CHAPTER 3 - Captured
"Ow," Clint bemoaned again. His head was pounding in pain. Similar to if he had gotten a massive concussion and no drugs given to him yet. His arms felt stretched and his legs hung loose. Okay, strung up by likely his wrists, judging by the numbness up there.
"Barton?" another voice called out. Clint opened his eyes and looked to see Bucky, just as delirious as him, hanging from the ceiling as well. Bucky slowly looked up himself.
"Hey," Clint moaned with a subtle nod to the soldier. Bucky groaned, his eyes flicking over how Clint was hanging and then to his own restraints. Clint could see that Bucky was held up by lots of metal chains. Hard for him to break out. Not impossible, just hard. With a groan himself, he looked up to see that he was hanging from rope. Well, that was good for them. He had only a second to think of yanking his hands out of the ropes when they heard something.
"Hang him by chains too, you idiots!" someone shouted. Clint and Bucky both turned, finally noticing that in front of them was cage like bars. Isgerd quickly unlatched the cage and entered, metal chains dragging behind her. Outside the cage were two men that Clint didn't know. But one of them had a familiar symbol on his coat.
"Hydra," Clint growled even as Isgred started working on stringing him up a bit better. He was still too out of it by the drug so he couldn't really fight when Isgred lowered him to the ground to change the rope for the chains. But when the feeling came back to his hands, it hurt. Bad. Course he wasn't gonna show that.
"It's nice to see that you got both of them," the Hydra man stated, a smile on his face.
"Didn't know you wanted the blonde. He just came to the club," the other guy grunted. "Isgred mentioned that he was Hawkeye."
"Used to be Hawkeye," the Hydra man mentioned. "Avengers disbanded a long time ago. Last I heard, he stopped hero-ing."
"Fuck you," Clint snarled as he was raised up again. This time he tried to fight but his body didn't respond how he liked. Hell, he couldn't even reach out to his magic to break out. The Hydra man chuckled, glancing over to Bucky quickly before focusing on the man beside him.
"Drug them up again. Your money will be deposited within the hour and I want them ready for transport," the Hydra guy ordered. The other man smiled and headed in, apparently already prepared for the drugs needed to knock them back out. As they were injected, the Hydra guy chuckled again. Clint narrowed his eyes on the man. "It will be fun to have you both under our ranks. And this time, there will be no one to break you from our control."
"No!" Bucky roared, struggling. Clint growled himself, trying to escape as well but the drug that they used this time was stronger than the one at the club. It must have been the one Hydra used on Bucky before. Shit, they were totally fucked. Clint's struggles got weaker and a quick glance at Bucky and the archer knew the Sergeant was going under as well. They weren't going to be able to fight. Fuck.
Clint started coming too, bouncing around in something. He fought to open his eyes and noticed he was laying down, on his side. Bucky was laying in front of him, facing him. Like Clint, he was beginning to wake as well. Neither of them got to do much about waking before there was a prick and they both fell back under.
This repeated seven times. By time number four, Clint was beginning to feel ill. Drugs and him had never had a good relationship. Hence why Clint never liked staying in Medical for too long. Time number six had Clint gagging when he woke. There seemed to be some sound of helplessness from the voices around him and Bucky gave the archer a confused look, but still they pricked Clint again.
Time number seven was the last one, which thank god cause when he woke, Clint tried his best to turn further away from himself and threw up all the beer he had pooled in his stomach. Opening his eyes, Clint couldn't see Bucky at all. Clint was still laying on his side, hands cuffed by his stomach and cuffs on his ankles but he didn't seem to be in whatever he had been in before. Groaning, Clint fought to get up to a seated position.
He was in some type of cave like cell. The opening was just a simple electrified field that Clint was certain was strong enough to knock a super soldier on his ass. A groan by his feet made the archer turn. Bucky was laying there as well. Their feet nearly touching. At least Bucky wouldn't see the mess Clint had made.
