Warning: torture scenes, while not incredibly graphic in my opinion, are present in this chapter. Also, my song of choice while writing those scenes was "My song knows what you did in the dark" by Fall Out Boy if you want to listen while you read :)
James continued his psychological warfare against Brent for another two days following the first. It grew increasingly harder to keep his desire to inflict physical pain under control. He knew it was worth it. Messing with Brent's head was the key to it all. The key to him spilling Hydra secrets, and the key to making the physical torture that much more excruciating. Once James got inside his head, the paranoia and the fear would cause his senses to heighten. Meaning he'd feel pain more acutely than he'd ever felt it before.
On the fourth day James took his seat in front of Brent once more. That time, he had two glass beakers with him, which he sat beside him on the floor. As each day before, he pulled out his knife, flipping it once before reaching down to dip it in the clear liquid that filled the first beaker. He didn't answer when Brent asked what was in the beaker. He didn't speak at all, just stared at Brent emotionlessly. Calmly, James moved the knife towards Brent's face. The movement caused Brent's eyes to widen, as he desperately, yet futilely, tried to pull away. With precision, James grazed Brent's cheek with the knife, just enough to break the surface. Brent's reaction was instantaneous, a growl turning to a scream as the chemical burned away at his flesh.
James let the pain seep in for a minute before grabbing the second beaker and pouring its contents against the cut. It would stop the burn from spreading, but it would still sting. Water wasn't a cure all for the pain of Hydrochloric acid, but it washed it away enough to prevent further damage until it was desired. They still needed Brent to talk.
"What does Hydra want with Anya?" James spoke for the first time as he reached down to dip the knife back into the first beaker, coating it with a fresh layer of the acid. Raising the knife up, James glanced from it to Brent, letting him know what he was getting himself into if he answered unsatisfactorily. Hell, he'd probably get it even if he answered satisfactorily.
"Hydra taught us to withstand torture." Brent managed to choke out, still breathing unsteadily because of the pain. Moving quicker that time, James made another cut, perpendicular to the first and slightly deeper. He let the acid sink in longer that time before holding his left hand out. It was one of the signs Steve and he had worked out the previous night. When Steve handed the bottle of water to him, James unscrewed it slowly, staring Brent in the eyes as he took a long, drawn out sip, before pouring a quarter of it over the fresh cut.
"Hydra didn't prepare you for me," James stated coldly, flipping the knife in his grip and knocking the hilt roughly against the injured side of Brent's face. "Answer the question."
"Go to Hell," Brent spat out, acting tough. An act that wasn't fooling James nor Steve. The perspiration on his forehead and his increased heartbeat gave him away. Both only increased as James leaned in closer to him.
"Wrong answer," James whispered in his left ear. It only took one strong, downward cut to take Brent's ear clean off. His screams echoed loudly around the lab, only increasing when James slammed the knife into his left thigh to free his hand. Leaning back, James nonchalantly pulled out a silver lighter and flicked it open. In so much pain, Brent didn't even register the movement until the flames licked at the space where his ear used to be: cauterizing the wound. There was no sense in him bleeding out too soon.
"They need her for some secret project I don't have the clearance to know about." Brent eventually shouted, before gritting his teeth in pain. The Winter Soldier was insane. Brent couldn't believe he cut off his fucking ear. "And rumor has it Rumlow has a hard on for her."
Sitting back in his chair, James studied Brent carefully, looking for the telltale signs of a lie. When he didn't find any, he reached forward and yanked the knife from Brent's thigh. The action caused Brent to hiss in pain. Tearing the material of his jeans to provide better access to the entry point, James poured more water on the wound to wash away most of the acid before cauterizing it like Brent's ear. The smell of burning flesh was starting to get more pungent.
Steve's hand on James' shoulder had him rising from the seat. It was another sign they'd worked out. To prevent James from going too far and killing Brent before they got all the information they could out of him, they would tag team him. Give James a little time to cool down between sets of torturing. So Steve took the seat James had evacuated.
