A few hours later Bucky's head snapped up and he hissed in pain. He looked around, confused where he was for a moment. His concussion had caused him to drift off in his cell for a few hours but he was pretty sure it was the voices down the hall that had woken him up.

The voices were German, not quite shouting but raised loud enough to hear. Bucky stood up to try and listen more closely.

"What's going on?" he asked. The others were all standing and trying to peer down the hall as well but all eyes turned to Gabe for a translation.

"Two scientists are arguing with the guards about a prisoner transfer for analysis or something. I think Hydra wants to figure out what makes Cap tick," Gabe said.

"I'm gonna bet that you bleed American flags," Morita said, finding no situation dark enough not to joke about.

"Shut up Morita," Bucky hissed, kicking at his cell doors. He'd been taken away by Hydra once, if he had to watch the same thing happen to his best friend he didn't think he could take it.

"It's fine Buck, don't worry, this is our chance to get out of here," Steve said, not appearing the least bit frightened. "I only see three guards down there with the scientists. All of you stay near the bars of your cells, when they take me out of here I'll try to knock the guards close to you, you grab them and take whatever you can off them, keys, weapons. Start shooting and unlocking anything you can reach. It's going to be chaotic but we might be able to get out of here."

The Commandos all nodded their understanding of the plan. Bucky nodded as well but couldn't shake the dread pooling in his stomach. Footsteps were approaching now though and none of them could say anything else.

Leaning against the bars Bucky could see it was only two guards coming down the hall, along with a man and a woman wearing lab coats and Commander Streicher leading them all with a satisfied smirk.

Streicher walked straight up to Steve's cell stopping to appraise the soldier silently and hold the Captain's hard gaze for a long moment. Then he turned on his heel and motioned towards the other side of the hall.

"Sergeant Barnes, as promised," Streicher said to his companions.

Bucky felt his blood turn cold. "Me?"

"Streicher, you son of a bitch, your beef's with me, stay the hell away from him!" Steve shouted, his sturdy resolve disappearing as soon as he realized the Commander was going to use Bucky against him.

Bucky's eyes flitted over to the two scientists. They were both carrying clipboards and seemed to be taking notes as they looked him over.

"What the hell do you want with me?" he asked, his voice trembling more than he wanted it to.

"Me? Absolutely nothing," Streicher said, ignoring Steve's outburst. "Dr. Zola on the other hand has left standing orders with all Hydra bases that you are to be captured alive at all costs and taken for immediate testing."

"The doctor's lab in Austria was destroyed along with all of his work," the female scientist said. Her name tag read Elinga. "As the only living subject from his research you've made yourself quite valuable to Hydra."

Bucky felt his knees start to give out and gripped the bars to steady himself. "Research for what? What the hell was he doing to me?!"

"That's quite irrelevant," the male scientist said. His name tag read Hershing. He tsked as he looked at the bruises on Bucky's face and made a note on his clipboard. "His injuries are unfortunate, they could skew results, but we can still begin the tests Dr. Zola requested."

Bucky slammed a fist against the bars and felt a thrill of victory when both scientists jumped. "You stay the hell away from me! I'd rather die than let you strap me down again you sick fucks!"

In the corner of his eye Bucky saw Steve inhale sharply, his face clouded with pain to hear his friend talk that way and hurting even more that he couldn't do anything to help him.

"I'm afraid that's not an option Sergeant, you're needed alive. Now, would you like to come quietly with some dignity or must we make this violent?"

"You just said you won't kill me and you really think I'm going to come quietly? Go to hell pal," Bucky hissed.

"Streicher I know what you're doing," Steve said, desperate to do anything to draw them away from Bucky. "You don't have to do this. I'm the super soldier here. I'm the one you should be studying. Leave him alone."

Streicher smiled, basking in hearing Steve almost beg. "I'm not doing anything Captain, just following orders."

Clearing his gun from his holster he shot Bucky in the left foot.

"Ah!" Bucky fell to the floor, leg pulled up and writhing in pain.

"You son of a bitch!" Dum Dum yelled from across the hall.

"Bastard! You didn't have to do that!" Steve shouted, slamming a fist against the bars.

"If he doesn't want to come quietly, he can come screaming," Streicher said, motioning for the guards to drag Bucky from his cell. The door clanged open and the two men pulled Bucky up by the arms, ignoring his bit off cries as they forced him to march on his bleeding foot.

Steve thought being shot would hurt less than watching his best friend get dragged away bleeding and screaming to his worst nightmare. Looking at Streicher he saw only smug triumph, he wouldn't be able to reason or plead with the man, so Steve called out to Bucky instead.

