Sane // A Winter Soldier Story

chapter sixteen // sputnik

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"Hello, hello. Anybody out there?" -Echo by Jason Walker

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《Athena》

Everything happened all at once.

"желание."

That was the first word the man uttered, and Athena watched in horror as James' head flinched to the side at the word, as if some unseen force had punched him right in the jaw.

"Stop," James muttered, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his fists. He looked like he was in pain. His breathing picked up immensely. He stepped shakily to the side, toward the glass, and looked at Athena with desperation. "Get as far away from me as you can. Grab anything you can use as a weapon. Don't be afraid to hurt me-- just save yourself!" he cried hoarsely.

"ржавый," the man continued, smiling devilishly as he watched James clutch his head and cry out. It took everything Athena had not to run to him, to wrap him in her arms and try to pull him away from this. She was forced to stand off to the side, her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide with horror, unable to do anything but watch James be torn apart.

"семнадцать."

With the next word, James let out a guttural yell that was so full of pain that Athena couldn't help but wince. He clutched at his head with closed eyes and then opened them, stumbled toward the glass, and punched it as hard as he could with his metal arm.

The whole glass dome shuddered ever so slightly with his punch. He pulled back and punched again, faltering when рассвет was uttered in the middle of his swing. He shook his head, fell to one knee, and tried again. A tiny crack formed under his metal fist.

"печь."

James punched again, more desperate this time.

"девять."

His actions were slowing. His eyes were growing hazy.

Athena's heart was shattering by the second. James, the man she loved, the man who had never wronged anyone, the man who had never been anything but scared and alone and taken advantage of, was being yanked away right before her eyes and pulled towards the very darkness he was trying so hard to get rid of. And she couldn't do anything about it.

Unless....

She looked around. The red book lay open in the man's hands as he read aloud from it.

"добросердечный."

James gave one more punch before his eyes went completely out of focus. He shook his head violently while clutching his neck and sinking to the ground.

The Winter Soldier could be activated using a series of words. Does that mean he could be deactivated by another series of words?

Athena didn't even think before she took off towards the gate all the way across the cell, ignoring Bucky's previous request to grab a weapon and setting her sights on that red book just outside the glass. Surely Hydra didn't always want their soldier around; they had to have created a way to deactivate him when necessary. And they likely put that deactivation code in the same book as the activation code.

As Athena ran, more and more words were uttered over the speaker, and James grew quieter behind her. "возвращение на родину, один..."

She threw her thumb down on the finger scanner and waited impatiently for the door to open. Her heart was racing. She had no idea how many words were left before the transformation would be complete, but once the man uttered one more word, everything went completely still; she knew instantly that she was out of time. Only one more word had been left, and it had just been uttered.