Imagine If You Assembled The Avengers: Volume 3

My Only (Barnes x reader)

Angst, mention of torture

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Bucky stared up at the clock, the maddening sound of its hand landing on each second like a sledgehammer to his brain; his body was completely still other than the incessant bounce of his leg, moving at a tripled pace compared to the agonizing crawl of that damn clock.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

"Sixteen hours," he muttered almost silently as the hand hit the twelve and saw the beginning of the next tormenting hour that he would spend in this very spot yet again. You had been gone for sixteen hours now, after being taken right before his eyes with no way to save you. The look in your eyes as his last sight of you was berating his senses and eating away at his sanity, and even though it was ravaging him, he refused to let the image go. Steve had to drag his fighting body back onto the jet to get the team to safety, with the promise that they would return better prepared for a rescue. It was driving him mad that they had yet to leave after so many hours had passed.

Tick. Tick-

"Son of a bitch!" he finally snapped, standing to drive a fist into the clock's face, imagining it to hold the expression he would see on the face of your captor when he could finally get to him. Inwardly, he was almost giddy at the thought of how it would feel to drive his metal fist through the man's skull, wondering if he could run it clean through. He pulled his hand back and envisioned the beauty of that bloody gore covering the shine and filling the joints of his fingers. Even outwardly now, he looked like a man ready to break, and if he had to sit through even one more tick of that clock, it would have been guaranteed.

~~~

The clock stopped.

There hadn't been anything that had been able to take your attention away from the haven that you had created in your mind to shut out the pain of torture, until you noticed the silence of a clock that had kept a perfectly steady rhythm for nearly sixteen hours now. You almost didn't dare to open your eyes, as it would be the first time since they had bound you and secluded you from any outside influence; your mind was the only place you could trust, and to see beyond that façade might break it for good.

It was a trick that Bucky had taught you, a type of self-hypnotization, aided by that sound that had now abandoned you. The consistent beat was guiding the rate of your heart, and without it, you began to feel a rise that signaled the acknowledgment of your body's pain. Your abilities as an empath helped you to understand what was going on around you, but it also gave your own feelings away too easily; if emotions were too strong, your body would respond, turning your hair a multitude of colors that you couldn't hide, even when it meant your safety. You had tried to remain cold and stoic, leaving your hair a deep black, and leaving your captors unaware of how scared you actually were. This characteristic that you held was something that had caught Bucky's attention from his first day with the team, and something that he loved and loved to play with. It was a cruel joke that now it could be your downfall.

"So, this color here, this...strange blue that's coming in...what is that? Is it fear? I would assume that to be true, since he's not coming for you, if that's what you think," a low voice came from a nearby corner. "There's been more than enough time. He must be afraid. He's afraid that he'll become our Soldier again, and when he does, you'll mean nothing to him. Actually, (Y/N), I'm starting to think that you already mean less than that, given his absence." The voice grew closer with each word, until you felt his hand grip your chin, giving it a firm yank upward, "look at me when I'm speaking to you."

You gave him nothing more than your silent resistance, spitting in his face and hoping that your aim was still on point. It was.

"You retched bitch," he hissed, slapping you with a resounding snap of his hand against your face, leaving a clean mark on your skin. The sting didn't faze you, and you barely flinched, knowing that it would only enrage him more. "You think that you're strong? That you'll survive long enough for him to find you? Let me assure you, we were never going to let that happen."