"Bucky, we'll get you out of there! You hear me? Buck! We're gonna come get you, just hold on!"

The grip of one of the guards pulling the collar of his shirt kept Bucky from turning his head, but he heard Steve's shouts and took them to heart. Steve had saved him once, crossing entire countries to do so. Surely he could fight his way through one little base to save him again.

Bucky elbowed one of the guards hard in the nose and had his bleeding foot stepped on in retaliation. He would have crumbled to his knees in pain but the guards just dragged him down the hall. That escape attempt was squashed but he kept his eyes open to try again. He believed Steve would rescue him but that didn't mean he had to stop trying to save himself.

Streicher disappeared after they left the holding area, leaving Elinga and Hershing to lead the guards dragging Bucky along. He had stopped struggling, choosing to save his energy until he had a better opening, that was until the two scientists opened a heavy steel door that revealed a harshly lit laboratory, with trays of medical utensils lying across several tables and a metal gurney in the center of the room with leather straps at the arms and legs.

Bucky kicked and screamed and punched, desperate to get free.

"No, I won't go back," he muttered, his breathing harsh with panic as he tried to shove his guards into the wall. They retaliated by striking him in the face and stomach until he couldn't breathe or see straight. By the time he regained his senses he was lying flat on his back with both arms already strapped down.

"No! Let go of me!" He tried to kick at the guards but one of them just swore at him in German, grabbed his injured foot and pressed hard into the bullet wound there. When Bucky was done screaming they had already finished tying him down.

"Thank you, that will be all," Hershing said, dismissing the guards who gladly retreated to the hallway, wiping at their split lips and bruised ribs.

"These injuries are unfortunate. The test results will be skewed," Elinga said as she shone a light in Bucky's eyes and wrote something down on her clipboard.

"Let me up right now or I swear to God you'll wish the devil himself would drag you to hell compared to what I will do to you! I am going to kill every last one of you Hydra scum bags."

Hershing sighed and rolled his eyes as he reached underneath the gurney and pulled up another leather strap by Bucky's head.

"No! Don't you dare ...!" Bucky's threat was cut off when Elinga took the other end of the strap and tied it down so it covered Bucky's mouth, effectively gagging him.

"Much better," Elinga said over Bucky's muffled screams. No longer able to move or talk Bucky thought madness couldn't be far behind this.

He could only lay there as the scientists examined him, checking his temperature, blood pressure, pupils, measuring his bruises and taking blood samples. Bucky closed his eyes and tried to pretend he was somewhere else but the only other place like this had been Austria and those memories were no help to him. He tried to think of Steve. He had found him before. He had ripped him free. Steve would come for him, it was the only thought keeping him sane.

"He'll need to be in as peak condition as possible for testing," Elinga said.

Hershing was already pulling off Bucky's boot, taking no care of Bucky's screams as his injury was jostled. "We'll have to remove the bullet and bandage this up then."

Elinga nodded and the two got to work, sterilizing the wound, removing the bullet, putting in a few stitches and bandaging it up. They took no notice of Bucky's screams as they dug into his flesh without anaesthetic or any need to be gentle.

"That's all we can do," Elinga said as she tied off the last bandage. "What is the first test Doctor Zola required before his arrival?"

Hershing checked his clipboard. "We're authorized to conduct the pain tolerance tests."

Bucky's eyes widened and he found strength somewhere to struggle harder than ever but there was no give to the leather straps. He remembered those tests from the last time, even if he hadn't the name was obvious enough. Tears leaked from his eyes at the memory of it.

"I'll get the equipment," Hershing offered, disappearing from Bucky's sight.

Elinga was already flipping switches on what looked like a recording device. Hershing reappeared pushing a metal table holding a black box with several cables hanging off and a dial marked in volts.

As Hershing began to connect the nodes at the end of the cables to his head and chest, Bucky thrashed but couldn't move enough to shake them off. Across the room, Elinga flipped the final switch.

"Pain tolerance tests, Sergeant James Barnes, March 12, 1945. Previous test results of subject lost but believed by Doctor Zola to have lasted until approximately 50,000 volts at 0.5 amperage. We will begin testing accordingly at 40,000 volts at 0.5 amperage," Elinga paused as she looked at Hershing who had finishing applying the nodes and was adjusting the dial of the machine to her specifications. Bucky screamed and cried but was met with only indifferent glances from his captors.

"Ready," Hershing said.

Elinga nodded and leaned closer to the microphone. "Applying voltage."

TBC

That was fun.