No Time to Die - Bucky Barnes

Chapter 23

It's cold. It's always cold when the metal doors lift and he is let out because HYDRA needs their weapon. A moment passes as he becomes aware of his surroundings thinking that one day it would be different. But each time it's always the same walls, with the same doctors and the same machines.

He has no time to adjust. No time to live.

He blinks. The only thing he has control over. He blinks and he is in another room.

His skin is cold just having exited the cryo chamber where they kept him for god knows how long this time.

His mind is at a loss with nothing occupying his thoughts except for complete obedience and the order to comply.

His eyes are void of any emotion, blankly staring at the walls which he unfortunately has become accustomed to.

He stands beside the woman who is the only thing that he can't forget, it doesn't matter how many times he has been wiped. Doesn't matter how many times he hears those painful words. His ears tune out the agent in front of him who is explaining the next mission and all his attention is focused on her. There was a certain stillness in her. One that wasn't there the first time he laid his eyes upon her. This place is breaking her and HYDRA is receiving their wish of controlling everything from life to death.

The dark leather mask rests on the lower part of his face. Restricting any type of speech. He almost forgot the sound of his own voice. His regular voice, not him screaming or pleading in Russian for the pain to stop. He doesn't remember when he learnt the language or the other 20 that he can speak fluently but it has been years since he spoke his mother tongue.

The agent keeps explaining the mission but it's always the same thing. Infiltrate. Isolate. Eliminate. Don't get caught and get back to the extraction point. Nothing more, nothing less. While he can zone out what is happening on the outside, however there is no controlling what happens inside his mind. The pain in his head of his past self screaming over and over again. To be let out, to put an end to this pain. It has become too much to bear, but all of it becomes quiet once his eyes lay upon her.

It's stupid to love her but he is too reckless to care. She is his life but life is far from fair.

There would be no surviving this hell without her, but he doesn't want her to live it either.

Not much makes the Winter Soldier shiver, matter of fact nothing makes him shiver except for what was left behind of the Red Skull. Sinthea Shmidt, the unwanted daughter turned into the perfect weapon for HYDRA. Pumped with powers unknown and accelerated age she is their perfect weapon. She has been trained by them, raised by their dark and twisted version, puppetired by HYDRA.

Sin looks at him with a venomous stare. One that devours his very soul. Consumes him in the worst way possible. He is the object of her fascination and she will never tire. Always standing by, lurking in the shadows. Even when he is under he can feel her nails scrape down the frozen glass. However the Reaper is an obstacle in Sin's way. Her hold over the soldier pisses Sinthea and she can't get rid of the soldier's counterpart. Sin wants him for herself. For her new army she is building. However no matter how many wipes and manipulation he always finds the only death he enjoys.

He blinks and he is on a jet. He blinks again and is in a hotel room across the street from his target. Through the lens of his gun he spots the man he is supposed to put a bullet in. But he can't, not yet. He takes a drag of his cigarette to keep himself calm. It's a nasty habit that he couldn't get rid off. But maybe he can find a way to keep his mouth and hands busy another way. 

That's when he looks back to the Reaper and almost loses his breath.

Dress to the nines in a cherry red silk dress that hugs her curves, her hands hold up the unzipped fabric from falling off her frame. The soldier sits at the edge of the bed motioning her to come over. She sits down in his lap as he lets out a puff of smoke.