Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

xxx. 𝚠𝚒𝚙𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛

Fear. Fear of losing his grip on the train. Fear of leaving Evelyn and Steve. Fear of dying.

"Grab my hand," Evelyn called, the fear on her face as well. He hated how afraid she looked.

Bucky tried to reach for Evelyn's hand before a loud creak was heard. The metal rod quickly broke just as his fingers brushed against Evelyn's.

"NO!" he heard her scream as his own scream broke through.

1945; Hydra Headquarters

"Sergeant Barnes. The procedure has already started," Dr. Zola spoke with a manic grin. Bucky could see his metal arm lifting into his view. It felt too heavy. "You are to be the new fist of Hydra." Zola turned. "Put him on ice."

2014; S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

Bucky felt his brain squeeze as his thoughts rushed forward. Evelyn. Steve. Howard. Peggy. Zola. Evelyn. Evelyn. Evelyn. His fiancée. His girl. Steve. His best friend. Howard. Howard Stark. Bucky felt sick, suddenly punching the nearest person who was fixing his metal arm. They were the enemies. They made me this way. Bucky's thoughts were loud as someone walked into the room.

"Sir, he's... he's unstable. Erratic," a scientist said to Alexander Pierce as the man walked inside with Rumlow and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team following.

Bucky stared ahead, his expression blank as Pierce made it in front of him. "Mission report." Bucky did not respond. "Mission report, now." Bucky did not even budge as Pierce suddenly smacked him across the face.

Finally, Bucky turned his head ever so slightly to lock eyes with Pierce. "The woman and man on the bridge... Who were they?" he asked to hear their response. He wanted them to confirm what he already thought.

Pierce lied a tad. "You met them earlier this week on another assignment."

"I knew them," Bucky said seriously, a small smile on his face when he remembered Evelyn's soft touch on his face. She was not afraid of him. Pierce moved to sit in front of Bucky. Bucky resisted the urge to move.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind. 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," Pierce explained.

Bucky looked down as he said softly, "But I knew them."

Pierce turned to the scientists. "Prep him."

"He's been out of cryo-freeze too long."

"Then wipe him and start over."

On the other side of town, Evelyn was staring ahead into nothingness—feeling empty and full all at once. She wanted to scream happily that she was right with her gut feeling. Bucky Barnes was alive all this time. She was so excited, but then again, she was not. Hydra had him all of these years. Hydra took control of his mind, made him a killer. She would have rathered he be old and wrinkly somewhere than in pain in which she knew he was. A single tear left her eye.

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

Evelyn hardly moved at Steve's words. Somehow, Evelyn knew Bucky did recognize her. He knew of her but not who she was truly. She felt lucky to be remembered at all. "How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago," Sam asked carefully.

"Zola," Evelyn's croaky voice spoke softly. "James's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and—" Evelyn could not finish. Her gaze fell. If only she had looked harder. Not given up.

Natasha looked at her sympathetically. "None of that's your fault—neither one of you."

"Even when I had nothing, I always had Bucky and Evelyn," Steve whispered.

Evelyn smiled wryly. "It is my fault. I knew he was alive. I just did not act fast enough," Evelyn said before it was quiet again. Sam noticed Natasha was bleeding heavily from her shoulder. He looked at the two guards.

"We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck," Sam said with finality.

Evelyn did not even budge when one of the guards pulled out an electric rod close to Sam's face. Moving it, the guard shoved it straight at the other one–causing the second guard to pass out from it.

The first guard pulled of the helmet to reveal Agent Maria Hill with a scowl. "Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." She smiled a bit in confusion as she looked at Sam. "Who's this guy?"

Evelyn walked behind the group, allowing her thoughts to eat her up. As they made it into a secret facility in a cave-like area, Maria walked ahead of them, calling for a doctor for Natasha. A man ran up to take her, but Maria made it clear that they had someone to see first.

As they made it to the next room, Evelyn was really not surprised to see Nick Fury lying in a hospital bed with wounds being treated. "About damn time," he said as the quartet stared at him. After Natasha was being treated, Fury noticed Evelyn's detachment from the others in the room, standing close to the exit. "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache," he answered Natasha's question of what was wrong with him.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung."

Fury nodded. "Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open, your heart stopped," Natasha said Steve's thoughts.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it," Fury revealed.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?"

"That's not what S.H.I.E.L.D. does," Evelyn said with a tight smile, turning to walk out of the room.

Steve sighed, rubbing his forehead. He watched her walk off, about to follow her when Sam shook his head. "Nah, man. You better let her cool off," he said quietly. Steve gave him a look. "I know that look she had on her face. My sister had it often when I lived at home. She needs a moment to herself."