Bucky's Diary

August 14, 1976

Start A War – Klergy & Valerie Broussard
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Dear Diary,

They woke me up this morning before daybreak. I was thrown into my room, as usual, immediately after so that I might suit up in preparation for the day ahead of me.

They said it was going to be weapons training with the other soldiers, so the guards met me outside my door and brought my weapons with us.

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I was walked into the training room and placed in front of everyone else.

The soldiers who surrounded me, however, were not the people I remembered. Sure, they bore the same soldier numbers as people I used to know, but they appeared visibly older.

Eventually I surmised that HYDRA had kept them out of cryo to use on smaller missions while they only removed me for important ones. This way, though, the majority of them spent the almost all of their time living day-to-day completing small, seemingly unimportant missions without rest and without suspended animation.

Yea, they all still seemed outwardly physically prepared and ready for training, but I could tell they were mentally drained. Upon looking at them for a good minute, I hoped I'd never reach that point.

Looking specifically at each of them thereafter, I noticed wrinkles starting to form on their faces and white hairs on their heads- clearly these things were small and nearly undetectable, but they were there for certain. I almost felt sorry for them.

"While we remain in this United States HYDRA base for the remainder of the summer, you soldiers will continue to go on small missions and train amongst yourselves. You will get stronger, both physically and mentally; this is key," the man at the front of the room explained to us. "Today, we begin with weapons training. This consists of solely knives- we will not permit usage of other weaponry, including razors or blades. The weapons you were provided with this morning in your room were pre-approved, usage of anything other than the pre-approved weaponry today or any other day will result in dire consequences- those being a brainwash, 48-hour isolation without food or water, followed immediately by cryofreeze for an indefinite amount of time. Is this understood?"

"Yes, sir," we all repeated in unison.

"Good," he replied. "Today, anything goes so long as the wound is not fatal- if you are responsible for the death of a fellow soldier, the aforementioned punishment will seem like a blessing compared to what you'll face next. Yes?"

"Yes, sir," we answered together anew.

He nodded. "Lastly, the order of today's events. This training is by no means one-on-one, as that is an unlikely scenario in real life on the streets. As soon as I step out of this room to the viewing area, you will commence a group-fight wherein you may team up and fight until there is only one left standing. There will be no reward for the winner and there will be no penalty for the losers- that is, other than the shame that comes with simply not being good enough."

Without another word, he vanished behind the heavy, metal door into the viewing room and signaled all of us into a blind frenzy.

My first idea was to go into it without my weapons at all, as they'd be a more useful tool later on while right now, I'd just be disarmed and unable to use them any longer.

So, I went into my first fight, one-on-one, without a weapon. He held a short switchblade-type knife, and I managed to evade every single one of his attacks unscathed because of how much younger I am than he is. It's incredible what some time can do to the human body.