"You going bad cop, good cop on me?" Brent forced out, glancing up at Captain America while keeping his head down. His breathing was labored, and he didn't like facing enemies head on when he was weak. It was actually a relief to see Captain America take the Winter Soldier's place. If anyone would play good cop, it'd be Captain America. His idealism was pathetic in that sense.
"Oh, I'm not the good cop." Steve insisted with a smile, leaning forward. "And before I ask you any questions, this is for your comments to Anna the other day."
Moving as fast as the asset had with the knife, the Captain sent his fist pounding into Brent's ribs. It had him gasping for air, the pain was so intense. Hitting the ribs meant he'd continue to feel the pain with every breath. A strategy that was quite ingenious.
"So Rumlow is calling the shots now?" Steve asked, not giving Brent a chance to catch his breath. Torturing wasn't his strong suit, he was a soldier not a spy, and normally he would find it morally corrupt. However, when lives were at stake, when Anna was at stake, he made an exception to his code of conduct.
"My orders come from Rollins. Rollins gets his from Rumlow. I don't know who Rumlow gets them from." For all Brent knew, there were much more important men than Rumlow telling him what to do. Or perhaps Rumlow was in charge of it all. The only thing Brent was sure of, was he was recruited by Rollins and reported to him.
"Where is Rumlow now? Where has he made base?" Steve demanded. He highly doubted if Rumlow was in charge of all of Hydra's operations', but finding him would be a good start. And finding Rumlow meant possibly ending Hydra's manhunt for Anna. Before Brent could answer, a shot went off, hitting Brent in the right shoulder. In the exact spot Brent had shot Bucky actually.
"Bucky, give him a chance to answer first," Steve threw over his shoulder, making brief eye contact with Bucky who still had the gun pulled and trained on their hostage. Turning back to Brent, Steve raised an eyebrow. "He can be a bit trigger happy. Has good aim too. So I'd think carefully about your answer, unless you want to lose an appendage."
Glancing between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Brent noticed the gun the asset held shifting lower. It only took a minute to put the Captain's words and the asset's movement together. Eyes wide, Brent instinctually tried to move to protect himself. That wasn't an actual option, for obvious reasons.
"I don't know," Brent wheezed out frantically, panicking even more when the asset moved his finger towards the trigger. "Honestly, I don't know. Recruits never go to the base. We just get calls with our orders."
"Where's your phone?" Steve asked, reaching for Brent's pocket once he'd answered. If Brent really didn't know where Rumlow was, his phone might be able to tell them. It could be their last chance to prevent Anna's plan from taking course.
"I'll take it to Tony, see if he can get anything off it. Think you can handle being alone with him?" Steve inquired, turning to face Bucky once he had the device. Bucky hadn't been alone with Brent since they brought him to the tower. It had been for the teams' sake, seeing as Bucky had a pretty good motivation to kill the guy and the team needed answers; dead men can't talk. Steve had been able to talk Tony into letting them go in alone to interrogate, but it hadn't been easy. In the end, it took Steve pulling the Anna card, how Anna would need someone to watch after her so she didn't do anything reckless, to get Tony to agree. Seeing as Tony had zero experience in torturing for information, he was the prime candidate to watch over Anna.
"I won't kill him till you come back." James stated as he once again took the seat before Brent. "That's all I can promise."
Knowing that was the best he was going to get, Steve left, taking the elevator to Tony's secondary lab. The one reserved for when his experiments made the main lab uninhabitable for a few days. Trying to keep his promise, James went back to the psychological tactics he'd first used on Brent. It seemed to be working, as Brent's fidgeting showed his discomfort with the situation until he couldn't remain quiet anymore.
"You can't keep Anna from Hydra. They monitor her every movement. It's only a matter of time." Brent commented, hoping to inflict some mental damage on the Winter Soldier in retaliation against everything the crazy son of a bitch had done to him. When it didn't seem to be working, he pressed on. "Just think, when Rumlow gets Anna it'll be one more Hydra agent who fucks her. She'll be like Hydra's personal whore."