"Buck," Clint croaked. Bucky fought to open his eyes, glancing around. "Buck, you alright?"
"Ye... Yeah," Bucky mumbled, getting up himself now. He looked to Clint. "You doing good? You seemed to be getting sick."
"Drugs and me never got alone," Clint muttered. Bucky snorted. Ironic considering drugs was how Clint became a super soldier. Clint looked around again. "Know where we are?"
"No. This is all new," Bucky admitted, glancing down at his hands. With a tight pull, the chain on the cuffs broke. Clint chuckled before doing the same as Bucky to undo his cuffs. Bucky nodded his head to the archer. "Didn't wanna escape?"
"Used paper clips and nails back then. Doesn't seem like I'll get that shit here. Sides, just got up," Clint retorted, even though he understood that Bucky was asking why he hadn't broken the cuffs before. Wasn't like the archer needed to keep his strength a secret anymore. Slowly they both got to their feet. "What happened with Sam?"
"I don't know. Just remember watching Sam piloting Redwing and then, blackness," Bucky replied, confused. That didn't sound good. What could have knocked Bucky out so quickly that the soldier wouldn't remember anything?
"Think they would have killed him?" Clint whispered, worry leaking through. Bucky shook his head for a moment before pausing. Honestly, neither of them could know.
"Longing," a voice called in Russian. Both Clint and Bucky stiffened, looking around. No one was outside of the cell. The voice must be coming from a speaker. "Rusted."
"You doing okay?" Clint asked, watching Bucky. The soldier was clearly just as nervous as Clint. While Shuri had been certain she and Wanda had gotten all the programming out of Bucky, he hadn't been checked over since returning from the SNAP. What if it all had come back?
"Furnace," the voice continued. Bucky stumbled back against the wall. Clint moved forward, concerned. This hadn't happened last time they had gone through the words. Could it be that the words were triggered by something else? Something in addition to the words? "Daybreak."
"I-" Bucky started, shaking his head for a moment. Clint placed a hand on Bucky's right arm, grounding the soldier. Damn, he seriously wished he had worked with Loki longer. Allowed the trickster to teach him more magic. There was nothing he could do right now. None of the spells that Clint knew could stop what was happening.
"Seventeen." Bucky grabbed hold of Clint's wrist, gripping tightly. Clint winced but said nothing, watching his friend closely. "Benign."
"It... My head-" Bucky stuttered but something about the way he spoke had Clint second guessing what was happening. Still, he moved closer, switching his grip around a bit so he could pull Bucky into a hug. The soldier was shaking. If these words worked, Clint was so fucked. Not that Bucky wouldn't be screwed over as well, but it meant that Clint would be easier to contain with another super soldier.
"Nine, homecoming," the voice added. Bucky shook his head again, pressing his face against Clint's shoulder.
"I don't want to do this," the soldier whispered. Clint stilled. What?
"One." Clint hissed when Bucky gripped him tighter. "Freight car."
There was a long pause with Bucky still holding Clint tight. Clint said nothing, waiting for Bucky to turn Winter Soldier like. But Bucky held tight. Then after a moment, the soldier backed away enough for Clint to see his eyes shinning in relief and slight glee. Before he could pull too far away, Clint tightened his hold before whispering, 'fake it?' Bucky's face quickly morphed into blankness.
"Ready to comply," Bucky tonelessly called out. Clint backed away as if the other man scalded him. This was going to be a very careful act between the two of them. They needed their captors to think Bucky was actually triggered and Clint had to fake it just as much as Bucky did. Only issue, Clint didn't know if Bucky knew everything Hydra had instilled inside of himself. But, he also wasn't certain they would know.
"Buck?" Clint questioned. Bucky didn't move. Clint nearly sighed in relief. This was going to be hard on both of them but it was the best course of action. They needed to not only know where they where but also figure out what Hydra had already accomplished. There had been evidence of two 'successes' in the paperwork but Hydra should have had time to do it again. And Bucky and Clint would need to stop them quickly. Besides, no one from Hydra had really been able to stop themselves from bragging. "Bucky, come on, man!"
