Toy Soldiers (Winter Soldier x Reader) part 7

Part 7

Smoke and dust hung heavy in the air, and bullets flew through the darkness. You ducked reflexively as a bullet came flying past your head.

"Why do you do that?" Bucky asked. "You know the things won't hit you."

"It's good practice." You said. "You never know when real bullets could be flying at your head."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "You're something, you know that?"

You smiled, ducking again. This time it was because of an explosion. "Don't fight it." You grinned. "Everyone falls in love with me. I'm a force of nature."

"It wasn't a compliment." He sighed, flinching when a bullet flew through his chest. "God how much more of this is there?"

"I don't know." You said. "How long did you fight before you were captured?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. I don't really remember."

You ran a hand through your hair, looking around. A soldier fell at your feet, and you jumped back as he twitched, bleeding. "You'd better hurry up and get captured soldier. I can't take much more of this."

You sighed, gesturing to the area. Bodies littered the small valleys and hills of the muddy area. Trees grew in strange bursts, and you were under the impression that a lot of this had once been forest before the war. It smelled like blood and vomit and bodies and death. But none of that was the worst part.

In all of Bucky's memories, there had been feelings. If it was a happy memory, you felt a happiness that you knew partially wasn't yours. Sadness, joy, anger, they all flowed into you, yours but not.

In this memory, the emotion was fear. Blind, mind numbing fear that made you nauseous and sick to your stomach. It made your knees weak and your head spun. None of the other memories had had emotions this strong. You had to constantly remind yourself that the feelings weren't yours, and that it this was only a memory.

"Look over there." Bucky touched your arm and pointed off to where memory-him and a bunch of his unit were fighting not to lose ground. Hydra soldiers were creeping stealthily towards them from behind.

Bucky clenched his jaw and watched the Hydra agents kill half of his group. You grabbed his arm involuntarily, digging your nails into his flesh as you watched the men systematically shoot every soldier that was injured or otherwise not up to standards.

One of the soldiers started slamming the butt of his gun into one man's side, over and over, laughing at the man's cries and moans of pain.

"Stop that!" Memory-Bucky jumped forward, grabbing the soldier's arm and slamming his fist into his face.

Another soldier slammed his gun into memory-Bucky's knee, and he hit the ground hard. The soldier that he punched got up out of the mud, wiping blood off his lip.

"American scum." He snarled, slamming his gun into memory-Bucky's face. His head snapped back, and the soldier hit him again, and again. Then he kicked him in the stomach, slamming his boot into his ribs.

Pain shot through the memory, making you flinch. Anger burned in your veins and you took a step forward, fire shooting up your arms. You would teach the German bastards--

Bucky's metal hand locked around your arm. "You can't change anything." He said quietly.

You stared at him, fresh rage shooting through your stomach. "I don't want to watch them hit you." You snapped. "How can you just stand here and watch?" His other hand clenched into a fist, knuckles white. You realized with a sinking feeling that he didn't want to watch either.

"It's already happened." He snapped back. "We can't change anything. And I can promise you it only gets worse from here. Can you handle it?"

You clenched your own hands into fists, forcing the fire to die down. Your palms still itched, and were hot to the touch, but you had it under control.

"I'm sorry." You said quietly. "I can handle it."

He nodded. "Good. Because I'm not sure of I can."

-----/--/-----

Lucas paced the bedroom anxiously, pulling out his phone and checking it every few seconds. "This is taking too long." He growled, raking a hand through his dark hair, making the curls stand up even more.

"Sit down." Lexi said from her place on the small couch. "You're making Isaac nervous."

Isaac was kneeling on the floor in front of you and Bucky, hands still on your faces. His eyes were shut tight and the muscles in his back and neck strained. It was hard work unlocking stolen memories, let alone sharing them with another person, and keeping yourself out of the picture to boot. Privacy was a bitch. "Your girlfriend's right." He said through gritted teeth. "Sit down and let me work."

Lucas sighed, ignoring both of them. He continued to pace, until Lexi got up and grabbed his arm. "You need to--" she gasped, stumbling to one side. Lucas grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and keeping her from hitting the floor.

"Baby what's happening?" He asked, lowering her gently so she sat with her back to the wall. "Lexi talk to me."

Her eyes were white, with no pupil or iris. They were wide and staring, unfocused on the present. "The twins aren't ready." She said quietly, still staring.

"What the hell?" Isaac's eyes snapped open. "What's going on?"

Lucas had both hands on Lexi's face, and he shook her gently. "What do you see baby?"

Isaac turned his head, and Bucky twitched, eyes fluttering. Isaac swore, turning his attention back to you and Bucky. "Lucas what's happening back there?"

"You didn't see that coming?" Lexi asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Lexi?" Lucas shook her again, harder. "What do you see?"