Brent's words sent anger coursing through James. The Bastard was bragging and threatening in one sentence. And he was in no position to be doing either. James took it upon himself to remind him of that, pressing the barrel of his gun against Brent's forehead as he continued to stare him down. He could end his life in a second. When you were that easy to kill off, you don't have any room to threaten or brag.
"You promised you wouldn't kill me," Brent reminded the asset, a little unsure. Just because the asset promised Captain America, didn't necessarily mean he'd follow through with it. He was a rogue assassin after all.
With a dark smile, James removed the gun from Brent's forehead, resulting in the bastard relaxing slightly. It only made James' smile grow darker. Using his left hand, James pulled another knife from its sheath, adjusting his grip on it before plunging it down. The result was satisfying, as Brent's screams echoed around the room louder than before, letting out strings of curses as tears welled in his eyes. A bullet in the brain would have been too merciful for him. Castration was much more gratifying, not to mention it fit at least one of his crimes.
…
Anna's therapy continued as normal while James and Steve were busy in the lab-turned-holding-facility. The only difference was they were conducted on Bruce's floor instead of the lab. The change in Anna's attitude since Brent had been taken hostage didn't go unnoticed by Bruce, and it was starting to worry him. She wasn't as talkative, didn't have much of an appetite, and was looking increasingly tired. All three were worthy or worry individually, all three symptoms together only made Bruce worry worse.
"How have you been sleeping?" Bruce asked as he attached electrodes to different points on Anna's left arm, deciding to tackle that symptom first. Lack of sleep could attribute to the other two.
"Alone." Anna mumbled, moving to rest her chin in her right hand while Bruce flicked on the machine that sent electrical pulses through her arm.
That first night, after the bombs went off in Brooklyn and Brent was being held hostage in the lab, Anna slept in solitude. She hadn't even meant to fall asleep, she'd just curled up in bed after her bath to try and comfort herself and ended up drifting off. When she woke up the next morning, she was still alone, with no sign that James had ever come to bed. The next two nights followed a similar pattern. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, it hurt. She didn't need to be alone after what happened. What she really needed was James, beside her, reminding her that she wasn't alone. That he wouldn't abandon her.
Of course, she had no idea that when James had found her curled up with the blankets in the center of the bed, sound asleep and looking so innocent, there was nothing he wanted more than to curl up beside her. But he was afraid to. After what she'd told him, he didn't want to startle her. Especially not when he was winding down from mission mode. It could push her into another anxiety attack. So he turned right back around and slept on the couch, alone. It wasn't the best night's sleep he'd had, but it hadn't been the worst. Each night following had been the same. He was too afraid to join her.
"Want to talk about it?" Bruce asked, trying to keep his tone light, no pressure. It was less likely Anna would open up if she felt pressured to.
"I'm not broken, I don't need a therapist." Anna spat out harshly, before realizing how severe she sounded, not to mention crazy.
"I know, I heard you tell Brent as much." Bruce admitted hesitantly, and at the look of horror that flashed across Anna's face he quickly started backtracking.
"Does Tony know?" Anna interrupted Bruce's rambling apology. That was the main reason she had been horrified: the possibility that Tony had heard as well. Although it was mortifying that Bruce had deduced what she had been discussing with Brent, it would be all the worse if Tony knew.
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure you'd know by now if he had." It was true. If Tony had any inkling of what Anna had been hiding from him, he probably would have confronted her about it by now: very loudly and with lots of hand gestures.
"Anna, asking for help, receiving therapy for what Brent put you through, that doesn't mean you're weak. Or broken." Bruce murmured quietly, hesitant to have Anna scream at him again. It was obvious Anna was under the impression that needing to talk to someone was a sign of defeat. Which it wasn't. Therapy was actually scientifically proven to be successful in helping people cope with different situations. Utilizing that resource wasn't a sign of weakness. It was a sign of being strong enough to recognize help was needed and to reach out for it.
"You're a therapist, of course you'd say that." Anna muttered, avoiding eye contact. Instead of looking at Bruce, she studied the electrodes sticking to her arm, and found herself wondering how something as small as electrical pulses to her muscle groups could help her heal better.
