the team doctor || bucky barnes (EDITING IN PROGRESS)

76.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴏɴɢ: ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ ɴᴏᴛɪᴄᴇᴅ - ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀʀɪᴀꜱ

"𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡,"

~

VALERIE STILLED.

Afraid to make a sudden movement, she simply opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She saw Wanda and Cody in her peripheral vision, afraid to take her eyes from his. He only sat there, though, as if he was unsure how to proceed.

She cleared her throat. "Do you know who I am?"

Maybe this would be easier than she thought. She theorized that his memories of being in the cell would be there, which meant he'd at least remember her from their sessions. Hopefully, he didn't remember all of them, though. Going to his cell at two o'clock in the morning when she was at her wit's end was something she'd rather not revisit.

"You were outside my cell,"

She finally turned to Wanda, grinning.

"And you wore those tights--"

"--Alright," Valerie coughed, cutting him off. "I think you guys can go,"

She avoided his eyes, but she could tell he felt very triumphant from making her nervous. Wanda and Cody exchanged an uneasy glance. "Are you sure?"

"He clearly isn't going to be violent," Now, she shot a look at him. "Right?"

"Do I have a target?"

"No," Wanda quickly said. "No targets."

He was still sitting. Valerie wondered if all his movements needed to be ordered, or if he was capable of making most choices on his own. She didn't feel threatened in the moment, but she'd be lying if she said her heart rate didn't pick up as Cody and Wanda walked out of the lab. The door shutting created an echo in the near-silent room as they went back to staring.

"So," She cleared her throat. "You might be wondering what you're doing in here,"

"Last I remember, you were coming in the cell."

"So you remember me coming in there. What else?" She clicked her pen.

"Why should I tell you?"

Her eyes picked up, squinting at him. "Why wouldn't you? I'm your doctor,"

"What are you going to do with the information?"

"International spy, right." She shook her head. "Okay. When I visited you in the cell, I was trying to break you out of your...alter ego here. Because we know each other. We put you back in so we can try to make you just one person rather than two. Does that make sense?"

He only stared at her.

"Is that, like, a stare of understanding or confusion?"

Silence remained.

"You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?" She sighed, writing something down. "At least you're not in the cell, right?"

"So I can leave?"

"You can't leave the tower, but you can leave this room--"

She was cut off by him immediately standing up. He started for the door, and against her better judgement, she put herself between the two. He glanced down at her lazily as if she was a speck of lint he could simply flick off his sleeve.

"You can't hurt me, so don't try. You'll be frozen by nanotech," She tried to sound brave, but her voice came out uneasy.

"Shall we test it out?" His low voice threatened.