Flesh and Bone ◇ Bucky Barnes ◇

XXX: Heartbreak Beats

Joana

The feeling of finality as the vault door slammed shut sent a shiver down Joana's spine. She had almost hoped that her situation in America would be better than in Russia, but her she was, across land masses and a large sea, tied to a chair once again.

The plane that brought her here had no windows, and her head was covered when she entered the bank (or at least what she assumed was the bank from the vault they were being kept in). She had felt the sun on her wrists as they came in, felt the breeze on her bare arms, but nothing more. And now she was here, in an empty room, with a torture machine threatening her just feet away, and the feeling of hopelessness hasn't changed. She was still just as stuck as ever.
And to make matters worse, Pierce was here. She hadn't seen him, she didn't even know if he was in the same state she was (whatever state that was), but being in the same country as him was enough to make her stomach churn. Thoughts of the nights she spent with him in the Red Room flashed through her memories. Joana squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to shake away the remnants of pain those memories left her.
Taking deep, slow breaths, Joana managed to calm herself down.
"Okay, okay," she breathed. "You need to get out of here."
She looked around the room she was in. Definitely a vault, there was no doubt there. But outside of this room, she had no idea where she was. When she left the plane, there was only the sound of feet on pavement when they got to the car. And the car drive lasted hours, so there was no telling where she ended up even if she knew where she started.
But there was no one in the room, which meant she had time to try and escape. A move in assets meant things were changing and if things were changing, it might just be the break Joana needed to break free.
She began to tug against the chains around her wrists. The metal dig into her already raw flesh. A groan of pain came from her mouth as she twisted and turned. The chains were just as tight in America as in Russia, which she understood. The only difference was the temperature. Somehow it was colder here than Russia. That didn't make sense to Joana. There was a draft coming down straight on her from above, goose bumps prickling her bare skin.
Despite the pain, Joana continued to pull against her chains. On the other side of of metal bars that constituted a vault door, was another, real vault door that kept the whole world oblivious to her presence. She looked down the long hallway towards the door at the end, her stomach churning. Her heart began to pound in her chest as the door began to whir and come alive. Someone was coming inside, and she had a sinking feeling she knew who it was.
As soon as the door opened, Joana snapped her head forward and kept her eyes staring straight ahead, not glancing this way or that. She kept herself still, even as the thudding of 5 pairs of combat boot clad feet echoed off the metal walls. The first door closed and the metal bars were opened and the five newcomers stood in the same room as her.
"Joana."
The sound of Pierce's voice sent a shiver down her spine and bile into her throat, but she kept her face as stone. She would not give in to him. Never again.
"Look at me, Joana."
No! The voice in her head screamed. Joana listened to herself and her gaze at the chair before her kept.
With a sigh, Alexander Pierce stepped into her line of sight and it took everything in her not to cry.
She had been rid of him. He was gone, across the ocean, never to be seen again. Yet here he was, standing mere feet in front of her.
"You've aged," was all she said to him. They were the only words Joana could say void of all emotion. Anything else would make her cry or scream or lash out, and she did not want that. He had no power over her. He had no power over her. He had no...
"Karpov told me you were a brat after I left," Pierce told her. She refused to meet his eyes and stared at his chest. "I can't say I'm surprised."
It felt awkward. Not scary like she imagined. Just...awkward.
"I know you won't talk to me, so I'm just going to get to the point. Barnes is needed here and I know separating the two of you permanently would not be good for anyone. So you're here, in this chair, until I need you."
Not 'until HYDRA needs you'. Not 'until Barnes needs you'. Not 'until you die'. 'Until I need you'. Joana closed her eyes for a brief second to recompose herself.
"This is Rumlow. He's the new Aleksi, in your eyes. Or Karpov, if you'd prefer to think of him like that. He won't be around as much as either of them were, but besides myself, he's the only one with a key."
Joana didn't like the way Rumlow smiled at her. His eyes were hungry. She'd seen that look all too many times. She knew it more than any other look she'd been cast. She was prey and nothing more. His hair was dark and stubble grew on his chin. He stood with a wide stance, hands on his belt. She looked away from him as if bored and yawned. His smirk fell and became a frown.
"These three are unimportant to you. All you need to know is that they will feee you and make sure you don't escape."
Unimportant number 1, 2 and 3 all scowled but didn't voice their discontent with being called unimportant.
"They have been instructed specifically not to touch you, otherwise I'll kill them myself or feed them to our dog," Pierce told her, but she felt more like it was a reiterated threat. The Unimportants shuffled their feet uncomfortably. (Joana assumed that she was the 'dog').
"If you need to use the restroom, tell one of them and they'll come get me. If neither I nor Rumlow come, you hold it. Understood?" Joana nodded once. "Good. One more thing, others will be in here when Barnes is being wiped and prepped. They have my permission to deal with you as they please if they interrupt their work. So I suggest you don't interrupt them. Am I clear?" Another nod. "Good, girl."
I'm not your dog, Joana wanted to say, but she held her tongue. She stared blankly ahead as if none of them existed.
"I'm not going to be around for a while, business as usual. I will see you when I get back." He turned towards the door, but stopped. "It's nice to see you again, Joana." 
She wanted to vomit. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She hated him. She hated being near him. She already hated Rumlow and the Unimportants. She already hated being here. She was so close to home, yet so far away.
"We're going to have fun together," Rumlow said, his voice gravelly, rubbing his hands together. His tongue flicked across his lower lip. Joana closed her eyes.
He has no power over you. He has no power over you. He has no power over you.
"Do you talk? I want to make this whore talk."
"'Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and staff comfort me'," Joana said, her voice mellow and steady. She felt Rumlow's hand cross her face and Joana's head jerked to the side, but she made no sound.
"I think we'll have a lot of fun together."