"Give it up Hawkeye, our Asset has returned," a voice came from the darkness. Clint jerked around to see who was speaking. A man stepped forward and all Clint could do was growl. This was a bigger shock that he thought.
"Rumlow. Thought you were dead," Clint hissed, itching to take out Izril and just shoot the bastard. But he needed to wait. Hydra may know about his serum, but there had been no evidence they knew about his magic. Best not lay all the cards on the table. "Blew up in Lagos."
"LMD," Rumlow dismissed. Clint snorted. Explained one thing. The STRIKE leader hadn't survived.
"You or the one in Lagos?" the archer wondered, his voice in a sneer. Rumlow chuckled.
"Lagos. So easy to send it out there. Didn't even care it was going to blow itself up. Just went cause that was the order," Rumlow chuckled. His eyes flicked to Bucky. "Just like someone else we know."
"He broke your conditioning once, he can do it again," the archer snarled as he mentally ran through the protocols that Coulson had instilled in him about dealing with LMDs. Or possible LMDs. Rumlow laughed.
"Everyone knows it was Captain America who broke the conditioning. But Captain America is gone. So the Asset will be permanently ours again. And lucky for us, he brought a friend to join him," Rumlow quite literally purred. Clint stilled. Oh shit. Had that been their plan the whole time? Was the information that Sam and Bucky had before been a lie? This wasn't good. While Bucky was free from his conditioning, there was no way they could allow Clint to get hit as well. "And even luckier. No one knows where you are, or even cares."
Clint couldn't help but pale at that. If Natasha had been alive, she would have long ago kicked his ass for all this wallowing. Hell, if Tony or Steve had been with them... They would search for him till the end of time. But all that was left that might have cared he was missing was Bruce and Thor. Maybe Pietro (if he knew Clint was still around), Pepper and Rhodes. Sam and Bucky hadn't seemed to care until they learned Hydra was looking for Clint. Wanda didn't care, even with all her amazing powers. And everyone else hardly knew him or weren't even on the planet.
"Sam will come for Bucky," Clint defiantly snapped, just barely catching Bucky's eyes flicking to him and then back. It was true, no matter what Bucky believed. Sam would likely go to the ends of the Earth to find the soldier. But as Rumlow said, no one gave a shit about Clint.
"The Falcon? I doubt that," Rumlow laughed. "He's grounded for the foreseeable future."
"What did you do to him?" Clint growled, pressing on Rumlow's ego. The one good thing about villains. When they think they've won, they brag. Though, Rumlow in particular had liked to do it before.
"Took him out of the picture," Rumlow replied. Clint gave a cry and rushed the field, going to punch it so he could reach Rumlow. The man didn't even twitch. But Bucky did. He reached forward, grabbed Clint's arm and wretched it backwards, pulling the arm into an ungodly twist, forcing Clint to the floor. Clint stilled, surprised. What was Bucky doing? "Did I forget to mention? The Asset is programmed to protect his handler."
"Fuck you," Clint snarled. Bucky's thumb gently rubbed Clint's arm as an apology. Clint huffed in return, his head twisting a bit to see Bucky out of the corner of his eyes. How did Bucky remember all the commands? Had he always remembered them and just hadn't told them? The field vanished.
"Bring him," Rumlow ordered. Bucky shifted to get Clint to his feet again, but leaving the arm behind him. His metal one reached out, catching Clint's other arm and twisting that backwards as well. Clint hissed. Okay, that hurt. They headed out, deeper into the facility. What was once clearly cave walls gave way to a steel hallway and then doorways to various rooms. Rumlow made a few turns as they went and Clint tried his best to pay attention to them. He could only pray that Bucky was doing the same.
