Prompts: Dazed and Confused/Whipping/Ringing Ears
Clint/Bucky
TW: graphic violence and description of physical child abuse
"What I'm about to say stays between us," Bucky said.
Clint shrugged. "Whatever's said in an evil man's lair stays in an evil man's lair, Bucky."
Bucky nodded. "Sam was right."
"I guess it had to happen at some point. Wait, he didn't figure out about us, did he?"
"Not that I know of, birdbrain, but about bad guys." Bucky chose to ignore Clint's comment. If he couldn't put a label on what he had with Clint, Sam sure as hell wouldn't be able to. "He once said all the bad guys could fall into three categories. They're either androids, aliens, or wizards."
"I think I'd add people who want to take over the world to that list."
"That's what I tried to convince the other birdbrain to do."
Clint shrugged again. "His loss. Maybe if he got captured once in a while, he'd change his mind."
Bucky chuckled. "Speaking of evil men, any idea where the ones are that put us here? Don't they know we have a pizza to get to?"
"Right? Pretty rude of them."
Clint and Bucky got voluntold to go on a mission to search for some valuable piece of art that had been stolen. The guy was a friend of Fury's (who knew he had friends? Clint had asked without getting an answer other than Cap's Eyebrow of Disappointment). The trail had led them to some reportedly haunted forest in Germany, where Clint reminded Bucky not to eat candy off of any house. "I can't believe you haven't seen Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Barnes. I'll have Friday add it to the list." Bucky rolled his eyes at some (most of) Clint's movie choices). "Plus, it's got to be better than that one movie about the guys who get their powers when they turn 18, then one of the rich guys decides he wants someone else's powers, so there's that big fight scene."
"It's called The Covenant, and it's not that bad. You liked the locker room scene."
"That was the one redeeming factor of the movie, Bucky," Clint had argued back.
During their bickering, someone else entered the room. The figure was a woman wearing flowing robes of black and dark purple. She had wavy, long, jet-black hair and black lipstick. "You have entered my realm. Why?" Clint and Bucky looked at each other and kept silent. That was a need-to-know basis, and she didn't need to know. "I'll ask again. Why are you in my realm? What is your purpose?" The two remained stoic and glared at her, not revealing anything. "Fine. You have left me no choice then." She waved her fingers over their heads and appeared to float to the opposite side of the room.
Clint immediately got a sense that he was falling into a ravine. He was freezing, and there was snow everywhere he looked. He landed with a thud, feeling a sharp pain in his left arm, and then lost consciousness. The next thing he knew, he looked over, and his arm was gone just below the shoulder. Clint saw a bright red trail of blood across the pure white snow. He heard someone screaming and realized it was him. "Sargent Barnes." A stocky man with wire-rimmed glasses was leaning over him. "Let us continue the procedure." That's when Clint figured it out. He was reliving Bucky's fall from the train.
An unknown amount of time passed, and the next Clint knew, he was ordered to raise his arms and look at them. 'Shit,' he thought, 'I know what I'm gonna see now.' Sure enough, his left arm was now silver. He turned his head and saw the red star painted on the bicep, marking him as theirs. "The operation was a success." From what Bucky had told Clint, it must be Zola's voice he was hearing. "You are to be the new fist of HYDRA." Clint made a fist and punched the nearest face he saw and was rewarded by being given a shot that knocked him out. When he came to again, he was sitting up. 'The chair.' Clint knew exactly what this was for. He tried valiantly to struggle, but the bonds around his arms were too tight. Someone forced him to bite down on a mouth guard, a halo was lowered, two metal plates were clamped to each side of his head, and the worst pain he'd ever imagined shot through his head, and all he could do was sit there and take it.
Bucky tried to stay alert to keep an eye on Clint, but no sooner was Clint out than Bucky noticed things were different. He was surrounded by farmland that had a dilapidated barn on it, along with a house with a wrap-around porch. The driveway was a mixture of dirt and gravel, with deep tire ruts. Bucky looked around and saw a boy who resembled Clint but with reddish hair coming out of the barn. "Clint! Little buddy, gotta make sure your chores are done before Dad gets home. You know what'll happen if ya don't." The boy ran up to Bucky and punched him in the left arm. It felt weird, plus it didn't make any noise when the boy struck it.
The boy grabbed him by his right arm and dragged him to the barn. "Come on, pick up the speed, little bro! It's almost time for Dad to get home." Bucky then heard the backfiring of a muffler and the rumbling of a vehicle engine as it traveled toward the house. "Quick! Let's hide under the bed. Maybe he'll be so drunk he won't think to look there." The other boy, who by now Bucky had figured out was Barney, making him Clint, still had hold of his arm and dragged him into the house. Once inside, Bucky followed Barney up the stairs to a small bedroom with a full-size bed. Bucky had no clue how the bed held two boys, but he couldn't worry about that now. Barney tossed him under the bed, then crawled after him.
"Where are those good-for-nothing boys? Can't even get their fuckin' chores done without me standing over them." Bucky heard the crash of a bottle breaking, then heavy boots stomping up the stairs. The bedroom door flew open, bouncing off the wall, almost ricocheting enough to come back and hit the man. A large hand appeared under the bed and dragged Bucky out by his feet. "You son of a bitch, ain't good for anything but a whippin' post." Bucky heard the sound of a belt being removed from belt loops, then felt the sting of the buckle strike him across the stomach. The man brought his arm back and hit Bucky over and over again. Bucky tried to curl in on himself to protect his stomach, which left his back unprotected. After what seemed like an eternity, the beatings stopped. Unfortunately, the only reason the man ceased beating him was to throw Bucky against the wall, then kick him in the head before he cussed him out and marched out of the room. Bucky's entire body was in pain, and he could only hear the ringing in his ears.
The woman watched as Clint and Bucky lived out each other's worst memories. "This will teach humans not to trespass where they're not wanted." She left the room as quickly as she appeared, leaving the two men writhing in pain, not caring if anyone came for them or not.