Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

Chapter XXXI: Static

Joana

It felt as if every Rumlow had grabbed hold of her soul and yanked it from her body. She couldn't speak, couldn't breathe when he was around. She went rigid. She felt empty. He was worse than Pierce in a thousand ways, worse than Aleksi. She gained something from Pierce's obsession with her. But Rumlow was an animal. He cared only for himself and he was vile so his wishes were vile.
She hated him. She hated him more than Aleksi. She hated him more than the Commander. She hated him almost more than she hated Pierce. She hated him more than Karpov, and they'd only been in America for a few months.
She didn't tell Pierce what Rumlow did to her when he was away. No one did. Bucky didn't have the means to. The Unimportants laughed at her weakness, they didn't care. Joana was alone. She was completely and utterly alone. She almost rejoiced when she heard Pierce was back because it meant that Rumlow wouldn't go near her. It meant to was safe from him.
She felt like she'd given up. She felt like she was defeated. She hated being alone in the vault, like she usually was, but she hated when people were there. In Russia, she would be glad when Bucky was in the room with he because it meant he was safe and not dead (for now), but now, now he knew what Rumlow was doing to her. She could feel his eyes on her, not in the way Rumlow or the other agents looked at her, but his gaze was just as heavy. She was embarrassed. She was ashamed.
"This is all my fault," she'd cry to herself in the nights when they turned off the lights and she was consumed by darkness. "All my fault."
She would use the time of darkness to think, but most of the time, it was all just static. Her mind was blank, empty, unusable. She was nothing but flesh and bone.
"God, have mercy on me," she'd beg, head hung, chin to her chest. "Please, have mercy on me. Take me home. Take me away." But He never did.
"Give me strength through these trials," she would sob, head lifted to heaven. "Give me strength."
Strength to endure? Strength to suddenly break free of the chains that bound her? Strength to do what was right? Strength to tell Pierce about Rumlow? She didn't know what strength she needed, but any that could be spared, she would accept.
Days dragged on. There was no night and no day. She didn't know time passed. She was in a never ending loop of torment. Pierce was gone, Rumlow was there. Rumlow was gone, Pierce was there. The only time she could breathe was when they were both away.
The situation with Bucky just got worse and worse as time continued. She would still scream as Bucky's mind was wiped. She'd still beg and plead for them to let him go. They tried beating it out of her, but that didn't work. They took to gagging her every time he needed to be wiped.
"You're going to kill him!" She yelled. "You're going to kill him!"
She couldn't stand it any longer. His screams echoed in her ears just as loud as her own did. Tears became permanent. A janitor had to come clean her and the floor of vomit and urine almost every day. She was unstable. She was a mess. She was dead.
Years passed. They passed and passed and she sat. The chair she sat on became her only friend. She could see the years on Pierce's face and in Rumlow's eyes. Pierce was older. Rumlow was more dangerous.
2014 came quicker than expected. While Joana had no idea what year it was, Pierce and Rumlow did. It was the year that SHIELD was going to fall and HYDRA was going to rise. Pierce and Rumlow were so busy in that time, that Joana was left virtually untouched. One of the Unimportants tried to kiss her, but she bit his ear almost clean off and told Pierce, who blew his brains out right in front of her. That was the only time it was needed. Bucky was gone a lot too. She didn't see him as much. She would pray for his safety, pray that God would bring him home. She would pray for his victims, that they would reach Heaven and no longer fear or feel pain. She had stopped praying that he would magically remember her and their life before. That was never going to happen.
She noticed as the year drained on that Rumlow and Pierce were agitated. Something was about to happen and she didn't think she wanted to know what that was exactly. Bucky was gone quite often. On the very day where we pick up our narrative, Joana could have sworn she heard Pierce whisper to Bucky something about a fury, but she didn't know what it meant. She slept after Bucky left. There wasn't much else to do. She slept and she ate and there was nothing else.
This time, she was rudely awoken by the sounds of shouts outside her vault door. Sounds didn't often come through the door and all the way down the hallway unless something was really going wrong. Yawning and blinking the water in her eyes away, Joana stared intently at the door, waiting for it to open. It began to creak and groan as it always did when it was being opened. As soon as it was unlocked, the door burst open and three agents ushered a battered looking Bucky down the hall way and into the chair. A few doctors scurried in from behind talking rapid fire. Having spoken only Russian for so long, Joana was still getting used to English again, but she caught bits and pieces. Nothing important, nothing that would tell her how Bucky could look the way he did. She'd seen him come back from many a mission and the worst he ever had was a scratch on his face. This time, though, his lips was busted, his eye was bruising, and a cut dripped blood from his cheek. No normal human could have done that to him.
"What happened?" Joana asked, but her question fell on deaf ears. Bucky was ordered to pull his shirt over his head and when he did, Joana saw purple bruises forming on his ribs.
