Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

Chapter XXVI: Orpheus and Eurydice

Joana

Pierce was true to his word. The door behind her wasn't opened until 3 days later. Joana didn't know it was three days, but by the growling of her stomach, she knew it had been a while. She was asleep when they came in, but her head snapped up as the door creaked open. She heard the stomping of boots. There had to be at least three pairs of boots, which meant three people.
As they approached, she saw them out of the corner of her eye. One of them was Bucky, the other two were agents. They were two of the agents that helped Lud with wiping Bucky three days prior.

They sat him in the machine, completely ignoring Joana. They left him, unrestrained, in the machine and went behind the closed door with the three locks. They left him completely alone with her. She rolled her lower lip between her teeth.

"Bucky," she whispered. Even though she used the quietest voice possible, the name still resounded off the walls. "Bucky."

The man in the machine didn't even blink. Joana scowled and twisted her wrists, just like she had been doing the past three days, hoping to get out of the restraints. It had already become a habit.

"Buck-"

Before she could say anything to him, the door behind her opened again. This time, she turned her head to see who it was. She almost cried out for joy when she saw two agents carrying to trays of food. One of them stopped by her while the other went to Bucky. The agent that knelt in front of Joana slowly started to feed her what was on the plate. It was just some mush that tasted vaguely like beans. Joana didn't care. It tasted like heaven to her. She finished before Bucky did. He was eating slowly, as if he had been told to instead of desiring to.

Once Bucky finished his food, the two agents left and in came Lud, Pierce, and Karpov.

"I thought you said you were leaving," Joana said as Pierce walked around her, arms crossed.

"Yes, but I have a few more experiments I want to run before I leave this base in the hands of Karpov." Pierce smiled over at his partner, who was standing beside Lud while he examined Bucky.

"Let me guess, Bucky and I are the center pierces."

"You never cease to amaze me with you're cleverness."

"If you were more sarcastic I would have mistaken you for a mirror."

Pierce sent her a cruel smile.

"Joana, you test every single one of my nerves-"

"Obviously not. You haven't even-" He struck her across her face so hard her head was thrown to the side. Turning back to face him, she spat blood at his feet and met his eyes. "- hit me yet."

Pierce nodded towards the two agents who had fed her and Bucky a few minutes before. They stepped forward in perfect unison and started to unbuckle the leather cuffs on her wrists. Once they finished, she crossed her legs in her seat and stretched her arms, yawning, taunting. She smirked at Pierce, but he didn't look amused. Like a rebellious child, Joana rolled her eyes and groaned, but stood up in front of him.

"What's the plan, Pierce? Make Bucky kill me? See if zapping my brain will make me more compliant?"

"You ever read any Greek myths, Joana?"