Eclipse (Born at Dusk - Book 1)

11

May, 7th 1961

Kate thought her feet would melt beneath her. She couldn't really tell if it was her feet that hurt, or the lack of pain her body felt at all. The floor invited Kate for a concussion, and at this point, Kate considered the option, until a voice snapped her back to reality.

"Vrach." General Volkov's bark of a command made Kate flinch for the millionth time that day, and she slacked as she brought her gaze to him.

"Yes sir?" The words came out as a slur to Kate, even though the only thing she was intoxicated with was exhaustion.

"The asset is finished for the day." His words didn't sound Russian, but everything else sounded wrong in an English accent, including her own words. Kate looked down at what she was doing, her actions finally registering to her. The familiar pang of metal and copper brought her senses back as she once again studied the work of James' arm.

For the eight time that month, she had repaired the damaged engineering throughout his arm, and hoped it was the last. Aside from emotional abuse, starvation and isolation, Kate was tasked with learning every bit about James' metal arm. Which led to the General to shoot, stab and completely ruin its entirety. The first time took five days to figure out and fix, with the blueprints provided. The second time took four. The third took three and a half.

General Volkov deemed that fixing this arm was her number one goal if she wanted to be able to live. She'd last seen Arnim Zola four weeks previous, and in that time, Volkov had used every bit of authority he had.

After only taking ten hours, Kate stepped back from James' arm, meeting his eyes for the first time in so long.

Watching James Barnes get tortured was on constant replay through Kate's mind, every second of every day. His screams never left her ears, his pleas for help constantly ringing outside the doors. His pained eyes had burned holes through Kate's body, and she was sure that she had been spilling out her heart ever since.

Looking at James now was slightly different. He didn't look at her with knowing and fear, but rather with ignorance and curiosity. Zola informed her that what they'd done to him, the torture they'd given him, was 'necessary'. A clean slate, Zola told her, even as his screams filled up her senses. She realized that he wasn't what he was supposed to be. That he should be doing something, anything to resist, but he wasn't. He was oddly compliant, but still ever aware of who Kate was.

In the hours she'd spent next to him, she realized that he was still suffering. Kate didn't know how, but she knew that the person that was standing in front of her wasn't the same one that was begging for his life weeks ago.

"Vrach." Volkov called, control effortlessly bleeding into his voice. "Please, do me the honor of taking the asset back to his cell."

Kate wasn't fooled by the offer, nor was excited about the chance to do so. Keeping her eye contact with James, she nodded. "Yes sir." James stood, taking a heavy breath as he did so.

Kate turned to look at the General, who stood back straight with his hands behind his back. He'd monitored her almost every time she'd repaired James' arm, but always accompanied by two soldiers inside the workroom, and two outside. Kate nodded before making her way to the door, James following behind her. After nodding to each of the guards, Kate and James made their way into the hallway Kate only knew as home. She had only been through the workroom, her cell, and now, to her next door neighbor, James Barnes.

Despite James towering over her in every way, he still followed her steps, not even turning back to look at the soldiers guarding the hallway.

Access to each of the rooms was different, requiring an identified handprint to get into each one, except hers that was. But today, Kate could see the steel door to Bucky's cell opened already, courtesy of the generals' orders. Making her way through the steel frame, Kate could finally get a glance at what James was living in.