"Actually, I'm' a nuclear physicist. Tony just chooses to spill his guts to me on a weekly basis." Bruce corrected with a smile, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Tony did not shy away from sharing, or oversharing, personal information. In fact, Bruce had a feeling Tony thrived on it. If only Anna had inherited a little of that.
"Talking to people about it, especially a therapist, would only make Brent feel like he won. He'd be getting credit for it. Validation that he managed to poison my mind." Brent lived to see the victory of what he'd done. The bruises were instant glorification for him, but he wanted more. He liked to see the psychological handprint he'd left on each of his victims. That's why the previous six girls ended up in psych wards. They couldn't handle it. They saw psychologists who locked them up. They broke.
"I think it would mean you won. By letting yourself beat the damage he did. By overcoming it. But, I'm just a nuclear physicist, what do I know." Bruce commented as he reviewed the data on Anna's muscle integrity on the monitor. "What I'm trying to say is, you have a lot of people who care about you Anna. If you ever want to spill your guts to someone, I've been told I make a pretty good listener."
Silence fell between them as Bruce recorded Anna's progress in her file. Bruce had been surprised to find how well Anna's muscle's had healed from her injury. They were by no means back to perfect condition, but they were well on their way. Removing the electrodes, he started in on the mobilization exercises. Depending on those results, there was a chance Anna had improved enough to be cleared. It only took 80% mobilization to clear an agent for duty. Anna could well be past that 80% marker.
"I haven't seen James since I told him," Anna blurted out as Bruce manipulated her arms in the exercises she could recite in her sleep by now. For anyone else her confession might have seemed random, but Brent had been expecting something of the sort. Seeing as her symptoms had started manifesting shortly after James and Steve brought back Brent.
"He doesn't even sleep with me, if he sleeps at all. It hurts. I feel like he's avoiding me." That was one of the big reasons she hadn't wanted to tell James what else Brent had done to her just yet. That kind of history had the capability of scaring people away. Even trained assassins. Especially trained assassins. Anna knew Romanoff well enough to know assassins don't handle emotions and the emotional that well.
"James cares about you Anna. He would never do anything to purposefully hurt you." Bruce reassured her as he continued moving her arm, testing its strength. "Perhaps he doesn't want you to witness him like that. When he brings the Winter Soldier to the forefront. Maybe it's not that he doesn't want to see you, but that he doesn't want you to see him, to think differently of him."
Bruce could understand not wanting to show ones more…monstrous side to people. Especially people you cared about. It's easy to love and accept the humane side of a person, and it was another to do the same with the more animalistic side. The side that could hurt people, and not care, or even worse, like it.
…
"I thought you said you wouldn't kill him," Steve announced when he returned to find Brent hunched over in his chair. Looking very much dead.
"He passed out from the pain. Still alive." James grunted, turning to look up at Steve as he came to a stop beside him. "Stark find anything useful on the phone?"
"I don't speak technology very well, but apparently it's coded. He's working on breaking it, seeing if he can track the last number to call. Though he's doubtful. The phone's a burn. Meaning Hydra probably uses disposable phones for times like these." Tony's techno jargon went over Steve's head, but when translated into English, Steve could make sense of important bits.
"I don't think he's going to be of much more use," James answered, nodding towards the unconscious Brent. "He was a pawn. They wouldn't have sent him after me if he wasn't." Hydra wasn't stupid. Sending an agent after James ensured his death, or his capture. They wouldn't send someone who knew their big secrets. James had simply hoped Brent would know some more of the smaller ones.
"There's one more question he might be able to answer," Steve commented, turning to look at Brent as well. "How Hydra knew we were on that roof." It had been bothering Steve, the question of how Brent knew where to find Bucky and him. They hadn't taken any public means of transportation, they hadn't been followed, and Anna wasn't with them so they couldn't have been tracking her movements. Steve wanted to know how Brent knew they were headed for Brooklyn.