Bucky

He didn't like being moved. He didn't like America. He liked Russia. But no one ever asked his opinion, so he never gave it. He was an asset, a weapon, nothing more.
Something more.
No, nothing more.
The only thing that stayed the same was the girl in the chair. He didn't have the best memory, but he remembered the girl in the chair. She was there a lot when he was in his own chair.
Even in America, she was still in the chair. She talked to him, called him names he didn't recognize, told him things he didn't understand. She cried a lot. He really didn't like the new agents. Rumlow specifically.
They'd been in America for a few weeks when he realized how much he really hated Rumlow. He wasn't supposed to have feelings towards people such as "hate" or "dislike", but it was very hard with this man.
Rumlow liked to spend some of his time in the vault with him and the girl. He liked to taunt them and tease them. He liked to beat him until the girl flinched or cried out. He would get as close to the girl as he could and breathe in her ear or skirt his hands over her mostly bare body.
Today was worse than others. Rumlow came in speaking of things about "Cap" and his previous mission. He was angry, frustrated. His face was red and he was tense.
'Threat, threat, threat' a voice whispered in the Winter Soldier's head. Rumlow liked to take his anger out on him and there was nothing he could do about it. Expecting a beating, the Winter Soldier closed his eyes. He was surprised to find Rumlow was standing behind him, shoving his fingers into his mouth and pulling his lips upwards.
"You should smile more," he sneered in his ear. The edges of the Winter Soldier's lips were on fire from being stretched so far. "Don't you think, Joana?"
The Soldier opened his eyes to look over at the girl who was pulling against the chains on her wrist.
"Let him go, Rumlow," she growled at him. Rumlow laughed and pulled harder, making the Winter Soldier's head tilt back.
"I think it makes him more handsome."
The Winter Soldier's hands curled around the arms of his chair. His cheeks were burning and his lips began to stretch and bleed. The taste of iron dribbled into his mouth. He saw the look of horror on the girl's face.
"I said let him go!" She yelled. Rumlow stopped laughing and loosened his grip on the Winter Soldier's lips just slightly.
"Who are you to give me commands, Whore?" Rumlow snapped. He tugged on the Winter Soldier's lips with such strength that he actually groaned in pain.
"Please!" The girl begged, her eyes wide. "I'll do anything, just leave him alone."
"Anything?" The tone of Rumlow's voice was unfamiliar to the Winter Soldier. He had heard it before, but he never understood what it meant. The girl nodded her head once.
"Anything."
As soon as she said so, Rumlow dropped the Soldier's lips and took his fingers from his mouth. The Soldier reached his hands up to rub his bleeding lips as Rumlow crossed the room to the girl. He sat there as Rumlow unlocked the chains around the girls wrists. He sat there as Rumlow dragged her by her wrists from the room. And he sat there as the room waited, empty, silent, for the girl and Rumlow to return.
He didn't know how long he really sat there, forever, maybe, but the door at the end finally opened. He turned to look to see the girl stumbling back in, her face pale, cheeks bloated. Dark marks painted the skin on her neck, chest, and stomach. Marks like claws tore at her arms. A dark bruise formed under her eye. Blood dripped form her nose and mouth. Everything in the Winter Soldier told him that she had been in a fight and lost bitterly. She dragged her feet as she staggered to the chair where her chains sat waiting for her. She just sat, staring at the floor, trembling.
A few minutes later, Rumlow entered, his face flushed and a smile on his swollen lips. The girl jumped as he came in. She shut her eyes and turned her head away as he neared her. The Winter Soldier saw water droplets roll off her eyelashes. Rumlow chained her wrists back to the chair and once he was finished, he grabbed her face and forced her to look at him.
"You won't tell Pierce about this," he whispered, but knowing full well that the Soldier could hear him. "Or I'll rip Barnes limp from limp myself."
Rumlow released her face and she immediately turned away from him. When the vault door slammed shut behind him, the girl, Whore, Rumlow had called her, jumped. The Soldier didn't know what Rumlow did to her, but whatever it was, he didn't want to experience it too.
The Soldier had killed many people in his time, but none looked so dead as the living girl in the chair before him.

***
Hey, hey, I finished another chapter. Heck yeah. This one is kinda dark? But it's supposed to be. You get a little bit of Bucky, which is good, I guess. I hope you liked it.
I literally just got home from seeing Thor Ragnarok when I wrote the ending of this, so that's a thing. It was An a amazing movie and if you haven't seen it eat, I'd deeply implore you to go do that now.
Anyway, I wish you all well and hope that my lack of time to update isn't making this story any less appealing. I hope you're all doing well. I would like to ask for you to leave a like if you enjoyed this chapter, it would mean the world to me.
Have a great day and go for the gold.
With good tidings,
authorsbane