Frost & Fire

Chapter 33 (Bucky)

Of course he's going to act like it's a horrible thing for me to have been with anyone that makes me happy. Worse still is that it was his daughter.

Did you know he was the one that killed my parents?

I suspected it but I didn't know for sure until now.

Why would I be surprised he would hate me and not really want me happy? I was the one who took away his parents, took away his chance to say goodbye or anything really.

I wandered the streets with my clothes in the knapsack on my back, it was military camo with a big American flag patch on the middle of it. I wanted to do anything and everything to keep from having the same old Russian feeling to my clothing and body. Thankfully the new arm was from Wakanda and they kept the red star off of it, it even had a yellow glow to it instead of the black look the other had.

The streets felt cold tonight, but they felt more familiar than anything else had. The memory of that day kept playing in my mind. Of Tony realizing I was the one that killed his parents and that Steve had chosen to believe I wasn't responsible because I had thought I was doing the right thing.

Lucky for them, I thought. I knew that killing them was wrong, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Or why I was doing it if I knew it was wrong.

"Hey watch it pal."

I was walking an alley, it was late and dark but I didn't care. I knew this guy was going to pick a fight just like I knew it wouldn't take much to beat him. So I ignored him and kept walking. As I got another block North I found he was following me. Okay, so I knew he was following me when I continued walking and he waited to shadow me. But that also meant that I was going to get some of my anger and aggression out.

As I got to the end of the alleyway I saw my opening and dropped my knapsack and began turning as he tried to lunge at me from behind. I lashed out with my left hand grasping his wrist and squeezing, the bones in his wrist popping as I pulled him closer before punching him straight in the face. Blood sprayed as I let go of his wrist and he fell to the ground unconscious. I looked around expecting more people to be there, but when I didn't see anyone coming out of the shadows I calmed a bit and finished leaving the alley.

It took another two blocks before I found what I was looking for. A bar with very questionable business practices.

"What'll it be?" the bartender asked as I walked up to him.

"Beer and three fingers of whisky." I slapped a twenty on the bar and he took it quickly like it would disappear, but with the atmosphere here there was a good chance that it would. The whisky was bottom shelf easy, I knew I would feel the burn for the next few minutes as I took it back and the beer itself was a cheap domestic that would have probably been a buck at the local six pack shops.

But the fact that I didn't have to talk to anyone made it all the more worth it. Thanks to the serum I could handle most things in excess. Alcohol was no exception as I drank down three more beers and another three glasses of the whisky.

There were a couple of pool tables off to one side and I went to put a couple quarters down so I could play a game or two. I took my pool seriously and had been a decent hustler before all of the conditioning and losing the arm. I played and won my first game with ease and started on the second. There was betting, and no it wasn't huge, but it was something.

When I called my shot and won the match I'd won two hundred dollars which I intended to put to good use up at the bar. That's when the dipshit that lost decided to put his hand over the money and try to stop me saying "You cheated!"

"I did no such thing, you just suck at playing pool."

"Fuck you!" he screamed

"You are definitely not my type." I made to move his hand and take the money when he decided to put his cue up against my chest and try to push me away with it. "Trust me, you do not want to do this." I warned him.

"Yeah?" his voice got louder and I watched as three others left their tables and came closer, presumably to help him if he needed it. "See I think I do want to do this. I think you don't want me to because you're a little bitch!"

The dipshit pulled the cue back and swung it like a ball bat and I caught it easily with my right hand, yanked it out of his grip and tossed it to the floor. That seemed to not only anger him, but anger his friends as well since they chose then to charge at me as he pulled a knife. As he stabbed at me I dodged away from him and choped his friend in the chest with my left arm dropping him with a thud. Spinning I backhanded one across the face and sent a few of his teeth flying as he dropped and the last one decided to stop and rethink his life choices.

As the primary dipshit tried to attack again with the knife I gripped his arm with my metallic arm and pulled yanking his arm out of its socket and making him scream in pain as he fell to the floor.

"Does anyone else wish to try me? Anyone? Are you not entertained!" everyone cheered at that and I thought Sam would enjoy the fact that I knew the reference.

"I wish to try."

I knew the voice and I hated that I was hearing it again. "Zemo." turning I watched as he walked up to me and I said "You might as well go get a drink, I don't have those urges anymore. I'm a changed man."

"Really? Maybe we should try them out?"

There was a flash of pain and I reached up to my throat as I realized that there was a dart in my neck. Everything went hazy and started spinning, which didn't make any sense since I was immune to so much. What could he have possibly shot me up with? I couldn't stop my knees from giving out and the last thing I remember was his smiling face as he stood over my body. Then it all went black.

*****

I woke in a daze. Everything around me was blurry and doubled, I knew there was really only one table in front of me but I saw double. The instruments on it were the stuff of nightmares and as I looked it over I realized something else too, I was inside a chamber with amber colored glass encasing it.

The whole thing looked like one of the chambers I was kept in during the time I was the Winter Soldier, and as that realization hit I began hyperventilating. This was too much for me right now.

Memories bubbled to the surface as I remembered different missions I was sent on. The times when I came back to a chamber just like this and what happened to me.

Good work Winter Soldier, you do Hydra proud.

With all of your good work Hydra has been able to bring freedom to more nations.

The voices were right there with me, like they were playing out in real time.

"I see you are awake. This makes me glad, Winter Soldier." Zemo said as he walked out from the shadows and into my line of sight.

"What do you want Zemo?" I demanded.

"To show you that you are an animal, that you are still being controlled. And that you are going to do what I tell you to."

"No way Baron." I told him.

"We shall see." he began speaking in Russian, the same code words that would signal the change where I became the Winter Soldier. With each word he spoke my grip on reality was getting looser and looser. I couldn't figure out why it was having the effect when I had trained in Wakanda and was supposed to be immune to it now.

I tried to hold onto the good memories I had. Like the one from last night when I was with Abigail. It was such a pure and enjoyable night. There were no bad feelings afterward or anything of that nature. It was simply remembering the pleasure we gave each other.

He said the next word and I wondered if I would lose the fight to stay in control. I wondered if the reason I was losing the fight was because of whatever was in that dart he'd somehow shot me with. Maybe the drug was what was making it hard to keep control.

Stranger things had happened.