"And then I can kill him?" James confirmed. With Steve's assurance that, yes, James could kill Brent after they got that last answer, James grabbed another bottle of water and dumped the contents over Brent's head. It successful brought their hostage sputtering back into consciousness. He immediately began howling in pain again.
"Hey, focus," Steve commanded, grasping Brent's face to force him to look at him. "You knew we'd be on that roof. How?"
"Why should I tell you? Whether I answer or not, he hurts me." Brent spat out, glaring at the Winter Soldier who stood forebodingly behind Steve.
"Tell me, and you get a bullet to the head. A quick death. Don't, and Bucky gets to kill you his way. Trust me when I say his way will be much worse." Steve could feel Bucky tensing behind him at the promise he'd just made. Bucky didn't agree with it. It's not that Steve thought Brent deserved for anything to be easy, especially not death. No, it was more the fact that they needed to know how Hydra knew their movements in order to prevent being caught off guard in the future and Brent was tired of talking.
"His arm. The metal one. It has some sort off tracking device in it. Turns on whenever it's more than 100 miles from the hub." Brent finally answered. Truth was, he was tired of the pain. Answering meant he could be rid of it. Lord knew how long the Winter Soldier would draw out him dying if he had the choice.
At Brent's cooperation, Steve released his hold on Brent's face and stepped back to allow James better access. Stepping forward deliberately slowly, James pulled out his sidearm and pressed it against Brent's forehead for the second time that day. He looked him straight in the eyes when he pulled the trigger, watching the life die out of them. Though he'd wanted Brent to suffer more in death, at least he'd been able to be the one who took the life from him. It was oddly freeing.
"Jarvis, tell Bruce we need him in the lab to run some diagnostics." Steve called out, glancing at Bucky. They needed to find out what kind of tracking device was in his arm, where in his arm it was, and how to remove it. Seeing as Tony was busy with the phone, they needed Bruce. "And tell Sam we need him down here too."
…
"I can't believe you've got me on dead guy duty again. This is not going to start being a thing," Sam insisted forcefully, slamming the trunk of the car down.
"Just make sure no one sees you," Steve added, patting Sam on the back before returning to the lab where Banner was scanning James' arm.
Bruce pulled up the images from the scan of Anna's neck on an adjacent monitor, to compare the device Hydra implanted in her to the one in James' arm. Unfortunately, very few similarities could be observed. Where Anna's was miniscule and insect-like, James' was larger and more rectangular. Most likely, it was an older design than Anna's and had been in there since the arm was first attached to prevent losing him. Much like tagging a wild animal. Bruce could pinpoint its location, under the third panel in the forearm, but he wanted to wait for Tony to remove it. Tony was the mechanic and would know how to better navigate James' arm with minimal damage.
"Where is Anna?" Steve asked as he attempted to wipe Brent's blood off the chair while they waited for Stark. "I thought she was in physical therapy with you."
"I sent her back up to her floor. I thought it best to keep her away from the lab, not knowing what would be waiting for her down here." Bruce responded from his spot by the monitor. Anna had automatically went to follow him down to the lab, but Bruce hadn't been sure she could handle seeing what had been done to Brent. Even if he had hurt her, seeing damage like that to any human being could be traumatizing. Seeing as the guy wore the after effects of being tortured and was dead when Bruce got down there, he'd consider it a smart call on his part. Apparently James agreed with him, as Bruce noticed his shoulders relaxing upon the realization that Anna wouldn't be joining them in the lab.
"Alright Tin Man, ready to play a life-size game of operation?" Tony announced his presence before even stepping out of the elevator. He carried a tool-box in one hand and the cell phone in the other. "This was a dead end by the way. The number that called came from a phone that's already been burned. Untraceable, even for me." Tossing the useless device on the table by Bruce, Tony turned towards Tin Man with an eager smile. It wasn't everyday he got to open up old Hydra technology and see how it ticked.
"I don't trust you," James muttered as he took a seat in the chair that Tony indicated. Even if he didn't trust Tony, he still needed the device disabled.
