Chapter Text
The Mission seemed easy at first. The S.H.I.E.L.D. scouts had found an old Hydra base which seemed to be abandoned. Their team had found out that there would be valuable research data about another Winter Soldier program, so they had contacted the new Captain America Sam Wilson and his partner Sergeant Barnes. In hopes that Sergeant Barnes would be able to enter the facility with his knowledge as the former Winter Soldier, they agreed and accepted the mission.
Bucky was a bit nervous at first, knowing that bad memories would be occupying his mind afterwards, but he didn’t want Sam to go alone or with others. He knew the facilities, most of them anyway. But this one was one of the older ones, the location unknown to him, so he didn’t know what would expect him there.
Upon arriving they quickly realized that this facility wasn’t a usual Hydra Base. It was well guarded by an automatic defense system and entering it turned out to be more difficult than expected. Infiltration was harder but Bucky and Sam managed to break the security system. The Winter Soldier’s access code hadn’t been wiped out, but still the automatic defense system was on alert the whole time.
Standing in an elevator Bucky’s brows furrowed as deeper the elevator went down. Sam by now knew that he was slipping into the past, the darkness which still kept him awake at night. He was worried about his new best friend. 2 years had passed since they both worked together again after Steve Rogers had left the shield to Sam. During those years Bucky had become better, he even had accepted a room at the compound, but still would stay most of his time back in his apartment. Before missions though he would come back and prepare at the compound together. Sam was proud of him that he was becoming more chatty and relaxed towards other members of the Avengers. He was making big progress, even going to his therapist once in a while when the trauma would come back after some difficult missions. And Sam knew that Bucky would be having a session after this one as well.
“What is happening in that Cyborg brain of yours?” he asked, his gun ready, pointing at the door. Bucky was silent for a moment, trying to not let anything trigger him. His guard was higher up than usual every time their missions had anything to do with Hydra. Sam was aware to not tease or push him so he waited patiently for his response.
“I know this place.”, Bucky finally said, as the elevator doors slid open. Both of them stepped outside into a corridor checking for any threats, just to lower their guns a few seconds later. Red Wing had cleared the area, so they knew there weren’t any threats. Bucky stops in front of an open door, pointing inside, where Sam could see showers.
“We were put into those showers with everyone else and got washed. I remember the cold water… I hated the smell of the cheap soap…”, Bucky told him, his voice monoton, before he continued to walk to the end of the corridor. Sam was looking around into the windows, inside there were operating tables, surgical instruments and other weird things. He scowled in disgust, following Bucky.
“What did they do here? What was this base's purpose?”, he wanted to know.
“We trained. We were tested. And I think we were being used as target practice...whatever, let's look around. There must be another room where they kept all the files.”
The soldiers looked around carefully, Red Wing scanning everything and sending Sam useful information. Sam could see that Bucky was being very tense, he was extra careful and ready to shoot on sight. He was concerned but he was confident that Bucky would pull himself together. He would keep it professional during missions but afterwards...well, that was the most concerning part. Sam tried his best, but it was up to Bucky himself to not let the bad memories occupy his mind and soul. Unfortunately it still happened that he would not sleep or eat much and turn up at the compound, where the new Captain America was staying to prepare for missions and lead the Avengers, and be a depressed and grumpy old lump.
Bucky stood still for a moment in front of a door as Red Wing was again completing its scan. He still hadn’t decided if he loved or hated that thing. But right now, it was pretty useful.
Upon getting a green light, Bucky kicked the door open and entered the room. Sam looked around. There were tanks and cells everywhere, a console in the middle. A lot of the tanks and cells were empty, a few of them had dead decomposed bodies inside making the place smell like hell.
“Damn...this is just disgusting…”, Sam complained but kept looking around before stopping in front of a cell. His eyes staring at something deep in the darkness of the prison , he stood there in surprise. He hadn’t thought of actually finding something here...at least not something alive.
“I think I found something…”, he said, lowering his gun.