Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

Chapter XVIII: An Iron Grip

Bucky

"Please!" His partner was on the ground, helpless, as Pierce stood over her. Bucky had to do something, he had to do something, he had to do something. But there was nothing he could do without giving away his position. If Pierce knew he was no longer controlled by the Winter Soldier, he would be wiped and he would forget everything. He would forget Natalia. 
He resisted every urge to look towards the group of girls, where Natalia was being held back by four other Widows. He could hear her screaming, begging for Joana's sake. The only two people who cared about him were being hurt and there was only one thing he could do to stop it. 
But he didn't.
Joana caught his gaze as he watched in horror as Pierce continued to beat her. Her brown eyes were filled with tears, but also with determination. 
I can save you from this, he wanted to tell her. I can stop it. 
Joana seemed to understand, for she set her jaw and shook her head. 
Don't you dare, her eyes said to him. At least, that was what he wanted her to say. She stopped begging, stopped screaming. With every strike that Pierce hit her with, she groaned, but made no further plea to stop her pain. 
"Enough! Please, that's enough!" Natalia begged. Bucky wanted to turn to her, to comfort her, to do anything, but he remained still. 
You can do this, James. You have to do this. 
"Zhelaniye," Joana moaned from the ground. Bucky snapped his head towards her, a stabbing feeling in his brain. What is she doing? "Rzhavyy." 
Bucky jerked his head just slightly, feeling the compulsion of the Soldier. She was controlling him, she was-
"Rassvet." 
Bucky scowled again. She said the wrong word. Rassvet wasn't next it was supposed to be Semnadtsat'. What was she doing? Joana continued to mutter the rest of the words that were supposed to bring the Soldier out of him, but he felt nothing. Usually, when they used the words after he had broken free from the Soldier, he felt like his brain was being obliterated, like his limbs were being torn apart, like he was being dragged from his own body, but now he felt nothing. He felt nothing because she skipped a word. 
Pierce was no longer hitting her, but standing above her, breathing heavily. He glared at Joana, glancing between her and Bucky. He bared his teeth as Joana said the final word. Bucky stared straight ahead with a stone gaze, impersonating himself as the Soldier. He finally understood what Joana was doing. If she said the trigger words, just incorrectly, and it looked like he was still the Soldier, she could convince Pierce that Bucky had never broken the mind control, and all three of them would be safe. So Bucky had to play the part perfectly. 
"Soldier?" Pierce asked, standing close to his face, eyes narrowed. 
"Ready to comply." 
Pierce stared at him a few seconds longer, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, he started laughing. He looked down at Joana, who was a bloody, teary eyed mess. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Bucky tried not to look down at her, but while Pierce's back was turned, he glanced down. Agony flared up in his heart seeing Joana in the condition she was. It was his fault she looked like that. It might as well have been his own knife that gave her all those cuts on her chest and face. It might as well have been his own fist that made her face look so different than usual. It might as well have been him that caused the tears and hatred in her eyes.
Joana didn't turn her wrathful gaze away from Pierce as he walked around her.
"Smart, Joana. Please, accept my apology." Pierce offered her his hand, but she slapped it away, glaring at him. 
"I don't want anything from you," she snarled. 
"Joana, please. You must understand, I had to make sure-"