"Don't care," Tony commented off handedly as he started pulling tools from his bag. As soon as Bruce told him which panel the device was under, Tony went to work to remove it. Underneath was a maze of wires, electronic ports, and blue glow-y things Tony hadn't seen before. Although the urge to dissect the arm further was strong, that would have to wait for another day. The device that was today's target sat between two electronic ports, with wires connecting to it. It definitely wasn't made to come out easy.
"This is going to really hurt and possibly short circuit your whole arm, or have absolutely no effect on you whatsoever," Tony commented as he pulled out tweezers and some wire cutters. James didn't like the uncertain tone Tony used. Bruce had made it seem like Tony would know what he was doing.
Bracing himself for pain, James watched as Tony snipped the first of the wires, relaxing some when nothing happened. When the second wire was cut without any side-effects, it was with much relief. After that, all Tony had to do was use the tweezers to pull out the tracker and it was all done. James simply glared at Tony when he commented how he'd hoped it would've been a little more exciting than that.
"Can you still move it?" Tony asked after screwing the outer plate back on. Though he hadn't hurt Tin Man when removing it, that was no guarantee he hadn't affected the arm's integrity or productivity. Testing it out, James rotated his shoulder and moved his fingers. Everything seemed to be working alright.
"See Bruce, you could have done it. Nothing to it," Tony exclaimed as he tossed his tools back into the box before carrying it over to his section of the lab. He made it no secret that it was good to be back in the main lab, and that Steve and Tin Man owed him. Both for letting them use his lab as an interrogation room, and for him taking Anna duty instead of getting a whack at the bastard himself.
"You know you would have killed him the moment he said something you didn't like, Tony. And then we never would have known Bucky had a tracking device in his arm." Steve countered, knowing Tony was all talk and that he liked to pout and point fingers.
"I know no such thing. And for that remark I dismiss both you and Tin Man. You're no longer welcome in the Science Club House." Tony announced, dramatically spinning his chair away from them and towards the monitors. Rolling his eyes Steve dropped the cloth he'd been using to clean the chair and lead his and Bucky's way to the elevator.
It'd been a very long four days, interspersed with few hours of sleep that weren't exactly peaceful. Steve was happy it was all over. He might actually be able to relax for the first time since the explosions on the roof. Steve expected Bucky to feel the same, but he only seemed to grow tenser as the elevator climbed higher. Of course, when asked what was troubling him, Bucky denied anything was. But Steve had known Bucky long enough to know when he was lying.
"You've been distant with her, haven't you," Steve guessed the source of Bucky's troubles. It wasn't hard, seeing as the only thing waiting for Bucky on his floor was Anna. "My advice? Apologize no matter what. You can never go wrong with apologizing when Anna's angry. Most romantic movies also claim kissing is a good way to reassure her of your affections. Though you still haven't shaved."
"Anna likes the beard," James threw back, storing the bit about apologies and kissing in the back of his mind.
"I suppose it makes you look better. Hides half your face," Steve commented with a smirk. To his surprise Bucky smiled back, waiting for the doors to open on Steve's floor before calling after him.
"You're only jealous because you can't grow one." The doors dinged shut before Steve could respond, but he felt lighter at the playful smile Bucky had shot at him after the remark. It gave him hope that their friendship was more than salvageable, it was well on the mend already.
…
James' smile evaporated as the elevator began to climb once more. For four days he hadn't seen or spoken to Anna. He'd needed to remain focused on getting Brent to talk, and that meant staying in the mindset of the Soldier. The last thing he wanted was for Anna to see him that way. Of course she'd seen him before missions, but that was different. She'd never actually witnessed his assassin side in action, outside of protecting her from Hydra ambushes. And he was scared for her reaction if she ever did. So when the elevator doors opened to show her sitting on the couch, waiting for him, his hand began to sweat.
Anna had been practicing what she was going to say to James ever since her talk with Bruce. Their talk had been helpful, and had given her the courage to confront James about the past four days. However, the moment James stepped off the elevator, all of that courage seemed to wash away. Delivering her speech to the mirror was very different than delivering it to James himself.