"There's been an enhancement in the field." She said. "I repeat, there's been an enhancement in the field."

She blinked, and her eyes were green again. "Woah." She shook her head, blinking a few more times and coming back to reality.

"What was that?" Isaac asked, still facing away from them. "Lex?"

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I had a vision." She said shakily.

"What did you see?" Isaac asked. He swayed, torn between his desire to go check on her and his focus on you and Bucky.

Lexi didn't reply, instead sending the thoughts directly to his head. He was overworked, busy focusing on keeping you and the Winter Soldier on your walk down memory lane, so he filed the vision away for later. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, pressing her shaking hands to her temples. "I'm getting one bitch of a headache, and I'm feeling a little shaky, but I'll be fine. You focus on (Name) okay? Get her and Bucky through this safely."

Isaac nodded, but Lexi knew he wanted to know more.

"What did you see?" Lucas asked again, since he wasn't privy to the handiness of mind reading powers. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Lex, what was it?"

Lexi shook her head. "It isn't important right now. We can worry about it later."

Lucas frowned, looking like he was going to demand more details, but just then there was a knock at the door. He jumped up, eager for something to do. "I'll get it."

Lexi looked up in surprise. "It's five in the morning. Can't we ignore it?"

"It's probably just one of (Name)'s neighbours wondering what all the noise was about. If we ignore them they might call the cops." Lucas walked over, putting his hands on her face and rubbing his thumbs across her cheeks. "Stay here, I'll bring you some Advil for your headache okay?"

She nodded, closing her eyes and leaning against the wall.

"Sorry for stressing you out kid." Lucas ruffled Isaac's hair, to which the teen grunted in annoyance, unable to swat him off. "I'll be back in a minute." He said, leaving the room.

-----/--/-----

You paced anxiously, clenching your hands into fists to keep from lashing out. Pain filled the memory, tingling down your arms and up your spine. You remembered this kind of pain. You had felt this kind of pain.

"How much longer?" You asked through gritted teeth.

Bucky shook his head, his own knuckles white. "I don't know."

Memory-Bucky screamed again, and you slammed your hands over your ears, trying to muffle the noise. It did nothing up block the sounds. "God damn it!" You slammed your fist into a wall, which didn't help remove any of your pent-up anger or frustration.

The scientist actually laughed as he picked up another needle off the table of torture instruments and shoved it into memory-Bucky's neck. Your Bucky stepped forward and grabbed your arms tightly before you could launch yourself at the scientist and claw his eyes out.

"It's almost done." Bucky said quietly from behind you, letting go of one of your arms and wrapping his now free arm around your waist, the other going around your chest.

"But it's not." You snapped. "They still do this to people. They did it to me, and Isaac, and Lexi, and Lucas, and all of the other B.R.O.K.E.N. subjects, and I'm sure they do it to others too!" You sighed, tilting your head back and resting it against his chest. "I remember this."

Memory-Bucky screamed again as the doctor pressed a scalpel against his wrist, dragging the blade up until it reached his elbow. You dug your nails into your palms, focusing on the pain so that you wouldn't remember the scalpel biting into your own flesh. Your Bucky's arms tightened around you and he clenched his jaw tightly.

You shut your eyes, trying to fight down the wave of memories these images were bringing back. Your time with Hydra had been spent in a very similar fashion.

"Listen," you breathed quietly, "this is the part I can't handle. This feels too much like home." You tilted your head back, looking into his blue eyes. "You need to help me through this, alright? The Winter Soldier stuff I can handle. I can walk you through that forever. I just need your help with this part. Please?"

He nodded. "This part doesn't bother me. It hurts, and I don't like knowing that it happened, but I know that Steve shows up eventually and gets me out. It's the stuff later where I'm going to need help."

You smiled weakly. "It looks like we really are a team, huh soldier?"

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess we are."

-----/--/-----

There were sounds coming from outside of the metal room. Gunshots, and explosions.

"I think the cavalry's finally coming." You said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

Just then, a man came barging through the door.

"Wow." You stared at Captain America. "He got huge." It was true. Scrawny Steve Rogers had bulked up to the size of a body builder. "He's mighty fine." You said, studying him.

Bucky rolled his eyes again, shushing you.

"Bucky?" Steve walked over, seeing memory-Bucky lying unconscious on the table. "Bucky!"

"32557." Memory-Bucky mumbled, his head rolling slightly to one side. "Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, 32557."

"Bucky." Steve shook his friend's shoulders gently. "Buck, it's me."

Memory-Bucky's eyes cracked open slowly. "Steve?"

"You don't believe it do you?" You ask quietly, stepping forward.

Your Bucky shook his head. "I thought I was dreaming. You remember what Steve used to look like. There was no way he was really there."

"Yeah Buck it's me." Steve grabbed memory-Bucky under the arm and helped him up. "Let's get you out of here."