"Who did this to you?" She asked, her voice just above a whisper. He looked up at her and for the first time since she broke his bonds all those years ago, he saw her. He actually saw her. It wasn't just as 'the girl in the chair', but he saw her. Pierce and Rumlow came strutting in not a few minutes later once things had begun to calm down. Bucky was breathing heavily and his eyes skirted to and fro as if he was looking for something. His hand clenched into fists then unclenched again and again and again. He mumbled something to himself, something that Joana couldn't hear. Joana twisted in her seat, trying to get a straight answer out of somebody.
"Pierce," she said when she saw him. "What's happened?"
But he ignored her and kept his attention on Bucky.
"Mission report," Pierce says, sitting in front of Bucky on a stool. Bucky stared straight ahead, not at him, but at the floor behind him. "Mission report."
When Bucky didn't respond a second time, Pierce stood and slapped Bucky across the face. Shock maybe Joana cry out, but with no coherent words. She wanted to hear the mission report just as much as they did, but they didn't need to get violent.
"The man on the bridge," Bucky said finally, his voice thick with confusion. "Who was he?"
A man? What man could put Bucky into such a state? Joana could only think of one person...no...he was long dead. Long dead. Wasn't he?
"You met him earlier this week on another assignment," Pierce told him. The answer didn't satisfy Bucky, due to his scowl.
"But I knew him," he said, looking up at Pierce. Joana's heart stopped and her jaw fell slack. Bucky knew him? Whoever the 'him' was, he was important enough to do some serious damage to the Winter Soldier, both physically and mentally. Whatever had happened, the Soldier's dam was breaking and it was Joana's chance to save him.
"Bucky, look at me, look at me," she said. "You name is James Buchanan Barnes. I'm Jo-"
"Shut her up!" Pierce yelled, pointing at her.
"I'm Joana Kegley-" Before she could say anything else, Rumlow rushed at her and popped her in the face with his fist. She gasped and her head flew backwards. Blood began to drip from her nose and the pain told her it was broken.
"Bucky," she said still, but couldn't say much more before Rumlow shoved a piece of cloth in her mouth.
"Your work has been a gift to mankind," Pierce said, looking back at Bucky, who had his sad eyes glued to Joana. "You shaped the century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're gonna give it a push. But, if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves."
Bucky finally turned to look at Pierce. He sucked on his teeth for a second before looking deep into Pierce's eyes.
"But I knew him," he said, his voice breaking. Joana pulled against the chair, screaming into the cloth that kept her silent. She was so close, so close. But the moment was ephemeral.
Please, God, please!
"Prep him," Pierce said, his voice emotionless as he stood. Joana pulled and struggled and twisted, shrieking and begging and pleading into the cloth. Tears formed in her eyes but she blinked them away.
"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long," one of the scientists said. Pierce sighed.
"Then wipe him and start over."
"No!" Joana screamed into the cloth, but no one paid any attention to her. She tugged on the chains, twisting her wrists in such a way that they dug into her skin even more. But it was all futile. She was never getting out of these chains. Her only leverage on Bucky she'd had in years and she was about to lose it.
Don't leave me! She screamed in her head, knowing he couldn't hear her. A scientist offered Bucky a teeth guard and he took it willingly.
"No, no!" Joana protested as Bucky leaned back in the chair, chest heaving, and the brain blender ascended upon him. Pierce and Rumlow turned away from the scene and left the vault. Joana squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away tears gathering in her eyes from both the pain in her nose and the pain in her heart. He started to scream and, per usual, so did she, but her screams were stifled by the cloth that was slowly being drenched in her tears.
And when it finally stopped, Joana didn't want to look. She didn't want to see the man Bucky had once again become. She kept her head turned to the side until they had dragged him out of vault and she was finally alone again, with only the three Unimportants.
Joana lifted her head to the chair once her eyes had finally run dry. Her mouth was just as dry. She tried to spit the cloth out of her mouth, but it was impossible.
So, again, she sat and waited.She slept and sat and slept again. Unimportant number 1 left to get food at some point and never returned. The same happened for the other two Unimportants did the same until Joana was completely and utterly alone. she was alone and she was hungry and she really needed to use the restroom. There was no sound outside the door, nothing at all.
When all seemed lost, and the hunger in Joana's stomach became almost unbearable, the door came alive once again.
Barely able to lift her head, Joana looked towards the door, expecting Pierce or Rumlow coming to finally end her or to take her away.
What she saw was the antithesis.
What she saw marked the end of HYDRA's reign.

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I can't believe I actually finished this chapter so soon. I mean, it's a bit short, but it's extremely important. So I bet y'all can guess what happens there at the end, but I won't tell you just Incase there are some who didn't really get it ;)
So in the mood board at the top of this chapter, there''s a picture of Rumlow and Bucky Barnes and that picture was actually the start of this who fanfic. I saw it and thought 'hmm, what would I do if I were there?' And thus, Flesh and Bone was born. Which is cool I guess. I just thought y'all should know the origins of this story.
I hope you guys had a good day today and that you'll have a great day tomorrow. If there's anything. You want to talk about, I'm always open. Thank you for your support and love, it means everything to me.
With extreme hatred for Rita Skeeter,
authorsbane