"Who the hell decided it was a good idea to keep her in here?!" an angry voice questioned frustratingly, pulling Bethany out of the consuming darkness.
Her joints ached around her weary body as she arose from unconsciousness, mustering enough strength to regain her weakened senses. Her reflexes kicked in as she tried to raise her quivering hand, but surprisingly stayed in the same place. She numbly tried again, but to no avail, slowly realizing her limbs were painfully strapped down to an uncomfortable chair. Blinking the tiredness out of her heavy eyelids in rising panic, she quickly glanced around the room she was seemingly trapped in. Men surrounded her paralyzed body, holding their intimidating guns directly at her struggling body as she awakened from her self-induced sleep. She widened her eyes in shock, as her slow breaths rapidly increased with each passing moment.
"Where am I?" she croaked, her throat aching from dehydration.
Unsurprisingly, no one replied to her useless request, as she quickly reverted to scanning the surroundings herself. It was a small, gloomy room, covered in golden safes lining each wall. There were metal bars covering the exit, which most of the men covered. She was bound to a metal chair, completely incapacitated as the area was concealed in concrete, something she couldn't manipulate properly. For a moment she didn't care, as she was prepared to risk her life to take down every Hydra agent in the room.
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, you might want to reconsider." Alexander Pierce called, appearing from the crowd of men with a sly sneer.
"You." she spat venomously, glaring at the former S.H.I.E.L.D CEO with hatred.
"Yes, me. I like your vocabulary. Straight to the point." he replied mockingly, pausing in front of her with a smirk.
She stayed silent, breathing heavily in resentment.
"I advise you not to murder us all with your "amazing" power." he continued, bending down to stare into her twisted face intimidatingly.
"Now why the fuck would I listen to you." she growled in irritation.
He smiled, a dark, mischievous smile, and stood up straight, adjusting his expensive tie with superiority. She couldn't help but frown at his aversion to her order, watching in caution as he exited the room.
"Let her see him." he muttered to one of is soldiers, glancing back at her with shining eyes.
"But sir you just asked specifically for him not to-"
"I've changed my mind. He won't remember her. There's nothing to remember." he ordered, his tone final, and continued on.
Him? she thought confusedly, but the denial quickly caught up to her forgetful memory.
Him.
To her left the soldiers quickly separated, forming an opening on the other side of the room.
Just like earlier on that fateful day, everything fell into slow motion, as Bucky stared at her in silence, completely motionless against the chair he was strapped into. His snowy eyes were neutral, observing her flabbergasted figure with no emotion. His toned chest was bare, as his unnatural metal arm glistened in the dim lighting beside his still build.
"Bucky..." she choked, her voice quivering from the overwhelming sadness consuming her every thought.
To her shocked surprise he didn't respond, and continued to stare at her with slight disturbance.
"Oh my god...What did they do to you?!" she breathed, misery coating each forced word.
His lingering silence only frustrated her further, as she instantaneously began to struggle in her tight restraints.
"James! It's me! Bethany! Please you need to snap out of it-" she screamed, but was quickly subdued as something painfully hard connected with the back of her head, immediately sending her back into the blackness she once came.
The song that I am referring to is 'I'll Keep Coming' by Low Roar. I feel like the strange sounds from the song fit with the situation well :D ENJOY
A song began to play in Bethany's throbbing eardrums, its sharp melodic beats drawing her constantly closer to the light behind her closed eyelids. Brightness engulfed her wavering vision as she breathed in slowly, arising from her slumber with wariness, as she was growing used to abruptly falling unconscious. She lay sprawled on chilling concrete, her arms and legs surprisingly unrestricted from any movement. The music continued to play around the mysterious room as she gradually arose to her shaky feet, instantaneously regretting the action as nausea soon followed. To her frustrated anger she was once again placed in a cell-like room, surrounded by countless safes and storage. Her breath was slow and calculating as she quickly surveyed the room, gradually realizing she was completely alone, only accompanied by the unsettling music playing from an unknown source.
"Is this the best you can do, Pierce?" she shouted tauntingly to no one in particular, looking around her containment for any signs of activity.
