The Winter Wraith (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Chapter 4 - Last Mercy

"Lift the pen up." Standing on the other side of the table, empty but for a singular black pen, another of Dr Albracht's minions instructs you.

"I can't." You grind out, tugging on the manacles chaining your wrists to the floor.

His gloved hand connects with your cheek in a burning backhand. "Lift the pen up."

"You lift the pen up." You sneer. In truth, you're still trying to work out whether it was actually you who stopped the knife in the training room.

"Shut up and lift the goddamn pen!" He's frustrated now. Probably because you've been at this for almost an hour.

"Make. Me." The moment the words are out of your mouth you regret them.

"Don't mind if I do." He mumbles, frustration turned to something far more deadly, coming around the table to place himself behind you.

He grabs a fistful of your hair, yanking your head back and exposing your neck. His putrid breath skims along your bare skin and it's all you can do not to throw up. It's not the first time a guard has tried something like this, but surely now you have the power stop them. Come on brain, do the thing! He lowers himself closer. This isn't fair! Someone help me! But you know the only person who can save you is yourself.

Heaving a deep breath, you pour all your focus into the pen in front of you. The world seems to fall away until it's all that is left. Inhale. The pen trembles, lifting from the table. Exhale. The pen skewers itself through the thug's eye. You've never learned much about human anatomy, but you somehow just know that one more mental shove and you can stab the pen straight through his frontal lobe, rip through his parietal lobe and make sure he never hurts any else again.

You think all of this in a split second but pause. As his blood slowly drips onto your neck, you realise what you just thought, what you just wanted to do. You wanted to kill this man. But you are not a killer, you don't want to be and you never will be. You leave the man to fall the ground, alive.

The door bursts open and Dr Albracht storms in. "Pathetic." At first you think he is taking to the guard, moaning in pain on the floor, for letting you get the best of him. But then you realise he's talking to you. "Why didn't you kill him?"

"What?" You breathe. They wanted you to kill this man?

"I knew it. You will never be worth anything as you are. Men, bring her to the Chamber."

The words send a shiver down your spine, probably another torture room. No. No more. No more hurting, no more tears, no more Hydra. You have an incredible power and you will not be some pet of these horrible beings who call themselves human.

You rise from your chair. You will show them that you can be whatever you want to be as you are, not as a killer.

As if the singular movement of the pen has opened a new gateway into your mind, you know what you have to, what you can, do. The metal cuffs around your wrists bend to your will, freeing your wrists. Your chair flies backwards, knocking several guards to the ground with a bone-cracking force. You take a step forward as the, what your mind tells you is fifteen, men take a collective step back. Your eyes glow an unearthly (f/c) as you call on your power.

You vaguely register Dr Albracht shouting at his men not to shoot in fear they might kill you. Fear. The doctor is afraid. You realise you know this because your mind has continued to reach out, you know the feelings and thoughts of every person in this room.

Ignoring his orders in panic, one lone soldier fires a round of bullets at your head. Like in the training room, time seems to slow. You are aware of the bullets racing towards you, aware of every atom of every molecule. And they are all yours to control.

Before the soldier can even blink, you stop the bullets, turn them around and plunge them straight into his stomach, mindful as you don't want to kill anyone. Just injure them. Severely.

The room is dim as it is, but you wonder... If you can 'move' anything with your mind, can you bend light particles? You bring your arms down in a sweeping motion, you don't really need to do this but you've decided it helps with control, and engulf your self in a curtain of shadow. You are a shadow.

You step through one pile of shadows on the floor and into the next, creeping around the edge of the room as the guards all look around in a panic. You keep up this charade as you step out of the shadows, bending the light so you remain invisible. You can hear the word as it echoes in Dr Albracht's thoughts: telekinesis. He was right, you suppose, all you were doing was moving matter.

Acting on a whim, you grasp control of the water inside three of the men's bodies and redirect a small amount to their lungs. With the proper medical attention, they should be alright. But until then, they drop to floor, struggling to breathe.

You reach out to another man and take physical control of his body. But then you realise, what if you could use your mind to... persuade... him to help you? You send pictures through your mind of a scared young girl with wide (e/c) eyes, needing his help. You picture him shooting his comrades in the thighs, protecting you. Why? Because he should. It's the right thing to do. And you can make him believe it. The word telepathy reaches you from the doctor's mind, again labelling the abilities you display.

The soldier opens fire in a thunder of bullets and you make a run for it. You are faster than you were before, stronger too, but not the fastest. Out of nowhere another prisoner, dressed in the same hospital attire as you, steps into your path. He reaches out with his hand and despite the fact that he was still metres away from you, his hand is suddenly around your throat. At the speed of light, he bashes your head against the concrete wall.

You can't focus enough to fight back, and your vision becomes splotchy as you hear Dr Albracht's voice. "That's enough, Subject 149347. I don't want her permanently damaged."

Your captor releases you and you fall to the ground, gasping for air through a scorching throat. You're about to make a remark, despite the pain, when Dr Albracht takes out a gun from his jacket. You flinch at the echoing gunshot, but are surprised when you open your eyes to see the other subject slumped dead against the wall. You peer up at Dr Albracht as he speaks. "Can't have someone better than you getting jealous and... removing you too soon." He sighs. "I told you, Subject 307841, you are too weak. You probably could have escaped today had you not shown mercy." He spits the last word out like a curse on his tongue.

No matter what he says, you feel no regret for not killing the men. He must see this in your eyes for he looks directly at you as he gives his next orders to the remaining guards. "But we will fix that soon enough. Men, the Chamber, now!"

A/n
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Harley J. xx