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One day had passed and Bucky was still refusing to cooperate with Hydra with every strength he could muster despite the mental tole it was causing him. He rewarded with pains and blood but still, he refused.

"What kind of soldier are you?" Rumlow growled on the third day after Bucky was still not complying with his new orders of joining them. Until they got the cryo-freeze up and running (moving it from the bank was difficult to do unnoticed and the scientists were new and unsure how to program it without the old doctor's notes), they were stuck with a rebellious asset. Bucky would growl and bite any doctor or scientist who tried to assess his mental progress for working for Hydra once again. They had no need for a broken weapon.

"Not your kind of soldier." Bucky defiantly retorted. They had hurt him in the same ways he remembered from the first time he was taken. But now he knew what to expect, what pain he would endure; and with that he could hold off until help came. But…he was only human. That was what Hydra tried desperately to make him forget but he was just a young man who was not immune to pain. He couldn't ignore the pain forever. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut and distracted himself, thinking of how soon, this nightmare would be over and he'd be home, with Steve.

"Obviously." Brock drawled. "Captain America is dead; just who are you even fighting for in this little dream world of yours?"

"Steve's not dead." Bucky couldn't hide the primal snarl that he emitted. He would not believe their lies. Steve was coming back for him and until he came, Barnes would not give in. "I know that."

Running a hand down his scarred face, Rumlow switch to a new tactic, anything that could get Barnes to doubt that what he had experienced in the last couple of months was fake. The best way to keep a prisoner in a prison is if they never know they're in one. "If this world is real, where are you living then? Who would ever take you in after what you have done?"

"I never wanted to be a weapon, you forced me to." Again, a sharp punch was planted against his cheek, and he slipped before he even realized the words were leaving his mouth. "Stark Tower." Bucky froze and mentally screamed at himself for being so pathetic. Even after all this time, he was weak when it came to Hydra's pain onto him.

Scoffing ruefully, Rumlow replied "Do you really not understand that you're living with one of the worst enemies this country has ever faced?" Rumlow hissed. At Bucky's confused features, he pushed on. "Tony Stark has made millions-no, billions- from the blood of innocence, and instead of helping them, he builds a suit of iron to assist only those who he benefits from."

"That's not true." Bucky insisted, still furious at himself for speaking to this man. Rumlow was seeking a way to prove Bucky was wrong, that Hydra was his only life. But he needed to remember that anything these people told him was a lie. It had to be...

"Really?" Rumlow scoffed in disgust. "He puts the blame on the Avengers, saying that they need Big Brother watching over them and a government's permission to save actual innocent people. He blames the guns and not the ones pulling the trigger. Tony Stark blames everyone but himself for the bloodshed that was spilled while he was off getting a sixteen year old playing superhero."

Bucky's eyes held no emotion though his heart sank. They knew about Peter Parker, the teenager? Peter was only just shy of being a superhero, he was young but the new improved S.H.E.I.L.D. had found him and offered him a job, or more likely, Tony offered. He was just a kid, that was true, but Tony asked him if he was ready-he wouldn't force anyone to join the Avengers. "Tony Stark is a hero." Bucky replied, though mainly out of his friendship for Steve did he defend the playboy, billionaire, philanthropist.

"No, Howard Stark was a hero. He'd have made a great Hydra agent." Rumlow signed, lost in thought for a moment. "Tony Stark is just a child riding off of his daddy's fame, using his knowledge to make more monsters while denying that he had anything to do with it. He claims the real heroes like us," Rumlow gestured to himself and Bucky. "need to be kept in check, whole he was the one who made Ultron, and received no punishment. And yet there you are, in this fake dream world of yours, living off the charity of a murder." Rumlow's tone was low, treating his asset like he was scolding a disobedient child. "If this dream was true, how could you live with yourself, protecting a man who helped slaughter children? How could your perfect friend Steve live with himself?"

Bucky stared at Rumlow for a full minute before turning his head away. Tony was no saint, that much was undeniably true, but he never was selfish when it came to blameless people. Tony was loyal to a select few and as long as Steve trusted him, Bucky would trust him as well.

Sighing, Rumlow could see that he was no closer to breaking their asset back into shape. But he would ensure that soon, they would have their Winter Soldier back. If the soldier still declined following his orders…

Well, Brock had no intention of wasting any more time on him. There were others who would die for Hydra. Yes, Barnes was their best fight, that was no doubt, but if worse came to worse-

Rumlow would enjoy being the one to deactivate this weapon.

MARVELMARVELMARVEL

"Steve we will find him, we just need time."

"Bucky doesn't have time!"

Steve watched as Bruce started slightly at the raised tone but held firm in his position. Steve mentally sighed, not wanting to cause Bruce and discomfort but when it came to Bucky, Steve had little patience. "If we rush off anywhere for Bucky, we'll only lose him. Hydra's not as strong as they were but they still won't lose him without a fight. Please Steve, just let Tony and I continue piecing together the new Iron Man suit for rescuing Barnes; Natasha and Clint are searching high and low for Hydra's last movements as well, no one is giving up."

Steve huffed, balling his fists tightly while trying not to lash out. "I know…" Steve whispered. "Thank you Bruce." He muttered with no hint of a lie. In his tone lay only genuine thanks that he held for the other man. Bruce smiled a supporting yet sad smile before Steve turned and started stepping out of the lab.

Everyone in the tower was doing all they could do and more-so yet it felt like Steve was going to implode if he had to allow Bucky to stay in Rumlow's hands for even a second longer. They were still in the state, that much Vision could tell from examining the cameras from all across the country, but Hydra strategically planned the route to avoid the camera after a while and Vision lost them. With Maria Hill and the others help, they placed Hydra's hiding place in a large, twenty mile radios. Somewhere in that circle, was Hydra.

Steve avoided the pity stares he got from his friends as he passed them from the kitchen, the lab, living room-until he made his way back into his room. It was a nice bedroom; it had two beds due to the fact that Bucky nervously asked Steve if he had to sleep alone again, terrified of waking up and realizing that Steve was gone. How could Steve leave him after that? Next to the bed was a dresser and on that dresser was Bucky's notebook. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Steve carefully plucked open the book, examining the unmistakable handwriting of Bucky back when he was till just recovering from understanding what he had done these past seventy years. In it was mentions of "the man on the bridge", or "A small kid who cared about James". The descriptions soon left Steve heartbroken as Buck rote in a clumsy sprawl that he felt like he deserved to be punished.

"No Buck..." Steve soon had to close the book tenderly, needing to get back in his search for Buck. The journal fueled Steve's determination and he set it back just as carefully as he had picked it up.

Bruce was right about how hard they were working to help. But Steve could tell that none of the Avengers really understood. They acted like they did for Steve's sake, but none knew what it was like to wake up one day and be stripped of your family and friends while living such a new life in the future. Nor did they understand what it was like to be forced to be mad into a weapon when everything that made you you was stripped away and burned while all that was left was a shell of the person. Bucky might not be able to hold off and Steve couldn't lose him to Hydra.

He couldn't lose Bucky over and over and over.

He just couldn't.

Sorry it's so short. I hope you enjoyed it!