The silence quickly consumed her hammering chest, as she was unable to determine what they wanted with her. She circled the cage, paranoid with her containment and captors intentions.
It's a big cell, lots of room for activities, she thought in concentration, trying to calm herself from the gradual panic rising in her sore throat.
Quickly shutting her tired eyes, she focused on the concrete surrounding her, secretly trying to block out the eerie music pouring into her unprepared ears.
It's worth a shot, anything's worth it to get out of here...
Before she could react, the sound of an heavy door opening snapped her out of the reverie. She blinked in surprise, startled by the noise from the other side of the room. She stared into the dark entryway, unable to recognize the figure silently peering into her cell.
"Who are you?" she demanded, clenching her fists in preparation for the worst.
Even though she got what she expected, she couldn't help but gasp in horror as Bucky stepped out from the blackness, staring at her frightened expression with cold dismissal. Bethany watched in hopeless horror as he closed the metal door with a bang, not taking his lifeless eyes off of her quivering figure. Her frozen eyes gazed over his alien features; the same intimidating mid-length hair covered his melancholy face, paired with the familiar glazed azure eyes that had always secretly fascinated her. He wore a black leather vest, revealing his shining metal appendage. He stood in complete stillness just outside her containment, seemingly observing her every move. But she stayed motionless, as numbness engulfed each limb with her growing hysteria.
"You're dead." she whispered, the words stinging like acid on her dry tongue.
He continued coldly stare, showing no signs of reaction. The music flowed through one ear and out the other, as Bethany stared in horror at her previous love.
"You don't remember me." she breathed in growing dismay, embracing her denial.
"I don't know you. I never have. I never will." he finally responded, each word slicing into her broken soul like a sharp knife.
She felt her chest rise and fall slowly, even though her heart hammered rapidly inside her crippled ribcage. The moment felt too surreal, as she was unable to accept anything she was experiencing.
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. You were born in 1917-" she croaked in desperation, but was cut off by his metal hand claping at one of the bars that surrounded her cell.
His nostrils flared, seemingly enraged by her words. Through her increasing horror she frowned, alarmed by his reaction. Without another moment he proceeded to slam open the cell door with brute force, sending it clanging against the concrete wall behind him. He stepped into her containment, as her insides screamed in complete and utter terror.
"I don't have a name." Bucky growled, slowly closing in on her frozen figure.
"You do." she echoed, her voice felt completely detached from her body as the fear consumed her senses entirely.
She gazed up at him numbly as he loomed over her, glaring down at her with endless hatred. he never thought in the entire universe this moment would ever occur, as it seemed impossible for these events to transpire in her lifetime. But here they were, staring at each other with completely different intentions.
Completely different agendas.
Completely different memories.
He threw the first crunching blow directly to her ribs, sending her flying across the cell. She connected with the bars, shouting in pain from the impact. Landing on her sore knees, she crouched on the concrete floor, gasping in bewilderment and shared agony. Every breath sent sharp sensations to her tormented brain, curling her fist against the ground to regain herself. The Earth beneath her shuddering body reacted to her pain with loud vibrations, but she ignored it.
I'm not going to fight him, she thought wearily, watching in misery as he stalked over to her convulsing figure.
I can't.
He tore her to her feet, grasping her neck in agitation. She choked within his hold, as the air quickly disappeared from her heaving lungs. He threw her across the room, as she immediately landed in a small heap on the ground, gasping for desperate air.
"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. You were born-" she spluttered, abruptly cut off by his foot connecting with her stomach.
"I don't have a name!" he shouted in frustration, kicking her harder with rage.
Blood splattered from her gasping mouth, spilling to the concrete at an alarming rate. Her fading instincts screamed from inside her collapsing mind, begging her to get up and fight him.
"I can't...I won't..." she wheezed aloud, desperately crawling away from the inevitable danger.
"I'll keep coming..." the song faded into her pulsating ears, as she closed her eyes to focus on the mesmerizing beat.
You're going to die, a voice mockingly whispered from the back of her mind.
Bucky's going to kill you.