"I know, Pierce. You had to make sure the asset was still yours to control. Are you satisfied?" Abhorrence laced every word that Joana spoke. 
"I am. I do wonder why the Soldier would need to take a woman into your room every night, however?" Pierce looked up at Bucky again. His stomach dropped. He knew. Joana wiped the blood off her lip with the hand that had a hole in it. 
"Super Soldier or not, Barnes is still a man. And men have their needs, don't they?" Joana sounded as if she was quoting something Pierce had said to her before. Pierce nodded, clasping his hands behind his back. 
"You're right, Joana. Barnes, take her to the Medical Ward. See to it that she gets healed properly." Pierce said nothing else before leaving. As soon as the door shut behind him, Natalia burst past Bucky. She was down on the ground beside Joana, her hands shaking as she reached out to Joana. 
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered. The Widows in the room started filing out, whispering to each other as they did so. "Let me help you up."
Once everyone was out of the room, Bucky knelt beside Joana as well. 
"What can we do?" He asked her quietly. Joana breathed deeply. 
"I don't know." 
He could tell by the way her left leg was twisted that she wouldn't be able to walk on it. Her left hand and her right hand looked completely out of use. He knew she would want to walk by herself, to show that she was strong enough- even the Soldier knew that- but he also knew that she would just get herself hurt even further. 
"You should leave," he told Natalia. She looked up from Joana towards Bucky. She stared at him, trying to read him. 
"It didn't work, did it? You're still mine?" She asked, her voice hoarse. Bucky smiled, just to show her that he was still himself. 
"Joana, I'm so sorry," she whispered to Joana once more, before standing and leaving the room. 
"Help me up?" She asked him. 
"I won't let you walk," he told her, putting one arm under her legs and the other on her back. 
"Hey!" She protested as he lifted her off the ground. "I can walk."
"No, you can't, Joana. After everything you've done for me, let me help you now." She looked into his eyes and he felt something, a stirring in his heart, something that made him nostalgic, like there was something good before he came to HYDRA. Maybe there was, and maybe she was it. 
Just as quickly as the feeling had come, it passed. They both looked away from each other. Joana cleared her throat. 
"Thank you," he said to her as he carried her from the room. 
"Anything for you," Joana said. Her cheeks turned read and she quickly added. "And Natalia. You and Natalia."
Bucky carried her silently towards the Medical Ward. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her. He never got the time to ask her questions about his past. Natalia told him that they were friends before HYDRA, which meant she knew about him. His family, his friends, where he lived, what he did, how old he was. He doubted he would ever be able to ask her those questions. 
"Joana, I-" He looked down at her to find her eyes closed. Her arms were hanging limp. He could barely see her chest rising and falling with her breath. She was dying. He froze and his heart stopped for a moment. There was too much blood. She wasn't going to last much longer. 
He picked up his pace. 
"Hang in there, Partner," he whispered as he hurried down the halls. When he came to the Medical Ward, the doctors were already prepared for her. Bucky made sure to return his usual Soldier expression to his face. 
"Put her here," one of the nurses said, gesturing to an empty bed. He lay Joana down on the bed as gently as he could. 
"Back away," the head doctor said, pulling gloves onto his hands. Bucky did as he was told, but Joana's hand shot out and grabbed him by the wrist. He tried to pull his arm away, but Joana, even unconscious, had a grip of iron. Bucky looked up at the doctor, who looked almost as if he rolled his eyes. 
"Just stay out of my way." 
Bucky did his best to do just as the doctor said while trying to stay in character. He couldn't comprehend everything the doctor and nurses were doing. His saw the needles and he heard the monitors beeping and all his mind could think was of the days he spent in the Austrian Alps when Zola first introduced the Super Soldier Serum into his blood. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He focused on Joana instead. 
The nurses started by cleaning off the blood that was covering the wounds. Bucky was amazed by how long it took to clear it all off. There was a pile of blood stained wipes on the floor by the time they could finally see the wounds. 
"He could have killed her," the doctor growled. "Someone needs to control that man."
The doctor shouted a few orders to the nurses; something about her broken leg and hand. While the nurses worked on that, he started on the hole in her hand, prying it off of Bucky's wrist. He injected something into her hand. 
"Sorry I'm late, Doc," a red headed nurse said, jogging into the room. Bucky looked up at the nurse and recognized her immediately. Her green eyes were too distinct to be anyone else. Bucky suppressed a smile. 
"I don't care. Finish up with her hand." Natalia, dressed as the final nurse, brushed past Bucky and started wrapping Joana's hand with the gauze. 
"Back away now," the doctor said to Bucky without looking up from the wounds he was now treating. Bucky didn't want to. He wanted to stay here with Joana, to make sure she was alright. "Get him out of here, would you?"
Natalia set down the gauze and turned to Bucky. 
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she told her, not looking him in the eye. Bucky nodded and started backing away. "Thank you." 
He left the Ward and stood outside, waiting by the window. 
The nurses fully covered Joana, so Bucky couldn't see what they were doing at all. For all he knew, they could have just been making it worse. Bucky shook the negative thoughts from his head. Natalia wouldn't let them hurt her, not after everything that Joana's done for them. He just had to trust that the doctor knew what he was doing. It felt like they were in there for hours. When the doctor finally stripped his gloves off and pulled off his mask, Bucky knew that either they had finished, or Joana had died. He prayed to God it was the latter. The doctor left the Medical Ward.
"Tell Pierce that the Nagrada is stable. As long as we keep her here, give her time to heal, she should be ready to go in a few months. After a couple of weeks here, she can go out, but she can't do anything for a few months."  
Nagrada? That was obviously Joana. He would have to ask her what it meant later. He nodded at the doctor and headed off down the halls towards Pierce's office. He knocked on the door and waited until Pierce gave him permission to enter. 
"Did Doctor Salazar send you with news?" He asked, drinking from a glass. Bucky nodded. "Well?"
"She is stable. She will need to stay in the Medical Ward for a few weeks. After she's out, she will need time to recover," Bucky reported. Pierce turned away from Bucky and took a long sip from his glass. Anger flared up inside Bucky. This was the man that put Joana in that hospital bed and he was upset that he lost an asset, not that she was hurt. He curled his fists. 
"You can leave," Pierce snapped at him, as if he was have already supposed to have left. Bucky inclined his head and left. 

"Multiple fractured bones in the hand, a broken tibia, multiple lacerations to the chest, neck, and face, all of which will scar, torn short palmaris, nerve damage in both hands, the loss of 31% of her blood, and possible brain damage." Natalia did not look away from Joana once while she rattled off all of her injuries. "They don't know when she'll wake up." 
Bucky sighed through his nose, but he didn't say anything. That would be too risky. 
"I'm going to kill Pierce," Natalia said through her teeth. Joana had taught her how to speak clearly without opening her mouth. It looked slightly strange, sure, but she needed to talk to him. He was the only one she had. "He deserves to die for this."
"B...." Natalia and Bucky turned to look at Joana, whose mouth had opened. "Bu..."
"What is she saying?" Bucky asked without moving his lips. 
"I think she's saying your name," Natalia said, crossing her arms. She clenched her jaw. 
"Bucky." 
Images flashed through Bucky's mind. A small boy, two girls, a clothing store. Drawings, boxing classes, dancing. Lonely nights, tear stained letters, a war. Before he could do anything else, his vision went black and he toppled to the ground. 

***

It's been like two days, I must be slacking. Just Kidding, I've been doing more than I have been this past summer. Anyway, here's another chapter with some more stuff. Idk if any of it made sense because sometimes I feel like I just ramble all the time. 
I entered into the Wattys because why not. So IDK how you vote on those things or whatever, but I would appreciate anything y'all can give me. 
I have another favor to ask before I thank you greatly for everything you've done for me. If you guys could point out anything I can do better, places that could use more imagery, less imagery, less confusing parts, or whatever. Anything you can do to help me improve my writing, that would be wonderful. 
I would like to thank everyone for their votes, reads, comments, follows, and simply, all the time you guys spend reading my stuff. I love you guys seriously.

With a lot of graciousness and love,
authorsbane