steve, questioning the way you don’t bother to look up from your phone.
“Uh…we think it’s best if she doesn’t listen to this first part of the meeting.” Is all Steve says, then passes out files.
“Alright, thanks to our guest here.” He says, motioning to you. “We have a new case.”
Everyone opens their folders, then sorts through the few papers inside.
“The Ring?” Clint questions.
Tony brings up the projection of the information already obtained. “When Fury took E.T. over there, she told agents about this underground organization known as ‘The Ring’. It’s made up of the bosses who run it, their little henchmen, the scientists, and the subjects. It’s grown rapidly into communities all over.”
Everyone shifts their eyes to you, then quickly look away.
“How do they get the subjects?” Bruce asks, brows creased as he looks at the paperwork.
“They kidnap five girls at a time when they’re needed. Doesn’t matter who or where from. Then, they’re brought into labs, turned into guinea pigs for five years while they are conditioned. Their rules are strict, no talking in English, wait for permission to do anything. It takes a whole army for this, there’s teachers and doctors and head agents that are assigned to one of them.” Steve explains, then expands a picture of the brand that sits on the back your neck. “Each division has a symbol, each girl has a number. Blue was 505, she was the fifth of the five in her division.”
You can feel their devastation, it radiates off of them and seeps into your skin. You have the urge to tell them that pity won’t do you any favors, but your tongue stays still.
Natasha leans back in her chair. “What’s the goal? Create super humans for the hell of it?” She asks.
Cap continues. “Once they prove themselves to be exactly what they made them to be, they become hitmen for hire. Some gang leader needs an opponent out of the game? Well they go to one of The Ring leaders, pay them big money, then sit back and wait for the job to be done.”
The team shakes their heads, and Bucky feels his stomach twist. This feels all too familiar, like he’s watching a version of his story play out in front of him.
“What can she tell us?” He speaks, motioning to you then looks to the hologram in front of him.
Tony brings up a few faces of unfamiliar men, newspaper articles of missing children. “She was kidnapped when she was ten, pulled from her bedroom at night. The more she’s adapting, the more she remembers but as of right now, she can only tell us what’s in the files.”
They look further at the notes.
“They develop a relationship with these girls, they give them education, train them to use their powers properly. Each girl has a different ability, they’re all kept together and available for what ever hit they need to do.” Tony explains, his tone almost amazed and confused. “They don’t try to hide these girls, they carefully put them out in society when it’s sure they are rewired properly. They-they give them different aliases, have them play roles perfectly until they can take out their target.”
“If they’re trained so flawlessly…then why’d I find her in the street?” Bucky asks.
Steve brings up the photo of a man named Lawrence Antonov.
“This man was the scientist in charge of Blue’s division, by some accident, he injected them with a serum that essentially cleared their brains. It over powered the previous conditioning, the previous serums given so they would go along with what they were told to do. All of it, wiped clean. Unfortunately, important names and locations were also wiped clean from their minds.”
Sam groans. “It’s never easy, is it?”
Tony glares. “Yeah, tell that to the kid who was a lab rat for almost 15 years of her life.”
Sam sinks a little in his chair.
“Moving on.” Steve says, trying to defuse the situation. “Blue fought her way out, she remembers leaving a warehouse in Vermont, making it as far as she could before her body gave up. Bucky found her, here she is.”
You’re playing a game on your phone, making Nat look over and hum approvingly. “She’s winning.”
They all watch you with a strange look, then shift their attention back to Tony.
“So, Vermont is where we start?” Clint asks.
- - - -
It’s sometime after the meeting ends that you run into him.
Bucky curses to himself as you stop in your tracks, looking him over. He just gives a tight lipped smile and tries to walk past you. Though, as he goes, he can’t help but turn back.
“You’re cooperative, that’s good.” He says, then realizes how off putting that sounds. “I just mean with the case, you’re actually being helpful.”
You just blankly stare at him.
“Not trying to sound like a dick, that’s supposed to be a compliment.” He clarifies, then decides it’s a lost cause anyway. So he huffs. “You get the idea.”
A pleasant smile plays on your lips as he turns his back and walks off.
“Your hair looked nice before.”
Bucky stumbles in his step, then pauses, trying to see if he’s imagining it. As he slowly turns, you’re still standing there, headphones in hand, round soft blue eyes. He doesn’t miss the way you have some sort of twitch about you.
“Did you…did you just talk?” He asks, brows furrowed.
Instantly, your smile drops, afraid you’ve upset him. He sees the expression and panics.
“No, no, I didn’t mean- you just…don’t talk.” He sighs.
“You gave me a compliment, right? So I give you one back.” You smile once more. “Your hair looked nice before, but it looks good now.”
This is happening?
“Thanks…” He says, adapting to the odd situation. “Nothing major…I fixed it this morning.”
You nod.
The two of you stand there in complete silence for an uncomfortable amount of time before Bucky walks away again.
“James.” You call out one last time.
His ears ring.
Was he supposed to feel dizzy when you call his name?
“Yeah?” He looks back at you.
Your fingers curl into the sleeve of your sweater. “Don’t tell the others I spoke…I’m not ready for the floods of questions they’ll ask me.”
He lets out a little huff.
You thought about speaking to him before you did it, you could’ve stayed silent as always, but you trusted him to not be overbearing.