"You've been avoiding me," Anna whispered, rising from her seat once James came to a stop in front of her. She had to force herself to make eye contact. "And I hate it. If it's because of what I told you, there's nothing I can do. I can't change my past any more than you can change yours. But it's really not fair because I accept your past. I've accepted what you've done and who you are. And I think it's only fair you try and do the same for me. Shutting me out for something I had no choice in is hypocritical and hurtful."
Anna surprised herself by getting through the whole speech without stuttering or forgetting what she was going to say. Now it was out there, in the open. It was James' turn to respond. And he didn't respond in any way close to what Anna was expecting. Without warning, James reached out to pull her closer, crashing his lips against hers and kissing her more fervently than he'd ever had before.
"It wasn't you." James insisted once he'd pulled away. It took Anna a moment to register he was talking, a little disoriented from the kiss. "I couldn't allow myself the luxury of lying beside you after what I'd done, what I'd had to become to get the job done. I'm sorry."
"You didn't want me to see you as the Winter Soldier," Anna murmured. Bruce had been right. Perhaps Tony was onto something, using Bruce as his personal therapist. The man was good. "Did you find out anything? When you went all Winter Soldier on Brent's ass?"
Anya's light tone when referring to his torture session had James relaxing. Though she might not condone his actions, she didn't resent him for it. As she had said, she accepted him for who he was. She accepted the darker sides of him. Even though he would always strive to be better for her, it was nice to know she wouldn't run when he failed to be the man he wanted to.
"Rumlow's the one who wants you. He's giving orders now. Hydra needs you for an unknown project. And they were tracking my movements from a device your brother removed from my arm. Other than that, nothing." James summarized their findings, leaving out the statements Brent made that didn't pertain to the mission to track down Hydra. All in all, they hadn't gotten much out of him. As a recruit, he didn't know anything, and in the end they were nowhere closer to tracking down Hydra's location.
"I suppose it's a good thing Bruce cleared me then. Your plan failed. It's time to try mine out." Anya's words left a sinking feeling in James' stomach. He hadn't expected the doctor to clear her already. He hadn't been aware her sessions with him had been going that well. James supposed that's what happened when he shut Anya out for her own good. Not that that realization made him feel any better about the situation.
A/N Hey all, so I'm a day late with posting this. I apologize! I got sucked into Agents of Shield on Netflix (I know I can't believe I haven't seen it before now either). I also saw Avengers Age of Ultron this weekend and was blown away by it. Though it poses some complications to my Bruce/OC story idea for reasons that will become clear once you watch the movie. After reevaluating, this story might actually reach 30 chapters! So yay for it not being over with this one (it would be a horrible way to end this story if it ended here, I think). Thank you all for the reviews and the follows/favorites! Next chapter to be posted by Friday night.
Onto Guest Review Responses:
To keshigomu: Glad you liked Anna confronting Brent and James' psychological warfare :) I'm also happy I managed to write a bad guy that you loathe so much! Hope you enjoyed the follow up to James' torturing.
To the guest who loves the way the story is coming out to be: why thank you! Nice to know you like Janya. I'm a big fan of them too lol.
To the guest who said the torturing part was exactly how they imagined: good I'm so glad to hear that! Hope you liked part two of it here just as much!
To the guest who really wanted to see Bucky torture Brent both physically and mentally: here you are! Hope it was satisfactory for ya.
To the guest who just found the story and stayed up to 4am reading it: wow that's very flattering because I know it takes a good story or book for me to stay up all night to read it. I'm glad you gave this story a try even though you don't read many Bucky/OC stories. And I am planning on writing a Steve/OC story after the sequel to this one if you're interested.
To Margaery: Yay for you finding this story, I'm just as happy as you about that. Thanks for pointing out how Anna is a Stark but is still different than Tony. I wanted to make sure I didn't make her a female version of him, but she still has some Stark traits in her. And protective Bucky is one of my favorites aas well. My Steve/OC fic will probably be at least another at least another two months roughly. I started this story the end of February and it's just wrapping up, meaning the sequel will probably take a similar amount of time (if I can update as frequently as I could with this one).
