The Sapphire Spirit | Book One~Captain America: Civil War

C H A P T E R 19

I walked back to the office which Ross had so graciously provided for us, meeting back up with Steve and Sam. Sharon came in.

"Here are the receipts for your gear," she said.

"'Bird costume'?" Sam asked. "Come on."

"I didn't write it." Sharon pushed a button. The restriction on the audio for Bucky's evaluation lifted.

"I'm not here to judge you." I heard the evaluator say. "I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky." The Winter Soldier said.

Steve picked up a blurry photograph and studied it.

"What's that?" I asked, peering over his shoulder.

"The man who bombed the conference in Vienna." Steve answered distractedly. "Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?" He asked Sharon.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" She answered.

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"You're saying someone framed him to find him."

"Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing." Sam spoke up.

"We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads." Steve said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would." Sharon's gaze fell on the evaluator in the screen, her eyes narrowed.

[Steve frowned and looked at the screen. "Yeah."

In the secure chamber, the evaluator was talking to Bucky. "Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Bucky answered listlessly.

"You fear that... if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry."

The evaluator paused to check his phone. "We only have to talk about one."

And then the bunker's the lights went out.

Everett Ross yelled from the other room. "Great. Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes. Go."

"FRIDAY, get me the source of that outage." Tony spoke into his watch outside.

I spotted Sharon amidst the chaos. "Sharon, take off the collar." I said, going up to her. She stared at the power inhibitor, deciding. "Sharon, please. I'm going up against the Winter Soldier. I need my powers, please."

She looked over her shoulder at Ross and the others, who were busy. "Okay."

I cranked my neck and held my hair out of the way. Sharon brought her thumb up to the small fingerprint pad in the slender collar. The collar beeped twice and was deactivated. I could feel the familiar surge of power as Sharon took off the inhibitor.

"Thank you."

"Sub-level 5, east wing." Sharon said. Sam, Steve and I followed her.

==== ====

"What the hell is this?" Bucky asked groggily.

"Why don't we discuss your home?" Zemo countered. "Not Romania. Certainly not Brooklyn, no. I mean, your real home." Zemo removed his glasses then walked toward Bucky, reading from a small red book by torchlight. "Желание." Longing.

Bucky shut his eyes. "No." His head snapped back up.

"Ржавый." Rusted.

"Stop."

"Семнадцать." Seventeen.

Bucky's metal arm trembled in its restraint. "Stop."

"Рассвет." Daybreak.

Bucky screamed, clenched his fist and ripped free of his restraints.

"Печь." Furnace. "Девять." Nine.

Bucky thumped the inside of the pod.

"Добросердечный." Benign.

Bucky punched the pod harder.

"Возвращение на Родину." Homecoming. "Один." One. "Грузовой вагон." Freight car.

Bucky battered the front of the pod with his metal fist and the glass screen flew clear. Zemo slowly rounded the pod with the book and the torch in hand. He stood before Bucky, who straightened, a dark frown on his face.

"Солдат?" Soldier?

"Я готов отвечать." Ready to comply.

"Mission report. December 16, 1991."