"Did you get taller?" Memory-Bucky asked, looking up at his friend.

"Even then you were bright." You said fondly.

Bucky sighed. "Will you just be quiet and watch please?"

"Fine!" You rolled your eyes. " I won't say anything else for the next seventy-odd years."

"You are too much." He said quietly, followed by an almost inaudible, "why didn't I kill you when I had the chance?" He was smiling slightly as he said it though, and your eyes widened.

"Bucky Barnes, did you just make a joke?" Your hands flew to your heart, and you pretended to swoon. "Oh, these truly are the end times!"

He rolled his eyes. "Shut up." But he was still smiling.

-----/--/-----

When Steve and the truck full of reached soldiers came rolling into camp to the sound of cheers and applause, memory-Bucky was grinning. He smiled as soldiers clapped Steve on the back, congratulating him on his bravery. But once Steve turned around, his smile fell, and he frowned. Your Bucky had the same look on his face, and a strange emotion that you couldn't place settled over the memory.

The strange feeling continued through a trip to the doctor's office (apparently the only thing wrong with the captured soldiers was malnourishment), a shower (Bucky made you turn and stare at the wall, even though you told him you had no interest in looking at naked ninety year olds), and hung heavy in the air as the soldiers all sat in a bar, drinking.

Memory-Bucky would smile whenever Steve looked at him, patting him on the back and congratulating him like everyone else, but the more drinks he had, the harder it was to hide his true feelings.

You looked at your Bucky, arms crossed tight across his chest, scowl back in place.

"Talk to me." You said, breaking your vow of silence. "What's with the face?"

"They all treat him like he's some kind of hero." Bucky said quietly.

"Is that jealousy I hear?" You asked, genuinely surprised. You had thought he would be proud of Steve, not envious.

"He's always been a hero. They see him as a weapon, a strong fighter who can win them the war. They don't see the sick kid from Brooklyn who got into fights to save other kids, who fought sickness every day of his life." He shook his head. "They think that he's a hero because of those things that they gave him. They don't understand that he's been a hero all along."

You blinked, surprised. "I am very attracted to you right now."

Bucky looked at you, shock covering his face. "Wha--"

You reached up slowly, as if he were a frightened animal, and put your hands on his cheeks. You slid your thumb across his bottom lip, shutting him up.

"I said," you studied he froze, eyes wide, but didn't pull away, "I'm very attracted to you right now."

"(Name)," he said quietly. "Please don't--"

"Just shut up and kiss me okay?"

-----/--/-----

Lexi felt a headache growing behind her eyes, and she groaned softly, rubbing her head. "Hey kiddo, how's it going in there?"

Isaac grunted, shaking his head. "If I let myself in I won't be able to get back out. But I don't think he's the soldier yet."

"That's okay. It's only been half an hour." Lexi pushed herself to her feet, steadying herself on the wall as the room spun. Pain shot behind her eyes and she winced, but she walked over to Isaac and draped her arm over his shoulders. "How long would it take for you to unlock my memories?"

His eyes stayed closed, but an eyebrow rose in an uncanny imitation of you. "It would take maybe ten minutes. You've only got twenty five years of memory filling that big head of yours." He smiled thoughtfully. "And it's easier because I know you. I know what your head looks like. It's different with the Winter Soldier. He's got ninety years of stuff locked up in here, and every time it's every tried to get free Hydra's shoved it even further down. This is going to take a few more hours probably."

"Well don't worry." She rubbed his shoulders, trying to help him relax a little bit. "We have tons of time. Lucas is just impatient, that's all. And after this you can sleep for ten years, and eat all the junk food you want."

He smiled. "You say that now, but sadly, I'll be lucky if I get a bag of chips. Speaking of--"

Lexi smiled, ruffling his hair as she pushed herself off the floor again. "No worries Override. I'm on it." He smiled a little at the nickname. You and Lexi had made it a game after you had escaped Hydra to come up with cool superhero nicknames for each other.

Isaac was Override because he could get in a person's head and get past any defences they had, and make them do whatever he wanted. Lucas was Ares, because he liked fighting. (And, you know, explosions, god of war. It fit.)

Lexi was Mirror, because she could mirror other people's appearances, and their powers, if they had any. It rarely happened, because super-powered people actually weren't that easy to come by. And also because on the rare occasion that she had done it, the powers had lingered even after she had come back to herself. The visions were an unexpected side effect of that.

You were Arsyn, because you were the one who was most comfortable with the fire part of your powers. The others had more difficulty controlling it, and it only came out during moments of extreme emotional distress. And you just thought it sounded cool.

Lexi walked out of the room, pulling one of your sweatshirts over her head as she did. The temperature had dropped considerably in the past few minutes, and Lexi wondered if Lucas had forgotten to close the door.

"And get something for that headache!" Isaac called. "It's making my head hurt."

