Without You {𝟙𝟚} | Marvel √

chapter eight

In Sub-level 5, Bucky confusingly glanced around his surroundings, with a red light flashing above him. "What the hell is this?" he asked, averting his eyes onto the evaluator before him.

"Why don't we discuss your home?" he asked, "Not Romania. Certainly not Brooklyn, no. I mean...your real home," he then pulled out a red book from his satchel with a black stair on it. He then carefully took off his glasses as Bucky slowly averted his eyes onto the book. He stared at it frozen as the evaluator stood from his seat, approaching the pod with the book and a flashlight.

"Тоска." [Longing.]

"No," Bucky whispered, shaking his head as he shut his eyes. His lips began to tremble, eyes shooting open with pure panic.

"Rzhavyy." [Rusted.]

"Stop," Bucky whispered.

"Semnadtsat'." [Seventeen.]

Bucky shook as he glanced down at his robotic arm, finding trembling in its restraints. "Stop," he repeated more demandingly before sneering at the evaluator angrily.

"Rassvety." [Daybreaks.]

Bucky screamed out in pain, practically roaring before he clenched his fists, breaking free of his restraints. He jumped towards the evaluator, who stepped back.

"Pech'." [Furnace.]

"Devyat'." [Nine.]

Bucky leaned against the pod door, growling under his breath. And as the evaluator paced around the pod, Bucky began pounding against the glass, needing to escape.

"Dobrokachestvennyy." [Benign.]

Bucky began punching harder, and harder until the glass began to crack.

"Vozvrashcheniye domoy." [Homecoming.]

Grunts of punching after punch.

"Odin." [One.]

The sound of glass breaking.

"Gruzovoy avtomobil'." [Freight car.]

Bucky battered the front of the pod with his metal fit and the glass screen flew clear. The evaluator slowly rounded the pod with the book and torch in hand. He stood before Bucky, who straightened up, with a dull and deadly expression over him. He was The Winter Soldier.

"Soldat?" the evaluator asked. [Soldier?]

"Gotov vypolnit'," The Winter Soldier said. [Ready to comply.]

"Mission report," the evaluator sternly said, "December 16, 1991."

———

When Allie ran into the darkened hallway outside of the evaluation room, she, Steve and Sam came to a slow stop to find multiple agents slumped onto the floor. All of them out cold. They slowly stepped into some kind of office, finding even more agents unconscious. Steve bent down to feel for one's pulse when they all heard a voice call out for them:

"Help me. Help."

Their attention turned towards in the distance, a room where the evaluation was taking place. And on the floor, was the evaluator. Allie and Steve hastily headed inside the room, hovering over the man, "Get up," Steve sternly said. But when he didn't move, Steve grabbed him by the jacket and slammed him into a nearby wall. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"To see an empire fall," he muttered and Allie narrowed her eyes at him oddly.

Right when Sam walked inside, hiding from the shadows, The Winter Soldier swung his fist, which smashed through the wall. Sam ducked as Allie spun back, horror filling her eyes. Bucky had turned back into his alter ego, she realized.