Asylum

Against the clock

Steve cried himself to sleep, then woke up several times during the night. He could only think of Bucky, how betrayed he surely felt. It broke his heart to think that he was the cause of his tears.

He could hardly resist the urge to go out and find the brunette and explain everything to him, apologize for hiding the truth from him. But Darcy had been right a few hours earlier: Bucky needed some time to process the information so he could talk to them. With any luck, the omega might forgive him one day.

At 7 in the morning he couldn't resist anymore. He walked to Bucky's room, but he wasn't there. His bed was messy, it meant that the brunette had slept there but he got up very early. Where could he be?

Steve ran to Darcy's room and together they went through all the possible places where he could be. They didn't find him. The blond had a bad feeling: maybe Bucky was very sad or angry, but there weren't many places where he could run. Several days earlier he had gone to Nurse Foster about his suppressants, so he wasn't there either.

"What if he hurt himself or got sick?" Steve asked Darcy, inwardly pleading that his friend would have another explanation.

"Let's go back to his room, maybe he's back already," the girl said in a barely audible voice.

Steve didn't know if he really wanted to peek into that room, because he didn't know what he would do if Bucky wasn't there. A lump formed in his throat when he discovered that the omega had not returned. But, as horrible as the situation seemed at the moment, the blond was about to discover that everything could get much worse.

A pair of heavy boots came down the hall. Rumlow walked past Bucky's room, barely able to contain his smile. Steve felt nauseated.

"What did you do to him?!" The blond yelled as he grabbed Rumlow by the shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"Steve, what are you doing?!" Darcy tried to stop him, but it was useless.

"What are you talking about?" Rumlow said before letting out a laugh.

"Where is he? What did you do to Bucky?"

Exasperated, Steve ran into Valentina's office.

The alpha pushed open the wooden door and found Valentina sitting quietly behind her desk.

"Where's Bucky?" He exclaimed, trying to compose himself, but the fact that the expression of the omega before him did not change at all, disconcerted him even more.

"I don't know what offends me more, dear," said Valentina. "That you wanted to fool us or that you thought we were so stupid as to never notice it."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked, although he knew perfectly well what she meant.

Behind him, Rumlow entered the office and closed the door, locking Darcy out.

"I already know who you really are and what you do in this hospital," Valentina continued. "I had always underestimated Brock Rumlow, you know? But in the end he discovered you. He knew that it was not normal for your omega to come to see you unannounced, on a day when there are no visitors, and with a worried face. So he had the idea to search your room."

"A diary?! Really?" Rumlow sneered from behind Steve. "I thought you were smarter than that."

"I don't give a fuck about that. Where's Bucky?!"

Valentina motioned to Rumlow, who took out a straitjacket and began adjusting it on Steve. The blond knew that there was no point in resisting at the moment and, honestly, he didn't mind doing so.

"When Rumlow came to tell me the truth, my first impulse was to surprise you while you were talking to your accomplice. But what would be the fun of that? Also, I couldn't risk your fake boyfriend disappearing, right?"

"Listen, I don't care what you're planning for me, but leave Bucky alone. He has nothing to do with this," Steve said, with a mixture of annoyance and pleading.

Valentine laughed. "I already know that he has nothing to do with it, you silly. The first thing we did was lure him into your room to check it out. Poor thing, he didn't even notice. How could you do that to him?"

"What did you do with him?!"

"Easy..." she whispered, bringing her face closer to Steve's. "Eventually you will find out what happened to him. After all, that's part of the fun."

"LET HIM GO! DON'T YOU DARE TO TOUCH HIM!" The blond yelled as he jerked violently. "HE DID NOTHING TO YOU!"

Rumlow began to pull him in the direction of his room, while Valentina ignored his screams. Finally, Rumlow locked him up.

*****
*****

Steve spent hours trying to free himself from the straitjacket, but it was no use. Even so, he still had to deal with the metal door to his room and find Bucky.

His stomach ached just thinking about them hurting the brunette. How dearly he could pay for Steve's mistakes. He even thought of offering anything to Valentina, marrying her, or living in her employ for the rest of his days, all so they would leave Bucky alone. But time was running out and neither Valentina nor Rumlow had gone near his room.

Night fell and everyone went to sleep. Steve still hadn't received any news and he didn't know if they would ask him for something in exchange for Bucky's well-being.

Until he heard the turn of the key on the other side of the door. It was dark, but the blond recognized a familiar scent.

"Darcy?" He whispered.

"Shhh," the girl replied. It was her, no doubt.

When they were close enough, Steve noticed that the other person was Nurse Jane Foster.

"Listen. We're going to take your straitjacket off and get you out of here," Darcy explained.

"No, Darcy, not me. Find Bucky, please, we don't know where..."

"James is okay, at least for now," the nurse interrupted. "But he is in danger, we have to help him. You just have to trust me."

Steve nodded. "I'll trust you. But just tell me, why are you helping us?"

"Because I am an omega and I know what you wanted to do for the patients of this hospital. Also, I want to help James. They plan to test a new treatment, electroconvulsive therapy, on him. And they will tomorrow. We have to get him out tonight."

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NOTE

Just to clarify. I researched a little about electroconvulsive therapy and found out that nowadays the perception about it is very different from what we know for tv series and movies. I read about it in websites like Healthline, Scientific American and an article from The New York Times.

This is what Mayo Clinic says about the stigma on ECT:

"Much of the stigma attached to ECT is based on early treatments in which high doses of electricity were administered without anesthesia, leading to memory loss, fractured bones and other serious side effects.

ECT is much safer today. Although ECT may still cause some side effects, it now uses electric currents given in a controlled setting to achieve the most benefit with the fewest possible risks."

In this fic, I'm referring to the earliest versions of the procedure.

If you want me to add some of my little research on notes of the following chapter, please let me know.