She rolled her eyes. "Spaz." She walked into the kitchen, grabbing a half eaten bag of chips from the pantry, and some Advil from the cupboard. She popped two of the pills into her mouth and swallowed them with a glass of water, grimacing as the pills slid down her throat. She hated medicine.

"Hey Lucas, did you shut the door?" Lexi called, sticking her head into the living room. The pull-out couch was covered in rumpled sheets, the way they'd left if when they'd gotten up. He wasn't there. She frowned. Where was he?

She stuck her head in the hallway, looking around the dark house. With a sigh she walked over to the front door. Her hip smacked against the wood, making sure it was firmly shut. She turned and almost jumped out of her skin.

Lucas was standing on the other side of the long window beside the door. She opened her mouth to yell at him, or swear, (probably both,) but he held a finger to his lips, gesturing to the window. He reached out, lifting the corner of the blinds, and she looked outside, confused.

The sun was just starting to rise, and faint orange and pink light started to show over the houses. It cast a friendly glow across the cute neighbourhood, the faint light reflecting off the roofs of minivans, bicycles, and a long line of black vans.

Lexi swore, turning and staring at Lucas with wide eyes.

"Go get Isaac." He breathed. She nodded, taking off down the hall.

"We need to go. Now." She slid into the room, grabbing her duffel bag, which she had left there before going to bed. "Go get your bag." Her eyes widened as she saw a shadow move in front of the window.

His eyes snapped open and he turned around. "Where are my chips?"

"We need to leave!" She shifted into you without thinking, using your powers to slide a long dresser in front of the window. "Hydra's here."

Isaac's eyes widened with shock and panic as Lexi shifted back into herself. "What?"

She nodded. "Come on kiddo, we've gotta get out of here." She grabbed his arm, pulling towards the door. "(Name) said that there's--"

"I can't."

"What?" She froze, letting go of his arm.

"I can't." He said again, voice shaking. "I can't pull them out Lex. I don't know what it'll do. It could kill them." He licked his lips nervously and his breath hitched. "Oh my god Lexi they're going to kill me! They're going to--"

"No!" Lexi ran forward, wrapping her arms around him. "You're going to be fine." She felt his thin frame shaking and he leaned into her. "We're all going to be done." She promised.

The door to the bedroom slammed and they both jumped. Lexi spun around, fire leaping into her hands, stepping in front of Isaac. Lucas held his hands up, eyes wide. Lexi took a deep breath, shaking her hands until the fire went out.

"Are you guys ready to go?" He asked, his own black bag slung over one shoulder.

Lexi shook her head. "Isaac can't pull (Name) and Bucky out of it."

Lucas swore. "There's no way?" She shook her head. "Can he speed up the process at all? Skim over the memories that aren't as important?"

"I can try." Isaac said quietly.

-----/--/-----

He tasted like… like nothing you'd ever tasted before. And his hair felt like silk between your fingers. He was stiff for a second, resisting, and then he groaned and his arms slid around your waist. The cold metal of his left hand made your hip tingle as he gripped it tightly, deepening the kiss.

You swayed, pressing your body against his. He pulled you even closer, his right hand going up into your hair, the left still deliciously cold against your hip. You moaned, nipping at his bottom lip with hour teeth.

The bar, the laughing, the soldiers, memory-Bucky and the reason you were there disappeared in that kiss. You forgot about Isaac, Lexi, Hydra, and all the world. All that existed was him. And then he pushed you away.

With a gasp he pushed you back. His chest heaved and he was breathing heavily."What do you think you're doing?" He snapped, running a hand over his face.

You took a step back. "I was kissing you."

"But why?"

You frowned, anger heating your belly. "Because you were saying things that made me want to kiss you. I'm sorry, was I not supposed to do that?"

"No! God, no you weren't!" He ran a had through his hair angrily. "You shouldn't have--"

The bar you were standing in began to shake, and you stumbled to the side, smacking into him.

"What the hell?" His other hand flew out to grab the wall, keeping you both standing.

"You could have warned me there was going to be an earthquake." You snapped, using a more sensitive part of his to push yourself back to standing position. He grunted and shifted uncomfortably, but didn't say anything about it.

"There isn't supposed to be an earthquake." He said, looking around. None of the soldiers on the bar were reacting to the "Something's wrong."

Your eyes widened. "Isaac? Could something be happening to the others?"

Bucky shook his head. "I don't know! You're the one with the mind reader friends!"

You groaned. "Oh for the love of god--!"

Pain exploded behind your eyes, and you screamed, crumpling to the ground. Bucky caught you before your head hit the floor, but you couldn't see. There was static in front of your eyes and white noise in your ears. You couldn't feel your limbs.

"(Name)! What's happening?" He shook your shoulders, but his voice sounded like it was coming through a radio, crackly and static.