"What the fuck are you planning on doing?" Clint cried knowing that the Hydra agent would reply. Rumlow's desire to brag was only one of the reasons Clint desperately hated the man while the worked together in S.H.I.E.L.D. Rumlow chuckled.
"As I said, making another Asset." Clint started to struggle then, maybe it wasn't a good idea to 'play along.' Cause there was no way in fucking hell would he allow that. Bucky's hands clenched onto Clint a bit tighter and Clint couldn't tell if it was to hold him better or to ask for a change in plan. He had hardly any time to give Bucky a clue when they got to an open doorway. Rumlow stood to the side and waved Bucky and Clint into the room. There they saw the Chair. The Chair that Clint knew wiped Bucky's mind for the last eighty years. Bucky's hold tightened to the point of painful. Clint almost snapped at him but held back. It was understandable that Bucky wouldn't want to be here. Hell, Clint didn't want to be here. "Asset, put him in."
Bucky tensely herded Clint toward the chair. Even knowing they were faking this, Clint seriously began to struggle against Bucky. No, no way in hell was anything worth this! Nope, he was not going in that god damn chair. Clint used his new found strength against Bucky, digging his heels into the ground. Bucky struggled now himself trying to get Clint to move forward. There was a click of a gun behind them.
"Get in the chair Barton, or I'll shoot your friend," Rumlow warned. Clint shifted himself to look over Bucky's shoulder to see that indeed, Rumlow was aiming a gun at Bucky. The archer snarled.
"Thought you wanted him," Clint commented. Rumlow snorted.
"By the time we finish programming you, he'll be healed again," the man stated. Clint hissed, glancing back to the chair. God damn it. He was going to have to do this. The only way to keep Bucky safe was to sit in that fucking chair. All he could hope was that Sam got here soon. Clint really didn't want to become a new Asset. With the struggle over his own mind, Clint made himself relax and allowed Bucky to sit him down and begin to strap him in. When Bucky was close enough to Clint's face, the soldier looked up to him.
'Escape. Don't let them do this,' Bucky silently mouthed. Clint lightly shook his head and watched as Bucky's eyes turned pleading. He needed to do this to keep Bucky safe. Clint would not allow himself to get another friend killed. But it wasn't just that. Hydra had them and there was something going on. Something bigger than just getting two assets. This whole thing had now turned into a mission. A fucked up mission, given, but still. It was a mission to find out what Hydra knew and had done so far.
'Don't fuck this up. Hold strong,' Clint retorted. The archer knew he wasn't going to get out of this now. But, there was no way he'd bring Bucky down with him. Somehow Bucky must have noticed as his eyes closed in pain before finally he couldn't hold it off any longer. He backed away, moving to the far corner of the room and turned to watch.
"I'm gonna have so much fun watching as your stubborn ass fades away," Rumlow chuckled. Clint snarled at him as two technicians came out from somewhere, Clint could only assume was another room, and started prepping the chair. With an actual hum of curiosity, Clint turned and watched the technicians work. Out of the corner of his eye, Clint could see Bucky's hands twitching, almost as if trying to tighten his hands into fists. Rumlow must have noticed the same thing. He moved closer to Bucky. "Don't worry Asset. You'll have your own turn soon. Need to bring you back to a blank slate once again."
"Why don't you come sit here and become a blank slate?" Clint called. Rumlow turned to look back at the archer who was now focused on Rumlow and Bucky. Clint couldn't let the Hydra agent pay too much attention to Bucky. It wouldn't do well at all. "Oh wait, they don't need to. It already is."
Rumlow huffed and moved, much faster than Clint ever expected the other agent to move. There was a loud crack of a gun shot in the room but no one moved. It took a moment for Clint to realize, the bastard actually shot Bucky in the leg. A flick to Bucky's face and Clint was stunned to see that Bucky wasn't even reacting to the pain. Now that was fucking dedication to the role. Even Clint would have broken at that point. Natasha would have made some sort of reaction but Bucky held firm.
