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Chapter 1
He sat there feeling dazed and dishevelled as the confusion continued to snake its way through his damaged brain, the unforgiving ghosts of past figures and shadows muddying his thoughts without reprieve. Questions flashed across his mind thick and fast, each of them more troubling than the last following his sudden brutal outburst against them. He knew he was not to attack his handlers and their team; he knew he would soon pay.
The Soldier barely registered the man who was stood in front of him, the man opened his mouth and a demand fell bluntly from his lips: "Mission Report". The Soldier barely heard this man as his thoughts continued to churn with ferocity. Receiving no response, the man demanded again - "Mission report, now!"
The slap came harsh and sudden, throwing the Soldier's head to the side with a sting that felt familiar. Insubordination would not be tolerated; the Soldier knew that.
Looking up in confusion, the Soldier spoke for the first time since entering the lab: "The man on the bridge… who was he?"
There was silence for several seconds before the man in front of the Soldier stated - "You met him earlier this week on a prior assignment – "
"I knew him…" The Soldier's voice interrupted the man, softly; he did not truly know whether he believed his own words as he sat there, yet he felt they must be true. The man who was now kneeling in front of him did not seem to know how to proceed and spent a few seconds trying to find a response, but the Soldier found he did not care. The Soldier felt almost certain that he knew that man on the bridge from a time… before? He was still uncertain of when and how; the Soldier was lost deep within the depths of his twisted mind. The man who knelt in front of the Soldier maintained eye contact as he began speaking persuasively, the Soldier only caught brief pieces - something about the Soldier being a gift to mankind. The Soldier quickly lost track of the conversation once more, staring unblinkingly at the far wall before his eyes snapped to focus on the second man's face. The man had just asked if the Soldier could do it again, would be the Fist of HYDRA but the Soldier knew it wasn't a real request. More meaningless words from the other man followed when Bucky insisted, surer than he had been before: "but I knew him…" he trailed off into silence. Somewhere deep within the Soldier knew this to be true and with it came the feeling of immeasurable loss. This was a new thing, the Soldier never really felt anything like this that he could recall, the Soldier frowned to himself.
Harsh words commanded those around him: "Prep him" followed by more words and responses the soldier was only half listening to. Then the final wording came, and with it a shadow of fear for the Soldier: "then wipe him, and start over"
The Soldier sat waiting, still lost in his own thoughts as two men approached and forced him back against the cold chair with an air of finality. The Soldier knew this was it, like many times before his mind would no longer be his own – had it ever been his own? The Soldier found this question unsettling, he did not think, he was not permitted to think outside of the parameters of a mission. As he accepted the rough mouth guard handed to him between his teeth and the restraints locked him in place, the Soldier could not control the level of stifling fear and threat that whipped through him, his chest rising and falling drastically as his heart beat painfully due to what would happen next. As the unforgiving steel locked against his head and the agonising electricity flowed into his mind, the Soldier knew that this would be it and accepted his fate. His screams rang out through the lab, no pause was granted and eventually he must have passed out.
When he came to, the Soldier was shivering and realised quickly that his handlers had removed most of his clothing apart from a pair of jogging bottoms. Confused, he looked around at his surroundings with a vague disinterest – his cell… where he would wait, for what he did not know. As he pushed himself to his feet and stood to attention, he became aware of footsteps approaching and the door flung open with a harsh bang against the wall. He expected his handler and was vaguely aware of the man who now stood in front of him sporting an injury, the man whom the Soldier recognised as a scientist, stared at him. "Soldier, I command you to answer me – what do you remember?" The Soldier looked at the man feeling confused, although his face betrayed nothing. The Soldier eyed the man, then slowly replied, "I do not understand". The man crossed the room and came to a stop in front of the Soldier, without missing a beat he struck the Soldier's face with a baton. The Soldier's head rang with the impact, but he made no movement other than to spit the blood out of his mouth; he knew he was to remain still unless provided with new instruction. The man eyed the Soldier with disgust before ordering that the Soldier be restrained, other guards quickly filled the room and shackled the Soldier's ankles, hands, and neck in place against the cold, wet wall behind him.
As he allowed himself to be bound, the Soldier anticipated that he must have malfunctioned, must have disobeyed, or done something wrong. Usually, he was not confined in this dark place, nor did he receive visits to his cell between missions unless he had failed in some way, the Soldier eyed the man before him with a feeling of resignation as he spoke the necessary words he knew they would want to hear… "ready to comply." He briefly wondered when he would go back to the freeze, he idly thought he missed it in a way.