"The Chair is ready, sir," one of the techs mentioned. Clint paused before looking to the computers. This was it. This was when he was gonna get shocked to fucking hell and lose his memories! His eyes flicked back to Bucky in fear. Bucky's eyes twitched and his hand finally tightened into a fist. Clint forced himself to do a minor shake of his head. They couldn't do anything now. Bucky needed to heal. A mouth guard was shoved toward Clint's mouth. The archer twisted away. Fuck that. He wasn't gonna have something shoved into his mouth.
"Best let them put that in or you'll bite off your tongue," Rumlow blandly informed as if making a food order. Clint hissed but the action made his mouth open slightly and whoever held the guard was able to shift the damn thing in. Once in, the chair shifted back slightly. Clint started the struggle all over again. "Keep that up and I'll shoot him in the other leg."
Clint forced himself to be still, tightly squeezing his eyes closed. The tech called out some sort of count down even as Clint felt the contraption close in on him. Clint's eyes opened, seeing the pieces on either side of his face. Maybe he should have made Bucky break the faux conditioning. But that thought vanished as soon as the machine started.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Clint's mind couldn't help but call as the pain lanced through him. As much as he tried not to, a scream ripped past his throat. His teeth clenched tightly to the mouth guard. How the fuck had Bucky withstood this for so long? God damn, if Clint had known how much this hurt he wouldn't have let Bucky fall off the train eighty years ago. Would have fought to keep the Sergeant from going on the damn mission. Fuck the future. Bucky would have been safe.
The pain seemed to go on for forever and as it did, Clint felt his recent memories begin to dissipate. What the hell happened? Why the hell was he feeling this much pain? Who had him? And Jesus, why won't they stop? And then it did and Clint couldn't help but gasp in surprise. The seat moved forward again and Clint finally noted who was in the room. His eyes focused on Bucky in surprise, pleading for help. Bucky's eyes pinched but he didn't move. The guy had to save him, right?
"Again, he still remembers," Rumlow ordered. Clint's eyes flicked to the other agent in surprise before the chair was pushed back again as the mouth guard adjusted. Then the pain started again. Oh god, Clint wished he could just pass out. Wished he dropped away from all this. Even his safe place that Coulson had taught him to focus on during events of torture couldn't save Clint from all of this. When the pain stopped, Clint was moved again. He closed his eyes, trying hard to focus. His breaths coming in deep, heaving gasps. "Agent?"
Clint looked up as the mouth guard was removed. "Rumlow? What the hell?"
"Damn it, do it again!" Rumlow snapped. Clint frowned. Do what again?
"Sir, if we do it again, we risk brain damage. He needs some time to heal," a tech called. Clint turned slightly to look at the man, his eyes flicking over to Bucky with a frown. Who the fuck was that?
"Fine, Asset," Rumlow growled. Bucky moved forward, ignoring the harsh pain in his leg and quickly unstrapped Clint from the chair and dragged the archer up. Unsteady and as much as he didn't want to, Clint needed to lean against the soldier as Bucky dragged him away from the chair. It took everything Bucky had to not hiss in pain. The Asset did not show pain. Did not react to pain. The Asset was to feel nothing. Rumlow shifted. "Follow me."
Rumlow twisted around and marched off. Bucky forced himself to follow and not limp. He dragged Clint's weakened form as well. Clint groaned at the movement but didn't fight. What the hell was happening? Where was Natasha? Tony? Steve? Was anyone looking for him? Bucky dragged Clint to a room.
Told you that I would post on Friday, lol.
Darius is doing well. Been a happy kiddo lately. Unless he had to get some medication applied to his legs and arms. Then he screams like we are trying to murder him. What's worse in my opinion is that the meds don't seem to be working all that well. Damn Covid-19 making it hard to actually get him checked out. Course, he could also be happy cause I've been too tired to stay downstairs a lot of the time...